Oh, I thought you were just LIVING in Morocco

Contrary to popular belief, I go to school in Morocco. And yes, it may not be as intense as college. But it still is intense. I talked about this already about how learning a foreign language in the country where it is spoken is a never ending learning process. I don't have breaks from learning, because lo and behold i have to use this language (not even Arabic, but Darija which we haven't had much instruction in) every day.

Alot of people say that study abroad is fun, and its nothing but good experiences. That is one of the biggest lies that I've ever heard. Sure, study abroad is fun, but there are difficulties. One thing is that you're learning what you have to immediately apply. There is no "understanding" period. There are no breaks. There is no bullshitting your way through class. You have to understand what you're learning, or else you're stuck in situations where you dont understand what is going on. Then again that is about 85% of your study abroad experience.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that study abroad isn't all fun. It's challenging, like almost everything else you choose to embark on.

We do have a final, and yes it is intense. So don't sound so surprised when I tell you I'm stressed from school. Just because it isn't college doesn't mean that it shouldn't be viewed as a real learning experience. 

The Holiday Spirit: study abroad version

In the United States, the holiday season is usually marked by the arrival of cold weather, sales in stores, the same ten Christmas songs playing everywhere, cities adorned with red and green decorations, and finally, my personal favorite part, the lights you see everywhere. People are excited for the upcoming holidays, to spend time with family, receive and give gifts as well as eat delicious food.
I was warned before coming abroad that the holidays would be vastly different. It made sense, we would be living in a Muslim country (so obviously Christmas isn't really a thing here), in Africa where it doesn't ever seem to get cold during the day. But I think I was trying to ignore those warnings. I half expected the holidays to roll around and Morocco to be decked out in Christmas gear, just like the US. But that's not the case. People here go about their daily lives, students stress because of exams, and they look forward to the short week long break they have at the end of December.

Now I have never viewed Christmas as a religious holiday (since I am Jewish) but rather as a time to spend with family, eat delicious food, and receive gifts (yea my family does the whole gift giving deal since we're Italian and it's in our blood). I was nevertheless excited for Christmas to roll around, the smell of winter to enter the air. I guess you don't realize what you like most about your home until your gone.

HOWEVER! Not the whole spirit of the holidays will be lost! My family is coming to visit me!! NSLI-Y changed their policies this year to allow friends and family (although the former is frowned upon) to come visit the students in their respective country. My family is coming to Marrakech, and I will be able to share with them the city I have grown to love, and call home. I'm beyond stoked to show them Jamaa el Fna (and the snails you can eat; they really warm you up in the evenings) , the small hole in the wall cafes and restaurants, the wonderful bus system of Marrakech (motto being: The more crowded the bus, the faster the bus driver will drive!) and the countless other wonders of Marrakech and the area surrounding it.

Unfortunately, the holidays coming also means term ending. Which means finals (well one final and one fifteen minute oral presentation (my topic will be...you guessed it! Politics in Morocco and the US)) and different teachers. Next term, we will be taught by a different teacher. Our beloved Ustedtha Lamia will be replaced with Ustedth Amine (who is a wonderful teacher, my classmate and I had the pleasure of observing his English class). I have grown to adore our teacher, Lamia. She is possibly the best Arabic teacher I have ever had. She is both understanding and strict, something that is crucial in a teacher. If I must be completely honest, I think I learned more about teaching from her than from observing any of the English classes. Alas, all good things must come to an end. I am excited to switch teachers, but I will be missing the many games we play in class along with the threat of chocolate buying for the class if we speak English.

I've never been good at ending blog posts. Oops?
Until next time, bsalama!

Craziness

Morocco is filled with strange things, including people. Tonight I had the pleasure to go to the Marrakech Film Festival. We watched a movie called Traitors which was a wonderful Moroccan-American movie about drug smuggling in Morocco. Then a couple friends and I walked over to Jamaa el Fna and watched Martin Scorsese present Hugo, and we watched Hugo.
It wasn't the movie that shocked me, more so the people that were watching. As we watched, my friends and I noticed a man standing in front of us. As I looked down, I saw his hand caressing a young boys ass (for lack of better word). This man was in his mid twenties, and this boy was around the age of 9 or 10. I was shocked. Fortunately, this young boy turned around and noticed. The man didn't leave, he just moved to be directly in front of me. At this point, two of my friends and I were keeping a close watch on this man. There was an even younger boy in front of him. Worried for his safety, I told him to move in front of another man who was watching over these kids. Finally the man left. What really surprised me was that the police who had seen the whole thing did nothing. More than surprise me, it angered me.
Thankfully nothing terrible happened.

