Alright. I realize it's been a little while since my last post, and I probs won't have too much time in the next week to post again. BUT I wanted to write something real quick because it's the holiday season right now! Tomorrow is Eid al-Adha, pretty much the equivalent of Christmas in the States. Dear Wiki can tell you more about the background and tradition of the holiday if you're curious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha
So I'm staying with my friends family for the next couple days (complications with my family and had to move out) and they already have a ram! It's in this little room right next to the living room where I'm sleeping. Goofy little guy, but he can be loud when he wants. So basically the fam is going to kill the sheep and then we'll eat it. Big big occasion. Everyone's super excited about it - there are tons of sheep/rams in the streets, ready to be sold or are being delivered. Little stands have popped up selling hay for the sheep and coal, or guys sit along the streets with a wheel to sharpen blades. All the commercials and ads recently have been filled with sheep. Also, the bigger the sheep you buy, the better - gotta impress the neighbors!
And soon I get to experience this tradition of sacrificing the sheep. I don't like seeing animals suffer and I'm queasy around blood so not gonna lie, little nervous about the whole thing. But it's something that people have mentioned ever since Ramadan. There is another Eid then, but this is Eid Kabir, or the Big Eid. So inshallah, everything goes well!
Just thought I would just give you a little taste of the atmosphere and upcoming event so you can feel some of the suspense/build up that everyone else here is feeling.
More to come after the holiday :)
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Southern Wanderings
Oy ve. It's been a while again. I've got a ton of emails to send but this stupid internet stick is taking FOREVER (I lost my other one that worked like a dream... damn) so I figured I might as well start writing a new post while I wait.
Anywho. I don't even know where to start with this and enough has happened that telling all is somewhat daunting. So. I'm going to try and use pictures and give you a rough idea of what's been going on in the past 2 weeks or so.
Ahh digression before I even start... Halloween happened... when? One thing I've been missing from America has been fall and the whole build up to the holidays. Apple picking, leaves changing, that distinctly autumn smell.. ooh dear. And of course, the wonderful holiday of Halloween. It was so strange this year to not think about a costume at all really and to have some people just say.. ooo yeah. Happy Halloween. I got to hang out with my Vass friend visiting from London on Halloween! And went to someone's house. But other than that, nothing at all resembling dressing up, trick or treating, or whatever occurred. I'm going to have to do a better job with creating some sort of makeshift Thanksgiving because I can't miss both fall holidays. That just wouldn't do.
Oh. Another little side note before I get into the happenings of the past 2 weeks. I was talking to one of my friends online and he asked me to tell him about weird customs I've encountered in Morocco. That's an easy one, right? I'm surrounded by Moroccan culture all day and all night, I live in a Moroccan household, and my house is in the old part of the city where European culture has been held back to some degree. But oddly, I drew a blank and couldn't think of anything. Weird customs? I had no idea what to say. The only thing that really came to mind was something to do with food.. but even that was a kind of lame, I-need-to-think-of-something response. And then I started thinking about it more... there are a lot of things that happen daily that were alien to me at first, but since I encounter them so often I've started taking them for granted and so don't think of them as that strange anymore. Take bargaining for example. The first couple weeks that was something difficult to try and do - shopkeepers inevitably set the price really high, especially since they know I'm American tourist. Arguing with the shopkeeper about their product being too expensive and trying to get the price down was really uncomfortable at first. But now I like it - it's become a sort of game. And you get such an awesome feeling of accomplishment when you've managed to bring the price down a good deal. Here's how a typical conversation could go (abbreviated version):
Me - 200 dh for that bag? Pshh that's way too much. I'll pay 100 dh.
Shopkeeper - 100 dh, no. 200 dh is a good price.
Me - No. 100 dh.
Shopkeeper - How about 180 dh?
Me - No, I'll pay 100 dh. I'm a student.
Shopkeeper - That's not possible. What's your last price?
Me - I'm not paying anymore than 120 dh.
