Filler Post

So, it’s been over a week since I’ve updated and I’m pretty sure it’s just because nothing monumental has happened in the last week or two.

I remember trying to explain to somebody this summer how Ramadan wouldn’t be all that bad and how it would be an experience, but, in reality, it’s just boring. I haven’t been fasting, but have still been eating a pretty healthy lunch of fruit and an occasional quiche from the butcher’s shop next door. Everything is closed during the day and everyone moves on an even slower time table. It’s hard to travel and people on the streets have short tempers.

On the up side, we don’t have classes on Wednesday and Thursday next week to celebrate the end of Ramadan so I’ll withhold all my final judgments until then. October is going to be a real easy month for classes since we have a 10 day break in the middle (I still don’t know what I’m doing!) and a class trip to Marrekesh. All my classes here are kind of jokes anyways, they aren’t that hard and I don’t actually feel like we’ve covered any real material. I did find out today, however, that they are only crediting my obscenely difficult Arabic class as Intermediate 1 and I’m currently in a battle of wills with my academic director to get a syllabus in English so I can try and convince U of I to credit it the same as Arabic 404.

I had a really sketchy walk to the beach last night. I was followed two (maybe three) times by different groups of guys on the 10 minute walk to meet some friends at the café there. I ended up being me and stumbling down some stairs and messing up my ankle again. It was definitely the most insecure that I’ve felt walking by myself since the first week living in a homestay. Thankfully, there are two other ways to get to the beach and now I know not to take that way at night…honestly, I should have figured that walking through the Kasbah would be a little shady since it’s such a touristy spot during the day.

I’m still amazing, almost a month in, at a lot of things that I witness on a daily basis. In the month that we’ve been here, there have been at least 7 or 8 incidents where somebody was mugged, pick-pocketed, or something along that vein, but our ass-of-a-director still insists that we aren’t being targeted because we’re white. I still get shocked when I see people dumping fish heads on the streets and by some of the comments people make at me while I pass- it’s not as if I’m your typical promiscuous American lush so I really don’t think it’s fair.

I’m fasting for Ramadan for the first (and probably last) time today. I only had one class today so it seemed like a good day to try and it’s easier at the end of Ramadan because the sun sets earlier. I woke up this morning at four to eat, but I’m already hungry and it’s hardly noon yet. Let’s see how strong my will power is.