Ya La! Ya La! Let’s go Morocco!!
Woo! I am finally in Africa!!! I have been waiting for this one :D The first day I started after lunch on the ship (saving some money J). Getting ready I knew that I had to cover up from my shoulders to below my knees or I would be harassed! A couple of my residents and I headed out for our first excursion! Our first step was to take our little shuttle bus to the actual city. You see, we are currently docked at a freight port instead of the usual tourist port… but that doesn’t stop us :D The first thing I said when we got out was, “We’re in Casablanca! I love it!!” then a few steps later, “The dirt is red! I love it!!” then a few more “I love its” and they got the point! :D The first official stop was at a bank for money exchange. $1 here is 7.99 Durham so it looked like I had a lot… but not really J We then continued on exploring the city of Casablanca! Our first pedestrian thing we experienced was that there are no walking signs for crossing streets… It’s sooo confusing too because their stop lights aren’t across the street like ours, they are on the right hand side of the road you’re driving on (so kinda like where a stop sign would be). Any how, once we figured out how to cross the streets we started looking around. We noticed that not too many women were out and about. And those that were out were fully covered! Did I tell y’all that it is currently the month of Ramadan? Oh and we are in a country that is 99% Muslim! It has a huge impact on the city!
Eventually we came upon a great little market with all kinds of hand made trinkets: mirrors, masks, purses, scarves, random camel ornaments, instruments, wall decorations, Moroccan clothes, and soo much more!! Then we found ourselves in brand name market… like track suits and shoes for Adidas and Nike… oh and then came the rip off DVDs. I found it very tempting to purchase a copy of the latest Harry Potter movie (still in theaters) but I resisted! Leaving this little shop I followed the girls and was approached by a lady in a vale (of course most all of the ladies were in them). She was showing me her book of henna designs and, although they were very pretty, I was not interested. I said, “No thank you!” …then, next thing I knew, she had my hand (I have no idea how she got it)! She pulled out this thing that looked like a huge needle (at which my heart jumped… I HATE needles)!!! I repeatedly said, “NO NO NO!!” I relaxed very slightly when I realized that it was her henna pen but continued to say NO! 15 seconds later I had a little henna design from my pointer finger to just above my wrist!!! She said something like “you like?” I said, “no thank you!!!” and she said, “have a good day!” Whew!!! I was sooo relieved that she didn’t make me pay! But now I have a free henna and a little story to tell J.
We kept shopping for a while and got lost a few times (by now I’ve come to expect it). Eventually we made our way to the Mosque II… the 3rd largest mosque in the world!!! …OMGoodness! It WAS huge!!! And gorgeous!! The courtyard alone was larger than 2 football fields for sure! There was a lovely little walking path that surrounded it with little gardens on the sides! The architecture was beautiful! And I loved the tile work! We walked over to the side where the ocean was (yip it’s built over the ocean)! We really wanted to go in, but only Muslims were allowed in. I have been told of how beautiful it is! There is supposedly a glass floor that allows you to see the ocean below and a dome ceiling that opens up (practically for an ocean breeze… but also for beauty). I really wanted to go in! And so did Mia! The other girls said no… but she and I looked at each other and grabbed our paskminas and started wrapping our hair! We giggled a little as we left then asked one another if we really thought we could do it… then we met a lovely lady who said we could walk in with her (in French but that’s pretty much what she said). We were so excited! We got passed the first 2 guards as we talked to the lady J Then right as we were stepping into the mosque they asked Mia if she was Muslim. I honestly think they didn’t feel like they needed to ask me because of my dark skin and eyes, but Mia with her green eyes, white face (with freckles), and red hair barely showing kinda gave her away. Of course you can’t lie when you are about to enter holy ground so she said no and we walked back after saying “Orivwa” (sp?) to our sweet friend who tried to help us in. When we got back the other girls were ready to head back… but Mia and I split off because we still wanted to explore. We headed in the direction of home but in a different pathway. We were looking for more of the Moroccan culture and were pleasantly surprised when we found ourselves in a food market!! Why do we not have these everywhere in the States??? They are AMAZING!! Everything was soo fresh and smelled amazing… just like all the other markets… except here there were new fruits and herbs J Oh and I loved seeing all the people! It must have been the time for everyone to come and get their groceries for the evenings “break-fast” meal! The women were out here J With all the things going on, one thing that really stood out to me was that women were holding hands… and so were men! And I loved the way they greeted each other! They would (firmly for the guys) shake hands with their right hand and place the other hand on the other’s shoulder as they kissed each other’s cheeks back and forth 4 times! The smiles on their faces were soo warm, it was like they hadn’t seen each other in a good while, while at the same time with such familiarity (like they saw each other yesterday)! I appreciated it! Oh and this whole timeMia and I were getting really thirsty… but, while it’s not terrible, we did not want to drink in front of the people because it’s supposed to be rude. Then we realized that all this food was being sold and NOTHING was being eaten OR snacked on! Just another reminder about Ramadan where everyone is fasting from sun-up to sun-down! Nothing goes in their mouths at all! No food! No drinks (even water)! No chewing gum! No smoking! Not even brushing your teeth is allowed while the sun is up! It is all to remind them to be patient! So we stuck through and waited till we were back on our little bus to the ship. We were so glad we took the long way home J As I was on call that night, I decided to stay in for the remaining 2 hours and get some work done.
The next day started off wonderfully… because I woke up to my own alarm and not to a phone call from security… the whole night!! Wooo! Yay for good students! Incase you don’t get it yet… it’s rare that an on call is that quiet :D I got up for breakfast and then we loaded up the busses to head out for our 3 day trip to Marrakesh!!!
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