It's another morning at Maison Didi, Kate and Bri's home away from home for the last month. We're called to breakfast by Meena, our chef des cuisines, who struggles as much with the pronunciation of our American names as we did with theirs. "Sabrina! Ket! F'dor!" (translate as "Bri! Kate! Breakfast!"). We enjoyed morning delicacies such as bright yellow sponge pancakes, french bread, jam, Laughing Cow cheese and the ubiquitous Moroccan mint tea. While some of our group endured the harsh pollution of Fezzi air when walking to school every morning, we preferred to sleep in and take a last-minute taxi, a ten-minute ride that cost less than one US dollar.
Our classes at ALIF (American Language Institute in Fez) consisted of either a class in Dareeja, the Moroccan colloquial dialect of Arabic, or a sociology course entitled "Gender, Modernization and Social Change in Morocco," taught by the enthusiastic and passionate Fatima Amrani - you may recognize her from the wedding pictures. She happens to be the first female Moroccan English-language playwright, among many other accomplishments.
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| Professor Amrani served mint tea after our final exam. |
Pictured below is our classroom; the ornate walls are common in Moroccan architecture.
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After a two-hour morning class, we joined our more energetic classmates for the 40-minute trek to our homes in the Fez medina. Arriving at our door, we were greeted by Meena's shout of "SCHKOON?" ("WHO?"). We were instructed to respond with "KREB!" but after using it for the entire month, we are still unsure of its meaning. During our 4-hour lunch break, we had time to relax, complete last-minute homework, and enjoy the midday meal - the most important meal of the day in Moroccan households. The various dishes, always served in gigantic communal bowls, included different types of tagine (a dish of stewed meats and vegetables or fruit), mystery meat skewers, and our favorite, couscous. Every meal was accompanied by stacks of khobs (homemade, round, dense bread). Our lunches were never complete without a desert of fruit. Bri loved the pomegranates and Kate loved the mandarins. Not long after lunch, we returned to ALIF for our afternoon class.
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| A typical street in the Medina |
We spent free time after class in either Cafe Clock or the ALIF riad, a restored, traditional Moroccan house with a courtyard garden, situated in the Medina and available for ALIF students. Internet access at both locales allowed us to maintain relationships with friends and family at home and around the world via Skype and e-mail. We also watched movies, played a lot of euchre and made frequent trips to the nearby bakery. On days that we didn't have class, many of us spent happy hours getting lost in the labyrinth of the Medina, shopping and getting hassled by persistent salesmen.
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| The ALIF riad |
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| Bri and Josef at Cafe Clock, drinking fruit smoothies and banana chocolate milkshakes. |
Around 9 pm, most of us were expected back at our host families' houses, so we would return to Maison Didi just in time for the last meal of the day, usually a smaller version of lunch. After dinner, the entire family curled up in the salon for what we found to be Morocco's favorite activity - watching TV. Soap operas from around the world (Hindi, Turkish, Mexican, etc.), all dubbed in Dareeja, were our family's preference. Meena would serve the last cup of mint tea to the family and the last two or three hours of the night were spent in quiet relaxation.
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| Satellite dishes on the roofs of the Medina, illustrating the cultural prominence of TV |
Between 11 and midnight, Kate and Bri would bid the family "Bon nuit!" ("Good night!" in French, the second most-spoken language in Morocco, after Dareeja) and after brushing our teeth in the very pink, Disney-princess decorated bathroom, would fall asleep to the sounds of the not-so-silent medina.
B'slama until next time!
Bri w Kate w TIME 2010
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