4/6
Morocco really touched me. It opened my eyes to a lot of things and made me really think about some stuff. Here are some things that I still can’t stop thinking about-
-Obama Around the World
I feel so blessed to be traveling the world at a time like this. I thought it was going to stop after we were able to watch the Inauguration in the middle of the Atlantic, but I am still seeing it everywhere we go. Anytime we would say we were from America, we would get a response of a raised fist and a shout of “OBAMA!”. The people in Marrakech were so happy and so excited about it, a few even said congratulations to us. And they would talk so badly about Bush- one of our taxi drivers even said “Bush-shit”. He also asked us if we were happy about it and we said yes of course, are you happy? And he responded with we are more than happy, we are proud. It still brings me chills. I am very proud.
If a foreigner was to come to America – say from Morocco- would we respond with a congratulations for their king or whoever their ruler is? We don’t even know who their ruler is! And yet the entire world is excited for ours and for America. They respect us. That’s what I could feel from them when we said we were from America – respect. We were not regarded as dumb Americans as I had assumed we would be, instead we were respected. It was incredible to see the influence that it is having around the world. I am so excited to be able to experience this and to be traveling right after the election. It is truly a blessing.
-Soy Chai Latte?
We had a long talk about the prices on the train back to Casablanca and how it compares to the US. I spent 110 durham which is probably close to $120 or $130 the entire three days we were there. And we started thinking about how much we could get for $4.50, or the price of a soy chai latte from Coffee Bean (which we have been missing so much). It’s disgusting how much more that money could do in this country, or in other countries for that matter. And yet, how often do we go to Coffee Bean or Starbucks and throw that money down like it’s not a problem. Those places have become so social for us and we don’t even think about the money we are spending on a warm drink that lasts us 10 minutes. But then I see how far that money could go over here, how it fed me easily for one meal, and a great meal at that, and how I could feed people who don’t have food with that instead of feeding my own 10 minute satisfaction. These are the things that I will take back with me from this trip. I hope I never forget that.
-Who are you?
Perez and I had a long talk last night, asking the question who are you? Really, who are you? Not the stupid answers like I’m a Pepperdine student, so and so major, I’m in this sorority – why is it that we use those things to define who we are? When we meet new people, how do you introduce yourself? And what questions do you ask people? Where are you from, what school do you go to? What trip are you most excited about? Why is it we think that’s who we are? Have you ever just sat for a while and thought about who you are? How do you define yourself? It’s complicated and frustrating but I think it’s worth your time. Who are you?
Friday, February 6, 2009
Casablanca and the Titanic
4/5
Still in Morocco, but sleeping on the boat. We got to sleep in! It felt so so good! But we still had an afternoon left so we caught a taxi to the mosque in Casablanca, it’s the 2nd largest in the world! And it was absolutely stunning! Amazing architecture and so detailed. We couldn’t go inside until after 2 and it was only 12:30 and raining and cold and extremely strong wind so we didn’t want to wait that long- too bad. So after taking a ton of pictures, we just headed back to the ship, ready to sail. The ship was buzzing with stories of everyone’s trips and excitement in seeing friends again. As 2000, our sail time, approached, we all changed into sweats and gathered on the wooded areas of the ship. The ship had to go around the same corner we came in on, stabilizers turned off again, which last time had caused a ton of rocking, plus it was still stormy, so we knew we’d be in for a fun tumble on the wood floor. Well, I was expecting a little sliding one way and a little the other way, but oh no, it was much much more! We were in the Union, which is the giant classroom, and we were in the square of wood in the middle, with the chairs surrounding us- we’d never seen the chairs in here move, even though it was probably the rockiest place on the ship. The floor was covered with people, not much space to move. The first wave came and we were okay but by the 3rd, I had fallen over and by the 4th I was flying across the square, no joke. I was on the outside of the circle and had flown into the chairs and had people piling on top of me. And then we flew to the other side. Soon the chairs were moving and hitting people! It was seriously getting dangerous. I never expected us to fly around that much. At one point I was holding onto a pole, watching as people flew past and down past me (yes, it seemed like it was below me) and I felt like I was on Titanic. It was insane! Yet, so so fun! One guy broke his wrist, another messed up his foot when he ran into the piano haha. We got some video footage of it and I can’t wait to post it, it’s hilarious. But after the fun, we just started to feel a little seasick so we headed back to our room to lie down.
