Gouda's Cheesewheel

Morocco March 4

Asalam aulekum

Thanks to everyone who responded favorably to my request for news from home. It really helps my emails take form when I have something to respond to! First off, happy belated birthday Sylvia! You still have something coming in the mail, unless you've gotten it already or you've changed address. Moslem is actually closer to the actual spelling because there is no "u" in Arabic, only "o." The letter for "o" can be pronounced a few different ways, though. Kristin, I'm sorry your job isn't fun. Anxiety does weird things to me too (especially combined with weird food, which is the case I'm in right now). I have hope that if you stick to it, it'll get better, and I would definitely take advantage of Jenn's offer (me and Jenn used to crash in Boulder when we were commuting to work one summer).

Now to answer some questoins:
Since so many people reacted to Tagine (not tahine, Sylvia--that's sesame seed butter), I'll explain it. Tagine is basically vegetables and meat. (Moroccans literally live on meat and potatoes, plus LOTS of bread). The meat is minimal, but it is used to flavor the rest of the dish. Therefore it is usually served under the vegetables, and people scoop up and eat the vegetables (with bread) until the meat is exposed. It is then the mother (at least in my family) who divides up the meat and gives each person their share. Traditionally (as in my family) this all takes place in one big dish that we all eat out of, so one has to stay in one's own "zone" to avoid hogging other people's food. If someone doesn't want all their food, they will push it into your zone. Refer to the last email regarding how tagine is cooked. In response to Maureen's querie about Moroccan BBQ, we've had one in our house--the roof is open in the middle so it's not really a problem. It wasn't a big event at the time, just lunch; if you were referring to something bigger, Maureen, I'll have to look into it.

As far as politics...we're in a seminar on that topic right now, but so far we've just covered the basic facts, plus some essays about the monarchy (Morocco is a constitutional monarchy). The main political issues I've heard about lately are the youth protesting in front of Parliament because there aren't enough jobs. The main complaint is that certain fields of study aren't in high demand right now (just like in the States, you're more likely to be hired if you're an engineer than if you're a philosophy major). People in these less-hired fields are demanding that the government provide secure employment opportunities (there is little job security in the private sector i.e. business, and no welfare program here). As a result, a lot of people try to emigrate to other countries, where the job market is better. Illegal immigration sometimes comes out of this (but not all Moroccan immigrants are illegal). So that's another area of attention and debate.
The other hot topic (not recent I don't think) is censorship. The press is not allowed to insult the character of the king, for instance. So there is a debate about censorship versus freedom of the press.
The war on Iraq... I haven't gotten many questions about this specifically. Terrorism a little bit--most people just express their distaste for terrorism. Jihad came up in a few discussions of religion. The Iraq war was only really raised explicitly in a discussion on American concepts of democracy I'm kind of reluctant to bring up Iraq, partly because my language skills aren't perfect, and partly because I'm afraid of backlash at an opinion I myself do not hold.

Today my sister is watching me type--I guess she wants to learn how.

meryem eat baamrane

She typed her name.

grada may sistre maroc lenome de ma famille la premieretarike wafaa abdella samira mryeme kadija lafin est kalile lafami de atbaamrane maman batoul papa brahim agaste mersi

that translates to: Greta my sister. Maroc (Morocco). Le nom de ma famille (the name of my family): la premiere (the first) Tarik, Abdellah, Samira, Wafaa, Khadija, la fin (the last) Khalil. La famille Ait Baamraan. Maman (Mama) Batoul. Papa Brahim. August. Merci.

She says she types a lot faster when the keys are in Arabic, which this apparently has the ability to do but I can't figure out how to access it.

In any case I think that's enough for now. I'll write again soon. Keep the news coming every so often, if you please.

Much love,
Greta

P.S. Meryem says to add that the Tagine (the cooking dish) is broken. I agree. It is a sad event.

posted by Greta @ 11:26 AM