Middle Atlas Mountains Pictures

Culture Shock: Switzerland to the Muslim Scrubdown – The “real” Morocco!

Ifran: Modern Morocco

Bensmim: No-So-Modern Morocco

 Wow. I just had the most eye-opening experience I have yet to have in Morocco. I spent an amazing weekend in the Middle Atlas Mountains and realized why they call Morocco a third world country. We left Friday after Arabic and drove to Azrou for lunch. Azrou is a little town in the mountains that seemed fairly well to-do and functioning. After, we stopped at a Trout Farm on our way to visit Ifran. Ifran is a BEAUTIFUL town, often called “The Switzerland of Morocco”. There were beautiful mountains and I actually felt as though I was in the swiss alps. The town was quite a sight. What was even more amazing than that, however, was that only 7 kilometers down the road was the Berber village Bensmim where we stayed for the weekend. On our long bus rides we have always looked out the windows and seen what seemed like clay-made/mud homes in the middle of the mountains; I never thought I would actually spend a weekend in one. We arrived at Bensmim at around 7:00 and met our host families. As soon as we stepped off of the bus I felt as though I had entered a different planet. We saw a Sheppard herding sheep across the road and walked for about 20 minutes from where the bus dropped us off into this tiny Berber village. It is hard to describe what we saw so you will have to look at my pictures but the village was like nothing I had ever seen before. We went into a little school building and waited eagerly to meet our host families. One thing that I noticed was how eager and excited everyone in the village was for our arrival. All of the mothers who sat in the little school seats waiting for their names to be called to “get” two of us had huge smiles on their faces. I was at first confused as to why they were SO EXCITED to see us but then it dawned on me: we were probably some of the first Americans they had ever seen. Most of these families have never been out of the village and they have definitely never had Americans come and stay with them before. (This is the first time our program has run a trip like this). When my friend Lucy and I’s names were called a petite young woman with an adorable little baby stood up and kissed us each on both cheeks (and twice on the right cheek – meaning were “very close family”). She did not speak any English so it was a bit challenging to communicate (but she spoke Derija as well as Berber so we got by). She walked us up to her home to meet her husband and neighbors. Everyone was beyond excited that we were there for the weekend.

Lucy and I with our siblings

 The house had a small salon, tv-room, kitchen and bedroom yet it was probably the size of my kitchen and family room combined in America (very tiny). The walls were plain white and had zero decoration. There was a tiny, narrow bathroom with no shower, but it did have a squat toilet – joy! As soon as we arrived our host mom “mama Aisha” sat us down in front of the TV and gave us bread and tea. The tea was the same delicious mint tea so at least we know there is one thing consistent about all of Morocco! As our mother was cooking dinner, the neighbor (who’s house was ajoined with ours) invited us into her house for tea. Then she put dinner in front of us and instructed us to “kul” (eat). We were extremely confused so in our best Arabic we attemped to ask if we were eating again with Aisha or if this was our meal. She definitely told us that this was dinner, so we ate up (lots of chicken, meat and harira) only to find out that as soon as we came back into our home, there was another dinner waiting for us at the kitchen table. Lucy and I looked at each other and just laughed: Typical Morocco. As we tried to force down dinner number two, we noticed a woman sitting on a bed in the tv-room talking to herself. We were quite confused until we saw her get up to go to the bathroom – she was blind. It was amazing that she could find her way out of bed and feel her way around to the bathroom (a squat toilet, no less!) One thing that was difficult to deal with while staying in the house was the flies. There were flies EVERYWHERE. Not only were they landing all over us, but they kept landing on our food – gross. I tried not to let it bother me and kept reminding myself that these people live here all year round with these flies… I could deal for one weekend. After our second dinner it was pretty late and we were tired so we went to bed. Per usual in Morocco, we were given the only bed in the house; everyone else slept on the couches in the salon or on the floor.

some houses in Bensmim

The next morning we woke up to some fresh Malawi bread (hot off the stove), which was delicious. We were a little tired, however, because there were cows moo-ing, roosters crowing and a very loud baby crying VERY early in the morning.  After breakfast, we met the rest of the group and toured three mini-associations within the village. We visited a medicinal herbs association where we got to help in the distilment process, a carpet association and a honey association where we went into the fields to see medicinal herbs and bees. We also met up with a guy who has been in the village for the past 19 months through the Peace Corps. We talked to him for a while about his experiences, and then he joined us on a “mini-hike” (compared to the next day). We finally arrived at another organization, this time for primary school students. The women running the organization made us couscous and then we painted with the primary school kids. We briefly visited the Ifran water factory and then went back to our host families to prepare for the ever-so-cultural HAMAM. Yes, I went to a Hamam. For those of you that are not familiar with the term, a Hamam is a public bathhouse (because they barely have enough running water to use in the sink, no one has showers). When Lucy and I told our host mother we were supposed to go to the Hamam she insisted she come with us. This was quite the process. We brought buckets, scrubbers, mats, shampoo, soap, change of clothes, towels and god knows what else with us to the Hamam.

