The apartment I lived in last summer could be stuffy but for the most part, due to the direction it faced, blocked out a lot of extra sunlight. This year though, we are on the second floor of a three-level home, so we have to deal with heat rising as well as a huge window on our floor that gets constant sunlight all day - things stay pretty warm. Anna and I have tried to keep our windows open, but a) it's very noisy at night and b) we've dealt with at least 4 instances within the past week where huge moths or flying cockroaches (!!!) fly in (there's no screen or barrier unfortunately). We ended up going to Marjane (Moroccan Walmart) and buying floor fans on Thursday, which definitely help.
This week was altogether pretty good. I felt sick all of a sudden coming home on Wednesday after walking around in the heat for two hours with my speaking partner. It was all I could do to get off the bus without throwing up and I felt like I was burning up. I was able to make it home without incident and lied in bed for a while before Iftar but when I went down it was all I could do to sit upright and drink a glass of juice. I ran back up the steps to lie down in my bed. Hajj and Hajja were so concerned that they and Anna came up to our floor to check on me! Anna had a thermometer and we found that I didn't have a fever (although I really need to learn Celsius equivalents because I kept saying I was 98 degrees ... which is insanely hot in C degrees), but my stomach still hurt so Hajj and Hajja made me take some medicine they had on hand before telling me to come back down and try to eat - the last thing I wanted to do, as we were eating bread and soup. Hajja then told me about something else that could help and I found it to be a heaping tablespoon of cumin shoved in my mouth and chased by avocado juice! Anna couldn't help but laugh at the look on my face. I ate a little and relaxed the rest of the night before going to bed early, and in the morning I felt a lot better. I guess I'll have to keep the cumin in mind for next time ... although hopefully there isn't a next time.
Thursday night some of the cohort went to see a play called "Taalata Baraaka" (Three is Enough) at the culture building (Dar At-taqaafa) in Meknes with a couple of our teachers. The play was about a guy who has his three girlfriends (all flight attendants for different airlines) rotate in and out of his apartment - but one weekend when they all come home to surprise him he has a hard time hiding them from each other! His friend from the country and housekeeper provided some comic relief as his sidekicks. It was completely in Moroccan Arabic (with some English and Italian sprinkled here and there) and thankfully I was able to understand about 40-50% of it! Some of us then went to a cafe with one of our Egyptian teachers in Hamriya, and it was really nice to talk and share stories in an informal setting. I got back late and then had to get up super early to finish a 300-word essay for MSA, but it was definitely worth the experience.
I chose not to travel this weekend because a) hours are still weird due to Ramadan and b) we have a trip next weekend for Eid al-Fitr (the holiday at the end of Ramadan)! Instead Cat came over for Iftar last night at Hajj and Hajja's request. Anna, Cat and I bumped into them the other day at Marjane so they finally got to meet her! It was a good shared meal and the three of us just hung out for a bit afterwards - I ended up falling asleep because of all the homework from the previous night. We've got some other fun planned for the weekend, so it should still be fun!