Before anyone says anything, yes, I know it has been an entire 13 days since I blogged last. Sorry. I've been busy enjoying life and not sitting on my computer.
Its gotten to the stage where this is another catch up blog! Since it's been an entire 2 weeks of work (and play) that I haven't written down, you'll have to excuse my generalisation. I'm finding that since I've been here for so long, I'm focusing less on writing down every day and more on enjoying as I go. When you're living somewhere day to day things that once would've been blog worthy become second nature, and working life becomes a blur of "same same but different". So, in order to make catching up on blogs easy, here is my week in a nutshell.
Girls Night Monday
Monday nights are more often than not a girl's night in. We go and see Sala in the Medina and buy a cheap, good quality DVD ("Are they fakes?"..."Is that a trick question? For 5 dirhams they're not going to be real, Dad...") , and then go and find our favourite pancake lady, Rashida, and buy a large pancake, to go with the large jar of nutella that we have left over from the weekend. I love girl's night in Mondays, as it starts the week in a relaxed manner, as we are often still recovering from whatever adventure we just had on the weekend. However, this is about to change somewhat as Lexy just left for her 2 weeks of holidays in the South.
Ice-Cream Tuesdays
I'll be honest, I'm not normally a big fan of ice-cream. I used to have sensitive teeth which sort of put me off. However, there is a place opposite the Medina called Charazad which does amazing ice-cream and I am hooked. I now know exactly what I'm getting every Tuesday ("un boule Pistachio and un boule Hazelnut sil vous plait?"-me and my shitty attempt at French) and when the flavours are changed I am thrown. I say to myself, "But wait? What should take the place of my beloved hazelnut?" The reason behind this sudden change of mind is that it tastes like smashed up Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Enough said.
Get-Together Wednesdays
Every Wednesday night we have our weekly get together with all of the other volunteers. In the time it has taken me to compose this blog we have had three get-togethers. At the first, we met some new volunteers called Andi, Imogen and Mai. Imogen however left last week, as her two weeks were already up! In Morocco, days seem to be long, but 5 days will pass in the blink of an eye! I'm not sure I like it; it means that my time here is passing all too quickly.
Yakouts Thursdays
We have a new local. Yes, some things never change. It is called Yakouts and is a really cool little bar in Hassan that we go to with our Moroccan friends every Thursday night for dancing. It has a live band that play Latin and reggae infused songs ranging from Bob Marley (Matthew's element) to Shakira or Michel Telo. The ambiance is amazing with coffee tables surrounded by cosy couches in red and dark brown leather; red walls and dark brown tiles, whilst on the walls hang African masks and abstract paintings, all sticking to the colour theme of you guessed it, red and brown. You are obligated to buy at least one drink, and beer is cheap. For those wondering, Heineken, whilst sold in smaller bottles, is only priced at $4.49 Australian Dollars. Life is good on Thursdays.
Which brings us to Friday and the weekend. Friday night we are normally on our way somewhere, if we have managed to find a location and means of transportation that suits everyone (we have quite a large group now which whilst awesome makes planning difficult!) Last week was an exception however, as the majority of us decided to spend the weekend in Rabat. Lexy and I had "Girls Night take 2", and can I just say that Black Swan whilst being amazing, is also quite disturbing. This doesn't make me love it any less however. We bought nutella, peanut butter, pancakes, pastries, peanuts, oranges, bananas and water (for that healthy balance) and sat and watched movies until the wee hours of the morning. On Saturday we had a shopping afternoon in the Medina (oh hello pashmina scarf, yes I will pay $7.50 after conversion for you) and started buying souvenirs. I say started as I have rather a long list to buy.
Sunday was an absolute gem of a day, as we met up with our Moroccan friends Soufiane and Jalal and went to Plage de Nations, a beach located between Sale and Kenitra. It was absolutely beautiful. We bought food from the Medina before leaving as the boys had bought not only a grill but a tangine, and we had a lovely lunch cooked over a fire in the sun. The fact that they not only lit but kept a fire alight in that wind was impressive. After lying in the sun for a good hour or so after lunch, we began the trek back to Rabat, where we promptly grabbed our clothes, buckets and towels and headed to the Hamams, at which we are now regulars.
In between these social outings, I go to and from placement and sleep. Placement is still going well with new volunteers arriving weekly on stages from the social work school. Apparently they are studying to be social assistants. I'm not quite sure what this means, however I assume them to be trainee social workers. They are all really nice and help out a lot which is great.
