It’s time to ramp up the Morocco preparations…we leave one week from tomorrow! In case you’re just tuning in, 12 of our friends will be joining us for a portion of our trip. To help prepare our fellow travelers for the time we’ll spend at our home in Mohammedia, here are our Moroccan family members:
Atika (Ben’s sister), her husband Mustafa (a chef), and their son Amin (now 13):
Amina (Ben’s sister – she has one son – Hichem – who is in the US) and her husband Aziz (he speaks some English – yay!):
Malika (Ben’s sister) and her daughter Majda (who won’t be in Morocco with us):
Malika’s younger daughter Ibtissam (I think she is 18 or 19) on the right, Ben’s brother Hassan in the middle, and our niece Racha (who lives in Holland and will not be in Morocco) on the left:
Naima (Ben’s cousin who helps with the cooking) on the left with her daughter, Rachida (Ben’s aunt in the pink scarf), Bahija (Ben’s sister, Racha’s mother, who lives in Holland and won’t be with us in Morocco), and Auntie Aiesha on the right:
Auntie Aiesha’s son Kamal (right) with Amin (left):
There will be other extended family members in and out, and I’m sure there will be someone else to help with the cooking, but you can meet them later.
Also – I ran across this blog post that has some photos of the house we’ll be staying in. The room with the red dots on the sofa is the girls’ sleeping area. The wavy-striped couches are in the boys’ sleeping area. The room with the pink walls and the couches has been transformed into a bedroom for Ben and I (and Elizabeth and I when I kick Ben out). The room that looks like a kitchen will be snack storage and the tooth-brushing/primping room to avoid bathroom tie-ups (they use a different kitchen for cooking). The bathrooms are small but as you can see there is a regular toilet (sorry Nic). The room with the pink walls and the bed is for the Jobins. The area with the laundry is the roof which is used for multiple purposes. The silver box in the corner is an oven, and you can see Uncle Abdullah reclining (I think this was when he got stung in the mouth by a wasp). I didn’t take photos of the other floor where the Yarmolessems will be residing, but it does exist!
Here’s a post about Jemaa el Fnaa including the camels and monkeys.
Here’s one about the European market, including the jars of fat we’ve been discussing.
And here’s one about the weekly souk (market).
Let me know what else you’d like to see/read more about. I have other blog posts on Morocco (including this one that shows the guy who makes ouarka with his bare hands and the metal-polishing guy).
It’s almost time to GOOOOOOOOO!!!