Casrabat

Salam
Before I start talking about my weekend, I would like to say - hearts and prayers for everyone that was/is affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Mother nature can be cruel sometimes.

Now onto my weekend. This past weekend, I went to Casablanca and Rabat (hence the title - Casrabat) with the ISA group. Saturday was our Casablanca day and Sunday was our Rabat day so I will start off with Casablanca.
Casablanca means white house in Spanish. Casablanca is one of the largest cities in Morocco - fun fact of the day: 50% of the cars in Morocco are in Casablanca! Crazy. Well this large city is located right on the Atlantic Ocean making it a must see city! If you go to Casablanca, you have to see the largest mosque that was built by Hassan II.

Hassan II Mosque

Before I move on, I need to give you a history lesson of the kingship in Morocco. Right now Mohammed VI is ruling the kingdom. His father was Hassan II and Hassan's father was Mohammed V. (Mohammed is a very common name because the first born son is either named after his father or after Mohammed - oh it has a variety of spellings also). Morocco gained it's independence under Mohammed V.
Anyways, that was a quick history lesson for you but yeah see Hassan II Mosque. It started building in 1987 and took 6 years to build! It's huge! Part of the Mosque is actually above the ocean. They built it like that because in the Quran, there is a verse that states that God's throne was built upon the water. Pretty cool, huh? Well, they only allow one english tour a day at the Mosque and we almost missed our spot but good thing we didn't because the inside is so beautiful!- there are basically no words to describe it besides wow, ohhhs-ahhs, amazing, crazy, well, can't really put it in words but hopefully you get it.

We also visited Place Mohammed V. It's a huge fountain in the city across from some government buildings - pictures on photobucket.

Place Mohammad V

Since Casablanca is a big city, this is where all the cool nightclubs are at. I actually skipped out on the nightclub scene because I had a huge headache and had to go to bed around 9 but from what the others told me, they had a lot of fun dancing and drinking until 4 or 5 in the morning!

Atlantic Ocean

I think I've talked about Casablanca enough so now onto Rabat! 

Rabat (in Arabic ribat means fortress) is also located on the coast and is the capital of Morocco. We walked through the Kasbah des Oudaias and got to see and enjoy the ocean view from above (Kasbah means: type of medina, Islamic city, fortress; so Kasbah des Oudaias means Fortress of Oudaias). The weather wasn't ideal - sprinkling pretty much the whole day - but it was still pretty. The Kasbah in the olden days was used as a defense mechanism (right between the Atlantic ocean and the Oued Bou Regreg river) and today, people from all over buy houses in the Kasbah.

Kasbah
hmm, I think I just found my new house ;-). The houses in the Kasbah are way too expensive (in the billions) for me but maybe one day . . .

Cafe Maure

After this we headed to Cafe Maure which overlooked the river and is connected to the Andalusian Garden. At the Cafe, they were really trying to sell their pastries and mint tea to us - it only worked on a few of us. They do some hard selling over here! Besides that, the river and the garden was very peaceful and beautiful to look at. Oh, and the garden smelled amazing! 

We then headed to Chellah. No one has probably heard of Chellah so I'm going to explain. This ancient part in Rabat was first occupied by the Phoenicians then the Romans took it over (when they were taking everything else over). The Romans abandoned it and then Sultan Abou al-Hassan Ali took control of it. Abou al-Hassan is known as the Black King in Morocco with a rich cultural background. His dad was from Black Africa, his mom was Amazigh and he married a white woman - pretty amazing for being in the 14th century. Anyways, Chellah, I like to think of it, is a clash of different cultures in one; there were a mixture of different architectures in this one small spot - Roman, Moorish, Egyptian (Cleo's son came to Chellah), Islamic, and Turkish. Both Abou al-Hassan and his wife are buried in Chellah so, of course, I took pictures (photobucket it).

Mohammed V Mausoleum

Talking about dead people, after Chellah, we went to Mohammed V Mausoleum where we saw King Mohammed V, his brother Prince Moulay Abdallah, and his son King Hassan II's grave. It's like the Taj Mahal in India but different because it's in Morocco. Their tomb is above ground but the Kings and the Prince are buried below the Mausoleum. There are guards all over, one at each entrance (there are four entrances) and one in each corner of the building inside (again, four). Then there are guards on horses outside of the Mausoleum before walking up the stairs. Nothing bad is going to happen to the King's grave.

