The (sort of) glorious time of Ramadan

Ramadan is a time many with which many of you may be unfamiliar.  It is the time during which Muslims believe that the Koran was revealed and in celebration, millions of Muslims around the world do not allow food or drink of any kind pass their lips during the daylight hours for a month's time.  However, life goes on (almost) normally-people go to work and do their daily tasks.  Not everyone fasts though; children who have not reached puberty, people who need medicine to make it through the day (such as diabetics), pregnant women and those traveling are exempt.  The timing of this month changes one month every year (based on the lunar calendar), and obviously it is easier in the winter months because the days are shorter and going without water is not as difficult as it is in the heat of the summer.  This year, Ramadan falls during the month of August, one of the harder months during which to fast, especially in the heat of the Moroccan summer.  Thankfully (and awesome for me), Morocco has been having a relatively mild summer and the part in which I live especially so.

I decided to try the whole "fasting" thing for my first Ramadan in Morocco.  I wanted to see what it was like and wanted to work on my community integration, something which I do feel has been improved with my fasting.  Truthfully, the first week of Ramadan was hard.  However, instead of being really thirsty, which is what I was expecting, I was mostly just really tired.  But that's pretty much in the past (or maybe I'm just used to it now).  I have my Ramadan schedule down now and it definitely includes a long nap in the middle of the day.  I wake up in the morning and go to the sbitar (clinic) until about 11 or so-after that there are very few people that want to walk in from the surrounding villages in the heat of the day without drinking any water.  Then, I go home and go about my days tasks, which usually include painting some part of a window or door and listening to Harry Potter audio books.  At 7 pm or so I head out to break fast...

I'm sure Ramadan varies from country to country and even from family to family.  During this month I have been able to enjoy breaking fast (lftur, pronounced looftur, which incidentally also means "breakfast" in Darija...perhaps an Arabic influence on the English idea).  Each family does it a little differently and eats different foods for this meal.  In the town in general though, this meal is a substantial meal, whereas in other communities it is just a big tea time with a much larger meal later in the evening.  Here though, each family usually serves dates, figs, milk and milk-based fruit smoothies, harira (the general name for soup....during Ramadan this soup is very hearty and the tomato-based version contains chick peas, pasta, lentils, beans, eggs and various spices and the milk-based version has a whole grain in it, similar to oatmeal) tea, bread, some kind of fish, and my favorite, shbekia (a delicious, deep-fried sugary pastry-type food drenched in honey (see attached picture).  Some families also have various  People do not drink nearly as much water as I would expect, and in fact, many families do not drink any water at all during lftur.  The meal usually lasts an hour or so and the men in the family will go to the mosque for evening prayer between 9 and 9:30 (there is no section of the mosque for women in my town, though I know women go to mosque as well during this time in many bigger cities).  As far as I can tell, people then go to bed at a normal time (between 10 and 12) and then the women wake up at 2:30 in order to prepare sHur, or the early morning breakfast, which is eaten at about 3:30am so that everyone can eat before the early call to prayer which happens about 4:30.  Even though I am not participating in the prayer aspect of Ramadan, I have still been getting up and cooking breakfast at 3...it's necessary to eat this meal if I want to get through the day without being too hungry.

So Ramadan is almost over (and I will get to go back to getting a full night's sleep, yay!).  This Saturday is called the Night of Power and many people will stay awake all night praying because they believe this is the night that is especially holy and that God is more likely to hear their prayers on this night.  Many read the Koran aloud during this night.  I do not plan on staying awake all night this Saturday, but it will be interesting to see the preparations for people to do so.   And next week (either Wednesday or Thursday) is what is known as "small 3id," or the end of Ramadan.  It involves a big morning meal with a lot of cakes and other sweet things and everyone gets very dressed up-basically just a celebration of the month of fasting and its end.  I am planning to make a cake (yes, I have practiced this and didn't fail miserably) and enjoy 3id with my host family.

