The Majority of the mountain propre people left on Sunday morning. I had a VERY lazy day because I couldn't move. I honestly don't think I have ever been that sore in my entire life. It was crazy. It was VERY hard to walk up and down the stairs... Kate was still in town (until Tuesday morning) so I spent some time with her. Derek Workman is writing an article about the clean-up, so he found me at the house and interviewed me. I was still in my pjs and had no idea what he was going to ask. It was actually funny because before the walk he asked if I had done much walking before this. I told him of course, I live in New York City (duh...). He laughed and clarified-- he was asking about mountain walking, further inquiring that NYC was "quite flat if [he] did recall"... He asked how the "walk" was, and I told him that it was tougher than I had expected... He aslo asked about my position with EFA for the summer. It is hard to explain, especially because I am not totally positive of what it entails. He did have some good advice/ideas for me, so it was a nice conversation. After we talked- we walked up to the Kasbah to find Kate. She wasn't there, but we saw Lahcen and had some tea and snackies. We took a different route back to the house, which got me excited to explore around Imlil during my time here-- just not excited right then because of the soreness.
I stayed at home for a little and did nothing. Kate stopped by, but I missed her because we keep the house door locked and I was upstairs in my room- she called out for me, but didn't hear me respond. THEN by the time I made it downstairs, she was gone, and I was wearing shorts which limited my mobility. After doing nothing in the house, Rachid asked if I wanted to go to town or find Kate. I wanted to find Kate, so we went to the other hotel, Dar Imlil, and found her. We talked a lot about the clean-up.... We found a lot of problems with it, but most specifically the lack of garbage bags (there were only 30, which left very little for the slow-pokes,me, to clean up), the payment/tipping issue for the guides and mulateers, and finally the general segregation between the Moroccans and foreigners. Kate has been involved with the organization for much longer than I have, so she was more upset by these mistakes. We were treated to a great dinner at the hotel (very spoiled) of a big omelet and a fresh fresh salad...
It gets VERY dark here at night. I really did not appreciate that fact because I had been with people every night, and because I hadn't really spent much time outside at night. (Honestly) I was very scared walking back to the house from the hotel. Kate and the hotel manager asked if I had a flashlight (I have my phone torch) but they didn't offer to take me home. I didn't think much of it until I was walking around in the pitch black town. I really didn't like it- it was like being in Southold alone at night. I dont think it even registered as a problem for them because they are so used to it. Also-it is VERY safe here, and the people are so nice and would never hurt a fly, so I don't even think that they made the connection between me being a city girl and not quite used to this type of small dark village. I sent the classic "I am home safe" text to Kate, who responded seeing if I wanted to have breakfast at Lahcen's house ("good networking!!") the next day at 9:30... Things are getting busy!!
Monday I woke up and met Kate. Lahcen lives in the next town over, so we walked there. It was NOT an easy walk, and I was in flip flops. I have finally come to terms with the fact that it is not very easy to get anywhere in this town. Everything is uphill or downhill (equally hard...) inshaallah my butt will be AWESOME by the end of the summer... Anyway. We found Lahcen's house. The villages are amazing here. They're built right into the mountain and are adorable. Of course everyone knows everyone, and is super friendly, but they surprisingly very welcoming to strangers- no dirty looks from any of the women (or men)... some children lead us to Lahcen's house... very cute.
Lahcen is at the end of a big renovation- it looks great, but probably not what I would want my house to look like. The walls are VERY shiny and sleek. Bright pastel color schemes and not very good molding w/painted gold details... He was very proud, so we complimented him a lot. He had US make the tea, and we also ate ghreef pancakes--- missed them A LOT. Lahcen is definitely my favorite out of the Kasbah employees. Very friendly and speaks English well. He also humors me from time to time and we speak in fusha...
After breakfast/tea we made our way back to the Kasbah. Lahcen's friend in the UK is getting married, so he wanted to get a gift for Kate to bring them... At first he picked out one of those Moroccan comforters, and we immediately vetoed it. We went into a souvenir shop, and picked out a woven blanket instead. Then we went to the Kasbah for some asir portugal (OJ) and Kate helped Lahcin write some e-mails, and edit his new website. Then we went back to the other hotel and Kate sent me some documents with important things about Imlil on them-- very helpful (especially the staff sheet with everyone's names and a fun anecdote about them all. This way I will have an easier time keeping track of everyone...) Then I went back to the house to shower. I went BACK to the hotel for dinner.... REALLY great tajine and fruit and tea. I said bye to Kate (she was leaving at 6 am on Tuesday), and took the last dark walk of the summer (I won't voluntarily do that again). Sometime in between all of this, I (re-)met Omar who's sister dorms at the EFA house. He invited me over for lunch tomorrow, but then called Kate later to say that he had to guide some people up to the mountain, so he would re-schedule.
