Alright. It's been a while, so I'm just going to write.
The last weekend trip we went on after my last blog update was Rabat. Rabat is the capital of Morocco, and soon proved to be one of my favorite if not my favorite Arab city. Full stop. Being by the sea makes a world of difference, and the whole place is just way more cosmopolitan. Rather than a ton of tourists, Rabat has what appears to be a decently large immigrant community, mostly from elsewhere in North Africa, and lots from West Africa. There were multiple occasions were I asked someone who appeared to be a local/knew what they were doing better than I did for directions and couldn't communicate because they only spoke French. Even a few shop keepers, although rarer, only spoke a little Arabic and definitely were not originally Arab or from Morocco. This kind of atmosphere for me meant that it was easier to walk around, buy stuff, hang out in general without being directly harassed nearly as much. Also, people in Rabat make their money from sources other than tourism, so they can usually care less where I'm from, will give me the real price, and generally just mind their business. The sea also just makes the weather amazing, and the overall environment just plain chiller. The whole city basically is walkable, and the avenues are wide and pretty damn French looking in the new city, and the old city is simple and by the sea. You can get awesome fish sandwiches for less than a dollar, and the souk is gorgeous, as I hope the pictures communicate. It's even easier I feel to speak Arabic with people on the streets, they just quickly recognize you don't speak French, and they'll politely communicate as much as (my) language will allow. This of course is an overview of my general experience there, and I've been only 2 weekends, but I hear much of the same from people studying there too.
Big, big difference from Fez, where even to go out and buy bread in the morning it can be a struggle to be taken seriously. Once we walk out the door here we literally have to be ready for all kinds of comments/harassment either from normal shop keepers, drug dealers, or just kids on the street. Obviously this is exponentially worse for the girls, and honestly I have the most respect for the girls in our program/living in Fez in general, because I'm not sure, should I be in their place, I would be able to take the constant unwanted attention/comments/physical invasions of space. I find knots in my chest just from frustration when I come home sometimes, just of hundreds of people screaming "my friend, my friend" at me to come into the shops, or jabbering at me in French, or just normally screwing with me on prices or just generally screwing with me. Kids in the streets think its pretty funny to scream "fuck you" at foreigners once they figure out they don't speak French yet they know what they're doing. They get pissed when they can't lead you around or rip you off because you there. They're the same people on the same streets I've been on for two months now, you would think they would figure it out?
This isn't to say Fez doesn't have a special place in my heart, traveling last week showed me how unique Fez is to other Moroccan cities. Simply, Fez is ancient and preserved. I realized how awesome it would be if I could basically just have a helmet camera, because there's no way to really appreciate what walking around in the old city is like without taking in the sights, sounds and smells. The crazy stuff you see just blows you away. The fruit stands, the craftsmen, getting run over by donkeys coming out of no where loaded down with crates and crates of bottles, or better, flammable gas. Guys walk around selling snails for soup, orange juice they'll squeeze in front of you, cookies, random sandwiches, its just really nuts. The walls of the city don't allow for all modern tools to enter, the narrow streets prevent cars, and without modern wide avenues and open business places, people are living, working, selling, buying, commuting, fighting, socializing, flirting, cat calling, harassing and haggling in the exact same space. It's intense and it makes me boil sometimes, but I know I'll miss getting an adrenaline rush just to walk to school.
Spring Break
Alright, so last week we had the week off (or maybe we had a few days off and gave ourselves the week?)
The group started at 5, then got to 7, then briefly 8 as Tine graced me with her presence in Fez and on the road for a few days. We rented cars from Fez, and drove and drove and drove. First was Marrakesh, a solid 6-8 hours away, depending on the road you took. The first car without me took the coast road, we took the mountain road. The drive itself, from city to city, might have been my favorite part. It was just such freedom. The roads were great, we blasted the radio with its bad American clubbing songs, pulled over when we wanted to, saw the sites, pulled off roads, chatted with people for directions, took chances on the way, got it right, got it wrong, we didn't have time constraints, and everyone was working together. At one point we just pulled off the road onto a beach, we were the only ones around, climbed around some rocks, found some cave pools, took in the isolation and pure beauty, and just drove on. It was perfection.
