As I have done in the past, this is my "first week in
Morocco" post to compliment my first week in India and first week in France posts from 2013 and 2014, respectively. Predictably, moving to Morocco
has been full of challenges and successes. Challenge: Having a few unstructured
days before I began work in which to completely rethink moving to Morocco in
the first place. With that internal freak-out over, I moved on to some
successes: Buying a SIM card and getting a fully-operational phone, completing
my HR paperwork, navigating an overwhelming supermarket to find spoons, and
having a productive conversation in a mixture of classical Arabic (fus-ha),
Moroccan Arabic (darija), French, and hand signs with my office's building
manager. In my studies abroad I
have found that a day's small successes can reassure me that I made the right
choice in moving halfway across the world.
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| The sun sets behind the soccer field |
Before I even had navigated the supermarket in Fes to find
spoons, I ventured to the outskirts of Ifrane (my city and home to Al Akhawayn
University [AUI]) to find the souk (large, open-air market). In Ifrane the souk
happens every Saturday and Sunday. There, locals from Ifrane and the
surrounding countryside converge on a dusty hill to buy every possible good
imaginable from hairbrushes to live chickens to underwear and popcorn. It was
as if a supermarket had lost its roof and each aisle had divided itself into
winding, narrow pathways.
At the age of 22 I have already had the privilege to live
abroad for over nine months through three Davidson College-sponsored study
abroad programs: India, France, and Colombia. This year in Morocco will more than double that time abroad.
However, this time, I am living on my own. I have my own apartment, office, and
salary. I will travel within and outside of Morocco on my own.
Thankfully, while here, I have a support network of my fellow Presidential
Interns and of the thoughtful faculty and staff at AUI. In comparison to my study abroad programs through Davidson, though, I am much more on
my own.
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| The view from my office window of campus' main entrance |
One moment that reassured me that I had made a good decision
in coming to live in Morocco was a hike sponsored by AUI's interfaith group.
Early last Saturday morning we (30 students and two AUI faculty) trekked to a
nearby village. Along the way we learned about the region's depleting and
increasingly privatized water supply. Due to consistent low rainfall over the
past twenty years, the water supply available in the water table and the region's many springs has decreased by 20%. Coupled with the overall
decrease, some local villages have lost access to and control of their
private springs to water bottling companies, such as AinIfrane.
Though a sobering lecture, the combination of hiking outdoors, learning, and
meeting other students provided me with the sense that I was beginning to
create a new life here.
After the hike, I returned to my apartment hoping to buy a train
ticket to Marrakech online. Following many unsuccessful attempts, I realized
that I would have to make a 1 hour+ journey from Ifrane to Meknes, the 11th
century imperial city, to buy my ticket in-person. The next day I embarked on
my first mini-adventure. To get there and back required five separate taxis -
"grand" and "petit". The petit taxi took me from my
apartment to the grand taxi station. From Ifrane's grand taxi station, grand taxis
leave every fifteen to thirty minutes and travel to nearby cities such as Fes,
Azrou, and Meknes. While some grand taxis are shiny new vans, others are
rather-worn Mercedes sedans c.a. 1980. Into that contraption pile seven people:
the driver and two passengers in the front and four passengers in the backseat.
We finally filled the last seat in our car and pulled out of the grand taxi
parking lot only to find that we had one more passenger. A sheep! Our eighth
and most-uncomfortable passenger was unceremoniously shoved in the trunk. Ready
to leave, all eight of us made the crowded journey to Meknes, where I bought my
train ticket.
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| Sheep outside a supermarket (think Target/Walmart) ready for Eid |
This weekend I will travel to Marrakesh to celebrate Eid
al-Adha (The Feast of the Sacrifice) with a Moroccan family. There are two
Eid's in the Muslim lunar year: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Eid al-Fitr marks
the end of the month of Ramadan, the month in which Muslims fast from sunrise
to sunset. Eid al-Adha serves to commemorate the day upon which Abraham was
willing to sacrifice his only son to God. Just as God replaced Abraham's son
with an animal, so Muslims sacrifice sheep or goats to celebrate Eid al-Adha.
With the substantial amount of meat from the sacrificed animal, families
traditionally keep 1/3, give away 1/3 to family and friends, and donate 1/3 to
the poor and needy.
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| AUI right before a thunderstorm |
More posts to come! Let me know if you have questions that I
can answer!
