AdventuresintheMaghreb

Hello from sunny Rabat! The weather here definitely has not realized that we’re in the middle of October, and neither have I! I can’t believe that I’ve been almost two months here. The semester is speeding by: we have midterms next week, trips planned almost every weekend, and it will be December before I know it.

I’m stealing a quiet moment at home to type, since I’ve been very remiss in emailing lately. Well, quiet is a relative term, since my Maman just bustled in with mint tea, insisting “Kulee, Kathryn!” which is the Moroccan version of the stereotypical Italian grandmother urging her flock to “Manga, manga!” And then Mamoune wants to know if we can finish watching the Lord of the Rings movie that we started over the weekend. The film doesn’t have French subtitles, so I’m acting as a one-woman translation service! It’s certainly forcing me to reach far back into my dim store of French vocabulary (the word for bow and arrow, anyone? How about “One ring to rule them all”!?). And then Amine wants to find my house on GoogleEarth, so we spent a half hour looking at satellite images of my street. The boys were wide-eyed at the idea that I had squirrels, deer, hawks and the occasional fox or raccoon in my backyard, and it was fun to have something exotic to show them for a change. They LOVED the pictures I pulled up of G’ma and G’pa’s farm in Kentucky, and have started pestering their parents to take them horseback riding!

I have yoga class this evening, which is one of my favorite parts of the week. There are very few safe spaces here where I can truly be, without having to worry about language or harassment or culture, and it’s lovely to just spend an hour catching up with myself and recharging.

The most exciting thing in the past couple weeks was definitely the Amideast-sponsored trip to Meknes and Fez two weekends back. We spent the majority of our time in Fez, which is Morocco’s cultural heart, a 12^th century noisy, colorful, fascinating labyrinth of a city. The medina (old walled city) was everything you would expect from Morocco – tiny winding alleys where you have to press against the wall to avoid being squashed by the passing men riding donkeys (the most common form of transport in the medina, believe it or not!), dim, incense-scented stores with unbelievably beautiful bolts of silks and satins draped everywhere, and quiet madrassas (religious schools) tucked into corners with cross-legged students sitting and reciting the Qu’ran.

Amideast gave us tons of free time to explore, which was very welcome. I grabbed a few friends and wandered up and down the streets of the medina, stopping to haggle for vivid wool scarves, hammered silver jewelry, and jangling belly dance outfits, more for the pleasure of interacting and practicing my Arabic than anything else. One of the highlights of our route was the tannery section of the medina (which you literally find by following your nose!).

We climbed up flights of rickety stairs to look out at barefooted men scrambling agilely among huge concrete tubs filled with chemicals for treating the leather, bright dyes, and other substances I couldn’t begin to identify. The process has changed little from the techniques used centuries ago, and it was fascinating to watch the experts at work. I bargained fiercely for an emerald green (mint was the principal dye) camel-leather suitcase, which I plan on using during my travels over winter break.

In the evenings, friends and I made a point of wandering around to different areas of the city in search of dinner. Fez has one grand boulevard with huge colored fountains that are spectacular to see at night, and it was a treat to just sit on the benches eating spectacular gelato ice cream and people-watch.

My other favorite stop of our trip was Volubilis, the mountainous ruins of one of the Roman Empire’s most remote outposts.

The Romans envisioned Morocco as Rome’s breadbasket, but never succeeded in subduing the nomadic Berber tribes that fiercely resisted Roman rule. Even after the Romans pulled out of Morocco in 280 AD, the city’s inhabitants continued to speak Latin for the next 400 years, up until the arrival of Islam in the 7^th century. I sat on a fallen pillar under an olive tree and spent an hour looking around me and imagining my life as a girl in the Roman era. Friends and I spent dinner that evening pulling bits and pieces of different Roman and Greek myths out of our memories, and vowing to spend more time reading the classics. It was an absolutely magical spot and I’d love to go back.

p.s. The rest of the pictures from Meknes, Volubilis and Fez are here if you’d like to see:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117077&id=676158521&l=4c9251c6d4

Last week we had one of the most fun and interesting evenings I’ve spent in Morocco – we had our very own wedding! Amideast wanted to give the students an idea of what a traditional Moroccan wedding is like, so we invited our Moroccan friends, got dressed up, and bore witness to the “wedding” of two of our classmates! A mischievous ghinnawa band played traditional Moroccan music and amused us all with their antics. If you can recall the famous dance scene from Fiddler on the Roof, with the Russian soldiers precariously balancing bottles on their heads while leaping and cavorting around, then you’ll get an idea of the energy and acrobatism of these men!

Krista, the “bride,” wore a traditional kaftan robe in white, and was hoisted up in the air on a platform and carried around for everyone to admire.

She and Yanik, the “groom,” went through the whole ceremony with admirable grace. They fed each other dates and milk for prosperity, tossed party favors, and endured hundreds of photos.

I stood next to Yanik’s host parents in the audience, and tried to allay their fears. They had come to make sure that he wasn’t actually getting married, and never looked quite convinced that they weren’t witnessing a real ceremony! We danced to the infectious music for hours, and I came away with the conviction that Moroccans could give the McNamaras a run for their money when it comes to having a great time at weddings!

My other favorite party of the week was my friend Alyssa’s birthday party. Her host family lives across the hall from us, and our host moms are close friends, so our family crept into their apartment, hid, and surprised Alyssa with a full-on party! Her mother and sister dragged her off to put her in a traditional kaftan robe and coated her with makeup, and we all ate luscious homemade chocolate mousse cake (which Tata Rachida, Alyssa’s mom, had apparently hid from her by mixing the ingredients in her bedroom? Impressive). Yacin, Alyssa’s host brother and her father, who are both very talented classical guitarists, played and sang everything from “Hotel California” to traditional Arabic folk songs that the families harmonized to beautifully.

On Friday I went over to another host family’s apartment for a henna party. Henna is a reddish-brown plant dye that is used for decorating your hands and feet at celebrations. The host mother has a friend who is a henna specialist, and she painted gorgeous, intricate designs on our hands and wrists in an amazingly short amount of time.

(The rest of the pictures from the wedding and henna are at the end of this album – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102017&id=676158521&l=6f81eef1f2)

Interestingly, I’ve noticed a change in the comments I get while walking down the street.  People see my hands, assume that I’ve just been to a wedding, and thus am a cultural insider, not just some random tourist. So instead of cat-calls, I get respectful addresses of “Bis-saha” – meaning “Allah grant you health.” An unexpected side effect, but one that I’m enjoying!

My midterms start next week, so I’ll have a quiet weekend at home to study before the semester picks up. From now until the end of the semester, I only have one other free weekend, where I’m not travelling or off doing something. Yikes! My one mission this weekend is to go with Mamoune (my 11 year-old brother) to find a pair of “slim” jeans. His girlfriend at school has told him that she won’t look at him anymore if he doesn’t wear them, since they’re apparently the latest fashion. She’s apparently the prettiest girl at school, and Mamoune is determined to do whatever it takes! Never a dull moment!

Love to everyone,

Kathryn