6/18 “Vous êtes mon fils”

Today consisted of short vowels, finishing the alphabet (finally), and surfing. Our lingering progression through the alphabet has been the most frustrating part of Morocco so far, and I have already mentioned how our class is the ‘slow one.’ However, today I heard the class giving oral dictations we have already covered. Judging by the vocab they are going over, and some of their oral skills, we might not be that far behind at all.

Curiously enough, one street away is called “Below the Hammam,” which is the one I take to class. I visited Sam’s family today after school, apparently his sister is Ameena’s friend. Every family here seems related in some way, and it probably isn’t too much of a stretch to imagine one family knowing most if not all other families within the Medina (which always seems to have just one more alley than I’ve been down).

I finally caught up on sleep (minus Sunday I haven’t got 8 hours any day) by talking a nap after lunch, from 2 to 4. When I woke up, everyone was passed out, unfortunately including Hemsa, who was supposed to play soccer with me at 4. No worries; I just did homework and practiced vocab instead. Also, 1 Liter of Coke here cost 7.6 DH, and you can return the bottle for 2 DH.

To jump ahead, I tried to explain to Hemsa I knew a group which was going to play soccer at 1:00 AM. I tried to give them the name of Sam’s sister that knew Ameena, but I’m pretty sure I butchered/forgot a letter, so they didn’t understand. The father had a problem with allowing me to go, because it was dangerous and risky and I looked like a tourist. He told me, while I’m here I was his son, and he thought it in bad taste. I was touched by the whole conversation, and it even reminded me of the “not exactly black” lecture, because they definitely skirted actually forbidding me. Likewise, I’ve noticed lately Ameena and Hemsa have been warming up to me. Hemsa after going to the beach and concert together, and Ameena just over time – she’s now breaking the touch barrier like with her other family members, roughing my hair and laughing like old friends. Today at dinner we had a fun Arabic lesson with Shay trying to understand Mohamed, and Ameena trying to mess her up and laughing at her stuttering and miss conjugation (i.e. giving Hemsa and Mohamed girl possessive adjectives). It was all in good fun, and definitely lightened the whole stay.

Back to the surfing lesson, today was the first day I used a short board. In the beginning of the day the instructor showed Sam and I how to jump into our stance (pushing off from the same breast-push up hand position and landing in the foot position, which feels a lot smoother) because we were getting up while keeping our shoulders square. Apparently turning while getting up is a common problem. Also, I feel more comfortable in that but down surfing position, and my knees are inside (turned like a snowboarder in the downhill feet position, not duck or 0 degrees). Surfing the longboard felt so much more comfortable, and I even got down sitting, turning, and paddling against and through waves. The instructor saw how easy I was getting up and riding the waves, so he suggested switching to a shortboard with the other group that was with us today. The other group there was studying both French and Arabic, and I switched with one of them no problem. The shortboard is so much more exacting in the movements. There is one exact place I have to sit on to forgo flipping over or slipping off. Turning is easier, almost too much so. However, as the day went on, I started getting more comfortable, riding some waves by the end, but in no way am I there yet. I saw Shafi doing jump turns, which I’ll have to try next time I get a longboard. He also was pumping up and down the waves on the shortboard, which you seem to have to do to keep moving along (diagonal) the wave.

Oh, and by the way, before going to the 6:00 surfing lesson, I conquered The Turkish Toilet.