Week 3: Day trip to Rabat

Hello again. We have just completed our last full week of only Moroccan Arabic and will be moving into Egyptian and Formal Arabic next week, which marks our first full month in Morocco and what a month its been. I have finally found a great place to go for daily runs and it happens to be located across the street from my home-stay!

This week we started and finished a unit focusing on health and family not only in terms of vocabulary, expressions, and grammar used to talk about those topics, but also the topics themselves. We had a great discussion on alternative forms of medicine both in the US and in Morocco, particularly the use of Medical Marijuana, a topic I have seldom touched upon even in the US.

I capped off the week with a day trip to Rabat, the Moroccan capital, which round trip only cost about 14 USD (its about a 2 hr train ride from Meknes). We journeyed all over the city from the site of some old roman ruins to the Mausoleum housing the tomb of a previous king (Hassan II) and of course, to the beach.

I'm going to try something new. Some people dive really deep into different topics and are extremely detailed and thorough in their posts. I can do that but normally choose not to as I find it difficult to decide on what to write about at length in my posts. If a particular questions poses itself to you I invite you to post it in the comments and I will cover it in my next blog post.

Until next time,

Johnny M.

Week 2: Back to the North

After Eid al-Fitr and celebrating the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan, we set out on a little vacation to Northern Morocco. Specifically, we visited Asilah, Tetouan, Tangier, and we stayed in an Iqaam in the beach town of Martil, right on the Mediterranean. The drive by bus was about 5 to 6 hours both ways so there was plenty of time to nap, snack, and take lots of pictures of the passing scenery whether it be farms, towns, villages, or cows. Some of our language partners and teachers accompanied us which was great for keeping up with our language as well as having people help us navigate new places. Although, since I have already been to Tangier and Asilah, I didn't need too much help.

The beaches were relaxing and clean (الحمد لله) and I have plenty of pictures this time! You can find them on Facebook with my announcement of this blog post. So those of you who get tired of listening to me ramble can rejoice! At the beginning of each city we visited, each student from the three classes gave a 1-2 minute presentation in Arabic about an aspect of the town we were visiting (Culture, History, Demography, Geography, Famous figures, etc). Even though each town lied in about a 3 hour radius it was amazing how different each city's history was. Tangier has always been famous for designation as an international zone in the late 20th century that attracted beatnik writers and international spies alike. Tetouan and Asilah are both heavily influenced by Spanish culture and you will frequently read and hear Spanish spoken throughout the city centers.

This week we resume our classes and push through our last full week of only Moroccan Darija. Next week will introduce Formal and Egyptian Arabic in addition to Moroccan. Stay tuned for updates and pictures from our Fourth of July celebration. Questions and requests are always welcome.

All for now,

Johnny M.

Round 2: week 1: too many colons

My blogs this time around are going to be a little shorter as I have less time to devote to them but will hopefully be entertaining the nonetheless. Quality over quantity as they say. It's been a hard week. I've already been sick, sobbed over being so far from my lovely fiancee, but it seems to be rounding out quite nicely. Everyone I've met thus far has been exactly what I needed and then some. I believe that if I face any obstacles that need hurdling, I'll have a slew of stellar people to support me. Here are some photos I've taken of the city and in class. Feel free to post questions and concerns or what you'd like to hear about in future posts as I'm always to suggestions.

Best,

Johnny M.

Asila, Hammams, and my last week in the Maghrib

So this is very likely going to be my last post as next week will be absorbed by studying for my final exam.  I never did a post about my trip to Asila and I never posted any of the pictures from that trip so I guess I will start there.

Asila is a small beach town about 1 hour outside  of Tangier and yet it still took us about 3 hours to get to our hostel in the city from Tangier.  Moroccan time never fails to disregard any and all plans you may have to be even remotely on time to anything.  I may sound salty and it is because I am.  But once we finally arrived in Asila my spirits were lifted.  It was a very beautiful city with a lot of murals and art covering the stone and brick walls of the Old medina.  At the same time, it was also a tourist trap.  We tried to sit down at a restaurant to enjoy some dessert and tea after dinner and the waiter proceeded to explain in Arabic, Spanish, French, and maybe Darija too that we had to order an entree to dine in that restaurant.  We then responded by leaving as quickly as possible after telling him we needed a minute to decide what to order.  My patience for being bleed dry for money was pretty low at that point in time.

