This is the start of a beautiful friendship

Well as I write this, it is 10:30 pm in Casablanca. Literally just finished packing all of my things.. Packing=cramming everything in. I didn't think that I could do it but I finally fit everything. I am leaving tomorrow at 7:45 for my 10:45 flight to Paris then to Dulles. My flight should land at 7pm EST (midnight in Casablanca and by my current sleeping patterns.) I will spend an entire day in transit; The next 24 hours are going to be a whirlwind. It is all very bittersweet. I love Morocco and feel at home here but I miss everyone at my real home. It is time for me to go. In addition to all of the airplanes and whatnot, I still need to finish writing my 8-10 page paper that is due by midnight on Friday. So what all of this means is that the next two days of my life are going to be stressful.

Saying goodbye to everyone at the Consulate was quite difficult. It was mostly difficult with the Moroccans; the Foreign Service are used to the comings and goings and there is always the possibility of linking up with FS folks in DC. Goodbyes are never fun and although I think I get a lot of practice with doing them, it never gets easier. So here I am, finishing up this amazing experience. Just a little white girl that never does anything too fun or exciting. It's been an amazing summer and I loved everything. I hope all of you get a chance to come to Morocco at some point. Everything about it has been enjoyable. I wish I could tell you all the stories but it is much better in person, so the next time you see me, ask me and I will be happy to tell you.

Shukran bizef for reading my blog and for all of your kindness. God bless America, and I can't wait to get home. Mamma, I will see you soon!!

Only a week left in Morocco

I cannot believe that I have been so negligent towards my blog! I’m sorry! I just get so busy all during the week that I simply forget to write.

For my birthday, I went to Marrakesh with a friend from the consulate and his friends. Marrakesh is about a three hour drive away. My friend’s family has an apartment there and often goes to visit for the weekend. The first night (Friday) we went out to dinner at the most amazing Moroccan restaurant ever. The food was so good.. I had beef tajine with dried apricots. Seriously, I am going to try to introduce tajines to America. That is definitely going to be one of the main things I will miss when I leave. So anyway, dinner was fabulous and afterwards we went out to ring in my 20^th birthday. Afterwards the group went back to the apartment and tried to sleep. The next morning we got up bright and early, had a fabulous Moroccan breakfast, and then spent the day at a water park absorbing the sun and going on those ridiculous water slides. That night after taking a shower and a nap, we went out again where I was treated to dinner, birthday cake, and the club full of people singing me happy birthday. We walked like zombies back to the apartment after that, so tired from the long day and long night. That birthday was one of the best I have ever had. The only thing that could make it perfect was if Natalie had been there! On Sunday we went to the markets where I bought myself a birthday present, and I picked up some gifts for the family. The group reluctantly got into the car after that and we started the roadtrip back to Casablanca and back to work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrakech

The week following the amazing birthday was uneventful. Work was the same, busy most of the time and stressful. The following Friday I went to Rabat for a newcomer orientation. It gave some background on the Embassy and the functions of most of the offices. The duties of the Embassy are quite different from the consulate and it was interesting to compare the two. In addition, the Embassy has a large compound and a huge American community including the Foreign Service and their families of about 300 people, whereas the Consulate is small and I think I have met everyone, including most of the family members. After the orientation, we went to the touristy sites in Rabat. Like an idiot, I left my camera in Casablanca so I couldn’t take pictures of all the cool stuff, including the very beautiful ancient Islamic ruins. It is on the list to go back again, with a camera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabat

There is not much news other than this because work is the same and the weekdays are usually uneventful. We have been invited to dinner with many consulate folks so that has become increasingly appreciated. Everyone is so nice and it really has been enjoyable to get to know everyone.

Last week we had our monthly consulate barbeque out on the back patio. It is usually kind of potlucky where people bring things to share and we all just take the afternoon to relax. This time we had meshwee/mechoui/meshwi, which is a huge roasted lamb on a spit that is heavily spiced and oh so good. We also had bastilla, a Moroccan pastry that is, hands down, my favorite thing to eat here. Oh man, I want one right now..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastilla

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/index.php?option=com_resource&controller=article&category_id=18&article=17548

I have been making a mental list of all the things I love about Morocco as I am sure that I will continue adding to the list, here is what I have so far:

1. Food. The traditional food is fabulous (couscous, meshwee, tajine, mint tea, bastilla) but also in Casablanca the accessibility of all restaurant styles is very good. There is a lot of Italian, French, some American, lots of cafes, and cute bakeries and amazing produce. Really, any type of food can be found. This was one aspect of Morocco that I found the most surprising, considering it is a developing country. The other interns and I joke when we see something that is so not third-world, we look at each other and note “this is not a developing country!” At least, not so much in the major cities. I bet out in the country and in the mountains it is a different situation.

