Day 3

Today was an all-around phenomenal day! In the morning, after making my way to the CCCL, we got started with our language lessons, learning some basic phrases in Arabic and Darija. Up to “hi hello” and “where are you from?” I was doing amazing! Then questions got thrown in, and it quickly fell apart :(. The basics, however, took me far today. Afterward, we then met the founder of CCCL. She taught us a bit of Moroccan history and how the culture has changed. She also taught us about women’s spaces in the culture and how quickly it’s changed over the last century. Moving from being confined to the home to now being out and about in the markets, it’s no longer seen as shameful but normal. She was really interesting and told us about her personal experience growing up in those times. Afterward, we broke for lunch. After walking around a bit, I came home to an amazing lunch of an almond dish and traditional bread!

After lunch, I headed back for the afternoon session, where, after getting turned around a bit, I made it(a little, albeit). We then learned the dos and don’ts of the region. It was all your basics dont drink the water, eat the odd street food, etc. I was surprised to learn there was an opium market in the northern country because of the Spaniards. We then learned my favorite thing, the art of the deal. How to negotiate, get good prices, and so on. We got to do the practical: go out with 30 MAD and come back with some good items. As a group, the guys and I went out and found the perfect thing: Fez’s. You know those little red hats you see on monkeys in the movie or on a shop owner in some ethnic setting. At first, we were quoted 70, then after walking away twice, we got a stall owner to get it for us at 30 on the dot. All eight of us then went and just enjoyed the medina before coming back. In the evening, we went to play soccer on the beach, where my younger host brother joined us. It was amazing, the smell of the sea, the setting sun over us, with the Casba(fort) in the background. We all bonded with him, and it helped that he was amazing, scoring four goals before he scored 1. We both walked around a bit as he showed me some of his favorite stalls and snacks. We came home around 9 and had an amazing pasta dinner, which Aunty made. My second day in Rabat has really made me feel truly at home and I’m so excited to see where it goes!

Throughout the day, especially in the markets of the Medina, between the skills of trying a new language and bargaining, I came to realize that whenever you’re trying to do anything, as long as you can negotiate it. When I was buying the ball, I acted like I didn’t know my host brother, so he could get us the best price, and all I had to do was pay. When trying for the hat, language ended up being a non-issue because our numbers did the talking. The ability to connect and talk with people drives my ability to bring people together and negotiate. Doing it today, taking advantage of the situation, and finding joy in getting a good deal is what makes me so good at it. Learning a language’s basics can take you a fair way, but learning the people of the culture can take you all the way, in my opinion. However, this is not to say it didn’t help. Greeting people in the traditional way and asking a basic question in Arabic helped me look less like a tourist and get better prices from people I was talking to. While my pronunciation wasn’t the best, it still helped, and I made the best of it. Of the two, I definitely enjoy negating more, but learning a new language was awesome, and I hope it’ll serve me well in the future.