Our hostel was one of the nicest places we have stayed at to date and also one of the cleanest.  It was a little northwest of the Old medina and the beaches in a fairly secluded residential neighborhood. I enjoyed the quietest night of sleep since I arrived in Tangier.  The woman working the front desk amazed me with her ability to seamlessly switch between Spanish, French, and English as needed. When it came to Arabic, she could usually understand but not respond.  The guests came from all over Europe and there were even a couple of people from Asia as well.  It was definitely a much different experience traveling to a hostel outside of Ramadan in comparison to the first hostel we stayed at.  At the same time though, I feel like much less of a tourist than when I took that first journey to Rabat from Tangier.  Maybe that's why I get so agitated when I go to super touristy places. I'm not a native by any sense of the word but I've been living here for weeks and, especially when I am in Tangier, I don't feel like a tourist walking around the neighborhood and seeing the same people every day.  There's still a lot to Morocco that I haven't seen but the place feels more like a home than I ever thought it would.  I have the people I've met here to thank for that.

But then I have new cultural experiences such as going to a traditional Moroccan hammam (basically like a spa) that remind me I'm still a tourist in many ways.  First of all I would like to say that this place was incredibly clean and I felt very relaxed at the end of the appointment.  It started in true Moroccan fashion, 45 minutes late, and I walked in to notice we were the only ones in the place and the only ones who were male.  I figured the people in the wash rooms were going to be male so I did not think much of it but then my host brother said "oh no this place is normally only for women but I know the owners so I reserved for just us."  Now I'm thinking, am I going to be basically bathed  by women and as it turned out my assumptions were correct.  I would be lying if I said I didn't feel uncomfortable at any point during the appointment.  However, it was an interesting cultural experience and I would do it again.  Maybe.  Maybe with men would be less uncomfortable.

So in the next week you guys can look forward to hopefully a video of me singing for the CLS end of the summer talent show on Wednesday.  Also I will be posting more photos today of the past week or so.

Sorry for the short post but I've got a lot of work to do before I leave so I'll see you all back in America.

Thanks for reading,

Johnny M.

A Weekend in the Blue city

This past weekend the crew and I traveled to one of Northern Morocco's most famous vacation spots, Chefchauoen.  The views and the sites from the Blue pearl, as it is known, are among the most unique Morocco has shown me.  You won't find a city that looks quite like Chefchaouen anywhere else in the world.  With its blue walls and unobstructed views from near the top of the Rif Mountain Range, it was an experience I will never forget.  Additionally, about 45 minutes to an hour outside of the city is a breathtaking hike (about 2 to 3 hours there and back) to a waterfall.  I'm sure there are tons of great hikes in and around the city being so high up and close to the mountains but I was only there for a weekend so we wanted to pick the most memorable one we could find.  Accommodations were a lot better than expected in all honesty.  AirBnB is my savior as we found a beautiful little house at the top of the city with a fantastic view and only paid 30 bucks for the whole weekend!

Some things to keep in mind about Chefchauoen for interested parties, it is the weed capital of Morocco and because of that it is extremely touristy.  Marijuana probably is not the only reason but it is probably one of the primary reasons and while we were in the city walking through it we probably got approached by dealers at least 2 to 4 times on any given walk.  Also you can sometimes see the fields on the drive over from Tetuoan or Tangier.  Now because the city is so touristy it is not the best place to buy souvenirs in the souq because they jack up the prices like crazy.  I just noticed the prices of hats, bags, and the like on the street and knew it was only going to get worse from there.  As if that was not enough evidence of the impending price surge I also noticed multiple shops selling postcards; the international symbol of gift shops.  No other place that I have visited in my almost two months here have I seen a shop selling postcards.  So shoppers and knick-knackers beware, Chefchauoen is out to empty your wallet.  Not actually.  The people are very kind and are just trying to make a living but prices there are just higher than other places in Northern Morocco.  Knowledge is half the battle.

Knowledge is also winning the battle against my sanity this week.  It's probably been the hardest week of the program in awhile.  At the same time it was very rewarding though because I started practicing for our Oral exam next week to measure the progress we've made in our speaking and it was so much easier than the first time around.  For the first time in this program I can see my progress and it's very motivating but I still feel like there's so much more work to be done.  I take that as a sign that I'm in the right business if I can make this much progress in something over an entire summer and still want to push further and develop my skills to an even higher level.  It's been a very fulfilling realization for me.

