16/3/09
...I walked through the blue and white painted streets of the Kasbah and passed a groups of girls off one of the lanes. One of the girls - a robust character with dyed red hair and a stripey black and red jumper said, "Ni hao" and bowed. I gave her a weak smile and walked on. I then realised I had no idea where I was going and that I should ask for directions. So I went back to the girls and asked where the terrace was. They turned out to be quite friendly and walked me to where it was. There were lovely views of the coast from the terrace. We got to talking and they invited me down to the beach for a stroll.
...The sea was beautiful. Blue. It was so nice to see the ocean again. The girls mucked around. There was Abira - the stocky, stripey, crazy one - who would break out into song sporadically and dance about carefree. There was Sisi - the small, seemingly intelligent one - who tried to be serious but always got swept up in the antics and frivolity of the others. And then there were a few of their friends. I hung around with Sisi and Abira the most.
It seemed so easy to hang out with them...we got along fine. We sat on some rocks for a bit and I listened to music with Abira whilst talking to Sisi. The music was a mixture of Arabic and English, with familiar tunes sprinkled here and there.
We hung around the beach for a while then decided to head back up. They offered to take me to the Hassan Tower. We walked through the medina and must have looked a sight - me sharing an iPod with Abira, an earphone in each of our ears.
Sisi bought some cookies and offered me some. When I politely refused she said, "It's ok - we're friends now". That made me happy. We walked for a bit then arrived at the Hassan Tower and mausoleum.
...We went into the mausoleum and the girls tried explaining the significance of it to me. The place was beautiful - stunning tilework and trimmings of real gold.
...After the mausoleum, we walked over to the Tower, then to the wall that overlooked the park and further out to the Atlantic ocean and Safi. We sat down on the ledge and took in the view. Jihane, one of the other girls, nicknamed one section of a crumbling wall a "biscuit" because it indeed looked like a biscuit (see photo). I asked Sisi why there were holes in the wall (like how Greg the American had asked back in Marrakech), but she didn't know.
After a while, we walked back across the square and met the other friend who had been dozing away on one of the benches in the shade. We sat down for a while. A group of school kids came along - they were on an excursion - and were led by a few school teachers. There were two groups - boys and girls were segregated. They would have been around five or six years old. The girls sat in a circle at one end whilst the boys stood and mucked about in another circle closer to us. The girls started singing "Frere Jacque". The boys formed a sort of train and shouted out "choo choo!". It was all incredibly cute. Some tourists came and took photos of them. I was about to too but didn't. I just kinda sat and watched them, dancing and singing and being cute. The boys started dancing around one of the columns, holding hands and running, running, running...
...It was starting to get late in the afternoon. We left the Hassan Tower and Sisi and Abira offered to accompany me to Chellah - the roman ruins on the outskirts of town - whilst the other girls said goodbye.
Abira bought some sunflower seeds for the three of us, and we walked and ate, spitting the shells out as we went...
...We took the bus, the wrong one, then had to get off and catch another one. We arrived at Chellah when the sun was slightly lower in the sky, deep orange and still burning hot.
It was Friday so it was free entrance - but for Moroccans only (see rant)...so I just paid the racist and we went in.
It was actually really nice inside. Shady trees, stork nests, the ruins glowing orange in the setting sun. We kinda just sat down in the shade and listened to music and chatted. People were looking at us, and the guys - the young, sleazy, Moroccan ones - were saying things. We ignored them. Sisi called them "rubbish". We laughed.
...Once we'd had enough of chilling out, we left Chellah, first wading through a sea of overweight, white tourists.
I wanted to thank the girls for taking me out for the day so I offered to buy them both a drink. Sisi refused at first but Abira was quite enthusiastic. So we walked for a bit then found a kind of cafe. I bought them each a coke and I sat and drank and ate (some kind of Moroccan damper thing) whilst they mucked about, providing entertainment for me. A couple of uniformed officers sat nearby and smiled at their antics. They did everything in such a childish, carefree manner, and I realised how only a few years between us meant so much more in levels of maturity.
After we'd finished our drinks, we walked for a bit and Sisi tried to give me directions. Again they started joking and mucking about and the storekeeper and others nearby started laughing too. Finally, they walked me up a bit, gave me some final sketchy directions and we said goodbye. It really was quite a random day...
