status quo

I haven't posted in a while, I suppose, because things have been pretty status quo around here lately. However, my new status quo might be something interesting to someone else, so I thought I'd write a few words.
I haven't traveled much recently. Instead, I've been trying to figure out Rabat and the places around here. Among recent excursions, I've walked around the walled village of the king's palace (which for some reason Moroccans cannot enter, but Americans and other tourists are allowed to see). There are actually some Moroccans who live within the walls of the small city; they are the descendants of former slaves for the palace. I guess it's Morocco's version of affirmative action. Who knows? However, it seems like a pretty good gig if you can get it.
Last weekend, I went with two other students to walk around downtown and we checked out a movie at a local theater. We just happened to be at the theater as a movie started, so we bought tickets and tried to watch it, not knowing anything about it or what language it would be in. Turns out that it was all in the Moroccan dialect with French subtitles that moved way too quickly for them to be readable. So, we basically sat there trying to figure out what was going on in the movie, including a scene where there is an attempted rape of two women by two drunken men. This scene in particular got the biggest laughs from the crowd. I really hope that we missed something big in translation!
Afterward, we found a pretty big international bookstore with titles in Spanish, English, Arabic and French but is a far cry from the over-commercialized Barnes and Nobles of the states. It had lots of biographies and cook books but was lacking in the trashy fiction I have grown to love. Clearly they have their priorities messed up here. There seems to be no grocery store checkout counter "literature" to be found. Another thing this country is missing is Gatorade. How this opportunity has been missed is beyond me in a desert country, but I have big plans to introduce my new country to the wonders of artificially salted, sugared and colored water. How they cure their hangovers is a mystery without Gatorade. Of course, the fact that most people here don't drink could be one reason.
It's always a chore to find a restaurant that serves alcohol if that's what you're into here. I've found that restaurants with darkened windows (or no windows at all) is usually a sign that they have booze. It's not illegal or anything, but I guess it's taboo to advertise too much that they have the devil's drink on hand. We have stumbled onto a couple of club/lounge places and that in and of itself is a score. Despite the fact that alcohol here is extremely expensive (I can really only speak for Meknes and Rabat on this point), the price is worth it to watch the social interactions in these places. I did not believe it at first, but I have it on good authority now that the majority of women in these clubs are prostitutes. The percentage falls when we show up of course, but for the most part, Moroccan women don't go there unless they are on the clock (I hear it's understood that non-Moroccan women are accepted as non-prostitutes...something I am glad to hear). I'm really not harassed at all, as I'm always with guys from school and they're really good about pretending to be our boyfriends/brothers etc. We've all had a great time watching this new culture in clubs and trying to figure out what exactly happens. When that gets boring, there is always the dancing to keep one entertained. I thought that middle class white guys were the worst dancers ever, but this gives new meaning to "ain't got no rhythm". Moroccans (again, a blatant generalization) are THE worst dancers I have ever seen in my life. Seriously. It's almost at the point of being painful to watch. However, it's highly amusing to behold grown men and women throw themselves recklessly around the dance floor going against the beat of really bad 90s dance music. It's totally worth the couple of dollars for the cover charge. If you've ever seen the show "Pants-off Dance-off" on the Fuse network on cable, this is the kind of horrible spectacle of which I write. It's definitely on the opposite end of the spectrum of abilities from my time in Costa Rica.
As for classes, things are going well for me. I can actually communicate (a little) in Arabic with my host family and people at school, and occasionally astound someone in public by saying something in Arabic. It's funny because I always get a double take when I speak in Arabic because from the looks of me, Moroccans expect French or English...certainly not for me to speak in their local dialect. It's kind of funny to watch their reaction and I've gotten lots of positive feedback from people who are impressed that I am studying Arabic. People here are extremely nice for the most part and very friendly. I begin the second level of my studies on Monday and we will have up to 10 people in my class. This is a huge change from the class size of 3 that I've become used to since I arrived here. Hopefully this just means more people to practice with and everyone will maintain the same pace within class. I want to be able to finish this textbook before I go back to Boston in June so I can start on the next level when I return in the summer. With any luck, I might actually be able to say something besides "My name is Katie and I study Arabic in Morocco." by the time I return to the states!
I hope everyone at home is well and I miss all of you.