Blogs from Meknes, Meknès-Tafilalet, Morocco, Africa
Meknes, mais amigos da familia e desejo de banho de chuveiro, soh desejo
Published: April 24th 2012Africa » Morocco » Meknès-Tafilalet » Meknes
April 20th 2012
Chegando em Meknes, ligamos para o filho de uma amiga do pai do Jamal. Ele nos buscou no centro, de carro. O Jamal nao o conhecia, muito menos eu, claro. Chegando na casa, a esposa preparou cafeh e cha. Eles tem 2 filhos, mas soh o menor de 5 anos estava em casa, o Adam. Claro que ele virou meu melhor amigo. Eles moram num apartamento, a primeira coisa que pensei quando vi o banheiro... oba, chuveiro... banho pela manha. A mulher da casa, Radia, me deu um dos vestidos para eu tirar fotos... mais uma vez vestida como as locais. Caminhamos com o Adam perto da casa para tirarmos foto. Para janta, comemos arroz com frango, e sobremesa, frutas. O apartamento tem 2 quartos, banheiro, cozinha e sala. Eh muito engracado, pois eles fazem dos ... read more
Meknes - Imperial City of Morocco
Published: April 25th 2012Africa » Morocco » Meknès-Tafilalet » Meknes
April 16th 2012
We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” - Jawaharial Nehru My perception of Morocco is deserts, camels and bedouin, at least til I arrived. It's the height of spring, but I'm surprised by the rolling green hills, the agriculture - citrus, olives, sheep grazing. We could be on a train in any country area in Australia. This is not at all like the photos I've seen.... where are my sand dunes? We were leaving "Casa" to explore the real Morocco. A three hour train ride sees us arrive at the Imperial city of Meknes, which was the capital of Morocco under the reign of Moulay Ismail (1672–1727), before being relocated ... read more
September 25th 2011
Well Ive now been here just over 2 weeks and I'm pooped. (As the americans and canadians would say! I'm tired in other words!) A lot has gone on since my last post. I've moved apartments and now paid for an extension of my language course! Last Sunday I went on a trip with ALIF to Mekenes, Moulay Idriss and Volubulis. It was excellent to visit another city and to experience how different people used to live it was an excellent day. Except for the phone call I received. I had the "quiz" on Monday and got 12.5 /15 which Im really pleased with although I do feel slightly cheated as one teacher says one thing and the other says another but I guess languages are up for discussion! Wednesday I moved into my new apartment ... read more
June 5th 2011
This past week we had two cultural programs. One was a workshop with a calligrapher who showed us several different types of arabic calligraphy. The only one that we could come close to reading was a very simple one. Some of the types of calligraphy that the artist showed us were in specific shapes, and he had several examples of the words "allahu akbar," praise to god, in calligraphy. We all chose a style of calligraphy that we wanted to try to learn, and the calligrapher wrote each of our names in the script. We tried to emulate his writing using the calligraphy markers he gave us, but it was really hard. Even my Arabic name, Najma, barely resembled the normal Arabic writing. We all tried really hard to so well, but when our professor Driss, ... read more
May 30th 2011
Having been in Meknes for a week now, and having received so many requests for updates, I decided to be that person and start a blog...I know, but isn't it better than tons of facebook updates that don't have the whole story attached? So here it is! My six weeks here are primarily to study arabic, and so despite adventures and traveling, we spend most of the week doing the same thing. Arabic class is every day from 9-1, with classmates from Arabic at William & Mary. Then lunch at the riad where we are staying. The riad is more of a guesthouse than a hotel, and we are provided with either "crepe" bread with butter and jam, or olives and olive oil, with coffee every morning. The coffee is SO good! We also get Moroccan ... read more
Aventura em Marrocos - 5º dia - Meknes
Published: September 19th 2010Africa » Morocco » Meknès-Tafilalet » Meknes
July 28th 2010
We've made it to Meknes now, one of the old Imperial capitals of Morocco. I think we left off in Chefchouen, but we've spent most of the last few days in Fes, which was fantastic. Fes and its university are older than Oxford university. It seems to have operated a collegiate system that's quite similar to Oxford's, with a central library and medersas where the students lived and studied. We went into two medersas. They are astonishingly ornate, putting our Oxbridge colleges to shame. Nowadays the whole university functions as a mosque and theological college, so as non-muslims we can't enter much of it. However, the craftsmanship on what we did see was so detailed that it must have taken much more work than a mediaeval English cathedral, for instance, although perhaps not quite so precise. ... read more
December 16th 2009
Hello again beste lezer, alleen reizen maakt dat ik meer tijd en zin heb in schrijven dus hier alweer een entry. Vandaag heb ik in Meknes rondgelopen, 1 van de koningssteden, wat kleiner dat bijvoorbeeld Fes hier niet ver vandaan (doe ik morgen). Ik begin de dag met een hoop amusante wanorde in de medina. Dat is de naam voor de oude omwalde stad. De wal zelf, een meterhoge muur, is tientallen kilometers lang en verleent hier en daar doorgang aan het volk (en zijn ezels) aan de hand van immense poorten. De Bab Mansour el-Aleuj bijvoorbeeld, die uitgeeft op de place el-Hedime. Deze steek ik over en ga de medina binnen: dit is een enorme wirwar van kleine vochtige straten waar iedereen doorheen krioelt en volop in de weer is. De gejaagdheid is echter een ... read more
June 19th 2009
Here are some pictures of my fun in Meknes. Went with Nihad and stayed with her fam, they are really sweet but I have to eat 4 times a day- big breakfast with croissants and tea and coffee, her mom made a big couscous while we were there b/c it was Friday, and she made harira especially for me because she knows I love it! Also we have afternoon tea with more cookies and cakes, then dinner around 9 or 10. It's kind of exhausting. ... read more
