Fresh Squeezed and Fishy!

Saturday

        We woke up rather early (we were used to waking up around 6 or 7 during the week) which was good because we really got to enjoy the whole day and just savor the sights and sounds of Essouira without worrying about time. It was a lazy day and I loved it! We wandered down to the beach looking for food by the water and settled on a little place called Fanatic. I got fresh squeezed juice (pineapple, peach, banana, lime, orange and strawberry maybe) and a Salade Nicoise. It really hit the spot and my stomach welcomed it after eating so much junk food recently. After finishing our food we walked right onto the beach and found a place to nap. The wind is usually harsh in Essouira around this time but it was just a soft, steady breeze all day that kept us from being too hot. It was perfect and we all just slept for hours in the glorious rays. Carley and I braved the waves at one point and chatted while jumping waves. There’s an island near shore that we could see the ruins of some buildings that I believe used to be a jail or some sort of institution that was abandoned. The island is now known for being a breeding spot for falcons, I wanted to take a boat ride out there but we never ended up figuring out how (I think we needed to get a permit or something). I forgot to bring a surf board from the hostel to the beach so sadly, I didn’t get to practice my surfing. The waves were pretty tame that day anyway since the wind was milder. We slept for a little longer, only being interrupted by about two or three people trying to sell us bracelets or faux Ray Bans. They were all very friendly though, nobody really bugged us. I would have been happy laying there all day, but our poor white skin was beginning to suffer from over exposure. We started to resemble lobsters and decided to leave the beach around 3:00 to head back to the Hostel to change.

        We went shopping for a while after and I must say that I REALLY enjoyed bargaining there. The shop owners are so friendly and it really is like a game. If I don’t like the price, I walk away and if I offered to low, they let me walk. I literally walked about 20 feet away from one vendor and was entering another shop when he tapped me on the shoulder and had all the stuff I wanted all packaged up for me! He still offered over my ideal price so I told him sorry, but no (because I really couldn’t justify spending that much) and he finally relented and gave it to me for my price :D I was also talking to a store owner who was selling similar purses to the one I got in Rabat. I found out that I had bought my purse for as much as HE buys them for! He couldn’t believe I got it for the price I had …I think I’m almost ready for shopping in Marrakech! …I think.

        For our night-time activities, Jordan and I went to buy some rum and fruit juice to mix at the Hostel. It seemed appropriate since we heard Essouira used to have pirates. Pirates loved their fruity cocktails… we all know this :D But mainly it was just cheaper for us to mix our drinks than buy them at the bar. We took our drinks to the roof where Adil and the eastern Europeans were hanging out. We also met a British guy and an Australian guy who had met in another hostel and were now traveling around together for a bit. They were much easier (and less awkward) to talk to than the other guys. Though we did enjoy leaning over to Carley and just asking her “…sex?” to imitate the guy from last night. The Aussie and Brit found it amusing once we finally explained the story to them. We smoked some hookah and enjoyed the beautiful night air for a while. Adil decided he wanted to go out with us but we had to wait until he was off work so we went to get schwarmas really quick before returning to pick up Adil. We weren’t able to get into Taros that night… something about them closing early? Weird. We then went to the club right next to Chrysalis which had a live African pop/ reggae sounding band. The drink menu was a little pricey for the gang and everyone seemed antsy so we migrated to the Hotel Sahara which had hookah and middle eastern music sung by a man who had a track playing in the background. We sat on couches and scoped out the place, I thought it was cool but our friends (the brit and aussie) weren’t digging it and just went back to the hostel for some cheap beer. Jordan fell asleep in the corner of the couch (or “Rested [his] eyes while listening to the music”) and Adil tought me and Carley some dance moves.

Sunday

        Everyone slept in really late Sunday but I couldn’t sleep past 9ish so I just worked on my computer since we actually had WiFi that worked PERFECTLY at the Hostel (do you sense the slight bitterness in my typing?) …heheh. They finally woke up and we went shopping a little more and walked down to the Skala which is where all the fishing ships and little tents were set up to cook fresh fish. They ordered shrimp and some fish while I went next door and got myself a cappuccino ice cream bar (mmmm!). We went to the sea wall and sat on it for a while watching the fishermen and birds searching for food in the rocks. There was also a scuba diver of some sort and we noticed that a lot of that part of the beach was covered in sea glass, pottery shards, fish nets, wood scraps and other random things. We couldn’t figure out how to get back on the wall from the other side so we didn’t get to jump down and collect some of the glass unfortunately.

