Not Your Average IKEA Trip

Exciting news - I bought a desk for my apartment last Saturday! Ghislaine brought me to Mobilia, which is a lot like IKEA, where I found a desk that is practical, as well as nice enough to go into my living room. Included in the price was delivery and some friendly men who put it together for me! I was supposed to get the desk on Tuesday around 6 p.m, but in true Moroccan style, no one showed. I called on Wednesday and they were supposed to deliver Thursday, but again not so much. I finally went in today and asked about it and there was some issue with my address and phone number. So when I got home, I called Hamid (who spoke English - yay!) and they made their way to my place. In less than half an hour, they brought all the pieces upstairs, put it together and placed it where I wanted it in my living room. It's beautiful - I'm so glad to be using a desk instead of a coffee table! And you can't beat the service included!

6 Hour Lunches

I hate that this picture is so dark. From left to right, these lovely ladies are: Julie (1st grade teacher), Fatima Zhara (PreFirst Aide), Amina (PreFirst Aide), and Fatima Zhara (1st grade Aide). One delightful Sunday, Julie invited us all over for a traditional Moroccan lunch. Since she and I both have absolutely no skills when it comes to cooking, we convinced these locals to help us out. Fatima Zhara (1st grade) is an amazing cook. She created a list of things for Zakia to get on Friday, so that she could show us all the different ingredients. They were set to arrive at 11:30 a.m. and were on time, so we started our cooking adventure. Among other culinary skills, we learned how to chop up a whole chicken, how to store herbs in the fridge to keep them from going bad, and how to serve mint tea - Moroccan style.

We ate our chicken dish with bread off of one single plate (with our right hands, of course). Our salad was served American style. It was delicious. After hanging out on Julie's awesome balcony (with an amazing view of the garbage below), Fatima Zhara taught us how to make and serve mint tea. Our first major faux paus was serving fruit with tea - apparently, we were supposed to serve the fruit after the meal and before the tea.

Julie was a true hostess with the mostest as we took the fruit away and added cookies to our tea party. By then, it was 6 p.m. and our wonderful lunch was dying down. The three lovely Moroccans took their leave and Julie and I marveled at how full we still were after 6.5 hours of lunch! No wonder restaurants don't open until 8 p.m. :) Next up - more cooking lessons from our dear friends and a shopping trip! Apparently, CAS does not provide its teachers with appropriate Moroccan serving dishes and we must find the right ones in order to host true Moroccan fiestas!

Couscous - not out of a box

Before moving to Morocco, the only couscous that I had experienced came out of a "ready in minutes" box at Safeway. Moroccan couscous is a whole different ball game. Couscous is an important traditional dish here - eaten mostly on Fridays. It is so important that I have a special couscous pot that the school provides as part of our kitchen supplies. I don't have a cookie sheet or baking pan, but I have a couscous pot.

Couscous is made by steaming the couscous over a mix of vegetables (most often made with 7 Vegetables). The couscous is put on a large serving dish and the vegetable/meat mixture is poured over the top. The plate is then placed in the middle of the table.

To eat couscous, use only your RIGHT hand. (The left hand is used for other purposes, not eating). Take some couscous and vegetables and form in a ball in your hand. Toss it a little to get good form and then pop it in your mouth. Make sure to only eat from your section of the dish. If you would like something from another section (say you really love the carrots and there's one eyeing you across the plate), you must get permission from the person with that section. As Stephanie, Cinde, Mafhoud, Annike, and I were sharing this plate, we had an extra section that we could also ask each other to take from. It's better not to ask, of course, and stick to your own section.

Seafood Grill

First off, I must say that I love seafood. Sure, hanging out on the beach with a trashy romance novel is a delightful experience. However, my favorite thing about seaside towns is the seafood. Essauoira did not disappoint.

Here's how to have an amazing seafood experience in Essauoira:

1. Go to the fish stalls right by the water where racks of seafood, like this one, are laid out.

2. Point to the fish, shrimp, crab, etc. that you would like to consume.

3. Sit down with your friends and order drinks.

4. The food will be grilled right there for you. As you wait, enjoy the salad and frites that they bring out for you to eat.

5. Savor the flavors of delicious, fresh seafood.

6. Pay your very small bill (shrimp shown above, plus a fish for only $20 - this also includes your salad, frites, and drinks)

7. Last, but not least, blog about it!

PS. If you get the crab, they will make this crab soup for you that is apparently a cure for some sickness. The sickness it cures got lost in translation...Johnna was not a fan, but Marketa (not pictured) loved it!

