Stateside

Well, I am indeed back...and for those of you who have kept track of me via blogger over the past year, you can see that my blog has morphed again. If you've come to read a bit about my experience in Morocco...scroll down or take your pick at some reflections over the past months on your right. But otherwise, it's back to just regular-Hannah reflections...

It is a week ago this evening that I arrived back in Indianapolis after a 3-flight/4-airport jaunt that lasted a little over 20 hours and got to me...Durham. Wait a minute...what? Yes, I know, it is all slightly confusing. I flew in immediately after 4 months away to Duke, where I went to staff training for the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation where I will be working for 2 weeks later this summer and which I'm quite stoked about. :-)

I got in with little trouble, though my dislike for the JFK Airport in New York did grow....BUT I did make it through all the airports WITHOUT ANY charges for overweight luggage! (cue, mental pat on the back) This I consider a major accomplishment after 4 months of being abroad and without a scale to weigh my luggage before i left, but which both clocked in at exactly 50 pounds each [US weight restrictions, not international]. So that was pretty much fantastic. :-)

Once I arrived in Durham, I was picked up by a very kind staffer who looked somewhat wearily at all my luggage but then took me to a hotel where I walked into a room and saw the most heavenly looking bed I've ever seen in my life! White comforter, 5 pillows of varying degrees of plumpness, air conditioning (which i promptly turned off, air conditioning, what's that?!?), and a tv playing Legally Blonde...aka paradise. I slept very well that night and then launched into staff training...which once I adjusted went very well. Though I think one of the best moments was sitting in the new Duke Divinity School Chapel...a beautiful beautiful room with huge windows looking out at trees and the sunshine and realizing that it was the first time I had worshipped in a real chapel in 4 months. I think that's when my body stopped thinking it was thousands of feet in the air and when my mind and heart started to realize that I was home...

Training was a whirlwind and before I knew it I was back in the airport attempting to fit my 3 carry-on's into 2 (one of which was still basically illegal) and onto my last two flights (which I must admit were the worst of the bunch) to home. By this point, I had caught a bit of a sinus cold and so was fairly miserable by the time I arrived in Indy to my family with their brightly colored "welcome home hannah" sign, new car, and tall siblings. :-)

This week has basically been one of getting over the aforementioned cold, reconnecting with a friend or two, putting in a bunch of job applications (so far unsuccessful), working out, catching up on sleep, seeing a movie or two (i.e. the midnight showing of Pirates 3), watching my sister graduate (cue big sister pride), and settling back into home.

It feels good to be home. Many have asked me whether I miss Morocco or whether I'm having trouble settling back in...but for me, I really felt like it was time to come back. I'm not sure whether my body just has what a "semester" feels like ingrained after being in a different place every semester for the past two years or whether I just experienced so much that it just felt like it was time to be home to digest it all and relax for awhile. I do not know. But either way, it feels like I'm in the right place and I'm grateful to have this time...

time to rejuvenate and reflect and discern,
and ultimately, (to explain the new title and theme)
synthesize all that i've learned and experienced and wondered and questioned into a new picture, a new frame of mind for my future (to steal words from some old pop song that I ran across recently that is perhaps not necessarily amazing music, but I found the words apt).

this seems appropriate going into my senior year...but also after the past year, a year with many changes, many new realizations, many mistakes, many questions, many crazy-wonderful experiences, even more blessings, and even more questions than i started off with...

...such seems to be the way of life.

feel free to check back from time to time to see my new thoughts and leave your comments...no blogger id necessary.

God's peace.

Ma-salaama Morocco!

Well...it is 10:18pm Morocco time and in about 5 hours I'll get in an Al Akhawayn van with all my stuff and head to the Fez airport...my time here is official done.

It's a little weird to say that. For the past few days I've realized that my time here is ending but I've been so focused on getting the papers and finals done and out of the way and then getting packed that its really only in the past couple hours that I've begun to realize that I'm actually leaving. Amazing how sitting and seeing packed bags in your periphery can do!?! Luckily, it feels pretty good. I mean, I've had a wonderful time here in Morocco, but I think I'm ready to come home for awhile too. So a bit bittersweet, but it feels like my time here is done for now, so not too sad either.

So, I suppose that is time for a few reflections?

