So, I was aware that deciding to travel to Morocco would mean coming face-to-face with a set of extreme discrepancies between how men and women were treated...but actually experiencing it on the street is a completely different story. Men inhabit the public sphere and women, the private. The feminism movement in America broke through most of these taboos- leaving incomprehensible remnants like the "glass ceiling," the mindset that women should be treated more harshly for their sexual behavior than men, and the still immensely wide discrepancy between wages for the same work; whereas in Morocco, the feminist movement is just gaining ground.

I'm currently in a gender class at ALIF University in which we discuss these matters every week, with an emphasis on social norms based on Sharia Law which is in turn based on an interpretation of the Q'uran. Did you know that in the Q'uran BOTH Adam and Eve ate the apple in the Garden of Eden and were BOTH punished equally? It sure blew my mind after experiencing how women are treated as objects and foci of criticism in the Islamic world.

On the streets my friends and I have been called everything from "Spice Girls" to "Beaoootifool" to "Skallywags" to"you stop my heart..." been hissed at and harassed in other verbal ways. After a couple days I got used to it. You learn to look straight forward, appear as though you always know where you're going, even if you're lost, and to remain silent even if you feel like tearing someone's head off. But why?! Why do we have to take extra measures to avoid being seen?! We have often wondered what the teenage boys, who are the most ubiquitous source of catcalls, would think if we turned around and said something back, or called them "Backstreet Boys" or whistled at them when they walked past us!! None of my encounters have been physical, but some of the girls here have not been so lucky...it's never violent, but definitely an unwanted invasion of the personal space bubble.

Overall, if I had one superpower...okay, maybe not that extreme, but if I could change something about my daily experience here, I would want the young men to recognize how degrading and ridiculous they are acting and learn to respect the other half of the population.

I might write more about this again when I have more time, but alas, more class. SO MUCH CLASS!

Anyways...Belly dancing lesson TONIGHT!, second to last test of the term tomorrow morning, music festival in Fés tomorrow afternoon, henna from Kadie's host mom on friday night, hiking a mountain to see the sunrise saturday morning, taking a train to Rabat for the weekend (SO to Hannah Paulson!)

ma salaama
kellen

The Sahara!!!

The trip into the Sahara was amazing! Unfortunately I haven't had much time in between classes and traveling to blog as much as I would like to, but here are some pictures until I have more time!!

There are pictures of me on an actual camel on facebook but I haven't figured out how to upload them here because they were taken on a friend's camera. 

Yes, that is snow. NEVER expected to see snow on the way to the Sahara...

 Translation= God, Country, King

 Shadow of me on my first camel. I named her Fredericka Georgette. We didn't click as well as my second camel Aisha:)

Ciao for now!!

Desert??

So I don't know about ya'all, but when I think of a trip to the desert I think dry, hot, sunny, and sandy. But when I received the itinerary for my trip into the Sahara this weekend "swimming" was mentioned three times and the first thing on the recommended items to bring was "swim suit"...Also, it is recommended that you bring lots of warm layers because it gets extremely cold at night! Needless to say, I was a little shocked on both accounts! Our trip also includes two 2-hour camel rides (on dromedary-one hump-as opposed to bactrian two-humped camel) which I expect to be quite painful, a sunset seen from the best sunset-watching location in the country, a night spent in Berber tents or out in the open if you prefer, and a drum concert with dancing set to last from "9:00 pm - 5:00 +/- am"...I am told few students actually sleep on this night!!

Overall I'm completely excited to start this adventure, but alas...I have to make it through two and a half more taweel (long-طَويل) days of school before it can begin:(

Can't wait to write about it and post pictures when I get back!!!!!

Ma Salama!

One Short Day in the Azure City!

Last weekend we took a lovely trip to Chefchaoen! Although I spent less than 24 hours in the city, it was wonderful! It was much more relaxing and low key than busy Fés. Because of this lifestyle, it took us an average of three hours to get food at restaurants and the people of the town could argue over 10 dirhams (a little over a dollar) for hours on end, haha. 

A beautiful painting by the restaurant we ate at for lunch. 

View from the tower of Al-Kasaba.

Just an average street...

View from the Spanish Mosque on the mountain.

Me, Robert, Eric, Dane, and Bruce=great hiking group

Gotta run to class!!!!!

Getting Lost...

My more well-traveled companions here in Fés have told me many times that in order to really start to know a city, you must first get lost in it. Today, I did just that:)

Amberine and I set out for the bus station after class today to buy tickets for everyone in our group to go to Chefchaoen this weekend. According to Ameir, getting to the bus station is really pretty simple...you head in this direction make sure you don't hit that one street that he doesn't remember the name of, take a left at the water fountain (I have seen about a hundred water fountains in Fés since I got here) and you'll see a big sign that has red, blue and purple...or maybe it was green...In short, our adventure was off to a superb start! So we cross over the threshold of the institute and out onto the streets with enough money for nine tickets to Chefchaoen, which is quite a lot according to most Moroccans, and a hefty sum for anyone who chose to mug us...which we were hoping wasn't likely as nothing of the sort had happened to anyone in our group yet and it was noon.

