Internet down for 24 hours...Aaron seemed pretty annoyed, but I welcomed it. I love being cut off from the world for a bit. Kevin is still very sick and every day that goes by I feel worse and worse. It's most definitely salmonella. I had the luxury of experiencing that in Peru and let me tell you, I can think of a million other sicknesses I'd rather have.
We started our volunteer placement at the children's hospital, but there weren't any children today. Later we found out it's because of the play room - it has to be open to get children out of their rooms. It was a little too wet and needed to be cleaned before it was opened, but we will be sure to have that done tomorrow. We still managed to have an exciting day of cultural immersion!
We spent some time in the hospital cafe where there were many doctors- many of which were chain smoking Marlboro reds. We had a latte (aka shot of coffee) and sat back to people watch.
Afterwards we walked around the hospital exploring. It's a very simple children's hospital with bare minimum supplies/furniture. The walls are stark white with chipping plaster. There is huge artwork on the walls dispersed throughout the hospital that is absolutely beautiful. It makes it feel more like a children's hospital should feel I suppose...although I'm not really sure what it should feel like. Playful, comforting, homey?
Most of the children come from poor areas in Morocco. The government pays for their health care as long as they can supply a signed paper from their community officer stating they live in poverty...I'm certain the definition for poverty is much different here than it is at home.
After our time in the cafe we sat outside in the courtyard people watching again. It's a very intriguing culture. Women walk with women. We watched as two small children played on a hose. They put the hose between their legs and pretended that they were riding it. It was hilarious! I managed to sneak a photo.
Men walk hand and hand - but only showing their friendship. Being gay is completely unacceptable. I do admire the fact that men are taught from a young age to show affection for one another. It seems in most countries we do the opposite- men are supposed to be strong and hide their emotional side. Why?
We watched as a huge spider walked through the grass. It was very ugly and brought out the arachnophobia in me.
After lunch, we headed out for a city tout of Rabat. It is such a beautiful city. One minute I'd feel like I was in Spain and the next like I was in Santorini, Greece. There are certain areas that could even pass for Beverly Hills. It's incredibly clean.
Come to find out, the reason it is so clean at the moment, is because the prime minister was visiting recently, so they had a huge town clean up. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if this town was super clean on the time. It's on the higher end of cities in Morocco.
Slept like a baby!! Aaron did too - we didn't budge until our alarm went off at 7:30 am...I even slept through the 5am call to prayer!
We started our volunteer placement at the children's hospital, but there weren't any children today. Later we found out it's because of the play room - it has to be open to get children out of their rooms. It was a little too wet and needed to be cleaned before it was opened, but we will be sure to have that done tomorrow. We still managed to have an exciting day of cultural immersion!
We spent some time in the hospital cafe where there were many doctors- many of which were chain smoking Marlboro reds. We had a latte (aka shot of coffee) and sat back to people watch.
Afterwards we walked around the hospital exploring. It's a very simple children's hospital with bare minimum supplies/furniture. The walls are stark white with chipping plaster. There is huge artwork on the walls dispersed throughout the hospital that is absolutely beautiful. It makes it feel more like a children's hospital should feel I suppose...although I'm not really sure what it should feel like. Playful, comforting, homey?
Most of the children come from poor areas in Morocco. The government pays for their health care as long as they can supply a signed paper from their community officer stating they live in poverty...I'm certain the definition for poverty is much different here than it is at home.
After our time in the cafe we sat outside in the courtyard people watching again. It's a very intriguing culture. Women walk with women. We watched as two small children played on a hose. They put the hose between their legs and pretended that they were riding it. It was hilarious! I managed to sneak a photo.
Men walk hand and hand - but only showing their friendship. Being gay is completely unacceptable. I do admire the fact that men are taught from a young age to show affection for one another. It seems in most countries we do the opposite- men are supposed to be strong and hide their emotional side. Why?
We watched as a huge spider walked through the grass. It was very ugly and brought out the arachnophobia in me.
After lunch, we headed out for a city tout of Rabat. It is such a beautiful city. One minute I'd feel like I was in Spain and the next like I was in Santorini, Greece. There are certain areas that could even pass for Beverly Hills. It's incredibly clean.
Come to find out, the reason it is so clean at the moment, is because the prime minister was visiting recently, so they had a huge town clean up. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if this town was super clean on the time. It's on the higher end of cities in Morocco.
Slept like a baby!! Aaron did too - we didn't budge until our alarm went off at 7:30 am...I even slept through the 5am call to prayer!
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