Moment of truth. Here I'll either get it or I won't. Still not perfect at it, obviously, but I had some good luck getting some little presents in Marrakech. Wooo. That's one thing I've decided I'm going to miss a lot about Morocco. I can just imagine going into a Macy's or Urban Outfitters or something...
$90 for the jeans? That's ridiculous. I'll pay $50.
Um ma'am, you either pay $90 or you don't buy the pants.
That's no fun. But anyways, the whole point of that was that language barrier/street harassment aside, I actually feel pretty comfortable here now, to the point that things like bargaining or even eating tajine that were once awkward and nervous activities for me are now easy and natural. I thought I would always be conscious of the differences and foreign habits I encountered here, but now it's just a part of everyday life. Gah. So great.
Alright enough with that. So, the past 2 weeks! The first interesting thing that happened was my venture up north during the school week. I finally decided for sure that I'm going to do my big research project on contemporary women artists in Morocco. Which means I just get to travel all over and talk to people :) That's not why I'm doing it obviously, but it works out well. My professor for one of my classes got me into contact with two women we studied in our visual arts class. They live close to each other and both agreed to meet me, so I picked up and went up north to Tetouan (sounds like something from Star Wars) to meet these women. They were both just the sweetest people in the world - so accommodating and so helpful. It was fun to get a glimpse into the Moroccan art scene, especially with artists that exhibit their work internationally as well. I still have a long ways to go with the project but this was a really, really awesome start.
So yeah, I ended up spending about a day and a half in Tetouan and a nearby town. That was on a Wednesday and Thursday, and so upon returning to Rabat, I barely had time to catch my breath before my program had us pack up to head south. Ah the Southern Excursion... what the program insisted would be one of the highlights of the program and oh how right they were. This was quite a trip though - our destinations included Ifrane-Azrou, Middelt, Merzouga, N'qob, Ouarzazate, Marrakech, and Essaouira. All in a week. There was a lot of bus time at the beginning of this trip. We stopped by cedar forests to learn about deforestation, drove through palm valleys since that industry sustains so many people, stopped by this fancy shmancy university called Al Akhawayn (means two brothers, and which was absolutely gorgeous and I can't believe I didn't apply there ha), etc. Being on the bus for so long was kind of rough, but the drive was absolutely gorgeous. We drove through the Atlas mountains and a bunch of tizis, or the valley essentially between 2 mountains, and that was breathtaking. Oh lord. At this town called Rissani, we ditched the bus and took Land Rovers out to pay a visit to the Sahara! Gah. Oh that was one thing we learned - don't say Sahara Desert. Sahara means desert in Arabic. So it will sound real redundant to say Sahara Desert.
Once in the desert (in a small town called Merzouga) we settled into our hotel and went outside to go grab our camels :) Actually, my camel and the one on the same lead kind of terrified me. They both made some angry noises while on the ground and mine had really pointy teeth. But once actually on, it was fun. We rode the camels up to the top of one of the dunes to see the sunset - my pictures can't really do justice to the colors we saw, so you'll have to take my word for it. But it was absolutely incredible. I'll try to add in more later but my internet is being exceptionally lame right now and will only load this picture to the left. Camel pictures to come later.
But anyways, after sitting atop the dunes for a bit, we meandered back to the start of the dunes and went back to the hotel. Which was awesome. It was dinner time by then, so we had a lovely buffet and had the opportunity to hear a Gnawa concert afterwards. Gnawa music is incredible. It's a type of music that came to Morocco with the sub-Saharan slave trade, and over the years has developed according to sub-Saharan, Amazighi (Berber), and Arab influences. It's usually very spiritual or mystical, and at times induces trances for exorcism, for connection to the more spiritual realm, etc. It's easy to see how it could do this - it's got a strong drum base and the same phrase is repeated over and over again, often times for hours at a time. The rhythm changes though. It felt somewhat awkward, because a hotel dining room full of European and American tourists is clearly not the place that Gnawa music should be played. It was hard to not feel like this was, again, an activity catered to the Oriental fantasies of colonialists. That aside though, the music was amazing. And later on, some of the waiters started playing just the drums so people got up to dance, which was awesome because this just felt like a celebration. Gotta find a CD of Gnawa music before coming home.
