And life goes on.....

Since the visit to Fez, life has been pretty mellow. Last weekend, a bunch of friends and I went to Casablanca for the day. It's only an hour train ride from Rabat, so it's pretty easy to make a day trip. We passed by the famous Rick's Cafefrom the movie Casablanca on our way to the Hassan II Mosque, Morocco's largest and one of the only two in the country open to the public. Our experience at the mosque was interesting, to say the least. The inside of the H2 Mosque can fit about 25,000 people, and 80,o000 including the outside courtyards. It's the third largest in the world after the mosques in Mecca and Medina, and has the world's highest minaret. It was built in the late 1980's/early 90's to commemorate Hassan II, the previous king of Morocco, and apparently cost over $750 million to construct. It was maybe the most beautiful piece of architecture I have ever seen. There is literally no piece of that Mosque left uncarved or untiled, and the detail is astounding. It also has a 1100-ton roof made of wood and metal that slides open with a remote control. I kind of don't believe it. I'm working on uploading pictures so that you can see what I'm talking about, because I can't even really describe it.

However, the story of the H2 Mosque has another angle. Our tour guide told us it was built over a rarely-used municipal swimming pool, but some guide books say that it was built over a slum and the residents were forcably evacuated without any compensation. Also, tours are given in basically every language EXCEPT Arabic, which goes to show the attitude towards Casa's less educated population. A five minute walk from the mosque brought us to slums worse than anything I've seen in Rabat, with crumbling building walls and empty lots filled with rubble and trash. It was eerie to see a decadent blue minaret rising above the decrepit concrete shanty towns filled with little boys playing soccer in the streets.

Besides the mosque there's not much to see in Casa unless you're going there for the night life, so we ended up coming back a bit early. This weekend a bunch of us are going to Chefchaouan (don't trust me on that spelling, pronounced "SHEF-sha-wan"), a small northern town that's supposed to be all blue-colored and really relaxing and gorgeous. Also, tomorrow we're having Arabic class presentations, and my class is singing "A Whole New World" in Arabic. I'm excited. I recently switched into the more advanced Arabic class, which is better for me in terms of learning, but hard because I went from not really having to do any work to being 4 chapters behind in grammar and vocab. I don't always understand what's going on, but I've been in the class for 4 days so hopefully it'll get easier. Either way, I'm in an Arabic speaking country, so I might as well challenge myself when I have the chance.

I've also been debating topics for my ISP. I've narrowed it down to three:
1. Belly dancing.
In attending my belly dancing class, I've noticed that the people in the skimpiest outfits are the older, heavier women who end up wearing hijabs and loose-fitting djellabas when they go outside. But in class they just wear their tassled-bras and let loose. Also, my host sister tells me that it's "cute" when the front of your stomach shakes a little bit in belly dancing. From an American perspective, the thought of a dancer having anything but rock hard abs is strange. My sister also said that you have to look in the mirror and "think that you're beautiful" in order to dance really well. So, I'm thinking about studying belly dancing and women's body image and perceptions of beauty through this dance.

2. A map of the medina.
I may have mentioned this before, but there is no existing detailed map of the Rabat medina. There are so many intricate streets and alleys that technically have names, but no one has ever taken the time to chart them all down. As much for my own benefit as for anyone else's, I want to go through the medina and make the most detailed map I possibly can, charting the intricate alleyways, small streets (called zinqat), bigger streets (called Sharias) and nooks. I want to denote locations of big stores, schools, hammams, and important sites. This sounds almost impossible, but it's a fun idea.

3. Perceptions of poverty in Morocco.
This is the most academic of my three topics. I'm interested in the characteristics that Morocco attributes to its poor. America has this "American dream" idea going on, which causes people to thing that no matter how poor you are, if you work hard enough and if you're talented enough you can make it. Poverty is also closely tied to ethnicity in America. I want to know how Morocco stereotypes its poor, and how it tries to remedy the poverty issue. Are poor people considered lazy? unfortunate? unskilled? My host dad told me this would be an especially difficult topic because Moroccan officials won't admit that there's rampant poverty in this country, which in itself says something about Moroccans' attitudes about the whole thing.

