Work Hard & Finish Strong

November 25

Happy Holidays, Readers!!

I hope you all are having a fantastic day. For my New Englanders, bundle up! I hear there is a snow storm on the way.

As you all know, Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Unfortunately, that does not exist in the beautiful North African kingdom of Morocco. The only good news about this, is that I will not be gaining absurd amounts of weight tomorrow! Cheers to staying thin!

My mother would kill me if I did not acknowledge that this one, marks the THIRD Thanksgiving holiday that I have missed in my entire college career. Yes, you heard me correctly. I have not been home for Thanksgiving since my freshman year.

Sophomore and Junior years were spent at Lehigh, as I usually am working, traveling with the Men’s Basketball team up until the day of Thanksgiving. We do not have games on the holiday, however, so I spend my day at Coach’s house nearby. They are like my family away from home.

Bad daughter? I hope my mom doesn’t think so! I do miss home when I am not there, but she makes it a point to drive FOUR hours to Pennsylvania to see me quite often.

At the current moment, I do not know what tomorrow will bring for me. I know that some of my classmates are hosting a dinner at their place to remind us all of home, which I will most likely attend. It won’t be like mama’s cooking, but it will feel good to have a little piece of America, 4,000 miles away.

In other news, I am sad to report, that as things are winding down here, I am finding less and less to report to you all. My usual sassy, vibrant commentary is being restricted by the impending end to my stay here!

My project is trucking along – I had a lovely meeting with my program director and partners to discuss and perform initial edits on the draft I submitted. I am on the right track, but this is a PROCESS! There is still a lot of work to be done, but it will all be worth it in the end.

I am so grateful that I have Al and Maya to work with and bounce my ideas off of. This is going to be an excellent package. I have already seen much of Maya’s work, but the I am so pumped to see how Al’s photo essay turns out. He’s been working his butt off to get a wide range of pictures.

Other than that, I have just been cherishing these last moments in Morocco. I am ready to come home, but a part of me wishes I could bring the best things about this country back to the United States with me. I miss my family, but I am going to miss Morocco too!

In just 17 days, things get real! Grad school applications to finish, next semester to plan for, and of course SNOW! That means no more weather in the high 60’s, no more waking up whenever I please, or just sitting on the beautiful terrace and daydreaming.

All good things must come to an end, right?

I have already begun the daunting task of packing and I have noticed that I have accumulated a lot of stuff. I will be getting rid of some old shoes and other things I will not need, but I can tell that this is going to be really annoying!

The key here is to FINISH STRONG! I am so close!

Until the next time!

Rae

I Got a New Attitude (and Hairstyle)!

October 4

Hello Blog fans and Happy October!

Can you believe that I have been here just over a month? December will be here before we all know it! Thank you guys for sticking with me and my story every step of the way, dealing with my shenanigans, and being patient when blogs cannot come at every moment.

That being said, I have been a slacker ONCE AGAIN with my blog, so heres a nice long recap of the week (I am excluding classes because theres only so much you all can bear about two hours of Arabic):

Monday was my favorite day of the week. Part of my program is a collaboration between American and Moroccan journalism students to research and write a final article. I am happy to say that I have found a wonderful girl to collaborate with named Khaoula. She is one year younger than I am, and we instantly clicked. We can already, laugh, joke and have serious conversations about our concerns and aspirations for the project. If nothing else, I think I have made a wonderful Moroccan friend that I will have for a long time.

To backtrack a bit, finding a partner was probably one of the most stressful situations of all time. What was supposed to be a casual meet-and-greet to discuss interests, turned into a free-for-all of aggression, pettiness and immaturity by American classmates. You would be surprised at how ridiculous people get when they think another person can advance their academic or professional career.

I am always awkward in these situations, so I basically stood there and ate cookies and drank tea with my other awkward-feeling classmates. Khaoula and I found each other by accident. It was the perfect culmination of “good things come to those who wait”.

The rest of the week came with the usual interesting lectures and journalism assignments. We learned about sexuality in Moroccan culture, Amazighism, or Native Berber culture, Sub-Saharan African Migrants, Women’s rights and more! I also wrote a reporter’s notebook about my trip to the desert and I wish I could share that with you guys. As some or all of my work will be published to our official site, Reporting Morocco, that is a big “no-no”. In the meantime, check out the site and I will update you when my work is posted!

I have also found out I have a penchant for danger. Do not get me wrong, I do not have a death wish, but I feel very drawn to stories and people who are unheard. These people most likely will not be in the safest of situations. It must be the future, kick-butt lawyer in me!

After speaking with my Program Director, I am having some trouble finding a story for my Independent Study Project. The Tcharmil youth movement that I wanted to pursue requires me interviewing teenage boys wielding samurai swords who commit robbery. From one of our lectures, I felt drawn to Sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco who are mostly mistreated and abused. I am working on finding safe ways to breach this, as it has been done in the past, but my safety must come first, so it is difficult.

Mary told me that I will make an excellent international lawyer one day. It felt good to know that my family and I are not the only ones who think I am great and can achieve great things. Look out, world! I am coming for you! She put me in touch with one of our lecturers who is an international lawyer, working for an NGO for women’s rights in Morocco!

