Fez and other Random Events

Someone in my neighborhood got married tonight. Evelyn and I were sitting in our courtyard studiously avoiding doing any homework, when we heard the sounds of tambourines and ululations. Rahma, our housekeeper, immediately ran out to the balcony that overlooks the street, with Evelyn and I right behind her. A large group of people surrounding two trucks were slowly making their way down the street. The first truck held a live ram and assorted other foods, the section had what looked to be gifts and flowers. The people following the tucks were all dressed up, and the women were singing, clapping, and ululating. It was so cool. Rahma, Evelyn, and I just stood there smiling at each other and the people below. Later, my sister Sarah came home and we learned that the bride was only 15, and the previous moments lost much of their initial shine and wonder. Morocco is an incredible experience, sometimes wonderful, sometimes disturbing, and sometimes overwhelming, because every day brings random new events like this one.

Speaking of overwhelming, last weekend, AMIDEAST took all of us in the program on a trip to Meknes, Volubilis, and Fez. This trip was intense, first because all thirty of us were traveling together in close quarters, and also because Fez (where we spent most of our time) is a city designed to produce sensory overload. I won't talk much about Meknes, because although we saw some really cool things, like the underground prison where king Moulay Hassan housed the poor souls captured by Barbary pirates until they could be ransomed off to their fellow countrymen. In truth, we were only in Meknes for a few hours because it was a Friday and everything was closed. In Rabat, Fridays are pretty much like every other day of the week, stores might close for a few hours in the afternoon, and you see a lot more guys in caftans carrying prayer rugs on the street, but nothing major. In Meknes, people are more religious, and the city shuts down Friday afternoons as everyone is in the mosque. Anyways, I hope to go back to Mekens and give you a more detailed account them.

Volubilis was awesome. It's an ancient city first inhabited by the Romans, and later by Moulay Idriss, the founder of Fez. The site if full of gorgeous ruins, including complete pillars, carvings, and tile work. Our guide told us that it was incredibly impressive, the shape Volubilis is in, given the fact that people used to use the stones, columns, and land from old Roman sites to build houses, mosques, and farms. I would also add that the fact that Volubilis is in such good shape is astounding given that (since this is Morocco) there is virtually nothing fenced off in the whole premises. Visitors are free to climb over the ruined walls and columns to their heart's content.

We arrived in Fez Friday night and spent all of Saturday and Sunday morning there. It is an incredible city. Fez is old, like 1200 years old, and is the first big city in Morocco. It was founded by this king, Moulay Idriss, whose shrine is right in the heart of the old Medina. Fez is made up of three parts, the old Medina, Fez Jedid, or new Fez (which means that it was only built a few centuries ago), and the section that the French colonizers built alongside the existing city. Our hotel was in the European section, but my friends and I spent all of our free time in the old Medina. I have to say that the old Medina in Fez is one of the most singularly intense places I've been in my entire life. The streets are incredibly narrow, in fact they were designed to be just wide enough that two camels could pass through side by side. Given the width of the streets, no cars can enter the old city and mules are still used to transport goods. The streets are winding and rather confusing unless one knows where they are going. My friends and I got totally lost after being shanghaied into following some random Moroccan guy around when we asked him for a restaurant suggestion, and we eventually had to exit the medina proper and follow the city wall back to the gate that we were supposed to be meeting at.

Parts of the medina also smell. Fez is known for the quality of its pottery and leather works. Leather means tanneries, and tanneries mean smells. We went up to the roof of a leather shop and looked down at the groups of men soaking skins in lye and natural dies. The only men wearing any sort of protective clothing were the ones working with the lye. The rest were literally standing in vats of natural dyes (mint for green, poppy for red, cedar for brown, saffron for yellow, henna for orange, and indigo for blue) soaking, rinsing, and cleaning skins with their bare hands and feet. We were given springs of mint to sniff when we stood above the tanneries, but the smell still cut through. As I said before, Fez is a city designed for sensory overload with the smells, sounds, overly friendly shopkeepers, and massive crush of people. It was astonishing to see the huge groups of European and American tourists competing for space in the narrow streets with native Fezians, Moroccan visitors, store keepers hawking their wares, and the every present mules (especially given that all of the former were constantly trying to avoid stepping in the mess left by the latter). Needless to say, the weekend was rather exhausting, and very fun.

