life here in Meknes

Alot has happened since I last wrote, both good and bad. On the 15th I got some news of a health scare with one of my roommates back at Bethel, and so much of that day was spent worrying and stressing out. I have been able to get some information and things are well in hand, but I would appreciate prayers for my roommate, her doctors and myself. It was really hard being so far away from everything but have come to terms with the fact that all that I can do is pray and trust in the Lord.
Aside from that there has been some fun activities going on around here. We had a henna party last weekend, a friend of ours brought her neighbor over to do all of our hands- 18 hands in total, front and back! We made mint tea and finger foods and made a party of it. The henna is supposed to last about three weeks, and mine set in alot deeper than the other girls' so I think it will be awhile before it goes away. She painted a green paste on with a tube in a floral pattern from my fingers down to below my wrist. The paste had to set for about 45 minutes and then I scrubbed it off and revealed a deep orange stain. The whole party was alot of fun, its not often we get all 11 girls together for an activity. I think we are going to buy the ingredients and try it oursleves next time!
On Thursday my room had a chance to go to the hamaam, the public bath house, in the Zitoun- the aea near our school. We got our supplies and put on our bathing suits and headed down. The hamaam consisted of three rooms; two steam rooms with fauctes lining the walls and one for scrubbing. We filled our buckets with hot water and were given a black soap mixed with a henna powder to use. It smelled like yeast and mixed together to creat a puce-colored slime. Pretty fun. We ended up looking like the monster from the black lagoon. This soap was an exfoliant that soaked in and made scrubbing easier. Next we had to scrub down with a rough mitt, scraping all the dead skin off, which they called spaghetti. Gross enough for you? All in all the experience was pretty cool, and relaxing even. I came out a few skins lighter and very, very clean!
Not too many other big things have happened, just the everyday adventures. Since you are not all here with me I've decided to give you a little taste of Morocco at home. Most days I wake up for an 8am course, but today I didn't have class until 3, so I spent the morning catching up on reading and homework. We have lunch made by a woman named Saida and her niece Fatima, and if it weren't for them we would be eating bread and fruit for every meal. Instead we get homemade Moroccan dishes which are deliecious. I swear I will go through withdrawal at home. After lunch at 1:30 we have a little before we leave to catch a taxi to class. The taxis that we use are old Mercedes with 6 passangers stuffed inside, and cost about 25c for a ride. Our campus is a few stucco buildings connected by covered walkways, but with many grassy sitting areas. There has been some misunderstanding between the students and the faculty going on since before the end of the fall semester and so their spring semester has not begun yet, but they come to the school every day in case the classes begin again. So every day there has been groups of students hanging around the campus with nothing to do. Consequently we have met quite a few students and see them often. After classes we head to the Zitoun- the area near the university to grab a pastry and to catch a taxi back home. We get back around 6:45 and since it is dark at that point there is not much else to do besides hang out in the apartment and homework for the next day.
On the weekends we usually visit nearby cafes as well as the medina (old city and marketplace). The medina is a very interesting place; there are many different shops as well as street vendors and it is fun to people watch. This past weekend we began our souvernior shopping by bargaining with a few old ladies selling their embroidered tableclothes and tea sets. They were very insistant and it is hard to withstand but I think we were able to get them down to a reasonable amount.
Well I hope my rambling has given you some sense of daily life here in Meknes. I am working on getting pictures and uploading them, but I hate being 'that' tourist with the camera glued in fron of her face. I suppose I shall have to buck up and get an album put together for you though, so that is my goal this upcoming week. I am sorry for the delay!