Morocco April 28
Sorry it's been so long since I wrote a substantial group email. With any hope the events of my last few weeks here will be the strongest in my memory when I get back home, so people can just ask me about them if I forgot to write something here. First order of business, since everyone is asking when I get home, the answer is May 23rd, insha'allah (God willing). This follows a short stay in Paris after I leave Morocco officially. Next order or business, the news. I last wrote a group email from Essouira. On Saturday I left by bus to Kinetra, which turned out to be another unpleasant ordeal, as expected; I should have followed my plan and gotten off in Casablanca to take a train, but instead the bus people convinced me to pay an extra 20 dirhams and ride all the way to Rabat, where I would take another bus to Kinetra. By the time we reached Rabat I was to tired of buses that I cut my losses and just took the stinking train, which incidentally stank a lot less (in the literal and figurative sense) than the bus. When I reached Kinetra I was infinitely pleased to find my friend Himi waiting for me; I'd had enough of fending for myself with a large piece of luggage (I can carry the luggage as long as someone else handles communication). That night, to my surprise, Himi had arranged for me to attend his friend's wedding, which I couldn't have been more enthusiastic about (given the circumstances of the day, anyway). It wasn't a real wedding by Moroccan standards--just family (extended) and friends, since the bride was not Moroccan. This is a situation I imagine must happen more and more these days, as people use marriage as a means to leave the country (not that I question the groom's motives, of course; I hardly know the couple). Took thorough notes afterwards for my research. Since then I've stayed with Himi's family, talking awkwardly here and there to people about their weddings, until today, when I resolved to escape the stifling isolation (being told not to leave the house alone because the streets are dangerous) and return to Rabat. Don't get me wrong--they are wonderful, hospitable, fun people to live with, but I wasn't getting much work done. The Center is much more useful, for now, so I'll use it to the fullest until Saturday (when I have an appointment to talk to some students). So there you have my week. Fighting stress and frustration, so don't expect to hear from me too much in the next week unless I have a glorious breakthrough or I feel like shirking my schoolwork for a while. Love you all, miss you all, afraid to leave this country, enjoying it immensely while also hating everything about it. Funny how that works. Take care of yourselves
Much love,
Greta
Morocco April 22
To all of you who were in my African Dance class, I had the interesting opportunity to share some of the songs we learned with my friend last night. He writes lyrics for his friends who play Gnaoua music (the local style--it actually originated in Mali so it's very African sounding although it's sung in Arabic). For some reason I was reminded of our songs and I sung a few for him and he asked me if they were popular in the United States. I told him no, they are from Ghana; I only know them because I took a Ghanain dance class.
In response to those of you who have encouraged me to just relax and enjoy it, that's essentially what has happened. I decided I'm not going to get terribly much work done in this town so I may as well just enjoy the ocean and wait for the next phase. Actually I talked to Hassan about his siblings' weddings, so it wasn't an entirely fruitless week. I've too much email-based business to take care of to sit and talk right now, plus I'm due back to meet someone about 15 minutes ago. So adieu until I find another cyber cafe.
Chris, good luck with everything. York told me you're going through some tough times.
Hope all is well,
Greta
Morocco April 20th
Hello my not-near but still dear ones,
Today I write from Essouira, where I've been for roughly 2 and a half days. The 7-hour bus trip here was atrocious, though it would have been less so had I thought ahead and packed some food. I was fortunate enough to sit next to a friendly person who shared a sandwich with me (I repayed him with a banana). My friend Hassan got me a good deal on a room since he knows the woman who owns the house. There's even a kitchen for communal use, and last night we used it to make a tiny tagine. It was delicious, even if it was made with a tin pan over a gas stove instead of real earthenware. I've been reading my few books and hoping for the opportunity to talk to people about their weddings. Today maybe I'll ask Hassan if I can talk to his sister. In any case that's my little blurb. I'd send pictures but I'm too shy to plug things into this computer. Need to get going after I check in with Youness so he knows I'm alive (every 48 hours we're supposed to give some indication). Take care everyone. I miss you so much I think I might have to go cry a little bit.