Moroccan Salon

Every school should have a Moroccan Salon. Traditional homes here have these rooms with couches against all the walls. Our school's is on the third floor, right next to my office and is used for staff meetings, PTA meetings, yoga classes after school, and other exciting events. The walls are lined with couches and pillows so that we can all sit in comfort at staff meetings. During Ramadan, the couches were all full of people sleeping during their lunch hours. The Moroccan Salon can also be used by classes practicing performances or just having a nice comfortable place to learn.

Here's me in my djellaba, enjoying a moment of quiet during Explore Morocco in the Moroccan Salon.

Carpet Making

As a part of CAS Lower School's Explore Morocco week, two carpet makers came to do a demonstration at our school on Monday. The women were from the Meknes area and were making a traditional Berber carpet that they will finish and give to the school. It was fascinating.

The video doesn't even do justice to how amazing these women were! They came with a bunch of wood pieces that they put together and supported with tent stakes and ropes. Then, they used yarn to finish off the loom. Before beginning, they just talked about what they were going to do as a design and each woman seemed to know her part when they worked. To weave, they tied the yarn and both cut it to the same length with a knife.

The final product will be a shaggy style carpet with a traditional berber symbol woven into the middle. The school will frame it and hang it in the school.

What's Under Your Djellaba?

There are no "Denim Fridays" at CAS, which drives me a little crazy, but we do have "Djellaba Fridays". A djellaba is a traditional dress worn in Morocco. There are djellabas everywhere! The wonderful thing about a djellaba is what you wear with it. Many of the "yummy mummies" here at school wear their djellabas with fancy high heels, and designer sunglasses & purses. I love my djellaba (which I bought at the habous with my mum) because I get to wear pajama pants and a tank top underneath. It's pretty much like I'm wearing a bath robe and pjs to school, yet still managing to look professional. Totally my kind of traditional dress!


Here's me in my djellaba, standing on the roof at school. It was pretty windy out, but my djellaba was keeping me warm and comfy!

Rick's Cafe

For those of you who have actually seen the movie Casablanca, here's a pic for you. I haven't seen it yet, but apparently this place called Rick's Cafe is pretty important in it. :) The entire movie was filmed outside of Morocco, so there wasn't an actual Rick's Cafe here until a few years ago. An American woman decided to open a restaurant in tribute to the cafe in the movie, so now we actually have a Rick's Cafe in Casablanca. My mum and I went to celebrate her birthday when she was visiting during Ramadan. Luckily, it's such a tourist spot that we were able to have a bottle of wine and lunch (eating and drinking alcohol during the day - wow!). We were also able to take this pic.

Who Loves Me?

I received my first dozen red roses a couple of weeks ago from one of the most important people in my life - Zakia, my housekeeper. I came home from work to my usually spotless house, dinner, and these lovely roses on my kitchen table. I don't know how I'll ever survive without her again!

Transportation in Marrakech

All of the medina walls and buildings inside the medina in Marrakech are the same color - this lovely rusty orangey red. There are a few different shades, but don't go to Marrakech expecting to find a white building anywhere. We were shocked when we got to Essauoira and all of the buildings were white and blue! Casablanca's got all sorts of different colors, so it was interesting to see the uniformity in both places.


While in Marrakech, we decided to take an hour long trip on a horse and buggy to go along the outside of the medina walls.



Inside the medina, only horse & buggies, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians are allowed. Outside, it's a whole different ballgame, as cars are also driven around. Check out this awesome traffic circle - I would not want to drive here where not only do you have to watch out for crazy car drivers, but horses and buggies too!

And in case that wasn't enough options, you could just hop on one of these camels...

Drinking in Public

We found a restaurant with a rooftop bar and had these liters of beer to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the beginning of eating and drinking in public!

Me and Stephanie at Espagnolas Verdes

Zellij

Moroccan tilework, known as zellij, is famous because of how meticulously it is handcrafted. More information to come after next week's Explore Morocco at school, where students will be creating zellij in a traditional way.

Here's an example found in the Marrakech Museum.

While in Marrakech, we visited a Medresa, where students were once educated for 2 years at a time about the Quran. These pillars from the Medresa are inscribed with verses from the Quran.

Close up of the beautiful arabic script decorating the pillars.

Essaoiura

We didn't spend our whole vacation in Marrakech. We also headed to Essaoiura, a beautiful ocean-side town south of Casablanca. Check out the awesome sunsets!


Aaaah...the Atlantic Ocean! Our nice view from the rooftop terrace where we had dinner...