Basically we walk in and this naked Muslim woman comes over to us and begins to undress us. She takes our buckets and guides us into the bath “room”. The first room we entered was more like a changing room (where we were told to keep only our underwear on) and then we walk into a sauna-type room where there are lots of naked woman sitting on stools scrubbing themselves and pouring buckets of water on their heads. All of the girls on our program went at this time so we felt a little more comfortable. At first I was terrified and did not think I was ready for all of the naked-ness that I was about to witness. But once we entered the actual Hamam it was a lot more normal and natural than I ever would have imagined. All of the girls on my program just sat their on stools while our Muslim mothers came and scrub us down (I know this sound weird, but it is extremely normal for them, so we just embraced it). Surprisingly, we got hot water, and I have never felt so clean!

me getting henna

After Hamam, we came home, had tea, then dinner, and then got Henna! This was turning into quite the day. Henna is a flowering plant used since antiquity to dye skin. One of their neighbors came over and spent about an hour dying my hands with intricate henna designs (see pictures above). It took a while for her to do Lucy AND I, and by the end we were so tired that we just went to bed. We woke up the next morning and our henna had totally sunk into our skin to make this beautiful design. It is black when they first pant it on, but after the black stuff falls off it is a beautiful orange color. It is supposed to be GREAT for your skin and will stay on for about two weeks!

the final product

view from the top

The next morning we got up and said goodbye and thank you to our host families. They definitely gave us the Berber experience. Since we were in the Middle Atlas Mountains, we couldn’t leave without seeing the amazing views and taking a short hike (or so we thought). We hiked for four hours up the mountains, half the time at about an 80-degree angle. I am very out shape and it was quite the workout. Although we complained the majority of the time, the view from the top was incredible. We overlooked not only the citites of Azrou and Ifran, but also tons of little Berber villages all over the mountain range. We ate lunch at the top of the mountain and just hung out for a while appreciating the view and how far we had climbed. It was so amazing to think that we were in extremely modern and civilized cities, and then an extremely poor, rural village, and then on top of these beautiful mountains and they were all within 10 kilometers of each other. It felt like different worlds. The drive back was long but it gave me time to reflect upon the weekend. Although it was not the most comfortable experience, it was definitely eye-opening and one that I will never forgot. I now feel as though I have experienced the “real Morocco”. It is experiences such as this one that makes me really appreciate studying abroad. While living in the main cities is nice, it is also nice to know that there is so much more out there.

the camera does NOT capture how amazing the view was

Becca in'a Jellaba! ..and new glasses!

My host mom came in last night and told me to put on a jellaba to show my family at home... so here's me in my jellaba!

Kawtar and I (host sister)

Kawtar and I in the Salon

Me in my NEW glasses!

Weekend in Tangier!

amazing view from our hotel

 I spent this past weekend in Tangier, Morocco (pronounced "Tanjah" by the locals). Tangier is the northernmost city in Africa that lies on the Straight of Gibraltar and is the main port for Spanish cruise ships in Africa. It is about a 4 hour train ride from Rabat. 16 of us on my program went to Tangier for the weekend. We took the train from Rabat right after our Arabic class ended on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. The train ride was a breeze. First of all, it was extremely nice (for Morocco) and I was shocked at how easy the whole ordeal was (speaking the little Arabic as I do). We bought first class tickets because we were told that you are not guaranteed a seat in second class and with all our luggage we did not want to be stuck standing for 4 hours. The seats were large and comfortable and the service was fantastic- I was very impressed. Once we arrived we dropped our stuff off at our hotel. The hotel was not the nicest place, but it was cheap and got the job done. We had a working/flushing toilet AND hot water in the shower! We also had an INCREDIBLE view from out window which overlooked the entire city. We could even see Spain in the distance. After we had dropped our stuff at the hotel we went to the Tangier American Legation Museum. The museum is where the American Embassy used to be before Rabat was the capital of Morocco. Morocco was the first country to recognize America as an independent country and this museum was dedicated to that. We saw pictures of famous American's who have been to Morocco, letters from George Washington and the Paul Boles room (an American writer who lived in Morocco). The people who worked at the museum actually spoke English and enjoyed talking to my friends and I. One thing I noticed about Tangier was that it is a lot more modern (I gather because it is so close to Europe). We found multiple people who spoke Spanish (due to its proximity to Spain) and even some who spoke pretty good English! The dress code is also a lot more liberal there. Many Europeans take the ferry over to Tangier for the day so there were a ton of European tourists. We walked by the port where the ships dock and got to walk along the beach and see the beautiful Straight of Gibraltar. After we went to a restaurant called "Restaurant Africa" where our waiter spoke a mixture of English and Spanish. I got a delicious beef and prune tagine. At night we walked around for a while and hung out at the hotel bar.