Whew! My fingers are tired, and now that I've filled in my (potential) readers with the thoughts swirling around in my mind, I'm going to go get ready for belly dancing.

B'salaama!
Julia

Excursions!

Right now I’m sitting in my bedroom with the door open, watching rain fall into the roofless courtyard as I’m cuddled in a blanket and sweatshirt. It’s very relaxing – the same feeling you get riding in a warm, quiet car during a rainstorm. It’s supposed to rain all week in Rabat, so I may not be so positive about the weather in a few more days. At least I can wear my new rainboots.

Today I returned from our weekend excursion to Fes, Meknes, Volubilis, and Moulay Idriss. Bus rides are not good for sleeping, especially if the previous night involved sampling famous Meknes wines, so needless to say I was not a happy camper until I returned home and took a 2 ½ hour nap. I apparently missed out on some special African food with my family, but I don’t know if my stomach can really handle any more new and exciting foods at the moment.

The trip was awesome – after trying to navigate the Fes medina Rabat’s is like a calm stroll down Broadway. We started in Meknes, where we saw the gate to the king’s palace, some ancient city walls, a grain silo (sp?) for Moulay Ismail, Morocco’s king in the 16^th century. Moulay Ismail was apparently a big deal because he tried to marry one of the King Louis’ daughters. They rejected him. The silo was huge – it was apparently built so that Moulay Ismail could store enough food for his entire army for three years. Apparently because of the arched architecture it survived the 1755 earthquake which not only leveled the rest of the city, but was so strong that it leveled Lisbon as well. Our tour guide, who chain smoked and wore a djellaba and aviator sunglasses, explained to us that Moulay Idriss should be put in the Guiness Book of World Records because he freed the most slaves at one time (over 4,500). However, in reality, he granted them their freedom after they finished building his city, Meknes, which took about 15 years. We also visited a famous mosque that was beyond gorgeous and the guide told us Muslims used the Star of Abraham (8 points) and the Star of David (6 points) next to their own star (5 points) in architecture very often. There seems to be a really strong presence of Jewish culture in Moroccan history, at least from a tour guide perspective. All in all Meknes was beautiful. It was calm, small, and open, which was a huge change for us.

We had a quick stop at Moulay Idriss, another small and relaxing town, where we had lunch at this beautiful huge house that had been converted into a traditional Moroccan restaurant. We had tagine (a Moroccan meat and vegetable stew-type dish served in a conic ceramic pot also called a tagine) and of course bread. Then we went up to the woman’s balcony, which overlooked the town and these gorgeous mountains and just hung out for a bit. We watched her pour tea from a kettle raised about 2 feet above the glass – a sign of pride in Moroccan culture. I think I can get like 4 inches maybe.

Next we went to Volubilis, the site of ancient Roman ruins of a huge town. Only one third of the ruins had been excavated but still the area was larger than Rabat’s medina. The guide said there were problems getting funding to excavate the other 2/3, but since the ruins were also surrounded by farm land I imagine there are some politics involved in giving away that land. When you get a chance to look at the pics I posted, you’ll get a sense of how amazing this place was. The ruins were amidst the most verdant, fertile hills you’ve ever seen. The Romans actually used to call Morocco their bread basket and imported a lot of food and animals from here back to Rome. The rolling farm land definitely explained that, and what’s more, you could see any advancing army coming at least hundreds of miles away. It was crazy leaning on centuries-old columns imagining watching soldiers coming towards you. Our tour guide, who was insistent on sharing the Romans’ less tasteful customs, showed us where the vomitorium was (this is where people went to throw up during a feast so that they could eat more) and the pooping room in the public baths, where important men often gathered for political discussions. Interesting.

After that we drove to Fes to settle into our hotel and have dinner. The hotel was gorgeous, and after using Turkish toilets and showering with buckets of cold water (I got lucky in getting Western toilets and hot water) the hotel was like 5 star paradise. Dinner was at this weird mosque-like building with traditional performers and a belly dancer who made diners come up on stage and move in awkward ways in front of everyone. Since it was basically us and some elderly Chinese tourists, laughs were had by all. It was a little kitschy/touristy, but an experience nonetheless.

