Before I get to the details about the special celebration in my host village, I want to tell you guys a little about the new things that I am becoming accustomed to.
We have mint tea everyday...with TONS of sugar. At my homestay I had it everyday with my family right before dinner at 9:30pm.
I have also been getting used to the greetings here. there are a serious of questions and handshakes and hand kissing. Usually its just a handshake and then you touch your hand to your chest as a way of saying that the person is now close to your heart.
There are a lot of ritual like activities when it comes to greetings. for example, we're supposed to start greeting from the right and then move around to the others. The tea drinking also has its share of rituals. They always pour out one cup and then pour it back in and then finally pour out all cups.
We always sit on the ground when we eat and people almost always eat with their hands...usually just the right hand.
Hashak(excuse me) for mentioning this but i've also been getting used to the turkish toilet!!! I'm sure you guys all know that its essentially a hole in the ground. They also have these public bath houses which i have yet to go to.
A lot of these things I experienced for the first time once at my homestay and out of the "luxury" of our current lodgings. I was also able to attend a celebration called Sadaqa. They had this celebration because a guy had been sick in the hospital for about a month, and was now better so he had returned home. It was a two day celebration where the women of the village were invited to a feast on the first day and the men on the day after. I went with my host mom and my host sister. There were about 60-70 women sitting in a courtyard just completely relaxed and socializing with everyone around them. Some women brought out tea various times so we were all able to have tea and cookies a couple times. then a younger girl came around and sprayed us all with perfume. while this was happening, some other older women brought out a metal container with hot coals and took it around to the married women. the married women then stood over it, not on it, so the the smoke would go up into their skirts. once this was over they brought out little tables and large trays of couscous. after this meal i went back home with the women from my host family. this experience has thus far been the most surreal that i have had.
hopefully ill have many more
right now im in the desert in the south of the country
a few of us were just on a few hours long taxi ride to come to our fieldtrip here
i think the heat of the place might be worth it if anything just for the amazing scenery on the ride out here
there were some curvy roads through the mountains and desert that felt like being in a kiarostami film
there were also some amazing palm groves in the middle of nowhere
well time to go explore the area
bslama
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
isminu nadya
hi everyone!
i wish i could have written during the week but i was about 14 km from the nearest internet connection. I spent this past week in a small village situated in a beautiful valley. I dont even know where to begin telling you about it... I lived with a moroccan family and had a great experience. I ate the best couscous ever! it takes a couple hours to prepare on a wood fired stove, and my host mom even let me help with it.
ive been learning the tamazight languaga also. its one of the three berber languages. i also got a new name :) my new name in that village is nadya :) the people were really cordial and generous and really understanding considering that we went there with close to no knowledge of their language. this is the language that i will be using for the next two years.
being in that village with my host family was one of the best learning experiences thus far. I was able to observe the way in which the families interacted and just generally how life is in a small rural village. we went on a few nature walks through the fields and ate almonds right off the trees. there were also many rose bushes lining all the fields...and soon theyll be blooming :)
theres a lot more that i will write about...but i will do it a bit later once i can collect my thoughts better and reflect on the past weeks events.
oh, if anyone wants me to write about anything specific such as food or dress or whatever, let me know
i wish i could have written during the week but i was about 14 km from the nearest internet connection. I spent this past week in a small village situated in a beautiful valley. I dont even know where to begin telling you about it... I lived with a moroccan family and had a great experience. I ate the best couscous ever! it takes a couple hours to prepare on a wood fired stove, and my host mom even let me help with it.
ive been learning the tamazight languaga also. its one of the three berber languages. i also got a new name :) my new name in that village is nadya :) the people were really cordial and generous and really understanding considering that we went there with close to no knowledge of their language. this is the language that i will be using for the next two years.
being in that village with my host family was one of the best learning experiences thus far. I was able to observe the way in which the families interacted and just generally how life is in a small rural village. we went on a few nature walks through the fields and ate almonds right off the trees. there were also many rose bushes lining all the fields...and soon theyll be blooming :)
theres a lot more that i will write about...but i will do it a bit later once i can collect my thoughts better and reflect on the past weeks events.
oh, if anyone wants me to write about anything specific such as food or dress or whatever, let me know
Friday, March 14, 2008
Tamazight
Im learning Tamazight!
