School's out for summer. School's out forever

Well, since I'm in class five days a week for 6 hours a day I thought that it was about time that I wrote a blog entry about school.

First things first. If you know be from Qalam wa Lawh know that I tried my damnedest to keep you from learning about this blog. Second, if I know you from Qalam wa Lawh, you are pretty awesome. That goes for all of the students.

I am so out of my league. Everyone at this school is at a minimum bilingual, and probably over half the time can speak upwards of four or five languages. If you have read any of the other blog posts, you'll know that I can barely write in one (American English).  So while I have been able to tell other people what will happen to an egg if you drop it in everclear (it will turn white because the proteins are denatured) everyone else can tell the taxi driver how to get back to the apartment. I'll let you all decide which is the more important skill.

 

Anyways I'm headed off to the desert on Friday to go sleep under the stars and watch the sun rise on the sand dunes. It's a major box that I get to tick off of what I wanted to do this trip. I'll post pictures as soon as I get back.

-Ben

Fuck it. Lets go!

One of my high school English teachers told me that everyone has seven exclamation points that they get to use in their life. Any more and their emphasis is watered down to the point of mere periods. I'm happy to use one of my seven in this title.

I went to Marrakesh this weekend. While the trip is a story in and of itself, the fact that I went to Marrakesh is also deserving of a story.

Nina

All week I had been getting invitations to go places with students from the school. I could have gone to Maknes or Marrakesh or Casablanca or just drive up the coast to a nice beach. Everything sounded fun but it also meant that I had to plan and put together my weekend on Wednesday, well before I was ready to think about such things. So Friday came around, I hadn't put together a plan and the beach was looking awful tempting (mainly because it took the least thinking). A couple of classmates were sitting around the school saying goodbye to Nina. She had been the reason a lot of us were hanging out together and it was really pretty sad to see her leave. The Austrian and German girls, who were going to Marrakesh, were all packed and ready to go buy their train tickets after they said goodbye. And then they made their mistake, offhandedly one of the offered that this was my last chance to go to Marrakesh with them. After carefully considering what I had packed in my daypack (1 binder, 1 wallet, 1 camera, 3 pens, 1 journal, and a Moroccan cell phone)  I told them I was in.

We went to the train station, bought the tickets and I was off to Marrakesh for three days (note that the bag didn't contain a change of clothes, I smell really bad right now).

Marrakesh was amazing (as are most things Moroccan). The Austrian girl I went with knew a Berber mountain guide who was going to meet us in Marrakesh and then take us hiking on Saturday, followed by going to the Souks on Sunday. The guide was one of the nicest guys I have met on the trip. He came out to pick us up at the train station at midnight on Friday and when we got back to his place there was a meal waiting for us. We ate and drank some Moroccan wine (oddly enough that not a euphemism for anything, it really was just Moroccan wine) and went to sleep at about 3 am. We woke up at 9ish on Saturday and had breakfast before leaving the house for the hike at 12. Now if you have been doing the math you might have noticed that I'm recounting roughly three hour meals, that about correct. Zakki, the guide, told us a Moroccan saying while we were with him, " The Europeans have the clocks but the Moroccans have the time."

Anyways, we went hiking in the High Atlas Mountains. We started in a tiny little city called Imlil and hiked for about three hours to a sacred place where the is a giant white rock that entombs important person. What I didn't understand (the entire weekend was basically in German) was certainly made up for with some astounding views. This trip made my last minute gamble on Marrakesh pay off in spades.

Today, we spent the morning in Marrakesh, around the giant souk and the girls had a blast shopping. Seeing as I have another two and a half months in North Africa I decided not to buy anything that I would have to haul around Tunisia and Egypt with me. I also got to see first hand why Morocco still has a state department advisory.

This used to be a cafe in the Souks of Marrakesh. A bomb went here last may killing several people.
Seems safe now though.

Have a lovely day wa ma'a salaama.

Ben

Rock the Casbah

First, I wanted to give a shout out to the Childs. It turns out that you guys should move to Morocco. It's an entire country that runs on Child time. 

