My Moroccan Thanksgiving

(warning... I don't use any bad words in this entry, but at the end I do give some information I've uncovered in my research. I'm researching sex education, so moms, don't let your young girls read this until you approve it...)

My Thanksgiving Day began with moodiness, and ended in one of the happiest moods I've been in here in Morocco. I ate an American Thanksgiving meal in the home of Jack Wald and his wife Annie, Bostonians who have lived in Rabat for 8 years. I met their friends and new acquaintances -- all ex-pat Americans -- and I felt at home.

They were welcoming. They were warm. Their home looked like America.

After turkey and pumpkin pie, I got to Skype call my family in Kentucky and see all of their lovely faces. It was great to see everyone on Thanksgiving day. And it was strangely comforting to see the kitchen at Mom's. I don't know why.

I loved being "carried" around by my mom and dad to see the kitchen, the turkey, the family and friends.

Thank you for that, family.

The picture proves how happy I was, come the end of the day. It was wonderful.

It's raining in Rabat today--- a cold, unrelenting downpour. Carly and I will search for soup and hot chocolate for dinner... hopefully somewhere near our hotel. I might need to buy some winter clothes, because each day gets colder and colder.

Research drags on. I had a wonderful interview with a young woman from Mohammad V University the other day, and it was the saving grace of my research. I have somewhere to go now, something to build on.

An interesting tidbit of information that I hope to learn more about:
1. According to Moroccan perceptions, if you use tampons, you'll lose your virginity.
2. If you have sex, you could still be a virgin.

I cock my head to the side and ask, shnu? (What? in Moroccan Arabic).

hopefully this weekend I will discover how this incoherency works....

Insha'allah.