Ouirgain and the Marrakesh International 10K

I'm writing from the salon of the CLC after my first day of Modern Standard Arabic and cooking! Classes were incredibly hard today since I moved up a level and I feel a little overwhelmed, but I hope I will catch up eventually.

This weekend was packed full with activities. On Saturday, all the NSLI students and many of our host siblings (including Oumaima and Zineb) left early from the CLC and traveled to the Atlas Mountains about three hours outside of Marrakesh. We drove up from the sprawling foothills onto narrow mountain roads that wound around the sparse ridges and valleys. The Atlas Mountains are unlike any other landscape I have ever seen. They remind me of aspects of the American Southwest, with red clay and desert dust, but also are partially covered in low trees and green brush. Throughout the valleys and slopes, the Berber people who inhabit this region have terraced the land to grow olive trees. The landscape is a sweeping expanse of snowcapped peaks and river valleys, the dusty earth and shrubbery periodically broken by giant staircases built into the sides of the mountains. 

We traveled to a very rural Berber village called Ouirgain. After some small towns in Latin America, Ouirgain is one of the most rural places I have ever been. When we walked in, women were washing their clothes on washboards in the river. The houses are made of earth, and half of each house is a place for the family's animals. We had a delicious breakfast of msimmon at a house in the village and then embarked on a beautiful hike along the mountainsides. We visited several different Berber villages, stopping to enjoy the view and drink water from a spigot that ran directly from the river. It was a gorgeous hike and I was glad that I got to see yet another side of Morocco in the villages. When I got home, I talked to my host father about the trip and he told me that he grew up in a similar rural Berber village at the top of a mountain in the north of Morocco. He is now a professor at a university here in Marrakesh. Listening to his stories about his childhood provides a very interesting contrast to what I have seen of life in Marrakesh, and also shows that there is a significant element of social mobility here for people who work hard.  

On Sunday Tammy, Seth, John, and I ran the Marrakesh International 10K. I love the atmosphere of road races, and the cheer and festivity at the start and finish line did not disappoint. John, in his typical friendly fashion, even made friends with other Moroccan runners during the race, and we all loved the experience. Tammy is a veteran marathon runner, and she wants me to train with her to run the Marrakesh marathon in January. I have no idea if we will actually be able to pull that off, but we are going to start a first-time marathoner training plan next week and go from there!

I am definitely not liking certain aspects of Morocco (i.e. getting harassed on the street -- the stares and calls literally never stop here). For example, today while waiting for the bus a man in his young 20s who used to live in California struck up a conversation with me about what I was doing in Marrakesh and how I was liking studying here and the city. We talked about California and I was so thrilled that I was finally having an interaction with a male on the street where I was treated as a person, not a woman to be catcalled at or followed. However, as soon as my bus was pulling up his friend asked me if I had a husband in a really creepy way. That interaction bothered me more than the stares and being followed because it really emphasized that unknown women and girls here are, to most men, just seen as objects. 

However, my incredible host family and amazing school more than make up for all of that. I love this city and almost every aspect of life here so far, and I'm excited for the coming week and the upcoming holidays here!

Pictures of Ouirgain and the 10K are attached below.

Feminism, Swimming Armies, and the Medina

Today marks two weeks since I left home! This week in Marrakesh has been exhausting but so interesting and exciting. On Monday and Wednesday morning, I ran with my American friends before school to the Menara Gardens. Menara is one of the most beautiful sites in Marrakesh. A giant reflecting pool of white stone stretches the length of a football field, surrounded by lush gardens with hanging tangles of purple flowers. At one end, a weatherbeaten building arches over the pool. The garden does not have the well-kept, clean atmosphere of an American park -- it is a strangely beautiful mix of old and new. At a well-timed history lesson at school that afternoon, I learned that the Menara pool was built to teach Muslim soldiers how to swim. During the Moorish occupation of Spain, unrest prompted Muslim armies to cross the strait of Gibraltar and restore order in Andalusia. However, since the boat ride across the strait was often dangerous due to tempestuous weather and currents, the commanders wanted their troops to learn how to swim before sailing over.  They built Menara and it has been an important site in Marrakesh ever since!

On Tuesday morning we went on a historical tour of the medina. The old city of Marrakesh is walled in by a giant wall of rose stone that matches the hue of the ancient buildings inside. The old neighborhoods inside are beautiful, and some still maintain their traditional function in Moroccan society as small gated communities within a city. We visited a primary school, a wood-worker (who gave me a wooden necklace as a gift!), and a sub-Saharan immigrant who worked in a crumbling stone edifice stoking the fires of the hammam next door and practicing traditional tribal instruments. Seeing these small parts of Moroccan life that are usually hidden behind closed doors to Westerners was an incredibly interesting and wonderful experience for all of us. 

