A lot of people think Americans can say some pretty culturally insensitive things. While this may very well be true, I wonder how many people in other countries realize how what they say sounds to us. Here's the backdrop: the usual crew I have been rolling with is myself, Doug, Saara, Ayah, Kiesel, and Erica. Doug is from Chicago- blond hair, blue eyes and tall. Saara and Ayah also both look "white"; Saara is from DC and Ayah is a reverted Muslim from Canada. Kiesel is Venezuelan and Erica is half-Japanese/ half-European mix from LA. Here are some typical things that get randomly yelled at us in the street:
To me: "Family Obama!" "Africa, my neighbor, my friend!"
To Erica: "China? Japan?"
To Ayah (who gets it the worst): "You are Muslim?" Yes. "Why don't you know Arabic?" I'm learning. "You should speak Arabic. You are from Canada? Why don't you know French." I don't know. "Do you pray 5 times a day?" Yes, do YOU pray 5 times a day?!?!
I guess Doug, Saara and Kiesel "look like they are supposed to" so no one bothers them. I know it starts to bother Ayah (someone actually asked her, are you SURE you are Muslim?) but usually it is all in love. The "Family Obama" smile is so big, who can get offended at that???
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Dirhams and sense
Many people have been asking, how can you afford all these trips? You haven't had a paycheck in over six months! Well I was able to save quite a lot while I was working but let's compare a couple prices...
- Subway ride: $2.50 :: Bus ride in Rabat: 3.50MAD ($0.43) (or walking, which is free)
- Starbucks coffee: $5.00 :: Tea or coffee in a fancy coffee shop here 12MAD ($1.46)
-Brunch with friends: $25+ :: Brunch this weekend (2 fried egg, basket of bread, fresh squeezed orange juice, mint tea, honey crepe, 2 scoops of ice cream): 66 MAD ($8.00)
For more comparison... In New York, my aunt and I would love to go to a certain spa. After taking a shower and relaxing in a sauna and a steam room, you would lay on a massage table and get scrubbed down. When I say scrubbed, I mean scrubbed. Imagine a loofah times 10. You see all your dead skin getting sloughed off and afterwards you feel wonderful with baby soft skin. Total price for these services: $115 per person. In Morocco, they have the hammam, a public bath house akin to an onsen in Japan. I went on Friday with my roommate Kiesel. It's quite a contradiction to go from the street where women are covered from wrist to ankles (and many cover their heads as well) into the hammam where women are stripped to their undies. We opted to have one of the ladies there scrub us down but usually women go with a friend and it's an I wash your back, you wash mine type of deal. After about 45 minutes of scrubbing and hair washing, I felt just as good as I did in the New York spa, if not better. Total cost: 65MAD ($7.89).
This weekend my roommates and I wanted to go to Casablanca and we decided to splurge. We stayed at a hotel with (gasp) towels, a plasma TV and heat. We ate in the "expensive" part of town and indulged ourselves with decadent meals and desserts. Including the hotel and the train ride there, I spent less than $100 this weekend. It gives a new meaning to making your money work for you...
I know I have been writing erratically and have not said much about daily life or daily Moroccan life (as I see it) so I will do better this week, inshallah. Promise!!!
And lastly, I have gotten a couple of empty voicemails. I can't see missed calls on my Skype. In short, if you don't leave a message, I'll never know you called!
- Subway ride: $2.50 :: Bus ride in Rabat: 3.50MAD ($0.43) (or walking, which is free)
- Starbucks coffee: $5.00 :: Tea or coffee in a fancy coffee shop here 12MAD ($1.46)
-Brunch with friends: $25+ :: Brunch this weekend (2 fried egg, basket of bread, fresh squeezed orange juice, mint tea, honey crepe, 2 scoops of ice cream): 66 MAD ($8.00)
For more comparison... In New York, my aunt and I would love to go to a certain spa. After taking a shower and relaxing in a sauna and a steam room, you would lay on a massage table and get scrubbed down. When I say scrubbed, I mean scrubbed. Imagine a loofah times 10. You see all your dead skin getting sloughed off and afterwards you feel wonderful with baby soft skin. Total price for these services: $115 per person. In Morocco, they have the hammam, a public bath house akin to an onsen in Japan. I went on Friday with my roommate Kiesel. It's quite a contradiction to go from the street where women are covered from wrist to ankles (and many cover their heads as well) into the hammam where women are stripped to their undies. We opted to have one of the ladies there scrub us down but usually women go with a friend and it's an I wash your back, you wash mine type of deal. After about 45 minutes of scrubbing and hair washing, I felt just as good as I did in the New York spa, if not better. Total cost: 65MAD ($7.89).
