Briefly put

There is so much to convey and the 3 drafts for this entry just keep getting longer. In the interest of saving us both time, let’s shift the format to a quick overview:

Morocco


 • Tagine--small stew served in the little earthenware cook pots with chimneys filled with overcooked, mushy vegetables and meat.
 • Cumin used widely, offered along with salt at the table--try it on your eggs at breakfast!!!!!
 • Mint tea-try this too. Start with loose leaf green tea and throw in fresh mint-steep
 • Pigeon-yum!! don’t knock it until you try it--especially if you see pastiilla on the menu.
 • Don’t forget the hookah!!!- not my gig, but there is a flood of it all around.
 • For breakfast--fava bean soup
 • No bars, no alcohol (well, a few set up in huge tourist areas)
 • Eat with your hands or sop up everything with the pita

 • Berbers wearing blue
 • Whole villages panted in a white and blue motif--quaint!!
 • Distinct sense of modernity layered on top of "nothing has changed for a thousand years"-- try to untangle all those incongruencies
 • Spontaneous picnics-- families spill out of cars along the road to eat just about anywhere
vWomen are veiled to varying degrees…younger women mostly just cover their very sexy and alluring hair. Older women and women in more provincial villages still cover their faces.
 • Acceptance of being born into one’s lot in life

 • Greet EVERYONE with “Salam Alykum” which means ‘Peace be with you‘
 • It’s clear God is everywhere and causes everything. Just listen to any conversation, in every sentence
“Ensha’allah” means ‘if God wills’ and is used with every single future action i.e. “Bye, see you tomorrow, if god wills.”
“hamdulillah” praise God--used to answer the phone instead of ‘hello’ or the pause in a sentence when there is the uncomfortable silence. Used with the same frequency as ‘cool’ when you were 20 yrs old.

 • Gender segregation on buses, in restaurants, in waiting areas in any public sphere--I can’t tell you how many times I sat with the men before the lightbulb went on. Usually after huge smiles and much attention as I approached the men and sat with them. Apparently I still don’t “know my place”!!

 • Speaking of knowing your place---forget that you just waited in line for 15 min to speak with a clerk, if a man wants to walk up and cut right in front of you without a word, apology or even eye contact, he will.

 • This is a very bad place to be a donkey--they are weighed down with inhumane amounts of weight for transportation

 • Oh yes, I literally was almost killed by a donkey cart!!! I swear to you the drivers do not stop and I was yanked out of the alley by a native because I didn’t understand I was being yelled at in Arabic

 • Walk ½ mile behind/ beyond the tourist strip and realize that the façade feels a lot like Disneyland. The disparity is huge.

 • Kasbah-an older or native quarter of many cities in northern Africa--Think medieval mud brick fortresses with everyone living inside and all commerce taking pace there.
 • Riad- a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden

 • Touts for carpets, spices, jewelry, leather goods, camel rides, until you are green with frustration and want simply to be left alone

 • Moments of renewed faith in humanity when after making a purchase, you are allowed to enter a conversation with more genuine intensions of exchanging ideas of world views. If your lucky, this happens over tea.

 • Tanneries=stench=poisonous chemicals=cancer=short life expectancy for generations born into this lifestyle

 • Sufism-- mystical and intriguing. Remind me to read up on this when I can hoard books again.

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