Discussions get better each week with this week's discussions ranging from how Oil shaped the Gulf to Guantanamo Bay and Contemporary poetry.  I am always interested in what topics are book picks to discuss although sometimes they seem pretty grab bag.  What's more interesting is to see what articles our teachers pick for us to delve into each week and this week it was Guantanamo.  I wish they would focus more on news relevant to the Arab World because whenever I find myself in a discussion about issues in Morocco or the Arab World I feel unprepared and our News class could easily fix that issue.

I did lead a discussion about Tamazight (berber) culture in Morocco and efforts to give the Berber people more access to education and a more significant political voice.  Naturally I drifted more towards talking about language issues specifically and effort by the Institute for Amazight Culture to create a written form of Amazight to be used by all Berber people in Morocco across the 3 different dialects.  I really wanted to visit the Institute while I was in Rabat but time got away from me.  The most difficult aspect of Berber issues is that there are so many different tribes and groups that it becomes difficult for them as one to voice their concerns.  It's even more difficult when they don't have a language they share as the different dialects are not mutually intelligible.

The majority of grade school education in Morocco is done in either French or Arabic so when Berber people enter school and don't speak one of those languages they quickly fall behind.  Since Berber life is centered around the family and supporting the family many just drop out and help on the farm or around the house.  Additionally, they may sell jewelry or fabrics in a souq to make money for the family as well.  

There are a lot of movements and efforts today to expose Berber culture to the general public in Morocco but when I was trying to do research on Berber culture and social life all I found were mostly articles about the conflict between Berber culture and Moroccan culture or other topics about the problems facing Berbers.  I think this in of itself is causing the problem because no one actually takes the time to try to learn what Tamazight culture is like from the people.  While they are in the minority, there are a decent amount of people that speak both Amazight and Arabic and even French who are willing to introduce people to the culture.  If we could tap into that we could make some serious headway into ending this intercultural conflict.

Sorry this post is not as meaty but as always, I welcome suggestions on what to write about. 

Until next time,

Johnny M.  

  

Christmas in July

Life here is astoundingly different post Ramadan which is something that everyone told me before I came, during the flight, and throughout the month of Ramadan itself.  But as with most things, it's one thing to hear about it and expect it and another thing entirely to experience it firsthand.  This past weekend was Eid-al Fitr which is the holiday that marks the end of the month of Ramadan and for some reason Morocco was a day later than the rest of world.  I still do not understand why.  From what I was told, I gathered that a religious authority looks to the sky on the 29th day of the fast and if he sees the crescent moon then Eid is the next day.  If he does not see the crescent moon then everyone has to fast for another day.  Since we can predict the moon cycle I assumed that we would know for sure when Eid was going to be but that was not the case.  There must be something else that goes into deciding when Eid is but despite all my questions I do not have a clear answer. Nonetheless, waiting one extra day after being in the thick of it for a month was not the end of the world but this is coming from someone who was not fasting for the majority of the month so I'm sure my friends and host family here were of a slightly different opinion on the matter.

Irregardless of the day Eid happened to fall on it was a wonderful day of celebration and time with my new friends and family.  More importantly, after waiting for a month I finally feasted upon some authentic Moroccan couscous!  And I'm not going to mince words here, it was pretty damn glorious. My host mother allowed us to assist in the cutting and skinning of some of the vegetables but I'm not going to steal Rashita's thunder because she killed the couscous game that day.  She also made a tomato-based sauce with some paprika and other spices to drizzle over the couscous.  It was perfectly moist and the flavors of the chicken and the sauce really meshed well and I loved the texture that the cabbage and carrots added to the dish.  Overall, one of my best culinary experiences in Morocco to date (Get it? Dates, morocco, trust me I'm a riot...)

Also, you're probably wondering at this point why the title of my blog is Christmas in July (unless you're muslim and have experienced Eid before and know about Christmas) and I am now going to tell you.  The entire day reminded of Christmas.  There you have it folks.  Only kidding but what an explanation that would be.  Anywho, on the morning of Eid people wake up and go to the mosque and eat a breakfast that consists almost exclusively of sweets.  Children and adolescents on Eid also receive presents and money from their families after the events of the morning most people proceed to adventure from house-to-house of their extended family to eat more sweets and drink more tea and coffee.  My roommates and I completed this "house crawl" of sorts to two houses, one in the old medina, and one closer to where I live in Northern Tangier.  In between houses we had a particularly interesting experience with a Taxi that I will never forget for as long as I live.

