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Published: February 21st 2006
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A piece of America in Kelaa
On my way to the bus stop for Ben Guerir I passed the market/ carnival that is in town this week. And yes, that woman is wearing a peptobismol pink jellaba. It's the in color right now. I got out of town a bit today and headed over to Ben Guerir where Bart lives. He was one of the Sefrou crowd and it was nice to catch up with him and see his town.
He took me to meet his host family, who were very friendly and insisted we stay for lunch. They were having turkey and potatoes, which could be very American if cooked a certain way. This was definitely not cooked American, but it’s been long enough since I’ve had tajine that it tasted delicious. I haven’t quite recovered from homestay and am still trying to cook non-Moroccan food. Last night I made an effort at my Dad’s sweet and sour pork. Of course, being in a Muslim country, there is no pork, but at least I managed to get Dad’s sweet and sour sauce pretty close to the way he does it. I settled for sweet and sour carrots with rice.
Ben Guerir is fairly similar to Kelaa. It’s not quite as big, but it seems more developed in a way. It’s on the train like between Marrakech and Casablanca, so it gets a lot of travel traffic. I also got a little tour of
Transit
Sorry no photos of the flowers, we were going too fast. But this is the inside of a transit - a van that is cheaper than the bus. I loved the orange flowers on the older gentleman's scarf/ turban. town and the Dar Chebab Bart works at. It was closed, but we were let in anyway so I could look around the place. It was way zween (zween technically means pretty, but it gets used as an all-purpose word to also convey anything positive: nice, delicious, beautiful, good, etc.)
My favorite part of the trip was the fields we drove through. I don’t know if they’re always so zween at this time of year or if it’s the recent rain, but they were painted with a heavy coat of flowers. The most predominant were a bright yellow and looked vaguely like rape seed, but I doubt they were. They covered the fields and hills, shaded here and there with a darker yellow variety and some little orange daisy-like flowers that I have seen growing in vacant lots in Kelaa. It reminded me of the fields of sunflowers near where my friend Elka lived in France. Now and then we passed little sploches of light purple, but for the most part we were driving through a sea of yellow.
But mostly it was just nice to go somewhere and see a neighboring town. It only took 45 minutes to get
On the way home
That evening I got to see the Ferris Wheel in action. It's odd to see people in jellabas on it, and horses going past on the road. there and I’m surprised I’ve lived here for over two months without ever seeing the place.
That was my weekend. The Dar Chebab is closed on Monday, so it’s my day off. I get Sunday off too, though the Dar Chebab is open I the mornings. I spent yesterday doing laundry, tiding up my home and experimenting in the kitchen. Exciting stuff, but little routine things like this is what makes me feel at home here.
Most Recent Culinary Success: Baked potato. It wasn't an Idaho spud, but it was delicious.
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Bart
non-member comment
That's about me!
Hey Heather. I'm glad you got to see my town and meet my family. I guess it's my turn next! My website is www.xanga.com/extremefrolfman View with extreme caution and with a frisbee. Enjoy Tinjdad.