Goodbye, Morocco - To Newfound Friends, Family and Home

Wow. I don't even know where to begin. I leave for America in the morning and I could not have more emotions running through me. While I am obviously excited to see my friends and family, I am also unbelievably sad and depressed. I have waited for this semester abroad for as long as I can remember, and I cannot believe it is already over. These past three and half months have been some of the best months of my life. I can honestly say that living in Morocco has done more than just cultured me, it has changed who I am. I am now more confident, laid back, open to change and a thousand other things that probably won't hit me until I am back in America. Everyone always says studying abroad is an unbelievable experience, but you don't REALLY know what that feels like until you have experienced it first hand. I don't even have the words to describe how I am feeling right now and I only imagine it gets worse once I am actually back in America and have something to compare it to. The past few days have been extremely nostalgic, but tonight it really hit me that I am actually leaving, for good.

Saying goodbye tonight was one of the harder things I've had to do here (and I have had to do some challenging things). The 19 of us on IES Rabat became more than just good friends, we became a family. Each person brought something unique to the group and truly made it special. We have been though everything together; we've had our ups and our downs and seen each other at our best and definitely at our worst. We had a goodbye dinner tonight at a fancy restaurant downtown and it was filled with toasts, speeches, tears and laughter. It was amazing to hear about how much we all grew in these past three in a half months and how much we have learned about ourselves and about each other. In the beginning, I was nervous when I saw there were only 19 kids on the program. After facebook stalking the majority of them, I was unsure what I had gotten myself into and doubted I'd make any great friends. I kept telling myself that I needed to go in with an open mind, but I was doing this for the experience and being with friends wasn't a priority. I never thought I'd walk away from this chapter in my life with a whole new group of best friends that I KNOW I will keep in touch with and see again. I have met some of the most amazing people and already can't wait to reunite back in the states. While saying goodbye was difficult, none of us really felt it was goodbye because we knew we'd be seeing each other again soon. Some of my best friends are actually going to come down to NOLA and stay with me for Mardi Gras, so that's only, what? 3 months away?

The next goodbye was with my other Moroccan family, my host family. I came home from dinner and we all took pictures and sat around talking in the kitchen. They helped me stuff my last minute things into my suitcase and hugged and kissed me lots. However, after our 8th "goodbye" they all just decided they are going to come to take me to the airport tomorrow, so we still have one final goodbye in the morning:) My siblings are definitely going to be the hardest to leave behind. My mom and dad were amazing, but my siblings and I have an unbelievable connection. Kawtar and I have been close since day one, but more recently Oussama and I have really bonded. Lately, he has come into my room more and more; he comes in and just sits on my bed and hangs out with me. Today he came in, saw my packed bags, and stormed out. He then came back in a minute later and said "la, la, la... Becca LA tmshee, LA" (no no no, becca you are NOT leaving, NO) and started to UNPACK my suitcase. Kawtar, meanwhile, is convinced she is going to jump into my suitcase at the last minute and come back to America with me. When I told my host mom this tonight she said "good, take her!". She is definitely going to be the hardest one to say goodbye to. We have truly become sisters and I am going to miss her more than anyone. The other night she stayed in my room until almost one a.m. and completely opened up to me. She told me things that she said she has never told anyone before. She even downloaded skype the other day so we could continue our chats face-to-face once I am back home.

 It is after midnight and I have to get up at 5am to begin my 19-hour journey home. I am sure in those 19 hours I will get bored and write another post about how much I already miss Morocco though, so don't worry!

Things I Will Miss about Morocco (or not)

• Cats everywhere
• Trash everywhere
• 3 homecooked meals a day
• Not being able to walk down the street without getting talked "at"
• Berber/yodeling music
• Hearing the call to prayer SIX times a day
• Mint Tea and Chobz
• The hospitality
• The ridiculously crazy driving
• my stomach never FULLY getting used to Morocco
• Everyone assuming I speak French, even when I speak to them in Arabic
• Paying to use the bathroom/for everything
• Squat toilets/no toilet paper
• Medina sandwhiches (chwarma+frites/omelete)
• Watching more T.V. shows than I did in the U.S.
• The T.V. being on constantly
• Music swaps
• Juice
• Our Arabic names
• Jellabas
• Malaui
• Morrocan meals in general (tagine and couscous)
• Eating with my hands/out of a communal dish and cup
• Henna
• Being uncomfortable when I see too much skin
• The hand of Fatima
• Minarets on every corner
• The Moroccan greetings "Salam, Labas? Hamdullah"
• Inshaalah
• "The Jewlery Store"
• Everything being super cheap
• Motor bikes
• Mancafs