Most taxis in Tangier drive around major streets when they are vacant and search for eager people yearning for adventure but there is another kind of taxi, one that is considerably cheaper, a good deal more dangerous, but quadruple the excitement.  These taxis have a predetermined route with two major stops and when they reach the main destinations anyone standing around immediately rushes to the doors shoving and pushing any stranger out of the way to obtain a seat.  I honestly have never seen anything like it.  No one got overtly violent but there was definitely some horseplay going on. After about 20 minutes of waiting we were about to give up but then one last taxi came down and one of my roommates grabbed the handle of the moving taxi and hopped in pushing up against the door on the opposite side of the car in an attempt to leave space for all four of us in the back of the cab.  It was an ingenious plan that somehow managed to work and within a minute we were on our way to stuff our faces with more pastries and cookies then our bodies had room for.  I will say that I slept well that night but I unfortunately had to wake up at around 7:30 the next day for our day trip to a neighboring beach town.  Not the worst reason in the world to wake up early.

But early morning beach soccer with no breakfast is not the easiest thing to do in the world but I made it work.  And after a long game I had the freezing cold water to remind me where I was.  We went to an Archaeological museum set up in an old Berber city which was a little more interesting than I am going to make it out to be, but not a whole lot.  I liked what the museum had to offer which was ruins of a roman-era city and really fascinating construction plans and replicas of the city itself but the presentation of the museum left a lot to be desired in my opinion.  There was a lack of any discernible organization and if I didn't have someone from the school telling me what we were walking through this small paragraph about my visit might not exist and then you all would be sad because you all love hearing me talk so much.  It's ok guys I get that a lot.  It's ok to feel sad sometimes. I'm here for you all.

This week's discussions have been pretty on point thus far.  On Monday we had a listening about Moroccan music and I learned a little from that video but most of it was not new unfortunately.  I really want to learn about some popular Moroccan bands of any genre and I have been exposed to bits an pieces of the music culture here but I want more.  We read an interesting piece a couple weeks ago in class about the spread of Hip-hop from the Bronx to Morocco over the past 20 or thirty years. Basically the way things get to Morocco from the U.S, at least for a long time, was through France. Now the relationship is more direct with social media and the increase in programs such as the one in which I am currently participating.  What I'm trying to say is I want Moroccan Hip-hop and my current attempts to learn more about specific types of Moroccan music have been futile.  But I'm nothing if not persistent, and impatient, sometimes I think one may cause the other but I'll let you all decide which because I'm a man of the people and a people of the man.

Discussions on day two got a little more serious where we talked about issues of social and personal freedom throughout Morocco in addition to reading an article about why American journalism sucks. While I am not of this opinion, it was clear that this author was and I think he had some good points. The discussion about personal freedom was not as in depth as I would of liked but we only had about 40 minutes with that teacher before he left so I could always pick it back up in office hours. The discussion essentially consisted of a story about women being objectified and another story about gay people being out in the open in Fez.  Other than making sure we understood what the article was saying, we did not talk much about the issues inherent in the article which was disappointing but we had an article about sexual harassment to read tonight for homework so details on that discussion to come hopefully in the next post.

The journalism article basically attacked American Media as a whole for not producing quality or accurate news about subjects in the Middle east or outside the U.S. in general.  There was a lot of criticism about the 24-hour news cycle of sources like CNN producing "garbage" news as well as richer and more well known outlets catering to specific groups of people.  I do not know much about how journalists actually do their job, particularly foreign correspondents but I do know that it's hard to provided news to a country where the majority of people don't care about Foreign policy, at least as much as they care about other issues such as economic reform or social equality.  The article also stated that American was a place that prides itself on and preaches Freedom of the press while censorship still exists.  That is a point that I don't hear very often and I assume the author was pointing to the fact that at least some news papers are owned by wealthy businessmen who could conceivably affect what gets printed and what does not.  I am sure those people exert their influence but I also feel like the alternative is to be like Morocco and have the government own the majority of the papers.  Personally, I choose the former of the two options.

Well, food for thought by the pound tonight ladies and gentlemen.  As always comments and criticisms are always welcome.

Until next time,

-Johnny M.

