My new life!

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm in Morocco! Rabat, to be exact. After a long day of travel filled with the usual ups and downs magnified by the struggles of Ramadan, I'm sitting in an Internet cafe, eying a bottle of water (I don't want to be cruel to the Muslims who are fasting) and counting down the hours until sunset. Sunset= the break fast. Break fast= fun times. We have the afternoon/evening free; I've spent it getting minutes for my cell phone, changing money (the exchange rate = 7.67 dirhams to the dollar), and purchasing wonderful Moroccan peaches and "ghraif," an amazing fried Moroccan bread-type thing that you slather with honey or jam or cheese.

It occurred to me that some of you may not know what I'm doing over here. In May, after months of work and even more months of waiting, I found out I got a Fulbright grant to Morocco! Which was pretty freaking amazing, considering I had no life plans if this didn't work out. For my grant, I'm starting in the city of Fez for four months, studying Arabic intensively as part of Fulbright's Critical Language Grant. Then I move to Rabat to start my research on Morocco's new family laws and how they impact single mothers. I'll be doing field research and working with a professor at a local university as well. All in all, I'll be gone for 13 months.

I've spent time here before (summer 2006, SIT, woo woo!), but 13 months is a lot longer than seven weeks, and I'm anticipating (hoping?) that this experience will be much different. As wonderful as my last stay in Morocco was, it was very, very temporary, almost a prelude to my semester in Cairo. I was also way less driven and focused in what I wanted to learn and gain from the experience. This time around, I want to explore the country I fell in love with two years ago, answer some of the questions I had at the end of my last stay here, and, of course, stuff my face with wonderful Moroccan food!

Before I left, I was asked constantly if I was nervous about leaving. My response was always, "I just need to get on the plane." Because at the end of day, there's no way to prepare for making a foreign country your home for 13 months; all you can do is ride the roller coaster. And when I got on the plane, buckled my seat belt, and listened to the French and Arabic overhead announcement (understanding only about 50% of the announcement), I knew that one of the hardest parts was over. Even though I'm currently homeless, the only thing that worries me is carting my 80-pound suitcase around until I find an apartment in Fez. In my defense, it gets really cold here in the winter! I needed to pack winter clothes!

And on that shallow note, it's time to return to the frenzy of the pre-sunset hours. Here are some ways to contact me before I leave (please do!):

Skype: elizabeth.hague

Phone: 049002094

Mail:
Elizabeth Hague, Fulbrighter
c/o MACECE
7 Rue d'Agadir
Rabat, Morocco 10000