Today, a professor named Fatima Iflahen came to speak with the NSLI group at the CLC. Professor Iflahen is a well-respected member of the elite urban female academia in Marrakesh and she had a very interesting perspective on how traditional Moroccan values influence gender roles today. Since Morocco is a patriarchal society, historically there was a public sphere for men and a private sphere for women. The streets and politics and markets were the man's domain, while the house was the woman's. Today, although the integration of women into the workforce has steadily changed this perception, the traditional cultural stereotypes and practices remain ingrained, consciously or subconsciously, in the psyche of Moroccans. This attitude creates a culture where women are harassed on the street, a practice "justified" in the subconsciousness since traditionally women are entering and invading the "man's" public domain. As an American girl who has never felt truly limited by gender, I find the harassment on the street to be completely offensive and a pure example of men being disgusting. However, although I obviously still do not support the harassment, I feel that I have a better perspective after Professor Iflahen's talk about why this occurs. It is very interesting to understand the deeper societal motives and implications that drive this behavior, and I hope that the Moroccan culture continues to shift away from the street harassment as it has begun to do. 

Her talk serves as an interesting framework to understand the various parts of Moroccan life that I encounter every day. Professor Iflahen described Moroccan culture as "schizophrenic" -- a great example of that is my Arabic teacher Abdullkebir. He is 40, very friendly, dresses in Western clothing, and is very well-educated. On the outside, he appears very Westernized and makes jokes about aspects of American culture that many Moroccans would not talk about. However, he told us today that when he wanted a wife he asked his mother to find him a good wife from a good family. His mother chose a girl, he met her once at a cafe for 20 minutes and they got married a week later! They've been married for 16 years and have 2 kids. Stories like this constantly remind me how different Morocco is from home, and I hope that I will be able to continue to understand the different facets of Moroccan life without judging them through the lens of American culture.

Djemma al Fna and my First Moroccan Weekend

I am writing from my bed right now in my newly decorated room! This weekend was my first weekend in Marrakesh and also the first real down time I have had thus far, so I took some time to do my laundry and fully unpack. The walls are no longer bare, but covered with pictures of my friends and family. My favorite part about my room are the glow in the dark stars that I brought to put on my ceiling. Before I left home, I gave a set of stars to my four best friends. We are all thousands of miles apart this year, so we decided to all put them up on our ceilings so that we can sleep under the same stars no matter where we are. Looking up right now with the lights off, I can see the constellation of the Big Dipper that I constructed and it makes me feel so at home.

I had a great first weekend in Marrakesh. On Friday afternoon my resident director Margaret came home from school with me to eat couscous, a Moroccan tradition at the week's end. The couscous was delicious, and we ate so much. After we finished eating, a contented hush fell over the house and we all slept and relaxed together for the rest of the afternoon. Numerous guests came in and out of the house to eat and talk, and I realized that the famous "Moroccan hospitality" I had heard about was not an exaggeration. We spent the evening in the garden and talked late into the night in the cooling air.

On Saturday, I woke up early and took my first solo taxi ride to the CLC. The cab driver was so nice, as all the drivers I have encountered in Marrakesh have been, and he helped me practice my Arabic once he realized I was a student and not just a tourist. From 9 to 12:30, the NSLI-y students and about 30 Moroccan students at the CLC split into teams and ran around the city collecting objects and taking pictures for a scavenger hunt. I loved the Moroccans on my team and have been texting with some of them! It was a great opportunity to get to know people, and I really liked getting to see more of the city. Some of the tasks were impossible (for example, to bring back a live sheep in a taxi), but we had so much fun. One of my favorite memories from my trip so far happened that morning as we were trying to get back to the CLC on time.  A really nice Moroccan named Zakaria led Seth and I through the winding streets of the medina. We sprinted through narrow alleyways of rose-colored stone and small shops, weaving around donkeys and carts. Everyone around us was smiling at us slightly bemusedly, and I was carrying a love potion, a used novel, and a live turtle in my hands and laughing so hard I could barely run.

That night, Zineb and I went to the first Debate Club meeting at the CLC. I liked meeting lots of Moroccans there, and I think the club will be a good way to improve my public speaking and make more friends here. Afterwards, we went to a beautiful rooftop cafe overlooking Djemma al Fna to drink coffee and enjoy the view. At night the frenetic music of street performers rises over the square in a strange harmony, mixing with the constant low undertone of bargaining and laughter and chatter. The lights from the stalls mix in a bright blur, illuminating the sea of people below. The glowing minaret of the Koutoubiya appears on the skyline high above the square in the distance.

Today, after a wonderful breakfast and morning of studying with my damily, I returned to Djemma al Fna to walk around to souk. I went back to the rooftop cafe with some American friends, their host siblings, and Oumaima. The square is so beautiful during the day, but it is even more incredible at night.  I'm excited to spend a lot of my time there in the coming months.

Some pictures from my weekend are attached!

First impressions

When I first left home a week ago, I decided that I did not want to keep a blog. I find typing  impersonal in comparison to sitting curled up in bed at night with a leather-bound journal and pen. However, as a student with cramped hands from writing all day and a chronic case of bad handwriting, I decided recently that blogging was the best way to keep a record of my travels this year and hopefully be able to share my experiences with my friends and family at home. Furthermore, I hope that this blog can help other students interested in NSLI-y, as I know travel blogs helped me, as they make their decisions to apply in the months to come.