For those of you who've read a few of my little posts throughout the semester you know that I've had a lot of wonderful opportunities, which I'm very thankful for. I've had the chance to do quite a bit of traveling around Morocco (Fez, Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat, Kinetra, Tangier, Assilah, Sefrou, Meknes...) and had a few European adventures meeting up with friends in Madrid, Cambridge, and Paris...oh yeah and I can't forget my 48-hour jaunt to Cairo too! ;-) Just looking at that last is pretty cool. I had no idea what kind of traveling I'd be able to do while I was here, but I certainly think I made the most of it! It was very cool to see some of the different sides of Morocco, as well as see what it feels like living in this part of the world where it is completely possible to go to Madrid for a weekend on a whim! Though, I think my traveling bug is certainly satisfied for awhile...my body is already aching just at the though of 4 airports and 3 layovers in the next 24 hours...

I've had the wonderful blessing of finding a wonderful Christian community while I've been here filled with people from the states, international students here at AUI, as well as professors and their families, plus a Belgian and an Armenian to keep things interesting. ;-) That's certainly not something you necessarily expect when you go abroad, especially to a country where everyone is Muslim, to find a community there to welcome you, but that's certainly the case here. It's been wonderful to worship with them on Sunday nights and talk with them about faith and Muslim-Christian relations and life in general on Wednesday nights. We had the chance to go on a retreat together a couple of weekends ago and I was hit again by what a blessing that group has been.

Through our pastor Karen, we got hooked up with a couple opportunities that I'm really glad to have had. The first was teaching English at the local high school here in Ifrane two nights a week...such a fun experience. Got to use a little of my Arabic and hopefully help them a bit with their English. We had our last night last week...they swamped us with pictures and hugs and henna! It was a really great way to break up the school/travel schedule and also serve in a small way.

I guess the other opportunities I'm most thankful for were the opportunities to visit/learn about some of the hard issues here in Morocco. The school I've been studying at is a bit of a bubble...most of the students here are very well off...everyone speaks English pretty well. And while we got many opportunities to visit cities, even that is a bit more touristy, so sometimes it was hard to really know what goes on around us. But I had some opportunities to get out of the bubble which was great! I got to visit a women's center a couple of times here in Ifrane where women were working together on crafts and literacy projects...recently I got to go meet some of the women who live in a very poor area right outside of Ifrane and learn about their weaving cooperative...at the church retreat we got to hear about a couple's work with African refugees here in Morocco...I think all of those experiences helped sort of flesh out Morocco for me. I think one of the coolest things I've found being here is that there is a lot of complexity here - economic disparities between the rich and poor, intriguing political dynamics, religious practices, etc. I've liked getting different perspectives and learning about the country first hand. I like books...but traveling is more fun that just reading about a place....and its hard to get across the essence of place only through words.

Ironic, since that's what I'm trying to do here, eh? :-)

The essence of Moroco for me....hmmm...
...crowding 6 people + the driver into grande taxis for hours at a time...winding walkways through old medinas...shopkeepers telling us to come into their shops "I will make you good price!"...the call to prayer...seeing something ridiculous and uttering "T.I.M" (This is Morocco)...rugs, the special shoes, jalabas...couscous, tajine, freshly squeezed orange juice, harsha...the smell of spices that make my nose squirm as we pass...walking quickly pass the butchers/fish sellers in the market which display everything raw and hanging from the ceiling...dirhams...the essential Arabic phrases "humdillah" (praise God!), "saafe" (enough), "insha'allah" (God willing), "shukran" (thank you)...techno music and random American songs from the 90's...haggling and being told you're a Berber if you really go low...the ocean and the Mediterranean...the Middle Atlas mountains and the beautiful landscape that changes so rapidly (forests to rows of olive trees to cactus and desert to mountains)...the ridiculousity of Al Akhwayn University...henna...bright starry nights...trains with unmarked stations...the crazy mix of French and ridiculously fast Arabic with a bit of English thrown in...hospitality...the kiss-kiss greeting everywhere you go...the tss tss sound of guys trying to get our attention as we walked or the fantastic greetings we'd get "welcome! it has been long time since angels have come to our city"...

That's enough of that, if you're interested you can always ask me for more or what some of that means.

