Spice Girls, The Advantages of Sunglasses, And Other Stories

Salem Aleikum!

First of all, let me apologize that it has been too long since my last blog. School began in full this week and it was rather difficult to find time. Also, my computer wont turn on, so that makes things a joy.

Well, Casa was as we expected: seedy, dangerous, and rather...well...gross. The highlights were definitely the Casa cathedral (a massive art deco cathedral with stunning stained glass now used as an exhibition center), and the Hassan II mosque. After traipsing around in the heat for hours we suddenly came upon this gorgeous cathedral. we went inside, mainly to get away from the heat and were surprised by the lack of...everything. it basically looked like an art gallery...which, as it turned out, was accurate. the guard was kind enough to let us up into one of the massive towers and we spent 20 minutes dodging huge piles of pigeon poop (i honestly didnt know that birds could produce this amount of waste) and making comparisons to the movie Vertigo on the way up. once we got to the top, it was totally worth it. it provided a marvelous view of the entire city of Casa, and a fresh breeze was blowing in from the part of the port that didnt smell strongly of rotting fish. which was great.

the next day we went to the mosque Hassan II which is one of two mosques that non-muslims can enter in morocco. it was build between 1987 and 1993 and employed 10,000 specialty craftsmen alone (not including the builders), who worked continuously (24/7/365) to complete this beast of a building. Everything is either tiled (with 20-30 pieces of tile to each block of about 6 by 6 inches) or carved cedar wood that is then laquered and painted. It can fit the entirety of St.Peter's basilica in Rome comfortably inside it. and the cedar roof opens automatically in less than 3 minutes. it is absolutely astounding. Everything in it originated from Morocco except for the Venetian glass chandeliers (of which there are around 60) and two columns of white italian marble. It sits over looking the Atlantic ocean and is based on the verse of the Qu'aran (sp?) "God's throne sits upon the water". 25000 worshippers pray the 5 daily prayers there every day. 20,000 men and 5,000 women. I cant really fully explain the immensity of this building. Simply put, it is the most awe inspiring building i have ever seen.

Aside from my trip to Casa, I learned a few other things about Moroccan society this week. The first thing is that being called a "spice girl" is not quite as cool as it sounds. For some reason, men tend to shout this phrase at any foreign female who passes. However, it is preferable to straight up prostitution offers. they get old, quite quickly. as do offers to have an "english speaking partner". As a result, i have a new found appreciation of sunglasses. I cannot begin to exlpain the bliss of being able to observe the people around you without getting harassed for accidentally making eye contact. As members of our group have come to say, "we wear our hater-blockers during the day".

On friday, i fasted for the first and last time in my life. It was the most exhausting day of my life and i felt ill well into the next day. My family wanted me to wear the large cream colored robe a girl wears the first time she fasts to fatour, but i refused. i am already nicknamed bethoule ( a really old lady's name) and dont need another reason for my host family to chuckle at my pathetic attempts to not spill food on myself as i eat with my hands. Thank god, we had a massive dinner party at my house that night (which means pj's for everyone and rolling on the floor in agony as my host mother brings out yet another dish). One of my favorite things about moroccan meals is the fact that everyone eats intheir pjs. Guests walk into the house and promptly remove their outerwear to reveal their pajamas. it is hands down the best tradition of all time. The meal consisted of a traditional fatour meal with eggs, dates, mini-quiches, lots of greasy flat breads, pizzas and these little brown balls that kind of resemble horse apples but taste much better. As it turns out, these balls are incredible good for you. To list a few of the ingredients (all hand toasted and ground by hand), garbanzo beans, almonds, sesame seeds, hazlenuts, flax seed, flax seed oil, and about a million spices. When you travel long distances in morocco, everyone brings a bag of these with them and then one doesnt have to stop for food. they are extremely filling. After the first course, came moroccan whisky (mint tea) with pancakes, and breewats (the sweet kind). After that came a vegetable course withlots of almonds and homemade savory breewats (which i spent about 2 hours making with my host sister the day before) . AFter that came a vegetable tajine and crepes filled with ground lamb and tomatoes. Finally, we finished off the meal at 1:30 a.m. with a fresh bowl of fruit salad. It was incredible.

