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Today we took the kids from the orphan school with us to the beach and a beautiful little beach side village. We picked up 15 of the kids in our bus and headed towards the Portuguese founded, seaside town called Essquira. On the way, we stopped first on the side of the road to look at some goats climbing in argon trees. Argon trees are only found in two countries in the world: Morocco and Mexico. The goats feed on the flowers and the leaves that grow on the trees. After that stop, we went to a factory that made all organic cosmetic products from scratch. We got to see them making Argon oil from scratch. They were in an assembly line starting from the nuts going all the way to the oils in six steps:
1) Remove bark from nuts
2) Break nut to get out kernels
3) Crush kernels
4) Wash with warm water for 30 minutes
5) Form into fist-size ball
6) Grind that into an oil
Just as we were leaving the factory, we heard a huge shriek of brakes and a dull thump of a crash. It turns out that a car had spun out merely feet from where Jin Hang was standing. The rest of us rushed outside to see what the damage was, but thankfully the extent was a flattened road sign and a car with no bumper.
When we got to Essquira, we split up into groups with our new friends to go have lunch. The language barrier was one of the most awkward moments of the trip, but we worked through it to actually have some fun with them. Our group was amazed that the kids could pull off the wrappers for the Fanta bottles (a feat we had unsuccessfully tried multiple times) and they were really interested in our cameras.
For another 1/2 hour, we got to shop around in our groups, successfully bartering our last purchases of the trip. We walked around the medina, which was surprisingly easier to navigate than previous sites had been. We bought delicious gelato, and headed to the beach.
At the beach, we had a singing and dancing circle. They played a game similar to the one we played at the circus school, "marrying" one of our group off to one of theirs. Mrs. Martino even got to join in this time, "marrying" one of the teachers from the school. When our singing circle started getting difficult because of the language barrier, we had water fights, played frisbee, did cheer stunts, and drew out names (in three languages), flags, and pictures in the sand.
We met a child (clad in triple plaid, making for perfect photo opportunity) who's mother was French-American and father was Berber. She spoke English, french, and Arabic, an awesome feat for a two year old. It was interesting to hear her mothers story about moving here from the USA. She told us she can't stand the constant cheek kissing, but loves the atmosphere and how beautiful it is.
When our group is on the bus, its usually a dull murmur of voices, some sleeping people, and an occasional outburst of "build me up buttercup" or something. With these kids on our drive home, it became an African party bus. We were dancing, playing drums and a tambourine, clapping, and they were singing in Arabic. They were teaching us some dance moves, and we were teaching them some 90s music they had vaguely heard of: Avril Lavigne, Barbie Girl, etc. We all passed around a kid's notebook, writing our names and emails in it for all the kids. Melancholy goodbyes were exchanged, and we headed back to our hotel to pack for our plane trip. Were going from the Marakech airport to Casablanca, and from Casablanca to JFK.
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AWKWARDDDDD.....?
:"Awkwards" are hand and arm movements you act out to make an awkward moment less awkward. during the trip, we have created our own Morocco Edition of awkwards. Here's our additions to the world of awkwards:
Double Awkward Palm Tree, Awkward Straight Jacket, Awkward Kenny, Awkward Henna, Awkward Nerd, Awkward Superhero, Awkward Goat, Awkward Photographer.
Award for most awkward moments, and making "awkwards" to fit: Kenny Kilfara