The next day was the Fes medina, which literally blew my mind. There are over 9,000 streets and some are so small that the walls brush your shoulders as you squeeze through. There are also carts with donkeys everywhere and you have to press yourself to the wall to let them through. We saw all of the standard exotic sights – hanging camel heads, buckets full of snails, etc. All of the streets are themed based on craft, and the blacksmithing and comb making streets were my favorite. There’s only one comb maker left, and he carves them out of flattened cow horns. Then we went to the famous Fes tanneries, which smell like rotting animal in every sense of the word, so much so that they give you mint so that you can stand the stench. But the sight was amazing. The tanneries are rows and rows of basins of vegetable dyes and limestone soaks and men roll up their pants and climb in barefoot to stir the skins and soak them. I got the feeling that I could have looked at this sight 100 years ago and seen the same thing. We went to a leather store below the tanneries where we were told in advance that the merchants were going to jack up the price 4 fold, but when I tried to negotiate with one salesman he started yelling at me and followed me out of the store. Oh well. We stopped by a famous madrassa (religious school) in the medina where students still study today. Maimonides once visited as a scholar-in-residence, and apparently one of the medina Babs (arched exit doorways) is decorated with the Star of David in remembrance of him. By the way, it was pouring rain the whole time so I got to wear my poncho and look like an idiot tourist. When we exited the medina,we saw another Bab that is apparently replicated at Epcott, so if you every go to Florida, check out the Morocco section and think of me. That was about all of the sightseeing we did on that trip. The rest of the day we spent hanging out at the hotel and sampling some regional wine, and the next day we drove back home.

Now I’m just coping with fast failing health (don’t worry I’m drinking lots of water and eating vitamin C) and excited for my next belly dancing class! More updates on host family drama, Arabic class, and emotions in general to come.

Acclimating?

Salaam wa'alaykum,

Morocco is slowly but surely becoming my home -- yesterday and today I walked to and from school all by myself! I'm considering as a topic for my independent study project (ISP) making a really detailed map of the medina so that people like me who a) have no sense of direction and b) grew up with gridded streets, know HOW THE HELL to get around this place. I mean everybody says that in time it'll all get familiar but I'm impatient and I hate feeling needy when my host mom has to get dressed in the morning and walk me to school like I'm 5 years old.

I had a really interesting conversation with my host brother last night. I spend a lot of time in his room because he has the internet connection and he's like a computer wiz and always makes me stay for longer so he can install things and fix my sad old laptop. He wants to reformat my hard drive, which i don't think is a good idea. He's also a DJ and has a DJ computer program installed on his computer so he can mix songs he listens to. We did some crazy stuff with Al Green. Anyway though, we were talking about politics and Islam (in French, I can't do that in Arabic) and he said that he thinks most terrorists are drugged before they commit acts, because he just doesn't see how anyone could do that. It's like "voluntarily sticking your hand in fire." We were also talking about hypocrisy and religion and he said, "I don't understand the people who drink and smoke and use violence at night, and then they wake up in the morning and pray to Allah. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I'm not violent, and I don't pray to Allah." I just thought that was great. I'm finding Moroccans to be some of the most rationally minded people I've met, except when they stuff your face with bread.

On a less positive note, I think I have bed bugs because I keep on waking up with new little itchy red bites on my stomach. Wonderful. Apparently I have to spray my bed. Perhaps I'll go "My big fat greek wedding" style and use Windex. Also, I think if I have to eat another piece of bread I might throw up. It's like bread and butter and jam for breakfast, bread during tea, bread with dinner, and then bread for night tea. Lahcen (one of the coordinators of the Center) asked us today if we feel like we've gained weight, and probably 85% of the group answered with a dissappointed yes. WHO GOES TO AFRICA AND GAINS WEIGHT????