Gran Socco

The next morning we got up fairly early and headed to Cafe Paris (which apparently is some famous cafe because it is where a car got blown up in the movie Borne Ultimatum? I'm not a move buff - but other people thought it was cool). We got a typical French breakfast (pan au chocolat and cafe aulay). Across the street was the French Embassy, which we walked by on our way out. We then headed over to the Gran Socco which is a beautiful circle in town at the entrance to the Medina. It had a large fountain in the middle and tons of cafes around it. It was a beautiful day and there were people flooding the streets. We sat on some benches while we waited for some others in our group to meet us and I could have sat there forever. It was so beautiful. We spend the remainder of our morning shopping and sightseeing the Medina. I was able to communicate a little bit in Spanish too! Walking around Tangier felt very European. The Medina was a mix between the Medina's in Fez and Rabat. It was crowded like Fez but modern like Rabat. The streets were also much wider and spacious than any Moroccan city I have yet to visit. It felt very open and much cleaner too! We had pizza for lunch (not surprising, since we could only find pizza places!!! Everywhere we looked there was a sign that said "Pizza"... it was crazy). After our large, delicious pizza's we went back to take a nap; we were all exhausted from all that walking around. That night we saw TANJAZZ which is an annual jazz festival hosted in Tangier. After seeing some great music, we went to a not-so-great restaurant with horrible service - but I was still full from lunch so I didn't really care. After we went to some clubs in the city but I went home early with my friend because she has a cast on her ankle and was in pain.

Some friends and I - Tangier in the background

 We woke up fairly early this morning and took the train home. This train was a little different because we were assigned boxes. I felt like I was on a train to Hogwarts. There were compartments of 6 chairs and men would come by with carts of food to serve us. I was with one of my friends in compartment "four" and we happened to be sitting next to a couple from Australia who had been trekking through Europe and were fresh off the boat from Spain. We talked to them for almost the entire 4 hours about our experiences thus far in Morocco. Although is was a short weekend I feel that we definitely got the taste of Tangier. It was our first time traveling alone (without the program) and it was a lot of fun. I can't wait for our next adventure!
Tangier Pictures

Class, Class and More Class!

Map of Northern Africa

I just finished (almost) my first full week of classes. My first class is my arabic class, which I have every day. I am really enjoying learning arabic but right now we are learning the script and I feel that the class is moving very slowly. I am picking up rather fast and the more time we spend on the alphabet, the less time we spend learning how to speak (which is what I need right now to communicate with my family!!) But we had our first quiz yesterday and I got a 100% so at least I am doing well! I really like learning arabic and am hoping to like it enough by the end to maybe take it back at Tulane in the spring. My second class is called "North African Politics". In this class we are studying the political regimes and history of the "Maghrib" (northern africa) which consists of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. So far we have looked at Morocco and Algeria and it is interesting to learn about how different their political systems are and the differences in their political histories due to their differences in colonization. Algeria was colonized in 1830 by the French and did not gain independence until 1962, whereas Morocco resisted and was only colonized from 1912-1956 (therefore they are much less influenced by the French). I find it really interesting to study this area because it is so relevant to me right now. While I am spending my semester solely in Morocco, I was able to see Algeria from one spot in the Sahara and knowing how close we are makes it all the more relevant to me. My professor seems like an amazing guy who has worked everywhere (so it seems) including D.C. He seems to know very author that wrote articles in our "textbook". I have already learned so much from this class and am excited about taking it. My next class is called "Contemporary History of North Africa" which so far, has been very similar to my politics class (since so far we have just covered basic history in politics). I have only had one history class so I cannot make any real comments yet but I will keep you posted! My last class is called "Gender and Society in North Africa and Beyond". Today was my first class and it was great. My professor is a Moroccan native who earned her Ph.D from Surrey University in the UK. She is involved in many women and gender organizations nationally and internationally. Today we talked about the differences between tradition and religion when it comes to Women here in Morocco as well as abroad. We discussed the differences between gender roles in America versus in Morocco as well as how globalization and modernity affects gender. This class also seems like it is going to be extremely fascinating. As with all of my classes, we have a 10-15 page research paper to do throughout the semester. For this class we get to choose our own topic and I am thinking I will write about the differences in the way women dress and the religious reasoning behind Muslim women dressing the way they do with their headscarves and jellabas. All of my classes seem great but they all required a lot of work. I have a ton of reading, a 10-15 page research paper, a midterm and a final exam for each class. We also each are assigned a week in which we present on the assigned readings. Every class seems to follow this same format. Some classes (such as my gender class) also have field trips planned.