Fez is also an intensely religious city. The oldest and most prominent mosques, madrassas, and shrines are located right in the heart of the old medina. Saints are a big part of the popular religious tradition in Morocco and people visit the shrines of important saints for cures for sickness, good luck, or solutions to the problems faced in everyday life. Every city in Morocco is full of shrines for local saints, and some like Moulay Idriss, have made it to the ranks of big time sainthood. People in Morocco will go on pilgrimages to the shrines of major saints as a substitute for the Hajj if they do not have the money to make it to Mecca. Anyways, we walked passed the shrine of Moulay Idriss. We were not allowed to enter, but the building was gorgeously ornate. All of the shops around the shrine sold candy, incense, and goods such as wedding dresses, that are of more religious importance than the wares sold in the shops crowding the rest of the medina. There were also so many people around Moulay Idriss. The shrine is a huge pilgrimage spot and tourist attraction to the rush of people was almost unbearable. I was surprised that no one in our group got swept away!

When we got back to Rabat, our family was eager to talk about the trip with Evelyn and I. It's nice, because we've been talking to our family a lot more recently, and I think that discussing the trip and visits that they had made to Fez brought us a little closer together. Rahma also made couscous for dinner (because our mom knows that Evelyn and I like it, according to Ranya), and she gave me a crash course in Moroccan cooking. Clearly, I still have a long ways to go before I'm making couscous solo, but Rahma and my dad found the situation hilarious. My dad told me that I need to learn how to make Moroccan food for my family back at home and future husband.

Talking about marriage is a common occurrence here. I've had no less than four cab driver enquirer after my marital status and my one last night seemed pretty interested until I told him I was only twenty and wanted to focus on my studies. Surprisingly, saying that I want to pursue an education before getting married is widely accepted and the quickest way to shut down awkward marriage questions. My host parents are always pleased when they see me doing homework, and random cab drivers and waiters have expressed approval when I tell them I got to university. Evelyn and I had a conversation with our sister Sarah this afternoon about how she thinks it's best for girls to finish their education, work, and travel before marriage. She says that she can't even imagine getting married now and she's two days shy of her 25th birthday! I really enjoy talking to Sarah. She's really chill, likes to joke, and was able to fix my camera for me after I dropped it in Meknes.

Back to the couscous! After the meal was prepared, Evelyn, my mom, and I ate the couscous with large spoons from a communal dish. Most of our meals are eaten with bread or fingers from a communal dish, but I guess couscous is messy enough to warrant silverware. My dad, however ate it with his hands. My dad likes to tease me about food. When I say that something is hot, or that I'm full and can't eat any more, he tells me that there is no such thing in Morocco. Towards the end of the meal, he told me to "eat like a Moroccan" and scoop up a bit of coucous with my hands. I did, and made a spectacular mess of eating it. My dad, mom, and Evelyn all laughed and laughed. I seem to get laughed at a lot here, but mostly it's in good fun, so I don't mind.

The next time my family found hilarity in my actions was when I went to the hammam on Friday, and fell flat on my bum, right in the middle of the room, when filling up my water bucket. I have a really nice bruise on my back, but am fine other wise, hamdulillah (thanks be to God)! Ranya and her friends were in the hammam at the same time, so the entire family heard about my misadventure. All of the Moroccan women in the hammam were initially very concerned and wanted to make sure I was OK, which was sweet. Luckily I know how to say, "no problem" in Darija. During dinner, Ranya told my mom about the accident and the two of them cracked up, they laughed and laughed, and I got really, really red. I was sternly told to always wear my shoes (a fact of which I am now rather painfully aware), but I felt a bit better after Ranya and my mom assured me that they have fallen multiple times. Sarah told me it was especially bad to fall in the hammam because your body is hot so you break things more easily. The whole episode made me feel about three years old again, and as Evelyn says, you really can't take me anywhere!

That's about it for this week's excitement. I went bowling at the MegaMall (which is just like a mall in the US, except in the nicest part of Rabat), which was fun even though we are all terrible. Tomorrow I am going to my Arabic teacher's farm with the rest of the class. He wants us to see his village and meet his family, which should be quite the experience. Stay tuned for the full report next week!