The Art of Linguistic Roulette

So many different languages are tossed around in daily life in Morocco that I turned it into a fun little game I like to call Linguistics roulette.  This game is particularly enjoyed by the taxi drivers of Tangier.  Some of them speak Formal Arabic, Darija, French, Spanish, and English, and some of them speak a wild combination of any of the aforementioned languages.  The most common combination in Tangier I have found is Arabic, Spanish, and French.  When in cabs I find myself inadvertently switching in a lot of Arabic for the Spanish I am trying to produce.  It is a great brain exercise and it will allow me to become more fluid in both languages over time.

Morocco definitely gives you plenty of opportunities to hear various languages and because our host brother has a different person, or people, over for dinner every night we get plenty of practice hearing a lot of different accents and languages.  I think there have only been one or two dinners in the month that I have been here where a new person did not join us for dinner.  Our dinners usually take around an hour and a half and we talk about everything.  Some family – friendly topics are discussed but that usually only lasts for about the first 15 minutes or so and then it deteriorates into god knows what. 

The topics we discuss in class are among the same lines in that we just seem to talk about anything and everything.  In the past week, we have discussed the differences between Greek and Middle Eastern theatre, the relationship between Islam and international politics, the Iranian nuclear deal, and the conflict between formal Arabic and the various dialects across the Arab world.  I felt engaged in all the aforementioned topics but most especially in the theatre and language discussions respectively.  My interest and passion for discussions of language was obvious but my involvement in the theatre reading really surprised me. 

Mom, this paragraph is for you.  I assume most of you know about the classic Greek tragedy, which focuses on the destiny of the hero bestowed upon him by the Gods.  Well, Egyptian theatre is all about choice and about the main character being a hero because he can make the tough everyday choices and change his destiny.  The concept of free will that exists at the core of these plays is challenged a lot by so+*me authors like Vonnegut and believers of fate but I sort of like the idea of a hero simply being a guy who can make tough choices.

Speaking of tough decisions, traveling to Al Hoeceima this past weekend was full of them.  Not really but sometimes smooth transitions between paragraphs are few and far between.  Deciding between taking a 6 hour taxi or bus through the mountains was annoying, nonetheless.  We ended up choosing the taxi because it was cheaper but the ride there definitely left room for improvement in the comfort department.  The city itself was kind of disappointing in all honesty because I had heard that it was a beautiful beach town but the only impression I got from it was a smaller Tangier where I did not speak the language of the majority of the people.  We did do a 13 kilometer hike through the mountains where I experienced some of the most beautiful scenery in my life so that was definitely the highlight of the trip.  The pictures I took are breathtaking and can be found on Facebook for those who want to see.

Back to the language issue, the majority of people there spoke a type of Darija I had not heard before or the Berber language, Tamazight.  Both of which proved problematic for me, barely able to understand even the Darija that is spoken around me every day.  You'd also be hard pressed to find people who even understood the Fusha or formal Arabic that I speak best.  But being exposed to a new dialect really opens the door for incredibly enriching cultural exchange, as my language partner told me.  That was part of a bigger conversation we had about issues between the various dialects and Arabic and the Fusha that is taught in schools.  I told him that to bridge the gap between all of these Arab countries that essentially speak different languages, Fusha is not sufficient and he agreed. Then, I moved on to discuss improving the quality of translation systems between different dialects and make them more accessible to everyone.  He then responded that he believed that solution would allow for better cultural exchange in addition to methods such as watching movies or reading magazines and newspapers from the target country.  Overall, one of my favorite discussions of the trip so far and very productive at the same time.  

In my opinion, the discussions I have had with people in Tangier have been very interesting and very beneficial for both me and them.  One night, a college-age girl and her brother came upstairs to our apartment to study with us.  Her being a student and English and us as students of Arabic produced a mutually beneficial study session.  We talked a lot about our studies and why we studied the languages that we did and I just had to applaud her courage for coming upstairs and talking with us because those sorts of interactions with the people are what sets this program apart from others with similar goals for the participants.  

In one of my classes last week we had a great conversation about whether or not money could buy you happiness which I feel I have talked about a lot in my two study abroad experiences.  The reason for this is because conceptions of wealth and possession are slightly different in every culture. While, of course everyone would like to not worry about money in an ideal scenario, some cultures (notably Western culture) places more emphasis on material possessions.  Going off of that, these discussions are probably important just to show people what is valued in other cultures and that it is not always money.  

Anyway some meaty fixings for the brain with this post so comments are welcomed, encouraged, and desired.

As always thanks for reading.

-Johnny M