Ummm our room was in complete disarray. Our beds had separated from the wall and mine was all the way on the other side, near the door. Part of the bedside table had reached the middle of the room and toppled over, everything inside of it spilling out. The two chairs and the table were also near the door, on top of just about everything we owned. When the captain had said secure your belongings, we thought putting it on the floor was fine, but instead putting it on the floor meant that the furniture was now on top of it. Perez’s computer was underneath the table, but luckily it was fine. It was chaos. But we had been wanting to put our beds together so this just started the process for us! So now here we are, with a queen bed haha.
But unfortunately, we start class again tomorrow. Its been so long I don’t even remember what we were doing. I guess it’s time to read. And now 9 days on the ship again. Let’s hope we don’t’ get seasick!
Still in Morocco, but sleeping on the boat. We got to sleep in! It felt so so good! But we still had an afternoon left so we caught a taxi to the mosque in Casablanca, it’s the 2nd largest in the world! And it was absolutely stunning! Amazing architecture and so detailed. We couldn’t go inside until after 2 and it was only 12:30 and raining and cold and extremely strong wind so we didn’t want to wait that long- too bad. So after taking a ton of pictures, we just headed back to the ship, ready to sail. The ship was buzzing with stories of everyone’s trips and excitement in seeing friends again. As 2000, our sail time, approached, we all changed into sweats and gathered on the wooded areas of the ship. The ship had to go around the same corner we came in on, stabilizers turned off again, which last time had caused a ton of rocking, plus it was still stormy, so we knew we’d be in for a fun tumble on the wood floor. Well, I was expecting a little sliding one way and a little the other way, but oh no, it was much much more! We were in the Union, which is the giant classroom, and we were in the square of wood in the middle, with the chairs surrounding us- we’d never seen the chairs in here move, even though it was probably the rockiest place on the ship. The floor was covered with people, not much space to move. The first wave came and we were okay but by the 3rd, I had fallen over and by the 4th I was flying across the square, no joke. I was on the outside of the circle and had flown into the chairs and had people piling on top of me. And then we flew to the other side. Soon the chairs were moving and hitting people! It was seriously getting dangerous. I never expected us to fly around that much. At one point I was holding onto a pole, watching as people flew past and down past me (yes, it seemed like it was below me) and I felt like I was on Titanic. It was insane! Yet, so so fun! One guy broke his wrist, another messed up his foot when he ran into the piano haha. We got some video footage of it and I can’t wait to post it, it’s hilarious. But after the fun, we just started to feel a little seasick so we headed back to our room to lie down.
Ummm our room was in complete disarray. Our beds had separated from the wall and mine was all the way on the other side, near the door. Part of the bedside table had reached the middle of the room and toppled over, everything inside of it spilling out. The two chairs and the table were also near the door, on top of just about everything we owned. When the captain had said secure your belongings, we thought putting it on the floor was fine, but instead putting it on the floor meant that the furniture was now on top of it. Perez’s computer was underneath the table, but luckily it was fine. It was chaos. But we had been wanting to put our beds together so this just started the process for us! So now here we are, with a queen bed haha.
But unfortunately, we start class again tomorrow. Its been so long I don’t even remember what we were doing. I guess it’s time to read. And now 9 days on the ship again. Let’s hope we don’t’ get seasick!
Marrakech: Mint Tea and Market
4/4
So after little sleep, we woke up to rain and cold, but we weren’t about to let this hinder any of our adventure. We had a breakfast of mint tea, orange juice (freshly squeezed and so yummy) and crepes (for so cheap, just like everything here). We walked around the market some more, bought some CD’s, yes Moroccan CD’s, they are amazing, went to the train station to buy our tickets back to Casablanca because we decided to head back tonight instead of waiting until the next morning. We just didn’t want to sleep like that again and because we can’t go out at night there’s not much we’d be missing out on. And then shopping in the market became our mission for the day. We kept running into SAS people as we were walking through and Bobby pushed me into a man holding a monkey and the man grabbed me and put the monkey on me so I really had no choice. I got some great pictures but the man wanted 100 durham for it! So we had to argue and I finally just gave him $1 and walked off. Then a man harassed Perez because he claimed she took a picture of him and wanted money, but she really didn’t. We had to argue and one of the boys with us yelled at the guy and the guy walked off yelling “Fuck you!” -Funny the words that carry on to a different culture. But we saw the man later, when it was just three of us girls and we apologized and gave him some money and he was super nice and let us take a bunch of pictures with him (it’s the one that I put up on my facebook right now).