2. The produce, which could be part of #1. The produce is beautiful, cheap, and very tasty. Last week I went to the local grocery store and picked up some produce for the consulate barbeque. I made a tomato and cucumber salad. I bought seven tomatoes, three large cucumbers, an onion and two lemons for about 12 dirhams, which is about a dollar and a half. Additionally, after I washed the tomatoes and cut into them, I was astonished to see that each tomato was absolutely perfect; sweet and juicy and perfectly ripe. The same goes for the cucumbers; they were the most perfect cucumbers I have ever seen. When I go back to the genetically engineered produce of America, I know the first thing I will miss is the naturally perfect veggies of Morocco.

3. Taking shoes off as a sign of respect. I love this. Shoes are taken off when entering homes and anywhere else to show respect. If it were up to me, I would make everyone go barefoot all the time.

4. Eating with the hands. It took a little bit of getting used to for me but once you get the hang of it, it is more fun than forks and knives and just overall better.

5. The country as a whole. I haven’t been to a city that I didn’t like and I don’t have a favorite city because I just like them all so much. I love Casablanca because you can find just about anything. Although it is a big city, it feels small to me especially since you can pretty much walk everywhere if you live in the middle. Rabat is simply beautiful and is slower paced and friendly. The countryside is beautiful as well.

6. The weather in Casa in the summer is perfect. We had two overcast days the entire time I have been here. And there has been only one painfully hot day. All the rest have been perfect, bright sunshine, blue sky, slight breeze, and perfect temperature. It is impossible to have a bad time in this city when everyday is this beautiful.

7. The people. I haven’t met a Moroccan that I haven’t liked. They are all super friendly and always happy and welcoming and just great. When I told one of the drivers that I was leaving in a couple weeks he broke into crocodile tears. It was so nice. Some of the other Moroccans that I was talking to about my departure insisted that I switch to a University here in Morocco. Then when I said I couldn’t do that, they said that they would raise money from everyone in the Consulate for my flight back to Morocco next summer. I said if they got me a ticket, I would be back as soon as possible.

The life of an intern is hard work!

The past couple of weeks have been quite busy out here! On Thursday the 18th Nora and I gained another roommate! His name is Patrick and he goes to college in Colorado. His parents live in Cairo and he spent most of his school years out there. He knows Arabic pretty well but it’s the Arabic that is spoken in Egypt, which is quite different from the Moroccan dialect. Anyway, he is working in Consular Affairs and after his first couple of weeks likes it very much. It is really great to have a guy around now for so many reasons. Our group of three has had a good time so far. We walk to work and go out to lunch together and spend the weekends exploring.

Last week we were informed that the apartment that we moved into initially is to be given back to the landlord, that our lease is up. So we moved on Tuesday and Wednesday to the new apartment. The move was difficult for me because, as being a Management intern, it was my job to organize most of the logistics of the move in addition to my current duties. I ended up making about six trips from the old apartment to the new apartment with most during the day so I had to miss some work. But despite the stress and frustration, everything worked out. Unfortunately we now live about 20 minutes walking from the consulate, verses the eight-minute walk we had previously. The apartment is bigger, though, and we are in a more interesting neighborhood with lots of restaurants and shopping. As for most moves, my most recent one has been good for some things and bad for others but this is the way it goes.