This weekend my roommates and I wanted to go to Casablanca and we decided to splurge. We stayed at a hotel with (gasp) towels, a plasma TV and heat. We ate in the "expensive" part of town and indulged ourselves with decadent meals and desserts. Including the hotel and the train ride there, I spent less than $100 this weekend. It gives a new meaning to making your money work for you...
I know I have been writing erratically and have not said much about daily life or daily Moroccan life (as I see it) so I will do better this week, inshallah. Promise!!!
And lastly, I have gotten a couple of empty voicemails. I can't see missed calls on my Skype. In short, if you don't leave a message, I'll never know you called!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Inshallah
For people learning Arabic or living in Muslim communities, Inshallah is probably one of the most cribbed words back into English. It literally means "God willing" but used much more frequently than we use it in English. Basically, any time you say something will happen in the future, you follow it by Inshallah. For example, when my students leave class we say, "See you tomorrow, Inshallah". To me, the phrase is very freeing. We can plan and plan all we like, but in the end it's all Inshallah. Just wanted to share that nugget with you all...
Some questions I have received...
1) What do you really do all day? Are you on vacation?
Hmmm.... I am no longer working 12 hour days, but I'm certainly not sitting on the beach sippin' Mai Thais. I teach intermediate English at a foundation for refugees. About half of my class is Moroccan and half are from Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly from the Congo. I teach in the morning and prepare for the next day in the afternoon. Incidentally, preparing for class takes about twice as long as the actual class but I'm having a great time so far. One bummer in class... I was having the students practice using different verb tenses by asking them to compare their lives before with their lives now. For example, last year I lived in America, now I live in Morocco. When it was time to check the answers one of my favorite students says, "Before I had a father. Now, I am an orphan." Whoa. I don't know much about any of them personally as to why they have moved to Rabat, etc. so that was very unexpected. Outside of that experience though, I have been having a great time teaching and the students seem to be improving. Because Morocco is so close to Spain, there is a major immigration problem between Morocco and Europe, similar to the US and Mexico. I think many of the students have come to Rabat in the hopes of getting to Europe someday. Inshallah.
2)What is the deal with the headscarf? Do you have to wear it?
The headscarf, or hijab, is worn by Muslim women to show modesty. It is required when one is praying but outside of that the interpretation gets slippery. Clearly, I cannot read Arabic so I don't know exactly what the Qur'an says. Morocco is a moderate Islamic state, i.e. no woman is forced to wear the hijab. Many women do choose to wear it, especially as you venture away from big cities. It also depends where one grew up. For example, Khadija, our house director, is from the south. She told us that in her town, girls start wearing the hijab at 10 or 11. I have also heard some women say they wear it once they are married. In short, no I don't have to wear it.
3) What is the time difference? When is the best time to call?
I am 5 hours ahead. The best time for me to talk is actually in the late morning (between 11am and 1pm my time) or after dinner (between 8pm and midnight my time). Shukran to my dad for hooking up my Skype so I can actually return voicemails now. :-)
Ok, that was the bell for tea time, I more to write about this weekend but I will do that later, Inshallah.
Bssellem
Some questions I have received...
1) What do you really do all day? Are you on vacation?