Marrakesh, plenty of the pictures you'll see either on this post or the next, are from Marrakech, I'll try to label them well. Most of these are Tine's, you'll notice the better quality. I've thrown this line out at a lot of people who've asked, but if I had to describe Marrakech, I would say, image you spun Morocco around a lot, really shook it up, then it vomited, you would get Marrakech. I was only there for a few days, and it's probably not a fair thing to say at all, but it was the definition of a tourist friendly Moroccan city. Everyone in the city made their money by ripping off foreigners. Thousands of French live in the city, and the rich and powerful of France still come to hang out. I don't know exactly why, its pretty, but nothing special compared to the rest of the country, its landlocked, and just tourist central. The souks have a little of everything from around the country, and go on forever in all directions. The square is pretty, and total chaos. Monkeys on chains being thrown at tourists, and then money demanded for that, snake charmers (who really just torture the snakes, and the snakes are probably defanged?) who also throw the snakes on tourists, I had 2-3 thrown around my neck. And hundres of thousands of people just generally selling stuff. Utter chaos. That and the prices for everything were 3-4 times what they should be, taxis won't use a meter, no one will speak arabic to you and really dont' understand that you don't speak french (except for our nice hotel people), and it continues. But our hotel was awesome, and super comfortable, and we got a great night out accomplished, hearty handshakes and welcomes from the bouncers, draft beer, etc. usually lead to a good time.
From Marrakech, Tine flew away on Tue. and we took off for the beach, straight to Essaouira. See map.
Essaouira. This was the place were I decided I could be really happy just traveling around the coast of Morocco for a while. A long while. I really really liked this town. It was quiet, chill, friendly, and absolutely gorgeous. Big fishing and tourist town, with a great beach, chill old city, very walkable, with not too much harassment going on. The hotel/hostel/riad we stayed at had an amazing rooftop, which we more than took advantage of, and after our little bedbugs run it it was a great time. I wish we had better weather, as you'll see from the pictures, but even with crummy weather we still got some beach time and ocean swimming. I also got to see French speakers sing Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson songs, so you can't really beat that. Not to mention an awesome British couple/restaurant owners with the best burgers/deserts known to mankind. Literally, we were giggling walking away the food was so good. Anyway.
It was also around here that I realized I really have no idea about the country I'm in right now. I did no prep for this. I didn't plan on being here, I had no idea what I was getting myself into and I really don't know the history of this place at all. Marrakech is incredibly historical, and for sure if I knew more about the place, and where to look, I would have had a much better time there. Essaouira had one of the largest Jewish populations around, now has almost none, and I only really found that out after I left. It's frustration, because the class load here also prevents us from spending enough time learning about where we are or really exploring and talking to people on our own. Obviously I could be trying harder, I could always be trying harder. But we do have a ton of class time, homework, then we all do things like update blogs once in a while, and when you started with little to now picture of where you are, it gets overwhelming to take it in when its not right in front of you. It's a huge contrast to Egypt, where I kinda knew what was going on, and where the other kids in the program were probably more knowledgable than me, I feel here, most of us are kinda learning as we go and not really sure of anything. The former adds its own dimension to the experience, but I do like knowing the place I'm standing on. I find myself wishing I spoke darija, the colloquial Arabic, better/at all. I even find myself wishing I spoke Berber/Amazeir, I just know that so much of the frustration I get from day to day stuff would be eliminated if I could better appreciate where I am.
The drive back cemented what I've thought all along. Outside of the old city of Fez, Morocco is super livable. The infrastructure is amazing, things work for the most part, and especially on the coast, life is pretty chill and doable. I haven't seen Casablanca yet, and I don't know what I'll think of it, nor Tangier, but I can definitely see myself spending serious time in Rabat, and Essouira was amazing. It's super isolating at times, but with the proper time dedicated to learning this place, I feel it would only get exponentially better. I'm trying to do the best I have with the time I got, while making the most productivity wise out of what could have easily been a lost semester for me.
I've already written a lot, and I feel like I'll have to edit this tomorrow when I post pictures, so until then.