The only other day to really stick out this week was yesterday (Friday, 3 October). Why? Because it was all about me! For those of you who know the black hair struggle, I do not have to explain, but for my newbies, there is only so much you can take when you realize you look a mess. The braids had to go!

The journey began Thursday night. Knowing absolutely nothing about black hair products in Morocco, I set out to the souk. I knew God was with me when I found the one bottle of product, not only in English, but the familiar brand that I knew was for my texture of hair!

After five, YES FIVE, hours of taking braids out, washing, moisturizing, and praying, my mini-fro made a glorious appearance! I was very nervous at first, as you never know what cruel things people can say, but it was a hit! Everyone I spoke to, Moroccan or American, preferred this style. The “African princess” has arrived!

There is always this stigma about natural black hair, but I am glad I am in a place where that is not a problem. Even better, I felt more beautiful, comfortable and more like ME. I owe a lot of that confidence to my mother, who went through a similar process to mine and looks just as cute as ever!

Here is a pic of my new style! What do you all think?

My sheep is still here. I cannot tell if he’s making less noise or my ears are just used to the dull roar. As well, the neighbors have begun to collect their sacrifice (or sacrifices, some families have multiple). The entire city is covered in sheep, hay, poop, etc., but I guess it is all part of the Moroccan experience.

I went to visit Naget last night FINALLY! I have missed her humor and warmth quite a bit, so it was nice to reconnect. Alex went with me, and when we get there, we are confronted with commotion. Upon going up to the roof, we see my host cousins and neighbors have carried a small sheep and a young COW up four or more flights of stairs! Talk about dedication! They will be eating quite well for the holiday on Monday.

P.S. NO SCHOOL MONDAY!

Hope you made it through the whole post, people! More adventures soon, folks!

Rae
xox

Old McDonald Had a Farm…

September 29

Hello and Happy Monday from Rabat, everyone!

My glamorous excursion has concluded and I am back in language classes and lectures. Life has returned to the slow-moving, long class days and the constant reminder that no matter how good I am getting at Modern Standard Arabic, my darija dialect still sucks!

Nevertheless, I am exhausted and I need a little “boring” in my life. I am putting boring in quotes because, I am studying in Morocco, after all, so I shouldn’t be such a whiner. Nothing is really happening today, so I think it is best that I discuss the insane Sunday that I had yesterday!

First things first, I opened my bedroom door after hearing a large commotion coming from the narrow hallway and you will NEVER guess what I saw: my host father and some random young guy hauling a sheep onto the roof. A SHEEP. S-H-E-E-P, you guys, and I am not talking about a baby!

For you folks who are unfamiliar with Muslim culture, here’s your daily factoid:

A special holiday is coming up next Sunday or Monday called, Eid Al-Adha, or “Holiday of the Sacrifice”. It is also referred to as Eid Kebir, or the “Greatest Holiday”. It celebrates Abraham’s obedient willingness to sacrifice his son to God.

SO, each Muslim family celebrates this with a feast, beginning with their own sacrifice of an animal, usually a sheep, but the animal may differ by the family’s economic situation.

Long story short, Lamb Chop was brought to be killed next week. I have noticed that my host family, especially the older male cousins, are WAY TOO excited for this to take place. Me? I am just hoping I don’t pass out. I do have to watch an animal get its throat cut and then die…and then eat said animal.

Back to yesterday…

So this large farm animal was brought to my house to live thirty feet away from me, separated by a pair of doors, which was no big deal at first. I only began to mind when he proceeded to make an absurd amount of noise. This was to the point that my classmates living nearby could hear it from their houses. Absurd, I tell you!

They never tell you in pre-school what animals really sound like, and I was not prepared for this deep raspy roar that came from that sheep. He carried on from the time he got there, until the time I went to sleep. Six hours of noise and a migraine later, I was finally able to sleep peacefully. He really better watch it or he will may not make it to the Eid (I am of course mostly kidding)! I woke up thinking it was all a dream, but I heard him again when I woke up. Pray for me people!

Well, that is it for now! Hopefully my sheep friend will simmer down and I won’t have to suffer for too much longer. I know he’s literally “dead meat”, but he could at least be more respectful!

We are off this afternoon to meet our Moroccan journalism partners. They will collaborate with us on our final Independent Study Project and assist with our only barely basic understanding of the culture in this wonderful country. I feel like I am about to go to gym class and get picked (or not) for dodgeball! Insha’Allah, things will go fine and I will work well with him or her!

xoxo

Rae

Keep On, Keepin’ On!

September 18

Hello Everyone,

It is only around 3am back home, but here in Morocco, my day has already begun, and wow is it starting off terribly! Although this is quite the pessimistic start to a blog post, I feel that it is slightly needed. The rest of my posts seem to be bunnies and rainbows and adventure. THE SICKNESS HAS FINALLY HIT ME.

I feel like whenever I am traveling, especially for an extended period of time, at least half of my efforts go into avoiding or recovering from illness. Since I have arrived in Al-Maghrib, my stomach has been fighting me on the various food choices and mealtimes. I have finally gotten it under control in time to have the lymph nodes in my throat swell, chest feel heavy, and worst of all, my voice is leaving me! Any of you who know me well know that I am a TALKER!

