Things I will probably do when I return

(This is Mark)
Now that I come back super soon I figured I would tell everyone those odd habits that I will probably end up picking up from my time here.

- I will probably spend lots of time in my apartment strollin' around in my djellaba, which on the one hand is awesome but on the other hand looks sort of like a KKK robe.

- I will probably obsess over American breakfasts for a while. This definitely includes things like pancakes and omelets (I will actually probably spend the time to make them) but also plain ol' oatmeal and definitely peanut butter bagels.

- I will probably obsess over American (lunch/dinner) food for a while. This includes Chinese food. Or at least American Chinese food. Also includes pizza and pasta.

- After "a while" I will probably re-enter a Moroccan food phase, where I start eating Moroccan breakfasts (milwee!) and dinners (couscous, tajines)

- I will possibly be very bad at crossing the street

- I will probably rejoice over small things, like not getting run over by motorcycles all the time

- I will certainly complain about how hard real school is

- I will run a lot, but slowly.

- I like to think I'll be more social

- I will talk a lot about improving my English. And my chess skills.

- I think that I will be more into cooking new things

- I will either be really into being clean or be really into being "clean" where "clean" is a lot cleaner than I have been and a lot less clean than is socially acceptable in America

- I will definitely complain about lack of street food

- I will definitely complain about high prices of everything in general

- I will almost certainly have nothing interesting or insightful to say about Morocco or my time there except "It was fun" and possibly telling various amusing anecdotes.


You have been warned!

Souqing

This is Natalie. I joined Mark in Morocco on Sunday, and we first spent about 3.5 days in Fez. We're now in Rabat, where I will be until Sunday, when I come home. Mark is leaving tomorrow.

In Fez, Mark and I walked around a pretty public garden, saw the king's palace and "hiked" up a hill to see the Tombs of Merinides, from which we got a great view of the city. We also spent a lot of time walking around the souk, or market, and shopping. In fact, it felt like that was most of what we did there. We bought several items, but we can't tell you about all of them because some are gifts.

For each of the things we bought, we bargained. We became reasonably good bargainers after a few times, but I still think we can get better. It's pretty fun, actually - sort of like acting out some kind of game. After doing all this shopping, I'm now reading online other tourists' tips for bargaining, and finding that we sort of instinctively followed some of these tips/rules. One tip I heard that's good is that you can find reasons for your prices, each time you offer one. Eg, you can say "oh, well, it's really beautiful but it's not EXACTLY what I was looking for so I really can't go higher than 400 dirham..." or something like that. I think Mark and I mostly just said "umm...that's too much, we're students, sorry..."

We also weren't sure where you are supposed to make your first offer, relative to the first price the seller offers. I'm now thinking that you generally should start with less than half of what the seller offers, PERHAPS even a third. I think starting too low is a bit insulting though, but in general I started too high. This site says there's no fixed price relative to the seller's offer where you should start, and gives some interesting insight about why the price might change throughout the day: http://www.moroccotouristguide.org/marrakech.htm

This site talks about one tourist's experience with some really elaborate negotiating processes, but Mark and I didn't do anything like these:

http://www.davestravelcorner.com/articles/morocco/moroccan-rugs-fez.htm

In general, we walked in and looked but didn't ask about price unless we were pretty sure we wanted something. I once made the mistake of asking about a blanket's price before feeling pretty sure I wanted it, then walked out without negotiating...I think the guy would have followed us and been really pushy, but he had other customers, fortunately.

I was looking for a leather jacket, and the first day negotiated in several places, but didn't end up getting anything. I finally bought a jacket in the tanneries, and I think I overpaid by about 200 dirham.

In general though, the things I learned about bargaining are:

Don't ask about price unless you want the item(s).

Before even asking about price, think about how much you're willing to pay for the item. I feel like things are cheap in Morocco, so the price I'm willing to pay here is generally lower than what I'd be willing to pay in the U.S.

Start low but not insultingly low. Probably you can always start at less than half what the seller initially offers. 

Move up slowly, and don't be afraid to be hesitant and act like you're walking out (or really walk out!). You can also offer fun reasons for your reluctance to go much higher (ie you can be more creative than me, all I said was "um, that's too much.  Next time, I'll try stuff like "I spent practically all my money getting here..." or "I have three years left of school to pay for.") 

