TIME FOR AN UPDATE!

The last few days have been terrific.  I'm continuing to learn the intimacies of the culture and spend time with Moroccans (and fast....but I found out the Moroccan secret to suffering less during Ramadan: stay up all night eating and sleep as much as possible during the fasting hours of the day = )

A couple of nights ago my Rabat friend Simo invited me to go to Casablanca and for a night out with a couple of Rotaract clubs, including the one he and Housni (my friend who first welcomed me to Morocco) belong to. Being Rotarct clubs, all the members were around my age. They were warm and welcoming to me, and they had a great time just sitting around talking to each other. Since they have joined Rotary and committed to its humanitarian mission of service above self, they often organize events in the city to visit Retirement homes or Hospitals to entertain the residents and patients. They are youngsters who feel obliged to serve their community. It's beautiful. But they don't forget to have fun, and that is why they met this night to catch up and reconnect with each other. On the ride home, Simo explained to me that as Rotarians they feel not only a need to serve their community, but also to have fun. The more fun they have, he explained, the more they want to help people.

A dinner with Rotarians. Me in the middle, Housni on the left, and Simo on the right.

I began private Arabic lessons a couple of days ago to build a small basis before University classes start. My teacher, Abd-Alssamad, is a 26 year-old guy who likes to vary his teaching approach and have fun. After our first class, we went to a nearby park and talked for about 3 hours, mostly about Moroccan culture and Islam. He told me we wanted me to see him as a friend and not a student, and that's exactly what we've been. After our class yesterday, he invited me to go with him to his hometown, Temara, which is about 20 minutes from Rabat. I ended up staying the night and most of today. His wife cooked a couple of delicious meals, and the three of us ate together at the designated times (during Ramadan the meal times are breakfast at 7pm, lunch/dinner around midnight, and usually a light meal, maybe just flan and water, at 4am.)

A yummy 7pm breakfast prepared by Fatima, Abd-Alssamad's wife. Fatima is on the right and Abd-Alssamad is on the left.

Last night Abd-Alssamad and I went out and he took me to a small fair where we ate spicy boiled snails (yummy!). Then we met up with one of his former students of English and we had tea and talked until 3am (during Ramadan it is very common for people to stay awake until the 4:30am prayer. They eat a couple a meals during the night and sleep late during the day to avoid being awake and active for too many hours with no calorie or H2O intake.)

There were two events last night that were culture shock to me, but that caused immediate culture envy. The first happened when we were waiting for a member of our group to take a taxi. The driver realized it would be a little while, so he headed off down to the dock to take care of whatever business he had. What "shocked" me, however, was that he left with us inside the taxi, the keys in the ignition, and his money sitting out. He decided we were trustworthy, so he went to handle his business and return later, with us watching his possessions. When will you see that in the States?

The next incidence that raised a big red flag for this American boy, was during a separate taxi ride. Abd-Alssamad struck up conversation with the driver and pretty quickly was passed a half-full bottle of water by the driver, from which Abd-Alssamad drank, returned to the driver and thanked him. Abd-Alssamad looked at me and asked if that was normal in the States. "Hell no!" I said, and smiled. He explained, "I told him I was thirsty and he had water, so he gave me some. Culture of sharing!" I LOVED it and thought how great that would be to take back to the States, but I realized that wouldn't work in our germaphobic culture. It's ingrained in the American mind that if we share we will become ill, get diseases, and cooties. But ya know, Moroccans continually and intentionally, and yet they aren't all sick or rampant with diseases. In fact, they look a lot healthier than most Americans (ok that's probably because of fast food.) Below is an example of this culture of sharing.

Culture of Sharing...
Around the tea pot are 4 glasses, which belonged to the four of us sitting at the table. Next to the bottle of water is one glass, to be shared by the four of us. This is how it was served. In other words, we are EXPTECTED to share. Cool, right?

Transportation here is a blast! You know you're likely to get maimed or die at any moment, but somehow you feel safe amongst the methodical madness. When Abd-Alssamad and I went to the market to get stuff for dinner, we took his scooter. It was tiny, but we snuggled up and fit just fine (again, since men see each other as brothers and not homo-erotic threats, it is highly normal for two men to be hugged up on a little scooter.) This is what we looked like on his pimp-mobile.

Sorry, mom...no helmet.

In Moroccan traffic you get in where you fit in, literally. We were quite slow on the road, so we avoided other cars and motorbikes as they rumbled past, then we weaved through itsy bitsy crevices between the people and road-side stands in the market before parking between fish vendors and the sidewalk to buy some chicken. There's nothing like be closer to death to enjoy life a little more.

Abd-Alssamad is a very busy teacher, and gives English classes in 3 different schools. Last he took me with him to one of his classes. When we met the students, I was surprised to see that it was four girls. I guess Morocco is like the States in that is it more often girls who have the ambition and wherewithal to put in extra time learning a subject. For those who have read Three Cups of Tea, it was also reminiscent of Greg Mortenson's vision of educating girls, especially Muslim girls. As you can see in the picture below, three of the four girls were covered in the typical Islamic attire for females. This is by choice, mind you, as women are free to dress as they wish. They cover themselves often out of a desire to remain as pure as possible for their future husbands. By covering themselves, other men cannot enjoy them visually, and these girls are giving their husbands a more valuable, untarnished gift in marriage.

Abd-Alssamad's English students. They were fast-learners, joyful, and happy to have a native speaker join their class. They jumped on opportunities to teach me Arabic, French and about the culture.

I want to point out that this kind of education for girls is neither uncommon in Muslim states, nor is it prohibited or even discouraged by the Koran. The Koran, in fact, insists not only on equal education of men and women, but it tends to give more societal value to women than men. For example, men here can be jailed for not providing well or taking care of their wives. Women in Islamic culture are very important, almost sacred. Do not let extremist groups like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, who DON'T follow the teachings of the Koran, falsify your image of Muslim culture and society. People here have begged me not to let groups like the Taliban represent Islam. Here they do not recognize Al-Qaeda as Islam.