Waka Waka

Left early Thursday morning and after a 2 hour bus ride followed by an hour long, nausea-inducing Ferry ride, we were in AFRICA -- no big deal.  

Concerns before leaving for Morocco:

• Dirty water - our director told us that the water is sub par when coming to cleanliness and many people get sick from it.  He suggested we even brush our teeth with bottled water.
• Food - we had also been informed that the food has an effect on those with weak stomachs that makes them "ir al bano todo el dia" (go to the bathroom all day). 
• Ferry ride - in the past, numerous students have gotten sick on the Ferry ride and would puke everywhere.  Getting motion sickness even when driving in cars as well as a friend on the trip who has a fear of people throwing up was cause for high concern for me.
• Men - a cultural characteristic of Morocco is that the women only leave the house when necessary.  Which means basically everyone walking around in the city were men.  Walking around in a huge group of Americans always ends up in us getting stared down by the Europeans, so we were somewhat prepared for this, only to find out that it would be 10x worse than in Europe.

We touched ground in Morocco and headed straight to the "Escuela Taller de Tetuan" - the school of craftmanship.  We were fortunate enough to run into Moroccan students working on their pieces and immediately saw the skill, patience and precision that was required of the students.  We were able to see the departments of painting, wood work, carving, sculpting, ceramic tiling and embroidery.  

We had lunch at a cute restaurant in the city.  I wouldn't necessarily call it a meal - more like a FEAST.  We soon found out that all of the meals in our Moroccan experience would be the same way.  We ate the typical meal of Morocco: couscous, which is a very small noodle in the shape of a ball accompanied with veggies and chicken.  The second thing you can't help but love about a Moroccan meal is the tradition of having tea and cookies after the meal.  The tea is absolutely delicious (Morocco is famous for it's mint flavored tea - ashe nana) so I had no problem with this.

I got to see La Medina of Tetuan - the market.  In Morocco, it's very common to buy anything you need (food, toiletries, clothes, etc.) at La Medina - little side stores and stands set up throughout the street.  We also walked through the tannery where leather is made out of sheep skin.  That was...interesting to say the least.  Smelt gross, looked gross...

On Friday, we bussed it to Tangier straight to the Coca-Cola factory of Morocco.  We weren't able to take pictures inside the plant, but it was SUPER cool to see the production process from start to finish.  We drank some free Coke products including the African-exclusive products of Poms (apple flavored soda) and Hawai (a fruit juice).  Both delicious!

Next on the adventure was seeing the Caves of Hercules.  Supposedly, Hercules would go to the cave to rest in between performing his 12 tasks.  There was a lot of metaphorical structures in this cave as well and it looked over the Atlantic Ocean.  We weren't too far from the Mediterranean Sea either.  And of course, who goes to Africa without riding CAMELS?!  Fortunately for us, we were able to saddle up and take a camel ride, which was crazy.  Never in my life would I have thought I would have the chance to ride a camel.  Check that off the bucket list.

(me falling backward after almost being attacked by the baby camel)

We had a mixer-type activity (accompanied with tea and cookies, only a short hour after our feast of a lunch also accompanied by tea and cookies) with a few Moroccan business students in Tangier after that.  These people are crazyyy.  All of us from Madison think that it's so hard to get into the business school and stressed about it for at least a year of our lives...well, to get into the Tangier business school, students are required to know (speak, understand and write) FOUR languages: Spanish, French, Arab and English.  Whaaaat?!

Spending our dirheim (the currency in Morocco) was something we were all looking forward to.  We had all heard stories of how good the shopping is in Morocco - hand made ceramics, leather goods, knock-off name brand items, etc.  I was a tad bit thrown off at the fact that 1 euro = ~10 dirheim.  Hearing the cost of something as being 80 dirheim automatically makes you think of 80 euros or dollars...but in reality, it was only 8 euro.  Also, we were told to never accept the price you are told as the price you pay.  Thus, I got to experience the art of regatear (bargaining) and ended up getting some pretty sweet deals on some cool stuff :)

After thoughts of Morocco:

1. I wish I could bring the tea and cookie tradition to Spain.  Or at least my homestay...
2. I have mixed feelings about the bargaining.  Cool to be able to get a sweet deal but irritating that "no" doesn't mean "no".  If you really do not want something, the vendors think you're trying to bargain with them to get a lower price.
3. Wish we could have seen the Mediterranean Sea - guess I'll have to save that for Greece :)
4. The people of Morocco seem to be either rich or poor.  There's not really a middle class...
5. Crossing off "Visiting a 3rd world country" off my bucket list.
6. Wondering what it is about Americans that Europeans/Africans find sooo amusing that they feel the need to stare at us 24/7. 
7. We saw the best of both worlds in Morocco - products made by hand (Taller school) and products made by machine (Coke factory)
8. Waka Waka by Shakira now has a different and more significant meaning for me.
9. How the heck am I going to get all of my souvenirs/gifts back to the States?
10. Wishing that pictures reflected the true beauty of all the sights I've seen in Morocco (and Europe in general).  Cameras do NOT do nature justice....praying my mental pictures will last a long time.

Shukran y ma'assalama (thank you and goodbye in Arabic)