thats my language assingment :)
i dont yet know my final site...but i will in about a month
will write more later
thats my language assingment :)
i dont yet know my final site...but i will in about a month
will write more later
Monday, March 10, 2008
Ice Cream Seasons
i have found another ice cream lover! and i he loves it more than i :)
we went looking for ice cream yesterday because it was about 80 degrees outside, but we didnt find any. apparently its still too cool out for ice cream...
ouarzazate, like i said before, is a dessert city. everyone stays indoors around lunch time and goes out agin around 3pm. we spent many hours in a plaza interacting with a bunch of little kids. the cultural differences still stand out a lot to me and its very interesting to note all these differences. we learned how to say high five in darija (moroccan arabic). i also had many other interactions with locals at the souk...and they all think im moroccan!
ill write more later...its ice cream hunting time :)
we went looking for ice cream yesterday because it was about 80 degrees outside, but we didnt find any. apparently its still too cool out for ice cream...
ouarzazate, like i said before, is a dessert city. everyone stays indoors around lunch time and goes out agin around 3pm. we spent many hours in a plaza interacting with a bunch of little kids. the cultural differences still stand out a lot to me and its very interesting to note all these differences. we learned how to say high five in darija (moroccan arabic). i also had many other interactions with locals at the souk...and they all think im moroccan!
ill write more later...its ice cream hunting time :)
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Rabat to Ouarzazate
salamu aalayum!
so i finally have some free time to write,
i have made it to morocco safely :)
we were in a swanky hotel in rabat for a few days doing all the administrative things...and a bit of sightseeing
being here still feels extremely surreal...especially hearing the call to prayer while in the crowded rabat media.
a group of us also visited the casbah in rabat. it was the absolute best thing i did in rabat. after bypassing so,e protesteors on the main avenue, we made it to the casbah sa the sun had just set. from one point in the casbah we could look over the atlantic ocean at the last faint glow of the sun. it was beautiful, to say the least.
After a 9 hr bus ride through the high atlas mountains, we now find ourselves in ouarzazate.
ouarzazate is a small desert city with very dry warm weather. though a bit more conservative (in appearance) than rabat, it is still quite a modern place. they have a couple film studios here...apparently the sheltering sky and many other films have been filmed here. the people are all very kind. today we had an arabic lesson in which we had to go out in town and approach stranger to engagein conversaton with them. I met a great group of university students who were kind andinterested in americans (and mexicans)
as a side note, many people here have told me thqt i look moroccan, so many try to speak to me in darija(moroccan arabic)
i havent yet tried too much moroccan food except some great veggies prepared in a more moroccan way...and lost of yummy olives!
im heading to my first homestay next week, but i will try to write again before then.
bslama!
*i apologize for all the grammatical errors, but the keyboard here is still very new to me.
so i finally have some free time to write,
i have made it to morocco safely :)
we were in a swanky hotel in rabat for a few days doing all the administrative things...and a bit of sightseeing
being here still feels extremely surreal...especially hearing the call to prayer while in the crowded rabat media.
a group of us also visited the casbah in rabat. it was the absolute best thing i did in rabat. after bypassing so,e protesteors on the main avenue, we made it to the casbah sa the sun had just set. from one point in the casbah we could look over the atlantic ocean at the last faint glow of the sun. it was beautiful, to say the least.
After a 9 hr bus ride through the high atlas mountains, we now find ourselves in ouarzazate.
ouarzazate is a small desert city with very dry warm weather. though a bit more conservative (in appearance) than rabat, it is still quite a modern place. they have a couple film studios here...apparently the sheltering sky and many other films have been filmed here. the people are all very kind. today we had an arabic lesson in which we had to go out in town and approach stranger to engagein conversaton with them. I met a great group of university students who were kind andinterested in americans (and mexicans)
as a side note, many people here have told me thqt i look moroccan, so many try to speak to me in darija(moroccan arabic)
i havent yet tried too much moroccan food except some great veggies prepared in a more moroccan way...and lost of yummy olives!
im heading to my first homestay next week, but i will try to write again before then.
bslama!
*i apologize for all the grammatical errors, but the keyboard here is still very new to me.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Last day of orientation
So i'm in Philadelphia now and am just about done with the last of my orientation. I will be leaving to New York tomorrow and from there we're all taking a flight to Morocco. I'm really excited and can't wait to finally arrive in Morocco. I'll let you guys know how it goes in those first few days. :)
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