Each of the city had their own uniqueness to it. Each had a different energy and vibe. Casablanca is more fast paced and grand while Rabat is the quiet and laid-back city. I would most definitely go back to both of the places but I really liked Rabat more. 

My next trip that I will post about is my spring break trip! I'm super excited about that one - more details are to come.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog. If you have any questions about Morocco and their culture, comment on here or send me an e-mail heathermeppelink@gmail.com. I would love to hear your comments :)

 

Bslama!

Hogwarts in Morocco ;-)

As you know (it's in my event tab) this weekend I am going to Casablanca and Rabat with ISA so you probably won't get an update until I come back either on Monday or Tuesday (it might be really long so be prepared to read). To occupy your time I would like to entertain you with a little story that I wrote. If you like Harry Potter, you are going to like this!: (Harry Potter in Morocco)


We each received a letter through e-mail letting us know that we were the proudly selected to attend Hogwarts: Moulay Ismail in Morocco. Each student took their separate ways to arrive to Platform 9 3/4 in Granada, Spain. Once there, we crossed the sea and was picked up by the snazy ISA bus. Our headmaster, Daniel, explained some house rules: do not go into the forbidden forest (aka pretty much all of North Africa and Middle East), make sure to be in class everyday, and don't be late. He told us "The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room." On the bus before the big dinner, we each put on the Sorting hat and got separated into four different houses. The ladies in Apt 21 floor 7 each values hard work, tolerance, and loyatly which placed them in Hufflepuff. The other ladies in Apt 3 floor 2 values creativity, learning and intelligence which placed all five of them in Ravenclaw (Tova is the sixth that already got sorted a semester before). All the boys demonstrated courage, bravery, and loyalty which placed them in Gryffindor. Slytherin was given to the girls in Apt 5 floor 3 because they value cunning, leadership, and most of all, pure wizard blood (I'm in this house). The two very lucky ladies in the homestay are actually visiting students from Beauxbatons. Madame Maxine thought it would be a great learning experience for her two (favorite) most gifted pupils to live in other parts of the world (and it just so happens that tajine and mint tea happens to be her favorite treats).

Before leaving to our dormitories, our headmaster told us that he hopes everyone receives an "O" for outstanding and then he recited a riddle in a strange language that wasn't in French and Arabic; later we figured out it was darija. We each were welcomed by the wonderful dinner that our house-elves prepared for us and had a great night sleep before starting our studies.

I hope you enjoyed that :). I might be updating more "Hogwarts in Morocco" later on in the trip so look out for them.

A walk in Fes

A walk in Fes is one that cannot be forgotten. The winding roads, donkeys (or horses, or mules, don't know what they are)  as mailman, and the smell of the tanneries everywhere. Fes can either be spelled with an "s" at the end or a "z", either works. If you heard of Fes, you probably heard of the massive medina and that it's the largest living medieval Islamic city in the world. The reason why it has a massive medina is because there are actually two Medinas and one Ville Nouvelle (remember: medina means old city and when the French became the protectorate of Morocco they made Ville Nouvelles in every city). In the medina, there are thousands of streets and most of them are dead ends and basically only a hand full have street names so getting lost in the medina is the thing to do (it's not really recommended but it happens to everyone).

That's me in front of the Medinas. Crazy big! Anyways besides it's size, Fes is really known for their leather so of course we went to the tanneries. Before I talk about the tanneries I would like to mention a neat fact. Cars are not really allowed in the medina (unless they want to try to fit) because the streets get to narrow at certain parts that they will get stuck, so the mailman is actually a donkey! Here's a picture:

You need to watch out because some of the donkeys have attitudes. They will whip their tails and walk all over you if they have the chance. We actually got into a "traffic" jam in one of the streets because one of the packages off a donkey fell and that caused the next mailman to stop which freaked out the first one, needless to say, that was the weirdest "traffic" jam I've been in.