I have been in charge of the motor pool here for a little over three weeks now and it is becoming easier to manage the more understanding I have of it. The most difficult part is not managing the drivers and cars but managing the requests and issues that come from all the people in the consulate. I had a breakthrough on Friday that was another one of those surreal moments that I will remember for the rest of my life. As I said, the motor pool has been difficult at times and I have been driven to the edge of sanity. A few people have missed their rides and there have been misunderstandings, lack of information, and language barriers. Fortunately, though, these problems are coming up fewer and fewer as I get to know the drivers and I understand the system in place. I still have a fear that I am a complete and utter failure; I worry that I am doing everything wrong. Some of these drivers have been working with the consulate for 15+ years and truly know what works and how to best operate. I come in after no training and try to take over this huge task. I’m sure it was difficult for them as well to try to work with this American teenager (yep still a teenager until tomorrow) that speaks neither Arabic nor French and is quite culturally ignorant. Anyway so on Friday afternoon I was sitting in my office waiting to bring the stressful week to an end when I received a phone call from one of the drivers requesting me to come to the driver’s room. I had never been summoned like that before so I really had no idea what was going on. My first reaction was that they were planning an intervention. I thought they were going to sit me down and explain everything that I had been doing wrong. They were going to pick my bones clean, or at least I thought. I prepared for the worst. I gathered up my planner and notebook and walked out to the driver’s lounge trying to look confident but prepared to be humbled. As I approached their room, which is more like a trailer detached from the main consulate building, they could see me through the windows and I was greeted at the door by one of the drivers. He announced “staff meeting!” and I felt a little bit better but still worried that they were going to let me have it. I walked in and approached the sofas arranged in a circle and saw in the middle on the small coffee table a massive plate of couscous. “Just kidding!” they joked. I could not be more surprised. You see, couscous is a huge cultural thing here in Morocco. It is eaten every Friday (the Sabbath) and the whole thing, starting with couscous, then fruit, and ending with traditional mint tea, could last a couple hours. And being invited to share couscous with Moroccans or in a Moroccan home is a huge deal. I was so overwhelmed with joy and surprise and simply filled with love. The kindness I experienced was astonishing. Picture it… me, this white girl that is not outstanding or extraordinary, just plain and simple me that doesn’t have big adventures or interesting stories to tell, but there I was. I was the only white person, the only female, and the only person under 25 in the room. I was surrounded by five Moroccan men, completely outside anything I have ever known but yet having one of the greatest moments of my life. It was amazing. We joked about how I thought it was a real meeting and I had brought my notebook and planner. They poked fun and one of them said "it's Friday. There's no work today!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MoroccanCouscous.jpg

The weekend was happily welcomed by the three exhausted interns. Saturday afternoon was good for catching up on sleep and relaxing. That evening, though, we went to poker night with some consulate folks. The poker started around 9pm and lasted until about 1 or 1:30 in the morning. I ended up losing only 60 dirhams (about $7.50) haha.. and it was a lot of fun.

The next morning on Sunday, Nora and I travelled to a place called Sidi Moumen which is a suburb of Casablanca and one of Casablanca's first shantytowns. We went with a Moroccan that opened a community outreach center there. The town became notorious for being the hometown of all of the Moroccan suicide bombers from 2003 and 2007. The people here, especially the children, are living in dire situations and are vulnerable to persuasion. The man we went with explained that he wants to provide the children of that area with opportunities for success. There is a library, tutor centers, computer lab, sports equipment, and so much more. The facility is in great condition but could always use more money and more volunteers. The center is truly a great thing. I felt so inspired just by visiting it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3930349.stm

After visiting Sidi Moumen, Nora and I rushed back to the apartment to get ready to go to the Embassy in Rabat for the annual Independence Day party. We shuttled out there, ate some food, met the Rabat interns and pretended to mingle with the some 500+ guests. They also had a nice fireworks display that woke up the entire neighborhood. I was so glad to get to see some fireworks this year. It is starting to really feel like my birthday. My life right now is so far from any other normal summer that having even a little connection to home means a lot. Especially around my birthday. We returned to Casablanca that evening after the party and prepared to start another week of work.