Hanukah BASH

lighting the candles

oil menorah

Last night I had a really incredible experience. I celebrated Hanukah with majority of the (very wealthy) Jewish community in Rabat. Jeremy and I were invited to the Toledano's house for a Hanukah party, not knowing what we were getting ourselves into (like most of the experiences I have had here in Morocco). We came over early to make latkes and then 50+ of their closest friends came over to celebrate the holiday. Apparently they have this fancy party every year and this year they were nice enough to invite us to come as well. I felt like I had entered a different world; I did not even know that many Jews existed in Rabat, let alone met more than a handful. There were servants, butlers, fancy "Jewish" Moroccan food, and there was even a bar! Everyone was so nice and friendly and happy that we were there. One thing I found fascinating was that very few of them actually spoke Arabic. Everyone there spoke French (the "elite" language) and some actually spoke English, but very few spoke Arabic. They were all educated either in France or in French schools here in Morocco and in their high class community, they had no use for Arabic in their everyday lives. We got a ride home with a woman and her family and struggled to communicate with our lack of French and her lack of Arabic. After singing Hanukah songs and lighting the candles we shmoozed and met different people, including the U.S. ambassador and his wife - who are both Jewish! The food was beyond delicious and it was a really special night to be part of something like this.

their house

latkes that we made for everyone!

Pictures from last few weeks

Thanksgiving/Fam/Essouria Pics

Essouira

This weekend three of my friends and I traveled to a quaint little beach town called Essouira. It is in southern Morocco and is a hot spot for Moroccan's to vacation. We left after Arabic class on Friday and took a bus to Casablanca and then another bus to Essouira. We didn't get there until 10:30 at night and we walked around aimlessly attempting to find our riad. Eventually, after asking a few police officers and wandering a bit farther, we somehow stumbled upon Riad Dar El Pacha. The riad was adorable and had a room that fir the four of us. Lucy and I slept in a queen bed lofted up a set of stairs, while Caroline and Veronica slept in single beds in the bottom floor of the room. We hadn't eaten dinner, but none of us were particularly hungry so we all cuddled up in the queen bed and watched some episodes of Law and Order SVU.

The next morning we got up and began our long day of shopping. Essouira is an adorable little place with a small medina right on the water. It is not a place with any monumental touristy-sites, but it has a great beach and great shopping. We shopped the morning away and then walked around by the ocean for a while. We got some fried fish (their specialty), got some DELICIOUS gellato (legit best I've had in Morocco) and came back to our riad to hang out and watch a movie. The next morning we got up and took the bus back to Casa and then back to Rabat. Although it was a very long ride there and back, the trip was very worthwhile. Not only did I get to see an adorable little town that I had heard so much about, but I also got to spend one of my last weekends away with some of my best friends. I am starting to get really sad about leaving. I am obviously excited to see my family and friends back home but I love it here and my time here flew by way too fast. It took a little while to really feel at home and comfortable here but now that I feel that way I am not ready to go back to America! When we pulled into Rabat tonight my friends and all breathed a sigh of "thank god, we're home". It's funny how Rabat has actually become home for us. All in all, it was a great last weekend before the cramming for finals week begins.

On a side note - when I got home, the first question my sister asked me was "what about Hanukah?!" I told her that I was away so I didn't light the candles those nights but that I would be lighting tonight if she wanted to join me. She told me that of course she did, she wanted to light every night with me:)

Chanukah at Home

Kawtar's first Chanukah!

I just celebrated the first night of Chanukah with my sister and cousin! I sang them the blessings, told them about the history/meaning behind Chanukah, and then we lit the candles! Katwar told me she was going to celebrate it with me every night!! (disregard how gross I look - I went running and had yet to shower..)

Thanksgiving Weekend/Fam Part 2

Last week went by pretty fast since I really only had three days of school. Wednesday night we had a thanksgiving potluck dinner at our IES center. We were all supposed to make something but since I don’t know how to cook in America, let alone in a foreign country, LUCKILY my aunt just happened to have brought two loaves of pumpkin bread from home that she made for Jeremy and I and she let me bring those to our big dinner. They were a huge hit, seeing as we did not have much that was really “thanksgiving-esc”. We did, however, have a Turkey and mashed potatoes (thank god!). Other people tried to get creative and brought fruit salad, chocolate covered strawberries and apricots, chips, guacamole and salsa, cheese and crackers, attempted sweet potatoes and pumpkin cheesecakes (which were really sweetened-potatoes and squash cheesecake) and some wine and champagne. Although we missed out on some stuffing, gravy, etc, it was still a really fun night and some of our teachers and host family members even came to celebrate with us!