...I walked through the blue and white painted streets of the Kasbah and passed a groups of girls off one of the lanes. One of the girls - a robust character with dyed red hair and a stripey black and red jumper said, "Ni hao" and bowed. I gave her a weak smile and walked on. I then realised I had no idea where I was going and that I should ask for directions. So I went back to the girls and asked where the terrace was. They turned out to be quite friendly and walked me to where it was. There were lovely views of the coast from the terrace. We got to talking and they invited me down to the beach for a stroll.
...The sea was beautiful. Blue. It was so nice to see the ocean again. The girls mucked around. There was Abira - the stocky, stripey, crazy one - who would break out into song sporadically and dance about carefree. There was Sisi - the small, seemingly intelligent one - who tried to be serious but always got swept up in the antics and frivolity of the others. And then there were a few of their friends. I hung around with Sisi and Abira the most.
It seemed so easy to hang out with them...we got along fine. We sat on some rocks for a bit and I listened to music with Abira whilst talking to Sisi. The music was a mixture of Arabic and English, with familiar tunes sprinkled here and there.
We hung around the beach for a while then decided to head back up. They offered to take me to the Hassan Tower. We walked through the medina and must have looked a sight - me sharing an iPod with Abira, an earphone in each of our ears.
Sisi bought some cookies and offered me some. When I politely refused she said, "It's ok - we're friends now". That made me happy. We walked for a bit then arrived at the Hassan Tower and mausoleum.
...We went into the mausoleum and the girls tried explaining the significance of it to me. The place was beautiful - stunning tilework and trimmings of real gold.
...After the mausoleum, we walked over to the Tower, then to the wall that overlooked the park and further out to the Atlantic ocean and Safi. We sat down on the ledge and took in the view. Jihane, one of the other girls, nicknamed one section of a crumbling wall a "biscuit" because it indeed looked like a biscuit (see photo). I asked Sisi why there were holes in the wall (like how Greg the American had asked back in Marrakech), but she didn't know.
After a while, we walked back across the square and met the other friend who had been dozing away on one of the benches in the shade. We sat down for a while. A group of school kids came along - they were on an excursion - and were led by a few school teachers. There were two groups - boys and girls were segregated. They would have been around five or six years old. The girls sat in a circle at one end whilst the boys stood and mucked about in another circle closer to us. The girls started singing "Frere Jacque". The boys formed a sort of train and shouted out "choo choo!". It was all incredibly cute. Some tourists came and took photos of them. I was about to too but didn't. I just kinda sat and watched them, dancing and singing and being cute. The boys started dancing around one of the columns, holding hands and running, running, running...
...It was starting to get late in the afternoon. We left the Hassan Tower and Sisi and Abira offered to accompany me to Chellah - the roman ruins on the outskirts of town - whilst the other girls said goodbye.
Abira bought some sunflower seeds for the three of us, and we walked and ate, spitting the shells out as we went...
...We took the bus, the wrong one, then had to get off and catch another one. We arrived at Chellah when the sun was slightly lower in the sky, deep orange and still burning hot.
It was Friday so it was free entrance - but for Moroccans only (see rant)...so I just paid the racist and we went in.
It was actually really nice inside. Shady trees, stork nests, the ruins glowing orange in the setting sun. We kinda just sat down in the shade and listened to music and chatted. People were looking at us, and the guys - the young, sleazy, Moroccan ones - were saying things. We ignored them. Sisi called them "rubbish". We laughed.
...Once we'd had enough of chilling out, we left Chellah, first wading through a sea of overweight, white tourists.
I wanted to thank the girls for taking me out for the day so I offered to buy them both a drink. Sisi refused at first but Abira was quite enthusiastic. So we walked for a bit then found a kind of cafe. I bought them each a coke and I sat and drank and ate (some kind of Moroccan damper thing) whilst they mucked about, providing entertainment for me. A couple of uniformed officers sat nearby and smiled at their antics. They did everything in such a childish, carefree manner, and I realised how only a few years between us meant so much more in levels of maturity.
After we'd finished our drinks, we walked for a bit and Sisi tried to give me directions. Again they started joking and mucking about and the storekeeper and others nearby started laughing too. Finally, they walked me up a bit, gave me some final sketchy directions and we said goodbye. It really was quite a random day...
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