Elections, cooking, & more

Hi everyone! Wow it has been a while since my last post. Let’s see, what has happened since last Tuesday.
Friday of last week was election day in Morocco for local elections. The embassy in Rabat and consulate in Casablanca sent representatives to observe the polling locations in their respective areas. We split up in groups of 3-4 to travel in certain nearby cities with 3 groups remaining and observing in Casablanca. I went with the head of the Econ section and we went out to two cities: El Jadida and Safi. We also stopped at some polling locations on the way to those cities. Overall I think we checked out maybe 7 or 8 polling locations. We would generally just walk to the poll and introduce ourselves as reps from the American consulate and that we wanted to observe how things were going. We asked if there were any problems throughout the day. We also observed security forces outside and we would take note of anything out of place. In one location, a voter thanked us for coming and observing. In another location, a police officer asked us if their elections looked like the ones in America. Not all reactions to our presence were positive. At one location, we had to show our IDs and the police we talked to called their bosses, then their boss’ bosses were called and eventually, maybe 15 minutes later, we were allowed inside the polling location. This hullabaloo eventually reached the ears of some very important people and our bosses called us up and told us to lay low when we observe. For the rest of the day, though, there weren’t any problems like this for the most part. Most of the locations that we went to were schools, both rural and urban. We also went to some magistrate buildings that were polling locations. I enjoyed observing the elections but I also enjoyed seeing more of the country. It was determined that there were no irregularities at the polling locations observed by all the consulate people. A significant amount of the voters were female. Additionally, adults would bring their children to the polling location. I thought that this was good because it would create a culture of voting in the society starting at a young age. Unfortunately my personal discovery of the day was that I so naively believe in and support democracy that I didn’t critically observe the practice here in Morocco as much as I could or should have. I heard later that vote buying can be prevalent and that oftentimes voters are persuaded to vote one way or the other. One woman we spoke with, who is I would say mid-upper class, said that she and her husband didn’t vote. Usually poor uneducated people vote here in Morocco. She asked us how the uneducated voters could understand what they are voting for if they can’t read. It is an interesting situation. People don’t vote because they don’t believe what they are doing makes a difference or they do vote but may be persuaded to vote because they don’t entirely understand the system.
For more information on the Moroccan elections:
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/06/14/feature-01
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/06/200961322143190653.html
After the election observing on Friday, I went with a group of consulate people to go to a different city called Meknes to take a cooking class & tour the imperial city. (More Meknes info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meknes) Meknes was very beautiful. My favorite part was seeing the Moulay Ismail’s mausoleum. I will post pictures so you can see for yourself how beautiful it is (unless you have already seen the pictures on Facebook). The city itself is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco. It was founded by Moulay Ismail. The story goes that Moulay Ismail wanted to marry King Louis' daughter of France. He wrote the king asking for her hand but Louis refused him (Moulay Ismail, legend says, had 550 wives). Moulay Ismail’s was upset and his response was to build a city that would rival Louis’ Versailles, thus creating Meknes. In its day, Mekens was elaborate and extravagant. It has been nicknamed the ‘Versailles of Morocco.’ Today it is still beautiful, and the water reservoir, stone wall and elaborate entrances built by Moulay Ismail as well as his mausoleum are still standing two and a half centuries later. After the tour we had our cooking lesson. The owner of this cooking thing is an American that moved out here to live and teach people how to cook. Check out their website: http://www.savormorocco.com/ and if you are ever in Meknes, I highly recommend taking this class. We broke up into two groups, one toured in the morning and the other cooked in the morning. After lunch we would switch. My group cooked beef tajine and the other group cooked chicken tajine. A tajine is a traditional Northern African stew-like that is named after the pot in which it is cooked. We didn’t use a tajine (pot) when we cooked but a pressure cooker instead. My favorite was the chicken tajine. Although these are stews, they are traditionally not eaten with utensils. Usually pieces of bread are used to scoop up the veggies and meat, making this meal significantly more fun to eat. :-) I had one on Friday when we were observing the elections. It was actually a kind of funny situation Friday because we stopped in this very small town for lunch. As couscous is a traditional meal for Fridays we were kind of on the hunt for that. We drove around looking at the “normal” restaurants in the town but some were closed and none of them really looked appealing. So we kind of come off the beaten path and pull into this strip with a fruit stand, a butcher stand and a convenience store, and some other misc shops. In the back corner wedged between two shops there was a tajine restaurant. But to call it a restaurant would be a gross overstatement. It was just a couple guys in a hole-in-the-wall kitchen cooking tajines. Seating was limited to plastic patio chairs and tables with Coca Cola advertisements on it. I was there with one Moroccan and one Foreign Service guy so I felt comfortable just eating whatever they gave me (if you know me you know that I am very picky about strange food.. I don’t even eat seafood! But it seems that Morocco has released some of my reserve). Anyway, I ate this tajine with some kind of meat in it (possibly beef haha) and with the most delicious vegetables imaginable. (I am really going to miss these fresh vegetables when I head back to the hyper-productive, commercialized, industrial America.) The whole meal and experience was just absolutely wonderful. Afterwards we were allowed to walk into their hole-in-the-wall to use their one rusty sink to wash our hands. Man, oh man I love this culture. So anyway, the cooking school will email me the recipe for the meals that we cooked; I will be happy to forward them on to anyone that is interested. Here’s the wiki page for the traditional tajine meal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajine
On Sunday we slept in after getting up ridiculously early (for college kids) for the past 10 days. We headed out to the shopping district here in Casa around 2pm. We just kind of wandered around shopping and we headed back to the apartment early. I am sad to say that after such an elaborate description of the wonders of Moroccan food illustrated above, on Sunday night Nora and I ordered pizza. Not just any pizza, though, Pizza Hut delivery. We decided on delivery because we were just not interested in going out and we pretty much had no food at the apartment. So we ordered the pizza and 45 minutes later, we were still sitting around wondering where why it hadn't come. Nora called them back and apparently the Pizza Hut delivery boy couldn’t find our apartment. So after some huffing and puffing (on my part) we decided to walk to Pizza Hut and pick up our pizza. The guys at the restaurant were very nice and sorry about the mixup. They gave us a free 2 liter 7-Up for our trouble, and they also asked us if we were American to which of course we said yes, and they promptly said “you are very welcome.” In the two+ weeks that I have been here, I have not encountered any hostility or negativity due to being American. Truly, I think for the most part that Moroccans like Americans. I walked into a grocery store alone one day and the workers were falling all over themselves to help me. To add to it, this culture is very consumer oriented. Service people, I have noticed, are the ones that are the most helpful and least likely to stare. They are friendly and all around just genuinely nice. I definitely see a class divide, though. There are the Moroccans (usually men) that I see sitting at the same café every day, every time that I walk by. No job, no income, really some of the lowest social and economic standing. Men like this are all over the place. Next are the service people, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. They are making money (probably very little) but nevertheless have an income and there may be room to develop and improve. Next are the educated. These are the doctors, politicians, any government worker, police etc that can be seen at social gatherings but not seen on the streets. Most of these people have been educated in France or America and speak several languages. The economy here in Morocco, for the most part, is service. There is not a very high demand for educated people. For this reason when Moroccans leave to study, they often don’t return because they have a better chance in these other countries to get jobs. The major cities are the places that educated people can get jobs but one must keep in mind that the rest of Morocco is mostly farmland and countryside. If a person leaves their farm for the city, they probably won’t come back. And it is unrealistic to say that they leave the farms to go to school; the illiteracy rate is exceedingly high. Additionally, as observed at the elections, the poor people are the ones that vote in Morocco. And a significant amount of the voters are women, which surprised me. In some rural areas that we observed, the rate was as high as 40%. In the cities the rate was lower, more like 20-25%. This was surprising as well. The official number I think released is 53% but I never saw a rate that high during my observations. Overall we noticed, as non official observers, that the elections seemed free, fair and consistent.
After this exhausting weekend of traveling all around the country, we tried to get back to work. Things at the consulate are going well. I am still working with the motor pool. Maybe next week I will be getting into the Homeland Security stuff. I am pretty much just taking the work as it comes for the moment. But as of this week, the summer semester at GMU for my internship credit has begun and I will be writing papers every Sunday for a grade. Oh so much fun…. Luckily they are only 2-3 pages and the topics are narrative/analysis/reflection on different topics or experiences I have had. So anyway. As the excitement of being here kind of dies down and the work begins, I am really missing everyone! 10 weeks is going to be a long time away from America. Nora and I have begun craving food that we really can’t get here, like Chipotle burritos or Taco Bell. Although the food is good here and almost any restaurant style can be found, Mexican/Tex-Mex is the one major exception. But I’m sure I will have plenty of chances to eat that stuff when I get back, but it is just kind of funny.
I am going to try to write my blogs more often so that they aren’t as long, like this one. This has taken me about three days to write because there is just so much going on and so much to write! Anyway all is well out here. I am still having a good time and everything is working out. I miss you all and thanks for reading and also thank you for the comments!