So much in my life has changed in the past 8 days that I do not know where to begin. Last Thursday, I said my last goodbyes to my mom and dad in Boston and flew to Washington D.C. for orientation. We spent three days talking to Margaret, our resident director, about life in Morocco and exploring the city. On our last night in the United States, we all scrambled to find cooking materials and made pasta and brownies in my hotel room for one last "home-cooked" American meal (picture below). There are 10 NSLI-y students on my trip, from various parts of the country and from very different background. Most of them have done really incredible things with their lives so far -- one girl was a youth Senate representative last year, another lived in France for a year, another is very active with youth from Palestine, one boy lived in Austria for a year... Basically, I am studying with some very interesting and accomplished people on this trip. As someone with a fairly "normal" background -- my high school years were spent playing sports, writing for my school newspaper, and spending most of my time in my hometown with my friends, not exactly building up my resume like many of the others -- it is an interesting change to be surrounded by so many people who have accomplished so many things so far outside the realm of what I know. I think that the specific ways all of us have chosen to live our lives thus far will lead us all to find very diverse opportunities in Marrakesh.

We arrived in Marrakesh on Monday night after encountering some difficulties (a pilot strike in Paris and the resulting problems). We were all exhausted, and luckily we spent the night in a beautiful hotel with a large swimming pool. The next day, we went to the Center for Language and Culture, the school where we will be studying this year. The CLC is the most beautiful school I have ever seen. The complex is comprised of a winding network of buildings interspersed with tiled courtyards. You walk in through a large carved wooden door surrounded by mosaics and enter a small oasis from the bustling neighborhood of Gueliz. My classroom is in the main building across from a smaller building that contains a kitchen and a beautiful salon.  Colorful embroidered sofas and tables ring the room, and the walls are covered with beautiful painted woodwork and intricate mosaics.  The CLC's normal term for English students has not started yet, so we are the only students there in the mornings. In the afternoon, the CLC fills up with young Moroccans taking the intensive summer Arabic courses.

After my first class on Tuesday, I met my host family. The Ibarkis are some of the friendliest, kindest, and most welcoming people I have ever had the good fortune to meet. They live in a beautiful house on the outskirts of Marrakesh far from the hustle of the city. At night before I fall asleep, I hear the low natural hum of birds and insects in the warm desert night. Their house is ringed by a large rose-colored wall and gate. Behind the gate, a beautiful tiled driveway forks to leads up their front step and curve around the house. As you walk down the path, the space opens up into a tiled courtyard. A fountain covered in colorful mosaics catches your eye from the corner, and an ornately tiled outdoor table sits in the middle. There is ample room to play basketball and soccer, and the table has quickly become my favorite study spot in the evenings when the desert air cools down. Inside, the house has two floors. I live in my own room on the bottom floor next to my host sisters Zineb and Oumaima. The kitchen and living room are also downstairs. My host brother Yassir and his parents sleep upstairs in rooms that open up into a beautiful traditional Moroccan salon complete with a space for them to pray when the call to prayer rings out over the city five times a day.

My host mother and father do not speak English very well, but with our varying degrees of proficiency in Arabic, Spanish, French, and English we have managed to cobble together a language we can all understand. Zineb, who is 21, has very good English. I am helping her improve her English while she helps me with my Arabic. She is so open and friendly and kind, and I am so lucky to have been placed in her home and have made a friend like her.  Oumaima and Yassir, who are 16 and 8, also speak good English and they hope to learn more from me while I am here. Oumaima is so funny and nice, and I can't wait to get to know her better. Yassir is so funny and has this amazing energy and humor about everything he encounters. I love playing with him and I am excited to spend lots of time with him this year. Today, he tried to charge me 4 dirhams an hour to play basketball with him -- he constantly plays little jokes like that on me and I love having a little brother in my home. Their house is always full of friendly visitors who come in and out without the formality we require in the United States. Their neighbors are incredibly nice and I love meeting all of their family friends. Within the family unit, at least with the Ibarkis, life here is truly collective.

I was incredibly nervous about my choice to come here for 8 months before I left, but everything here feels comfortable yet exciting and new. I went for a run through a beautiful park this morning with my American friends and I am joining the gym next to my house tomorrow, so I am already getting into a daily routine. The city, people, and cuisine is very similar to that of Andalusia in many ways (although obviously also dissimilar in many ways), and I already feel so comfortable at school and in my host family's house. I was worried I would feel alone while I was here, but the Ibarkis have welcomed me so completely into their close-knit family unit that my life here already feels very full. This country and way of living is very different from my life in Sudbury in many ways, but so far I have loved the vast majority of the differences. Insh'allah (an Arabic word meaning literally"if God wills it" and used to express "hopefully") I will continue to love life here in the coming days and weeks and months!