m.o.r.o.c.c.o.

I seriously had planned to do all of this blogging about our international trips before we went back to the states, but we are back in the states now and I still haven't finished. Oh well, this is mostly for my own journaling anyways. Toward the end of our 10 day trip we headed over to Marrakesh, Morocco mostly to relax from all of the walking we had done for the past week. 

We spent the first day walking around the local market and Moroccan spice shops. For our souvenirs we picked out some fresh spices: Menthol, Myrrh, Sandal wood, and some homemade perfume in the form of a bar looking like a bar of soap. We also found this really cool homemade jewelry box that looks a treasure chest.  

The outdoor local market and spice shops

This is Andrew trying to barter with a kid selling us the spices

It was definitely different from any place either of us had ever gone, it being a Muslim country. We hopped on a bus when we got there and were the only white people--I was the only female not wearing a head covering. That was pretty intimidating at first but we met many many really friendly Muslims and we felt a lot more comfortable by the end of our three days in Marrakesh. 

We learned a lot about the Muslim culture that we didn't know before like: Girls don't wear the head coverings until the first Ramadan after they start their first period. And specifically in Marrakesh they are a lot more liberal and therefore many women choose on their own to stray from the Muslim path and are still easily accepted by their family and friends.  Also several times a day they have the call to prayer. There is a loud speaker that blares throughout the whole city and someone sings/chants into it to call the city to prayer. the city goes quiet--shops close for a few minutes and the city worships.

Moroccan food--one of our favorites. We ate outdoors on the roof of a building overlooking the local market. We ate this stuff called tagine which is meat and veggies cooked in personal ceramic pots with cone shaped lids. It was amazing.   

Tagine

View from the roof of the restaurant overlooking the market 

As we were walking through a particular square we saw some snake charmers and as we walked by we made eye contact with them and all of a sudden they were wrapping snakes around our necks pretty much without our permission. Then they grabbed my phone and took tons of pictures and took the snakes back and then charged us $50! We didn't have that kind of money on us!!! We literally only had $2 in cash on us. They were pretty upset but they let us keep the pictures anyways.

The other days we spent relaxing: taking naps, watching movies, hanging out by the pool and playing cards--which reminded us a lot of our honeymoon. (On our honeymoon we spent so much time playing cards and reading by the pool.) It was so warm and we enjoyed the sunshine we had been deprived of in Riga, and even got a little bit burned.

All over Europe (and apparently in Marrakesh) a bed bigger than a twin just means two twin beds pushed together. I fell asleep right there in the crack during a nap

I don't know what that says...but it is a coke in Arabic!

Morocco was an experience never to be forgotten and I was very humbled to be there. To be the minority. To be in a place where NOTHING was normal to me. We learned so much and met some really great people.  Going there softened my heart towards the Muslim people a little bit more and I know that I will need to keep learning and understanding in order for my heart to be fully softened and open to them. I am just trying to be honest but it IS something that I struggle with recently because of everything going on in the world right now.  I understand that everyone is on different levels of openness/understanding/charity toward Muslim people/nations right now. It is a hard thing. But in my personal experiences with them, I have been humbled. They were very friendly, very helpful and very considerate.