Category Archives: Morocco

Teenage Dreams

Fun, Life, Morocco

I can tell you so much about teenage dreams. Because I am still a teenager (though only physically, as I am mentally still a child) and as I am a teenager, I sleep until silly hours of the day if allowed. Today, Halima let me sleep until half 11. She admitted she was worried about me but I slept in yesterday so she just left me.

I love sleep, that’s the thing. I have really amazing exciting dreams. Last night, I dreamt I was in this computer-game style scenario. Firstly I had a really awesome gun that fired blue pulses that made the whole air around them wobble, and I was on a team of women who were on some kind of covert-ops mission. Then I got shot, and my health went down (do you think computer game characters are aware of their health bar? I really think they are) so I had to hide next to this weird hill/bunker thing. It was really long. Suddenly, all the men were on top of it (yes it was women versus men. Well done imagination, how original of you) Our team got totally slaughtered, and there were some pretty funny bits of me trying to beat up men double my size because my gun had disappeared. I ended up with a bottle in my hand, which inexplicably I had to go an put into a hole in the beach (yes, there is now a beach) which made the tide come in really quickly. Which is clearly a sure-fire way to kill men, because they apparently all can’t swim. In the end we ended up all swimming around, because my imagination can’t actually kill people.

So anyway, I got up late. Basic point of that story. Also, to all the blogs which I subscribe to (though none of them subscribe to me, but whatever) why have you stopped posting? I really enjoy reading you, and have even been advertising you to all my friends, so what is going on?

La Villa

Language, Life, Morocco

This afternoon I have helped Halima clean a little bit, and we have watched some crazy french tv. French Countdown is (unsurprisingly) really hard, but then they make it even harder by including a round that looks something like

Solve This ((xy:q233::-xx^23+[4]))

it’s pretty scary. And they can always do it.

Then about an hour ago, one of Halima’s friends came over. I thought she was bringing an 18year old daughter who I was supposed to make friends with – fine. What she actually brought was a 16year old son. He seemed really nice, but not very talkative. Which was only made worse by Halima uttering the words which make any language student freeze up.

Let me explain. As language students, we are constantly being told by teachers, parents and friends to ‘Say something’. It is ridiculous to expect me to come out with a full and awesome sentence in another language on the spot, but people ask anyway. My instinctive reaction now, when people say ‘Go on, say something’ is to freeze up, which makes you look particularly ridiculous if
a) you speak 4 languages (and despite the fact that my Arabic is poor, I technically can speak it)
b) they are asking you to say something in your own language.
Which is what happened earlier. Halima wanted me to ask Umar something so he could show off his English, and I completely froze up and couldn’t say anything. On the upside, I was treated as special for the rest of the night and not expected to speak any Arabic which is good because I am so tired it would have come out as gibberish. I think I need to sort out my sleeping pattern somewhat.

La grosse matinée

Life, Morocco

Nothing is better than a good lie-in on the weekend. For the first week in ages, I am not really up to much, which is going to be so relaxing and lovely, but possibly a little bit boring.

I was supposed to go to Rabat with the kids, but then BMS is meeting with her secret boyfriend, and BMB has decided to go to Casablanca instead, so I decided to stay home. On account of Aziz being away for the whole week in Midelt, and Mounia having finally and totally packed her job in, it is just me and Halima. We’ve been having a lot of mother-and-daughter type bonding which has been nice. Today we’re going to the supermarket together. What I would really like would be to go down to the medina and get shopping for Christmas, but can’t have everything. Might do that in a few weeks time, if I get the chance.

Last night I got right down, for no good reason, and it’s affecting me a bit this morning, which is why I had what Halima has dubbed ‘La Grosse Matinée’, which is where I stay in bed for longer than what she considers a lie-in. I actually woke up at about 9.30, but I was feeling sad and bed was warm, so I ended up staying under the covers until 11. By that point I felt willing to face the world, and now I have sorted out something that was weighing on my mind I feel even better. It’s all about getting stuff done people. If you have something important to do, don’t sit around moping under the covers. Go out and do it.

Advice-Sally out.

Cat-sault

Life, Morocco

I forgot to mention, I got cat-saulted by Fila earlier. Which is to say, I was assaulted by her – she’s the ALIF cat.

