Twice the Usual Suspects

Today I made Moroccan friends!  The first girl, Maha, is on the high school national rowing team.  She talked to her coach today and told me that I'm welcome to come to their boathouse whenever and take out a single!  I'm so excited, she said I can practice with the team too if I want.

My next "friend" was assigned to me by the program, but I'm sure we will become natural friends soon enough.  Diyae is 19, studies international relations and english, and super nice.  Her best friend also rows at the same club as Maha so I'm going to meet even more friends!!

I've had some more quality moments.  Here are this week's....

OBSERVATIONS  

• I've noticed a pattern that every time I see my home stay father in the kitchen, he subsequently lectures at dinner about how a woman's place is in the kitchen and men do not cook at all. 

• Both my home stay parents have decided that the best way for me to learn Arabic (a language of which I do not even know the alphabet) is to randomly change from French to Arabic and hope that I can pick it up from context clues.  So far, not successful. 

• Classical Arabic is never spoken in Morocco except at prayer times.  Everyone speaks Dirya, a french influenced dialect.  The students on the program have been instructed in classical arabic, and some like to think that they are more equipped to communicate with Moroccans than I am with my French.  Today I was with a group of friends and we needed to ask for directions.  I went to ask a shopkeeper in French, but Jeff insisted on asking (in Arabic) instead of me.   The shopkeeper looked at him confused, and responded in French, "I don't speak English, ask me in French or Arabic."  Jeff, highly embarrassed that his classic arabic was mistaken for english, turned to me and said "can you ask him for directions?".  A little smugly, I asked the man in French for directions and talked with him a longer than necessary in order to really make my point.