Tuesday
Kate went home today, so I did not have a friend to explore with. I had a pretty boring day, but it was good because it forced me to write the questions for Latifa, the housemother, who I meet on Wednesday. I also kind of got my stuff together, and figured out my personal goals for the next few weeks. I also shared some correspondence with Aniko, my supervisor, and she (kind of) helped me settle on internship goals... I had my first CISLA "alone dinner". I heated up leftovers from the weekend (pasta and veggie sauce that had a weird spice) but I added some peanut butter and tomatoes/onions to make it kind of a peanut curry thing.. it was pretty good, but not great. I watched Love Actually (weird.) in the living room while I ate my late dinner... then I went to sleep.
Wednesday
I woke up at ~7 am because my phone company texted me saying that I did not have any more money, which is weird, but I DID "butt dial" my mom for about 2 minutes on Sunday (Nicole...)… then I downloaded the NPR app on my iPad and fell back asleep listening to a piece about the drought that America is having (I feel really bad for u guys). I woke back up at 10 am (MUCH later than I wanted to). I had a meeting with one of the housemothers from EFA at 2, so I had to finish working on and transcribing my questions before she came over. I ate breakfast on the roof terrace and did my questions. The woman was 45 minutes late (typical Morocco) but we ended up talking for HOURS. It was great, and gives me a lot to do next week-- transcribe the interview, and mull over everything that she had to say…
After the meeting we went to the waterfall to meet some of her friends. I was in flip flops, which was a bad idea. I thought we were just going to go to the Kasbah for some tea or something, but then she changed our plans to the waterfall- the path is almost vertically uphill and very rocky- flip flops are not totally appropriate. Oh well. Her friend was out with her niece and nephew who are Moroccans but are living in Italy. They are 8 and 9 years old and were very cute. At the waterfall we met one of the girls who board at the EFA houses. Latifa told her to come to my house the next day, and to bring her friends. Progress!! After the waterfall we went to a café. I didn't really know what was going on, but she acted like I should come with them, so I did. We sat at this outdoor café for a while, but didn't eat anything. (I was getting hungry, and contemplated ordering for myself...)
Then we moved to a different one, where Rachid (the person who looks over the house I am living in) calls "our café"- referring to people of Imlil, a true local joint!! It was totally outside in the trees. A man was making those DELICIOUS donuts (fried dough) I had become VERY hungry by then… I hadn't eaten since 10 am and it was probably 6 pm by that time… We got some sandwiches and then donuts- I was happy. After that part of my day I came back to the house and blogged on the roof while drinking the sun tea that I made the day before. I had a little potato chips because I only had half of a half of the sandwich. Then I showered. I am still in love with the showers here… After the shower I reheated some dinner that I made the day before. It was still good. The kitchen is TERRIBLE. The stovetop sucks (it is either FULL BLAST FLAME or off)- I set a small tomato slice on fire accidentally... The pots and pans are bad too... they're either HUGE or like weird and very shallow. AND the sink NEVER shuts off!! It's impossible, so I try to use the sink only once a night. At least the knives are good. I finished Love Actually... it ends with a scene of everyone reuniting at the airport- that will be me soon enough. I always lock my bedroom door before I go to sleep, so I did and passsseeeed out.
Thursday
Two meetings today!! Lunch with Omar's sister (who lives in the EFA house in Asni) and then some other girls were supposed to come over later to talk about EFA. I was supposed to meet Omar at 11, but Aniko called at 10:45 saying that two of her friends were coming to the house in two hours, which meant that I had to finally move out of one of the rooms that I had been occupying. I scurried to do that, and then met Omar 15 minutes late. Turns out he was 30 minutes late, so I ended up being 15 minutes early... haha. Kate told me to wear my boots when I went to Omar's house, so I did. He kind of looked at me funny because I didn't end up needing them... We walked basically on the road the entire time. The dynamic of people in this town is quite interesting. Omar is a guide that does work with the Kasbah, but also does work on the side. He, like a lot of people in the village, owes a lot to the Kasbah and the other associated organizations, but I have found him to be one of the more appreciative ones. Anyway- same deal as Lahcen's house. Passed a lot of cows and goats. Really great. We finally got to his house and were greeted by THE CUTEST baby. So happy and long, LOOOONGGG eyelashes. I played with the baby for a long time. The baby was one of Omar's three children. The other two were older, but still cute---full of life. The Omar's sister came in. She was very soft spoken. She couldn't really understand English, so we spoke in fusha (woot!!). She was nice, but I didn't get a lot of information from here... if nothing else, she was good lunchtime company. The lunch was REALLY good also. Tomato and lettuce salad with GREAT chicken Tajine... not sick of it yet!!
