Tangier and Eid

I forgot to post pictures from when we went to Tangier right after Chefchaouen. 

This here's the Straight of Gibraltar. It was cloudy so the picture didn't turn out great, but behind the fog in the background, you could see the shores of Spain! Pretty cool.

This is Mr. Mohammed James Bond, the snake charmer. 

Me! A snake!

A sign for a spice shop written in six different languages. Definition of Morocco.

Chilling and doin tree pose with John next to an 800 year old Banyan tree.

Apparently they filmed a scene from inception on this super narrow street! 

Our guide was really great. He told us about Tangier, how it's a big ex-pat community and a big international port, the influences from Spain as well as France and the Berbers, about how the residential side of the medina was separate from the business side. I liked that part best about Tangier, because the medina felt cleaner and quieter and people didn't have to live in the middle of all the crazy markets. Here are pictures of the nice restaurant we ate at:

Qalam always manages to hook us up with the greatest guides and restaurants and hotels. They're like teachers and travel agents all rolled into one. 

Tangier was nice but we only got to spend a few hours there. It would be a city that would be nice to explore a bit more. The weather was the best there, probably because of the breeze from the sea. 

The following weekend was Eid al Fitr, which is a really big Muslim holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. It means "celebration of breaking the fast." Most families dress up in brand new clothes and go out to the mosque to pray, and then will visit family and eat a lot.

 My family didn't really have a big Eid. They went to the mosque at 8:30, and I helped them make chicken and salad and French fries for lunch, and their grandma and aunt came over, but they mainly just chilled on the couch and watched movies (Puss in boots with Arabic subtitles...) and napped all day. I got really bored and tired around 4 so I just went to bed. I woke up at 12 and thought I slept through dinner, but turns out they didn't even eat dinner. The next day, I slept in and ate some bread with my host sister, but they had nothing planned, so I just went out to Agdal with Jack. We got crepes and I got hot chocolate and we talked about college and politics and stuff like that. We walked all the way to the medina and got ice cream, too. It was a nice day. So yeah, I celebrated Eid by eating in public while the sun was still up. It felt awesome. Other kids in my NSLI group had more traditional Eid experiences with their families: they ate a ton and visited six different houses and dressed up and got henna. 

I actually did end up getting henna. Eric, a kid in our group did it for me and Amanda. Much better than the women who do it in the streets, and the best part was I didn't have to pay! 

Eric's host grandma gave us tea and almonds, too. 

I had a calligraphy lesson in class. Thought I would post the picture of the different kinds of calligraphy, because they're beautiful.

My friend Amanda posted these pictures on her snapchat story and I thought they were hilarious so here they are. The lesson: if you're getting a tattoo in a foreign language, always know what the words mean!