The next morning I went in to take my Arabic test and then I took a train to Marrakesh to meet back up with my family! The train ride took most of the day but I had almost the whole first class compartment to myself and I just relaxed, listened to my ipod and read my book. At around 4:30 I arrived in Marrakesh and aunty Beth had asked the bus driver to come get me. As I was walking out of the train station I was attacked by taxi drivers begging me to get into their taxi, one guy made eye contact with me so I thought it was our driver, Alall, but it turns out he was just trying to get me into his cab. I saw the tour bus out of the corner of my eye down the street and briskly walked toward it. I noticed a man was following me so I kept turning around and saying “la shukran” (no thank you), when I reached the bus, the man finally had caught up to me, held out his hand and said “Salam, Alall”. I felt so bad and had to explain to him that I thought he was just another one of the annoying taxi drivers! Once I got in our bus, he took me to the gardens to meet the rest of the family. Vikki and Matt had arrived earlier that morning and it was great to see everyone all together. That night we went to our tour guide Jamal’s house for “thanksgiving dinner”. The night before (while I was having my potluck dinner) the rest of my family decided to take “Eid” to a new level and bought a live turkey…and slaughtered it. Then they cooked it the next day at Jamal’s house, along with stuffing and mashed potatoes. They showed Jamal’s wife how to make American food and she showed them how to make couscous and tagine. That night, for Thanksgiving, we ate the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes as our appetizer, and then had lamb couscous and chicken tagine right afterwards for dinner! Although it wasn’t thanksgiving at home, between the IES potluck with my friends and dinner at Jamal’s with my family, it turned out to be a pretty good thanksgiving after all!

marakesh synagogue

The next day we visited lots of Jewish sights in Marrakesh. We walked around the Mellah (Jewish quarter) and saw a synagogue and cemetery. We also went to the Bahia Palace and then on the way home stopped at this extremely fancy hotel called La Mamounia (which had the pool where Sex and the City II was filmed!) and got lunch. That night we went to a different Jewish synagogue for Friday night services. It was an orthodox temple (there are really only two kinds of Jews in Morocco: Orthodox, or non-practicing) so the women had to set separate. This was my first time experiencing this and it felt a little weird. There was only one other women there, from Paris, and we felt very excluded and could barely see what was going on. After services, we went to a Jewish family’s home for Shabbat dinner. The family was a man, Yitzchak, his wife Gloria and their 6-year-old daughter. They had 5 other kids but they were all grown and married. The man, Yitzchak, was a character. Although he did not speak English, between me and Jeremy’s Arabic and Jeremy and Adam’s Hebrew, we managed to communicate throughout the night. We started and ended the night singing and it was a lot of fun. The one thing that shocked me, however, was his view on Jews and Muslims in Morocco. They do not really feel that Jews are ever safe here and have a place to go in Israel for if/when things get rough. They also do not let Muslims eat in there house and do not let their children eat food cooked by non-Jews. The six year old goes to an Arab school with Muslims but is not allowed to go over to eat at anyone else’s house and therefore she does not leave the house except to go to school. Both Yitzchak and Gloria were shocked to learn that Jeremy and I lived with (and ate at/with) Muslim families, they told us “shame on you”. Other than that, he had some pretty strong views about Jews and Israel and it was very interesting to hear his opinion and about their way of life. The food, during all this, was of course delicious: a Shabbat dinner with a Moroccan-flare, just the way I like it. On the way home, however, right after we were told that the Jews were not particularly well liked in Morocco (by Yitzchak- who had is own opinions about everything) we heard what sounded like gunshots. Marissa freaked out and got on the floor of the bus. It turns out it was just a bunch of punk-kids throwing rocks at the bus but Marissa screamed “it’s cause they know we’re Jewish!” She was just joking and apparently stuff like this happens all the time, but it was kind of funny and kind of not funny at all at the same time. The bus driver got out to assess the damage, which wasn’t too bad, and we called the bus company to make sure our poor bus driver did not get blamed for the incident.

