Happy Halloween

On Halloween, the American girls hosted yet another party at their house (which is now just down the street from ours). The expats managed to put together some creative costumes made largely of things found in their suitcases. My Peruvian alpaca sweater came in handy as an "Indian Princess" outfit. Even though the holiday does not exist here , the Moroccans proved to be Halloween pros, showing up as devils, ghosts, Mexicans, the moon, etc. I uploaded pics of this at the end of my online photo album. My dad sent a very cute Halloween care package, which unfortunately sat at the post office for a while before I figured out how to pick it up. So it missed Halloween but we are enjoying the goodies nonetheless.

Though it is still unseasonably warm, the weather has become a bit more fall-like lately, which may account for nearly all of Rabat being sick right now. My students are all sniffling, and I finally succumbed the other day to a small cold. Luckily I have three days off, due to a national holiday on Tuesday, to rest and recover. We also will take the time to fix up the apartment a bit and buy some space heaters before the winter weather hits. Coming home at night to an apartment that is as cold (if not colder) than outside will be interesting...

A few more quirks about Moroccan life that I thought I'd mention:

• The waterheater is a small box connected to a butane bottle; ours is in the kitchen, and at Nazha's, it was outside. You have to light it up before using the shower, and turn it off when you're done. Remembering to do this has been difficult for us, and cost us quite a bit of gas.
• Nearly everyone washes clothes by hand, so laundromats are scarce and quite expensive. It cost $9 for me to do a medium load, though the service was great - I just dropped it off and they did the rest.
• It is perfectly acceptable, in fact preferable to some families, to marry your first cousin. Better than marrying a stranger, they say!
• Extra virgin olive oil here actually smells and tastes like olives. I don't know what they are selling us in the U.S. but it's definitely not first press.
• I bought a box of paper clips from the photocopy place around the corner (where I often end up making copies just before class since at school they make us request copies 24 hours in advance). The guy was scraping the paper clips together from various corners of the store, to ensure I got a full box, though they were all incredibly dirty. I laugh at the fact that I paid money for these every time I see the rusty smudges on the corner of all my papers.
• The students all have a deeply ingrained habit of calling me "Teacher", even though I insist that my name is "Anya" (to which they reply, "Sorry, Teacher"). They use it at the beginning of nearly every sentence. It's maddening. Maybe I will develop a penalty system.