Quick Trip to the White House

No, not that White House...

We made a quick visit to Casablanca (aka Al-Dar Al-Bida...The White House) last weekend as our first "in-country" trip.

This plan originated as a field trip with our university and it happened to coincide with the Les Foulees D'Anfa 10k run. We decided it was the perfect opportunity to take our first weekend trip outside of Rabat. Casablanca is a short, 1.5 hour drive (or a 1.25 hour train ride) south of Rabat, in which you pass an IKEA (some things are important to mention).

Upon our arrival on Friday morning, we visited the Jewish Museum of Morocco. Many people are unaware that Morocco's history has strong ties with the Jewish population, as it was one of their earliest settlements. There is still a strong Jewish cultural influence in Casablanca and Fes, as well as other major cities like Rabat, but as much as 90% of the once very large Jewish population has migrated from present-day Morocco. The Jewish schools in Casablanca are highly sought after by Muslim and Christian families, as they are known for top-notch education, as well as multi-linguistic programming. For being the country's only Jewish heritage museum, it is small and undiscovered. Quite the opposite of what you hear on the streets - even in Rabat - we feel like we hear much more about Morocco's Jewish history than we ever read about in a text book.

From the museum, our bus took us to visit the mosque of Hassan II, the second-largest mosque in Africa, the fifth-largest in the world, with the tallest minaret in the world. This mosque is a colossal work of art - words and photos cannot adequately describe the amount of detail and shear magnificence of the structure. The moment you begin to comprehend the exterior of the facility, you step inside for a tour and things become even more jaw-dropping. As J described it, "Kaitlyn, I've been to Notre Dame...and this is WAY more impressive!" This was also confirmed by one of our French classmates ;) The interior prayer hall can hold 25,000 people, with the exterior grounds capable of hosting another 80,000. During Ramadan, the facility is AT CAPACITY during prayer times. One of the most impressive facts about the building is that it is almost entirely Moroccan-made. With the exception of a few marble columns and chandeliers from Italy, the entire facility was sourced from Morocco.

This is where we left our classmates to wander Casablanca on our own. We enjoyed a traditional Friday lunch of couscous, got ripped off by a taxi driver en route to our hotel (despite being illegal in Casablanca, it's not uncommon...but we weren't quick enough to argue it), then spent the evening walking around the crowded streets of town before calling it a night.

Saturday morning we were served a fantastic, traditional Moroccan spread at our "two-star with impeccable service" hotel, then hopped a (more reasonable) taxi to the International Sport & Leisure Expo. This was a great test of our language skills, as we registered for the 10k race and had conversations with vendors about nutritional products and treadmills! This did require a small pep talk at first..."I want to ask these vendors about their products, but I have to do it in Arabic or French and I don't think I can do it." "Well, there are two of us, and between the two of us, we can do it. We won't know unless we try. Let's do it. Together." *High fives exchanged*

Our excitement quickly faded after we departed the expo, only to discover that J left his cell phone in a taxi...I repeat - left his cell phone in a taxi...in a city with more than 3 million people...in a taxi...thanks to the Find my Friends app, we could see his phone had made it to Morocco Mall (the second-largest mall in Africa). Fifteen calls later, a young man answered J's phone, said he found it in a taxi, confirmed he was at the Mall, and we were on our way to get it from him. With J's phone back in our hands, we spent the rest of the afternoon window-shopping whilst waiting for our heart rates and blood pressure to return to normal levels. Not exactly how we anticipated spending the day, but we can check that experience off the list.

Sunday was race day! We weren't expecting record-breaking times, as we had only completed a few runs since moving to Morocco. The race began at 8:30am - it was hot and humid (ok, ok - hot and humid in comparison to Monterey, CA!!). We got separated from each other around mile 3. K ended up finding a new running buddy and they encouraged each other through the sweat, sun, and hills to the finish.

One of the biggest differences with this experience was the cost. In the US, a 10k race of this size, as well as the festivities, would've cost at least $50/person. Here, race registration, expo tickets, t-shirts, medals, a legitimate swag bag (including a one-liter bottle of sports drink) cost us a whopping $13.75/person! We envision many more races in our future, as it's a great way to see an area, meet people, fuel some competition, and get our butts kicked!

When we look back on this weekend, we didn't see as much of Casablanca as we hoped. But, the city and its surrounding neighborhoods are HUGE. With it being so close (and easy to get to), we will certainly return for weekend visits to the outlying areas...and definitely for a few more races!