Raining Dirt

Things are still going well here, though most of my news this time is of a negative nature.

It finally rained the other day, after nearly a month of drought, and has been raining in sudden spurts ever since. This is actually wonderful news for the city of Rabat, but for those of us who live in a house without a roof, this presents challenges. Ok, we have a roof, but all of our rooms open onto a central courtyard which is wide open to the sky; so to go from your bedroom to the bathroom, say, you have to go outside. The main inconvenience is not so much in getting wet, but that you have to change shoes every time you want to change rooms, else there would be mud everywhere. We do have a drain in our courtyard and we have been trying to squeegee the water down it, but without much success. Suprisingly, the rain made everything dirtier, since strong winds had kicked up a giant red dust cloud, presumably from the huge construction site across the river. When it rained, the dirt fell out of the sky, and onto our patio. So it's a bit of a mess right now. Nonetheless, we are still sold on the charm of our place.

I had to miss my first class last week because I was vomitting all morning. I was worried it was the flu that was going around (one of the American girls wasn't able to eat for a week), but fortunately (I guess) it was only food poisoning, possibly from a chicken sandwich I got in the medina. The incident will not stop me from buying street food, however. But I may stick to the fish sandwiches as they have caused me no problems. It really sucks to be sick in a foreign country though; it is very lonely, just you and your toilet.

The coup de grace of bad news is that my dog Rocky is sick. He has a lymphoma in his chest which is causing him to cough and breathe poorly. I believe this had been developing for a while, as he began coughing intermittently when we were in California. Bill has been an excellent care giver and has probably spent a fortune at the vet getting various tests and treatments. He is considering chemotherapy but I doubt it would be worth it. After a few days in the hospital, at least Rocky is back home now, and Bill says he is enjoying Jeep rides and visits to Bill's neighbor, Bob, who likes to spoil the dogs grandma-style. As I suspected when I embarked on this journey, I will probably not be able to see Rocky again. But with the miracle of modern technology, at least I've been able to "see" him on Bill's webcam a few times.

To end on a happier note, we did have a Thanksgiving feast last night, at the same girls' house as usual, and I think every American in Rabat might have been there. It was definitely not your typical Thanksgiving, more like a Thanksgiving night club. It was wall to wall people and loud thumping techno music. There was lots of delicious food (though a shortage of silver ware), and I have to say, Molly made the best turkey I've ever had. She has a special "Moroccan" technique (invented right here in our house!) of cooking up onions, raisins, almonds and orange juice into a delightful sauce, in which she pan fried the turkey breasts. In the absence of cranberries, bacon, and an oven, I could not make any of my favorite dishes (my mom's "saucy green beans", my dad's cranberry pear sauce and bourbon pecan pie). So I just brought a simple green bean dish with lemon and garlic. However, the other Americans found clever ways around the limitations, and we did indeed have cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie, stuffing, etc.

Final note: I am not sure why hairdressers worldwide think it's acceptable for a woman to walk out of a salon with a mullet. After sporting one for a week, I finally got my hair redone so now it is super short again. It looks fine, though it could use some bright red streaks. If I feel I have already won my students' respect, perhaps I will consider it...