When in Morocco...

So yesterday was one of those non-stop days that just seemed never ending. I love everything about this program, it’s just so hard to be stuck inside with all the orientation lectures when I know there are so many places that I could be exploring around the medina. We started the morning with a Darija lesson (Moroccan dialect vs. Modern Standard Arabic, Fus’ha), which quickly reminded me that I need to start reviewing my Arabic books a little more seriously before the three hours a day, five times a week classes start up next Monday morning. The main difference between darija and fus’ha, from what I can tell, is that when learning darija you either remove all the vowels from the Modern Standard word or take a French word and add a more guttural “(c)gh”, and there you go…the result is darija. As part of the intensive Arabic course that we’re required to take, we have 15 hours of darija and the rest is about 105 hours of fus’ha of in-class and office hours. I definitely think it’s going to be frustrating to be learning the Modern Standard when all anyone on the street understands is the Moroccan dialect, but I think it’ll help me in the long run with developing a strong foundation in the language. After all, darija is only spoken in Morocco, and very few people would understand it outside of the Kingdom.
We also had lectures on “Monarchy and Political Systems in Morocco” and “Moroccan Identities”—these were both great because we had our ADs explaining Morocco’s political system and the culture instead of Lonely Planet or Rough Guide. Though, I think the best part of today was when of our program directors came in and outlined the semester for us. The more I hear about it, the more I get excited for this semester. We’ve got excursions every other weekend to all different parts of the country…Fes, Marrakech, Casablanca, and the Sahara are just a few of the big names, but we’re also doing a week-long rural stay in a small village (we’re talking rustic, big time)…and on the weekends when they haven’t planned anything we’re allowed to hang out with our families or go traveling with other people in the group. The only rule is that we’re not allowed to leave the country, which is totally fine with me considering there’s more than enough to keep me busy in Morocco and the borders to Algeria are all closed.
I get to meet my family on Friday and I think that’s going to be a big factor in how I choose to spend my free time. Doha, the woman in charge of the homestay coordination, explained to the group that the families that we’ll be placed with are going to be very traditional, very liberal, or somewhere in between—there’s no set type of family that students get placed with. Basically this means that we’ll either be expected to be home for dinner every night or we’ll be allowed to stay out a little bit later (accompanied by a man, of course). Doha also spoke to us a bit about different living situations we might experience, and I’ve determined that this is going to be a big-time learning experience. She described bathrooms in some of the houses as having a Turkish toilet which doubled as the drain for the shower (in case you’re not getting this: to take a shower, you stand where you would if you were peeing and the water comes from the shower head which also doubles as the flushing mechanism), but then other houses have normal Western-style showers. Now, I’m all about cultural experiences and what not, but I really don’t feel like having a Western shower would deprive me of anything important, therefore I’ll take one for the team and be assigned to the house with separate toilet and shower. I know, I know; how magnanimous of me.
Speaking of cultural experiences; on the way back from tea this evening we decided to stop at one of the many snail vendors that are lined up on Hassan II Blvd to see what all the fuss was all about. The vendors set themselves up along the street and people line up to eat a bowl of snails that were just freshly boiled and as with all things Moroccan, it’s a very social activity. One of the girls mentioned wanting to try snails, another person said he would do it if she did it, and one thing just led to another…soon enough we had a bowl full of snails in front of us and there was nothing left to do but dig in. If you’re looking for a new way to spend a buck, you can forget the dollar menu at McDonalds and head straight for your nearest neighborhood snail shop! Now I’m not saying they tasted gross or anything (I’m sure I just got a bad one), but it feels like I’ve got a snail trying to shimmy its way back up my throat. It’s possibly the weirdest feeling in the world…I’m glad I did it though, because I’m not sure where else I would have tried it nor do I think I’ll forget that anytime soon. But I can assure you, it will most likely be the last time I do that (though there is something kind of satisfying about plucking a snail out of its shell with a toothpick and munching on it). I think I’ll stick with the tea next time…less risk of parasites as well.