Tomorrow I am heading to Tangier (which is about 4.5 hours away from Rabat) for the weekend with some people on my program. We are leaving right after Arabic tomorrow morning and coming back Sunday. I will update then!

Trip to the Sahara!

So this weekend I spent in the Sahara region of Morocco. On Thursday morning we left Rabat at 8:00 a.m. The ride there was very interesting (despite it’s length – 11 hours total). We stopped on the way many times for bathroom breaks but one of the times we stopped to see some monkeys! We got to feed and play with them, which was a cool experience. Watching the terrain change as we drove was fascinating. I saw men herding hundreds of sheep (which I thought only happened it the movies)! We also saw more cows and donkeys grazing in the grass than I have ever seen in my life. We had to go through the mountains to reach the desert so we drove along these extremely windy roads that were legitimately on the edge of cliffs. I had to stop looking out the window because I was so nervous we were going to drive off the edge. We stopped half way for lunch at a hotel in Midelt. We got a huge 4 course meal their which was delicious (it only took about THREE hours in total for them to bring everything out). Then we got on the road again for another 5 or 6 hours to Xaluca. We stayed at this hotel called Hotel Xaluca which was amazing. It had a beautiful outdoor pool with lights and live music, an indoor pool, a hot tub, a spa, a mini golf course, basketball court, a disco, a bar and beautiful rooms and dining facilities. We were in heaven. As soon as we got there we changed into our bathing suits and went night swimming (by this time it was about 7:30 pm). Afterwards we had dinner and went to the “disco” because it was a girl on my trip’s 21st birthday. We had a blast singing and dancing to the Moroccan music.
The next morning we got up bright and early to start our day. We first went to a museum called the Center of the Alawites Studies in Rissani. We learned about past kings and different important artifacts in Morocco. It was only about 104 degrees in the room, however, so I really couldn’t pay much attention to what they were saying. We then stopped at a place to buy the traditional blue scarves to wear in the desert to protect our faces from the intense wind/sandstorms. After that we went to an NGO that provided a place for women and children in a not so fortunate village. The women worked to make scarves while the children had a place to go to stay off of the streets. The day we were there they were giving the children each a backpack so we got to help hand them out to the children. The children were BEYOND excited to see us. Apparently they rarely see anyone outside of their village so they looked at us like we were celebrities. Afterwards we got to have lunch with the NGO members. They made us an extravagant lunch and explained to us that they need more help from people in the U.S. We found out that they only have websites in French and Arabic so we decided that we (as a program) are going to create a website for them in English! After lunch we drove another hour or so to Hotel Tomboktu in Merzouga where we rented a room to leave our bags for the night while we went out to sleep in the desert. After putting our bags in the room, we went out back and were wrapped in our blue scarves by some Berber natives. We then got on our camels and rode for 2 hours into the Sahara Desert. We arrived at our destination (berber tents in the middle of no where) at around 7:30pm so we got to ride camels into the sunset. I actually felt like I was in Lawrence of Arabia; it was hands down one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. It was an amazing sight to see the sun setting over the doons. Once we arrived at our tents we ate a traditional Berber meal and listened to Berber music. I got to play the drums and dance with them while other people on my program were adventurous and decided to climb one of the huge doons in the dark. The night was surprisingly very chilly in the desert and although we were given a light sheet, I was not prepared for the cold and spent most of the night awake and FREEZING. We were supposed to wake up to see the sunrise but when one of my friends woke me up at around 5:45 a.m. the sun was pretty much already up and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. At about 6:15 a.m. we got back on our camels and rode back to the hotel. This time, although the camel ride was cool, it was not as pleasant because I was in SO MUCH PAIN. I’m convinced my inner thighs have permanent bruises from bouncing up and down on that camel for so long. After the fourth hour of riding Waldo (I named my camel), I was ready to be done.

berber tents we slept in!

me with my blue headscarf on Waldo:)

We got back to the hotel at around 8:15 a.m. and everyone went to eat breakfast (except for me because it was Yom Kippur and I was fasting). On a side note, riding Waldo as the sun was rising on the morning of Yom Kippur gave me a chance to reflect on my life and my sins (because it was the day of atonement). It definitely was not a traditional Yom Kippur but it was a once in a lifetime experience that I will always have to look back on and appreciate.