So there are five times during the day when they pray and each time it is signaled by a loud voice on a speaker all throughout the city. The call to prayer. It’s really fascinating; it even woke us up at 6 in the morning when it went off. Because the merchants can’t really leave their stuff they are selling they don’t actually stop at all, but we did see a bunch of people running to the mosque to get inside to pray. It was pretty amazing to see.
We wandered the covered tent once more, but this time searching for things we wanted to buy. It’s all about bartering here, even the merchants know it. One man even laughed at us when we walked off when he wanted 400 durham for a scarf and called us back saying no no this is how the game works- I say a price too high, you say one too low and we work through it. You usually end up at 1/3 or a half of the price they originally want. I got a great ring for 110 durham, a bracelet for 70, a scarf for 80 and these amazing shoes for 150. So a total of 410 durham, which is about $41. Such a great deal for what we got – it’s all so beautiful! Now since there are just three girls in our group (not 9 like there were before), we didn’t stand out as much and we were able to talk to a lot of the locals. They loved asking where we were from and the man I bought my shoes from flexed his muscles when I said California and I realized he meant Arnold haha it was awesome. The people are so friendly! It’s amazing how much English they speak also. It’s primarily Arabic here, but a lot of French is spoken as well. Perez wanted a shirt and the man wanted 150 durham for it but she literally only had 100 and he wouldn’t back down. She goes “well, how about a handshake” and he was like “how about a kiss on the cheek” so he got one from all of us and he knocked off 50 durham haha. I don’t know why because a kiss on the cheek in greeting like that is so normal to their culture but I guess from Americans it was worth something. Hell, if that’s all it took to knock off 50 durham, I’d do it more often! Just kidding… kinda.
We spent a full day walking through the tents, broken up so we could get some lunch at another high terrace in the market – this one had a view of the city and was stunning. We had more couscous and targine and mint tea, of course, and dessert of tangerines, stems and leaves still on, like it had just been picked. They were absolutely delicious. Before we knew it though, we had shopped the whole day and it was time to get to the train station.
Three hours later and a conversation with some locals in broken English and French (which Perez speaks really well) and we were in Casablanca. But this city scares the crap out of us so we just jumped in a taxi that took us straight to the ship. I wanted to run I was so excited to see our home! We took a long, hot shower (we hadn’t showered our whole trip, it wasn’t much of a shower and we were worried about the water) and got in comfy sweats and lounged freely on our beds. It’s times like these when you realize how great we have it and how much we take for granted. How much we now appreciate a shower, warm water, CLEAN water, a warm room, a clean bed- it’s ridiculous how quickly we forget to appreciate things like that!
Today was a much better day- the first day I felt unsafe and I was scared the whole time. But today I felt much more comfortable and really enjoyed talking to the locals and learning more about the culture. I really like Marrakech, it was beautiful in a very different way and a place I never thought I would see. It was really incredible but I was ready to leave. Glad to be back on the ship.
So after little sleep, we woke up to rain and cold, but we weren’t about to let this hinder any of our adventure. We had a breakfast of mint tea, orange juice (freshly squeezed and so yummy) and crepes (for so cheap, just like everything here). We walked around the market some more, bought some CD’s, yes Moroccan CD’s, they are amazing, went to the train station to buy our tickets back to Casablanca because we decided to head back tonight instead of waiting until the next morning. We just didn’t want to sleep like that again and because we can’t go out at night there’s not much we’d be missing out on. And then shopping in the market became our mission for the day. We kept running into SAS people as we were walking through and Bobby pushed me into a man holding a monkey and the man grabbed me and put the monkey on me so I really had no choice. I got some great pictures but the man wanted 100 durham for it! So we had to argue and I finally just gave him $1 and walked off. Then a man harassed Perez because he claimed she took a picture of him and wanted money, but she really didn’t. We had to argue and one of the boys with us yelled at the guy and the guy walked off yelling “Fuck you!” -Funny the words that carry on to a different culture. But we saw the man later, when it was just three of us girls and we apologized and gave him some money and he was super nice and let us take a bunch of pictures with him (it’s the one that I put up on my facebook right now).