After several days of traveling around the Atlas region and seeing several towns, we stopped in Marrakech for two days. Marrakech was really awesome. There were tons of tourists, but Marrakech still had a certain charm to it and there was so much to do. The Djamea Lefna is the huge huge square in the middle of the old medina and definitely lives up to it's reputation of being just crazy. It was most fun at night, when a large area of the square was devoted to long tables where you could sit and have skewers of meat and veggies, vendors came out selling this incredible but super intense spiced tea (we came back to our vendor several times, so he ended up putting some ginger jam and menthol into ours... it was like smelling Vicks vapor rub. So definitely cleared the sinuses but after the initial shock of the fumes was fine to drink) and of course, the famous entertainers were out and about. Musicians were everywhere in the square, and I did walk past a snake charmer a couple times. But there was also a guy dancing with a rooster on his head that was pretty hilarious. Just all kinds of things to see in the square at night.
There was plenty of shopping to be done in Marrakech and lots of sight-seeing. My fav parts were definitely the art museum that had some great contemporary art, and our illegal picnic in the Majorelle Garden (this garden was gorgeous but felt super structured, which I didn't really like).
After 2 days in Marrakech, we headed out to our final destination - Essaouira. This small city sits on the ocean and has a gorgeous, clean medina and tons of cute shops and art galleries. I'm going to live there for at least part of the time of my independent research period. It's the south, which I loved, and is a city but seems very manageable. Ahh can't wait for the independent study time.
Anyways, I think this post is long enough so I'm going to go to bed. Night!
WORD OF THE DAY:
Al-Fan (fus'ha) - Art. I'm doing my independent research project on al-fan in Morocco! Heeey
Anywho. I don't even know where to start with this and enough has happened that telling all is somewhat daunting. So. I'm going to try and use pictures and give you a rough idea of what's been going on in the past 2 weeks or so.
Ahh digression before I even start... Halloween happened... when? One thing I've been missing from America has been fall and the whole build up to the holidays. Apple picking, leaves changing, that distinctly autumn smell.. ooh dear. And of course, the wonderful holiday of Halloween. It was so strange this year to not think about a costume at all really and to have some people just say.. ooo yeah. Happy Halloween. I got to hang out with my Vass friend visiting from London on Halloween! And went to someone's house. But other than that, nothing at all resembling dressing up, trick or treating, or whatever occurred. I'm going to have to do a better job with creating some sort of makeshift Thanksgiving because I can't miss both fall holidays. That just wouldn't do.
Oh. Another little side note before I get into the happenings of the past 2 weeks. I was talking to one of my friends online and he asked me to tell him about weird customs I've encountered in Morocco. That's an easy one, right? I'm surrounded by Moroccan culture all day and all night, I live in a Moroccan household, and my house is in the old part of the city where European culture has been held back to some degree. But oddly, I drew a blank and couldn't think of anything. Weird customs? I had no idea what to say. The only thing that really came to mind was something to do with food.. but even that was a kind of lame, I-need-to-think-of-something response. And then I started thinking about it more... there are a lot of things that happen daily that were alien to me at first, but since I encounter them so often I've started taking them for granted and so don't think of them as that strange anymore. Take bargaining for example. The first couple weeks that was something difficult to try and do - shopkeepers inevitably set the price really high, especially since they know I'm American tourist. Arguing with the shopkeeper about their product being too expensive and trying to get the price down was really uncomfortable at first. But now I like it - it's become a sort of game. And you get such an awesome feeling of accomplishment when you've managed to bring the price down a good deal. Here's how a typical conversation could go (abbreviated version):
Me - 200 dh for that bag? Pshh that's way too much. I'll pay 100 dh.
Shopkeeper - 100 dh, no. 200 dh is a good price.
Me - No. 100 dh.
Shopkeeper - How about 180 dh?
Me - No, I'll pay 100 dh. I'm a student.
Shopkeeper - That's not possible. What's your last price?
Me - I'm not paying anymore than 120 dh.