Watching Jane Austen in Africa

Hey everyone!! Things are going really well out here! This week we are a little shorthanded at the consulate because several of our FSNs are away on training. So to help make up for the vacancies, I have been given charge of managing the consulate motor pool. It has been quite challenging to receive this huge task with very minimal understanding of the operations and logistics of a motor pool. Nevertheless it has been a beneficial learning experience (ie, it makes me not want to be in the management section of the foreign service..haha.) Plus it means I get a lot of experience working with Moroccans (all of our drivers are Moroccan). I definitely started out with this task running around like an idiot trying to figure it out, but things seem to be coming together.
On Saturday Nora and I took the train to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Casa to Rabat is a 1 hour train ride at about 13$ (110 dirhams). We walked through the medina (old city marketplace area) and went to the beach. We also ate at lunch at a traditional Moroccan restaurant. The trip was exhausting but we had a good time. We are making plans to go back again because it is hard to see everything in one day, especially without much understanding of the city. We have been in Casa for almost two weeks but still have not seen all it has to offer, either.
One of the ladies at the consulate let Nora and me borrow her copies of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion. We have been keeping ourselves occupied with a little (or a lot) of Jane Austen. Ruby Lee, I am sure you are happy to hear that! Unfortunately we have now watched all of them and are on the hunt for some more movies. In the meantime I am up to my ears in the motor pool and missing all of you.


