This past Sunday through Wednesday, I went on a trip to Morocco with Crossing Boarders Education. I will try to keep this post short, while still capturing the highlights of the trip. Not an easy task, but I will do my best.
Day 1 - Sunday
3:45 am bus to the airport for our flight at 7:00 am. Praise the Lord, our flight left on time. This was a blessing considering that Spanish air traffic controllers went on an illegal strike on Friday and Saturday. We met our program leader, Katy at the Marrakech airport. The first thing we did was to have lunch with some Moroccan students. Afterwards, we split up into groups and went around the markets with the students. I went with two other girls from Arcadia and two Moroccan guys, Ami and Chalil. They did a great job of showing us both the tourist market and the more local market. I found it ironic that the market geared to tourists was full of "ethnic" things - scarves, leather purses, bronze lamps, silver teapots, wooden camels, etc. However, the local market was full of American-style leather boots, velour track suits, and other American label sport clothes. After a refreshing drink of orange juice with ice cream, we got into the van to head to the village of Amzmiz.
Once in Amzmiz, we paired off into groups (Kelsey and I decided to room together) and were taken home for dinner by our host families. Our family was a dad and mom, one son, and two daughters. This first night definitely had some awkward moments. We ate chicken tagine from a communal bowl, with our fingers. Yum! It felt very homey and nice. The electricity went out for a while, so we ate by candle light. After dinner, our hosts were gracious enough to provide us with a shower. Since they go to the hamman, the public bath, they do not have a private shower. Even though it was just a bucket of hot water (heated on the stove) and some shampoo, it was one of the most refreshing showers I have ever taken.
Day 2 - Monday
We woke up at 7:15 am for breakfast, bright and early. Breakfast was simple - bread, oil, and some cheese. The amazing thing was that the cheese tasted exactly like cream cheese, making this the closest thing to a bagel and cream cheese that I have eaten since I left the U.S. Who woulda thought?
After breakfast, our host mom and sisters popped in a DVD of Moroccan music/dance. Kinda like aerobics, but with a lot more hip action and shimmies. One of the sisters got out her traditional outfit and they got Kelsey and I all dressed up. It was really nice to have the mom fix the headscarf and help me into the clothes. It felt very close and motherly, something that I have been missing here in Spain.Then came the dance lessons!
At 10:00 am, we met up with the rest of the group to head to the Couscous Association for lunch. This is an association that employs divorced or widowed women to help them support themselves. We met this old lady (pictured on the right). Her story is quite interesting. She does not know how old she is, but she got married at around 12 years old to a man 15 years older than her as his second wife. She has 7 children, who are all married. After surveying our group, she decided that she wanted one of the guys as her husband. It was so funny! She made him taste her couscous and promised to take good care of him. There was laughter all around. 
After lunch (couscous with hands is harder than it seems), we met up again to visit the potter and blacksmith and to take a hike around the village. Of course, the scenery was lovely and it was an awesome chance to get to know the students some more. I even managed to communicate some with one of my host sisters. In the evening, we ate dinner with our host families again. We were joined by a cousin and her daughter. After dinner, all the boys were shooed out of the room and the DVD came back on. This time, things really got crazy in that little room. Even Momma got up to dance. Kelsey and I were happy to find out that the cousin is a professional henna artist, so we got beautiful henna designs on our hands. It was a wonderful end to a fabulous day.
Day 3
In the morning, we ate breakfast and said tearful goodbyes to our host families. Then we were off to a local market, where we saw all sorts of produce, including live chickens, and recently slaughtered meat. Nothing quite like seeing a sheep's head lying on the ground. The most entertaining part of this was the donkey parking lot. Yes, you read that correctly. Check out the pic to the right.After a snack, we got back in the van to return to Marrakech for an afternoon of sightseeing and shopping. Katy, our program leader, was awesome. She took us to another women's cooperative, where I was able to buy the majority of my gifts at a good price. She also took us to see a palace and had just the right balance of giving us a bit of a tour and letting us wander on our own. The rest of the day we had free to shop.
Let me say this. Most people would say that you can get things very cheap at the markets in Morocco. I would say that this is true IF YOU ARE AN EXPERT BARGAINER. These vendors have been doing this for years. It is hard to say which they enjoy more: completely ripping off a tourist or getting a good fight from one. Although it was quite intimidating, I am proud to say that I bought my last remaining gift at a reasonable price, after talking the guy down 320 dirham (about $40 less than the original price). We ate dinner at the hotel and then had a re-cap session on the roof, talking about what we had learned.
So what did I learn? Several things. Firstly, you don't need a lot to be happy. Plain and simple. Secondly, open-mindedness does not mean believing that everything is true or right. It does not mean being unsure of what you believe. Open-mindedness is the willingness to evaluate your beliefs and to change them when appropriate. It has nothing to do with the strength or non-inclusiveness of the belief system itself. At least, that is my opinion. I could probably list some other things, but then this blog would turn into a novel about Morocco. So if you want to know more, make sure you ask me and I will be happy to oblige.
This week, alas, is my last week in Barcelona. I have final exams and such coming soon. Dare I mention home at this point? I will be coming back on December 28th. But not before I hit up Florence and Paris! So stay tuned!
Besos!