Last weekend I took a school trip up to Chefchaouen and Tangier. Chefchaoen is one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. It is a city built in the Northern mountains of Morocco and the entire thing is painted blue. We had an amazing guide who showed us around the city and had dinner on a roof top. There were 14 students who ended up going (and I was the only guy). The dinner cost about $120 for all 14 of us, it was three courses and amazing. I bought Annie a birthday gift (its only a month late right now). On Sunday ate a large breakfast of bread and egg and then drove about two hours through some mountain roads to Tangier. The entire time I was thinking, "Annie would have puked all over the place."    

Tangier was okay. I saw the Mediterranean for the first time and really wanted to go sailing but had to settle for walking in the water across a beach. We had some pretty good seafood at a restaurant on the beach, I split some Marlin (I think) with one of the girls. After, we went to the Medina with a guide the school had arranged.  He was pretty awful. I'm pretty sure that he was telling the street vendors what language to speak to us in and then sending them after us. After the group got fed up with him he stopped guiding us around and at one point just left us in the middle of a Medina. 

Today the school took a group of us to the Casbah in Rabat which was nice (and also blue). I made some pasta for dinner and now I'm off to review my vocab sheet. 

Masa Salaama,

-Ben

Chefchaouen

The laundrymat in Chefchaouen

It was like walking through a glacier

Our blue hotel

View from the Hotel roof

The Med with Moroccan Mint Tea

Casbah in Tangier

Casbah in Rabat

Ben and the Atlantic Ocean

New friend Sam (she went to school at Lewis and Clark)

Al Maghrib

Morocco is a fascinating country. For example, yesterday I learned that they were the first country to recognize the United States as an independent nation. Today one of my school mates asked me if Morocco was what I expected. My reply was that it was...ish. The closest comparison is really central mexico without the drug violence. It is very much a developing nation and it seems that they have a predilection for building walls around everything. The traffic is anything but safe and there are stray cats everywhere. However, it is so much fun. Every time I get into a taxi I know that it will be a roller coaster ride to wherever I'm going and when I get there it will be something entirely new. Today I visited the souk (central market) where you can buy everything. They had DVDs for 5 dirham (75 cents) and I bought, what is most likely, a stolen cell phone for 20 bucks. I visited the meat market which had a smell like a mix between pike street market in Seattle and the meat markets of Mexico. The school has been fantastic. I really can't recommend it enough, and I have to say I have had more fun in a week than I imagined I would have over the entire three months. Really, if someone forced me to come home right now I would feel like this entire trip had been successful. Inshallah, no one will take me up on that. Also, I feel that I have to mention the mint tea that they serve here in case anyone is thinking of visiting Morocco in the future. Beware, the mint tea is less mint tea and waaaay more hot sugar water with added caffeine, right now I haven't become accustomed to it but maybe by the time I leave I'll like it.

This weekend I'm off to Tangier and Chefchaouen. Two cities about two and a half hours North of Rabat. I'm pretty excited.

Masa Salaama

-Ben

P.S. (This part might be a bit crude) We were given the worlds greatest worksheet. It has several phrases in Arabic Letters that we have to connect and then gives the English translation. The English is as follows:

1. He withdrew, pulled out
2. It was short
3. It was numerous
4. He emptied; he finished
5. He endowed with
6. He demanded, requested
7. He matured, it ripened
8. He triumphed
9. He spent the night awake
10. He was quick, fast
11. He was sorry, regretted
12. He abstained from
13. He was ill, unwell
14. He gathered, assembled
15. He passed
16. He was angry

At then end of it I was laughing so hard I was crying.

Pictures

I added a link to my photos so far on the right side of the blog also here Take a look. Longer blog entry coming tomorrow.

Ben

Rabat after 2 days

New friends Rebecca (left) and Nina (Right)

There have been a couple of things that I have found really fun, and a couple of

Two of the cats that seems to have taken over this country
things that I have found really funny, in Morocco so far.