                                                                             harira

                                                 lftur meal

                                                          bag of sbekia...yes I bought a bag for myself

My house in the middle of my street

I have accomplished a lot today (unpacked most of my stuff, took a shower, wrote some letters and emails) and therefore feel in the mood for a celebratory posting.  So here are a few of the good things that have happened to me in the last few weeks:

            -moved into my new house

            -got water in said house

            -house was cleaned (and not by me, thankfully)

            -went to the beach

-was greeted in Darija (not French) by a shop keeper I walk by a lot in Essaouira…he also had a big smile on his face when he did it and it totally made my day

-after the greeting, another man asked me if I was from Rabat…why no sir, but thank you for mistaking me for a Moroccan

            -have fed myself for like 4 days on sandwiches and cereal

-will be getting the rest of the furniture for my house in the next week from a volunteer near me who is going back to the States

-the weather here is wonderful…not as hot as the rest of the country, so I can feel bad for all my friends while being quite comfortable …yes, feel free to hate me because of it

Crazy story of the day:

So I decided to get a little exercise today and went on a bike ride.  I got to a place which I thought would be a good place to turn around.  Then, I saw this goat on the side of this hill…but the hill had a sheer drop off of like 25 ft. and the goat was stuck on the side of the drop off standing on some roots and a rock.  Looking at this goat, I thought there was a very real possibility that this goat was going to fall so I put my bike down and started to climb up the other side of the hill with the intention (I guess) of like picking this goat up and putting him back on the flat top of the hill.  However, as I was walking over, the goat totally did fall (and now I have to diverge a little to explain how animal roaming works in my site-the animals have their 2 front feet tied close together often or just one of their feet is tied and then the other end is attached to a tree or rock or something else to keep them from going far).  This goat fit into the second category, so when he fell he was just hanging on this side of this hill from his one foot screaming.  I ran over and I think I was maybe going to try to like hold the goat so he wouldn’t be hanging by his foot but then he freaked me out and I thought he might bite me so I sort of freaked out and started yelling just like the goat.  Then this pickup drove by so I flagged them down and the guy backed up and I pointed at the goat.  He got out with a knife (yes, I think kitchen knives are common accessories in cars in Morocco…and for good reason apparently) and walked over to the goat and cut the rope that was attached to the goat’s foot.  The goat landed and then got up and walked back up the hill.  The guy just kind of laughed at me and got back in his truck and drove away.  Yes, clearly, just cut the goat down…that was literally probably the last thing I would have thought of and this guy knew totally what to do.  Perhaps I will take my knife on future bike rides for such occasions… 

And Here We Are...

            Since I’m feeling in a ‘list’ kind of mood these days, I will include one about my new awesome site.  Just for a little preface, I have been here a little more than a week.  Things have been good so far, it’s beautiful here and I’m getting to know a lot about the community and have been meetings lots of people.  My family is good and it’s still a little difficult getting used to having at least 6 kids in the house (but usually more), but I think we’re adjusting pretty well to each other.  In about 3 weeks I will move into a place of my own, which I have still yet to find, but inshallah, it won’t be so hard…so anyway, enough chatter, here’s my list:

1.       My site is between 4 and 7 km of the ocean (and I’m leading towards 7 but I’ll let y’all know as soon as I can make it out there)

2.      We have a clinic, it’s open when it’s supposed to be and people come to it…yay!

3.      There are a ton of little stores (called ‘Hanuts’) which sell a large variety of cookies, candy and yogurts…aka I’m set for life

4.      My site is actually a sort of business center and there is a market (souq) every day of the week except Sunday.  On Thursday, there is a souq for women only (I haven’t gone to that one yet, but maybe this week)

5.      There are apparently both scorpions and all sizes and colors of snakes here (however, only the scorpions have been confirmed, though not by me personally…my sisters might have been embellishing on the snake thing to scare me…or so I hope)

6.      I will eventually have internet at my site…there aren’t any internet cafes but it is possible to get mobile internet here

7.      The weather reminds me a lot of Berkeley…hot during the day and cool at night…but there are a lot more donkeys and camels here than I ever saw during my college days

8.      (this is about Morocco in general) fleecy animal prints, brightly colored crushed velvet and pajama sets are always in style, and yes this is for everyday wear….so if anyone has any extras lying around, I know a few ladies/my whole town who’d love to have them ;)

9.      They are definitely still rolling with the old/new time division here…but what I know is that the schools and clinic are on new time and my family on old time…even though half the family has to go to places operating on new time…ok, done with talking about this silliness, but it’s just so absurd I had to mention it one last time

10.  Justin Bieber is just as popular with middle school girls in Morocco as in the States…some girls came into the clinic for shots the other day and the first thing they asked me was if I had seen his movie…unfortunately I had to disappoint them

11.  My site is awesome, you are all welcome to come visit any time!!

oops

ok everyone I promise that I really did have a blog post written and ready to go but I saved it in a format that this computer at the cyber cafedoesnt read so you will have to wait a few more days and I will need to make it more awesome to be worth your while. that is all. I am well and miss everyone a whole bunch!