The last weekend trip we went on after my last blog update was Rabat. Rabat is the capital of Morocco, and soon proved to be one of my favorite if not my favorite Arab city. Full stop. Being by the sea makes a world of difference, and the whole place is just way more cosmopolitan. Rather than a ton of tourists, Rabat has what appears to be a decently large immigrant community, mostly from elsewhere in North Africa, and lots from West Africa. There were multiple occasions were I asked someone who appeared to be a local/knew what they were doing better than I did for directions and couldn't communicate because they only spoke French. Even a few shop keepers, although rarer, only spoke a little Arabic and definitely were not originally Arab or from Morocco. This kind of atmosphere for me meant that it was easier to walk around, buy stuff, hang out in general without being directly harassed nearly as much. Also, people in Rabat make their money from sources other than tourism, so they can usually care less where I'm from, will give me the real price, and generally just mind their business. The sea also just makes the weather amazing, and the overall environment just plain chiller. The whole city basically is walkable, and the avenues are wide and pretty damn French looking in the new city, and the old city is simple and by the sea. You can get awesome fish sandwiches for less than a dollar, and the souk is gorgeous, as I hope the pictures communicate. It's even easier I feel to speak Arabic with people on the streets, they just quickly recognize you don't speak French, and they'll politely communicate as much as (my) language will allow. This of course is an overview of my general experience there, and I've been only 2 weekends, but I hear much of the same from people studying there too.
Big, big difference from Fez, where even to go out and buy bread in the morning it can be a struggle to be taken seriously. Once we walk out the door here we literally have to be ready for all kinds of comments/harassment either from normal shop keepers, drug dealers, or just kids on the street. Obviously this is exponentially worse for the girls, and honestly I have the most respect for the girls in our program/living in Fez in general, because I'm not sure, should I be in their place, I would be able to take the constant unwanted attention/comments/physical invasions of space. I find knots in my chest just from frustration when I come home sometimes, just of hundreds of people screaming "my friend, my friend" at me to come into the shops, or jabbering at me in French, or just normally screwing with me on prices or just generally screwing with me. Kids in the streets think its pretty funny to scream "fuck you" at foreigners once they figure out they don't speak French yet they know what they're doing. They get pissed when they can't lead you around or rip you off because you there. They're the same people on the same streets I've been on for two months now, you would think they would figure it out?
This isn't to say Fez doesn't have a special place in my heart, traveling last week showed me how unique Fez is to other Moroccan cities. Simply, Fez is ancient and preserved. I realized how awesome it would be if I could basically just have a helmet camera, because there's no way to really appreciate what walking around in the old city is like without taking in the sights, sounds and smells. The crazy stuff you see just blows you away. The fruit stands, the craftsmen, getting run over by donkeys coming out of no where loaded down with crates and crates of bottles, or better, flammable gas. Guys walk around selling snails for soup, orange juice they'll squeeze in front of you, cookies, random sandwiches, its just really nuts. The walls of the city don't allow for all modern tools to enter, the narrow streets prevent cars, and without modern wide avenues and open business places, people are living, working, selling, buying, commuting, fighting, socializing, flirting, cat calling, harassing and haggling in the exact same space. It's intense and it makes me boil sometimes, but I know I'll miss getting an adrenaline rush just to walk to school.
Spring Break
Alright, so last week we had the week off (or maybe we had a few days off and gave ourselves the week?)
The group started at 5, then got to 7, then briefly 8 as Tine graced me with her presence in Fez and on the road for a few days. We rented cars from Fez, and drove and drove and drove. First was Marrakesh, a solid 6-8 hours away, depending on the road you took. The first car without me took the coast road, we took the mountain road. The drive itself, from city to city, might have been my favorite part. It was just such freedom. The roads were great, we blasted the radio with its bad American clubbing songs, pulled over when we wanted to, saw the sites, pulled off roads, chatted with people for directions, took chances on the way, got it right, got it wrong, we didn't have time constraints, and everyone was working together. At one point we just pulled off the road onto a beach, we were the only ones around, climbed around some rocks, found some cave pools, took in the isolation and pure beauty, and just drove on. It was perfection.
