Host family time!

Well folks, its the moment you've been waiting for, my next update! Well, lots of the things have been happening since I last wrote, but probably the most important has been the move to my host family. The Sediki (which means my friend) family consists of 5 members. Abdelghafor is the father. He used to work for the ministry of communication, is 52, and retired. He now just does carpentry to pass the time and he's quite talented. I know what you're all thinking, but he really is 52 and retired!!! Next is Meryem, Abdelghafors wife. She is an incredible cook and really nice. Next comes Soufian. He's 24 and goes to a culinary school (i think) outside of casablanca. Marwan is 19 and a student at Mohammed V in Rabat. He's studying economics and wants to be a banker. Finally we have 9 year old Latifa, who is ridiculously adorable.

Anyway, we moved in yesterday. Abdelghafor and Marwan picked us up from the Amideast building and we walked to their house, which is in the same neighborhood, called Agdal. Thankfully our family lives only a 10 minute walk from Amideast. We met the rest of the family and got a tour of the appartment. To be honest I really know nothing about apartment size or whatever, but they have a very nice apartment. They have a kitchen, a guest room (which i guess is the equivalent of one of those really goyish living rooms that have the nice furniture that nobody really spends any time in),  A bedroom that has a king sized bed and a twin sized bed, although to be honest i have no clue who sleeps in that room yet. Next is mine and Jonathan's room (Jonathan is the other guy from my program at the house). I took a picture of our room for you all to see. Finally is the family room/living room. The walls are lined with couches and there is a tv and computer. There is also a table (i think abdelghafor made it) and we eat every dinner in this room.

Dinners in Morocco are quite different from dinners in the states, or at least they're different from dinners at home. We eat while watching tv, which is apparently common in every moroccan household.  Its very weird for me but its ok. Dinner at least the past 2 nights has stretched quite far into the night. Last night after an hour and a half watching tv and eating, and by eating I mean Meryem basically demanding that we eat more. "Kul" which i think is the command form for eat in arabic was basically the most common word she said. Glad to see that Jewish and Muslim mothers have at least that much in common. Anyway after an hour and half me and Jonathan moved to the balcony where we were served tea with Soufian and Marwan. Moroccan tea is basically the best thing ever. Its incredibly sugary and minty and delicious. Also the process is great, but i think i'll save that for another post. Anyway we drank tea and ate more dessert and talked to Soufian and Marwan. Jonathan speaks french but no Arabic and I speak a little arabic. Every member of the family speaks Arabic and French, but Soufian and Abdelghafor speak enough english to communicate with me. Marwan takes english classes at Amideast and his english is fantastic. We talked about all sorts of things and were out there for another 2 hours. It was fantastic. Then Marwan showed us around Agdal and we ate delicious pumpkin seeds. It was a great night.

One note about Rabat and the fantastic time I've been having: Its hot as hell in Rabat right now. Apparently its been hotter since ive been here than it was all summer. Today was 102 degrees fahrenheit, and I was outside walking around Rabat from 10:30-2:00. Also the only thing really missing from the Seddiki house is air conditioning, or a fan. Its pretty brutal here.

Some variety of orthodox church

Anyway, Here are some pictures of Rabat. Just so you all know for the future, if the pictures have very weird angles and are kind of odd, its because most Moroccans (especially shopkeepers) don't like pictures to be taken of them and their shops. Oh well. Such is life. Until next time. Laila sayeeda (good night)!

A guy sleeping on the street in front of a really cool picture

Bank of Morocco

Me and Raechel in front of a gate to the Medina

My room! My bed is the one on the left

A Shop in the Souk