Weeks 5 and 6: Second trip to Rabat and Gearing up for the end

Long time no see! Sorry I neglected to post last week. I normally take my Sundays to make these posts but we left around 9am and did not return until late Sunday night so alas, I did not write a post.

At the end of the last post I was asked if I would go back to the Hammam and if Moroccans usually eat late. To the first question, I will go back but not in the summer. It's too damn hot to go back in the summer as going from 105 degree into a sauna and strenuously scrubbing yourself is a helluva time and it makes me feel clean but it's a bit too hot. I've heard its great to go in the fall when its cooler and the sauna and scrubbing warms you up and feels refreshing but at the same time it gets more crowded and the one thing I hate more than crowds is being sweaty and wet...and in a crowd...of equally sweaty and wet men. But nonetheless everyone goes so it can't be that bad.

On the topic of dinner, yes most Moroccans tend to eat pretty late but after awhile you kind of get used to it. The only downside is I usually wake up in the early morning hours having to pee. Then again this happens fairly often even in the US, as those who know me will tell you, because I have a tiny bladder and drink a lot (usually water and coke and juice here because there's not much in the way of beer, especially with the Host fam, very haram).

This week, I have a debate to moderate for my formal Arabic class and next week as well as final presentations and interviews for Moroccan and Egyptian Arabic classes in the next two weeks. Only two more weeks of class before final exams and then summer break!

All for now,

Johnny M.

Week 4: All the dialects and all the homework

Hello everyone! I just capped off my first month back in Morocco with a trip to the hammam. For those who don't know, a hammam is basically a spa, but unlike in the US, both men and women frequent hammams and they are gender specific. The layouts of hammams vary somewhat but in general they are like big shower rooms with a single sauna room. You usually start by spreading a special olive or argan oil infused soap over your entire body. You can do this yourself or pay someone to do it for you. After sitting in the sauna for a few minutes you use a rough wash cloth called a "kish" to scrub all off the dead skin off your body. After that you finish with a shampoo and body wash of your choice. You can either bring shampoo and body wash with you or buy some there but not all hammams sell shampoo and body wash. It's about 20 or 30 MAD (2-3 USD) to go and 40 to 50 MAD (4-5 USD) if you want someone to do the scrubbing.

This past week was our first week of Formal, Egyptian, and Moroccan Arabic all together. Every day we have 4 hours of class for a total of 20 hours a week. We have 2 hours per day of Formal Arabic and 2 hours of a dialect. On Mondays and Wednesdays, we have Moroccan Arabic and Formal Arabic. Tuesdays and Thursdays we get Egyptian Arabic and Formal Arabic. Fridays we get all three; 2 hours of Formal and 1 hour for each dialect.

A received a request from last week's blog for more info on my daily routine. It's not all that much different from routine in the US. Classes start every day at 10am at the Center and I live about a 25 minute walk from it so I get up every morning around 8:45am to get dressed and eat breakfast around 9 or 9:10 after which I brush my teeth get my things together and am out the door between 9:25 and 9:35 each morning. Normally, I get a break for lunch between 12pm and 1pm and there are two places I frequent. A sandwich place and a lentils place, the former of which is my favorite. The sandwich place makes sandwiches with an egg, cheese and your choice of  fried meat (Sausage, turkey, Kefta, liver, or intestines). No, I have not tried the intestines (but I might). The lentils place sells...lentils, among other things. But they also give you bread and a big jug of homemade pulpy juice (I had carrot and orange, which was delicious) to go along with your meal. The mother of the two owners makes everything in the morning and they carry it to their shop for lunch everyday. You can get a complete and filling lunch at both places for less than 20 MAD (about 2 USD). Classes usually end between 2 and 4pm depending on which day. I then work on homework for 2 to 3 hours. Additionally I have to meet with my language partner 4 hours each week, which I prefer to spread out across 4-1 hour sessions. After I finish with school work, I will sometimes go running in a park across the street from my homestay before eating dinner  between 8 and 9. I'm usually in bed and asleep between 11:30 and 12am after reading for a bit.

Keep the questions and comments coming!

Best,

Johnny M.

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.