04/19/2014

Mr. Eldigwy

Today is the last day before we depart Morocco back to the U.S. The day started with a 2 hour Arabic class, followed by a very nice barbecue of chicken and kofta kebabs. The students participated in cooking the food and after the party they went with their host brother and sisters to the old medina to do more shopping.

 

 

 

 

04/18/2014

Isabell,

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!

At the beginning of the trip I was a little worried about spending my birthday away from my family but from the moment the clock ticked twelve am and my three host sisters, host mom along with Jana and her host sister barged into my room screaming happy birthday, I knew it was going to be a good day! Waking up early and going to school on my birthday was a new experience, I’ve spent every birthday since I could remember enjoying my spring break, lazing around, but instead I was participating in an intense Arabic only program for the majority of the day.

 

 

 I’ll admit it was one of my less productive days, but still, a lot was learned. We were lucky enough to get a break where we were shown the impressive cooking skills of Bridges School staff, I’m positive the little old lady was burning right through the skin on her hands as she separated the couscous chunks in Brian’s portion.

 

 

At lunch we were served an Amazing meal of couscous and raisin chicken. Mid meal, I was ambushed with Arabic hymns, I realized after a couple verses that they were singing happy birthday!  A delicious cake followed which definitely clarified the happy birthday thing. After distributing pieces amongst the staff, we sat down and proceeded to devour the rest. 

 Once class let out we were led to an upstairs classroom where we were introduced to art of Arabic calligraphy. After being thoroughly embarrassed for not being able to properly draw out one of the easiest words of the language we celebrated the few circles on our sheets and laughed at Brian’s vegetable shaped letters.

 

We spent about 30 minutes deciding what happens next and finally decided on bowling. After a terrifying 5D experience we spent the rest of the day trying to break 30 on the bowling scale. Needless to say we all (except Brian) succeeded. Being rushed home seemed kind of odd especially since we were all having a good time, but my host sister insisted. Me and Jana were crammed into the car and swept away.

 

 

 

 

To my great surprise I was greeted with an adorable cake and birthday wishes from my host family as soon as I stepped into the apartment. We sang and laughed and ate and ultimately ended the day on a high note.

 

 

04/17/2014

Nadia,

Today we decided as a group to go back to the medina in Rabat. In Fes, our tour guide wasn't the best and took us to expensive places where he only had deals with. I also found that Fes was more expensive. It was tough haggling down to decent prices. Usually the stores that specified on one item (for example a scarf store), had higher prices. So we liked to go deeper in the market places to small stores that were willing to bargain. The hotel we stayed at was beautiful with tiled mosaics and good food. Last night we relished the dinner they gave us. We thought the appetizer was the meal so we were filled by the main course.

 

 Before our little adventure up to the hotel terrace, I had a personal struggle of my own. In the bathroom, there were two different soaps that came with the hotel. Of course they were in Arabic so I made an educated guess as to which soap was for what. However, there was this one soap that no one was able to identify. It was either between body wash or conditioner. The substance was green and slimy and I was completely thrown off as to what it could be. So I used it for both. After my shower I joined everyone on the terrace and found out the soap was body wash. My hair remains sticky and unmanageable.

 

 The next morning for breakfast we had the traditional bread and honey, jam or butter. In Fes, the atmosphere was more for tourists so we returned to the Souk in Rabat. After the 3 hour ride back we began our shopping. I bought 5 scarves, some jewelry, teapot, backpack which the workers cleaned with pigeon poop, a purse, and more. We went without a tour guide so we were able to explore more of the medina on our own. We walked a lot and after our little shopping spree it was difficult to find an empty cab.

 

 After half an hour of waiting we found a cab and went back to Bridges. We ate at this street store and everyone had shawarma. This is a delicious wrap filled with chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, olives (which everyone picked out) and hummus. I noticed how many cats came up to us while we were eating and ate our leftovers. I ended up giving them pieces of chicken because one was pregnant and I just love cats in general.

 
 

 

 Overall our shopping day in Rabat was successful and everyone bought what they've wanted to buy.

 

 

 

 

04/16/2014

Brian

So waking up at 7 am is never fun, and following it up with a three hour bus ride just adds insult to injury. Thus accurately describes the beginning of our trip to Fez. I wake up with a sore throat, but that quickly faded away. My first impression of Fez is of its overwhelming crowdedness. There are literally people walking around the cars as they drive through the street. We get out of the bus and are led to our hotel, or Riyad as it’s called here. A Riyad is essentially a large home that was converted into a hotel and is often based in the middle of the medina. Ours happened to be close to the outside, which was lucky for us. I, having never been in a Riyad, or Morocco for that matter, expected a hole in the wall. From the outside, that is exactly what we got. However, walking into the lobby, we are absolutely shocked. This place is absolutely gorgeous. Tile everywhere, artful rugs holding the dining table in the middle of the room down, a couch decorated with striped pillows is backed up to an octagonal-tiled wall at the entrance, where we promptly sat down to drink our welcome tea, which was divine. One problem I have with the tea here is how sweet it is, yet these people in the Riyad seem to have it down. Anyway, we get the room keys and are directed to just the steepest stairs I’ve ever seen. One step is easily ten inches tall, maybe more, and they’re narrow. I lay my bags down in a deep maroon room whose centerpiece is a four-posted queen size bed, which although is hard as a rock, has very beautiful pillows.

