The journey began with waking up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus at 7 a.m. from Sevilla to Tarifa, Spain. With only a few hours of sleep because of anxiety and excitement, I grab my backpack and head to the bus stop. We take the bus to Tarifa for about 2 and a half hours, which I slept mostly through. We take the boat journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Tangier Morocco.
It was only about 30 minutes but felt like 3 hours. Everyone in my program felt dizzy and nauseous. Even the Moroccan Exchange( the program that my program CIEE decided to take us on) leader, Dena threw up and she does this twice a month. I have never felt that awful while traveling. When we arrived I could not wait to get off the ferry and be on solid ground. After reaching the dock, we exchanged our Euros to Dirhams, the Moroccan currency. I received about 420 dirhams for my 40 euros. From there, we split into two groups of 15 and loaded up into our vans and began the most amazing weekend...
I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. The group that had gone the previous week told us it was an amazing trip, perhaps even life changing. To be quite honest, I had no idea where Morocco was on the world map until my program informed us we were going, and I decided to Google it. I didn't even know most Moroccans were Arabs and that it was located in Africa. I was going to freakin' Africa. Yes, admittedly, I freaked out. I didn't think I was quite ready to travel to Africa, especially with the political uproar in Libya and Egypt. Boy was I wrong. I feel so dumb and naive to have even had the slightest bit of concern about my safety in Morocco. As I later learned, Morocco has absolutely nothing to do with Libya or Egypt and that the likelihood of the people creating a coup d'etat was slim. Morocco also happens to be one of the safest countries with a low crime rate.
Our first visit was the DARNA Women's Center in Tangier. The work that is being done there is so inspiring. Most people think of Arab nations as suppressing their women because they have to wear the head garments and become housewives. Though, most women in Morocco are housewives, they are making great progress to create opportunities for women. Head garments are not an obligation but rather a personal choice, unlike Saudi Arabia where head garments are a requirement. The DARNA center teaches great skills like sewing and the basics like reading and writing so that they are able to find jobs after they have completed their training at DARNA and received their Diplomas. The place empowers women and gives them opportunities that they otherwise would not have. Education and women's rights are quickly progressing and it is so enlightening to see the work that is being done to further this movement. The center was kind enough to feed us lunch. I was really excited because the food was absolutely delicious and fresh. However, throughout the entire trip we all had to drink out of water bottles because the tap water is different there. Most people get sick so we were advised to not drink tap water, and brush our teeth with bottled water.
Chicken with fresh vegetables
Desert: fresh pastries and cookies
After we left the center we drove to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. In the middle of our drive we stopped in a town and walked around. The view of the Sea was amazing. Every building it seems like is painted with vibrant hues of blue. I didn't catch the explanation why the various tones of blue and green against the clean white walls were significant but they were all over Morocco and so beautiful. After our small break in the town we stopped off a beach and got to ride camels. We took turns in groups of three and rode up and down the shore line. I was one of the last ones to ride the camels. The camel I rode was named Layla. I don't know if she extremely tired or because I called her name but before we got to the end of the ride she decided to plop down outta no where. I was so terrified I was going to fall off. My legs were pointed at a 90 degree angle when she decided to take a seat. Then she jumped up and walked a bit further to the end of the ride and sat down once more. Layla was sure feisty and made my ride that much more exciting. The camel ride consisted of a lot of rocking back and forth and holding on for dear life, but was extremely fun. I had only wished I was in the Sahara Dessert wearing fabulous clothes while hanging out with my best girlfriends like in Sex in the City 2, but I can't complain it was incredible.
When we finally arrive at Rabat, we met at a main home and awaited to meet our host families for two nights. I was nervous. It felt like waiting for my host family in Spain. Will they like me? Will they be psychos that will kidnap me and never let me leave? Will I be able to have a clean bed, shower, eat? All these thoughts ran through my mind. Alas, the program leader calls out my name and my two friends. Our host mother, Sedia greets us and smiles. She had the kindest smile. I try my best to say the couple of Arabic words I read in my handbook and follow her to her home. Her quaint little home is placed somewhere among the tiny little streets of Rabat. Several turns later, we arrive and meet a woman I assume to be her mother. Her mother terrified the shit outta me. She was old and pale and had a green line tattoo on her straight going straight down and a similar one on her forehead. Her teeth was gold, sharp and many were missing. She was unlike anyone's I've ever seen. She was really nice but her appearance made me fear her. I could not dare to look at her for more than 5 seconds. Sedia shows us our room which pretty much consists of three sofa looking things lined against the walls of the room. They were hard as rocks and so uncomfortable.
As a result, I didn't sleep the two nights we spent there. After throwing our stuff down we were escorted to the dining/living room where we ate our first dinner. It was fresh carrots and peas with chicken, very similar to the lunch we had. Most meals are eaten on one big platter and everyone has a designated triangle area. You are only suppose to use your right hand because the left hand is seen as the hand you use to wipe yourself, so it is kinda disgusting if you use it to eat. Being left-handed, this was quite a challenge at first. A few meals later I got the hang out of. You only eat in your triangle and pick up food with bread. I think I ate 5 lbs of bread this weekend. Everything is served with bread. Throughout the meal, no real words were exchanged with Sedia or the rest of the family. Though there was suppose to be an English speaker in every host family, we happened to have one without. I was quite disappointed and feeling a surge of culture shock at that point. I was freaking out during dinner and told the other girls. The whole day had finally caught up with me and I felt out of place, isolated and homesick for Sevilla. It saddened me we couldn't have a conversation with Sedia because she only spoke Arabic and French (all Moroccans speak both languages). I threw in my small phrases like Snu smikdt? (what's your name?), Shukran (thank you), Sbet ( I'm full). We drank our tea and gave up. We knew no real conversation was going to take place and regressed to our room. Disappointed I hopped into bed and began to ponder if Morocco really was going to be a life changing experience or if I'd be miserable the whole time because it was the biggest culture shock I'd ever experience.
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