Hmmm.... I am no longer working 12 hour days, but I'm certainly not sitting on the beach sippin' Mai Thais. I teach intermediate English at a foundation for refugees. About half of my class is Moroccan and half are from Sub-Saharan Africa, mainly from the Congo. I teach in the morning and prepare for the next day in the afternoon. Incidentally, preparing for class takes about twice as long as the actual class but I'm having a great time so far. One bummer in class... I was having the students practice using different verb tenses by asking them to compare their lives before with their lives now. For example, last year I lived in America, now I live in Morocco. When it was time to check the answers one of my favorite students says, "Before I had a father. Now, I am an orphan." Whoa. I don't know much about any of them personally as to why they have moved to Rabat, etc. so that was very unexpected. Outside of that experience though, I have been having a great time teaching and the students seem to be improving. Because Morocco is so close to Spain, there is a major immigration problem between Morocco and Europe, similar to the US and Mexico. I think many of the students have come to Rabat in the hopes of getting to Europe someday. Inshallah.
2)What is the deal with the headscarf? Do you have to wear it?
The headscarf, or hijab, is worn by Muslim women to show modesty. It is required when one is praying but outside of that the interpretation gets slippery. Clearly, I cannot read Arabic so I don't know exactly what the Qur'an says. Morocco is a moderate Islamic state, i.e. no woman is forced to wear the hijab. Many women do choose to wear it, especially as you venture away from big cities. It also depends where one grew up. For example, Khadija, our house director, is from the south. She told us that in her town, girls start wearing the hijab at 10 or 11. I have also heard some women say they wear it once they are married. In short, no I don't have to wear it.
3) What is the time difference? When is the best time to call?
I am 5 hours ahead. The best time for me to talk is actually in the late morning (between 11am and 1pm my time) or after dinner (between 8pm and midnight my time). Shukran to my dad for hooking up my Skype so I can actually return voicemails now. :-)
Ok, that was the bell for tea time, I more to write about this weekend but I will do that later, Inshallah.
Bssellem
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
What did people do before cell phones?
Don't you ever wonder what we did before cell phones? Well, I found out this weekend it means you lose entire people for days at a time. The plan seemed simple enough. Twelve of us had planned to go to Essaouira and enjoy some sun at the beach. In hindsight, traveling in such a big group was certainly the first mistake. Then, five of us (myself included) were going to go to Marrakesh on Saturday night to see what was going on there. Problem 2. Everyone gets out of work at different times so I agreed to take the luggage of my two roommates that get out of work later. Problem 3. Let's just say I never saw those 2 ladies until Sunday evening on the train back. They missed the train we all were on and we both spent the whole weekend leaving messages that never got delivered for the other. I'm sure this story is confusing to you because it is still slightly confusing to me. Everyone got home safely and had a fun trip so I suppose that is all that matters.
Essaouira is a cool, hippy-ish beach town in the south of Morocco. It's a 5 hour train ride to Marrakesh and then a 3 hour bus ride. Long, I know, but sooooo worth it! It's beautiful and the people are really chill and friendly. We arrived Friday night and stayed at the Hostel Essaouira. For a hostel it was pretty nice but I think my hostel-ing days are about finished. It is a pretty cool place though. They have a room dedicated to Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix, both of whom took a liking to and visited Essaouira. However, despite a common misconception, Jimi Hendrix's song "Castles Made of Sand" was written two years before he visited Essaouira. The main things Essaouira is known for are gnawa music, thuya wood, argan oil and some leather products. Oh, and for just chillin. We woke up Saturday morning, went to have breakfast and just sat around for the better part of the morning enjoying the scenery. This is a place where tea time is any time and can last for hours. Essaouira is also known as the "wind city" and is supposed to be good for windsurfing and kitesurfing. It was only in the 60s though, so the water was just admired from afar. My absolute favorite part about Essaouira was the fish cafe. You go to the fish market, pick a fish and then take it to any of these little hole in the wall restaurants who cook it up for you. DELICIOUS!!! We had eel and some sort of white fish, eaten with our hands Moroccan style with bread.
