Another Day in Paradise!

My host brothers!

Ahlan from Morocco! We've been doing a lot of work here, we even had school on a Saturday! Friday we had class like usual, but nothing really after school. Michael and I ended up hanging out with our host brothers and going to a festival close by that was selling items and playing traditional music.  It was interesting to see a lot of the culture in a modern setting. The area that we walked through was beautiful, the landscaping was gorgeous! I wish we had a place like it in Mooresville! The architecture was also very interesting, it provided a nice background to the setting. They took us through to a nice sized ice cream parlor, which was delicious! I asked what flavors were and ordered the ice cream in Arabic, with a little help from Ridda and Abbas! After this we just came home, showed the boys american music, and went to bed. (late again...tonight I will get to bed early insha'allah)

Today we had an oral test in Darija! Now I will take the time to explain Darija vs. FusHa for those who are confused. Arabic has many dialects, which, unlike English for the most part, can be very hard to understand to those who speak a different dialect. For this reason, Arabic has a dialect called Modern Standard Arabic, or FusHa, which is used in all writing, the news, and other official procedures. Darija is the dialect of Arabic that is spoken in and only in Morocco. It is the hardest dialect for other Arabs to understand, many times movies shot in darija need to be translated even for other Arabs to understand! This first week we have learned Darija so that we are able to hold a conversation with the people of Morocco. They are able to understand FusHa, but the dialects are much easier to speak.

Anyways, the Darija test was fairly easy. the hardest thing that we were asked about were proverbs, we had 12 to memorize. My favorite one sounds like this in English:

Li bgha laasal kayasbar lqris nhal.

This means: He who wants honey should be patient with bee stinging. 

I like this one because it means that if you really want something you have to tough it up when things start to get bad. It reminds me kind of of what the SEALs said when explaining all the planning that went into getting Osama, they said that you have to focus on the prize and have a single focus mind. This is true for learning a language too, I have to spend time studying as well as hanging out with my friends. 

After our test, we went to Mega Mall in Rabat, which is honestly is not very mega compared to some of the malls in America! It is very relaxing though because of the layout of the building, a very nice place. I got a Pom's there, which is quite possibly the best soda that I have ever had! It is basically apple juice that has been made into a soda, but that description doesn't do it justice!

I hope that you all are doing well! I miss you all, but I am having a wonderful time in this beautiful country!