Marrakech Photo Journal

I'm just going to do this blog post with pictures, since it'd be hard to describe otherwise. I took the overnight night train from Tangier to Marrakech (Friday evening-Sat. morning), and the way back the same thing, arriving Monday morning just in time for class!

The landmark Koutoubia minaret in Marrakech - the minaret is 70m high and was built at the end of the 12th century by the Almohads.

Looking up the minaret at the Koutoubia mosque, now inhabited by pigeons.

A terrace view of the vast Badi Palace, built in the 16th century, in the southern part of the Marrakech medina. It is now basically in ruins, stripped of everything valuable, and even the pools were empty.

Meredith and me inside the Bahia Palace, also in the southern part of the medina. It was built in the late 19th century, but is beautifully-decorated and preserved, especially the tilework and stucco.

An example of the exquisite decoration in the Bahia Palace. This is in one of the many courtyards:

My wonderful, air-conditioned room in the Riad in which I spent the night in Marrakech. Riads, which are beautiful old houses (or mansions) - turned bed&breakfast, are springing up everywhere in Morocco. This one was geared especially toward young people, so it was basically like a luxurious hostel - fantastic, clean, incredibly cheap, and the people were so nice.

Stage 1: The huge main square, Jama' Al-Fna', before sunset with a ridiculous number (> 50, I think) of orange juice stalls. The origin of Jama' Al-Fna' is a mystery, and its name can either be translated as "assembly of the dead" or "the mosque of nothing" - lots of Arabic words can take multiple, diverse meanings, such as "Jama'," which can either mean "assembly" or "mosque."

 

Stage 2: Setting up for the night-time festivities in Jama' Al-Fna'. Smoke coming from the temporary food stalls that appear every night and serve traditional Moroccan cuisine - although sometimes of questionable quality

 

Stage 3: Early night in Jama' Al-Fna', still filling up with people (Moroccans + tourists) and entertainers.

Men working at a tannery in the Marrakech souq - I started exploring early in the morning and got a personal tour from one of the men. He explained the steps of treatment process, one of which included using shredded bark from a Brazilian tree, and another used pigeon poop.

 

Workers treating animal skin to make leather - probably destined for some bags or shoes. There were giant piles of camel and cow skin, as well as sheep.

A nearby apothecary - the friendly old man felt the need to pull off every jar and explain its use to me in Arabic. Everything from saffron and cinnamon to special eyeliner and salts - most of them were pretty unidentifiable, and I didn't exactly understand all of his Moroccan Arabic.

An alleyway in the souq early in the morning when most shops were still closed and I could wander around nearly (but not completely) free of hasslers. When I went back later that day, the entire souq was transformed, which hundreds of bags, shoes, scarves, and other items hanging from every place possible - it almost felt like a jungle.

 The makeshift stand in a back corner a the souq serving Moroccans breakfast - baysar, a thick pea/bean soup with a olive oil and bread. On a whim, I decided to join them and I'm happy I did because it was delicious and cheap.

 A picturesque doorway in one of the quieter parts of the medina. I wandered into the residential areas to escape the crowds and hassling.

 One of the many stalls set up in Jamaa' Al-Fina' selling dried nuts and fruits - I ended up buying some dates and figs.

 Inside the main courtyard of the Marrakech museum, which is housed in a late-nineteenth-century, restored palace. The decoration was gorgeous, although the yellow tint comes from the covering. It houses exhibitions of Moroccan art and sculpture.

 

Inside the Ben Youssef Madrasa, near the Marrakech museum. It's no longer in use, but used to be a Qur'anic school associated with the neighboring mosque. It was originally built in the 14th century but rebuilt in the 1560s. Every surface of the madrasa was decorated, either with tile or carved stucco or wood.

 The central courtyard of the Ben Youssef Madrasa. There were halls flanking the courtyard which served as dormitories for the students - over 800-student capacity.

Another view of the central courtyard from the upper floor of the dorms.

The Majorelle Gardners - an oasis from the unbearable heat (>110F that weekend) of Marrakech summers. It's a private, botanical garden with a grove of bamboos, as well as a cactus garden. We walked over 30 minutes from the Marrakech Museum to get there, and my feet were burning by the time we arrived, so it was a perfect respite. We just sat on a shaded bench for over an hour.

A group of entertainers in Jama' Al-Fna' towards the end of the day - most of the entertainment appears once it gets dark, though.