After a day of shopping in the medina of Essaouira it was off to Marrakesh. Leaving such a peaceful place for a large city was jarring to say the least. I felt like Eddie Murphy when he gets dropped off in Queens in Coming to America. 3 or 4 cab drivers were fighting to take us to the hotel (a game to see who can overcharge the foreigners). The cab we did end up getting just dropped us off outside the medina. It's hard to explain this but the medinas are all walled in. So outside the medina you have regular streets like in any other city. But inside the medina it's like a labyrinth. There is just no way to find where you are going, even with the best map. Many of the streets are either not named or dirt is covering the name or the name is only written in Arabic. Luckily, my roll buddy Kiesel speaks pretty good French was able to enlist the help of a nice guy to take us to the riad (similar to a B&B) we were staying in, Dar Slam. [Just to connect the beginning of this blog with this part, while in Essaouira, we got a message saying that the 2 friends (Ayah and Saara) who missed the train were going to meet us in Marrakesh. So, we finally found the riad and knocked on the door thinking the girls would be there waiting for us. Not only were they not there, the proprietor seemed as if he had never heard of them. ] Anywho, this riad was AWESOME! We had a tent room on the roof, pictures will be posted soon. It was a bit cold because we were pretty much outside in the elements with a thick piece of fabric as a roof but it was so cool and we had tons of blankets. The proprietor, Mohammed, was interesting to say the least... He was definitely drunk when we arrived, and we ended up talking to him and drinking tea/ wine until 2am. The next day we explored the Marrakesh medina, which really takes an entire day. While in Essaouira, we met some guy who took a liking to Kiesel so he showed us around the whole city. Then, he liked her so much he came to meet us in Marrakesh at 10AM to show us around there too! Man, what can you not find in Marrakesh? The main square, Djemma el Fna, has snake charmers, acrobats, spices, fresh squeezed orange juice (for less than 50 cents!), chained monkeys, henna artists, musicians. And that is just the square. In the souk part you can shop for leather, argan oil, fresh produce, meat, clothes, scarves, rams heads, turtles... the list goes on and on. Make sure to check out the forthcoming photo album and this will make more sense. We also went to the Palace Bahia. The architecture in this palace was amazing. It is all so intricate and done by hand, of course.
By the time we finished at the palace, it was time to head back to Rabat. I was definitely ready to come back to the home base and take part in the great food they make for us every day. Now, the conclusion of the missing persons saga... When we arrived at Marrakesh train station, we finally found Ayah and Saara. Here is what happened: They missed the train to Marrakesh, which meant they also missed the connecting bus to Essaouira. They stayed the night in Marrakesh AT THE SAME RIAD WE STAYED AT SATURDAY!!! They explained to Mohammed that they had 3 friends and we were all supposed to come on Saturday but the missed the bus to Essaouira so they were going to stay with Friday night. Now, mind you, when we arrived Saturday we told Mohammed how we had two friends who we couldn't find and were supposed to come from Essaouira with us. How he did not reconcile these two, I will never know. Next piece that got lost in translation... We got a message in Essaouira that they were meeting us in Marrakesh. Not true. They told the guy they were in Marrakesh and COMING to Essaouira. So they hoped to meet us at the bus station, retrieve their bags, and hang out in Essaouira with the part of the group that stayed behind. Big misunderstanding. It doesn't help that all these conversations are happening in a mixture of broken English, French and Arabic. Ah well, c'est la vie.
Essaouira is a cool, hippy-ish beach town in the south of Morocco. It's a 5 hour train ride to Marrakesh and then a 3 hour bus ride. Long, I know, but sooooo worth it! It's beautiful and the people are really chill and friendly. We arrived Friday night and stayed at the Hostel Essaouira. For a hostel it was pretty nice but I think my hostel-ing days are about finished. It is a pretty cool place though. They have a room dedicated to Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix, both of whom took a liking to and visited Essaouira. However, despite a common misconception, Jimi Hendrix's song "Castles Made of Sand" was written two years before he visited Essaouira. The main things Essaouira is known for are gnawa music, thuya wood, argan oil and some leather products. Oh, and for just chillin. We woke up Saturday morning, went to have breakfast and just sat around for the better part of the morning enjoying the scenery. This is a place where tea time is any time and can last for hours. Essaouira is also known as the "wind city" and is supposed to be good for windsurfing and kitesurfing. It was only in the 60s though, so the water was just admired from afar. My absolute favorite part about Essaouira was the fish cafe. You go to the fish market, pick a fish and then take it to any of these little hole in the wall restaurants who cook it up for you. DELICIOUS!!! We had eel and some sort of white fish, eaten with our hands Moroccan style with bread.