berber home

Saturday morning was raining, which put a damper on things, but we set off to see a Berber village in the mountains. We first went to a Berber house, much like the one I stayed at back in October. There we met the family, and were served tea and bread with homemade butter (from their cows), olive oil and honey. They had a cow, rabbits, chickens and a few other animals around the house and it reminded me (and showed everyone else) how the Berber people live. The house was built of clay and buried deep in the High Atlas Mountains. Then we went into an herbalist corporative and were probably scammed but bought tons of Argan Oil and other “Berber” herbs and oils that are said to cure anything and everything. We did, however, each get a 3-minute massage with argan oil, which was fantastic! Jamal took us to a tomb where a the only Jewish man left in the mountains lives taking care of this tomb where a famous rabbi was buried. We went in and turned on the lights (we forgot that it was Shabbat) and this old 79 year old man came in and started SCREAMING at us in Arabic. After Jamal calmed him down and apologized profusely for us, he insisted on “blessing” Jeremy and then Adam. We felt pretty bad and were about to leave when Jamal put some money in his hand as a donation. The man, again, began to scream at us in Arabic. Aunty Beth immediately assumed that he was upset we were trying to give him money on Shabbat and told Jamal to quickly take it back. Jamal, however, told us that no, this man did not care about money on Shabbat, he did not think we had given him enough and was demanding more! Aunty Beth, along with most of us, were pretty appalled and upset by the situation. If he couldn’t turn on the lights, then he definitely couldn’t take money. In hindsight, however, I realize that that is just the “Moroccan way”. That type of situation has happened to me dozens of times before with Moroccans, and it was only the fact that he was Jewish that gave everyone a bad feeling about it. This is Morocco, not America; things like this happen all the time and its just something you learn to deal with. We then went to see another Berber home and then had lunch in a tourist trap in the mountains. Despite the fact that our tour guide continued to take us to the most expensive restaurants (because that was where he got a cut), in this one the food was pretty decent and at least we got an incredible view out of it!

getting argan oil massages in the mountains!

Later that day we came home and went shopping in the rain. I bought some scarves and a tea set and was satisfied with the day. The haggling was mildly entertaining but got kind of annoying after the millionth time going:

Store Owner: 800 dirham
Jeremy or Me (in Arabic): No, no, no that is ridiculous! Very expensive! 100
Store Owner: 100?! That is insulting, what’s your real offer?
Jeremy or Me(in Arabic): 100!
Store Owner: Okay, Okay, 700, final offer.
Jeremy or Me (in Arabic): That’s too much, I’m leaving. (start to walk away.. wait 3 seconds…)
Store Owner: (comes running after us) Okay, Okay, 400 final price
Jeremy or Me (in Arabic): 120!
Store Owner: okay, okay 200, here (starts packing up the stuff)
Jeremy or Me (in Arabic): nope, sorry 120
Store Owner: Give me a little more, come on, I’m a poor store owner, I need some profit..
Jeremy or Me (in Arabic): I’m a poor student from Rabat, I need money to take the train home, 120 – final offer
Store Owner: 150, sold
Jeremy or Me (in Arabic): 130
Store Owner: Fine, here! (this is just an example, sometimes it takes much longer)

…and that is how it is done ladies and gentlemen!

On our way home, I was feeling very successful when it was pouring rain and the worst happened: I GOT RUN OVER BY A MOTOR BIKE. There are motorbikes everywhere is Morocco and they speed by you like it is nobody’s business. My friends and I always joke that we don’t know how none of us have ever gotten run over by one, and that was the first thing aunty Beth said when she got to Morocco, but oh, wait, it happened to me. I have a bruise on my leg and my arm but otherwise I’m fine and was really lucky I wasn’t seriously injured. Those things are dangerous!

That night was our last night in Marrakesh and we had a lovely dinner at the hotel. Each night we ended the night on the terrace with some wine (we rented out the whole riad) and played Banana-Grams (my new favorite game). It was a lot of fun to spend time with my cousins and experience Morocco with them.

Casablanca Synagogue - 1 out of 28

Sunday, Marissa, Adam, Vikki and Matt all left early in the morning to go back home. Aunty Beth, Uncle Michael, Jeremy and I went to Casablanca on our way back from Rabat. We got a tour of Jewish Casablanca (there are 28 synagogues and 6 Kosher butcher’s in Casa!) and even ate at Jewish Club (which was essentially like Willowbend in New Seabury). We had a great meal and got a real feel for the Casa Jewish life. It was a great end to the week and I am sad to be back at home working on research papers and studying for Arabic quizzes!!