I told Omar that I had a meeting at 3 (it was actually at 4) because I wanted to get some food before Ramadan, which (might) start on Friday. He walked me back to town, which was nice, but unnecessary. Then I went back to the house to wait for the girls (without food shopping because I told Omar that I was meeting them at 3 and I was nervous that I would see him around between 3 and 4-- crazy). Anyway I did emails and wrote the (very little) notes from lunch, and then before I knew it-- it was 4 pm.
Obviously the girls were not going to show up at 4 on the dot, but I thought that I should wait outside just incase I didn't hear the knock or the door when they arrived. I waited until 5 and then called Latifa. Latifa assured me that they were coming (without speaking to them since the interaction that I witnessed…) and told me to wait another hour. I had nothing else to do, so I agreed. Maybe seven minutes later- 3 girls showed up at my door. Amazing. Rachid wasn't home, so I brought them to the living room and offered them some water (as opposed to tea or coffee, which I SHOULD have offered...woops) One of the girls was Omar's sister. We were having a basic conversation (name age etc.) when I heard a loud knock on the door- three MORE girls showed up! It was really great. In retrospect, I should have called Rachid because communication was a little bit of an issue, BUT I primarily used my fusha skills, and thankfully, they were able to understand me! All of my studying put to good use!! They were REALLY crazy, but funny. They knew that they could be silly as long as they answered my questions, so it all worked out. I took them for cookies after the discussion, which was probably not the best idea. I offered to bring them to the café that we went to with Latifa and Rachid the day before, but I kind of forgot about the café culture here, and they looked at me funny. We settled on me going into a store and buying them some chocolate chip cookies (that were actually REALLY good). Then we all parted ways.
I decided that I didn't want my chocolate chip cookies at that moment, and that I would much prefer a donut (obviously), so I went to get one instead. There were a lot of people waiting in line, but finally when it became my turn- I asked for wahid- "one"... he looked at me kind of weirdly, and another man said something else to him, and then I got my donut- FOR FREE!!! wooooot... a donut a day... It was on a string (usually there's a kilo of donuts on the string), and I felt VERY silly walking around with this donut (on a string), but it also amused me. It was so fresh and greasy that I got two dots of grease on my pants :/ worth it though...
One the way home I met Rachid and Lahcen- they laughed at my one donut on a string and then fed me fresh figs that were SO good- better than dried ones. One the way back to the house we met Aniko's friends (Hicham & Angela- Hicham is in the art business and Angela is an anthropologist who works for the Dutch embassy in Rabat). They seemed very nice and we agreed to have harira and dates out to dinner later that night. I relaxed at home~~ had my daily magic hour roof time with my sun tea until Hicham came up and said that Angela had too much work, and could not go to dinner. We decided to go anyway, but first we stopped at the trekking store because we wanted to get maps of Toubkal (for Hicham to use, and me to admire...) Then we went to the café that we went to after the trek (the one restaurant in town) and ordered harira and dates. Rachid was at the café (he's actually everywhere...) so he sat with us. We talked a lot about Ramadan, and the fact that nobody knows when it is going to be. We know the general dates, but nobody knows exactly when it was going to start. Hicham said that it would start on Friday because that is what astronomers say, but Rachid was not too sure. It all depends on if you can see the moon or not, so we might be able to see the moon in some places, but not others.
After our conversation I was inspired to learn more about Ramadan. I went to the internet. Ramadan represents the time that God revealed the content of the Qur'an to the prophet Muhammed. It is a time where Muslims are supposed to refrain from guilty pleasures and sustain a refined being. There are a lot of health benefits of the Ramadan fast- it acts as a cleanse, both spiritually and physically. A lot of it makes sense and is really amazing, but some of it confuses me too. On Friday we switch the clocks back one hour to go back to winter time. The reasoning is because of Ramadan, but it still doesn't really make sense to me. I think it has to do with work hours- less time at work during the daylight (???), but even that confuses me. I read a lot about what the Muslim athletes are planning on doing for the holiday. Some are going to fast after the games, but at least one that I read about said that he would keep Ramadan during the games. That seems crazy to me, but to each his own! Ryan told me that some of them are doing community service and feeding the homeless in London instead of fasting. It is all really amazing, and I suggest reading about it if you have the time. Then I ran up to the roof to look for the moon- I couldn't find it, but the call to prayer DID seem a little longer tonight.... we will seeeee!!!!
Friday
I woke up and did some work for EFA... Transcribing the interviews took much longer than I had expected because there was a lot of background noise, and the girls spoke in between every. single. question. I finally finished that, and wanted to go to the Kasbah to make sure that it was Ramadan. The Dutch friends were still in the house working~~ not sure when they will ever make it to the top of the mountain... At around 4 I went up to the Kasbah. Turns out, it is NOT Ramadan yet- one more day of eating!! I hung out with Lahcen for a little and looked through the EFA newsletters to see what exactly I should be writing for them by the end of the summer. Then I went on my daily walk. I brought my camera this time. It was not easy because I had NO idea where I was going, but that made it kind of fun. I found water, and A LOT of grass.