Love from Casablanca.

PS, Drey I told you I would give you a shout out but I don’t really know what to say.. I hope you are having a good summer!! Love you Drey baby

Pictures, finally!!

Outside Rick's Cafe on Wednesday night. 

Big street corner in Casablanca. Note the gazillion pedestrians..

The Hassan II Mosque

Fountain at the mosque

Atlantic Ocean!! Hassan Mosque to the right.

Mosaic design in the Hammam (Spa) in the Hassan II Mosque

Door to the Mosque.. Note the person in the left corner in comparison to the entrance.

Fountain at the Hassan II Mosque

Entrance to the Hassan II Mosque

The Hassan II Mosque

Street outside the apartment

Street sign with Arabic and French

They have palm trees in Morocco!!

A street in Casablanca

Street in Casablanca; outside the Hyatt.

Below is a picture of Casablanca from the window of a room in the Hyatt. That tall thing over there is the Hassan Mosque.. you can see the size of it compared to the Medina, which is the ancient city with the markets and such.

Week 1 Reflections

Hey world! As my first week comes to a close, I am reflecting on a week of new experiences, new people, new cultures, new food and a new lifestyle. I am still not completely adjusted but I am getting into a routine. Yet at any moment I think I could wake up to a normal life. In the meantime, I am waking up in Africa.

The big conference for Homeland Security has come to an end. Consultations continue for some of the participants but most have caught their flights back home. We had visitors from all over the world. I sat in on some of the discussion. The topics included human trafficking, sex tourism, and forced labor. Everyone had interesting insight through the perspective of their respective jobs, countries and experiences. I was not aware that these issues are as prevalent as they are, but of course I am a quite sheltered and secure American. But all of the issues discussed affect many people in the world, specifically in the source countries of Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. But as the United States is what is referred to as a destination country, trafficked people often end up there and many American companies may benefit from forced labor. We certainly have our ties to these issues despite not being in the forefront. As I said the discussions were intriguing, and I think the Law and Order writers would have endless storylines had they sat in on the discussions.

On Tuesday and Wednesday the conference group went out to dinner. The first event was at a four star restaurant owned by a Moroccan-American that is a very close friend to the US Consulate. As we loaded the buses for the restaurant, I looked around for anyone I knew so I could have someone to chat with during this dinner. I did not want to seem like the antisocial and timid intern in a group of well-educated and successful representatives of the world. As my roommate had other plans, and only about half of the conference attendees signed up for this dinner, the possibility of finding someone I knew and then end up sitting next to that person at the table seemed unlikely. So I prepared myself for an evening of politeness and fake smiles, and I tried to remember my dinner etiquette that may have escaped me after two years of college etiquette; I was sure to sit next to some boring USG employees with not much interesting to say. I tried to slowly walk to a chair so that I could see where the others were claiming seats. This plan failed and I ended up grabbing a chair quickly out of anxiety of the forthcoming boring meal. My attempts were in vain, but this failure actually worked out to my advantage. I looked around and saw myself surrounded by seven men ages 30-45, none of whom I had met during the conference. Alright, I thought, this could be good. There was an Italian to my right, a Dane across from him, a Finn across from me, and four Americans to my left. The Dane, Finn, Italian and I spent most of the dinner discussing the Italian Mob, life in Italy, life in the Netherlands, life in Denmark, life in Finland, life in America, fishing off the Adriatic and Red Seas, fishing in Boca Grande, moving to the Canary islands, the Carabinari, drug lords, drug problems, Hell’s Angels (Denmark chapter), Italian gypsies, Italian food in Venice vs Italian food in the South, and the Italian mob in Venice vs Italian mob in the South. I spent most of the time talking with the Italian that maybe loved talking as much as he loved eating. He was a very nice man who fit all of the stereotypes of a classy Italian; he was clean, friendly, suave, well dressed and well spoken. Although about 20 years my senior, these men seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say on the matter of all things American. Although I assure you, what I had to say was not very enlightened or eloquent. In the end, this evening that I worried would be awful and awkward turned out to be such a pleasantly enjoyable event. At one point as I sat surrounded by these truly exceptional people, I tried to take a memory-photograph of the sights, sounds, tastes, and people because I never want to forget this experience nor what it taught me about myself and my world.