So there are five times during the day when they pray and each time it is signaled by a loud voice on a speaker all throughout the city. The call to prayer. It’s really fascinating; it even woke us up at 6 in the morning when it went off. Because the merchants can’t really leave their stuff they are selling they don’t actually stop at all, but we did see a bunch of people running to the mosque to get inside to pray. It was pretty amazing to see.
We wandered the covered tent once more, but this time searching for things we wanted to buy. It’s all about bartering here, even the merchants know it. One man even laughed at us when we walked off when he wanted 400 durham for a scarf and called us back saying no no this is how the game works- I say a price too high, you say one too low and we work through it. You usually end up at 1/3 or a half of the price they originally want. I got a great ring for 110 durham, a bracelet for 70, a scarf for 80 and these amazing shoes for 150. So a total of 410 durham, which is about $41. Such a great deal for what we got – it’s all so beautiful! Now since there are just three girls in our group (not 9 like there were before), we didn’t stand out as much and we were able to talk to a lot of the locals. They loved asking where we were from and the man I bought my shoes from flexed his muscles when I said California and I realized he meant Arnold haha it was awesome. The people are so friendly! It’s amazing how much English they speak also. It’s primarily Arabic here, but a lot of French is spoken as well. Perez wanted a shirt and the man wanted 150 durham for it but she literally only had 100 and he wouldn’t back down. She goes “well, how about a handshake” and he was like “how about a kiss on the cheek” so he got one from all of us and he knocked off 50 durham haha. I don’t know why because a kiss on the cheek in greeting like that is so normal to their culture but I guess from Americans it was worth something. Hell, if that’s all it took to knock off 50 durham, I’d do it more often! Just kidding… kinda.
We spent a full day walking through the tents, broken up so we could get some lunch at another high terrace in the market – this one had a view of the city and was stunning. We had more couscous and targine and mint tea, of course, and dessert of tangerines, stems and leaves still on, like it had just been picked. They were absolutely delicious. Before we knew it though, we had shopped the whole day and it was time to get to the train station.
Three hours later and a conversation with some locals in broken English and French (which Perez speaks really well) and we were in Casablanca. But this city scares the crap out of us so we just jumped in a taxi that took us straight to the ship. I wanted to run I was so excited to see our home! We took a long, hot shower (we hadn’t showered our whole trip, it wasn’t much of a shower and we were worried about the water) and got in comfy sweats and lounged freely on our beds. It’s times like these when you realize how great we have it and how much we take for granted. How much we now appreciate a shower, warm water, CLEAN water, a warm room, a clean bed- it’s ridiculous how quickly we forget to appreciate things like that!
Today was a much better day- the first day I felt unsafe and I was scared the whole time. But today I felt much more comfortable and really enjoyed talking to the locals and learning more about the culture. I really like Marrakech, it was beautiful in a very different way and a place I never thought I would see. It was really incredible but I was ready to leave. Glad to be back on the ship.
So Much To Say About Morocco
4/3
We’re here!! We got off the ship by 8:30 and had a long, long walk out of the pier, surrounded by men trying to rip us off for a taxi. We had a long talk about safety with a former cop who is on our boat and he probably scared us more than was necessary. We are not to look men in the eyes because that means you want to have sex with them… awesome. So we’re passing large crowds of men and you have to make sure and keep your head down or they will harass you even more, plus you have to be aware of pick-pocketers, which is a huge problem for foreigners in Morocco. I’m not gonna lie, it was terrifying. We walked for probably 30 minutes before finding a taxi that was not a rip off – 30 durham, which is like $3, the exchange is great- and made it to the train station. Their driving is not driving, we almost hit like 10 cars on the way to the train. The lane lines are ignored, even ones that separate cars going one way from another, so we’d be in an oncoming lane sometimes. It doesn’t seem like there are any traffic laws and cars will just stop in the middle of the road to talk to another car next to them. There is a definite sense of community here. We bought 1st class tickets to Marrakech for 125 durham - $12 about- and our train was almost full of SAS people, everyone had the same idea to head to Marrakech. We had no plans except for getting there by train- should be interesting.
It was about a 3 hour train ride, my first train ride really ever. The countryside outside of Marrakech was absolutely beautiful- green hills, covered in pink and yellow flowers. But then we would hit an area of poverty, mud houses and trash littering every plant and fence. But then we would hit an extremely rich area- there is no sign of a middle class here, just extremely wealthy or extremely poor.