Moment of truth. Here I'll either get it or I won't. Still not perfect at it, obviously, but I had some good luck getting some little presents in Marrakech. Wooo. That's one thing I've decided I'm going to miss a lot about Morocco. I can just imagine going into a Macy's or Urban Outfitters or something...
$90 for the jeans? That's ridiculous. I'll pay $50.
Um ma'am, you either pay $90 or you don't buy the pants.
That's no fun. But anyways, the whole point of that was that language barrier/street harassment aside, I actually feel pretty comfortable here now, to the point that things like bargaining or even eating tajine that were once awkward and nervous activities for me are now easy and natural. I thought I would always be conscious of the differences and foreign habits I encountered here, but now it's just a part of everyday life. Gah. So great.
Alright enough with that. So, the past 2 weeks! The first interesting thing that happened was my venture up north during the school week. I finally decided for sure that I'm going to do my big research project on contemporary women artists in Morocco. Which means I just get to travel all over and talk to people :) That's not why I'm doing it obviously, but it works out well. My professor for one of my classes got me into contact with two women we studied in our visual arts class. They live close to each other and both agreed to meet me, so I picked up and went up north to Tetouan (sounds like something from Star Wars) to meet these women. They were both just the sweetest people in the world - so accommodating and so helpful. It was fun to get a glimpse into the Moroccan art scene, especially with artists that exhibit their work internationally as well. I still have a long ways to go with the project but this was a really, really awesome start.
 |
| Typical view during the bus tour. NBD |
 |
| Again, through the bus window |
 |
| Desert at sunset |
But anyways, after sitting atop the dunes for a bit, we meandered back to the start of the dunes and went back to the hotel. Which was awesome. It was dinner time by then, so we had a lovely buffet and had the opportunity to hear a Gnawa concert afterwards. Gnawa music is incredible. It's a type of music that came to Morocco with the sub-Saharan slave trade, and over the years has developed according to sub-Saharan, Amazighi (Berber), and Arab influences. It's usually very spiritual or mystical, and at times induces trances for exorcism, for connection to the more spiritual realm, etc. It's easy to see how it could do this - it's got a strong drum base and the same phrase is repeated over and over again, often times for hours at a time. The rhythm changes though. It felt somewhat awkward, because a hotel dining room full of European and American tourists is clearly not the place that Gnawa music should be played. It was hard to not feel like this was, again, an activity catered to the Oriental fantasies of colonialists. That aside though, the music was amazing. And later on, some of the waiters started playing just the drums so people got up to dance, which was awesome because this just felt like a celebration. Gotta find a CD of Gnawa music before coming home.
After several days of traveling around the Atlas region and seeing several towns, we stopped in Marrakech for two days. Marrakech was really awesome. There were tons of tourists, but Marrakech still had a certain charm to it and there was so much to do. The Djamea Lefna is the huge huge square in the middle of the old medina and definitely lives up to it's reputation of being just crazy. It was most fun at night, when a large area of the square was devoted to long tables where you could sit and have skewers of meat and veggies, vendors came out selling this incredible but super intense spiced tea (we came back to our vendor several times, so he ended up putting some ginger jam and menthol into ours... it was like smelling Vicks vapor rub. So definitely cleared the sinuses but after the initial shock of the fumes was fine to drink) and of course, the famous entertainers were out and about. Musicians were everywhere in the square, and I did walk past a snake charmer a couple times. But there was also a guy dancing with a rooster on his head that was pretty hilarious. Just all kinds of things to see in the square at night.
 |
| This is one of the smaller squares we went to with an awesome cafe with this fun view |
After 2 days in Marrakech, we headed out to our final destination - Essaouira. This small city sits on the ocean and has a gorgeous, clean medina and tons of cute shops and art galleries. I'm going to live there for at least part of the time of my independent research period. It's the south, which I loved, and is a city but seems very manageable. Ahh can't wait for the independent study time.
Anyways, I think this post is long enough so I'm going to go to bed. Night!
WORD OF THE DAY:
Al-Fan (fus'ha) - Art. I'm doing my independent research project on al-fan in Morocco! Heeey
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)