July 23-24 Weekend in Asilah

Luke came to visit this free weekend and we spent it in Asilah. We had a great time together, but I got really sick and we really didn't get to do much! Luke has all the pictures from that weekend, but here's a picture of the train station where we arrived on Friday afternoon (this picture was taken the time the group went to Asilah).

July 20

For Tangier Tuesday we went on a tour of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Tangier. One of the CLS students had a host family experience with one of the people that works there! We were all super excited!

July 19

The trip to Meknes and Fes marked the middle of the CLS experience and many things have happened up until this point. I feel very differently than I did in the beginning of the program, mainly because I'm more comfortable with the people and dynamics of the program.

Today I had a very interesting conversation with Mohsine, my conversation partner for the day. We talked about politics, life aspirations and the dangers of the future...all in Arabic! It's with conversations like these that I realize what I am capable of saying with, what I still feel is, a very reduced vocabulary. Still, I keep on learning new things and surprising myself at how much I'm absorbing. Even though I got my test back, and I didn't do well on it (like I predicted), I was ok with it, because I am learning a lot and that's what counts (right, mom?).

Ok, I need to go do homework!

July 18

We had the morning off, so the group in the picture (in order of appearance: Tucker, myself, Megan (in the green scarf), Bess, and Mohsine) went shopping. Mohsine, a conversation partner, helped us bargain and I bought a very nice pair of leather shoes, a couple of scarves, and a traditional dress to be worn at home. Not that we couldn't have bargained, but we would have spent twice as long to get to the final price!

The shopping in Fes was great! I was one of the more conservative shoppers, but there were many things to buy at a very reasonable price!

I really liked Fes, except for the weather, but so far, it's my favorite city! I think it might be because there's not a ton of tourists like in other cities and because it's got so much history.

July 17

We spent the morning touring the old medina, going through the small streets and visiting the most important sites. Although we had been warned about harassment in Fes, I felt pretty safe during the tour. We visited the Bou Inania madrasa, dar al magana, a tannery (Fes is known for its leather),and a textile workshop.

Panorama of the tannery right in the middle of the city.

July 16: Fes

We arrived in Fes and had dinner at our hotel situated right outside of the old city. After such a long day, it was nice to go to our rooms take showers and sleep!

This picture was taken the day after, but I had no pics of Fes the day we arrived!

July 16: Meknes

We made it to Meknes and Bess survived! We had lunch at a traditional restaurant and the food was delicious! We then had a few hours of free time before we headed to Fes, so me, Bess, Megan and Mitch hung out together. We were interested in seeing the sites, but at our pace. Lunch was fantastic, but we ate a lot and it was pretty hot outside so we were all tired! Bess was feeling a lot better, but didn't want to be rushed to go see the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail or the other sites, so we rested in the restaurant for a bit longer after everyone left and then left.

We were going to go see the Mausoleum of the Moulay that reigned when Meknes was capital, but we first went into what seemed like a souvenir shop. I started talking to the shop keeper and he then asked if we were interested in seeing rugs. I wasn't, but I knew Bess was so I said yes. He took us to the second floor of his shop, which was huge and started showing us his rugs. Bess found the rug of his dreams and negotiations begun. He said the tourist price for the rug was 20,000 dirham(Mad), but he gives tour guides who bring the tourists a 40% commission. Because we didn't come with a tour guide, he gave us 12,000Mad as the initial price to start bargaining. After much conversation and bargaining, Bess finally got him to go down to 3,500mad and they shook hands in agreement! I'm really glad I was a part of the bargaining experience! She got an incredible price, given that the keeper "calculated" the sunk cost at 4,500!

By the time the bargaining finished, we had no time left to visit the sites, but this was quite the experience so I'm not too sad about it!