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Thursday and Friday

Day 1 of Ramadan

The pan de leche and hob-nobs sitting atop my desk are quite enticing at the moment. But curiosity has brought me this far and I might as well continue to delve into Islamic civilization by sharing in their traditions. Today is the first day of Ramadan. I erroneously (as did my colleagues) thought that it started yesterday, but evidently Morocco, unlike the rest of the Muslim world, did not see a crescent moon and thus did not start Ramadan until today.

In joining in the Ramadan experience, I will not eat until the ftour, which is the first meal after sunset. Maybe this is too much of an attempt to adapt or maybe it is out of respect for those who will be abstaining from eating and drinking during daylight hours. Or maybe it is a mild coercion?one of my Moroccan friends asked if I was fasting and I replied in the affirmative. ?Good,? he proclaimed, ?because if you weren?t you should leave.? I am not sure what he was referring to at that point; did it mean that if I wasn?t fasting, I wouldn?t be able to share in his hunger and thirst and therefore should leave his presence, or is it more of a cultural clash in that he would not accept a non-Muslim to be in the country without deferring to custom? Yet for the most part, the Moroccan students I have spoke with are excited to hear that I am fasting and inquire about my experiences thus far. I told them that this is my first time fasting and that I am trying it out to “see what it is like.” Everyone beams and I sense that they appreciate that I am trying to respect their religion and culture.

Either way, the Ramadan routine is vastly different than my normal one. Everyone wakes at 4 AM, eats a small breakfast and sleeps until class. All the other students? lives have changed as well. When walking to class, I heard a girl yell, ?All I want is a cigarette!? I’m not sure how long I will try to fast. I will have to see how it goes.

Last night, the ?Orchestra Jedwane? performed at the AUI auditorium. I took this opportunity to wear my blazer, as I have been wearing the same three shirts on rotation since I arrived. The performance started out calm, with the characteristically Arabic violin accompanied by guitar, bass, drums, congas, and keyboard. Subsequently, what I thought appeared to be a game show host came out of nowhere and all the Moroccan girls swooned. The singer was evidently a famous Moroccan musician and everyone in the crowd sang along with his lyrics. I translated for my friend: ?I am the tallest man in Morocco. I am a game show host as well?. Everyone got out of their seats and started dancing. Fun time.

On Thursday, I attended another lecture by Sir Goulding on the UN’s role in Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion.

Monday through Wednesday

As I sit at my desk, I study French and devour a package of dates from Tunisia. I do prefer figs, but will settle for dates. I just finished helping my roommate with his English and showing him around Morgantown on Google Earth. After visiting High Street, we stopped by his hometown, Sidi Kacem, Morocco and from there ended up in the middle of the ocean. Solid trip. Earlier, we debated American politics and culture and I had the opportunity to respond to what I saw as some fallacious beliefs.

As ‘Day 18-23’ implies, we are currently in the middle of a six-day school week. We have a make-up class on Saturday due to last Friday’s election. Yesterday, I attended a speech by former UN Under Secretary General Sir Marrack Goulding. He spoke at length about UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) and the recent Israeli-Lebanese conflict. School is going well, although I spend a great deal of time in my room learning languages. I am antsy for this weekend, though given its short length I will most likely head into the nearby town of Azrou. This town is much larger than Ifrane (50,000 v. 5,000 inhabitants) and is only a few kilometers away.

A cold front has moved through the Middle Atlas mountains, bringing daily temperatures in the upper 50s. A few friends and I went into Ifrane to stock up on some cold weather gear. We didn’t find any, but ended up buying a few Italian coppolas for the road. We are looking sharp now. One of my professors, Dr. Bouzidi, described the snows in Ifrane as ‘tremendous’ and told me that they received a meter and a half of snow last November. Yes!

As Ramadan begins tomorrow, life at the campus will change greatly. For an entire month, Muslims (and others participating for sociological inquiry) will fast between sunrise and sunset every day and refrain from indulging in a number of activities. This should be an interesting experience.