I am taking a belly dancing class today which is supposed to give you abs of steel. I'll let you know how it goes. Happy eid al hub (Valentine's Day) everyone!!!

Julia

Pictures, New Families, and Happy Exhaustion

Hi world,

So I'm working on making a shutterfly account where I can post pictures online, and when that works I'll put the link up so you can see them. I mostly have them from our bus tour of Rabat (during which everyone was falling asleep and so I have pics that I only remember as "important administrative building") and our drop off. On the drop off we were all given a thing to observe around Rabat (mine was clothing), then dropped off by ourselves in a random section of the city and told to find our way back to the Center in two hours, spending money only in emergency situations. Everyone found their way back, and the general consensus was that we wish we had gotten more lost. Being lost in a city like this is amazing, you can just wander and take it all in forever. Whenever I'm walking around I feel like my eyes are consuming everything I see so quickly that I wish I could open them wider.

I also met my host family today. They're picking me up tomorrow, and I'm dragging my luggage across the medina. I'm sure all the locals will have a good laugh. I have a sister who's 21, a brother who's 18, and 2 other brothers in their mid-20s who just came home from studying in Tangiers. The sister speaks perfect English but she said she wants to help me with my arabic (I wrote them a letter and she noted that there were "a few mistakes"). She also made fart jokes within 5 minutes of knowing me so I'm guessing the family should be pretty laid back. They've hosted 7 other students too so I'm sure they know what they're doing. They're pretty wealthy and Western -- meaning they don't have a Turkish toilet thank God -- and they live in a big house somewhere in the medina. My sister wants to teach me belly dancing! Sweet!

Like I said before, I'm getting more and more comfortable here, even though the men still shout at women and sometimes follow them. So far the best pick up lines I've gotten are "i like green" and "hot dog, hot dog!"I think men just shout whatever english they know and hope to woo you. So far it hasn't been to impressive, though I hear people have found spouses on this program (don't worry Mom, I'm not looking).

We also ate pastilla today at dinner, which is basically heaven in filo dough. It's chicken and nuts and raisins topped with a layer of cinnamon and sugar inside a filo crust. We all had stomach aches because we couldn't stop eating it. Alright, I guess that's all for now, I'm gonna go meet some friends on Rue Mohammed V!

LAyahfathk (God keep you -- this is what you say to people!),

Julia
P.S. Rumor has it that some families give you new names because they can't pronounce yours...I hope I get one!
P.P.S. Happy almost 21st to THW!

Ana fi maghrib!!!

Hello world!

My post title means "I'm in Morocco," which i most definitely am, and loving it. I've been here for less than a week and already I'm feeling a bit comfortable, which amazes me. I guess when you're in a totally new environment you just grab on to whatever you can. We're staying at a hotel called Hotel Majestic in the Ville Nouvelle (the new part of Morocco built by the French during colonization) but it's right outside the medina (the old city) and that's where the Center for Cross-Cultural Learning, where we take our classes, is located. This basically means that we walk through the medina, which was all constructed in the 8th century, every day to get to class. The medina is surrounded by a high orange stone wall with many different gates (comparable to the old city of Jerusalem I guess) and inside is just chaos. No cars are allowed, which is good because Moroccan drivers are some of the craziest people I have ever seen. Their policy seems to be accelerate when you see a pedestrian!

I only have 5 more minutes to write before I return, but in the medina there are people selling everything you could imagine on the streets, shoes, pants, sweaters, barrels full of powdered spices, roasting nuts and chick peas, even meat hanging from hooks outside shops. I've seen some cow's feet and heads, which aren't so nice. There are tons of people yelling at you to buy their things and to come talk and drink tea. There's no street ettiquette, except don't look at something unless you expect to buy it. I'm getting to use a little of my arabic, which makes me really excited. I'll post pictures soon so you can get a better idea of what this crazy place looks like, but so far I love it.

b'salaama,
Julia

Here!

I am in Morocco and it is beyond amazing and I will write more when I get free internet (I'm at a cafe right now). Just letting the world know that I have arrived and am safe and sound in a hotel in the old medina of Rabat!