"Here's Looking at You, Kids"

The rest of my time in Morocco was spent in Casablanca. We arrived back from Fés just in time for dinner on the ship, which was especially good. When we are in port, the food gets better because they know a lot of people will not be eating on the ship (which turned out to be an issue in Morocco, as something like 120 people who went on multiple day Camel Treks/Berber Village Trips came back with some sort of stomach virus/food poisoning…and were sick the first few days at sea ). Matt and I had our fill of chicken parmesan and then headed out to wander around Casablanca before it got too late. 

Casablanca, Morocco (not in Epcot)

The Dean of Students, Eddie, and the Executive Dean, Nick, were heading to dinner at Rick’s Café (the restaurant/bar/café opened in 2004 and I’m sure makes all of its money on tourists who love the movie Casablanca as much as I do). Matt and I didn't have reservations, so we couldn't get in, but we obviously had to get a picture outside of it.

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling in going on in here."

Afterwards, we wandered the city, walked through the markets, and made a few purchases. I haggled an Ali-Baba (or Magic/Puzzle) Box from 120 dirham to 40 dirham, which was easily my best haggling job of my time in Morocco (though I still probably overpaid). Matt & I headed back to the ship, where I took a much-needed shower, and crashed early in the evening. I woke up a few hours later to catch (play-by-play on ESPN Gamecast) the end of the OSU-Northwestern game. It was too close for comfort, but the Bucks came out victorious 40-30, so it was a good night! OSU now has an easy schedule until they meet Michigan at the Big House on Nov. 30th!

My final day in Morocco started early. RD Carla and I met for breakfast and immediately headed out. Our first destination was the Hassan II Mosque. Partly erected on water, the Hassan II mosque is a beautiful edifice inspired by King Hassan II (to honor the departed King Mohammed V, who died in 1961). The architects built it in reference to a koranic verse, “The Throne of God was on water,” thus it's placement right on the water. It was constructed from 1987-1993 and is the 7th largest mosque in the world. It has the highest religious minaret in the world at 210 meters (689 ft.) and a maximum of 105,000 worshipers can gather together for prayer (25,000 inside and another 80,000 on the mosque’s outside grounds). The prayer hall of the mosque covers 20,000 square meters and can accommodate 25,000 worshipers (20,000 men on the main floor & 5,000 women on the 2nd floor mezzanines). They separate men and women for reasons of modesty (because they don't want men to be distracted by women...especially in the prayer position) OR for possibly unequal segregation reasons...take your pick. Like a number of stadiums in the US, the mosque has a retractable roof (it only takes 3 minutes to open), which can illuminate the hall during the day and allows worshipers to pray under the stars on clear nights. Below the prayer hall is the ablution hall, which consists of 41 fountains and is the area where believers wash and clean themselves before saying their prayers. Finally, two traditional bathrooms (hammams) are open to visits…though they do not serve a religious purpose in the mosque.

 Hassan II Mosque (left); Prayer Hall (right); View out towards the sea (below)

 Ablution Hall Fountain (above); One of the Hammams (below)

After the tour of the mosque, Carla wanted to visit Rick’s Café as well. We went there and realized they were letting people come in for lunch. I had a field program coming up, so we couldn't stay for lunch, but decided to grab drinks instead. As soon as we sat down, the staff turned on the movie Casablanca, we purchased a Casablanca beer (lager), and Carla was mistaken for a local (which is always fun…though for some reason, I wasn't confused for a Moroccan as well). Before leaving we had to take some more pictures in Rick’s Café.

 Carla & I at Rick's Café

 Casablanca Beer (left), Inside Rick's Café (right)

The Owner, Rick (aka: Humphrey Bogart)

Playing It (Obviously)

I had a little bit of time left, so Carla and I wandered the markets, made a few more haggling purchases, and headed back towards the port. A shuttle was supposed to be running every 15 minutes between the port entrance and the ship (the distance between the two was about one mile). Unfortunately, Carla and I just missed the 12:45pm shuttle and were waiting around for the 1:00pm (my Field Program left at 1:30pm, so I was already cutting it close). We then remembered the shuttles stop running between 1-2:00pm for prayer…whoops. After this realization, I sprinted back to the ship, got there at 1:10pm, grabbed the materials I needed (as the Trip Liaison) from my cabin and hurried down to the bus.

The field program was a trip to the Dar Lamima Orphanage. This orphanage provides care for children ages newborn to 15 years old. Forty SAS participants (the maximum) came on the trip and were excited to interact with the children. I was really hoping for a different experience than the foster home outside of Hamburg, Germany (even though it was fantastic), where there was only 7 children. Luckily when we arrived, it was clear there were many more children. The orphanage had close to 50 children of various ages. Before getting off the bus, we split the SASers into 5 different groups. There was a group that would be playing soccer with the boys; one to read books in English to some of the younger girls; one to paint nails of the older girls; an arts and crafts room; and finally a game room for the younger children. I decided not to join a group and told all the SAS students to enjoy spending time with the children instead of worrying about taking pictures, as I would take a ton (I ended up taking close to 500) throughout the visit.

When we arrived, we were given dates and a glass of almond milk (a traditional guest greeting in Morocco). Similar to the foster home, the children were so excited for us to arrive and for us to spend time with them. After a short tour of the facility, everyone broke off into their groups to start playing with the children. Over the next two hours, I kept going from room to room to take pictures and just join in the activities taking place. Many of the children were absolutely adorable and were so excited to be spending time with SASers. I could go on and on about this experience, but instead, I’ll just show pictures:

 Soccer Group

 Game Room

 Reading Room

 Arts & Crafts: Mask Making

 A few more pictures

 My Favorite, Isma

When the visit was ending, our group went into a dining area where we were given cookies, pastries, and mint tea! The orphanage presented a gift to the company we worked through to put this trip together. In addition, SAS brought a number of items to present to the orphanage including books, coloring books, crayons/colored pencils/markers, and finally 2800 toothbrushes. The toothbrushes came from a program called Global Grins (created by an SAS alumni), which distributes toothbrushes and educates on dental hygiene. We have 25,000 toothbrushes on the ship to give away along the voyage (during specific field programs).

 Presenting of Gifts

The Entire Group

Similar to the foster home, the students didn't want to leave and the children were hanging on, hoping we’d stay longer. Unfortunately, we were on a time crunch and I eventually had to get everyone on the bus to head back to the ship. 

A consolation for having to leave the children and return to the MV Explorer was the fact that it was “Taco Day” on the ship for dinner. This might not seem exciting, but having a completely different option than the everyday variety of food options on the ship was a HUGE deal. Everyone (or I should say almost everyone…see above) ate their fill when we returned, before retiring for the evening.

8 days “at sea” till Ghana! As my brother-in-law put it, “It's Ghana be a great experience.”

"He fought for a better world because he believed that a better world could and would be made. He had never held any illusions that he would change the world, of course, or even a substantial portion of it, but he always held strongly that fighting to better just his own little pocket of the world was a worthwhile cause."