Almost Home

Inshallah, I'll be home Friday night. I'll miss Morocco like crazy but I'm a little anxious to get home at this point, 1) Because it is SO FRICKIN' HOT here now and 2) Because they raised the terror level in Morocco so it's now at its highest. Granted, I don't think that means much in the grand scheme of things and I still feel quite
safe here but I dunno. It's a little bit worrisome.

Here's what's transgressed in the last week or so.\

To give a little background:

First point - A few of the Mary Wash kids are fortunate enough to be living in the old medina while we're here. Life in the medina is very different from life in the Ville Nouvelle (where I reside). The Ville Nouvelle is pretty modern and unexciting whereas in the medina you might get run over by a donkey on your way to the taxi stop or have some guy ask how many camels it would take to marry you. The kids who live in the medina (Ryan, Emily, Chris, and Courtney) all live in the neighborhood of Ain Azilaiten (sp?) which according to Jai, our afternoon professor is kind of like, "How do you say...Harlem? The ghetto?" I've been there and it doesn't seem any sketchier than any other part of the medina, but what do I know. Ryan and Emily like to joke about living in Ain Azilaiten like they're living in Anacostia or something.

Second point - Morocco is a country of cats. There are millions, MILLIONS of stray cats in this country. It's crazy. There is not a corner of this frickin' country where you won't find a mangy stray cat. I've found them in the middle of the frickin' desert. Along with joking about living in Ain Azilaiten, some kids were joking about cats. Casey and Ryan decided it would be fun to get into the medina to go catch dirty medina cats. We actually set up a contest for this. The contestant would have to pick up the cat with both hands and hold it for long enough for someone to take a picture. There was a points system: 1 point for a kitten, 2 for an adult cat, and 3 for a dead one. I suppose this contest sounds cruel, but I can assure it was done out of love for the mangy stray cats of Morocco and that no cats were harmed in the process of this competition. Ryan won by the way with like...15 cats and 25 points. None of them were dead and most of them were kittens. It was a hilarious competition and I think we really confused the locals.

OK, my time at the computer lab is almost up, so I'll save the latest happenings for probably after I return to the states. Ma salaama!