A footnote about your starting price, the seller's, and how quickly you move up: I think these are closely related, which I guess is sort of obvious. But I just mean, while the seller's first offer price gives you an indication of how much he'll eventually sell it for, there's no general rule like "if he starts at 1000, it means he's willing to sell for 500 at the lowest." I noticed some salesman came down really quickly when I started negotiating - they knew we were tourists and perhaps named outrageous prices just to see if they could get them, and then the second we started bargaining came down to something reasonable. Anyway, if a seller starts way higher than what you're willing to pay, you might start really low (like a third or fourth of where he's starting) and see how quickly he comes down. He may come down quite quickly or you may have to move up quickly and perhaps walk out if it looks like you can't get it for more than your limit.

Do be ready to leave if they won't come down fast enough and it seems they are really going to insist on more than you're willing to pay.

When the salesman says "Name the last price. the final offer. What is the democratic price?" he doesn't mean it. ie, he'll say that every time. 

Some things I've read have said the Moroccan salesmen take their time with the negotiations, but all ours went pretty quickly. 

On our last evening in Fez, Mark and I debated which of the three kids in our family is best-looking. We decided it's definitely not Charles. 

Some funny stories recounted to us by our professor, Ahmed el Shamsy

el Shamsy is awesome. Here are some random historical stories he's mentioned to us:

In the 1800s, there was a wealthy American slave owner who was also a missionary. He wished to spread Christianity to Africa, and had a slave who knew Arabic (many did). Therefore, he told his slave that if the slave would translate the Lord's Prayer to Arabic, he would be let free.
We still have the original document. On one side is the Lord's Prayer. On the other side is a chapter of the Qur'an.
The slave owner, of course, had no idea, and thought that the translation was accurate. He then sent his slave to West Africa to convert people to Christianity, at which point the slave simply left.

A similar story, in more modern times:
The Saudi government doesn't like people visiting Sufi shrines, because they think it's worship of humans rather than God. Near a certain mountain housing the shrine of a well-known Sufi, there is an official Saudi sign saying, in Arabic, "Don't go up there, this is un-Islamic" etc etc. The other half of the sign is a Turkish translation that says, roughly, "Go up there! You will receive great blessings from this Sufi shaykh!" (or something along those lines)
Presumably the same thing as in the previous story happened here.


Another story is the origin of coffee, for those of you who may be interested. Coffee was first grown in Yemen, but didn't make its way to the rest of the world until a Yemeni student went to al-Azhar university in Cairo. He spread coffee to the rest of the students there, who used it to stay up late studying (sound familiar?). Eventually authorities caught wind of this drug that made people act hyper, and called it "qahwa," which is one Arabic word for "alcohol" (the other being "alcool"; so we get both our word for "alcohol" and "coffee" from the Arabic word for alcohol).
Then they realized that it wasn't actually alcohol; but it was clearly some sort of mind-enhancing drug, so they had to decide if it was legal by Islamic law. Their solution was to feed a bunch of it to one person and see exactly what the effects were. Although he acted "a little cooky," he clearly wasn't drunk so they figured it was allowed, and it spread throughout the entire Ottoman empire (this decision would later become controversial, mostly because cafes sprouted up and became centers of revolutionary thought).

Then, a few months (or years?) later, the Ottomans were siegeing Vienna. When the siege failed, they left behind a bunch of coffee. The Viennese had no idea what to do with it; first they tried smoking it, which didn't work, then they tried a few other things, and eventually they tried cooking it, which worked and I suppose tasted good. Then it spread to the rest of Europe.


Last story!

When the British occupied areas of the Islamic world, they found certain practices incredibly barbaric, such as amputees. So they revoked all of these policies and replaced them with the death penalty, which is substantially more humane.  

What do I do with host brothers?

Play slime soccer, mostly. Takes me back to fourth grade...

The desert was awesome

But there's not much to say about it. It was mostly just really beautiful. We walked around and rode camels and visited a city in this big oasis (the largest oasis in Morocco). I found out that sprinting up sand dunes is incredibly difficult and that playing connect four in Saharan sand is more fun than on the computer. I also figured out how to properly tie a turban (I had a turban tied for me 4 different ways... I only remember one. And I can't tie it nearly as well as the person who tied it for me, it falls off more often). Also we saw some barbary macaques on the way there, which was awesome.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of any of these things because I was worried that the sand of the desert would break my camera.

Also, I have (finally!) decided what to do during my week off -- I'm going to Portugal!