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