Made it to Marrakech, grabbed a map and found a hotel that sounded like a good name (yes, we went off a name), plus we had a girl in our group who had been here before so she knew it was in the market area where we would want to be a lot. Well, that hotel was way too expensive so we walked across the market area to find one much, much cheaper – 80 durham a night, yes that is $8. It honestly didn’t look bad at all, you walk back into a beautiful courtyard, which led to another even more beautiful courtyard, so we were satisfied. We dropped our things and headed out into the market – people were everywhere! There are vendors and street performers and people scamming you into taking pictures of them or their monkeys or their snakes (yes, there were cobras all over) and then making you give them money for your pictures. It was a huge square of chaos, but so fascinating also. We found a place for lunch and sat outside – it was a little chilly, but sunny and we could look out into the square. We had couscous with chicken and targine or tagine, which was chicken and potatoes (that turned out to be French fries instead) in this crazy flavorful sauce. So very different from anything we know, but still so good. And they drink mint tea here like crazy and it’s so delicious! We didn’t even get close to finishing our meals and these 3 little girls came over, carrying cookies to sell and I thought they were trying to sell us some so I kind of waved them off but we realized they were wanting our food we weren’t eating. So we gave them bread and they started to grab everything we hadn’t eaten and piled it into the bread. They took all the pieces of chicken that I didn’t want to eat because they looked gross or unappetizing- it made me realize how wasteful we are, especially our food. They were so thrilled to get food that they didn’t care what it was. The waiter came out and I was afraid he was gonna yell at me because in the US they would never let you give your food away like that right at the table, but instead he came over and helped the little girls dish the rest of it into their bread. It was amazing and really hit me pretty hard.
We just walked around the market the rest of the day. It was a huge covered area where vendors are set up one after the other with everything you can imagine – scarves, light fixtures (that I’m still thinking about they were so beautiful), jewelry, clothes, shoes, fabrics, bags, spices, nuts, meat (in one we could see the live chickens in the back and the dead ones for sale in the front, it was real special), cow and camel heads hanging… seriously everything you could want. We got lost inside because of how big it was, it just goes on and on. The smells were probably the most vivid for me- they were constantly changing. You smell incense and you take a step and smell soap and then turn your head and you smell leather or spices. It’s just all around you, it was incredible, and so intense.
We have to be really careful about pick-pocketing here- you can tell when people are observing you to see if you’re a good target and you can feel when people are following you. Some people will even just scrape your backs or stick their hand in your pocket, trying to find anything. Luckily, we were warned about it so we had everything hidden away safely. Still freaked me out though, I wasn’t about to have my camera taken from me! It was in my bag but they can easily come from behind you and cut the straps off and run. I was tense the whole time.
It’s funny, we thought we’d be obvious Americans, and don’t get me wrong, we stood out big time, but we learned that they can’t distinguish us from Europeans, and British accents and our accents are very similar to them. Anytime they’d ask where we were from, they’d guess Spanish for me, and would be amazed when we said America. Most of the time they responded with a fist raised and yelling OBAMA which was just awesome but I’ll talk about that later – or they’d look at Perez and say no no you aren’t American, you China haha they would never believe her. Or we’d just be walking by and they’d say China, Japan! It was very entertaining. They’re not used to seeing many Americans here I guess. And when we pass people in the market place, they say hi in every language they know until you respond.
It was starting to get dark so we got out of there and were walking around outside in the market and stopped to see why a crowd was gathered around a street performer, but left quickly when we realized this was prime for pick-pocketing, we even saw men in the back of the group looking at peoples belongings, ready to take it away. We walked around a little bit and then tried to find a hookah bar but the man we asked thought we were asking him for hashish in an apple so we decided it probably wasn’t the best to keep asking around for it. We decided it was too unsafe for us to be walking around at night, it got really scary, so we went up to a terrace restaurant that overlooked the market and got more mint tea and some food and just sat up there and talked for hours and watched all the things happening below us. It was much more comfortable to be up there, to be able to look at people without being afraid of what could happen.
