I met my mom!

We got to meet our homestay families (or at least one person from them) this evening and everyone was so ridiculously nervous before hand. They came to the CCCL for tea and cookies, but tomorrow is when they'll pick us up from the hotel. We received papers with the names of our parents and siblings before we went downstairs to meet them and I couldn't stop folding it, unfolding it, and refolding it, I was so nervous!. As soon as I met my new mom I immediately knew there would be no problems. Her name's Hnia and she's so incredibly nice! We only talked for a little bit, but from what I can tell, she's a single parent, has a daughter named Jihan who's 22, and speaks French, Darija, and Fus'ha. We spoke in French for most of the time, but I told her I wanted to improve my Arabic and I didn't want to speak French the entire time. She got really excited and said that she'd help me out, so I'm really looking forward to that. In case you were wondering...I do have hot water (some people have to boil the water for their showers) and a single room. And a Turkish toilet (but from what I've seen/heard, this seems to be the norm). Everyone in the group is living in the medina, which basically means we're all within 15 minutes of each other and most likely somehow related. I'm excited to move in tomorrow but the thing I'm most worried about now is the amount of crap I'm lugging around. I really wish they had told us that we should only bring one suit
Because this is the last night of orientation, Brahim is making some kind of "special dinner" for us. They've set up tables downstairs in the courtyard and waiters dressed in suits are running around everywhere. It looks like a scene out of a movie! The food here has been amazing, but I've started craving mac 'n cheese and brownies. No, I have not been smoking the hashish. On that note I should probably head down to dinner and munch on some delicious couscous, and hopefully tajine!
p.s. I apologize for the recent lengthy posts...I swear they'll start to be more bearable. There are just so many crazy things going on right now, I'm trying to take it all in and describe it to you at the same time!
p.p.s. Mom--I may have a new Moroccan Mom, but you're my Mom-Mom. Haha hope that makes sense...I love you!