We lucked out and bumped into Sally, a student from Leeds, who happened to know where the station was we walked there with her, spoke some mix of arabic, moroccan and french to the woman at the desk to buy our tickets, walked outside and realized that neither of us had been paying enough attention to know how to get back...perfect!!

So we head out in the general direction of the Institute, we think, and walk fast because we both do that when we're lost and because it was starting to sprinkle. We pass by street after street, nothing looks familiar...turn left, still no luck...maybe a right now? Sure! what's the worst that could happen?! Turns out, the worst we could do was get ourselves back to the Institute without having to ask for directions even once!! We were so proud of ourselves, and you should be too! Especially if you are familiar with my wonderful lack of natural talent in this realm:)

So now I can say it too...the only way to start understanding a new place is to get lost in it, I guarantee you, one way or another, you will find your way out and be more confident from the experience:)

So as i woke up at sunrise this morning to the call to morning prayer I decided it would be good to give you all an overview of Islam as 99.9% of the inhabitants of Morocco are Muslim! The core practices of Islam are based on five pillars...which we have reviewed about five times since I've arrived here in Fés, haha!

1. Shahada=the profession of the faith with the phrase: La ilaha illa Allah wa-Muhammad rasul Allah. Which translates to There is no god but God and Muhammad is the prophet of God.


2. Salat=Prayer. There are five calls to prayer every day: Dawn, Midday, middle of the afternoon, night fall and two hours after sunset.


3. Zakat=Almsgiving. Muslims give 2.5% of their savings to those poorer than them.


4. Sawm=Fasting during the month of Ramadan


5. Hajj=Making the pilgrimage to Mecca once in your life if you have the means to do so.


So yeah! There's a lot more to the religion that I am becoming more familiar with every day, but that's a good start. Hearing the call to prayer at sunrise is more comforting and beautiful than I expected any extended period of loud noise to be that early in the morning:)   


Also, Happy Pancake Day and Happy Women Appreciation Day!!!!  

Long-lost pictures of the flight and Brussels!!!

My computer magically recovered these pictures!

Some huge city we flew over between Chicago and Brussels...New York City?!

Pebble Clouds!

Market street in Brussels

Street of Brussels

Me in the warm sunshine in Brussels

An enormous organ in a Cathedral:) Amazing. I want to play it.

View from the tiny plane from Brussels to Casablanca:)

Casablanca at night

First view of Fés in the daylight!!

Okay, classtime!!!!!!! bye!!

The Hamam (الحمام)

I made it through my first real monday!!!!! I had class from 8AM-2PM and then home for lunch and a nap before studying for my first test tomorrow!!

The people in my lovely neighborhood of Ziate are starting to recognize me and be more open to my presence as more than a tourist, which I LOVE! Every day after school now I greet the man who weaves rugs in a store on the corner with "salaam uleekum!" and he greets me back. Then I wave to the man at the café and we exchange a "bonjour!" It makes life here seem more real.

A couple of the girls with me in Fés from the Midwest and I went to the hamam on Friday afternoon, which was QUITE an experience! A hamam is the public bath house. Kadie's host mom took us to the one in our neighborhood. You pay about 11 dirham (~$1.40), take off all your clothes (except underwear), and step into a steamy room with a bunch of women from ages 2-90...Once you get over the shock of being practically naked in front of a room full of strangers, it's really wonderful!!

It brought up some interesting contradictions in the culture of Morocco. Out in the streets, most women over the age of 25 (i'm estimating) wear a hijab (cloth covering their hair) and layers of clothes from head to toe, very modest. Then you enter this inner sanctum of the hamam where women let their hair down, literally and figuratively, and are completely free and comfortable with their bodies. I found it fascinating and I hope to observe more things in that realm to maybe do my final paper on!! I would love to post pictures of this experience, but i'd have to blur most of them for censorship purposes...i'm sure you all understand:)

Oh also, I was offered a massage by a fairly large woman with a fairly prominent mustache...I turned it down last week, but who knows what this week will bring!

I think one of the hardest things for me to get used to here is that I can't drink water out of the sink. I've gotten quite good at showering here, which consists of using a small bucket to dump hot water from a large bucket over my head:) That's just a small example of how conscious and sustainable the average family's lifestyle is here in Fés and I really respect it.

Okay, that's it for now as my internet is about to go away!!

Ma Salama!

Breakfast!

My breakfast was super delicious this morning, so i decided to take a picture of it and say a couple things about food and eating habits etc here in Morocco!

So most breakfasts consist of the delicious bread that my host mom makes, olive oil and marmalade for dipping the bread, and mint tea or coffee with milk, all of which I LOVE! This one was special, a dessert bread with marmalade baked into the middle and powdered sugar sprinkled on top!! Yum.

Cous cous is the famed dish of Morocco. Most families have it for lunch every friday after the midday prayer. Mine last friday was delicious! You eat most things with bread and the first three fingers on your right hand. It takes a little practice, but think of all the silverware you don't have to wash!!!!

Oh and to mom, dad, and devin-- I ate fish the other day that my host mom made, and it was fantastic!! And i didn't get sick at all! Yay!

My host mom also made a chicken dish that reminded me of a recipe Brian's family told me about and that was one of my favorites so far!

Okay, I'm going to lose my internet connection soon, so I hope you all are doing splendidly!!

Ma salama!