Day 28: Oh Happy Day

Friday, July 19

Happy (Dating) Anniversary to my Habiibii! It's been 2 great years! I love you! And I miss you. More than food, which is saying a lot. (See Wednesday's post).

So Friday started busy, and then progressively slowed and got better as the day went. It started early again because I had a test and I needed to study the vocabulary. So I got up earlier than normal for that.

Then I went to school alone again (my roommate is still sick), and on the trip there because I have just been having ALL the taxi drama lately, the taxi got pulled over! This is something unheard of! Which reminds me...

Cultural Adventures #7: Driving

Driving here is like nothing you've ever seen. There are rules and signs and lanes and such, but apparently they are totally optional, because I've never seen anyone actually stop at a stop sign, or actually use the lanes that are painted on the road. Imagine the driving here as more like a herd of large, deadly animals, filling the roads however they'll fit best, going when and where everyone else goes. Or like blood cells in the veins; they just move with the flow.

I spoke ignorantly when I spoke of the devilish circles and triangles in Washington D.C. I didn't know. Here, there are TONS of road circles. Everywhere. It's madness.

"Madness?"

And I've never seen a single police car throughout my whole trip. I've seen a few ambulances, but never a police car. So when I say that my taxi driver getting pulled over was a thing unheard of, I mean it. He didn't get pulled over by a police car (I've still never seen one) but you do see traffic guards on foot occasionally, braving the scarier parts of the roads. So, when the taxi next to us ran the red light, and our taxi did too because he assumed it was green, there just so happened to be one of those police bros on the other side of the intersection, and he signaled both cars to stop. They pulled over to the curb, but after one second of being there, the other taxi sped quickly away!

My taxi driver stayed dutifully and angrily and waited for the police man to check his license and lecture him. I don't really understand everything that was said, just that the driver was very angry that the other taxi had just driven away like he had even though it was his "fault".  Based on the amount of thanks when we finally drove away, I'm guessing the police let him off easy. But he was still angry.

Fortunately I wasn't late. I even had enough time to buy a Coke so that I wouldn't fall asleep in class (which, I never buy soda. I've bought 4 Fantas this whole trip, and one coke when I was at the cafe with my language partner). It was awesome.

Then we had the test. There was one section on there where I was just like, "I have no idea what I'm doing." So I made educated guesses 'cause that's all I could do.

Then after class, we had a mandatory lecture to attend. It was about the Imazighen people (or Berber people, as the rest of the world refers to them), who are native Moroccans that have been here since before Arabs or Islam or Christianity, (though, they are primarily Islamic now). They live more traditional lives than the average Moroccan, living in tribes in the mountains or deserts, and though their language is similar to Arabic, it's written with a different alphabet. Many of our teachers are of Imazighi descent.

A couple of Imazighen women

Then when that lecture was over, I was able to just chill. And so I did. I did not touch homework, or even look at it. It was nice.

After I got home, and after dinner (which was the same as always + little turkey bites), I was able to talk to my boyfriend on Skype. It was so lovely. And by the time that was over, I turned my computer off, set it on the floor, and fell directly asleep without further ado.

And, I would just like to note: TODAY WAS THE HALFWAY POINT. 4 WEEKS ARE OVER. ONLY 4 TO GO.