Alright, now about the tanneries - they smell! Welcome to leather heaven. Dead skins and dyes everywhere! Before going upstairs in a leather shop to see the tanneries, the shop owner gave us mint leaves. They smell so much better than the leather.

One thing that I do like about Morocco is that even though this is a developing country, almost everything you get is handmade. We went into a shop where you could watch pottery being made, painters painting the pottery, mosaics being chipped into tiny pieces, and actual tables being made.

The more I explore Morocco, the more I unveil it's secrets and it's magic that attracts travelers from all over the world. It's something that I can't quite put in worlds but let me say, I am falling in love with this country more and more everyday.  

A series of fortunate events

One word that sums my week-end up: epic (That's for you Jamie). The one thing that I really enjoy about traveling outside of my culture is meeting other cultures through people. This week-end I drank tea with a local family, rode and saw royal horses, and was able to show off Meknes to travelers passing through. Let me start off with the family and the horses. Right next to my school, there is a family that tends the royal horses. A year long student (I would like to describe him as a "cool cat"-he says "groovy" all the time) brought me, Tiffany, and Jennifer to meet the family and ride on the horses. It's not like in America where you pay someone money, get on the horse, have fun and then leave. No, here, you drink tea with the family, eat pastries, and have a small lunch with them. Then they take you to the horses and see all of them (there will be pictures on photobucket). They took us to a riding area and basically gave us lessons on how to ride the horses. It was an awesome experience that I am blessed to have. I was told I had good form. The family is very sweet! After riding we went back to their house and they gave us some more tea and invited us to couscous to their house this Friday :). I'm pretty excited.

So that was Saturday afternoon. Saturday night I met up with a guy from couch surfing that was in Meknes Thursday night. Long story short this guy was in another city in Morocco, met a couple from Holland (real Holland, not Holland, MI - the guy is actually from Australia but is working in Holland) and then re-met them in Meknes. I met up with the three of them and took them around town. I brought them to a cafe that sold beer so we drank Special beer (seriously that's what it's called) then I took them to get dinner at a great restaurant and since they have never smoked shisha (hookah) I took them to a shisha bar (that's where a bunch of ISA students came along too). They asked about the nightlife in Meknes and let me tell you there really isn't one unless you go to a nightclub. So nightlife here is going out for tea and shisha and that's it. We took everyone back to our apartment and pretty much had a party. There were at least 20 people here! It was great. The funny thing is, I was explaining my Holland to the Hollanders and they were shocked at our festival - Tulip Time. They said that we probably know more about the Dutch history than they do because we celebrate Tulip Time every year. Oh and they thought the dancing was bizarre (youtubed it).

Sunday, we headed up to the souk (it's like a flea market). The souk is in Zitoun where our school is. It's like a Medina but people from all over come to the souk on Sunday (it's only on Sundays and it closes at 2) to get great deals. Some of the things are second hand items and some are brand new. We were told not to bring cameras, purses, wear jewelry, and keep your money in your front or inside pockets because theft is really high there. We checked out the clothing area and each of my roommates including myself got at least one article of clothing. We paid all together to get the price down and total we only paid 10 dirhams (that's a little over $1)! Crazy!! One thing that was a huge shock was the live chickens. We past at least 10 different shops that sold live chickens, can kill them right there and skin them right in front of you. There were chickens, feather, and chicken feet all over the place! If I had my camera I would have taken a picture. It was insane but I guess that's the freshest way of doing things.

So that was my week-end of epicness. Today (Monday), my roommate and I met up with a Moroccan girl who took us around the Medina. She's so nice and sweet!! She helped us lower prices and communicating to the shop owners. It was wonderful and I had a great time! 

And that's why this week-end is a series of fortunate events. ISA delayed our trip to Casablanca and Rabat because of the protests and because of that, I was able to meet a lot of different people and make new friends all over the world. 

Bslama!

*Correction from last blog: the CIA has the unemployment rate wrong - it's more like 40-50% of the people are unemployed (that's the word from the street). 