COMMUNICATION!

I am soooo excited! I finally have my Internet and my Vonage all set up! So you all can call me now and I can call you...
My number is 206-529-4313. Would love to hear from you all!

Spices, Oils, and Herbs! Oh My!

Our trusty tour guide also dropped us off at this wonderful place, where we were given a presentation on spices, herbs, and oils in Morocco.

We were led into this room with tons of spices on shelves around the room.

During our presentation, this lovely lady came in to give us massages using argane oil. It was awesome! Argane oil comes from the argane nut and is used in cooking as well as for dry skin. It's very popular here in Morocco in kitchens and for cosmetic purposes.

Here's our guy who gave us the presentation. He showed us herbs, spices, and oils to be used for all kinds of ailments. One of the spices he showed us was saffron, which is about 1/20th of the price you could find back in the States. It's interesting how some things are so much cheaper and others are much more expensive.

There were spices everywhere. Even on the stairways!

I came away with some mint tea, ginseng, slimming tea (guarantee to lose 2 kilos in 2 weeks!), and some cosmetic argane oil. Our friendly presentation guy gave us some argane oil for cooking, a cloth loofah like thing, and some rose cream for gifts. All in all, a great experience.

Getting Lost in the Souqs

The Lonely Planet suggested that we take some time in Marrakech to "get lost in the souqs", so we did that the first day we were there. It was a bit overwhelming to see so many shops with similar stuff (carpets, blankets, woodwork, pottery, jewellry, etc) and the shopkeepers were pretty aggressive. I don't know how anyone actually finds there way around the maze of shops, narrow alleys, and tons of corners. My map reading skills are not great, but I think it would have been challenging for anyone to not get lost. Luckily, we had a good time exploring and trying to find an exit once it started raining.


The second day, we actually hired a guide to take us around. He brought us to a carpet shop, where the salesmen spoke English and I bought my first rug! Once I've decided where to put it, I'll take a picture to post. The work in progress below was in the carpet shop where I bought mine. The ladies who are normally weaving were off celebrating the Aid Holiday.

OJ stands

There are rows and rows of orange juice stands in the main square of Marrakesh. For 3 dirhams (~50 cents), you can get a tall glass of OJ at any time of the day or night.


This guy charged us 15 dirhams per glass. He was pretty much the only guy on the road who advertised for 15 dirhams instead of 3, which totally tricked us! It was quite a refreshing treat, though...

Adventurous Penny Pinchers

Here's where we stayed in Marrakech for 2 nights.

Just kidding! We decided to be "adventurous penny pinchers" for this trip and spent a whopping $20 each for 2 nights lodging in Marrakech.

Our little room looked over a courtyard of orange trees - unfortunately, the ripe oranges were too far out of reach.

The guidebook told us that showers would cost 15dH a piece, but we weren't charged for entry into the big shower room. The communal toilet and showers were actually kept quite clean!

The location was definitely great - we were very close to the main square and spent most of our time out and about anyway!

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words or 5 dirhams...

I made it back from a fantastic vacation in Marrakech and Essouiara. It was the perfect blend of relaxation, new cultural experiences, wonderful people, and good times.

Here's an interesting bit about taking photos in Morocco. First of all, you can be arrested for taking pictures of government bulidings, so you must be careful about snapping photos of random interesting buildings. Luckily, locals will often let you know when you see one, so that you can be sure not to photograph it. Second, you should ask people when you are planning on including them in a photograph. Otherwise, you may end up being hounded by them for payment. Typically, a photograph costs about 5 dirhams (~60 cents).

I thought I was being really sneaky taking this picture of the man with the teeth. He did catch me, however, so I made sure to make up for it by taking more than one!

Never could figure out if he was selling the teeth or just waiting for unsuspecting tourists to take pictures of his odd display....


I even took one from up above at the rooftop terrace where we grabbed lunch!

Aid Mubarack (Happy Holidays!)

Yesterday was the last day of Ramadan, so today was an extra day off to celebrate Aid. Signals sounded Tuesday night marking today as a day of celebration. Absolutely nothing was open and the only sounds were cars full of locals going to visit family. Moroccans compare it to Christmas, as it is a time for family, food, and gifts. I leave for Marrakesh and Essoiaura tomorrow and will be back Tuesday since school starts up again on Wednesday. I'm excited to travel in Morocco and then to come back to a city that doesn't shut down from 6-8pm. I know I've been terrible at posting - I promise to take lots of pictures and to post more when I get back!