As awesome as Tuesday night was, Wednesday night was unsurprisingly uneventful. We went to Rick’s Café as a group. Yep, that’s Rick’s Café, as in the movie. I was stuck in the middle of a long table with discussions going on all around me in English and Spanish. Unfortunately I was not involved in any of these conversations and the French woman across from me was just as bored. The food was okay, the company was quite unfulfilling, and the ambiance was not as good as everyone said it was. Wednesday fell short in comparison to the night before.

Before dinner on Wednesday, I went to the Hassan II Mosque here in Casablanca. It is the third largest mosque in the world, next to the two in Mecca and Medina. It took six thousand people working 24 hours a day and 7 days a week (in shifts of course) five years to build this mosque. It is stated in the Quran that God’s throne was over water so to illustrate this, they created a man-made peninsula in the Atlantic ocean on which the mosque sits. It is of French design. Every material used to create this mosque is from Morocco, except the chandeliers and two certain pillars are from Venice. My written descriptions could never do justice to the magnificent grandeur of this place. I can only offer pictures, and they will be posted as soon as I can get enough internet to do so. In the meantime, here is the Wikipedia page with full details of the mosque.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_II_Mosque

As I have been here for one whole week, I am still very taken aback when I am stared at in the street. Yes, it is true. Imagine people staring at me. I often find myself laughing at the situation! Can you believe it?? Because I certainly have not gotten over it myself. It has been said that Arab men hold Western women at a different standard than their own women, and also there are so few Western women here that they can be simply surprised to see me. Ha, imagine.. ME, this totally normal American that has never done anything outrageous in my whole life is now turning heads and requiring second and third glances in the streets of Casablanca. Long pants decrease the stares but they nevertheless continue. And it is often not rude or anything like that, they just stare. A lot. I myself cannot completely understand this, so I cannot explain it to you all. It is part of the culture that I accept but cannot completely understand. A similar part of the culture that I accept but cannot explain is the massive amounts of tea that is drunk in Morocco. They drink it all the time! If you are not familiar with the traditional Moroccan tea it is mint, often sweetened, drunk in small, thin glasses (not teacups), and poured from a brass teapot held about 2 feet above the glass. Moroccans claim that the reason for holding the teapot so far away from the glass is to aerate the tea, but I think it is just that Moroccans want to show off. Hahaa.

So, after one week, I still cannot believe I am here. They really do not speak English here. I mean REALLY. And the Moroccans don’t see a lot of Western people on a normal basis. Also, I don’t get a lot of information about what is going on in America. Morocco is just so physically, technologically, culturally, and socially very far away from America. This place is very different from home. Not better or worse but just SO different. And as you can tell, one week is not long enough for me to get over the culture shock.

Thanks for reading..

PS, love and miss you Natalie

Why is it so hard to find a good kabab restaurant in America??

Hey everyone! Wow so much has happened! I left for Dulles on Wednesday around 1pm and arrived at my apartment in Casablanca around 10:30 am the next day. It was so exhausting! Another intern, Nora, arrived the day after me and a third will come in mid June. The apartment is big.. three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a large living room (with a small tv) and good size kitchen. It is fully furnished with sheets, towels, pots and pans, washer/dryer, glasses, mugs & silverware and even some coat hangers. We have a microwave and a full size fridge, two sofas and a dining room with an 8-top table. We also have balconies overlooking a busy street. We are just a short walk from the US Consulate. The city is hard to describe. The buildings aren't extremely tall (not skyscrapers.) Morocco is a second-tier economy.. An easy way to understand the tier system is that first tier has Macdonalds and Starbucks, second tier has Macdonalds but no Starbucks, and a third tier has neither Macdonalds nor Starbucks. Casablanca has a population of about 7 million people. Also, there are no real "bad" sections of town; there is no physical divide between the rich and poor. An elaborate mansion can be just a couple blocks away from shantytowns and beggars. Lamborghinis and donkey-carts share the roadways. (By the way, Casablanca has the 5th highest  vehicular fatality rate in the world. Pedestrians and drivers alike are careless!) The city is dirty, but not like trash/dirty but more like dust/sand/dirty. In fact, the streets are rather litter-free and I have seen street cleaners several times. But the dust and sand settles on cars and in the streets and all over the place. I think this is probably an effect of the lack of rain that would normally wash these surfaces. 

