Sunday evening: first experiences continued!

It is now Sunday evening we are on the computer of the hotel. Please forgive any typos and spelling errors; the keyboard is different. For example, the "q" is where the "a" usually is, and the "," is where the"m" usually is. - this keyboard must be for the french language?

Speaking of languages, the two main languages spoken here are Arabic and French. English is spoken by some people, but not most. The Arabic spoken here is the dialect spoken by the people in the United Arab Emirates, not the Arabic spoken by people in Iran, which is Farsi. It's kind of like the difference between American english and British english. Although written Arabic is the same throughout Arab countries, the spoken language dilaect is different throughout the Middle East.

Assignment: go to the classroom map and locate these countries: United Arab Emirates (also called Saudi Arabia), and Iran.

We have learned that "thank you" in french is "merci" and in arabic it's "shukran." We've also learned how to say "je ne parle pas français," which means "I don't speak French!" Although we both learned French in high school, and Alicia learned Farsi living in Iran, it's a different dialect and we need to get a phrase book!

The official language here is Arabic, and it's the first language learned by Moroccan children. However Moroccans speak at least two languages - many people speak more than that! When you speak other languages you can talk with so many people and learn so much more about the world!

The signs and street names in Marrakech are bilingual, too.

Money: The money here is dirhams (dh). The bills (paper) come in 20 dh, 50 dh, 100 dh, and 200 dh. You can get coins of 1 dh, 5 dh, 10 dh. A dirham is divided into centimes (a French word).

When we got to the hotel, we had to change our dollars into dirhams so that we could pay for things. For each dollar, we got 8.5 dirhams. A cup of mint tea or a coca cola costs 20 dirhams. How much is that in US dollars?

Everything here is measured using the metric system. In fact, the US is the only country that doesn't use the metric system. Find a ruler or a yardstick that has centimeters on one side. How many centimeters is in a foot (a ruler)? How many centimeters is in a yard? Now, measure your arm from, from the tip of your thumb to the top of your shoulder. How long is it?

At the souk (market) at Djemaa el Fna in Marrakech, when the merchants sell items, for example dates, figs, and spices such as cinnamon, saffron, cumin, they weigh them them, using kilos instead of pounds. At the gas station, the gas is measured in liters, not gallons. There are 4 liters in a gallon. If gas here costs 3.5 dirhams per liter, how much would 1 gallon cost? Here the temperature is measured on the celcius scale, not the fahrenheit scale. The weather here has been around 80° (fahrenheit) every day, which is 25° celcius. So when someone tells you it's 25 degrees out, it's hot as an m'semen frying on the grill! (m'semen, by the way is the fried bread that you can buy from vendors at the souk. We eat it every day for breakfast with honey. mmmmmmmmmm!)

That's all for now; but there's so much more. Please do your assignments, and post your answers to the site for us! We really want to hear from you!

Amika - thanks for posting a comment!

Love, Alicia and Lucy