Al Maghreb mezyen!

To continue where I left off-

We arrived in Rabat around 12 PM local time on Sunday. Badrdine, an aide at the Center for Cross Cultural Learning was there to pick us up in style- an air conditioned bus, which happens to be a luxury when contrasted with the beat up, crowded, noisy and dirty public buses that you see all over the city. The airport is about a half hour from the City of Rabat, near another city called Sale. Sale, by the way, was famous uptill the late 1800's for being under the control of Barbary Pirates.
The sand colored castle walls that surround Rabat loomed as we crossed the bridge of the Bouragreg river- which seperates Sale from Rabat. We crossed into the city through one of the dozens of gates that provide access to the city. We got of the bus when we reached our hotel, a 2-3 star hotel that is opposite the walls of the Medina Quedima, or Old city. Rabat has been a city since about 40 AD, when the Romans founded a settlement at Sala Colonia, about 20 minutes walk from the center of Rabat. Because it is so old, it has expanded considerably over the centuries and this has 2 main parts, the old city and the new city (Medina Jenina). Our center is located in the old city, or simply the Medina. The Medina is a maze of streets and alleys, crowded with houses that have seen centuries of history.

When we reached the hotel we recieved our room keys and got roomates assigned. I roomed with two Brians in room 307, overlooking Avenue Hassan II, one of the main avenues in Rabat and also overlooking a wall of the old Medina. The room had no fan, so our sweat soaked bodies could get no reprieve till we headed back to the wonderfully cool bus.

After checking in and leaving the stuff in our rooms, we headed back to the bus and were driven down to the Center, which is located on Ave. Laalou- in the old Medina. About 5 minutes walk from the Rabat beach, and equally close to the old Casbah- the castle.

At the center we were briefed about the program- course descriptions, expectations, discussions about life in Morocco. Then we were given a survival course, the first of two, in Darija- the Moroccan dialect of Arabic. Then we moved onto dinner, some amazing couscous, bread, lamb and soup.
The next day, we were dropped off individually at a random place in Rabat, armed with our survival arabic and some french. I had taken my swiss army knife and my compass. Armed with that I set out to find my way back to the center from a spot near the Tour the Hassan and the Mausoleum of Mohammad V. I walked for about a 20 minutes, including a stop at a cafe for some Chai b'naana, or mint tea, which is like the national drink of Morocco. It is typically extremely sweet. After a great cup of tea, I found my way back to the center, after stopping to ask a very friendly cop for directions.

Over the next three days we explored Rabat, visited the mausoleum of Mohammad 5, went to cafe's, restaurants and just walked around. The medina is very stereotypically Middle Eastern- a sensory delight with a thousand sounds and a thousand smells.

I shall skip the less interesting details of the last 2 days and talk instead about yesterday- when I met my host brother. We met our host families at the center before dinner. My host brother's name is Hassan Sader- an amazing guy who was extremely excited to have an Indian guest. He has taught himself to speak hindi, by watching hindi movies and practicing with a few Indian friends- and he was most eager to show it off. I have my own room, in his house, which dates from the 18th century, in the Medina. He has a mother- Aicha, and a brother, a nephew and 2 sisters living with him. These people will be my family for the next 3 and half months- and I must say- I'm very excited. Hassan took us (my new friends and I) to a Moroccan folk song "concert" on the Rabat beach- it was a great experience and beautiful music.

I shall post more later. Uploading pictures takes a lot of time, which I don't have right now, so I shall leave it for Monday.

till then,

Ma'assalaama.