Rabat Week 2 (with some backtracking)

I flew into Casablanca, Morocco on May 10th, which is about an hour on the train from Rabat.  I met up with another Wolverine, Kinza, to explore Casablanca for a couple days.  Like we were told, there wasn't a lot to see in Casablanca besides the mosque on that's on the water and "Rick's Cafe" (no, not a scandalous college club) that was made to replicate Hollywood's representation in Casablanca.  These were absolutely beautiful.  I quickly realized that a background in French would be way more sufficient than my one year of Modern Standard Arabic, Fusha.  Darija, Morocco's Arabic dialect is quite challenging!

Desert at Rick's Cafe (best cheesecake EVER)

 Sunday afternoon we went back to Rabat on the train and I stayed in Hotel Dakar (the hotel that they arrange for you) for a night. It was....basic, but at least there was a Western toilet opposed to a Turkish one! We then met the following morning for orientation and later moved in with our host families.  Our (Fatima and I are living together) family lives in a 3 story family home with a brother to our father on the second floor and grandma on the first.  Every floor is a separate home with their own bathrooms/kitchens/living rooms, but they often prepare dishes together.  Oh, and they're remodeling the kitchen on the second floor...looks amazing, but the pounding on tile all day can get to you! Oh well, all for the cause!

Our family has a mother and father, 2 sons, and a daughter. There are also kids downstairs as well as 2 volunteering sisters from Canada, Sage and Kiara.  The house is definitely lively...and I love it! Apparently our family loves animals because we have a fish tank, 2 birds, a turtle named Donatelo, and some newly acquired COLORED baby chicks!

The day is centered around lunch.  Forget siestas, because in Morocco they normally have a 3 hour break for lunch! This isn't too great for our group of teachers, as we are in the neighboring city and far from the restaurant areas. I went home on Friday to partake in the making of couscous with Mama Leila! I have to admit, the couscous was a nice break from the bread! We eat bread ALL DAY and I'm not accustomed to it. I do miss a nice spinach salad with feta...yumm. Don't get me wrong...couscous and tagine are fantastic! One night I went on a search for ingredients to make guacamole and our family loved it. I'll have to do that again soon!

The beginnings of couscous!

Guacamole and tagine fusion of cultures!

 The second weekend of my stay many of the volunteers took a trip to Chefchaouen...the Blue City.  My next post about Chefchaouen and the Sahara is on the way!