I’m having what an elderly person might call a ‘Funny Turn’. Basically I feel like the weight of all the world has come crashing down on my shoulders – it hasn’t, nothing has changed in my life since this morning. My mood has just dropped. Silly mood. Basically
By the way, to anyone who reads this, I love you guys, you literally make my world go round. I’m so lucky to have such wonderful friends, so thankyou.
Ok, so the title is a lie. I did all my homework yesterday and they didn’t give us any more today. For those of you keeping up, I did two tests earlier this week. I got 8,5 out of 10 for Dereeja and 35 out of 42 on grammar. Except Si Zaim then decided it was only a mock because apart from me it seems like everyone else did quite badly (to be fair I was lucky because I revised the right stuff. Like, literally the exact words that came up) so my awesome grammar mark counts for nothing.
Oh well, on the upside I had a lovely shower and then a little chat with Mounia (I am beginning to understand her now, though I still speak in sentances that sound like ‘have it this [le serviette??] now you have I have please?’ Italics indicates where I have no idea how to say towel in Arabic so I try French. Little joy there really. On the upside she insisted on washing my clothes which is awesome coz I’m bad at it. I tried to ask if I could help, but I don’t think she really had a clue what I was on about at that point (I think I was pronouncing it totally wrong. I was probably accidentally asking for fish or insulting her mum, good thing she’s nice!)
Have some Zaimisms from last week.
I am interested in couscous not in vegetables. They [the vegetables?!] are like feathers in your hat. I think he might have been trying to explain something about the subject being the only important word in a sentence here.
Some like sandwiches, some like me they don’t eat, I prefer to die than to eat sandwiches. Here we are discussing how Zaim refuses to translate literally. Gotta love the food-themed Zaimisms.
You need to have fish-eyes. That’s Arabic! Because you need to see the words to either side of the one you are working on. Interestingly that would stop you seeing the word in question, but we don’t care about than when we’re working with ridiculous analogies.
Noun-Adjective phrase is a big cheese, a small car, a wonderful house. In fairness he’s right, they are all noun-adjective phrases. Still entertaining to hear though.
Well ok, I’m not actually strapped for cash. But I did spend 1400Dh in one go earlier. ‘On what?’ I hear you ask. Well let me reveal the most exciting thing to happen in Morocco so far (to me).
I’M OFF TO THE SAHARA!!!!!!!!!!!
So Evan, an American guy over here just said that. Like a angry black woman. It was awesome.
You know that feeling where you really need the loo but the maid is asleep and her bed is right next to the bathroom and you’re worried you’ll wake her?
Oh wait, no-one else has that problem.
And I want to not call her a ‘maid’ but I can’t think of a better word. She’s more close to the family than just a simple ‘maid’ though.
I’m quite impressed that my bank haven’t blocked my card by now, considering that in the last 2 weeks I have booked 6 flights to and from Morocco. Excessive right?
The situation is thus – my Moroccan tourist visa expires after 90 days, but for this term, I have to be in the country longer than that. Two solutions
1) Get a residency visa for a year. That requires a mountain of paperwork, and a Moroccan bank account full of £2000 UK sterling which I can’t touch for a month.
2) Leave and come back again since they’re quite flexible on tourist visas.
Considering I can get a return to the UK for £45, you have to think, ‘why not?’.
So that is what I am doing. I shall return to the UK for 4 days between the 21st and 26th of October. It’ll be a nice break plus I can see family and stuff, so it’ll be perfect. Then I’ll be back for Christmas and again for Easter, and I needn’t come back in the middle of those terms because they’re each below 90 days = )
And anyway, I was informed by my Taxi driver today that family is very important. Like, seriously. Like there is nothing better than if you’re sitting at a table, a big table and you can look to my side and there is my father, across there is my sister, my auntie, my brother. The guy got seriously into this train of thought. He was cheap though, so who’s arguing anyway?
Well I’m not in Rome, but you get my drift. While here I should do as Moroccans do. And it is killing me.
The thing is, we start classes at 8am, but I don’t have dinner until 10pm at the earliest and then it goes on an hour. I have zip chance of being in bed before midnight. Then I have to be up at 6.30 if I want a shower (which my hideous teenage hair still insists upon. I wonder if when I turn twenty it’ll just suddenly become not a greaseball?) Which means I get six and a half hours sleep at most. That is by no means enough sleep for me. Today after my test (did I mention I was having tests? already? They’re not great fun) I’m going home and sleeping.