-Greta
Morocco April 15th
Hey all,
I am about to embark on my independent study project, so things are really going quickly right now as I plan to depart. My rough itinerary is Essouira for 6 days, Kenitra for 6 days, and Rabat for the remainder of the project. This is solely based on the fact that I know people in all of these towns, since I promised them I would visit, and also because they can hopefully lead me to useful sources (i.e. friends and relations I can talk to). In case I didn't mention this before, my topic is Masculinity and Femininity in Moroccan Wedding Rituals. It's truly a very interesting approach, but what I'll have to say by the end of three weeks I haven't a clue. Many students are staying in Rabat, at least for the beginning of their research, which would have been a good idea since the Center and my advisor are in Rabat. Unfortunately I already promised my friend I would see him this weekend, so off I go as of Sunday or Monday; in either case I have to leave my homestay family by that tim, so it's logical to leave. Honestly, I'm scared stiff and don't know what on earth I'm doing. But I can hope for the best and take heart in the fact that many people before me have done really crappy ISPs. No, I'll do fine. I just need to get down to business, which seems to be my problem. Maybe being independent will spur me to get out and go, since there won't be other people to accomadate. Yes, that's exactly right (think positive!) Ok, enough rambling and self-pity.
Last night there was a family farewell celebration with Gnaoua music. My mother and little sisters and Sophia and Mohammed Khalil all came. I wore my Djellabah and baboosh and scarf (my mother did it up like a Hijab, which made me feel like a poser and like I couldn't take it off without people gossiping; in any case I did take it off, because it was hot; people may have gossipped, but oh well). We danced and had a good deal of fun, and then each student said something to thank their family and Youness translated into Arabic. I took some pictures and went to have them printed out today as a gift for my family. I wish I had more, but most of them are off my camera already so I'm not sure if the photo place can print them or not. I can always mail them later I guess.
I realize that I don't speak very deeply in these emails. For those of you who wonder about the politics and the mindset and anything else that one cannot express through shallow accounts of the day-to-day happenings, I apologize that it isn't often included. Were I to write to individuals rather than a mass group, I'm sure I would go into more detail. As it is, these tend to stay very general. I hope to have conversations with people after I get home, when communication will be easier. However, I also fear that I may forget things; not forget, per se, but fail to see when I am no longer emerged in the society. I am so afraid of leaving, but I miss you all so much. Life is hard when one's world is large, I guess.
Well, I should head home. I hear that some other American students are staying with us this weekend. They're only in Morocco for two weeks, and then they're off to Spain or something. Such a different impression that must leave, being here for so short a time. I told my friend from Kinetra I would see him tomorrow, because he insists he misses me, and because Meryem and Khadija are going to visit relatives. But now I'm not sure if I want to. We'll see. Alright, take care everyone. I wanted to attach more pictures but the computer won't let me.
Karen, I'm thinking of you because I'm wearing the sample of "Glamorous," and last night I wore "Bora Bora."
August, I still miss you. I don't want to be a pain but if there's a reason you're not talking to me I'd like to know.
Much love,
Greta
More picutures
Only two this time, to speed things up:
The first is a terrible picture, but it essentially represents what happens when my host sister goes wild with makeup on me and my host mother (Khadija, far left, is too young for makeup, so she got out of it). [Note: In this post I have excluded the first picture for my mother's privacy, since she is not veiled]
The second is me in the garden in Marrakesh during our Southern excursion. It cost money, but it was beautiful. It was worth it for the shady and tranquil break from all the other craziness.
Again, more will follow. I'm trying to pick out the most worthy, since I've taken a bunch.
Much love,
Greta
Morocco April 11
Right quick-
So everyone knows, I'm planning to move around a bit during the next three weeks, so I will not get postal (non-electronic) mail immediately. Therefore, I suggest you stop sending things in the mail as of now. If you have already sent something, I will either get it before I leave the city or after I get back to Rabat. No biggy.
Other news: I went to the zoo yesterday. Despite the signs, people do indeed feed the animals quite a bit. Other news: I spent Saturday with my new friend Himi. He's quite the gentleman. Other news: I'm a little stressed by the lack of structure they are offering us and the nearing deadlines. I'm sure this will get worse in the weeks to follow. Other news: I already gave August enough crap for not talking to me so I won't repeat it here.
OK, enough randomness. It's lunchtime so I'm going home. Hold down the fort for me, whatever that means.