I sat on a big rock and looked out to this while I read a magazine and thought more about EFA etc. It was really great. I took a video, so I can transport myself back whenever I want to!
I did my REAL ramadan shopping after my break-- AVOCADOS!! Lucky me :) Upon arriving back at the house after shopping, Angela and Hicham were just leaving the house to go up to the cascade. I told Lachen that I would be back for tea time, so I said that I would go along with them (the Kasbah is on the way to the cascade)... Little did I know, they were going to go the BOY route!! They both had flip flops on, but Hicham lead the way and we were rock climbing, YET again.... We finally looped around to a spot in between the Kasbah and cascade, and I went straight to the Kasbah, but invited them for tea with us after they cascaded... They took a long time at the cascade, but I was patient. We went to the roof deck and had our tea. They started to put out the tablecloths on the tables, and we ended up being fed for dinner-- wooohooo!!! So yummy- GREAT & SALTY french fries, berber eggs, and a petit chicken tajine. yum yum yum.
Angela and Hicham are really great people. The dinner conversation was great- they gave me some pointers of things to keep in mind/look out for while I am here, and some ways to pass the time away. Angela has been in a million homestays (Vietnam, Morocco, Columbia, Baton Rouge, HARTFORD CT!, Australia, New Zealand, Paris etc. etc.) & had SOOOO many stories from each of them. She said that she lived in complete FILTH in Hartford- was living with a single mom and a terrible daughter will 100 cats-- SO funny- especially because she still looks fondly upon that situation. She is a really great lady and I am very pleased to have met her.
We went home right away after dinner- they are doing Toubkal tomorrow... It was even DARKER coming home from the Kasbah, but I wasn't scared because I had other people with me. A hoodlum SPRINTED down the mountain past us, and I probably would have DIED if I was alone- thank goodness I wasn't!!!
Saturday & Sunday --- RAMADAM KAREEM (Generous Ramadan~~~ happy Ramadan)
Initially I TOTALLY dismissed the idea of doing Ramadan because- I am not Muslim & am a hungry girl. Upon further research and discussion with people, I decided to try it-- why not?? When in Rome, right?? I woke up very early (again) on Saturday. I caught up a little on the Daily Show & Colbert and then fell asleep for a long time. When I woke up it was practically lunch (one meal down!!) I went to the roof and sat out a little. I had a VERY lazy day and don't really want to get into the details. I basically did NOTHING. It was terrible/great. I was very confused by the time of day (Google is NOT always right) and kept on checking "how many hours until sunset in Morocco" I kept on convincing myself that I was not hungry, but I WAS becoming crazy. I had to leave the house. I went out and found a good spot to read. I then went into town to see how dead it was. Surprisingly, it was more upbeat than I had expected. My donut guy was cooking donuts, and a lot of men were shopping-- shops were open. There was an insane amount of CHILDREN running around in the streets- I bet all of their hungry mothers kick them out of the house during the final hour. I got myself some shabakeye (sp?) to break my fast and then I RAN home to cook dinner... I probably won't do Ramadan again until I am back with my host family (NEXT WEEKEND). Because it doesn't seem genuine or healthy my way. My fitr was NOTHING compared to what I imagine a Moroccan one to be (more leftovers for Claire!!! AND my avocado was brown & inedible). You are also supposed to eat throughout the night-- INCLUDING the hours RIGHT before the sun rises... I was fast asleep at 4 am, so Sunday I decided to "eat light" and skip the TOTAL fast...
I had another lazy day that ended in exploration and book reading. I like that I haven't stumbled upon the same book reading spot yet, but always am able to get myself home (miraculously). Angela and Hicham came home just around dinner time, and Hicham found a harira mix in the pantry. He whipped that up and we ate that on the terrace with the rest of the dates & the reddest watermelon I have ever seen. They are SO sore... just like I was this time last week. I can totally sympathize, so I did the dishes while they went to sleep (at 8 pm....)
Good true first week... it is kind of lonely, and hard when you are not really on a totally SET internship schedule, but I have become better at forcing myself to work and then get of the house. I am going to create an office at the Kasbah tomorrow during Ramadan work hours, so I feel better about myself and my internship.
Talk to you soon
PS- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Monday July 23rd)
The Kingdom of Morocco and I miss you VERY MUCH, but we (you and I-- sry Maroc) will be reunited very soon- can't wait to celebrate!
XOXOXOXOOXOXOXOX
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