An update from last night. I'll try to write more tonight if I get internet.


I’m back at the dorm now. While I was at the Center using the internet, I met some of the students who are staying at the apartments that are right there. One of them, Mike, is American, and actually has family that lives in Durham. He was wearing a Carolina shirt, though…boooo! I guess he’s already graduated from college but is planning on doing something focusing in the Middle East for grad school, but doesn’t know any Arabic. So he came here a little while ago and is going to take all the Arabic classes offered, starting with Beginner’s 1 and going through Advanced 3- he’s going to be here for a while. We cover about 2 chapters a week, I think- I’ll be starting with the last week of Beginner 2, spending most of my time on Beginner 3, and finishing with a week of Intermediate 1, assuming my placement test goes about as planned. Mike was really helpful, letting me know that the address I had was actually just a residence, and that if I need to get to the Center another time, which address and what landmarks to provide to the taxi driver. And one of the staff members stopped by and provided me with something I can show the taxi driver that describes in Arabic where to go to get back to my dorm. That was really helpful. Mike walked me out to a bakery to grab some food, but they were closed, so we walked over to the main road and I caught a taxi back to my dorm, Beyt Maarifa. I wish I spoke French because it’s actually an official language here, and it would do me a lot of good. Luckily, though, that means that most people are fairly good at reading the Latin alphabet, so I can write down addresses and they can find it. The thing is, I can sound out Arabic script, and I can spell things phonetically, but phonetic spelling isn’t always right, and sometimes it’s not even close. But tomorrow I’ll start class and study a lot and focus on being able to communicate, and on trying even if I’m not sure I’m right. I’m going to spend some time tonight looking over vocab in the textbook and phrases in my guidebook.

I made it back to my dorm and managed to figure out where to get food, though it took a little. I asked for “ta’am,” food in Arabic, and finally they figured it what I was talking about and pointed me to what I thought was “Compass” but was, in fact, “Campus.” My residence is actually a dorm located on the campus of a college here in Rabat, and I guess this is a little shopping center type area students hang out. There were several small markets and café. So for tonight, I’m having a hamburger, fries, rice, strawberry yogurt, bread, mango juice, and a lot of water. There’s a little fridge in here, but no stove. Tomorrow I’ll get breakfast and lunch at the Center, and then figure out dinner. Supposedly in the morning a bus will come that picks up all the students for the Center and drops us off. I’m not really sure what time it comes, so my plan is to get up, eat some yogurt, and go sit outside and wait for the hordes of Americans to show up. =) That’s not completely true, but Mike did tell me that the majority of students at the Center are American, though today I met Patrick and William, who are Irish and Belgian, I think. But I assume it’s not going to be too difficult to spot the Westerners among all the Moroccan students that are here.

I’m trying to figure out if I’m going to stick way out in the clothes I brought. With the Center’s dress code- basically being covered from neck to knees, including sleeves on shirts, I don’t have shorts or tank tops, but I would definitely stick out in those if I had any. Most of the female students I’ve seen around the dorm are either wearing jeans and long sleeves or traditional Moroccoan robes that, while flowy and probably pretty cool, button up to the neck, have long sleeves, and fall at the ankles. My knee length skirts and fitted t-shirts, while fairly conservative on the Stanford campus and in Durham, will probably stick out a little here, though they are definitely still appropriate.

I found out today that Morcco now does Daylight Savings Time, as of last year, so we are actually 5 hours ahead of the east coast and 8 hours ahead of the west. Since this is relatively new, my computer refuses to recognize it- when I put it on GMT-Casablanca, it’s an hour behind GMT- London, which is what the actual time is now with DST. So that was a little confusing at first, but I managed to get it squared away before I left the Center so I know I’ll be up at the right time tomorrow for class. Thanks to Matt for helping me figure it out…

My dorm is so lonely and quiet (Erica, if you’re reading this, I know exactly how you feel out there in your shed), so I’m listening to music. I’m going to finish eating and then do some reading and then get some sleep. Tomorrow everything starts! =)