DAY 1 (Saturday): We arrived at AALIM (where we'll be studying) around 5 AM Morocco time on Saturday, and spent the next few hours contacting home via Wifi, exploring the building (which has a beautiful rooftop view), and eating our first Moroccan breakfast. Host families started arriving around 9 AM. Sophia's and my host mom, Fedwa, and host cousin, Isra, were one of the last to arrive but it was definitely worth the wait - they are very patient with our limited knowledge of Darija/Moroccan Arabic and kind! They helped us with our bags as we walked down the street and waited for Fedwa's brother to drive us home.
Meknes is split into the Old City and the New City - AALIM and our home is in the Old City. We live on the third floor of a four-story building, and it is large and spacious with beautiful tiling like AALIM. There is a large sitting area, with nice furniture and some rugs, as well as a small kitchen, a small room for the toilet and shower with the sink in an adjoined hollow, a TV room, the parents' room, and the girls' room - which is our room for the next two months! Our room is adorable - there are large Hello Kitty, Dora, and Strawberry Shortcake details on the wall with Disney Princess rugs and across the pink bedspread is Fulla, the Arab version of Barbie!
Our family was understanding that we were tired so we showered and slept for a few hours before waking up to eat lunch and walking back to AALIM for in-country orientation with our program coordinator. This consisted of a presentation and then walking around the area to withdraw money and learn more about the city. We then returned home to find it filled with guests! Apparently almost all members of our host family's extended family live in Meknes. We stayed up late talking and eating with them, and although I'm not sure that I remember everyone's names it was nice to meet everyone - and our host grandparents adopted us as part of the family!
DAY 2 (Sunday): After staying up until 1 or 2 AM with the family, we slept until noon! Then we ate some breakfast with the few members that spent the night, then tried to do homework before lunch (which was spaghetti and French fries!). Isra, our host sister Aya, and her friend Fatima then took us to the New City to go to Carrefour, which they described as a superstore similar to Wal-Mart or Target yet it wasn't quite as huge. The store was decked out for Ramadan and they actually had a live music group playing near the entrance!
Isra went home shortly after we left, and we continued walking around the New City passing McDonalds & Pizza Hut, a large park where music was also playing, and lots of stores until we found that we had come full circle to Bab al-Mansour in the Old City. The girls took us through the crowded market on the way home, where we ate a light dinner and talked before doing homework late into the night.
DAY 3 (Monday): First day of classes! We met some friends who live in the same neighborhood to walk to school for four hours of classes: one hour of Darija (which we took a test for on the first day to separate the group into different levels), and about three hours of MSA consisting of various activities such as round-table discussions and breaking down Arabic media. Our teachers seem very friendly - they helped us find a close-by local place for a traditional Moroccan lunch afterwards which was delicious! Then we had another excursion with our program coordinator to the New City to buy phones, mandatory as per our program. Mine is very basic and doesn't even have a camera, but I think it's neat because Arabic letters stand side-by-side on the number pad with the Latin alphabet!
Upon arriving back at AALIM, we met with potential speaking partners (who we have to meet with for four hours each week), then tried to finish our homework unsuccessfully before heading home at dusk. There were guests present (Fatima's family) when we arrived - Moroccans love to socialize, there are always guests coming in and out of our home - and we ate chocolate cake together and talked for a while. After the guests left we shared a late dinner around midnight and did homework until 2 AM.
Today, Tuesday, doesn't really need a recap - so far it has just been another day of chocolate cake, classes and homework. The workload has been a little overwhelming so far, since there has been so much going on and it's hard to do homework at home. But I'm safe, I haven't gotten sick yet, and I've learned a lot in the past few days from my wonderful host family - what more could I ask for?