Our sleeping situation turned into a very interesting one. We started to freak ourselves out about how unclean this place was, and we had been warned about bed bugs and scabies so we decided to wrap our entire body from head to toe, literally, my head was wrapped in a scarf, my bra and shirt still on with a long sleeve tshirt on over it, tucked into my sweatpants, which were tucked into my socks. We didn’t want to sleep in the sheets or under the blanket so I used my tiny travel blanket instead and woke up freezing multiple times throughout the night and uncomfortable from sleeping in such a tight ball (there was no heater in our room). And when we were going to bed there were all kinds of noises outside and I started freaking myself out, thinking someone was gonna barge into our rooms or something. So I really didn’t sleep much that night haha but good news, no bed bugs or scabies! Crazy to be thrown into a culture so different from anything I have ever know. And so different from Spain, which we had just been in two days before. It’s a place that I still can’t find the right words to describe it, even after all of this. It’s unbelievable.
We’re here!! We got off the ship by 8:30 and had a long, long walk out of the pier, surrounded by men trying to rip us off for a taxi. We had a long talk about safety with a former cop who is on our boat and he probably scared us more than was necessary. We are not to look men in the eyes because that means you want to have sex with them… awesome. So we’re passing large crowds of men and you have to make sure and keep your head down or they will harass you even more, plus you have to be aware of pick-pocketers, which is a huge problem for foreigners in Morocco. I’m not gonna lie, it was terrifying. We walked for probably 30 minutes before finding a taxi that was not a rip off – 30 durham, which is like $3, the exchange is great- and made it to the train station. Their driving is not driving, we almost hit like 10 cars on the way to the train. The lane lines are ignored, even ones that separate cars going one way from another, so we’d be in an oncoming lane sometimes. It doesn’t seem like there are any traffic laws and cars will just stop in the middle of the road to talk to another car next to them. There is a definite sense of community here. We bought 1st class tickets to Marrakech for 125 durham - $12 about- and our train was almost full of SAS people, everyone had the same idea to head to Marrakech. We had no plans except for getting there by train- should be interesting.
It was about a 3 hour train ride, my first train ride really ever. The countryside outside of Marrakech was absolutely beautiful- green hills, covered in pink and yellow flowers. But then we would hit an area of poverty, mud houses and trash littering every plant and fence. But then we would hit an extremely rich area- there is no sign of a middle class here, just extremely wealthy or extremely poor.
Made it to Marrakech, grabbed a map and found a hotel that sounded like a good name (yes, we went off a name), plus we had a girl in our group who had been here before so she knew it was in the market area where we would want to be a lot. Well, that hotel was way too expensive so we walked across the market area to find one much, much cheaper – 80 durham a night, yes that is $8. It honestly didn’t look bad at all, you walk back into a beautiful courtyard, which led to another even more beautiful courtyard, so we were satisfied. We dropped our things and headed out into the market – people were everywhere! There are vendors and street performers and people scamming you into taking pictures of them or their monkeys or their snakes (yes, there were cobras all over) and then making you give them money for your pictures. It was a huge square of chaos, but so fascinating also. We found a place for lunch and sat outside – it was a little chilly, but sunny and we could look out into the square. We had couscous with chicken and targine or tagine, which was chicken and potatoes (that turned out to be French fries instead) in this crazy flavorful sauce. So very different from anything we know, but still so good. And they drink mint tea here like crazy and it’s so delicious! We didn’t even get close to finishing our meals and these 3 little girls came over, carrying cookies to sell and I thought they were trying to sell us some so I kind of waved them off but we realized they were wanting our food we weren’t eating. So we gave them bread and they started to grab everything we hadn’t eaten and piled it into the bread. They took all the pieces of chicken that I didn’t want to eat because they looked gross or unappetizing- it made me realize how wasteful we are, especially our food. They were so thrilled to get food that they didn’t care what it was. The waiter came out and I was afraid he was gonna yell at me because in the US they would never let you give your food away like that right at the table, but instead he came over and helped the little girls dish the rest of it into their bread. It was amazing and really hit me pretty hard.
We just walked around the market the rest of the day. It was a huge covered area where vendors are set up one after the other with everything you can imagine – scarves, light fixtures (that I’m still thinking about they were so beautiful), jewelry, clothes, shoes, fabrics, bags, spices, nuts, meat (in one we could see the live chickens in the back and the dead ones for sale in the front, it was real special), cow and camel heads hanging… seriously everything you could want. We got lost inside because of how big it was, it just goes on and on. The smells were probably the most vivid for me- they were constantly changing. You smell incense and you take a step and smell soap and then turn your head and you smell leather or spices. It’s just all around you, it was incredible, and so intense.