 Our last stop on our way out of the Marrakech medina. This stand was selling a hot, spicy ginseng drink and some really filling, spicy gingercake.

I took the overnight train back to Tangier, and Meredith and AJ headed off to their next adventure to continue with their research project.

Quick update

The first part (of four) of a Moroccan Iftar.

Another great couple of weeks!
- I passed the midterm exam, thankfully (although grades don't technically count for anything here).
- Went to Marrakech
- Hiked to an unbelievably gorgeous waterfall near Chefchaouen (a few pictures below)
- Gone to several Moroccan houses to have Iftar (the meal at sunset to break the fast)

A beautiful view over Tangier on a really clear day

- Swam and played soccer a lot

I'm leaving for another trip to Larache, which is a small coastal town south of Tangier. There is going to be a play tonight about the revolution in Tunisia, so I'm heading there with some speaking partners, other CLS students, and a couple of the directors.

The waterfall and swimming hole at the end of the 2-hour (easy-moderate) hike to Akchour. It was incredible, although the water was freezing!

Spain in the background!

Then I'm taking a bus Sunday morning to go to Casablanca for a quick tour - namely, the colossal Hassan II mosque.

On the way back from the waterfall. We saw a group of monkeys in the trees, which was pretty neat.

I'll try to upload some Marrakech photos soon!!!

Too difficult to explain it all...

This will be  extremely short because I'm about to leave for the Tangier train station to ride an overnight train to Marrakech. Here are some updates on the past couple weeks:

June 30-July 1: Trip to Chefchaouen, a beautiful town in the Atlas Mountains famous for its blue and white walls. It was a gorgeous town, although my favorite part was our four-hour hike up a nearby mountain. We met a guide from a nearby village Saturday evening while we exploring around the area, and we were very hesitant at first to accept his offer, but after talking with him a while in Arabic, we realized that he really meant what he said. Not to mention that his name is Abd Es-Salaam, which means "servant of peace" in Arabic. It fit him perfectly.

So we met him the next morning at 9am, and true to his word, he took us up the mountain. It was an absolutely incredible experience - it's difficult to even explain, but even if the views from the mountain hadn't been as spectacular, it was amazing to just be talking with Abd Es-Salaam. His father is the Imam in his village's mosque, and Abd Es-Salaam went to a Qur'anic school growing up so he spoke Modern Standard Arabic with us, which was fantastic because we could communicate easily. 

I've added some of my favorite photos from the trip:

Meredith and me in a small square

A great example of the beautiful medina

From the rooftop of the restaurant where we ate dinner

Abd Es-Salaam, Sunday morning at 9am showing us some yoga

Near the top of the mountain

Passing a herd of goats heading up the mountain to graze. We walked through the village in the background on the way down.

This past weekend, the entire CLS program went to Asilah, a very small coastal town a short train ride away from Tangier.  Then I went to Rabat via train on Saturday night, toured all day Saturday with Meredith, AJ, and James, and came back Sunday night to Tangier. We walked all over the city - the old medina, the more modern/European parts, archeology museum, Chellah (ancient Roman ruins), the beach, mausoleum. 

Sorry for the laundry list, but I'm leaving AST in about 5 minutes! The trip was great, though, and I feel like I saw most of Rabat in one (albeit tiring) day. Here are some quick pictures.

A beautiful mural in Asilah - there was an arts festival going on when we visited.

The really crowded beach in Asilah. The other side of the Atlantic!

Bab El-Had in Rabat - one of the many entrances to the old medina built during the Almoravid (I think?) reign

Looking down on Rabat's crowded beach from the Qasba (fort) at the edge of the old medina.

A beautiful Andalucian garden in the Qasba.

The remains of what used to be a giant mosque. The minaret is the only part still standing.

Stork nests at the Chellah site south of Rabat's city center. Morocco is apparently famous for birdwatching, so we got a little taste

More of Chellah

Off to Marrakech!!

Mizyan! Even when I say this with lots of enthusiasm, this Moroccan word (actually of Hebrew origin) for “great” or “wonderful” is still an understatement for how the first week has gone. I hesitate to set high expectations for the next seven weeks here, but the first one was incredible.

