In other news, this past weekend, I went to Tangier with my friends! I almost didn't make it because I was extremely sick on Friday, but I managed to pull myself together. I looked like crap, felt mildly like crap in the early evening when I went to catch the train, but I was NOT about to miss out on a fun weekend at the Strait of Gibraltar with my friends! We got some amazing food at a place called Ali Baba's and I just went back to the hotel and slept...(it was 11pm by the time we were done).
We all slept in really late and got ready to hang out at the beach. We went to a small café for lunch and finally got to the beach around 2. It was really cool because the beach was actually the Strait of Gibraltar- the thin strip of water that separates Morocco from Spain. So I saw Spain from the beach! :-)
I bought a waterproof camera in May and so I decided to take some water photos...but then the screen stopped working! I was really upset and I was afraid it was completely broken, but once I got back to Rabat and charged the battery a bit more, it started working again. But my $10 waterproof digital watch actually did get waterlogged. I am surprised it survived Ouzoud but not Tangier since Ouzoud's water was really cold but the water in Tangier was really warm. Oh well, I can definitely find another watch here :-)
So we did have fun at the beach, but we did encounter hardships- sharks. No, not the actual fish, but creepy Moroccan men who swarmed around us like they were, well, sharks. Literally, the water would be totally empty and we would go in. A minute later, swarms of boys and men would casually go into the water and "accidentally" swim into us. I then decided to coin the term "shark".
Shark (n): A creepy man or men who casually (or not so casually) swarm around a lady like she is a struggling fish. Seem to have never seen a woman before. Generally travel in packs for protection, as the prey could potentially be dangerous in a one-on-one situation. Generally attracted to poor, innocent American lassies simply minding their own business. (Ex: Dude, there's a shark behind you checkin' out yo' biz.)
It was really annoying to be on a little vacation trying to enjoy ourselves when people wouldn't leave us alone. It even got to the point where it was ridiculous. On the bright side, there was a really nice lifeguard who came into the water with us and shoo'ed the sharks away. He was about our age, but he was very respectful to us and made sure we had a good time, without asking for our numbers.
We then left, went back to the hotel, showered, and went to a restaurant. I forgot the name, but there were AMAZING milkshakes. We then parted ways for a little- some people wanted to go to the carnival thing outside the train station, but the rest of us stayed back and bought a birthday cake for our friend Mikaela! When they came back, we all ate cake and then we went to a discotheque. The hotel receptionist was a 22-year-old guy named Anwar, and he finished his shift as we were leaving, so we invited him to come with us! He managed to pull some strings and get us into a club for free! I danced for about 3 hours straight. We went back to the hotel around 3:30, got to bed at around 4:30, and woke up at 8:30 to catch a train back to Rabat.
When we got back to Rabat, we dropped our bags off at my house and then took taxis to the American School in Rabat for an Independence Day party. It was fun, but it was lame that we had to pay a cover charge AND for food when we got in. I went swimming in the pool and it was very refreshing. The people there were really uptight about the party, but we had fun with each other as a group of friends...and it was nice to eat hotdogs and hamburgers!!!!
In terms of school, I am busy as hell. I have to write 2 papers- one in English and one in Arabic. They aren't very long (5-8 pages), but there simply aren't enough hours in a day to get everything done, because on top of that, we have Arabic homework, 4 hours of Arabic class, 1.5-3 hours of lectures in the afternoon, and we only have internet access until 10pm when the café closes. It is getting to the point where all of us are stressed out because we are lacking sleep and we have too much on our plates. The good news is that the staff here are really chill, so they don't get bent out of shape if things get turned in late from time to time.
I haven't really been able to do much shopping....I still have to get stuff for people as well as a few things for myself :-P. I got myself the scarf in Marrakech and some shoes, but that's about it. Other things on my personal shopping list include:
1. a dress
2. a djellaba
3. a Moroccan flag
4. some other clothes since I am running low/things are easily getting destroyed
I HAVE bought a lot of postcards...I just haven't written many! :-/
This upcoming weekend, we will be going on our second group excursion to the north. This one will be a little bit longer than the first...and I'm excited to explore some new cities!
No comments:
Post a Comment