The past week and Morocco!!

K sorry it took so long to update you guys on the past week. Things have been pretty crazy with Morocco and lots of homework! But I'm finally here! Well, for starters I wrote about the entire trip in my journal, it took up 14 pages front and back! So, needless to say I'm going to give you the very brief overview and when I get back you can ask me more about it! haha.

Well, the first day we went to Gibraltar. It was so strange, we crossed over from Spain and were in a British country, and at the same time we could see the tip of Africa!! There were also monkeys there!! haha They were everywhere and so crazy. We went out that night and had fish and chips too :) We figured we would be traditional British. It was also very strange to hear English all the time!

The second day we took the ferry over to Africa and had a lot of driving. But we met our host families and had dinner with them. Well, we broke fast with them. It was Ramadan so they were fasting during the day. So, at night we would always eat two meals!! One to break fast and then the other was dinner. Everything was soo great!! But I ate WAY too much food!! haha.

Third day we visited some old ruins of a Mosque, a Mausoleum, and went through a Moroccan market with some Moroccan students. The market was so cool! It was kind of overwhelming and I'm not very good at bartering :) haha but it was still really fun! Then that night we went to a Hammam, which is an Arabic bath. hahaha oh man possibly the funniest moment of the whole trip. I don't want to go into too much detail, but....lots of Moroccan women, us Americans, in a bath...and no swimsuits. :) hahaha needless to say..it was a great bonding experience for our group and we laughed sooo hard that our sides hurt! To be honest, I haven't felt that clean in such a long time! It is a big open room and you bring your own huge bucket and a stool. (It was interesting in itself walking through the streets with our huge buckets haha) Then everyone fills up the bucket, sits down, and scrubs down. haha...I took off at least two layers of skin, but it felt great! After we were all clean we went to get henna! It was so fun! This woman put this green goopy stuff on and then when it dried and you scrapped it off..your skin was tinted orange/brown. She was really good. So, now I have flowers on the back of my hand for the next three weeks :) I keep looking down and thinking my hands are dirty..but then I realize that it’s the henna :) ohh I forgot to tell you about my host family. They were really nice and they made us sooo much food! Our host mom only knew a couple words in English "eat" and "good?" haha so we played lots of charades. And we learned the basics in Arabic. I'm full and no thanks. haha That's all we needed to know :) One interesting thing, they slept on couches that lined the walls. So, everyday at breakfast we would be eating right next to the host daughter sleeping on the couch. haha So weird!

Day four we went to a remote village in the mountains. We ate with them, talked with them, and walked around their farm land. It was soo beautiful!! This was my favorite day because it was so relaxing and beautiful. But the farmland was so different that yours Grandpa! It was on the side of a mountain and the corn was not in a perfect row :) haha I thought of you the whole time we took a walk around their farm!! Brought back so many memories of fall in Iowa and sitting in the combine with you. I miss the smell of harvest so much! Maybe that's another reason I liked it so much, it kind of smelled a little like fall. Anyways, we ate more food and drank lots of great tea with the family and played with the kids :)

The last day was spent traveling back to Spain!

That was soo brief but you get the idea. It was such a great trip! It opened my eyes so much to the Muslim culture! Before I left I had the idea like most people that they were a harsh, dangerous, and strange culture. But my perceptions changed completely!! Everyone was so incredibly nice and friendly. It was a very peaceful and joyful place. And the families are just the same!!! Nothing different! Personally I think that they were nicer than the average American! I learned a lot about the religion too. Overall, it was such a great eye opening experience and I loved every moment!!! I didn't want to come back so soon!

Well, the past few days in Granada have been uneventful. Classes are starting to really pick up so I have lots of homework to do :( I also came down with something. I felt fine the whole time in Morocco..but on Wednesday night something caught up with me and my stomach was not too happy. But I'm recovering and starting to move off of my diet of chicken noodle soup, Gatorade, digestive cookies (a huge thing here in Spain haha) and rice. haha Sadly they don't have canned soup here...so it's mixed from a packet. Needless to say, not the best in the world. Anyways, this weekend has been great to catch up on stuff and I have spent lots of time with my host mom, which has been fun :) Well, I think that is all for now!! I need to do some more homework that I have been avoiding :)

Love you all!!
Me

ps I have a prayer request. My back has gotten particularly bad lately. It has always hurt but now it has moved into shooting pains. It travels through my neck, shoulders, hips, down my legs at times, and it pinches the nerves to my lungs so at times I can't breathe very well. It started getting really bad in Morocco. It's not quite as bad now back in Granada but it still comes pretty hard sometimes. It's not a constant thing thankfully but it comes in waves. I'm not really sure what to do. So, if you could be praying for me I would appreciate it!! Thanks everyone!!