While everyone else ate breakfast I took a shower in the room and charged my Ipod for the long ride home. This time however we only drove half way home because we stopped at the same hotel in Midelt (where we had lunch the first day) to spend the night. Once we got to the hotel I just hung out in my room while my friends had another feast. Then, out of nowhere, a huge storm flew in and the power went out! It was pitch black in the hotel and they went around and gave everyone candels. We all went out to the lobby and told ghost stories and drank tea (well, I didn’t). But it definitely got my mind off of the fasting. I explained to my program director that I was fasting and he arranged a typical Ramadan Ftur (breakfast) for me at 6:30 when the sun went down (it goes down super early here). A couple of my friends came with me to the dining room while I got a FEAST full of Ramadan food. I got the traditional harira soup, dates, hard-boiled egg, BREAD, fruit and other traditional foods that I do not know how to say. It was very nice of them and I really appreciated it. After my Ftur we went back to the lobby and our director had brought in a traditional Berber band to entertain us. They sang and danced all throughout the night. The power came back on sporadically but we spent the majority of the night in the dark. The next morning we got up early, had breakfast and then took off for Rabat! When I went in for breakfast this morning, however, the manager came up to me and said “no Ramadan today?” I laughed and explained to him that I was fasting for a different holiday (I didn’t specify a Jewish one..but he got the jist). In the Islamic culture women are not aloud to fast while they are menstruating so they have to make it up and fast for 6 or 7 days after Ramadan is over…I assume that’s why he thought I was fasting but I told him my holiday only had one day to fast and I was off the hook! Over all, it was a great 4 days and I feel like I really got a chance to bond with the people on my program.

Orientation in Fez pics

Sahara pics!

The past few days with the family have been great! The only thing is that I need to get over this hump of not understanding them. I want this immersion to work immediately! I love the girl Kawtar she is super nice but it is still really difficult with me to communicate with the parents. Even if I can figure out how to say something or ask a question the chances of me being able to understand their response are slim to none. A few days ago they had a bunch of family over for tea (including every pastry and type of bread available in Morocco). There were 2 girls around my age and one of them spoke some English (she actually lives in Germany now) so it was cool to actually be able to communicate with her. They also have a little baby cousin named Melka who was THE MOST ADORBALE CHILD EVER! She loved me and kept jumping on my and talking to me (even though I couldn’t understand a word she said) but the family was enjoying watching me play with her. They laughed every time she said something to me because they knew that I actually had no idea what she was saying. That evening my family gave me an Arabic name – Sumilla! Sometimes they call me that now though and I do not respond because I usually think they are just saying something in Arabic that I do not understand.

Yesterday was my first day of classes, but all I had was Arabic. I went running up and down the streets of Morocco after class, which was neat, and then I came home and had lunch with my family. The mom is an AMAZING cook. We have gourmet meals for lunch and dinner every night (which I think is tradition in Morocco) but I swear my host mom is one of the better cooks. After lunch they usually all watch tv and hang out for a little while. Today after Arabic I came home again for lunch but I had to go back at 4:30 for my “Politics of North Africa” class. I really like the professor (he reminds me a lot of my dad and I feel like they would be friends). He is a journalist now in Morocco but he spent a couple years in Washington, D.C. working for the state house and now is the editor of a journal in Morocco that focuses on politics in the region. Although there is a TON of reading for the course I think it will be really interesting and I am excited about it. I still have two more courses that I haven’t had yet but I will not have them until next week because tomorrow at 8 am I am going to the Sahara!!! We have a fun 4 days planned and I will definitely be blogging about my adventure when I return to Rabat on Sunday.

I am officially in love with Rabat. Not only are the people welcoming and hospitable but also the atmosphere is really growing on me. As I did my 30-minute walk home from class today through the Medina I started to recognize things and really feel at home. Walking through the Medina in Rabat is a truly unique experience. The colors of the clothes hanging from the sides of “stores”, the lights at night, the men preparing fish on a table, the butchers, the leather jackets and purses hanging from every which way and all of the people around you (mostly women dressed in jellabas, wearing head scarves and men standing around chatting) make Rabat so special. It is nothing like walking down the streets of Needham, Massachusetts and I’m always baffled when I take a step back and remember that this is real, everyday life for so many people. The walk to and from class everyday gives me a chance to really fit in here and not look like just another American tourist. It helps remind me that I am not simply on vacation, but that I live here now, too.