A Pakistani group in a Tangier music festival

My teachers, Aziz and Rabia, are absolutely wonderful. Classes aren’t overwhelming, but I’m still learning a lot, especially practicing speaking. They’re really receptive to making changes and incorporating different lessons, and are great about covering material thoroughly, clearly, and effectively. Here’s part of a sweet email Aziz just sent to give you a better idea:

Dear all, 

Rabia and I would like to compliment you for your enthusiastic spirit and hard work in our wonderful class. Here you can find our emails. If you need any kind of help or whatsoever please feel free to ask. We will be so glad to help you. We do sincerely hope you will learn a lot and have so much fun.  God bless you. God bless Alqasba.

(“Alqasba” is the name of our class – it’s an area in the old part of Tangier.) Yes, they are wonderful.

One of the techniques used by all CLS teachers is immediate feedback – they have been told to correct any mistakes we make while speaking so that we don’t develop bad habits and will fix any habits we have. This method is supposed to be especially effective for adult-language learning, and I definitely appreciate this constructive feedback.

For example, think about people who learn English as a second language. The more advanced they are and larger vocabulary they have, the more critical we are of their speaking. We notice the smallest grammatical errors. Whereas with a more elementary learner, we are more forgiving of mistakes and may even think their accents and rough sentences are endearing. That’s the challenge with trying to become an advanced language speaker.

The first hurdle was finding out my results from the Oral Proficiency Exam (OPI) I took a couple months ago over the phone. CLS compares the before- and after-program scores for statistical (and funding) purposes, as well as our own personal use. The OPI is a standardized exam that divides speakers into the main groups of Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, or Superior with three sublevels in the first three groups (= 10 levels total). I was not very pleased with my score and was, admittedly, disappointed. However, it gives me a lot of room to improve in that area, especially since I have had very, very minimal experience actually speaking in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) – apparently speaking only in Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) won’t cut it :)

I used to laugh at the fact that Arabic learners would speak in MSA with people, since it’s not actually a language used in the Arab streets, but now that person is me, and I’ve had to embrace it. Needless to say, it has been EXTREMELY frustrating at times, especially when I am stumbling to communicate on the simplest level. My main language-learning goal is to expand my vocabulary and challenge myself to incorporate more sophisticated words and sentence structures instead of resorting to what’s comfortable. I don’t think I’m going to become an Arabic language scholar, but my end goals are to use the language effectively on an everyday basis, for which MSA proficiency is an important basis.

We spend most of the class speaking which is great for me to practice the vocabulary I have just learned, as well as learn from my seven other classmates, many of whom have stronger backgrounds in speaking MSA, whether at their universities or in other Arabic language programs. This is a typical schedule:

-       7am - Exercise (running, jump rope, or swimming in the afternoon)

-       8:30-9am - Breakfast at the American School in Tangier (AST)

-       9am-1:30pm - ARABIC (with a 25 minute break): 3 hours of MSA, 1 hour of Darija (Moroccan Colloquial Arabic

-       1:30-2:30pm - Lunch at AST

-       2:30-3:30pm - Speaking partners: one-on-one sessions with a native Moroccan (trained as a “speaking partner”) to help work on…speaking. We can talk about anything from what we learned in class to what are opinions are on marriage, social problems, soccer, etc.

-       Also, tutors are available after lunch for more one-on-one work

-       Afternoon activity: we are required to participate in two scheduled/group activities per week, so this week I plan on going to a hammam (bath) and playing soccer here at AST

Some dinner selections from a shaabi (local) restaurant

-       Dinner in Tangier (i.e. not at AST) + mint tea (this is a especially a must): I’ve been trying a lot delicious Moroccan food, usually with Meredith :) Last night I had grilled fish and a plate of watermelon, but other great options are a giant plate of couscous with stewed veggies, steaming hot tajine (famous Moroccan stew cooked in clay pots, usually with meat/chicken, veggies, and dried fruit), or kebabs.

-       Homework…or watching kora (soccer) in a café is always a solid choice.

Watching the Euro Cup final

Learning and speaking Darija is an entirely new level of difficulty. It’s farther from MSA than Egyptian Arabic is, so I barely understand people on the streets. ECA can be useful since many people understand it from watching movies, TV series, or listening to music, but I stubbornly try to stumble over Darija so I can get it down.  So far the result is often an incomprehensible mix of MSA, Darija, and ECA. The hardest part is that Moroccans seem to speak without any vowels. This sounds impossible, but it’s real, and only makes it sound like people are speaking 10x faster than normal. Not to mention terrible for listening comprehension.

I actually haven’t even written about the best part so far – hopefully I’ll be able to post something in the next few days, but if any of you have seen the Facebook pictures, I’m sure you may have an idea…