Today is my first day with my host family and they are absolutely adorable! My host dad’s name is Mohammed and my host mom’s name is Karima. They have three children, Siham (20), Saad (17), and Zoubaida (12). Julianne, another student in the program and I will both be staying here for the semester. This was not the family that we were initially assigned to live with. Just an hour before it was time for us to meet our host families, which was a surprisingly nervous moment for me, Julianne and I were told that our host family will be moving out of Rabat this month and cannot host us. All the students were afraid that their host families wouldn’t like them, which was really cute and quite hilarious, but Julianne and I figured that worst case scenario is that this family also decided to “move” out of Rabat.
Alhamdulillah, it really worked out for the best because in our new home we both have our own bedrooms and the family has hosted three sets of American students before us. Julianne is just beginning Arabic so we are both relying on French to communicate with the family and the little bit of darija that we learn in class. I am incredibly impressed with how quickly French has come back to me though!! Granted there have been countless conversations where I have no idea what is going on and am just nodding, but that’s because I am just too tired to try and figure things out before fatoor.
For the past four nights we have been having fatoor at restaurants and I thought that was impressive, but today my host mom Karima out did anything we had seen so far. There were dates, figs, hareera soup, quiche, pizza (I think this was our special welcome), eggs, cheese, homemade bread, fried fish, meatballs, and probably so much more that I had forgotten. By the end I was stuffed and there was so much more that I still wanted to try. Right now it is 11:30 pm and Karima is in the kitchen again preparing dinner. From what I have seen, there are two whole roasted chickens, liver, sweet potatoes, an eggplant dish, and probably some other things. I was sort of expecting cous cous, but apparently it is not common during Ramadan except for on the 27th night which is “laylat al qadr”, or so that’s what I understood.
I am hoping that Karima does not tire herself out this much every day during Ramadan because unlike what I am used to in my family where you cook until fatoor time, she keeps going afterwards! I don’t know how she does it but hopefully this is much more food than we will be normally eating. Oh and did I mention that there is another meal at 3:30 am? I am praying so hard that I will have room in my stomach for the midnight meal, but unless a special miracle happens there is no way I will be able to eat that third meal.
For our first night here, they also invited some extended family over. After dinner Julianne and I spent the whole time talking to the little girls who are about 12 years old in French. For some reason I have had the hardest time asking “how old are you?” That and midway in French sentences I will insert Hebrew words like can (yes), ayfo (where), biimed (really). No one has any idea what I am saying! Regardless, by the end of my first day I feel like my French is exponentially better than it was when I first arrived. But my new technique from now on when trying to learn a language is to always befriend children because they don’t hesitate to look at you like you’re crazy when you throw in Hebrew words where as my host dad just smiles and nods:)
Julianne and I are so excited to begin to explore the area around. We are a ten minute walk from the Medina in a neighborhood called Hassan. We are already making lists of things we want to do like kayaking, surfing, and jet skiing. I also think I am going to try and take tennis lessons. I’ve always wanted to learn but have never played before so this feels like a great opportunity to fit in lessons! So I guess this is what I will be calling home for the next four months. The warm yellow walls of my bedroom make me feel like I am in Morocco. The American bubble I was in the past four days has burst and the real adventure is just beginning!
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