There aren't big grocery stores or department stores in the city where we are. Instead, there are corner bakeries/patisseries, corner butchers shops, and corner fruit stands. Conceptually, these shops are similar to what can be found in NYC. Also, I was surprised to see how many people speak French here. Almost all buying/selling is in French. Nora has taken French so I've been relying on her to order stuff and talk to everyone! (By the way, we went to this amazing kabob place today. Official new favorite restaurant. It was so so so so good!) 

We went a little out of town today to a large grocery store that would put any military commissary on payday to shame. It was huge, and they had everything imaginable. The fresh fruit stand was massive, offering kiwis, pears, bananas, pineapple, apples, everything.. Whole stingrays and sharks that were probably alive yesterday were on display at the fish counter. Also the magnificent display of hundreds of blocks of cheese made our decision very difficult. Oh and mom, there was a stand for spices; and no not those bottled Macormick spices, but the these large pits filled with every color and scent. The explosion of cumin and safron both through sight and smell was astonishing. As I understand, a trip to this grocery store is quite a treat. It was an interesting experience. 

On Thursday I went with some Consulate people to the Habbous, which is a fascinating cultural/historical part of Casa that isn't seen in town where I work and live. The Habbous is a souk/market area where everything from rugs to paintings and handmade bronze items are sold. Imagine the scene from Aladdin when Jasmine sneaks out of the palace and ends up in the marketplace. This is similar to the Habbous except the Habbous is much more quiet and friendly, and the merchants have a hole in the wall out of which they sell their items, instead of a cart or a stand. I only went for a couple minutes because we were on a mission to find something, but next time I will take pictures and buy something. Probably a gift for Natalie.

Work at the consulate has been busy for me because there is a large conference coming up for DHS. I guess I came right in time to help out with that! Everyone at the consulate is very nice; I love hearing all their stories, as there are a lot. Everyone has been very welcoming to the interns and we have received a lot of help and advice. Last night we were invited to the Consulate General's (CG) residence for a piano recital. Her house is beautiful. It was Churchill's residence during the Moroccan-hosted Anfa Conference. This conference was significant to the outcome of WW2 and was one of the first steps for Morocco to gain independence from France. (Fun fact: when the Allies were planning on a location for the conference, the Germans translated "Casablanca" as "the White House," as in the White House in DC. Knowing the US/DC was impenetrable at that time, the Nazis didn't even attempt to attack/infiltrate/spy on the meeting.)

The next week will be busy busy busy, but I will hopefully be able to write some more! Somehow, we are managing to steal WiFi from a local network so I will pretty much have unlimited access when I am in the apartment. Oh and pictures will come soon. Love you all and thanks for reading.

http://casablanca.usconsulate.gov/about_history.html 

Almost there!

Hi! Since my last blog, lots have happened! I got in contact with the management officer that will be organizing the logistics of my arrival and I have also emailed with one of my bosses. I will be leaving on May 27 from Dulles and will return August 6. I will be working in both the Management and Homeland Security offices. Usually interns work in only one office, so I'm not sure how this will go. I was told that I will be living in a large apartment within walking distance of the consulate. And that I will have a fellow intern roommate. The housing situation is very good at this post. At other posts, interns may have to find and pay for their own housing.. and there is no guarantee of a good location. There are stories of interns trying to find housing at post from the US and ending up with an over-priced apartment and a 45 minute commute. I am very lucky. 

Now with a departure date set and communication with the bosses, I have some assurance that this is not a dream! It's actually happening! How did I get so lucky??

Trail blazing

Well I have been pretty busy with planning and getting ready for my trip. I received my security clearance, got my immunizations, located my passport, and confirmed with the Moroccan Embassy that I don't need a visa. I only have two more things before I can make my travel arrangements: medical insurance and my internship papers signed by my intern coordinator. Everything seems to be on track more or less. I should be leaving in about a month and a half. In the meantime, I have six big tests, two 10-15 page papers, and three presentations. Just stayin busy busy busy!!

Ahlan wa Sahlan!

Hello and welcome to my blog! I made it to keep family and friends updated with my upcoming trip! For those of you that have not heard: I was accepted for a State Department abroad internship this summer in Casablanca, Morocco. Pending security clearance, visa, immunizations, and some paperwork,  I will be leaving the States sometime after this school year is over (early June) to be gone for 10 weeks. I am so excited and still in a state of disbelief. 

As for now, I am waiting for my security clearance before I can apply for visas or start the other paperwork. This waiting is kind of driving me crazy but it is out of my hands for a while.

Anyway, thanks for visiting and check back for regular updates! See ya!

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