I was just sitting getting some reviewing in before class, and suddenly she was next to me on the bench, mewing. I am not a huge cat person, and I though it would be best to ignore her. Then, cool as you like, she plonked her bum down right in my lap. I was too scared of claws to move her so I just sat and stroked her for a good five minutes before Evan came and saved me by picking her up. I spent the rest of the time with my bag on my lap so that there was no space for her.

It’s not that I don’t like animals. I love dogs, although when I was little I was terrified of them. To aid this, Mum and Dad got us a dog. At the time we were living here in Morocco, and he was a pet of a friend who didn’t think he would make it through quarantine (he was old) and so we took him in. Originally his name was ‘Sidi’ which means ‘Sir’ in Arabic, so we changed it to ‘Rover’. Much more British, much less offensive. He was a lovely little dog, some kind of crazy cross between a terrier and a kangaroo. He could jump so high that if we’d trained him he could probably have perched on your shoulder. He stopped me being scared of dogs.

Since then, I’ve loved dogs. The boy has a beautiful little dog called Fallon, and one of my best friends has a dog called Hurley, and they are the two loveliest little things you’ve ever seen. Except that Hurley is huge. Whatever. And Fallon is probably my favourite dog in the world, she makes me smile so much. The point is I love dogs, but I still haven’t got the hang of cats. They have those scary extendable claws that just turn up when you least expect them. They even go right through jeans.

Not a cat person.

Things which don’t help my awesomness target

Food, Morocco

You know how a few days ago in this post I talked about how healthy I was going to be? Well today has proven that life doesn’t want to back that up. I finished school at 12, and decided to be healthy and walk the 45 minutes from school to home. It was too hot to walk. I got in looking for all the world like a tomato, and feeling a bit like one as well. Once I’d cooled down, we had lunch, and this is where the world got me right in the teeth.

Pieds de veau.

If you don’t know what that is, it’s this.

And the edible bit of that is exclusively fat. So I went on a nice 45 minute walk, only to easily eat back on 45 minutes worth of fat. It tasted ok, but had a really weird texture so I didn’t eat much in the end. I think Halima noticed, because she said she probably won’t cook it again, which made me feel a bit bad. But then, feet. Ew.

What to do?

Life, Morocco

I have found myself with nothing to do. This never happens.

In fact, if I was a good student I could say that there is never nothing to do. What I mean is that, having finished my homework, I am under no pressure to do anything. This would normally be the time I would try and get in touch with people at home for a bit, but for some reason my Skype is not working properly, and no-one is online by the looks of things.

It is all silent in the world of Sally.

Therefore, time for some more pointless information from planet me.
I love quiz programs, as many people know. My favourites include Mastermind, Only Connect, Pointless and Eggheads. Which mostly just makes me a BBC fan I think, but still, never mind. The reason I like them is that I love knowing random facts, and if they are from quizzes then that means they are often true. I normally have a fact for most occasions, and my quiz knowledge ranges from pop culture right through to university level science – at least according to University Challenge.

So my challenge to you, the reading public:

Give me an object, person, or place and I will relay to you my most interesting
 fact about it. If I don’t know anything about it, I will find something out.

Things you might be missing

Fun, Language, Morocco

Actually, you probably won’t be missing these things.
a) because the first thing is just a regular blog post
b) because the second thing is another cool blog, and it was only a few days ago that I gave you my most recent
c) well, actually you might be missing Zaimisms. Which is why I’m giving you some.

So, there are only two things I hate to eat. Broad beans, because they’re the colour of snot and they taste like gone-off sand, and are just generally horrible. My mum loves them, which is a shame. I was brought up on ‘no-thankyou’ helpings of the things, which is to say the size of helping you get if you say ‘no thankyou’ when they’re offered. Which is a small portion, and much smaller than if you say ‘no I don’t want them, they’re yucky’.
The other thing I hate is blue veiny cheese that smells like feet. I don’t understand why you’d put it on food, particularly pizza. We had pizza for lunch because Halima decided she wanted to show me her favourite restaurant. I was half an hour late getting there because taxis were useless, but I made it in the end, and we had a huge salad between us, and then a four-cheese pizza. Which is fine except for the little lumps of foot-cheese, just waiting to catch me out. They’re so salty and horrible. Other than that, it was awesome though.

You should look here. I loved this before, because the lady who runs it, Adele, used to make pictures around her beautiful baby girl Mila when she was sleeping. Depending on what she was wearing, Adele would alter her idea for the background. Sadly she’s stopped doing that, but the lullaby she has written in the top post is beautiful, so I thought I’d let you guys in on it.