-Greta
Morocco April 9
Sorry I haven't written since I got back to Rabat on Thursday. Mostly I've been reading the books I brought along: Neopatriarchy and Beyond the Veil; not the most stimulating titles but Beyond the Veil is actually pretty inspiring in my opinion. I brought Neopatriarchy along to the country but never got the chance to read it--too many small children following me EVERYWHERE. But lets see, I guess you'll all want to hear a little about the Moroccan rural community at large (and if you don't, skip to the next paragraph). If you happen to have a Moroccan map handy, the village where we stayed was just outside of the town of Boujad, where most of the youth attended school (if they attended school at all). By "village", I really mean "loose cluster of houses in the countryside," but it essentially functioned as a village since everyone knew each other. To give you an idea, the most common means of long-distance communication was yelling from the tops of hillls (although I spotted some youths with cell phones, too). We students stayed 2 to a family. We have mostly girls in our group, but I took one for the team and stayed in the household that had agreed to host one boy and one girl. The boy was my friend Steve, so it wasn't so bad, except that he can really get on a person's nerves sometimes, so I was glad we lived right next to the house where Emina and Liz were staying (our host fathers were brothers). Both the families had four children each, only my family only had one boy (the youngest) and I could tell that he was valued above the girls. It made me angry when I finally realized this. From what I could gather, only one of the girls attended school. Somewhat humorous and somewhat sad, they tried to offer me their other girls (two seperate occasions). I think they were kidding, but somehow I suspect that if I'd accepted, I'd now have an adopted sister/daughter accompanying me on my return trip. Hard to tell. To our good fortune, there happened to be a wedding in the village the weekend that we arrived. This was exciting for me since I'm doing my project on weddings, except that is wasn't exciting when I actually got there; lots of food and sitting around in big rooms full of women. Traditional community, so there was a lot of sex segregation in situations like that (i.e. the men where in a seperate tent). Later I learned that if I'd come back in the evening, I'd have seen dancing and exciting things. I was angry that I hadn't come back. Other events of the week included chasing down a runaway cow, consuming lots of tea and dairy products, throwing a lot of rocks, and trying desperately to understand what my family was saying (usually to no avail). I cried once or twice. It was hot most of the time. But now I appreciate Rabat oh-so-much. And I am riddled with liberal guilt. And my digestive system is not at peace, but I guess that's almost normal.
So, new paragraph for those who skipped the last one. Yesterday went to the bazarre (it's a special event, I guess) with my mother in search of a scarf and baboosh (shoes) to match my new djellabah. Found a scarf, but no baboosh On the topic of weddings, there was one last night in our neighborhood. Two, actually. I heard that Sophia and Meryem had gone in so I threw on my djellabah and scarf and attempted unsuccessfully to join them; the lack of success was mostly due to my inability to tell which wedding they had entered, and my apprehension to just go in without first spotting them. I have no concept of wedding decorum here, so needless to say I was a little scared. In any case I gave up and ended up wandering the streets with Khadija, thinking maybe they hadn't gone to the wedding at all and that we might find them. Eventually ran into Abdellah and went back home. I was disappointed and embarrassed. Late at night I heard music and I went out into the street in time to see the bridal procession walking away (around here that amounts to a group of people surrounding/following the bride, who is carried in a sparkling basket-type thing and dressed in all sorts of finery), so I felt that was almost adequate retribution.
Well, I've other things to say but they're in no particular order and I've already talked everyone's face off I think. I'm nervous/antsy for ISP time. I don't want to leave my host family but at the same time I do. Tension. Rawr. Well, until next time, Adieu.
Much love and missing EVERYTHING
Greta
Morocco April 1
So I have a lot of news for everyone. I know I haven't really been talking about it in these emails, but through all my conversations with my family I've decided that I want to convert to Islam.
Oh wait, April Fools.
Sorry, that was the best I could come up with. And it'll be sacrilegious if by some chance I do convert someday. Not something I foresee in the near future. Sorry if I disappointed anyone, and glad if I relieved others.
I have a special treat for you all: since I happen to have a bunch of my photos on this particular computer after transferring them off of my camera (long story to go with that, but I'll tell it later), I will send out an initial glimpse of my time in Morocco. The photos are as follows: My host brother Abdellah (my age); Sophia, Meryem, Khadija, and Khalil in that order (descending height and age, incidentally); Me at the restaurant in Zagora before the camel ride into the desert; the camel I rode. I assure you that more photos will follow as long as I am capable of emailing them.
I will be in the Moroccan countryside for the next week, returning on Thursday the 7th, I believe. This is the portion of the program defined as "Rural Village Stay." This means that unlike the Southern Excursion, I will NOT have access to the internet whatsoever. I'm sure I'll have a lot to tell you all about when I get back. Oh boy howdy. In any case I haven't much other news, except that we made a skit for our Arabic speaking exam (everyone made skits). Nothing big. Also, my mother had a new mattress made for the bed where I sleep, and for some crazy reason she put all the mattresses from the other room in addition to my mattress on the rooftop terrace, then decided it was going to rain and made me and Sophia help her get them back in (not an easy task). Alright, love to my loved ones, and see you all in a week. Hope the photos download (they're attached)
-Greta
