Shopping & Pizza Margherite

So, yesterday was a busy day, hence the lack of a post. Nothing too monumental happened but my goal was to write everyday so 10, 20, 30 years from now I have some sort of record to look back to and remember the highlights of this trip.

Yesterday I spent time in the small room with Katie, one of the volunteers. She's from Ontario, Canada and so sweet. She has spent this whole year traveling off and on (she took a year off after high school and starts college this fall). She volunteered in an orphanage in Brazil for 5 weeks, then spent 4 weeks in Barcelona taking language classes, then came here to Morocco for 7 weeks to volunteer, and next is meeting her mom in Paris for a week before returning home. How fantastic is that! She talked about how much she loved Barcelona & that it had a special place in her heart. I obviously jumped with excitement when she said this because that's exactly how I felt. There's just something about that city! So we spent some time talking about the wonders of Barcelona as we waited for our children to come.

They did finally come...but it took a good 45 minutes for them to show up. Ayoub, a little boy that I see everyday when I work in the little room, was there and smiled when he walked in. He's very sweet and looks after the smaller kids that come in there. I don't spend much time with him because he's so independent. Most of the kids in this room are older and like to do puzzles and color by themself. That's probably why us volunteers like the big room better because the kids just scream for your attention and make you feel like your making a difference in their day. But, today I made the effort to make Ayoub play with me.

He and a much younger little boy went into one of the little plastic houses. I sat outside and he chatted away to me the whole time. I of course have no idea what he was saying but it didn't matter. I asked him his age in Arabic, AND HE UNDERSTOOD! And he answered in Arabic, AND I UNDERSTOOD! I've been trying to do this for a week now and finally everyone was able to figure out what the other was saying. He told me he was 10 and his little friend was 3. That was the highlight of my day to be honest.

After lunch today we had a talk on the History of Islam which was truly fascinating. Mohamed gave the talk and he explained the similarities and differences between the Bible and the Koran, how Islam came about, how people practice it today, etc. We talked about the political aspects as well. One of the other volunteers asked about the terrorist activity today and how they practice Islam. He explained this and so many other things to us which I'll probably save for a later post. It truly was fascinating to learn about one of the largest religions in the world by a practitioner of Islam.

After the talk I went to the Medina with Kim, Erin, and Alex (my Sahara group girls) to get some shopping done. That was quite an experience, but I bargained and bought so much stuff, including a wedding gift, all for $70. Awesome. I think I need to pick up a couple more things though so I'll have to go back. Ugh. I really wanted to get it all done yesterday. But I'll probably be going on my own Thursday or Friday which actually excites me. I always have a more personal experience when doing stuff alone and I really am able to take in what's around me. And, after being to the Medina 3 times I feel absolutely comfortable & confident.

After shopping we walked over to an Italian restaurant called "La Mamma". It was delicious and so adorable inside. We had pizza and learned more about each other over sangria & delicious Italian food. These are truly some fascinating women. Erin is meeting her husband in Paris for a week after this trip & Kim is traveling alone for a week throughout Morocco after her placement is over and then doing a 9 day tour of Egypt! I'm so envious of them both. But this trip was always about volunteering and I never once considered staying and traveling because I didn't want my mind clouded with other things. So, after dinner, we took taxi's home, my and Erin's driver insisted on talking about American politics, yikes! He would say how much he hated Bush and doesn't like Obama either. "He has fear" he kept saying. But Bill Clinton, boy he loved Bill Clinton. "A man of peace". Erin and I just smiled and agreed, then Michael Jackson came on the radio and he turned it up and Kim started singing and all tension there may have been was immediately alleviated. Thanks Michael.