Gouda's Cheesewheel

Morocco Feb 23

AAARGH!! I had written an email and something happened and it's all erased. So I'll try again and please pardon me if it's rushed.

Belly dancer spotted in tourist restaurant in Fes. Also Moroccan folk version of belly dancer (Shikhat). Looking forward to learning more about Berber dance because it makes Morroco seem more like Africa (only 1 percent of Moroccans identify primarily as African, to give you an idea of the seperation between Northern and sub-Saharan Africa). No talk of caves in Fes, Maureen; either they're deceiving us or the caves are somewhere else. *wink* It was nice to get away from my family for a while, but I am starting to get accustomed to them. It's easier now that I've let myself stop worrying all the time about how I come across.

Notes learned from Arabic class: Allaah (God) is part of many common phrases in Arabic-speaking countries, so even the non-faithful might say "bismallaah" before eating or "hemdulillaah" when asked how they are. This is good to know. To Mama: "Oom" is mother; "oomee" is "my mother." In Moroccan Arabic, mother is something like "muht" which reminds me of "mook." To Sallie: the letter that makes an m sound is called "miim." We finally finished the majority of the alphabet, so we tried to write our names today. There is no "g" in Arabic, so I either have to be "Jreeta" or use one of the fake letters that's been introduced to represent a "g" sound in words not of Arabic origin. Kind of like "k" in Spanish.

The weather here actually warmed up during our weekend trip, which was ironic because my mother was very concerned about how cold it was in Fes. It rained a few days ago. Now it's back to about average, though it gets cold at night. Feels about like Colorado in the fall. No snow, of course. I've had a bad cold for about 5 days now; most of it's gone except the runny nose. All the students are passing colds around, so it's nothing out of the ordinary, but it's still no fun.

Before the computer erased my email, I was very excited that the radio in the cyber was playing "It's Raining Men." I had to laugh about that.

This Friday I'm going to meet my grandmother, who lives in Kinetra. I hope for the best.

I had something else to say, but it's been erased and I've forgotten it. My apologies.

Hope everyon's doing well

Much love,
Greta (Jreeta)

posted by Greta @ 12:21 PM