We have to be really careful about pick-pocketing here- you can tell when people are observing you to see if you’re a good target and you can feel when people are following you. Some people will even just scrape your backs or stick their hand in your pocket, trying to find anything. Luckily, we were warned about it so we had everything hidden away safely. Still freaked me out though, I wasn’t about to have my camera taken from me! It was in my bag but they can easily come from behind you and cut the straps off and run. I was tense the whole time.
It’s funny, we thought we’d be obvious Americans, and don’t get me wrong, we stood out big time, but we learned that they can’t distinguish us from Europeans, and British accents and our accents are very similar to them. Anytime they’d ask where we were from, they’d guess Spanish for me, and would be amazed when we said America. Most of the time they responded with a fist raised and yelling OBAMA which was just awesome but I’ll talk about that later – or they’d look at Perez and say no no you aren’t American, you China haha they would never believe her. Or we’d just be walking by and they’d say China, Japan! It was very entertaining. They’re not used to seeing many Americans here I guess. And when we pass people in the market place, they say hi in every language they know until you respond.
It was starting to get dark so we got out of there and were walking around outside in the market and stopped to see why a crowd was gathered around a street performer, but left quickly when we realized this was prime for pick-pocketing, we even saw men in the back of the group looking at peoples belongings, ready to take it away. We walked around a little bit and then tried to find a hookah bar but the man we asked thought we were asking him for hashish in an apple so we decided it probably wasn’t the best to keep asking around for it. We decided it was too unsafe for us to be walking around at night, it got really scary, so we went up to a terrace restaurant that overlooked the market and got more mint tea and some food and just sat up there and talked for hours and watched all the things happening below us. It was much more comfortable to be up there, to be able to look at people without being afraid of what could happen.
Our sleeping situation turned into a very interesting one. We started to freak ourselves out about how unclean this place was, and we had been warned about bed bugs and scabies so we decided to wrap our entire body from head to toe, literally, my head was wrapped in a scarf, my bra and shirt still on with a long sleeve tshirt on over it, tucked into my sweatpants, which were tucked into my socks. We didn’t want to sleep in the sheets or under the blanket so I used my tiny travel blanket instead and woke up freezing multiple times throughout the night and uncomfortable from sleeping in such a tight ball (there was no heater in our room). And when we were going to bed there were all kinds of noises outside and I started freaking myself out, thinking someone was gonna barge into our rooms or something. So I really didn’t sleep much that night haha but good news, no bed bugs or scabies! Crazy to be thrown into a culture so different from anything I have ever know. And so different from Spain, which we had just been in two days before. It’s a place that I still can’t find the right words to describe it, even after all of this. It’s unbelievable.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Letter from Magos!!
4/2
MAGOS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LETTER!!!
We got a letter on the ship from Magos today- she sent it over MLK weekend! Now THAT is dedication! Sweetest card and such a wonderful surprise! You don’t know how how much we appreciate that and we read it like 20 times already! We love you and miss you so much, thank you sweet girl!!!
MAGOS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LETTER!!!
We got a letter on the ship from Magos today- she sent it over MLK weekend! Now THAT is dedication! Sweetest card and such a wonderful surprise! You don’t know how how much we appreciate that and we read it like 20 times already! We love you and miss you so much, thank you sweet girl!!!
Seasick booo
4/2
Just got word that we still haven’t been able to fill up our gas because of rough seas (they only term it rough seas when things are flying off of surfaces- example: I was in the dining hall and trays were sliding off the counter and all across the floor) and waves like this are too dangerous for the boat that has to bring us our gas line. So they’re hoping that it’ll calm down before this evening and we’ll be able to get to Morocco by morning.
A little later in the day…
We were able to get gas by early afternoon and have made it to Casablanca! We can’t get off until tomorrow morning but at least we’re here! I got seasick today- the waves were awffuullll. Luckily no throwing up, probably because I didn’t eat anything to throw up, and could only eat some bread once we reached land and got more stable. Those patches really do wonders. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get out of bed all day so Tyler Johnson, Perez and I walked Titanic haha not the best day to watch that kind of a movie, but still enjoyable!
