Typical Day

I thought I'd give you a moment by moment account of my day. I get up at 6:30 and help Aicha set the table for breakfast; unless I get up at 7:30 and in that case I just eat. For breakfast we usually have French bread, cereal, yogurt, cheese, and sometimes these thin pancake things (not like a crepe, but still delicious with nutella). I leave for my placement at 8:45. Typically, despite being the first one up, I am the last one in the van. This works for me because then I get to sit up front and talk to Ismail. Last week, I learned how to ask what someone's opinion is. I tried my new phrase on Ismail one morning and he missed the fact that I was merely telling him my new phrase and not really asking his opinion, because it got very confusing. He got me back this week by teaching me a phrase that means not my problem. I thought he was telling me it wasn't his problem and thought it was rude of him. Then I caught on.

From 9 to 12 I'm with the infants, unless they make me cross eyed by 11:30 and then I pack up early and go sit outside and wait for Ismail to pick me up. That happened twice this week. Sometimes after placement I put my basket of stuff in the van and my roommate Susan and I walk home. The Foret du Hilton is near the hospital and it has a great walking path through a eucalyptus forrest so it's very relaxing and a nice way to get in some exercise. From the Foret we take Lala Merryiam past King Mohammed V's in laws home to where we live in Hay Riad. The whole walk takes about an hour and we make it home just in time to eat lunch. Our neighborhood is very affluent. The minimum size is 5000 sq feet and the house I'm in used to be for the Ambassador of Malaysia. In fact there are a lot of Ambassador's residences around us.

After lunch we will have a lecture, cultural activity, or free time. Today we had an impromptu stop at a chocolate shop in Agdal as a cultural activity on our way home from the laundry. Then we went to the Marjane, which is like a WalMart and did some shopping for the house. This afternoon Mohammed gave a lecture on Islam. I opted out since I participated previously and sat outside and painted. On Tuesday afternoons I go to Mohammed V University and work with students in the Masters Chemistry program on translating scientific papers. The one we are working on right now is about corrosion. I like working with the university students, because they are very enthusiastic. Translating the papers from French to English is tricky because if you do a direct translation the meaning gets lost. So, I think mostly this is about having them learn to trust how they are explaining it to me and writing that down, rather than going for a literal translation. Also, there are some funny phrases or word choices they use which aren't the most appropriate for scientific papers. What is hard about helping them is that their grammar is better than mine will ever be and so when they ask me something technical like the past perfect tense of who knows what, I am no use.

Five o'clock is tea time. Mint tea is a cultural icon in Morocco. I find this very fortunate for me since I love mint tea, the tea is also very sweet which is another bonus for me. I have managed to miss the tea preparation lessons twice now. For this I am very disappointed, because the tea is prepared very specifically with some glasses being poured off and disposed and another glass being poured off and kept. I don't understand the ritual and it's something that I really want to see. Serving the tea has its own set of rituals. For example, the tea is served hot in small glasses. When pouring the tea the more foam created by distancing the pot from the glass the better. We have all spent a significant amount of time working on the perfect pour.

Dinner is served at seven and it is a lighter meal. In Morocco lunch is the big meal of the day and the one where you have meat. Dinner is generally soup, leftovers, and salads, it's all very yummy and fresh. Then I have a couple of hours until bedtime. Sometimes we all hang out and talk or play games. Lately it's been pretty quiet because everyone has colds. That's my average day here in Morocco.