Rockin the Kasbah

Thats right. I had a royal w/ cheese, aka a quarter pounder. For anyone who has ever seen pulp fiction you understand my excitement. The process of buying a fan last night last 3 hours. but we saved a total of 20 dollars on 3 fans. I pulled out the shame on your family line and he dropped the price a dollar per fan. The term when it rains it pours came from someone living in the desert. It rained yesterday and I thought we were caught in a 20 minute monsoon. The amazing thing is, 20 minutes later everything was bone dry. Right now the international sacred musical festival is going on so every hotel in fez is packed. Tickets are like 10 dollars or 20 dollars a night. With the most popular act being tomarrow night. I just found out that my entire group is going tomarrow night and its to late to buy tickets. Well I managed to score a front row ticket!! a guy in my class is the photographer and he got me one. Im pretty excited. Its a fancy affair! I actually get to dress up and show a little skin. Im wearing a knee length skirt… very scandelous 😉 Im trying to find things to talk about since the longer i am in here the further away walking the terrible stairs to my apartment is. Unfortunatly there seems to be nothing else remarkable that has happened to me.

I must be wearing a sign (the blonde hair is probably it) that says rip me off. I have been over charged for everything! I have even been bartering. For things I thought I got a good deal on and that I yelled the shop owners yelled, I walk away multiple times… the price is dropped by like half, I go home and tell my host family what i paid and its still like double the right price. I dont know what it will take. I did get a good price for my hand in marriage though. 4000 camels. Its probably going to be the amount they would pay for a street urchin but still 4000 camels seems like a large amount of camels. if anyone would like to call me from home I have a cell, the number is 073776864 i believe the country code is 221 and the city code is 5. if anyone trys and that doesnt work, let me know. I am about to try to add pictures to this post so if there are some, enjoy and remember I still have yet to really explore the city. These are mostly just sights on my walk home from school. Speaking of my walk, I probably walk easily 4-5 miles a day if I just go to school and come home. Not to mention the 6 flights of stairs to the apartment while the elevator is broken. Normally this wouldnt be horrible, but factor in 100 degree heat and the sun beating down on you the entire time. I drink water like it is going out of style. Its nothing for me to drink 3-4 bottles of water a day. Water at least is cheap. For the large bottles I drink 1.5 liters, its only 50 cents which is great with as much as I drink. at frirst I thought aleast I will loose weight, not with the way they force food on you here. Its part of the Moroccan hospitality to have us eat all of the time. Not only at meals do they continally tell me to eat, but they also serve me snacks where they set the whole table. Ok! I finally have pictures online. If anyone wants to see them here they are! http://www.pixagogo.com/8260165511

Well I visited the medina yesterday. I think the guy we went with (someone that one of the girls in my group met) wasnt the best person to go with. He never wanted to barter with people for the price of things and although everyone who has gone to the medina says it stinks and is tiny and crowded, I believe the part we were in stank worse and was even more tiny and croweded than normal. Meat for sale lay rotting in the sun, fish heads littered the ground and bugs were the main course it looked like on most of the food. All of this and I still intended to go back. I didnt get to see the tanneries which although stinky are one of the main attractions. After the medina I went to my friends house and while trying to get back to mine, became terribly lost around 8 pm. Women are suppose to be off the streets by 9 or so and I was getting worried. Truthfully I was terrified. I was walking up and down the main road looking for anything familiar, in tears. Still the only response I was getting from people… or should I say men since they are the only ones to talk to me. Was, dont cry, you are so beautiful. Very helpful. Finally I stopped and asked someone where a phone was so I could attempt to call my friend and have her show me how to get to school and from there I could make my way home. He showed me the teleboutique and then kept pestering me to see me again, to meet his family…. i shut the door and wouldnt let him in and finally he left. Needless to say I got home and got them to write down their address and phone number. All in all Im still enjoying myself. I dont do this place justice in my posts. Soon I will put the pictures I have taken on here. We walked past the palace of Muhammed V and just the outside doors and gardens were spectacular. Even the gate to the Medina is beautidful… what lies in side is not but the gate at least is. Through all of this I have not even gotten into the beauty of the Moroccan people. The whole city is really captivating. Well I am going to go get lunch with my family. The lunches here are huge. Its like a thanksgiving feast everytime I come home.

I have moved in with the family that I am staying with. Things are much nicer. I love fez. It is a little confusing so I have not gone to the Medina yet. The city is large, the size of Richmond maybe bigger but with worse drivers. how there are not accedints everyday i dont know. I am in class 6 hours a day so there isnt a whole lot of time to explore although I have a 4 hour lunch break. It is not normal to walk around from 12-3 as everyone with a home is there and the only people out are homeless. I had a little trouble telling the family I was with that I was leaving. When I got my point across, the father who spoke English but never camz out of his room, refused to let me leave. I had to get the director of my program to call and tell him he had no choice. But it is normal for them to be protective of women so I wasnt too upset. A couple of us are making plans to visit the Medina and go around and shop. I wish I knew better arabic so that I wouldnt be ripped offwhen I barter. Even in shops when Im with one of my host sisters things are cheaper than when I am alone

Imade it! besides the keyboard being odd this place is amazing. i have never met such friendly people. They eat all of the time! i had what i thought was dinner but was only a snack so i went to bed only to wakeee up finding them hovered around me seeing if i was sick 2 hours later. i havent yet gotten to look around the medina howerever just waandering around the city is un nerving. men stop their conversatioons to shout out things i cannot understand. which i expected just not from everyone. apparently only lately have women been in the streets walking around so they feel they can do this to not just americans but moroccan women as well. the family i am staying with knows no english other than the father and brother but they are never home and the father only stays in his room. but i have never met more generous people. they are all so giving of anything that I or the other girl who is studying with me need. She can speak french and they seem to be more fluent in french than arabic. however she wont translate for me. i have to head oout and try to find my way to school but I just purchased 30 hours for the next é2 monthes for just 10 dollars and i will be posting much more ofter.

Well only 4 days until I leave and I am extermly excited! I’m still looking for gifts for the family that I’ll be staying with but its a little fustrating buying for people that I have no idea what there interests are or even if they have children. In my typical style everything is pretty much in a dis-organized mess. Mostly meaning… I still havent packed anything. Although I have been brushing up on what little Arabic I know so that I will be at least a little prepared for when I arrive. Well theres more to come soon. Im sure that once I arrive in Morocco it will be a flury of activity and whats on here will be a whirl wind of excitment.