Marrakesh, plenty of the pictures you'll see either on this post or the next, are from Marrakech, I'll try to label them well. Most of these are Tine's, you'll notice the better quality. I've thrown this line out at a lot of people who've asked, but if I had to describe Marrakech, I would say, image you spun Morocco around a lot, really shook it up, then it vomited, you would get Marrakech. I was only there for a few days, and it's probably not a fair thing to say at all, but it was the definition of a tourist friendly Moroccan city. Everyone in the city made their money by ripping off foreigners. Thousands of French live in the city, and the rich and powerful of France still come to hang out. I don't know exactly why, its pretty, but nothing special compared to the rest of the country, its landlocked, and just tourist central. The souks have a little of everything from around the country, and go on forever in all directions. The square is pretty, and total chaos. Monkeys on chains being thrown at tourists, and then money demanded for that, snake charmers (who really just torture the snakes, and the snakes are probably defanged?) who also throw the snakes on tourists, I had 2-3 thrown around my neck. And hundres of thousands of people just generally selling stuff. Utter chaos. That and the prices for everything were 3-4 times what they should be, taxis won't use a meter, no one will speak arabic to you and really dont' understand that you don't speak french (except for our nice hotel people), and it continues. But our hotel was awesome, and super comfortable, and we got a great night out accomplished, hearty handshakes and welcomes from the bouncers, draft beer, etc. usually lead to a good time.
From Marrakech, Tine flew away on Tue. and we took off for the beach, straight to Essaouira. See map.
Essaouira. This was the place were I decided I could be really happy just traveling around the coast of Morocco for a while. A long while. I really really liked this town. It was quiet, chill, friendly, and absolutely gorgeous. Big fishing and tourist town, with a great beach, chill old city, very walkable, with not too much harassment going on. The hotel/hostel/riad we stayed at had an amazing rooftop, which we more than took advantage of, and after our little bedbugs run it it was a great time. I wish we had better weather, as you'll see from the pictures, but even with crummy weather we still got some beach time and ocean swimming. I also got to see French speakers sing Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson songs, so you can't really beat that. Not to mention an awesome British couple/restaurant owners with the best burgers/deserts known to mankind. Literally, we were giggling walking away the food was so good. Anyway.
It was also around here that I realized I really have no idea about the country I'm in right now. I did no prep for this. I didn't plan on being here, I had no idea what I was getting myself into and I really don't know the history of this place at all. Marrakech is incredibly historical, and for sure if I knew more about the place, and where to look, I would have had a much better time there. Essaouira had one of the largest Jewish populations around, now has almost none, and I only really found that out after I left. It's frustration, because the class load here also prevents us from spending enough time learning about where we are or really exploring and talking to people on our own. Obviously I could be trying harder, I could always be trying harder. But we do have a ton of class time, homework, then we all do things like update blogs once in a while, and when you started with little to now picture of where you are, it gets overwhelming to take it in when its not right in front of you. It's a huge contrast to Egypt, where I kinda knew what was going on, and where the other kids in the program were probably more knowledgable than me, I feel here, most of us are kinda learning as we go and not really sure of anything. The former adds its own dimension to the experience, but I do like knowing the place I'm standing on. I find myself wishing I spoke darija, the colloquial Arabic, better/at all. I even find myself wishing I spoke Berber/Amazeir, I just know that so much of the frustration I get from day to day stuff would be eliminated if I could better appreciate where I am.
The drive back cemented what I've thought all along. Outside of the old city of Fez, Morocco is super livable. The infrastructure is amazing, things work for the most part, and especially on the coast, life is pretty chill and doable. I haven't seen Casablanca yet, and I don't know what I'll think of it, nor Tangier, but I can definitely see myself spending serious time in Rabat, and Essouira was amazing. It's super isolating at times, but with the proper time dedicated to learning this place, I feel it would only get exponentially better. I'm trying to do the best I have with the time I got, while making the most productivity wise out of what could have easily been a lost semester for me.
I've already written a lot, and I feel like I'll have to edit this tomorrow when I post pictures, so until then.
No comments:
Post a Comment