As far as blogs go, I apologise as to how boring that was. I always start the week thinking I will catch up and then life gets the better of me and I'm distracted once again. In all reality though, weekly life is not that exciting and since we had the lazy weekend in Rabat, I decided to wait until I had something exciting to tell you, which of course will now happen in the next post!
Until next time,
Love Love!
Clem xx
Its gotten to the stage where this is another catch up blog! Since it's been an entire 2 weeks of work (and play) that I haven't written down, you'll have to excuse my generalisation. I'm finding that since I've been here for so long, I'm focusing less on writing down every day and more on enjoying as I go. When you're living somewhere day to day things that once would've been blog worthy become second nature, and working life becomes a blur of "same same but different". So, in order to make catching up on blogs easy, here is my week in a nutshell.
 |
| The girls |
Girls Night Monday
Monday nights are more often than not a girl's night in. We go and see Sala in the Medina and buy a cheap, good quality DVD ("Are they fakes?"..."Is that a trick question? For 5 dirhams they're not going to be real, Dad...") , and then go and find our favourite pancake lady, Rashida, and buy a large pancake, to go with the large jar of nutella that we have left over from the weekend. I love girl's night in Mondays, as it starts the week in a relaxed manner, as we are often still recovering from whatever adventure we just had on the weekend. However, this is about to change somewhat as Lexy just left for her 2 weeks of holidays in the South.
 |
| Girls night in. |
Ice-Cream Tuesdays
I'll be honest, I'm not normally a big fan of ice-cream. I used to have sensitive teeth which sort of put me off. However, there is a place opposite the Medina called Charazad which does amazing ice-cream and I am hooked. I now know exactly what I'm getting every Tuesday ("un boule Pistachio and un boule Hazelnut sil vous plait?"-me and my shitty attempt at French) and when the flavours are changed I am thrown. I say to myself, "But wait? What should take the place of my beloved hazelnut?" The reason behind this sudden change of mind is that it tastes like smashed up Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Enough said.
Get-Together Wednesdays
Every Wednesday night we have our weekly get together with all of the other volunteers. In the time it has taken me to compose this blog we have had three get-togethers. At the first, we met some new volunteers called Andi, Imogen and Mai. Imogen however left last week, as her two weeks were already up! In Morocco, days seem to be long, but 5 days will pass in the blink of an eye! I'm not sure I like it; it means that my time here is passing all too quickly.
Yakouts Thursdays
We have a new local. Yes, some things never change. It is called Yakouts and is a really cool little bar in Hassan that we go to with our Moroccan friends every Thursday night for dancing. It has a live band that play Latin and reggae infused songs ranging from Bob Marley (Matthew's element) to Shakira or Michel Telo. The ambiance is amazing with coffee tables surrounded by cosy couches in red and dark brown leather; red walls and dark brown tiles, whilst on the walls hang African masks and abstract paintings, all sticking to the colour theme of you guessed it, red and brown. You are obligated to buy at least one drink, and beer is cheap. For those wondering, Heineken, whilst sold in smaller bottles, is only priced at $4.49 Australian Dollars. Life is good on Thursdays.
 |
| Plage de Nations |
Which brings us to Friday and the weekend. Friday night we are normally on our way somewhere, if we have managed to find a location and means of transportation that suits everyone (we have quite a large group now which whilst awesome makes planning difficult!) Last week was an exception however, as the majority of us decided to spend the weekend in Rabat. Lexy and I had "Girls Night take 2", and can I just say that Black Swan whilst being amazing, is also quite disturbing. This doesn't make me love it any less however. We bought nutella, peanut butter, pancakes, pastries, peanuts, oranges, bananas and water (for that healthy balance) and sat and watched movies until the wee hours of the morning. On Saturday we had a shopping afternoon in the Medina (oh hello pashmina scarf, yes I will pay $7.50 after conversion for you) and started buying souvenirs. I say started as I have rather a long list to buy.
 |
| Lunch! |
In between these social outings, I go to and from placement and sleep. Placement is still going well with new volunteers arriving weekly on stages from the social work school. Apparently they are studying to be social assistants. I'm not quite sure what this means, however I assume them to be trainee social workers. They are all really nice and help out a lot which is great.
 |
| The bus stop. Yes, the humble Aussie gum tree. I got way too excited... |
As far as blogs go, I apologise as to how boring that was. I always start the week thinking I will catch up and then life gets the better of me and I'm distracted once again. In all reality though, weekly life is not that exciting and since we had the lazy weekend in Rabat, I decided to wait until I had something exciting to tell you, which of course will now happen in the next post!
Until next time,
Love Love!
Clem xx
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