Go Girl

Homestay Family

To see more of Fes and our homestay apartment click here.

This pose was requested specifically by our host sister.

He took this of us with his computer

Brother and sister on their recent trip to Rabat

This pose was specifically requested by my host brother with Melissa and I's computers.

Video

Soccer

Melissa and I were sitting on a bench in a large tiled median. There were about 20 benches, all about 10 feet apart, most of them with people. Several boys were playing soccer with a plastic bottle, using a gap between two benches as the goal. People would walk through the game, and everyone would nearly collide, but no one seemed to mind, much like walking the sidewalks and streets everywhere else in Fes. At one point a homeless person sat behind their goal and kicked the bottle away when it hit his foot so the boys changed goals.

The boys would scream next to people sitting silently and the people would react as if they heard nothing, or the boys would run into traffic to chase the bottle and the cars would sort of stop and honk, or the bottle would whiz by someone, and the boys would occasionally get yelled at. Then the bottle hit a clean cut elderly man sitting by himself. He methodically leaned over, picked it up, twisted off the top, set it back on the ground, and stomped on the bottle about six times, silently, staring at the boys the whole time. The boys found another bottle. It was not readily apparent if they made any special effort to avoid Grumps McGee. After a few minutes he got up and left.

Family Tree

We were making mock family trees today in language class to learn to discuss families. The following was a conversation our class had with our Moroccan teacher.

Class: We're going to make the children get married to each other.

Teacher: Brother and sister?

Class: Yeah.

Teacher: Do you have that in the United States?

Class: No, just joking. Do you have that here?

Teacher: Brother and sister, no. Sometimes the cousin.

Class: The cousin?

Teacher: Yeah, cousin.

Class: Like first cousin?

Teacher: The cousin.

Class: OK, so let's say you have a sister, and she has a daughter, and then you have a son. Could your son marry your sister's daughter?

Teacher: Yeah.

Class: Is this common?

Teacher: My parents are cousins.

To Be Fair, I Have No Idea If This Paper Is Even a Reputable News Source Here...

But still, just stumbled upon this article...

Ali Baba

I haven't shaved in a while. Yesterday, heading to the Medina, an old man approached me muttering things I didn't understand, but as I walked away I picked up "Ali Baba."A Moroccan we were with confirmed I had heard correctly. It was a common thing to be called if you had a beard. Moroccans will often call you by one particular thing you look like. If you're Asian you will get a lot of "Jackie Chan" or "Jet Li," and if you're black you might get "Chris Brown." Sure enough, I heard "Ali Baba" several more times.

When I told my host mother about the new moniker I had earned on my day's adventures, she had not heard of this habit of "Ali Baba"calling, and did not seem to think it made sense. "He is like Mickey Mouse," she said. "Not real."

This afternoon, as I went to write this post, I decided to play some of the music I have downloaded this week, some 1500 rap songs. I went for Rhymin' and Stealin', the first track on the Beastie Boys album Licensed to Ill, not knowing the lyrics...


Because Mutiny on the Bounty's what we're all aboutI'm gonna board your ship and turn it on outNo soft sucker with a parrot on his shoulder'Cause I'm bad gettin' bolder, cold cold gettin' colder
Terrorizin' suckers on the seven seasAnd if you've got beef, you get capped in the kneesWe got sixteen men on a dead man's chestAnd I shot those suckers and I'll shoot the rest
Most illingest b-boy, I got that feelin''Cause I am most ill and I'm rhymin' and stealin'
Shh! Snatchin' gold chains, vikin' pieces of eightI got your money and your honey and the fly name plateWe got wenches on the benches and bitties with tittiesHousin' all girlies from city to city
One for all and all for oneTakin' out MC's with a big shotgunAll for one and one for allBecause the Beastie Boys have gone A.W.O.L
Friggin' in the riggin', man, cuttin' your throatBig bitin' suckers gettin' thrown in the moatWe got maidens and wenches, man they're on the aceCaptain Bligh's gonna die when we break his face
Most illingest b-boy, I got that feelin'I am most ill and I'm rhymin' and stealin'
Ali Baba and the forty thievesAli Baba and the forty thievesAli Baba and the forty thievesAli Baba and the forty thieves
Ali Baba and the forty thievesAli Baba and the forty thievesAli Baba and the forty thievesAli Baba and the forty thieves