After a day of shopping in the medina of Essaouira it was off to Marrakesh. Leaving such a peaceful place for a large city was jarring to say the least. I felt like Eddie Murphy when he gets dropped off in Queens in Coming to America. 3 or 4 cab drivers were fighting to take us to the hotel (a game to see who can overcharge the foreigners). The cab we did end up getting just dropped us off outside the medina. It's hard to explain this but the medinas are all walled in. So outside the medina you have regular streets like in any other city. But inside the medina it's like a labyrinth. There is just no way to find where you are going, even with the best map. Many of the streets are either not named or dirt is covering the name or the name is only written in Arabic. Luckily, my roll buddy Kiesel speaks pretty good French was able to enlist the help of a nice guy to take us to the riad (similar to a B&B) we were staying in, Dar Slam. [Just to connect the beginning of this blog with this part, while in Essaouira, we got a message saying that the 2 friends (Ayah and Saara) who missed the train were going to meet us in Marrakesh. So, we finally found the riad and knocked on the door thinking the girls would be there waiting for us. Not only were they not there, the proprietor seemed as if he had never heard of them. ] Anywho, this riad was AWESOME! We had a tent room on the roof, pictures will be posted soon. It was a bit cold because we were pretty much outside in the elements with a thick piece of fabric as a roof but it was so cool and we had tons of blankets. The proprietor, Mohammed, was interesting to say the least... He was definitely drunk when we arrived, and we ended up talking to him and drinking tea/ wine until 2am. The next day we explored the Marrakesh medina, which really takes an entire day. While in Essaouira, we met some guy who took a liking to Kiesel so he showed us around the whole city. Then, he liked her so much he came to meet us in Marrakesh at 10AM to show us around there too! Man, what can you not find in Marrakesh? The main square, Djemma el Fna, has snake charmers, acrobats, spices, fresh squeezed orange juice (for less than 50 cents!), chained monkeys, henna artists, musicians. And that is just the square. In the souk part you can shop for leather, argan oil, fresh produce, meat, clothes, scarves, rams heads, turtles... the list goes on and on. Make sure to check out the forthcoming photo album and this will make more sense. We also went to the Palace Bahia. The architecture in this palace was amazing. It is all so intricate and done by hand, of course.
By the time we finished at the palace, it was time to head back to Rabat. I was definitely ready to come back to the home base and take part in the great food they make for us every day. Now, the conclusion of the missing persons saga... When we arrived at Marrakesh train station, we finally found Ayah and Saara. Here is what happened: They missed the train to Marrakesh, which meant they also missed the connecting bus to Essaouira. They stayed the night in Marrakesh AT THE SAME RIAD WE STAYED AT SATURDAY!!! They explained to Mohammed that they had 3 friends and we were all supposed to come on Saturday but the missed the bus to Essaouira so they were going to stay with Friday night. Now, mind you, when we arrived Saturday we told Mohammed how we had two friends who we couldn't find and were supposed to come from Essaouira with us. How he did not reconcile these two, I will never know. Next piece that got lost in translation... We got a message in Essaouira that they were meeting us in Marrakesh. Not true. They told the guy they were in Marrakesh and COMING to Essaouira. So they hoped to meet us at the bus station, retrieve their bags, and hang out in Essaouira with the part of the group that stayed behind. Big misunderstanding. It doesn't help that all these conversations are happening in a mixture of broken English, French and Arabic. Ah well, c'est la vie.
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