It is 9am, my hair stinks of smoke, I had 3 hours sleep, and now I need to go to the Medina.

Moroccan flat parties are interesting. Technically this was an American/Canadian/British flat party, but it was in Morocco and that is what made it weird. Alcohol is odd here, and seeing people get that plastered was not much fun.

Also, everyone smokes like a (collective noun) of chimneys. I don’t know if I smell more of tobacco or of hash, which is a big problem here as you know. Or, if you smoke it, probably a big positive. I have no interest in smoking anything at all, so to me it’s still a problem. Also, never going to be interested in Moroccan clubs. I was fine staying in the flat chatting. Although if I’d slept it might have done me more good.

We live and learn. I’m off to buy presents!

When I named this blog ‘It’s Raining Here in Fes’, I really wasn’t lying.

As a Brit, I should be naturally able to forgive the rain. I mean, without rain, we’d have no subject of conversation most of the time. The skies would be an alarming shade of anything-but-grey, and the world as we know it would probably cease to exist.

Yet for some reason, the second it rains here, I feel remarkably hard-done-by. It’s such an unfair reaction, because after all, it’s still just the same water doing the same natural thing, but it makes me angry if it chooses to do it here. And it keep raining, alarmingly often, and alarmingly hard. I have a horrible feeling that after class this afternoon I will get drenched finding a taxi. Call it intuition.

Incidentally, I discovered earlier that many of my classmates feel the same as I do (see here) about certain members of our class. I’m going to re-iterate, I don’t dislike these people, they just annoy me, but it’s refreshing to know I’m not the only one who feels this way about them.

I have noticed this week three major things which annoy me about people, specifically those I am learning with.

1) I find people who drag the class really annoying. That is not to say I dislike them as people at all, but sometimes it is just irritating to have to go over the same point time and time again. Especially if they act like a spoilt little child about it, which some people have a tendency towards.
HAVING SAID THAT, these people are often so helpful. They normally ask questions which I think I know the answers to, and so when I find I don’t know the answer, it’s helpful to have it gone over.

2) At least as annoying, if not worse than people who don’t know anything, are the people who think they know everything. News Flash, you just don’t. Stop acting like the teacher is either
a) A total idiot
b) Wasting your time completely
You are not better than the rest of us just because you learn a bit faster, and there is no reason to ruin our learning experience by being so high and mighty. Again
HAVING SAID THAT, I know I can sometimes be this person, especially if I am in a bad mood. Again, it’s not a personal thing, these people are always really nice, it’s just an attitude thing.

3) People who act like you are special. Yes teachers, this is mostly going out to you. I’d like to think that it is clear to you that I am not mentally handicapped in any way and therefore if I get something wrong, looking at me in a pitying way will not explain my mistake to me. If I just guess until you are satisfied I’ve not learnt anything.
This section also applies to those people who laugh at other students when they make a mistake. It’s rude, I don’t laugh at you when you do something stupid so you have no right to laugh at me. Plus, I thought you were an adult by now, so you really should be past this.

Let me add a proviso to all this. I have never met anyone I truly disliked. It’s only ever people’s attitude which gets up my nose, especially when I know it is so easy to just be kind and polite. Come on guys, don’t be in any of these groups, people will start to hate you.

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.