On Wednesday, we went to Casablanca to listen to a briefing about security from an official from the consulate there. The talk was fairly informative, but what I really took away from the presentation was an unintentional explanation for why the NSLI program exists. The man who presented to us was in a fairly high-up position in the American foreign service in Morocco. However, he told us that he only understood 20-30% of what people say to him in Darija. Some of the information he gave us was presented in a very aloof (almost superior and patronizing) way. For example, he told us that we should not take the bus because too many Moroccans take the bus. Although he was able to give us some good tips, I couldn't help but to wonder if he really understood the situations we were in as well as my teachers at school because he doesn't speak Darija. I was a little shocked, perhaps naively, that an educated American who was selected to be an expert on Morocco by our government was unable to understand the majority of things people said to him on the street. This man's lack of language skills, and (I would assume) a similar lack in other countries with NSLI target languages was a first-hand example of why programs like NSLI are so important.
Other than the security briefing, the little we saw of Casablanca was really amazing! We visited the Hassan II mosque, which is a fascinating building built on an incredible scale. The mosque rises almost directly from the seawall on the coast. Its tiled blue minaret towers over the massive structure underneath. The mosque was built in the 1980s by a French architect, and the French influence really shows inside. The interior seemed like a mix between a Catholic church and the other Andalusian/Moroccan mosques I have seen. There is carved wood in rich colors on the ceiling, chandeliers dripping with Venetian glass beads, and dark wooden screens separating the different sectors. However, the arches, prayer rugs, and the general atmosphere make the building feel distinctly like a mosque. There are pictures of the mosque below -- it is a truly stunning place that apparently took $800 million on paper and probably more like $2,400,000,000 in reality to build.
On Thursday we visited the Amal Center, a non-profit restaurant started by Nora Fitzgerald, the daughter of the director of the CLC. The Amal Center trains impoverished women to cook and gives them the vocational skills needed to get jobs outside informal housework. Nora seems like an incredible woman, and I have been talking to her about trying to teach some of the Amal Center women and their children how to swim. Hopefully after Eid we will be able to start figuring out details.
Today was the last day of classes before the Eid al-Adha holiday, one of the biggest Muslim holidays. We currently have a sheep living with us until it is sacrificed on Sunday. I helped my host family clean the house today, and one of the best chores was washing the courtyard in the garden with Zineb. The weather has been unseasonably hot the past few days, and the hot wind from the Sahara was still heating the air while we were cleaning at sunset. Our chores turned into a spontaneous waterfight with Yassir after my host mom and dad went out, and when we tricked Oumaima into coming outside and threw an entire bucket on her things really escalated. We ran around the garden in the steamy night air with hoses and buckets, slipping on soap and shrieking at the top of our lungs and falling over each other laughing. I really love my host family and especially after nights like tonight I am so happy I am living with them.
Some pictures from the week are attached!
No comments:
Post a Comment