Calling for change

So as many of you know, the Arab world is calling for change. It first started in Egypt, then it went to Bahrain, Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria, Iran, Libya, Jordan, and yes Morocco. Before you freak out, I am safe with no riot activity. And not planning on any riot activity or even being within a 100 miles from a riot. Anyways, the riots in Morocco are different than the others because the main problem that Morocco is facing right now is an economic problem. These riots are classified as peaceful protests. They don't want to over rule their government because they like their government; they just want more jobs. They inspire to have a government like England. There is a high unemployment rate in Morocco right now. According the the CIA World Factbook, Morocco's unemployment rate is at 9.8% as of last year and 15% of the population is below the poverty line as of 2007. So yeah, people want jobs and moneys. That's why the highest crime in Morocco is theft.
Again, don't worry, I am safe where I am at. Now if I was studying in any of the other countries, then I would be worried. If you looked in my Event tab, this weekend I was supposed to go to Casablanca and Rabat. It's getting postponed because there is a possibility of a strike on transportation. Moroccans are like the French with their strikes: planned and they always have them. So this weekend for me is free. I'm not sure what is going on but I will update as soon as I know.
Here is a picture of Meknes on my way to school:

This is a huge intersection in Morocco. 

Merry Christmas...wait wrong holiday and religion.

In the Muslim world the Prophet's Birthday is like Merry Christmas to us (Christians). People take it seriously and there are many festivities that go along with it. Morocco (especially Meknes) does something very unique for the Prophet's Birthday. Before I talk about the uniqueness, let me tell you how they determine when it's the Prophet's birthday. They determine it by the moon. The Islams are on a lunar calendar instead of a calendar like we are on. So Tuesday night they declared that the Prophet's birthday is on Wednesday (ISA told us that we didn't have to go to school on Wednesday and Thursday). ISA decided to give us an extra day off from school so we can celebrate the Prophet's birthday longer so no school on Friday too :D. I'm spoiled.
Alright so now a brief history about religion in Morocco (after this you will understand the uniqueness): The people of Morocco were first the Amazigh (like Native Americans to us) and the Amazighs believed in pagan rituals, for example trances, animal sacrifices, self mutilation, dancing, music, and so on. When Islam was first introduced to Morocco (in Moulay Idriss - I've been there) the people didn't want to let go of some of their rituals from the past. So they created a, as I like to say, Islam fusion. They incorporate the Islam traditions along with their own pagan rituals - *uniqueness*. The Qur'an reinforced the significance of evil spirits (like in Christianity, there are possession of demons and we need an exorcist to release the demons). Their main fear are the djinns (this word is spelled like 10 different ways but literary translated, it means genie). Djinns can be evil, good, or neutral spirits that either consume someone, a place, or a thing. Each djinn has it's own unique trait, for example: one djinn may only like the color yellow so the person being possessed by the djinn wears yellow (strange, huh). Anyways they have rituals to get the djinns out of the body and that ritual is done by dancing. Women will dance bent over, twirling their head from side to side, around in a circle, and up and down to try and get the djinn out. They consider this a trance. Once done with the trance, the women will collapse to the floor ending the process.
Here's a picture of a trance:

The lady in the stripe purple caftan is dancing, the guys behind are playing music, and the guy in the center was saying something...don't know what because I don't know the language. Later he came by asking for money.

So in Meknes, people from all over come to participate in the religion and celebrate together - Islam fusion.  Tents were pitched in an area by the Medina-old city of Meknes (reminded me of Harry Potter and the Quidditch World Cup). There were people trying to sell what they brought. Some people set up camp and opened a "restaurant" in their tent. In the actual Medina people were lined up, reminded me of people waiting for a parade. There were people all over, on top of walls, on top of roofs, in the trees, and wherever else they can squeeze in to see the so called parade. I don't understand what exactly was going on but I can try to describe it to you. It looked like there were different tribes or different something because each group of people that I saw was carrying a flag (that was in the front of the group). In the center of the group, people were making a circle and dancing crazy and the back of the group was the musicians. All the people in the center wore white. Oh, it was advised to us that we should not wear black. Black symbolizes evil or evil spirits.  