But while we were at dinner, there was an announcement that we were rounding a corner and had to turn the stabilizers off, so “secure your belongings and hold on to yourselves” haha that sent a buzz through the dining hall! Practically everyone in there went back to their rooms to endure the crazy waves, and boy were they crazy! We would lose sight of the lights on the horizon completely as we tilted one way and then was looking at white water the next! It was absolutely insane! EVERYTHING on our counters flew off onto the floor, it was hilarious!
We had another open mic tonight- they had to improvise some kind of activities since we were supposed to be in Morocco today- and Perez got up there once again and sang another one of her songs. People are obsessed with her California in the Fall song (which she wrote for me, I must say), she’s become quite the little celebrity!
So sad that we lost a day in Morocco, but ooh well, I guess you have to be prepared for those kinds of things to happen! We’re hopping on a train to Marrakech early tomorrow morning with a big group (practically everyone on this ship has the same plan) and spending a few days there probably, we have NO plans besides getting on that train. It’s kind of exciting, yet we were given a long lecture on safety. I guess Morocco isn’t the safest place for tourists so we’re gonna have to be really careful but it should be a lot of fun! I really don’t know what to expect, I don’t know anything about Morocco! Please pray for us and our safety! LOVE
Just got word that we still haven’t been able to fill up our gas because of rough seas (they only term it rough seas when things are flying off of surfaces- example: I was in the dining hall and trays were sliding off the counter and all across the floor) and waves like this are too dangerous for the boat that has to bring us our gas line. So they’re hoping that it’ll calm down before this evening and we’ll be able to get to Morocco by morning.
A little later in the day…
We were able to get gas by early afternoon and have made it to Casablanca! We can’t get off until tomorrow morning but at least we’re here! I got seasick today- the waves were awffuullll. Luckily no throwing up, probably because I didn’t eat anything to throw up, and could only eat some bread once we reached land and got more stable. Those patches really do wonders. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get out of bed all day so Tyler Johnson, Perez and I walked Titanic haha not the best day to watch that kind of a movie, but still enjoyable!
But while we were at dinner, there was an announcement that we were rounding a corner and had to turn the stabilizers off, so “secure your belongings and hold on to yourselves” haha that sent a buzz through the dining hall! Practically everyone in there went back to their rooms to endure the crazy waves, and boy were they crazy! We would lose sight of the lights on the horizon completely as we tilted one way and then was looking at white water the next! It was absolutely insane! EVERYTHING on our counters flew off onto the floor, it was hilarious!
We had another open mic tonight- they had to improvise some kind of activities since we were supposed to be in Morocco today- and Perez got up there once again and sang another one of her songs. People are obsessed with her California in the Fall song (which she wrote for me, I must say), she’s become quite the little celebrity!
So sad that we lost a day in Morocco, but ooh well, I guess you have to be prepared for those kinds of things to happen! We’re hopping on a train to Marrakech early tomorrow morning with a big group (practically everyone on this ship has the same plan) and spending a few days there probably, we have NO plans besides getting on that train. It’s kind of exciting, yet we were given a long lecture on safety. I guess Morocco isn’t the safest place for tourists so we’re gonna have to be really careful but it should be a lot of fun! I really don’t know what to expect, I don’t know anything about Morocco! Please pray for us and our safety! LOVE
Back Home!
4/1
Back on the ship- how weird that it feels like home! We both slept for a good 14 hours, you can tell that everyone is so worn out from Spain.
You know what I just realized- the day we went to Barcelona, we were on a ship, in a car, on a plane, on a train, and on the metro. I thought it was cool, I don’t’ know.
We are stopped in Gebraltar to get gas, but we aren’t able to get to land yet because there are so many other ships trying to get in too, leaving us to just keep circling the port, waiting and waiting. So we’re just hanging out on the ship, catching up on stories and learning about Morocco since we’ll be there tomorrow! We still have no plans, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon enough!
Back on the ship- how weird that it feels like home! We both slept for a good 14 hours, you can tell that everyone is so worn out from Spain.
You know what I just realized- the day we went to Barcelona, we were on a ship, in a car, on a plane, on a train, and on the metro. I thought it was cool, I don’t’ know.
We are stopped in Gebraltar to get gas, but we aren’t able to get to land yet because there are so many other ships trying to get in too, leaving us to just keep circling the port, waiting and waiting. So we’re just hanging out on the ship, catching up on stories and learning about Morocco since we’ll be there tomorrow! We still have no plans, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out soon enough!
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