Wednesday afternoon I met my friend Mourad by the fountains outside of the Medina. The cab driver who took me was really nice and invited me to come to his house for couscous sometime. He made me practice my Arabic with him and said I was very good but I think he was just being nice hahah. It was a picturesque scene at the fountains and I was so mad at myself for not bringing my camera. The sky was turning colors, the lamps were coming on in the street, children ran around the fountain, people sat all along the low wall in front of the medina watching everyone else in the square. This was the place to be apparently and I was glad to be there. Mourad and I walked and talked, he practiced his English and I practiced a little Arabic too. We decided not to go into the Medina because it was crowded and hard to talk while dodging donkeys, mopeds, children, puddles etc... We walked down the broad avenue that had lots of little parks, the parliament building and the big train station. There were the usual protests taking place in front of the parliament building; people dressed in matching shirts walking in formation while chanting and singing. The US isn't the only place suffering from unemployment... I read one of their shirts and it said, "it is honor to have work."
We sat down for a while and shared a park bench with two ladies and a baby. We saw Wouter, Phillipe, and another guy from school so they stopped to talk for a minute on their way to dinner. Oh and it was sooooo cute... at one point a little girl (probably only 2 years old) jumped in front of us, gave us a huge smile and jabbered away for about a minute on something very important to her I'm sure then proceeded to just stand there and smile at us. We weren't sure what to do since neither of us spoke her dialect of 2 year old jibberish so we just laughed and he pinched her chubby little cheek affectionately. She liked that and giggled then ran away so I guess that's all she needed from us hahah... it was so cute though! Mourad told me that the Bronx is his favorite part of the US because they invented Hip Hop. He is a break dancer and has his own dance crew as well as being in charge of a street dancing organization called Free Art. His crew got invited to France to an international battle but he can’t go because it’s too expensive. He is also flying to the Sahara to organize an event this weekend and heading to Casablanca next week to meet with a sponsor. One of his sponsors is Red Bull! When he found out that I used to dance, he invited me to be on his dance crew... hahah. He is also finishing up school to be an architect and had an interview of some kind earlier that day. I couldn't stay out long though because I needed to finish reviewing for my Arabic exam the next day. He flagged down a cab for me and we agreed to hang out again soon..........
Thursday I was late to class because the bus was really crowded and I couldn't get off at the right spot. I almost had to step on people to get out of there... I have never seen the bus so crowded. I did talk to a girl on the bus who saw me studying some arabic words and asked me if I studied at Qalam Wa Lawh. The test was fine, but a little long and unbearable only because I had a pounding headache. We still had class after that but all of us were kind-of out of it so it was hard to concentrate on what we were learning. After class I found out from Wouter that there was a last minute trip being planned by the school for this weekend and they needed 8 people to go and there were only 7 signed up. I was really excited to find out that the trip was to Tangier and Chefchouan! AH! What luck :D We leave early on Saturday and come back on Sunday so it will be short, but if I really like one of the places, I may go back to stay longer next time! It is only about $80 bucks and includes transportation, food, and hotel so I'm definitely going.
Later, when I was outside on my computer, the guy who sits at the front desk told me that someone had come to see me and he had turned them away because he thought I was in class. He apologized and said that he didn't remember the guy's name but he was tall with dark curly hair... so I knew it was probably Mourad haha. I tried calling him but his phone wasn't on and I still don't know how to work these pay-as-you-go phones... they're such a pain. I got ahold of him on facebook and he wanted to hang out again. I had plans to see my CCS friends that night in Hay Riad so I told him he could meet me at the Acima before I went to meet them. While I was figuring this out, a girl came up to me asking if I was going on the weekend trip... turns out she was planning on going as well so she sat and talked for a while. Her name is Ciara, she's from Maine, she's a year ahead of me in school and she's been studying here for a few months now. She stays with a host family as well (one of the few!), and seems to be a really cool chick! She hasn't been to Marrakech yet either so we may go there together if our schedules work out.
I was happy to have an excuse to get another pistachio milkshake from my favorite little cafe on top of the Acima. Mourad and I got in a debate about stereotypes of Moroccan guys and Western girls hahah THAT was enlightening. But that lead into talking about dating and then somehow into a religious debate of some sort. I didn't bring up religion because it's not a good idea since proselytizing is illegal in Morocco (if you're not muslim that is...) and they deport christians (or any religion) that they suspect of trying to convert muslim people to their faith. SO, it is best to stay off these topics because who knows on what grounds they can convict you of proselytizing... it's a grey area. He was asking me specific questions though so I did not withhold my answers. He seemed genuinely worried that I don't understand what happens after death and explained that when I die an angel will come to me and ask me who my God is, what my religion is, and who my prophet is; if I do not answer Allah, Islam, Mohammad, my soul will remain in my body and the earth will close up on me and I'll hear people walking around on the ground above me forever. This is what I understood from his English, and I know he doesn't have a full vocabulary so it probably isn't exactly accurate to what he was trying to say. I think I got the gist of it though and reassured him that I know where I'm going when I die. He encouraged me to read books and research Islam more and I told him I would never stop searching for the truth whether it ends up being Islam, Christianity, Buddhism... whatever; but what I had learned so far from my research and hearing many religious debates all pointed me to Christianity. We decided to change the subject after that since we obviously weren't going to agree on a conclusion.
After walking around for a bit, Mourad left me at the CCS home base just as Jordan was coming in. It was like coming home almost, but to a whole new family living in my house hahah... Even though I met the new volunteers before, I couldn't remember any names and they were ALL sitting around in the living area so it was a little overwhelming. I was so happy to see Jean, Heidi, Carley, Jordan and George though! I gave lots of hugs to Khadija and Aicha who I missed as well :) Carley, George, Jordan and I went to Tapeo to hang out and had a fun time catching up and hanging out with all the stray cats. Jordan shook his water bottle which had soda in it and the cap popped really loud and went flying over the table when he tried to open it. It was pretty hilarious. We also had a little hookah later but couldn't find the bananagrams so that was kind of sad :/ I left around 11:30ish and there were NO cabs what-so-ever! We must have stood out there for at least 20 minutes or more before a grand taxi came along. The guy was cool but he shouted while talking to me... maybe thinking that the louder he spoke, the more I would understand him... NOT the case hahah. He tried to charge me 50 dh for the ride but I gave him 35 and said that was "saffi" he laughed and said goodnight so I guess I still gave him more than the cab ride was worth, but whatever... I was just glad to FIND a cab.
I have to head home now so I'll update again as soon as I get a chance!
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