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From Abroad

This Post Dedicated to Food

Sociology prevails, but just for today! Ok, so I am a bit fickle over this issue. Last night, I went to have ftour in Ifrane and I watched as everyone waited for the call, ?allah uakbar!? to reverberate from the mosque, which signifies sundown and time to eat. My French/English study partner invited me to join him for ftour on campus tonight and I told him that I would participate in all the festivities for the day.

Hence, I fasted today, refraining from indulging in the tea, bananas, and dates that mocked me from atop my desk.

All I thought about today was food. That and packing up for this weekend?s expedition into the High Atlas mountains. I finished most of my work early in the day and then just stared into nothingness for the remainder of the afternoon, delirious due to the lack of food and water in my stomach. Food 3, sociology 0.

I?m dying for some couscous. I didn?t realize that couscous meant the world to me. With some chicken, vegetables, chickpeas and a plethora of spices, it is the best meal I have had in Morocco. The ftour doesn?t cut it, yet nor does the cafeteria dinner. However, during the ftour, they bring out the shebakia, which is a honey dipped, deep fried piece of cornmeal. Delectable!

But I demand couscous! (We have met many Moroccan ‘faux tour guides’ who apparently use the pseudonym, ?Muhammad Couscous?. One time, Muhammad Couscous led us around the medina for 45 minutes in search of his friend?s restaurant. Another Muhammad Couscous ran the tanneries in Fes. Good people, those Muhammed Couscouses )

On Campus

High noon. No one in the center square of the campus. Tumble weeds roll by (not really, but you get the picture). Nerry, Mauro and I sit on a bench contemplating the complete emptiness of the campus. I, having class from eight until noon, cannot sleep throughout the morning and become nocturnal like my Moroccan counterparts. Changing my daily schedule is alluring, however, as everyone else, for the most part, is on this sleep cycle. My roommate came in last night around 2 AM and decided to staple every piece of paper he could find. Click! Click! Click! Lights shining in my eyes.

From what I have gathered, people sleep for few hours at night and a few hours during the day. Once the orange, steeply pitched roofs of the campus are no longer illuminated by the sun, everyone congregates around the dining hall. After the ftour, many don the traditional white, flowing jellaba and spend the evening in the mosque. Dinner comes at one in the morning and then it is time to cycle through collections of trance music.

Such a description makes it sound like I am an outsider looking in; I suppose to some extent that is true. It is hard to truly integrate when there are language and cultural barriers, but we internationals try our best. It is bizarre to eat lunch in the cafeteria when only international students are present. It is eerily quiet and we all feel guilty for some reason; we can’t put our finger on it. A few of the internationals have truly ‘gone native’, refraining from food and drink and adjusting their schedules to coincide with Ramadan. But one of them, Olbera, has echoed what I previously wrote: it is impossible to concentrate, study, and even stay awake without food and water. We asked a few Moroccan students how they adjust. It seems that it is a bit more natural for them and that international students “usually try it for a few days and then quit.” (Dr. Jacobs – I haven’t ran into the one student who told me I “should leave” if I wasn’t fasting. ‘Abstaining from abstaining’ is awkward; I feel like I should be fasting for the sociology of it, but when fasting I feel like I should be eating for the nutrition of it! It’ a tough call.)

The sign says: “Free mint tea on Fridays”

‘Fencer’ (I think my pseudonyms are becoming more obvious) , a fellow American, started a chess club at AUI. I had never played before last night but I really enjoyed the game. I took the honor of appointing myself Sergeant at Arms of the organization. I played with Sena, a girl from Rabat, for about two hours and then ate a late (by my standards) meal consisting of five yogurts and a ball of chicken filled with noodles.

While I was running around campus yesterday, I saw a path jutting out into the woods. Slick had told me there was an interesting trail behind the track and being the trail runner I am, I took off onto the rocky path. My run didn?t last for long as the trail led to a cliff, which overlooked the deforested hills of the Middle Atlas range. So I descended the steep rock face only to find some sort of medium-sized, spotted feline staring at me. It scampered off into the woods and I chased it in an attempt to classify its species. However, these tall, cactus-like plants popped out of nowhere and started to attack me. It was a tough fight and the cat got away. Next time.

My French is readily improving now that I have a tutoring partner. I am teaching him English and he is helping me work on my French accent, which is very un-French.

Meknes

This weekend, I made a short foray into Meknes with Slick and Flick. As we hurriedly passed through a police checkpoint complete with spike strips, I started thinking about whether it would be prudent to become nocturnal during the Ramadan season. It seems that most students sleep throughout the day, awaiting sundown and the ftour. After this, most people stay up until 3 AM and then start the routine once again. For me, this is a difficult adjustment and I have gone my own route. This morning, I awoke and brewed some Earl Gray tea I found in the campus store. I bought a cheap tea kettle when I was in Meknes and I was finally able to drink the black tea that I thoroughly enjoy. I don’t have a mug to drink from, so I cut off the bottom of a large water bottle. There is one part on my ‘mug’ that I can drink from; the rest is jagged plastic. Pinkies up.

Time to eat for the Muslims of Meknes

Upon arriving at the medina, we found a room for $3.33 per person and crashed there for the evening. When we left our room to explore the medina, it was close to the time for ftour and the streets began to empty. The cats had taken over the eerily silent streets at sundown. No people anywhere, just cats galore. Felines in the US have it made; here, they are the bane of society.

A cat mimicking the cafe life in Fès

That evening, we sat at a cafe and spoke with a Meknes native for well over an hour. French and Spanish dominated the conversation, although he interspersed it with some new Arabic vocabulary as well. Eating in the cafes after ftour is much more relaxing than nervously eating during the day in secrecy, away from the public eye. It isn’t by decree that non-Muslims cannot eat in public during Ramadan (unlike in Saudi Arabia) but we did it out of respect anyway. Most cafes and food/water vendors close up for the day and the market is largely comprised of clothing and Chinese-plastic-goods merchants. There are still a few cafes that cater solely to tourists but I tend to shy away from those establishments.

Before we went back to our room, we made sure to get enough food for the next morning. 10 bananas later, we checked out and hit the street.

We ended up walking to an older mosque and graveyard, continuing the eeriness that pervaded Meknes post-ftour.

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Sunday morning, we traveled through the medina that was now packed with people looking to haggle over goods.

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This 8 km long underground structure was home to 60,000 political prisoners who were tortured and chained to the walls.

After negotiating for almost an hour over cab fares and such, we found a cabbie who originated in Ifrane and offered to take us there for much less than the others. Upon return to AUI, I discovered the greatness that is Skype . Brittany is going to send me a microphone and web cam so that I can talk on the cheap.

Fasting, Ramadan, and the ftour

After 24 hours of not eating, the ftour was a welcome meal. Consisting of dates, harira soup, tea, orange juice, a hard boiled egg, bread, la vache qui rit (the laughing cow cheese), and something resembling a pancake filled with onions, the ‘break fast’ filled us up quickly. After not eating for such a prolonged time, we were in much pain after stuffing ourselves.

While not impossible, it is extremely difficult to concentrate in class, study, and do homework while fasting. While I was sitting outside reading for Islamic Civ, I couldn’t remember a word I had read. Hence, I may try it out again on a weekend in which I am not traveling far, but for the weekdays I am going to abstain from abstaining from food and drink.