I'm typing this in a room in Hotel Madrid in Chefchouan, an incredible city in the Rif mountains in northern Morocco. I have to say, I love this city. Walking through the market streets in the old Medina of Chefchouan, me and some others on the program came across a carpet seller who proceeded to invite us into his shop, sit us down and bring some "Berber scotch" (despite the name, its non-alcoholic tea) to enjoy while he showed us his carpets. He kept insisting that even if we didnt buy a carpet "we are still brothers". I ended up not buying a carpet, but thanking him alot for the tea and hospitality.
That was yesterday. Today me and some others on the program decided to hike up the surrounding Rif mountains and try to reach a peak called Jebal El-Kalaa. It was an absolutely beautiful hike carved out alongside the mountain. There were patches of coniferous forest, times where you were walking under sheer cliff faces, time where you were looking out over vast hill and plains of semi arid looking land.
After a couple hours of hiking like this we came across a village. As we entered the village we almost immediately drew the attention of 10-15 young kids (6-10 years old probably). So now there were four of us hiking along with our 15 new friends. The took us off the path and we started climbing straight up the mountainside. These kids were funny and entertaining, but also mischevious. I caught one of them opening my friends backpack while he was walking and taking stuff out of it without my friend knowing. The same happened with me.
We didnt reach the summit, but made it pretty high. After soaking up the view, we quickly parted with the kids and headed back to Chefchouan.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Catch up
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Alot has happened since I last wrote; I'll try to think of a few highlights
1)I helped put out a house fire in the neighborhood I live in. My friend David, his host brother Mehdi, and I were hanging out on the roof of David/Mehdi's house. We heard an explosion from the street below, at which Mehdi got up to see what was going on. He signaled us too look and we saw that there was a window about two houses down that had smoke and flames pouring out of it. We immediately ran down and out into the streets. People were running around, yelling, and carrying people out of the burning house. David, Mehdi, and I ran back into David's house and started to fill buckets up with water. Other people were doing the same. We would bring the buckets down and rush them to the fire where people would give them back to be refilled. We succesfully put the fire out, before the fire department got there. Noone was hurt which was good. And rumor has it that it started because of a love triangle took a turn for the worse...
2) I went to a soccer game of one of the teams of the city of Rabat (there are two teams). The name of the team is FAR. It finally made sense to me because I had been seing the word FAR spray painted on buildings all over the city. It turns out that is the handy work of the notoriously wild fan base. The game was great and I got to meet some of the fan base dubbed the UAR. I have since become a FAR fan and got my very own jersey. The jersey attracts alot of attention as I will be walking down the street and frequently recieve a "Vive Le FAR!!". Or sometimes I got a more negative comment from the fans of FAR's rival, RAJA (a team from Casablanca). I hope to catch another game.
3) I've discovered that there are few things better than a fresh pomegranite on a hot day
I've reached the point now where I know what I will miss after going back home to Morocco. I'll miss the crowdedness of the narrow, busy souks. People yelling, talking, arguing, and vendors yelling off their price. I'll miss hearing Arabic music blasting out of shops as you pass. I'll miss turning down a narrow Medina road and seeing it filled with smoke, and smelling cooking meat as you pass through it. I definitly still have alot of time to enjoy these things, but I think those are the things I will miss.
Tomorrow I leave for Chefchaouen, Ouzzane, Fnideq, and Spain.
1)I helped put out a house fire in the neighborhood I live in. My friend David, his host brother Mehdi, and I were hanging out on the roof of David/Mehdi's house. We heard an explosion from the street below, at which Mehdi got up to see what was going on. He signaled us too look and we saw that there was a window about two houses down that had smoke and flames pouring out of it. We immediately ran down and out into the streets. People were running around, yelling, and carrying people out of the burning house. David, Mehdi, and I ran back into David's house and started to fill buckets up with water. Other people were doing the same. We would bring the buckets down and rush them to the fire where people would give them back to be refilled. We succesfully put the fire out, before the fire department got there. Noone was hurt which was good. And rumor has it that it started because of a love triangle took a turn for the worse...
2) I went to a soccer game of one of the teams of the city of Rabat (there are two teams). The name of the team is FAR. It finally made sense to me because I had been seing the word FAR spray painted on buildings all over the city. It turns out that is the handy work of the notoriously wild fan base. The game was great and I got to meet some of the fan base dubbed the UAR. I have since become a FAR fan and got my very own jersey. The jersey attracts alot of attention as I will be walking down the street and frequently recieve a "Vive Le FAR!!". Or sometimes I got a more negative comment from the fans of FAR's rival, RAJA (a team from Casablanca). I hope to catch another game.
3) I've discovered that there are few things better than a fresh pomegranite on a hot day
I've reached the point now where I know what I will miss after going back home to Morocco. I'll miss the crowdedness of the narrow, busy souks. People yelling, talking, arguing, and vendors yelling off their price. I'll miss hearing Arabic music blasting out of shops as you pass. I'll miss turning down a narrow Medina road and seeing it filled with smoke, and smelling cooking meat as you pass through it. I definitly still have alot of time to enjoy these things, but I think those are the things I will miss.
Tomorrow I leave for Chefchaouen, Ouzzane, Fnideq, and Spain.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Village stay
I had a chance to live in a rural Moroccan village for 3 days/4 nights. The village was a 3 1/2 hour drive into the country from Rabat. The village itself was beautiful. It was set in what seemed to be the foothills of mountains, maybe the atlas. It was very hilly higher peaks visible on the horizon. The house I was in was overlooking a sort of valley, which was beautiful. They grow olive and eucalyptus trees all over, which made the landscape beautiful.
I lived with a family consisting of a mother, father, 3 daughters, 1 son, 1 uncle, and 2 grandparents. Life was simple, very simple. I would wake up and eat breakfast, then I would go out and help (I should say "try to help) her sheep and goats. Then you would eat lunch and rest a little bit, and after that it was more herding or some other kind of work. I would eat dinner when it got dark, and then after that it was more or less time to sleep. Its the kind of lifestyle where you sleep when the sun goes down, and wake when it comes up.
As I think about what else to share about the village stay I realize that there really is just too much to blog. I'll have to share more in person when I get back.
I lived with a family consisting of a mother, father, 3 daughters, 1 son, 1 uncle, and 2 grandparents. Life was simple, very simple. I would wake up and eat breakfast, then I would go out and help (I should say "try to help) her sheep and goats. Then you would eat lunch and rest a little bit, and after that it was more herding or some other kind of work. I would eat dinner when it got dark, and then after that it was more or less time to sleep. Its the kind of lifestyle where you sleep when the sun goes down, and wake when it comes up.
As I think about what else to share about the village stay I realize that there really is just too much to blog. I'll have to share more in person when I get back.
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