As we waited for Martin Scorsese to come on stage to present his movie, a very catchy song came on. We asked the guys behind us who sang it, and they told us Fnaire. Turns out, this is a Moroccan band that sings in Darija, the local Moroccan dialect.
Here's one of their songs!

Also, my friends and I decided that it was worth it to get tickets for the final matches of the Club World Cup. We got them, and I couldn't be more excited. Insha'allah one of the matches will be Bayern (representing Europe) vs. Mineiro (representing South America). I'll let you know how those games go!

Bsalama for now!

As promised.

Hello! It's been a while.
So what is going on with my life? Well, since the last time I've talked to you, nothing much has happened. I have been busy with school, Nanowrimo, and classes. We have started learning how to teach english. In the next semester, we will be teaching English to students who cannot afford other english classes through a program called CLC Connect. Basically, us ten american students will be teaching beginner students ages 13-16 English once a week for about two and half hours for about four months. I love working with younger students and teaching them. We are learning the Communicative approach, which is the way in which we're taught. Essentially it is about speaking the target language in the classroom, and teaching through examples. We also sit in on English classes at the CLC once a week to learn more techniques, and to learn by example. I am very excited for this project, and we will also be certified as Teachers of English as a Foreign Languages, which is important in the future if we ever want to teach English abroad.

What else...well, we had our first meeting with the Anti-Harassment club. We talked, and decided that it is worth our time to do videos, and get the word out that harassment is NOT something a girl wants while walking in the street. (Speaking of harassment i wrote another essay for the state department and it was about..you guessed it! Harassment, my favorite topic).
I have also gotten involved with the Debate Club (debates are in English, thank goodness) and it is a very gratifying and fun experience. We get to interact with Moroccans, sometimes (like tonight) act as a stand in debater, and I get to debate, which I LOVE doing.

Today we also cooked Thanksgiving dinner. We are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, and I was in charge of making Chocolate Mousse pies. Getting all the necessary ingredients was a struggle, but we managed. Since Graham crackers don't exist in this country, I made the crust out of chocolate wafers. I have no idea how it will turn out, but I'm hoping for the best. We wanted to make pumpkin pie, but alas there was no pureed pumpkin. I was very sad, mostly because it won't be a true Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie...I'll just wait until I get back to the states for that.

So that's all we've been up to lately. I'll post my essay as well as the essay of a friend later on.
Bsalama for now!

I promise

Post to come this weekend, I promise. Sorry about the absence! 

Agadir, British film week and why I haven't been blogging.

Hello my devoted readers, in case you havent noticed, i've been quite absent from my blog. I do apologize. For one, I travelled this past weekend with my host family to Agadir. I loved it, it reminded me of home because it was cold, foggy and near the ocean. I spent some quality time with my host family as well as spending time with my host cousins.

As for this week, I just came back from the third night of British Film Week. Tonight the movie was "The Selfish Giant" and it was a very well done film that was based off of Oscar Wilde's novel. It was an emotional and interesting film. I really enjoyed it, and of course, I cried. Insha'allah I will attend the rest of the film week, since it's free and its a very wonderful experience.

Thirdly: why have I not been writing on my blog. Well there's this thing, it's called NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month. This has completely taken over my life in the best way possible. The goal is to write 50,000 words by the end of November, averaging about 1,600 a day. Of course, me being the procrastinator I am, I didn't write for about four days, meaning I had to write about 6,000 words in one night to make up for lost time. So I apologize. As soon as it's done, I will for sure be blogging more.
This weekend I will be meeting with the Anti Harassment club, I hope. Insha'allah we will get this project started and off the ground. More info to come as the meetings progress.

For now, I must go and do my homework. Until next time, bsalama!

Woodworking video!!

For some reason I cannot embed the video into this post, but here is my latest vlog (ish) that is about woodworking!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfgvy5Wx2o0