The first is Arabic class by far one of the best decisions I have made in a long time. The school is great, the teachers are very supportive and interactive. It has been a long time since I have had this much fun taking classes. Basically, I decided to embrace the idea that I will often make a fool of myself but perhaps I will learn more that way. Whether it helps or not I hope that everyone else in my class at least thinks its funny.

Funny thing one. As one of my suite mates likes to say, "Development seems to have taken Morocco by surprise." What he means is that I will hit a light switch expecting the light to go on and nothing will happen in the room I'm in, however, somewhere in the apartment a light will switch on or off. There is really no rhyme or reason to where light switches are place.

The pottery shop

Funny thing two. There are these propane tanks sitting around the apartment called budagas. (Its how you heat water or run a stove, apparently when the cities, and these are some new areas I'm talking about, were developed no one thought that there would be a need for gas lines). Now, budagas is different than propane tanks in the US. These tanks have absolutely no safety measures, there is no pressure release valve and no auto shutoff on them. What the Moroccans have basically done is create a series of little bombs that you put around your apartment if you ever want anything to be hot.

Two of the cats that seems to have taken over this country

Today we took a couple of trips off campus. The first was to a pottery studio, I'm pretty sure that we were brought there because to teacher wanted to go shopping but it was pretty cool anyways.

I have decided on a favorite arabic word. Inshallah, god willing, it is used all over the place but it mostly means hopefully.

With that, masa asalama.

Ben

New friend Alex

Where babies come from

At the challah (Roman/Moroccan ruins)

In Rabat

Not a ton to report today. I made it to Rabat, I'm super tired though I don't want to sleep before about 9 tonight (which is 1 pm for all you west coasters). The flight from Paris was really nice. I wasn't paying much attention but according to one my suite mates here at the Qalam (think Kalam) Center, we flew over the straights of Gibraltar and for a couple of minutes you could see both Spain and Morocco out of the window. We found an ATM got money then walked over to a restaurant and had what was the best meal I have had in at least a week, though the standards were pretty low because I haven't had a real meal for about 36 hours.

First Views of Africa

View from the Apartment

Leaving

Who knew you were allowed to have that much fun in Portland less than 10 hours before sitting in airports and airplanes for a day.

A quick disclaimer: I'm writing this on my iPod touch and I'm not feeling that hungover so there is the off chance that I'm still a bit tipsy.

 Back to the story.

 My dad and I left bend at about 4 on Friday. We waited till the afternoon because he had to go play with the bees and I was waiting for a credit card in the mail. After driving past the off ramp to the hotel, twice, I decided that it was a good idea to grab some food prior to going to the hotel. We drove downtown and ate at the northwest public house and started some drinks. After, we decided to forgo the hotel again and instead found some family friends at their condo downtown. It was mentioned that their daughter Jamie was going dancing for her birthday and asked if I wanted to go along. They talked me into it with the mention that it was Jamie's birthday and that I probably wouldn't be allowed to talk to girls for the next three months. What was not mentioned was where we were headed.

Turns out that it was CC Slaughter's. Now, if your are unschooled in the ways of Portland nightlife (as I am) that's a Gay club. It also turns out it wasn't a great place to talk to girls but the no cover for guys and dollar drinks were pretty awesome. About 1 am we decided to call it a night and headed back to the condo. I woke my dad up and he proceeded to ask if I was going to drive to the hotel. I was in no shape to do any such thing so he had to wake up enough to drive us out there.

We checked into the hotel at 2 am and asked for a wake-up call at 4:30. I wend to the room slept till 4 then laid in bed for a while waiting for the call. We made the 5 o'clock shuttle to the airport with no problems. About half way there Dad looks at me and says, "I hope this isn't what traveling with the moons is like."

I was still a little drunk when I showed up to the security area which was fortunate because it meant that I didn't have a hangover as the TSA agent searched through my luggage for a knife that I forgot to take out of a pair of pants.  The agent was really nice, we chatted as she searched my bag for a weapon, that was a little surreal.

 I made my plane in time and now it appears that we are just starring our flight over the rockies. I hope everyone has a great Saturday and GO DUCKS!

Packing

I was told my last post was a little dreary, thats not really what I was shooting for so I'm going liven this one up a bit.