Also, blogging in class makes me cool right?
Also also…no, I’ve forgotten. You know why? Because I’m knackered.
I was explaining to some of the guys at school today about how I’m a sad person and I realised something. I shouldn’t put myself down so much. But, I find myself trying to explain why I am like I am so often. So I am going to explain here, the art of being Dry.
Definition: DRY – A person who has an absurdly boring life, and makes no effort to spice it up.
1) I don’t want to eat outside of school. Why? Because I might get ill, and the food isn’t any better, and only marginally cheaper. To me, that’s just not worth it. I don’t feel like I’m ‘missing out’ on the experience somehow.
2) I don’t want to walk around with a load of Brits. I’m sorry, I just don’t. We stick out like a sore thumb, and I hate the attention. Alone or with Moroccans, I’m not bothered as much, if at all.
3) I don’t want to make random friends. Yes, random friends can be cool, but we’re in a new place and we don’t speak the language. I don’t want to get caught in any kind of situation I don’t understand. Besides, I can make really nice new friends through my Moroccan family anyway, I don’t need to crawl the streets for them.
4) I don’t want to be alone in Fes in the dark. Fes is a relatively safe city, but then so is everywhere if you are sensible. And equally, everywhere can also be dangerous. I consider finding a taxi in the dark dangerous. I find getting in that taxi alone for a 20 minute journey dangerous. I just don’t want to do it, and that’s that.
5) I can’t contrive being a great mate. Yes, I really like all the people I’m here with on my course, and we get on well, but lets not pretend it’s any more than that. I try to make the effort, and join in, but sometimes in respect of the previous points I just can’t. And I’m not going to bypass them in order to spend time with a group of people I just got chucked in with. It’s not that I don’t like everyone, it’s just that I’m not stepping out of my comfort zone for them.
6) I like it here. That may sound ‘sad’ to some people but I’m comfortable here with the family. And I learn a lot, both French and Arabic when I’m in the house. Plus, I can do my homework at my leisure rather than cramming it into the 5 minutes before class. And I can blog, and e-mail people, and chat to Le Boyfriend. Because socialising is important, but so is keeping up other relationships, maintaining friendships which I’ve left behind. The world hasn’t stopped because I’m here, and I want to be a part of it, as well as being a part of this.
Wow, that was all a lot more serious than I intended.
So about that strike in the title. Oh yeah, it doesn’t exist. But I didn’t know that when I woke up at 6.30am, ready to get a lift into school with my Morocco Mum and Dad. I had been informed last night that it was 100% certain that the public transport would strike today, but lucky me! Halima and Aziz were both going to Meknes this morning and could drop me off at 8.
Classes start at 10.
And there’s no strike, just loads of lovely taxis. FML I could still easily be in bed.
Anyhow, I am here at school which means I can revise for the tests I have today. Thought I’d been doing really well, but as it turns out, everyone else had a revision session so I’ll probably be lagging behind again.
ALSO: Moroccan weather, what do you think you are doing exactly? Two weeks of ridiculous heat which I couldn’t breathe or sleep in, and now this? Rain and freezingness? I mean rain is fine, I like rain, but I came here to escape death-cold. Please weather, brighten up. I was not prepared for this mentally, and it is making me sad.
That’s right. Rhythm is a dancer, so it’s a shame my name isn’t rhythm (not that that would be the greatest name anyway) because I am clearly not a dancer. However, in an effort to keep fit, I’ve always done dance even though I am pitiful at it. I have now decided to take that to the next level. You see, gyms here are expensive, and girls can’t exactly just go for a jog either. And since the rooms at school are air-conditioned, I have decided to ask if we can use one a few lunches a week, and I’m going to start a dance group.
I’m hoping I don’t actually have to ‘teach’ because the last people I ‘taught’ dance to were a mix of 3 to 7 year-olds, and they are fairly satisfied with marching. However, I have managed to choreograph a whole (but poor) routine to ‘Dynamite’ by Taio Cruz.
TOP CINQ!
No, there will be no videos of this routine ever available, even if it turns out really awesome (which it won’t because I dance like a mixied bunny) but, I was still proud of myself. That’s an entire 3:34.
UPDATE: So there is clearly only me who is particularly interested in how cheaply I can do fitness. A lot of the others have decided on joining gyms. Not sure I believe that they all will, but whatever. I will quite happily do an hour of dance in my room a night, and not pay anything for it. Just as healthy (I checked) more fun, and less socially awkward. Oh, and FREE.
