Home Safe from Morocco I

S. Turkish toilet. You do your business and then fill a bucket of water and pour it down the whole. Our homestay had a western toilet.
T. My host mother!
U. Typical room in my homestay house.
V. Me at a former mosque. That tower behind me is for the prayer called to call from.
W. Visiting some Roman ruins.
X. I rode a camel! I've never even ridden a horse!
Y. The shoe style as depicted by a traditional market.
Z. 11 Dirhams = 1 Euro. We felt rich.
Best weekend I've had besides London. VERY eye-opening. Seville feels like home, like Shoreview, compared to Morocco. It was too hard to jot my day-to-day activities so I made a numbered list of things that stood out to me. Pictures will be posted as well.

1. Ehsan Ben. So part of this experience is living with a traditional Moroccan famoily for two days. This family was SOO nice and loving and warm. Ehsan Ben is the mother's son who is a doctor in a nearby village. He spoke great English and explained that he was very liberal, had strong faith in God but typically only prayed on Fridays (their holiday) even though many pray 5 times a day at a mosque. He asked us about online dating actually, so we recommended some sites. Although, he doesn't have a credit card - fascinating. He wears a baseball hat!

2. Their home is BEAUTIFUL! Kind of like Seville's with the open middle and tall ceilings. The couches surround the walls in almost all of the rooms. Everyone sleeps on a couch. When Rob and I had breakfast the first morning, we didnt realize that one the other side of the table, where there is a couch, the sister was sleeping there. Awkward. Seems like a happy family! They love to have people over at the house, very unlike Seville.

3. Judith and Ishmael. Ishmael is from St. Louis and we briefly met him, he's studying Arabic for the semester. Judith is from Holland and speaks great English - love the accent! She was super nice and helpful.

4. We spent Saturday afternoon with Moroccan students that spoke English. We went through an old part of Rabat, took in sights of the beach and went to a bar full of pool tables. It's interesting because people are more excited about non-alcoholic drinks because they aren't served in many places.

5. Spiritual Conversations. Morocco needs Jesus. This trip really made me think about my beliefs and my faith was certainly strengthened. Morocco is 98% Muslim but more modern than I expected. We met two women at a women's shelter the first day that were very passionate and faithful and never met someone like them for the rest of the trip. I think they emphasized the contrast even more because after meeting those two I expected to see similar responses from most of Morocco.

5B. Contradiction. Women are expected to cover up to not tempt men. At the same time, women shouldn't go to places like the beach so that they are not tempted by men without shirts on or anything. Hmmmm.