Summer Study in the Maghrib (Morocco)

I'm currently in Morocco for the summer, studying Arabic at the American School in Tangier. This is my first time in Morocco, so my posts will be mainly 'stream-of-consciousness' observations detailing my time here. Some of it will include comparisons to Lebanon and Yemen, which are the other two Middle East countries I've spent time in.


What's the first thing I notice when I visit a foreign country? - the
political situation (no); the economic system (wrong again); hegemonic
structures pulsing with power beneath a thin veneer of societal
stability (of course not). I'm too busy looking at: Women's Fashion!!!

Most Moroccan women wear the hijab (a colorful scarf to cover their
hair) but quite a few don't. Lots of them wear colorful jalabas (long
robes) with lots of embroidery and sometimes with hoods. Many of them
wear jalabas without the headscarf – which makes it seem like more of
an issue of convenience than a symbol of religious identity (sort of
like a fashionable housecoat/robe that's suitable for wear outside the house). The fashion is much more European than American (lots of skinny jeans, tunics, leggings, wide belts,
ballet-style slippers). Some women even wear those "I dream of Jeannie" pants (tight around
the bottom and baggy) with little slippers and tank tops. A higher
concentration of sequins than is generally advisable, but much
preferable to the "shiny = pretty" problem plaguing fashion in the developing world.

The men on the other hand are often not as tasteful. Memo #1 to the shabab
(young men): bangs are for girls. Memo #2: The jerry curl is for
Little Richard, and it doesn't even work that well for him. Memo #3:
The ability to objectify and insult a female passerby in English,
Spanish, French and Arabic does not increase your chances four-fold of
getting a date. Memo #4: If it hurts to sit down because your jeans
are too tight, it's probably not too good for your sperm count either.


Many farmers come to the cities to sell their own produce, so there's lots of donkeys/mules/horses sharing the road with cars (although the former seem to have the right-of-way regardless of the traffic). There's lots of traffic circles, but they don't use
them like we do. In theory – you move toward the outside of the
traffic circle when you want to exit. But here – they make a beeline right from the inside, at a 90 degree angle, when they want to exit. Maybe that's why traffic accidents are a leading cause of death in Morocco.

Diabetes is also a major problem in Morocco – and five minutes
in-country shows you why. Every other store is a patisserie selling a
mind-boggling array of pastries and candy, and that's washed down with
mint tea with enough sugar to send a kid with ADD into lunar orbit.
When my favorite café was closed early in the morning I ventured
(alone) into one of the 'sausage-fest' (read: men only) cafes near the
school to get my morning dose of caffeine. When the waiter brought my
sugar and I told him I take my coffee without sugar he looked at me
like I'd just sprouted a second head that then cursed his newly
deceased mother. He insisted again that he had brought me sugar for
my coffee (indicating thusly by miming the spooning of the sugar into
my coffee). When I insisted that I liked the taste of coffee without
the sugar he compromised by leaving the sugar at the table for me
"just in case." The standard serving of sugar that comes with tea and
coffee in restaurants is somewhere between 2 and 10 tablespoons. In
spite of this the men remain inexplicably thin (life is so unfair).
The patisseries are also a central location for beggars –
circumstances). There's lots of traffic circles, but once you've entered the circle there's no clear guidelines for operating your vehicle. In theory – you move toward the outside of the
traffic circle when you want to exit. But here – they make a beeline
right from the inside, at a 90 degree angle, when they want to exit.
Maybe that's why traffic accidents are a leading cause of death in
Morocco (a close second to asphyxiation from tight pants).

Unfortunately, unemployment is an enormous problem in Morocco, and a lot of highly educated
people end up working menial jobs (waiters, taxi drivers,
cashiers, etc). Often those serving you food and selling you movie tickets are astute observers of politics and society and make for great conversation partners. Plus, like anywhere in the world, people love to talk about their own country and its customs to foreigners so it's always a pleasant experience to talk global politics with the clerk at the grocery down the street.

Healthcare:

Diabetes is also a major problem in Morocco – and five minutes
in-country shows you why. Every other store is a patisserie selling a
mind-boggling array of pastries and candy, and that's washed down with
mint tea with enough sugar to send a kid with ADD into lunar orbit.

When my favorite café was closed early in the morning I ventured
(alone) into one of the 'sausage-fest' (read: men only) cafes near the
school to get my morning dose of caffeine. When the waiter brought my
sugar and I told him I take my coffee without sugar he looked at me
like I'd just sprouted a second head that then cursed his newly
deceased mother. He insisted again that he had brought me sugar for
my coffee (indicating thusly by miming the spooning of the sugar into
my coffee). When I insisted that I liked the taste of coffee without
the sugar he compromised by leaving the sugar at the table for me
"just in case." The standard serving of sugar that comes with tea and
coffee in restaurants is somewhere between 2 and 10 tablespoons. In
spite of this the men remain inexplicably thin (life is so unfair).
The patisseries are also a central location for beggars – which is
clever, since if you have enough money to indulge in sweets you must also have enough money to spare some for your fellow Moroccan.

Cats!!!
There are lots of stray cats in Morocco (just like other Middle East
countries) but the people seem to genuinely love them here (in
contrast to Yemen, and from what I saw in Beirut). They are regularly
fed and petted by shop-keepers and passersby. I even found a man
feeding a small kitten goat's milk because the mother had died.
Needless to say – this has really earned Moroccans a place in my
heart!

Why do they like us so much?!

In addition to being kind to animals the Moroccans are also very kind
to foreigners (especially those who speak enough Arabic to understand
and laugh at their jokes). Which is surprising, because in some
cities (Fez and Marrakesh especially) there are almost as many
tourists as Moroccans, which would seem to decrease their marginal value . Bargaining in the souq (with tourists) is choreographed almost as tightly as a Japanese No drama.

Another common feature of Moroccan life is the offer of livestock to
foreign women in exchange for the promise of marriage. Since I've heard this is fairly common and I've yet to hear about the transaction actually taking place I think this is a joke meant for our benefit. When I was in Fez a man offered 2,000 camels for me and my female friend. Well, I shouldn't say he offered them to us – so much as for us. I asked him
if that was all up front or if he would be paying in installments.
Turns out his dromedary stash was significantly less than he
insinuated.

Food: The food is really amazing, tagine (named for the terra cotta
pot with conical lid the food is cooked in) and couscous are standards, but
they also have pigeon pies - yes, pigeon in a sweet pastry with
powdered sugar (again with the sugar). The cooks here at the
American School are amazing, and fix us a wonderful huge lunch
everyday. A nice change from the 'beans with bread, bread with beans,
bean-based bread, bread-infused beans and breaded beans' diet I had in
Yemen last summer.

They also have avocado smoothies for sale at the juice bars (which I guess does make sense, since avocado has a pit that makes it a member of the fruit family?). And they're surprisingly tasty (although eat a few of those a day and you'll max out your life-time caloric intake).