But alas, like MC Lyte, we must keep on, keeping’ on! It is Thursday and this week in school has been especially challenging for me. It has been a long time since I have been in school from 8:30am until 3:30pm, keeping in mind that we may go as late as 5:30pm for extra lectures and office hours. Add on two hours of Arabic homework and reporting assignments for my other classes, and you would think I was back at Lehigh!

Regardless, I am enjoying every minute here. This week, I was able to meet Aida Alami, a well-respected Moroccan journalist who has been published in the New York Times, Al-Jazeera, and even Bloomberg. She is a highly intimidating person, but incredibly intelligent. I feel like as an ambitious woman, I have much to learn from her.

I will spare you all from the repetitive breakdown of all of my lectures this week, but the most interesting session came yesterday. We spoke about social media and primarily Twitter to establish yourself as a journalist worldwide. We obviously all know that the internet is forever and that we must be careful what you say, but I learned that as a journalist, Twitter can be one of the single most important tools for information. Furthermore (factoid of the day):

“The ways in which you tweet and re-tweet, even if it is breaking news, can positively or negatively define you. One must remain neutral, with as little opinion as possible and promote fairness, respect and accountability. Journalist ethics are important, even on social media.”

Who new Twitter could be so powerful? As a social media NUT, I loved this lecture. The only slightly sad part is that I was morally forced to delete my twitter and start fresh. (@RMGaddy, if any of you would like to keep up with me)

This brings us to today: 8:30am in Morocco and I am still in my bed. The goal for this morning is to try to find some medicine, good Vitamin C, and make it to school by our first lecture at 10:45am. Today will be peer edits of Assignment 2, our creative description pieces from the nursing home we visited on Friday.

AND SPEAKING OF FRIDAY! My host mother has let me pick lunch, which obviously MUST be Cous Cous. #CousCousFriday, y’all!

Hopefully more for you all soon! Stay tuned!

Rae

What’s School Again?

September 8

Hi All,

You’ll be happy to know that I am feeling better (at least for the moment). There is a special kind of horrible you feel when you are sick in a new, exciting and wonderful place. The stomach meds, tea, and lot’s of rest did just the trick, although I was experiencing some pain throughout the day.

Today’s post is coming to you from the beautiful balcony on the roof of my host family’s house. It is peaceful, I have an amazing view and of course, there’s an outlet up here! The best part is that there is only a door separating my new reflection place and my private room. It’s just my thoughts and me…and the chickens (who are fighting and killing my vibe)!

On to the day…

Today was officially the first day of classes for me and, boy, did it hit me HARD! I started the morning off with two, count ‘em, TWO hours of Arabic. This will be the norm for the next couple of months. Besides the fact I am quite rusty, the other intermediate students and I have been assigned a teacher that speaks very little English. Although this will improve my language abilities tenfold, I left this first session very frustrated. It’s only up from here, right?

The other two class sessions I had today were with my program director, Mary Stucky. Being new to the business of Journalism, she provided some excellent insight on what a story is, how to write one, and how to ethically conduct research. I will not go into that with all of you (it is an exhaustive amount of information), but I think I am ready to get some good work done! Our second session sought to connect the readings we were given before our departure from the United States to what we may want to pursue here on the ground. From today alone, I can tell that I have some AWESOME classmates. I am inspired by so many of them daily and I am glad that we have and continue to become such a close family. 

We ended the day with one-on-one conferences with Mary. After meeting with her after classes, I feel a lot more confident in my abilities and a lot less intimidated by the many students in the program who have impeccable journalistic backgrounds. Academic writing has always been my strong suit, but Journalism is brand new. They are COMPLETELY different. I hope to develop a skill with finding and reporting on all that Morocco has to offer, which is way too much to even fit into an entire semester. We both agreed that this will be a process and I feel great knowing that a renowned journalist like Mary Stucky started about where I am now: a good writer with an interest in reporting.

And so, I have refocused my food project from vegetarianism to the business of catering. This brings me to my factoid of the day:

“There are no fancy trucks in Rabat, but instead women who cook out of their own kitchens and then deliver to clients. The events can be large, like weddings, or small, but the work that is done is remarkable.”

Let’s see what I can find in the coming days. I am also in the process of researching for my independent study project, which comes in the final months of the program. I’ll keep it a secret for now, but it is a BIG ONE!

I stopped by Naget’s house at lunch today, but she wasn’t there. It was a total bummer, especially since I brought a couple friends to meet her. At least I was able to enjoy her beautiful terrace before heading back to school (which is visible from her place). I guess it was a good thing that I was not able to interview her, since my story direction has changed.

On the way home, I stopped by my host parent’s food shop and got a delicious snack. I have NO idea what it is called yet, but it was basically a flatbread with cheese and vegetables. I love bringing my classmates there and my host parents love the smiling students and booming business. I am the luckiest girl in the world! Free food and good people! I am back into the swing of things, folks! My goal has always been excellence, and senior year, even in a foreign country, is no different!

More tomorrow,

Rae