In the Souk: Episode 1

All of us in the Souk. Peter in the back,
 then Michael, then  me, then Mobasshir. 

What a long two days! Officially we have been here for a week and I think that we are starting to get the hang of al maghrib, but I'm sure theres much more to learn. Before I get into what we have been doing though, I'd like to thank everyone for reading this. I hope that you can see this beautiful culture through my eyes as I write my experiences here. I was especially like to thank the people who viewed my blog in Germany, Italy, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, I was especially excited that I had reached some of the people outside of the United States and Morocco!

Sunday was our first free day, and Michael and I lived it up! Our host father took us and our brother to a very nice pool in Sale where we chilled for hours. Michael didn't swim a lot, he was still recovering from when he was sick the night before. But Redda (our brother) and I did, and the water felt wonderful! That combined with a pool-side nap made a nice evening. The day wasn't done yet though, after relaxing Michael, Peter, Mobasshir and I all too the tram to the Souk, which is the Arabic Market. This is a gorgeous place, with lots of colors and people everywhere! You can find anything that you can think of in a Souk! They have the best fresh fruit juice and sugar cane juice.... most of it is hard to believe! There are also piles upon piles of spices and dried fruits and vegetables to buy....the Souk is truly an amazing place! At the Souk I bought a nice watch for 25 dirham...thats just over 3 bucks! Peter got Mobosshir and I a present: a necklace with the name of god written on it. It is an awesome piece, and I am looking for a silver chain to hang it on!

What I have gotten so far at the Souk....don't hate on the pillow...

The real fun of Sunday's visit to the Souk started when we were trying to get home. It turns out that the last tram runs at 9 O'Clock, and by this time its was past 11 O'Clock. We were also in the Souk in Sale, which is right outside of Rabat, the only problem is that taxis will not run between Sale and Rabat. Taxis were also a problem because they can only fit 3 people legally, and with our party of four that wouldn't fly. The only option was to take a grand taxi, which we were advised against doing but had not other choice! We didn't know this at the time, but Grand taxis have no meter, and the driver basically sets the price. We had a very wonderful ride to Hay Riad, which is where we lived and completely on the opposite side of town (you can see a video of what we were doing below). When we got out of the taxi at Hay Riad, the Driver asked for 200 dirham-- thats the equivalent of 8 watches, or 200 kiwis!!!! Of course we were outraged, and Mobasshir, our favorite Muslim, and Peter, a french-speaking genius, started yelling at him in Arabic and French! I think they actually hurt his feelings, because he started to drive off without even getting paid! Mobasshir and I wouldn't take this, and gave him 120 dirham, which we thought was more than fair! It turns out that a fair price would have been 70 dirham, so we didn't feel too sorry for the guy. Next time we would be more careful, especially 11 at night!

I hope you are all doing well, thank you all again for reading! I miss all of you, and I hope your summers are going great!