I am excited to start this adventure. There is really nothing like spending a couple of weeks at home to make you want to do something exciting. So far that has meant I have spent my time hiking, running, biking, sailing, shooting and going back to Eugene to help some friends move into their new house. While all of those Bendy activities were fun I'm excited to start a new activity. Tomorrow my dad and I are driving up to P-town so that I can catch my early morning (7:00 am) flight off to Boston.

Me and Alex at the top of South Sister

Swimming at the false Summit

Lounging in the warm water

Earlier this week I received a nice email from a lady with the Qalam Center (where I'll be attempting to pick up some Arabic) she informed me that they were excited about my upcoming arrival and would have a driver waiting to pick me up at the airport. So I'm excited I won't have to navigate myself from the airport to the school. Knock on wood, but it looks like this trip is starting to come together.

I've been trying to pack up a bit today. I'm shooting for having about two weeks of clothes with me and I was hoping all of my shit would fit in one backpack that I could carry on. The plan might be coming apart at the edges as the backpack is pretty full and I'm not sure if the airlines are going to let me use it as a carry on. So now I have three choices, throw out a bunch of the clothes, check the bag and just carry a tiny extra bag, or carry two (carry on) bags around Africa for a couple of months. Option three is looking awful promising right know but who knows what I'll decide to do.

I hope everyone has a great fall. And if I havent yet got the chance to wish you luck in all of your endeavors over the next couple of months consider this that wish.

Before I leave

So I have been getting a lot of questions about my trip.

First of all: Yes! There is a blog. It's right here.

Second: I decided to leave on this trip because I was supposed to be writing a thesis but it seemed a little overwhelming. Instead, I began to think about what else I would like to be doing, namely, being anywhere except in front of my computer. Well, that was a bad idea. It seems that somewhere along the way a terrible mistake was made and I ended up emailing some language schools in North Africa. A couple days later I was pressing the purchase button on tickets that would fly me into Rabat, Morocco and out of Cairo, Egypt three months later. Basically, I 'planned' a three month trip in another hemisphere because I was having a couple days of writers block.

Third: I have never taken a day of Arabic classes, nor have I ever taken any French lessons and, yes, I imagine communication will be a touch difficult for the majority of the trip.

Forth: I have never been employed by nor am I currently employed by an intelligence agency of any kind.

Fifth (and this one if for you Aunt Elise): Yes, I am scared shitless.


Now, down to the schedule. And this is what I'm hoping everyone keeps in mind, I'm not keeping anything from you. I too, have no idea what is going on with this trip.

On Saturday, 10 September I will fly out of Portland at 7:00 PDT and will procede in an easterly direction until the plane lands in Boston at 4:00 EST. Then I sit in an airport for about seven hours until my plane to Paris is ready. I fly to Paris, landing at 12:40 PM CEST 11 September. Then I hop on a quick two hour flight to Rabat, Morocco. This is where the trouble starts.

I really have no idea how I'm getting to the language school where I will take Arabic classes for 6 weeks. During this time I'm hoping I get the change to travel around Morocco. But, to be honest other than my Arabic classes I really have nothing planned (if you have any sights that are worth seeing in Morocco let me know).

On 22 October I catch a ride to Tunis, Tunisia from Casablanca. This is going to be the most interesting two weeks of the trip or the most frightening (likely both) because all I have for the Tunisia leg are plane tickets into and out of the country. Again, suggestions about what I should see in Tunisia would be appreciated.

Finally on 4 November I jet over to Cairo from Tunis. Again, in Cairo I signed up for 4 weeks of Arabic classes. My dad, as well as Bob and Shannon Moon are going to be joining me in Cairo for a week near the beginning of November, although I have no idea about the exact date of their arrival.

Then on 4 December I board a plane in Cairo that will take me to Copenhagen and from Copenhagen I get a direct flight back to Portland.

I'll toss up another post before I leave about what I'm taking with me so everyone who wants to can tell me what I have forgot to pack. Then the next you'll hear of me I'll be in the other hemisphere.

Wish me luck because I'm pretty sure I'll need a lot of it.