Day 3 - Ramadan

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Thursday

Again I slept until 1pm. Surely there must be some sound outside or something that is waking me at exactly the same time everyday. Or perhaps my natural body clock is aware of the limit of time that I can endure with nil intake. If that is the case my natural body clock is smarter than my head and is so far doing a good job!!

I forgot to write a little story in yesterdays blog that happened at breakfast last night. We had arrived just before 7.30pm and the table was already laid out with food. There was a fish dish with tonight's offerings and when we entered the room we were engulfed in the strong aroma. It doesn't matter what it is if you haven't eaten all day the smell of any food is enough to get the taste buds tap dancing on your tongue. Luckily we didn't have long to wait before the call started giving the command to commence eating.

As usual everyone started with eating a date. I don't mind dates but have become a little paranoid about eating them as here everyone bites into it and checks for worms before eating the rest. I asked what are the odds of there being worms in the dates and was told the percentage is high, very high. So now I take just the one obligatory date, dissect it and carefully scrutinize it for any movement. Honestly it has taken the joy out of enjoying eating a date. And the mushed up fruit I am left holding in my hand is not hardly so appetizing.

But I digress from my story. After Father took his date (expertly checking it) and eating it, he moved to the corner of the room again to do his prayers. However, today he was not alone, as Zak's mother was putting on her djellaba and headscarf to join him. Next thing Zak's older brother Yousef and his wife - who is also donning a djellaba and head scarf are lining up prayer mats to join the parents. Soon all four of them were on all fours, with heads bowing to mecca and performing the appropriate rituals right there in the salon where we were starting to eat.

Zak and his younger brother Omar aka Lurch were wasting no time and were already hoeing into the food from the table. I looked at Lurch and asked him in our shared English/hand signal language what about you? nodding my head towards the praying group. He just openly laughed, revealing a mouthful of food and shook his head no! I then turned to Zak and said and you?? He also grinned - lucky for me with an empty mouth - and replied no when I am older!
So here we three are sitting at the table eating and drinking trying to re-nourish our bodies while the other four performed prayers not 2 meters away.

The prayers only lasted a few minutes and soon everyone was sitting at the table and eating. But before we were rejoined Lurch looked at me and made a joke. Pointing at himself and Zak saying that if they were to die right now they would burn in hell. Deciding that eating was more important than praying at this moment in time and were willing to take the chance. I pointed at me and asked him and me? Another mouthful of food smile and he said and you too, you are welcome! Who said Muslims don't have a sense of humour about their religion?


4.18 pm I am now just listening to the Asr call to prayer, this is the afternoon prayer.

6.00pm I decided to go out and get a bit of fresh air, bit cloudy this arvo so somewhat cooler. As I can't go to the cafe - it won't be open yet and I am fasting - I head to my second favorite place in Azrou. There's a park bench with my name on it just near the big rock (you know the one Noelle!). I like to sit here and look at the rock and listen to music via headphones trying hard to remember not to sing out loud. I sat there for just over an hour trying not to have impure thoughts - still struggling to control these lol.

7.15pm Zak and Yousef pick me up in the car and we head down to Mum and Dad's for breakfast. Same, same routine as yesternite, 4 performing prayers as I start to eat with Zak and Lurch.

After breakfast we head up to the cafe for my much awaited caffeine fix. Nice!!

Tonite we travelled with Yousef and his wife in their car to Ifrane, a town just 20 minutes from Azrou. We went there to listen to some live music at a cafe called Beethoven. The sound was so loud my ears are still ringing 2 hours after we left. And of course the group played and sang in Arabic, with is fine, but really every song at 400 decibels sounds the same - like distortion. I have no idea why it was so loud and when I questioned this Zak advised this is just the volume they play this party music at. Err, by the time we had sat through 3 hours of this my ears felt like they might start bleeding.
One saving grace was a dance display by some Berber women when it was another womans turn to screech into the micro phone for a few numbers. The dancing was very energetic, lots of hip flicking similar to belly dancing I saw in Turkey. They also did this head/hair flicking movement that only confirmed they must have tremendously strong next muscles. It was pretty cool and a change from our normal routine.

Back at home we just had a simple meal of omelet and before I knew it the call to fast was being yelled from the mosques.

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Photos

the Azrou rock
view from my favorite bench of the rock, sitting there trying not to have impure thoughts.

Mustafa
one of Zak's friends gets up and belts out a few tunes with the band.

Comments

[Marcia Jinks]

loud music!
ha ha a and YOU listen to Jimmy screech barnes......now you know how I feel!!!

[IveBeenThere]

loud music
hahahaha yeah but it's different when it's Jimmy cause he's fantastic and at least in a language I kinda understand.

[Dolly]

Food glorious food!
You are doing really well Cindy! Gotta say you have put me off dates for life - why would worms even grow in them???

[IveBeenThere]

mmmm dates!
yeah hi Dolly me too. I can tell you I look very closely at the dates before eating them. But to tell the truth have not seen a worm yet. I suppose the worms go in the fruit cause it's a nice place for them to grow and eat their way out. I think I will throw up if I actually see one in the date I'm about to consume. Hope for everyone's sake this does not happen while sitting at the break-fasting table!!! Won't score points with the inlaws with that reaction I'm sure.