Things I have learned so far in Morocco (Part 1)

1) Just because there is an official government time change, it does not ensure that people will follow it (and in fact, you and your CBT mates may be the only people that choose to do so….don’t worry, it switches back to “old time” in July I hear…)

2)   If you sleep outside, you can see the stars really well but a windstorm may come up and just because you are close to the ground does not mean you will avoid having things land on you in the night

3)   You probably cannot convince your Moroccan family to eat raw tomatoes with the peel still on just by putting them in your awesome “American food” macaroni and cheese dish

4)   There are a wide variety of good Moroccan candy/chocolate desserts for a great price (note: just because there is a commercial for a cake with a really cuddly bear that hugs you when you eat sad cake, this will not happen in real life and that cake is actually really bad…hence them having to use the cuddly hug bear to convince you to buy it)

5)    Weddings last for days (literally)…but no one will be offended if you leave “early” one of the nights (aka at midnight) to go home and sleep.  Also, Moroccans have sweet dance moves.

6)   Discussing, interpreting and elaborating on the lives and goings-on of your host family may become your replacement for entertaining television in your CBT group

7)    Having a cold Coke after spending a long morning shopping at Souq (market) may just be the best part of your week (and is in fact comparable to enjoying another cold, carbonated beverage after a long day in the States…well, almost comparable…)

8)  1.5 liter water bottles make a great substitute for washing machines (no really! but you can only fit small items through the hole at the top)

9)   You may look forward to walking the 7km to souq every week because it’s the only exercise you’ve had since the last 7km walk to souq…

10) CBT mates, LCFs and Moroccan host families are some of the nicest, most supportive, best people you’ll ever encounter!

some random comments about the end of CBT

Alright everyone, headed into the final stretch of CBT here.  It’s been a crazy, sometimes wonderful, sometimes difficult journey.  Once I head back to CBT site on Thursday, I will have 7 days left with my host family.  It is a very bittersweet time. I swear in (aka become an official Peace Corps Volunteer) on May 25 (inshallah) and will head to my final site on May 26. I’m excited for these new things and to finally get to move to where I will live for the next two years, but of course, I will be very sad to leave this wonderful family that  have become rather attached to.  We have all gotten our routine down-I play cards with my brothers and sister every night, we all eat breakfast together in the morning and dinner together at night.  I help my sister in the kitchen either with cooking or cleaning up after the meals.  My brothers and I have secret handshakes and I’ve taught them lots of American games.  They put up with my rough language skills and are nothing but patient and caring.  And on top of that, I have learned to embrace the wonderful support of my fellow CBT mates and I know that I will miss them greatly when we all head our separate ways (and yes, I totally started singing the Journey song after I wrote that, thank you Cal Band).

I know that I have not been able to keep in touch with you all as much as I would like to.  Feel free to write me letters anytime (just email me and ask for the address!) and I will try to update this regularly when I’m in my final site.  However, if I fall behind or something of the sort and you want to catch up, please write an email (and yes, I think all of your lives and what you do everyday is interesting, even if you don’t)!  And, as always, let me know if you’re rollin’ through Morocco anytime in the future and you will have a couch or bed or floor/whatever I can offer at your beck and call!

new site, yeah!

Hi all. So I had my site visit these last few days, met my family and counterpart and all that jazz. Things went pretty well, did a lot of napping and sitting around but that's ok.  My family is nice though requested that I not post pictures on the internet of them, so you'll just have to guess what they look like or something. However, I was able to take some pictures of my site as well as the beautiful sunset in Essaouira.  I also have a real address now and if I forget to include you in the email and you want it, let me know!


sunset at essaouira

view from my bedroom

another beach view near my site

my site on a rainy morning