So today we got to experience two things we had learned about earlier in the classroom, learning a new language and bargaining in the market. I genuinely enjoyed the language learning part because it feels like something you can actually build on over time, like you practice with the people around you, try it out in conversation, and slowly it just starts to stick. But I think bargaining ended up being my favorite of the two because no classroom can fully prepare you for the real thing. You just have to be there, standing in the middle of a market with a vendor looking at you waiting for a response, and you figure it out as you go. And the cool thing is the two actually came together in a way I wasn’t expecting, because the Arabic phrases I had learned earlier for asking about prices were genuinely useful when I was out there trying to negotiate. When a bargain actually works there is this small but really satisfying moment where you feel like you actually pulled something off, and I walked away with a leather bag and a pair of sandals that I am very happy about.

But then I started talking with a couple of people in the group and something caught my attention. They were getting quoted 400 dirhams for leather bags and I had been getting 120. At first I was actually a little frustrated with myself because I could barely get the vendors to come down by 20 dirhams and it felt like I wasn’t doing a good job bargaining, but hearing what other people were being charged completely changed how I saw it. My prices were actually really good. And that made me start thinking about why, and honestly I think my race played a role in it. Being the only East Asian person in the group meant that my experience moving through the market was just different from everyone else’s in ways I was still processing. Vendors were calling out to me saying “ni hao” which is the Chinese way of saying hello, and at one point a girl said “annyeonghaseyo” which is the Korean greeting, which genuinely surprised me because I don’t look Korean. It was a lot to sit with but it was one of the most thought provoking parts of the trip so far, a reminder that the same place and the same experience can look really different depending on who you are when you walk into it.

We ended the day watching the sunset from the rooftop of my host family’s house with two of my friends, and the fact that my host family welcomed them in so warmly was honestly the perfect way to close out the day.