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So time is really starting to count down! Today is Thursday and it’s a national holiday so we’re off school. We have one full week next week, then three weeks for our ISP—which hopefully will go by very quickly because I’ll be traveling around a lot and I get to have my own schedule—then that’s it! After that we have one week for a “de-orientation” and to present our final projects to one another. I admit I’m very very excited for December to get here! For Thanksgiving, though, my friend Val is coming down from Spain and spending the weekend with me so that’s something I’m reaalllly looking forward to, too!
So election night was amazing beyond words. The final results didn’t even get to us until Wednesday late morning our time, but Obama’s acceptance speech was at about 5:30 am. The 35 American SIT students that study at the CCCL (the center where we have classes and where our program is based) all had a sleep over/ election watching party at the center that night. It was really more like a middle school lock-in as I keep describing it, but I successfully did pull an all-nighter to watch the whole thing and it was well well worth it. I’ll spare everyone my personal rhetoric as to WHY I’m so excited because those of you who matter already know themJ. Magically though, with literally only one hour of sleep before breakfast and Arabic class, I wasn’t exhausted at all! Even the next day, I made myself take a little nap before I finished my homework because I really thought I’d be suffering. But I wasn’t! Who knew?!
This week though, overall was kind of crappy. First of all, there’s been an unprecedented amount of rain throughout all of Morocco and it sucks. I did finally buy some cheap boots thank goodness but I still need a coat that will last through a rainy day—but I still haven’t received my new debit card so money is not able to be as generously spent as I’d like… hahaha Actually, this has probably been a very good thing for my bank account—I’ve saved so much money I would have otherwise spent! (It’s still incredibly annoying nonetheless) But that’s its own stressful subject.
I’ve also been more than annoyed with my host family in Rabat. I’m literally treated like a potted plant in the corner! (I’ve decided that’s the best analogy for it—they walk by me several times a day without acknowledging my existence. They make sure I stay alive, but that’s about it. Just like a potted plant.) When I got back from the village stay, no one even asked me about it or even cared to say welcome back. They only talk to me when asking if I want to eat or sleep. I also was never given a key so can only come home when they all get home from work and school at like 6:30 every evening. When my class gets out at 2:30 that means I’m stuck wasting time or spending money trying to fill my time before I can actually go home. BUT, on a brighter note, I did have a nice long conversation with my oldest host sister. She’s the only one who speaks English so without her I’m very much alone in this house. But she never socializes with her family. She has this tiny tiny little closet she’s made into a room and has a computer and TV in there so never feels the need to come out… EVER. But last night we were talking a lot about the election, Moroccan politics and many other things and she mentioned at one point that she and her family are very quiet and independent from one another—and we agreed that this is very uncommon in Morocco. She said something along the lines of “I know I have a bad personality at times, and I’ve tried to change, but I just can’t. It’s just who I am.” Although I definitely knew these things, and this is one thing that really frustrates me, it was nice to have her admit it to me for some reason. I know they mean well, and in a lot of ways I wish they were more interested in talking to me and getting to know me, but that’s just not the type of family or the types of people they are. The fact that they can admit it somehow makes the world of difference to me.
Also, I found out last week that sending a box home with all my gifts will be much much MUCH more expensive than I first thought—like $500 expensive. This is obviously absurd and not worth it. This price came from DHL and FedEx so using the regular mail service might be cheaper but that has not proven to be reliable whatsoever given that my mom sent me a package at the beginning of Oct that has yet to get to me. So I think I’m just going to have to buy a big suitcase instead and fill it with gifts. The really really sad thing is though that I have to re-think some of the gifts themselves now, too L I had suuuuch a great gift for Zac and now I have to do something else and I’m very sad about it. Good thing here that I did lose my debit card and haven’t bought all the gifts yet!
AND , to top off my complaining, I missed Halloween.. I don’t even like that holiday very much but it was still really depressing not to be around for it… Thanksgiving may even bring me to tears because it’s one my my favoritessss… I’m just not even going to think about it.
Back to the election quickly: I’ve never actually really been homesick yet…until Tuesday night. It was hard being abroad for something so important and something that made me so proud to be an American. I’m very excited to get home… although, I do wish he could take office starting today instead of next year!!
LOVELOVELOVE