It's All a Blur

I've managed to spend the past week and a half trying to post my blogs and so I haven't written updates in a while, even though a lot has happened. Now I can begin writing regularly, as long as the internet and time permits.

Last weekend, I went to my host sisters' grandmother's house on their father's side. For the first half of the visit, I sat and stared at some Arab soap operas. The second half (after ftour), I was teaching everyone how to Bollywood dance. I also became best friends with the youngest member of the family, a little girl of 5 years old. She ran around the house telling me what everything is in French, except for the things she didn't know, but she asked me over and over what they were. "Qu'est que c'est?" she'd ask. Her mother told me to say "Baraka," when I felt overwhelmed by her energy. She loved touching my face and holding my hand.

That night, the young ladies of the house took me to Sale to sit by the water and sip tea. On the way there, I consumed some street vendor escargot. I'm not sure what was going through my head that told me it was okay, but I have been sick for a week from it. Fortunately, antibiotics are cheap here and the doctor's visit was covered by my health insurance. But the walk was gorgeous. We took millions of photos of the boats and the lights shining on the water.

This past week has been very difficult at times. I realized I've really started missing modern conveniences like toilet paper, easy-to-use cellphones, access to internet, and western showers. My family does typically use toilet paper, but we run out so quickly and we haven't had it in a week or so. In terms of the shower, though, we use buckets and benches in a bathtub to get clean. It's not foreign to me, but it is difficult. I also keep running out of minutes for my phone because they charge money to check your voicemail, to get text messages, and everything else in between. The internet is always going to be unstable too. Fortunately, these things don't hinder my experiences too much. I still love it here and marvel at how sweet everyone is.

This morning, my grandmother and I made smoothies together. But the catch is, neither of us can understand each other so we communicated almost entirely through non-verbal means. She would hold her hand in a cup to her mouth to indicate that the smoothie needed water and I would use the little Darija words I know to respond. For instance, I know the words or expressions for milk, water, enough, refrigerator, thank you, it's all good, and this. My grandmother is amazing though. She woke up early to help my mom make food, despite her bad knee. She starting making mint tea for me before I even woke up.

I was hoping to prepare ftour for them tonight for all the nice things they've done for me, but it seems like it's much harder to cook during Ramadan. The hours of the shops are all messed up (making it hard to go out and buy cooking supplies) and they turn the power off at random times so that they can use that electricity to help build a tramway in Rabat. I've noticed that the tramway is actually going to hinder transportation more than aid it, since its tracks are located in the middle of the street and it cuts down the number of driving lanes. Plus, our kitchen is a bit small for more than one person. After Ramadan, I'll get to share some of my treats with them. I am already starting to plan a Thanksgiving meal.