Here's a picture of a group passing by:

It's kind of hard to find where the center is but it's there somewhere and they are dancing and playing music. I did not see any animal sacrifices but I did see a woman take a little lamb into a square blocked off by the police here so I figured that is where they are sacrificing the lamb. 

To describe how busy it was, I went back down to the Medina later on in the day (with a group of friends) and we had to take shelter in a store because there were so many people trying to get in and trying to get out. People were pushing and shoving their way through which actually caused a fight!

Here's a picture:

Me sheltered in a store looking at the mob of people. 

Like I said, I did go to the Medina later on and when I tried to show people where all the tents were, they were all gone. It was bizarre to see an empty space but I guess everyone went home after the morning rituals. 

Well, that was a very Merry Prophet Birthday party.

Bslama (good bye in darija)

Photobucket: http://s1193.photobucket.com/home/bellydance_barbie/index

Check out the tents!

It snows in Morocco!

Wait, what?! I thought I left the snow to go to a non-snowing country, well I was wrong.

Yup, snow. Where you ask? Well, in the mountains. Yup, I climbed a mountain! Well before we get to the mountain part let me start with what I did on Saturday. Saturday was our day trip to Volubilis and Moulay Idriss. Some background on both of those: Volubilis was a Roman town when Rome pretty much ruled everything. They used this town to export exotic animals to Rome for the gladiators. Today this town today looks like this:

So we toured this area and then headed to Moulay Idriss. History on Moulay Idriss: Islam in Morocco started here. This town was off limits to non-Muslims until five years ago.
Here is a picture of Moulay Idriss:

So that was Saturday. On Sunday we went to Ifrane, Zorgan's house (a friend of ISA) and then we climbed the Atlas Mountains. Ifrane is a very clean town because there is a prestigious private University (all the other Universities in Morocco are government funded) so this town reminded me a little bit of Sweden or something like that. It's close to the mountains so people go to Ifrane to go skiing. After Ifrane we went to Zorgan's house. Zorgan is an Amazigh (another name for a Berber). We ate breakfast there and it was amazing! So good!! This is what it looked like:

Yum! After breakfast, we headed up the mountain. It was a long walk up but it was worth it. There was snow and cedar trees everywhere! When we got to the top, we had to walk slightly down the mountain to see the monkeys! Yup, I said monkeys :), well technically they are apes because they don't have tails but they are the same in my eye. We were able to feed them and get really close to them.

Aww, how cute. We walked up some more until we reached our bus. We were only on the bus for no more than 10 minutes and then Daniel (program director) told us we have to hike some more! At this point we already hiked for like 2 hours. I'm glad I hiked this last one because I was pretty much on top of the world! Here's a pic:

It was wonderful! What goes up, must come down so we had to walk back down this mountain and I think our hiking time totaled to 3 1/2 hours. Pretty intense but it felt wonderful! We then went to Azrou to get lunch and headed back home.
So that was my weekend. It was amazing and beautiful!
Yesterday was an experience for me. Okay so I already experienced the squatty pottys (eeww! I know!) but yesterday I experienced the Hammam. If you don't know what a hammam is, it is basically a public bath. It was very relaxing and wonderful. I have never felt so clean and smooth before. When someone goes to a hammam they bring a mat, a scrubby and whatever they usually use in the shower. It felt like a sauna in there. Everyone had their own little facet - one with warm and another with cold. You first wash yourself with the water and then use this green glooby stuff mixed with henna and rub it all over you body. You wash that stuff off and wait to get scrubbed down by the hammam ladies. Dead skin everywhere (eww!). After being scrubbed (seriously my skin turned red by being scrubbed so hard), you wash yourself like in a shower but sitting down. Volia! That's basically the hammam.
This week is going to be an interesting week. I don't have school Wednesday or Thursday because it's the Prophet's birthday. People from all over come to Meknes to celebrate it so there are going to trances, animal sacrifice (maybe), dances, music, and whatever else goes with a celebration in the Medina. Hopefully I can take some great pictures and share it with everyone!
Pictures are now up: Check out the Tangier, the mountains, Volubilis and Moulay Idriss, and I added an album in Meknes to show you my school. I hope you enjoy it! http://s1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa343/bellydance_barbie/