Yesterday some friends and i went to Chellah (a roman/arab ruins site in rabat). it was incredibly hot and we wandered amongst the hundreds of cats (which you ahve to donate money to help feed them) and mainly kept to the shade of the ancient arches topped with stork nests. It was gorgeous and the fort looks out over the water, which makes the whole setting quite picturesque. AFter that we proceeded to get stuck at the beach during amassive thunder storm, which was actually kind of run..


well that is all i have been up to. hopefully i will post soon.

love and peace
mags

Ramadan--Food Galore!

Dear friends and fam,

Because Ramadan started last tuesday, food has been a large part (and during the day...a small part) of Moroccan life.  During every lunch, all of the students traveling with me forage for food in the surrounding hanouts and mechbeza's (convenience stores and bread stores).  Generally lunch consists of moroccan pancakes, jam, and any number of banana's and peaches.  Moroccan pancakes are light and fluffy and kind of look like round, thin sponges.  THey are delicious with some of the local honey or jam slathered on top.  

However, that lack of food drastically changes as soon as the call to prayer occurs every evening at sundown.  As soon as i hear the minarets projecting the nasal voice of...the minaret attendant??, i hop out of my comfy bed by the window, and run into the living room where my family is gathering to eat the first of the evening meals.  My sister Selma (19) usually brings in an assortment of fresh juices (especially popular here are banana milk, carrot milk, cucumber juice, and strawberry juice), and my aunt Karima and mother Mouna bring in various soups.  There is almost always herira, a tomato-based soup traditionally used to break fast, and usually a noodle or spinach soup.  At the table are seated my father Omar, my brother Hemet, and my younger sister Miriam.  Along with the soups, there are usually breewats (tiny sweet samosas with roasted sweet almonds on the inside and smothered in honey on the outside), shebekia (sweet cookies made with orange flower water, deep fried, and dipped in honey and sesame seeds), dates, eggs, and various buttery flatbreads.  ANd that is just the first meal! The second occurs at around 11 pm, but im usually asleep for it, as I have 6 hours of derija (moroccan arabic) every day for which i must be awake.    Another meal occurs just before sunrise at 4:30 or 5, although this is a personal preference as to whether or not one eats at this time.  Selma absolutely refuses to get up for it.  Yeah, Ramadan is pretty great at night. Everyone is out on the street, playing soccer, dancing, walking along the beach, or shopping.  

Another popular activity after dinner is going to the hammams.  These are local bath houses, and I love them.  Selma and I go once a week, and being there is the most relaxed, and most clean i have ever felt in my life.  There are three steam rooms of varying temperature, and once you pick your temperature preference,  you lay down a mat to sit on and fill up numerous buckets with steaming hot water (or cold, if  you are about to leave).  Then a nice woman comes over and takes a very rough glove (which you bring yourself) and literally rubs you down.  Layers and layers of skin slough off onto the floor and are washed into the drain.  It is actually unbelievably gross to see the amount of skin that comes off.  EVeryone makes fun of me because i turn pink with the scrubbing, and the scrubber-lady had never seen that before.  THen you soap up with special henna soap that you buy at the front door and you sit and relax.  About an hour or two later, you leave feeling the best you have felt in days.  

My father has nine brothers and sisters, so most nights we go to the family house in a little beach town about 10 kilometres from my house. THere are usually about 15-20 people sitting on the gazillions of couches drinking tea and talking.  It is wonderful.  One of my "cousins" takes me runnning about 3 times a week, and is convinced that im going to pass out every time we go because, again, my face turns pink when i run.  Everyone thinks it is hilarious that they can spot me across the beach because I am so white.  Ha. Ha. Ha.  At the end of Ramadan, my family is hosting  huge party with a Moroccan band in order to teach all of the exchange students how to dance.  In the next week or two, they also want to dress me up in traditional Moroccan and Berber dress. It should be fun i think.  

Im getting around Rabat primarily by bus, and so a few funny things have happened to me.  Yesterday, I was in the front seat and suddenly, i saw a man about 50 yds ahead of us in the middle of the road.  We barreled towards him and right before we hit him (less than 2 yds ahead of us) he dove out of the way.  Not realizing that this was normal, i screamed, "Holy shit!" quite loudly.  Everyone started laughing, and reassured me for the rest of the ride that everything was "oookay".   Moroccans are so kind and helpful, that though they thought it was funny, they were concerned that i was scared.  Which i was.  

Well that is about it for now.  I will try and update this as much as possible, but im only promising 1 update a week.  

This weekend im going to Casablanca to lay on the beach and maybe...just maybe...find a restaurant where i can have a beer during Ramadan...but let's be honest, I probably wont find one.  

Love

Magpie