        Walking a little farther down took us to the docks where they were building and repairing ships. There were rows and rows of dark blue fishing boats tied together and a few tall masted ships waiting to head out. It was just a nice leisurely walk, we didn’t DO much, but I enjoyed it immensely. After one last Shwarma on the street, we grabbed our bags, Carley wrote a goodbye note on toilet paper for Adil, we left our keys and headed to the Supratours bus stop. We ran into the Brit and Aussie near the bus and got to say goodbye and wish them save travels and such. I slept the whole bus ride, but thank god it was air-conditioned because I was right next to the window and had to close the shade because the sun was so severe.

        After getting our 2^nd class train tickets back to Rabat (they were out of 1^st class), we ate at a KFC in the train station. Fried chicken isn’t my favorite but they actually got the mashed potatoes right! Yum! The train boarded early though, so we had to shovel our food and run down to get on before all the seats were full. In 2^nd class there are no assigned seats so we wanted to make sure we were together and in decent seats for our 4-5 hour train ride. We found a compartment and were settled just fine. It was odd though because about three different times on the train, people asked Jordan for his water. He just had a big bottle of water, we had little ones and didn’t get asked, the train station had plenty of water… It was just odd. They would just say “please, can I have your water?” or something of that sort. I still can’t think of any reason to explain why they wanted his mostly-drank-out-of water! Hahah… I NEED to know! Someone explain please!

        When we arrived at Agdal train station in Rabat, the taxi drivers were crowded around the entrance as usual and we tried to get two taxis since the limit is 3 per cab. One man had us follow him and we assumed he was taking us to his and someone else’s cab. But he took the taxi sign OFF of his roof and motioned for us all to get in! We were hesitant because it’s technically illegal for them to take 4 people. He charged us double, there’s a danger fee apparently :P

Monday 

        I’m back and settled at the house for my last week with CCS. That is SO weird to think about. My stomach is literally churning when I think about leaving and going on to my next place. I still haven’t received details from Amerispan on my home stay. I don’t know if I even HAVE a family to stay with, I don’t know about where my class is, I have no idea who my teacher is or what is expected of me. This is so last minute and after all the prep work and info that CCS sent me, it’s like flying blind. I have sent an e-mail asking for more info. so HOPFULLY in the next day or so, I’ll hear back from them so I can plan. On top of that, I’m trying to put together my research and other school work with the limited internet. Our Skype doesn’t even work at Home-Base anymore (not that that helped me with my work at all ;D) They are having people come to the house tomorrow to try to fix it so hopefully we will be reconnected again. For now, I will hop internet Cafes.

        My students showed up a half hour late except for one who I got to chat with while we were waiting. He speaks and understands better than most so I got out a map of the US to show him Michigan. We went on to talk about some of the other states. He thought that Alaska and Hawaii were next to each other since maps just put the little picture of them in the corner. He told me what he knew about Sarah Palin, Hilary Clinton, Obama and some other political figures. I wish classes were more like that. I would definitely prefer to tutor one-on-one and help people based on THEIR needs. The rest of the class showed up finally and it seemed like quite a few of them were in fowl moods. One girl in particular, who is a little better than everyone and corrects people a lot, was really getting on my nerves. She came in an hour late and started complaining that I didn’t translate everything into French, she also would have discussions with the girl next to her and then ask me to re-say and explain everything she had just missed. Everything she does is with a very harsh tone and with a blank or almost mean expression on her face. At one point I was trying to make sure everyone understood a vocab word I was demonstrating and she was just giving me this blank stare. I just asked her directly if she understood and she never broke her gaze. I didn’t know what else to do to get her to respond so I laughed and told her in French that she just stares and I can’t tell what she’s thinking or if I should explain again. She finally kind-of smiled and it seemed like she was a little more engaged for the rest of the class.  

        I really wish I had more time with that class, even though they are a little more moody and difficult to understand. I really feel for their situation and they really need a lot of help with their pronunciation and basic phonetics. They turn ‘TH’ into a ‘WU’ kind-of sound and add ‘S’ at the beginning of random words. I found a chart that had sets of letters and how they are pronounced based on their French and English sound. It was VERY helpful and I think they really understood it.

        There was another guy in the class who walked me out and talked to me for a little bit. His English was mostly fluent because he’s from Nigeria and he says that everyone speaks English there. He was frustrated because he doesn’t speak French and cannot communicate easily with Moroccans. So he’s attending French classes as well as the English ones. In my class, he had a kid write the French word to all the ones I was teaching in English. I told him that since he knows English he’ll probably pick up the French faster. I hope everything ends up well for him because he seems like a very motivated and pleasant person.

        On other news, I heard a car crash today. That was interesting. I also napped MOST of the day while some guys fixed the radiators in our rooms upstairs. Yayyy for heat! The nights are getting chilly in Rabat :(

Over and Out <3