It is time to leave after we have settled down, and in the lobby stands an old, tired looking man named Taoufik. I find it funny that this man shares the same name as our Arabic teacher back at Bridges, and move on. As we walk into the medina, he tells us that this is the largest medina in the world, comprising of upward of 9000 streets, all packed to the brim with people, stores, and countless trinkets and other items. I am instantly taken aback by the sheer volume of things happening in the medina. First, we are immersed in the world of the medina, with men shouting their wares across the narrow corridors, women and children struggling to get by all the clutter in the medina, and the plethora of things. I am not saying things for lack of a better word, but because that is the best way to explain it. Literally anything that you can think of is for sale at a (moderately) cheap price in the medina of Fez. My friends behind me tell me to look at the people walking by, as many of them are looking at us (if you catch my drift) but I am simply overwhelmed by all the stores that we walk by. One store in particular that retains a spot in my memory is the tannery, where bags aplenty were made in the back, which we were shown from their rooftop. There are two things that make up the dyes used to color the bags, scarves, and just about any apparel in the medina. First are different types of flowers. Saffron makes yellow, lavender purple, etcetera, etcetera. All the pleasantry is put to shame when we learn of the second ingredient: the fecal matter of pigeons. As we are being told this, we surface at the top of the building and are blown away by a stench. When we look down, there are multiple pools of different color in one section of the “backyard” and different pools of a grayish-brownish color. The latter pools can only be assumed to be the pigeon poo. Anyway, we leave, quickly I might add, and begin looking for a place to eat. We walk into this place, and it is clearly a tourist trap. There is not a single local in the restaurant, save for the waiters. You would think that a tourist trap would be good. You’d be wrong. The chicken, which I ordered, was terrible. We left this place quickly as well and went on shopping. I’m not the best at haggling, which is customary in the medina, so I was broke quickly. On the bright side, I have some wonderful smelling hand lotion among other things. We finish up and head back, and call it a day. The medina is definitely something worth visiting, unless you happen to be claustrophobic.

                           

                            

04/15/2014

Johnna

Our day began at 10 am with 5 hours of Arabic class. We had 2 breaks in between where we ate an enormous amount of food. We had everything from Moroccan khobz (bread) and mint tea to couscous and vegetables. During class, we learned about family and ways to describe your family. Later on, we met up with our hosts and went on a scavenger hunt throughout the medina. My group consisted of me, Isabell, and our 2 hosts. We made it through the scavenger hunt fairly quickly and it was a lot of fun. We tried to use our Arabic as much as possible but it was tricky because in Morocco, Arabic is mixed in with French.  The trip through the medina was also different for me because I am blonde. I got a lot of looks, was called beautiful multiple times. After we completed the scavenger hunt, we had to take the tram back to Bridges international school. We got on the tram and relaxed until suddenly, our hosts ran up to the front of the tram to talk to the driver. Apparently, we got on the wrong tram and were headed in the opposite direction. It wasn’t too bad getting on a tram back, but we had to take 3 trams and got back almost an hour after the other groups. They felt so bad that we got candy for being so cooperative. Overall it was a short but very fun day.

04/14/2014

Lindsey;

We had our first class in Bridges yesterday. At 10, we had an orientation where they quizzed us on Morocco. They told us little facts about Morocco like how Mohammad the Sixth (the king) was the first king to publicize his marriage. People in Morocco today know the name of his wife, while beforehand she was nameless and anonymous. We also learned that the Hollywood of Morocco is Ouarzazat. After the orientation, we had our first Arabic class. At the beginning, we introduced ourselves. We told each other what we did and didn’t like, where we lived, who our parents are and what they do. After that, we played charades completely in Arabic. We couldn’t speak any English. I was the first one to go. Taufik showed everyone else a picture and I had to ask questions in Arabic and my classmates had to answer me in Arabic. The person in my picture was Angelina Jolie. It took me a while to guess her. I guessed Angelina Jolie only after someone said that she had many children and was married to Brad Pitt. The picture that Nadia had to guess was Adele. We said that her songs were very sad and that she was British. Nadia couldn’t guess Adele because we didn’t know what else to say. Eventually, we tried to say one of her song titles in Arabic. The song we were trying to translate was Someone Like You. We ended up translating the song title word for word (a word for some, another for one, a word for like, and a word for you). Then she guessed Adele. Isabel had Obama. We were joking earlier that Oprah Winfrey was the real president and not Obama. We said that in Arabic and Isabel immediately got it. After the class, we went on a guided tour of Rabat. On the tour, we went to Roman ruins and our guide showed us a few of the structures and told us what they were used for. We also went to the place that was supposed to be the biggest mosque, but the king died before it could be completed. Our guide showed us the place where the current king’s father and uncle were buried. There was a lot of detail on the walls around them and there were even guards out front (which Johnna, Isabel, and Nadia took a picture with). After that, we went to the old medina and went shopping a little bit. The medina was very busy and there were even a few people riding around on a motorcycle. I enjoyed the tour a lot. I even got to see a few places that I didn’t get to last year.

    

 

 

                                                             

                                

04/13/2014

We arrived in Casablanca, Morocco after a long flight and were greeted by Brian’s host brother Ali and the van driver. We took a two and a half hour ride to Rabat, the capital of Morocco ad everyone was really tired.

We arrived at Bridges around 9:30 pm and all host students were waiting for us. We were greeted by Meriem (director of Bridges). Today 4/14, we will start our program by an orientation followed by the first Arabic class for the students; at 4:30 we will have a guided tour of Rabat.