December 6

I woke up to the sound of my host mother knocking on the door to wake my host sister and I for my first day of school with her. We quickly got ready and made our way to school to meet all the other exchange students and get ready for the long day ahead of us. We all attended classes with our hosts and found ourselves paying attention to all the different teaching styles and the different environments as compared to our classes back in Brien McMahon.
The school day ended and we quickly got prepared for our trip to sealine, which is an area in Qatar where one can camp out or scale the dunes while still enjoying the view of the water. The ride to sealine was about an hour and some people decided to talk with their friends while others decided to catch up on some sleep.
When we finally arrived at sealine everyone was immediately stunned by the beautiful view that was right in front of us. The host for our campout in the desert showed us the way to where we’d be staying for the rest of the day and later gave us the explanation and instructions for the dinner we would be having that night. The host explained the process of preparing and actually cooking buried meat and how even though it was a long process, it was one of the best ways to cook the meat.
We ended up waiting for about three hours for the meat to be cooked, but during that time we made some unforgettable memories. All of us walked up the steep sand dunes to watch the sunset and take many amazing pictures.





We also watched many cars scale the sand dunes at extremely high speeds. Later in the evening, some decided to take a dip in the water while some decided to rest and enjoy the views surrounding us. It ended up being a memorable night as we enjoyed the delicious food and sat by the campfire as we all got to know each other much better.


-Fatima Elsheikh

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

November 30

Image
On the second day in Morocco, we started the day off with Arabic classes. After stuffing our faces we went on a guided tour of Rabat, stopping at many historical sites. These places included the Hassan Tower and the Old Medina. After a long, exciting day we returned to our host families, which was my favorite part of the day.  The ride home was a hilarious one considering the driver spoke no English and we had no address. Fatima and I live on a very busy street filled with markets and local shops so I was very excited to be able to experience night life in Rabat! When we reached our house, we were greeted with fresh donuts and other pastries and then we took a walk through the town.  Our hosts made us try their favorite delicacy... snails! We were given the snail broth to wash down the taste of snail. As a treat they bought us flowers from the cactus plant which surprisingly don’t taste bad. These foods are definitely an acquired taste but I am grateful for the expe
Read more

December 3

Image
This morning, my host mother (خميلة) made Marie, Fiona, and I raghif (رغيف) with honey, bread with cheese, and of course, the traditional mint tea of Morocco. After breakfast, all of us met at Bridges, the school we have been been taking classes at, for a 9:30 Arabic lesson taught by Moroccoan natives. In this class, we studied means of transportation and types of vacations. When our lesson concluded, we made our way to the other Bridges in Rabat, which is around five minutes away. There, we were taught how to make the Moroccan pancakes and tea we had all come to know so well throughout our time here. First, we started out with mixing the ingredients for the dough in a bowl. Next, we kneaded the dough until it was just right. Finally, we put oil on our hands, so that the dough would not stick to them, and created balls of dough to be put on the pan and fried. After our pancakes were done, the girls and two boys were offered to dress in traditional Arab clothing. We had so much fun
Read more