.... But are you Hammam close?

Wednesday: I went to my first hammam (baths) with some girls on the program!  It was definitely culture shock... but in a good way.  Women in Morocco go to the hammam weekly to cleanse and socialize.

When we arrived there, we stripped naked (no room for bodily qualms in this hammam) and were taken by two naked women into the hottest room of the hammam.  There, they bathed up in hot water and soap.  And then they scrubbed.  And it was pretty painful.  But also amazing.  They scraped all the dead skin off our bodies - it fell off in grey clumps - until we were bright red and literally in new skin.  They washed our hair, massaged our feet, and sent us our way to the cooling chamber where we sat around and giggled about we had just been through.

Thursday:

I went rowing with a girl on the high school national team at her rowing club today!  There was a nice breeze luckily which made rowing is spandex pants more bearable.  It's still hard to see shirtless men in tiny shorts run around while I'm sitting in insulted pants and a thick tshirt.  

I risked death by crocodile as well while rowing.  Apparently a male and a female crocodile climbed into the inlet some years ago and now basically keep to themselves.  Sometimes there are spottings, other times it is just boys who shout "crocodile!" to make the girls scream.  Regardless, when I heard those shouts I went into panic mode and rowed as fast as I ever had away from that area. 

More home stay observations:

•  We have a communal water glass for dinner.  Aka I don't drink anything at dinner and wait until I'm in my room to chug water
• Monday and Thursday dinners are the BEST because my homestay parents fast every week on those days.  My mama spends her whole afternoon in the kitchen cooking a fabulous meal for us.  Unfortunately I do not fast on Mondays and Thursdays so I just end up eating a ton of food those days. 
• The water my mom gives me at night tastes different because she infuses it with Argan oil to help my nail and hair strength.  Thanks Mama Omnia!