Zaimisms now, because they have been lacking somewhat. If you’ve only recently joined us, you might like to look here, then here and maybe here as well before you try to understand what is going on below.

‘Life will be difficult if you see it with difficult glasses’ I have to be honest, I really like this one. Plus I think it’s the first metaphor where food or drink has not been heavily involved (bar above of course).


‘Honey is sweet. It doesn’t make sense to put sugar in it’ Once again, Si Zaim, you have absolutely hit the nail on the head. I think I might adopt some of these myself. 


And allow me to introduce you to my personal favourite Zaimism ever. No explanation, it is perfectly self-illustrative.

‘The media is media. That’s why they call it media’

Love

Life, Morocco

So this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I have a very clear definition of ‘Love’ personally, and I was wondering what people thought of it, so I’ll tell you.

I don’t think there is a finite amount of love which I can give. There are lots of people in this world who I love and I’m certainly not ashamed of dishing it out like it’s going out of fashion. And if I love a person then I give them my 100% on everything (though there is, of course, a hierarchy which I follow in terms of who gets that 100% first) and I try my best to be the best friend, or girlfriend, or family member that I can be.

I’m not going to go on about the people that I love, because I know that they know who they are. They’re all the kind of people who I will keep loving no matter what, and I think that’s important. When you start a relationship with someone, no matter what kind it is – friendship, romantic, or just being a good daughter or sister – I think you should go into it expecting it to be hard. I know that a lot of the people who I love and have loved have let me down in the past, and it’s been really painful, but then I can’t help thinking it would have been so much worse if I’d not been willing to give them my all to start with. I would have missed out on some amazing experiences and memories.

I suppose what I am saying is that you shouldn’t be shy with your love, or afraid to get hurt. You probably will, and it will probably be horrible, but there will be so much to make up for it that you won’t really mind anyway. And in terms of family especially, they should always get all your love, because often they love you so much and so quietly that it might pass without you ever knowing it. But trust, they love you.

Have a loved-up night guys.

Being really awesome

Food, Life, Morocco

I think the best way to be awesome is to get fit. It shows you have motivation, ability to identify and reach goals, and a high level of self-belief.

It is on this basis that my friend and I are now doing a Davina workout twice a week. We’re going to be awesomely fit and have washboard stomachs, and be able to run up hills, and other things that really healthy people can do. Also, it will save me £59 a month on the very nice but expensive gym down the road, and I have a fitness buddy as well. Life couldn’t really be much better from a health point of view.

I have never been a health addict. I’ve never been on a diet or belonged to a gym. I have always kept in shape because I eat properly and I run around doing things like a crazy person because I think that the world will fall to pieces if I don’t control everything involved. However, over the last year I’ve learnt the skill that is ‘chilling out’ and consequently have put on a bit of weight, and in particular acquired the legendary ‘muffin top’. If you don’t know what that is, it’s this

Muffin Top - Sandra Cohen Rose
Except whoever she is, I’m not as thin as her. But whatever, you get my drift. So today I went and did about 40 minutes of exercise DVD with Jess, followed by a 40 minute walk home. Twice a week and I think I should be set.
Though I did stop at Acima and buy Oreos on the way home. Whatever.

Overkill

Life, Morocco

I am in every way aware that three posts in a single day is overkill (unless you do this for a living. But I don’t, so overkill)

I had to write about getting home tonight though. It was horrible. I don’t know when I got this broken, but apparently little old me is still really scared of the dark. And Fes city centre is surprisingly dark, which is less than ideal when all I need is to get in a taxi and go home. Which took me an entire 20 minutes of being told ‘no’ before I finally bagged a free cab willing to pay me any attention.

Fes is beautiful at night, but I just can’t enjoy that alone. I constantly feel nervous and the second someone shouts anything at me, I get all jittery. When an empty cab turned me down for no reason, I practically cried, I wanted to get back here so much. Thankfully I only finish after day one day a week – may that continue after Christmas insha’allah because I can’t handle another evening like that again.

To make matters worse, Halima has awful tooth ache, poor thing. I’m hoping that she’ll just behave and let me cook dinner for her, because she seems in a lot of pain, and once again the now elusive Mounia has failed to make an appearance.

Here is Fes by night. How I wish I could enjoy this, rather than just being terrified of every shadow.