What else? Oh, that crazy thing called school. I started out very enthusiastic about my classes as I actually got to take a lot of classes in my subject area. By the end...not so enthusiastic. Two were great...Middle Eastern Politics and International Law (though I will remember that class mostly for the constant sparring match between myself and my professor about things like international human rights law). Two of my professors were not so great. Arabic was...frustrating because we didn't move very fast, but I did feel like I learned some. I'm glad to be done. And glad to have a different sort of spectrum of classes for next fall. But I did enjoy learning in an atmosphere where all of the examples were from the Middle East/North Africa region...so I learned International Law but from the perspective of Moroccans...Middle Eastern Politics with a lot more emphasis on the actual on-the-ground politics...that was really cool. And it was great to be in classes with a lot of other perspectives, one because they care about the issues because they are important to them, and two because most of my classmates grew up here so they had a lot of different perspectives.

Good friends...I had dinner with my "roommates" - my official roommate and her three friends who are always in my room - Narjisse, Nada, Faty, and Lubna...they're my girls. I so enjoyed laughing with them and visiting Narjisse's family...plus the random motley crew that is the group of international students here. People I probably would have never crossed paths with otherwise which made some days really hard...but a lot of days really interesting and very amusing. And hey i have some new perspectives on communities. And now I leave with friends from West Virginia to West Point to Idaho...much less here in Morocco. :-)

Ah, a good semester. Lots of great experiences (if you want to see pictures click on the link to the right) and fun memories...and now time for home.

Sort of. I fly into New York and then head to Duke where I have staff training for the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation which I'm working later this summer. So I get back into Indy on Saturday!

I hope all is well with you! Thanks for reading about my experiences this semester!

God's peace!

Tarmelot

So, I'm taking a break from writing papers because well...we all need a break from time to time. I thought I'd tell you all about my experience yesterday visiting the community of Tarmelot which is literally right outside Ifrane (where AUI is located and where I've been living for the past 4 months).

If you've read my previous posts, you know that Ifrane is a rich resort town. Very clean, expensive (by Moroccan standards), and houses a university attended by upper-class Moroccans (its the only university in the country that you have to pay for). So in a way, its a little bubble away from the realities that is the life lived by most Moroccans. It's been interesting to be at AUI for the semester because it has meant I've been able to hear a variety of perspectives and begin to grasp the complexity of the economic/class/cultural situation here in Morocco. But at the same time, sometimes it gets hard to break out of the bubble and remember that the kids at AUI with their Hummers and clothes from Casablanca, Rabat and Paris...are the extreme minority.

Tarmelot is certainly the opposite. Just 5 minutes away from the university and within eyesight of the characteristic red roofs of Ifrane is a tiny little shepherding community located in a valley between rocky hills not very far from the high school where I've been teaching English. There are about 20 families...perhaps 100ish people? living there and have been since about 45 years ago when they were brought in from the countryside (some of them nomads) to raise sheep for the rich people in Ifrane.

As we turned off the paved road (two of the other international students, me, and our pastor Karen) onto a dirt road, we passed a tiny one room school house that they are just completing. The first school for the community - Karen was exclaiming "there's a door now...and a built-in cabinet!..." where they will soon have a full-time teacher from the Moroccan government to teach the kids and hold adult-education classes (only one of the women in the entire community is literate). Right now the only students who go to the school in town are the kids in the two families who are "rich" by Tarmelot standards...

A little ways down the road we soon got our first glimpse of the homes...made out of stone and cement with roofs made out of wood and covered with flattened tin cans to keep out the wind and rain. They sort of look like long hutches except made out of the stones that cover the hills where their sheep graze. We got out and were soon greeted by a number of women and children...a round of kiss kiss, kiss kiss (the French-style greeting) for us all with shy, warm smiles from the women and curious grins from the kids.

We first went into one of the houses where the women work...two years ago Karen and some of the high schools students/AUI students worked with the women to start a weaving cooperative to generate income for the women. It is now fully operational with the women organizing themselves, working their looms, buying the materials - Karen and the AUI student group Hand-in-Hand provide them with help to market the items...the entire room's perimeter is lined with homemade looms made out of think branches of wood with strings of wool coming down and rugs and purses at various stages of completion towards the bottom. The woman use some of the wool from their own sheep but also by some dyed wool in town for colors and contrast. Each women buys here materials and then gets income from her finished products when they sell. Their work is beautiful...

We went into one of the women's houses...apparently the gathering place because it is one of the nicest houses owned by the most well-off families, so there is electricity from a solar panel and a real roof made out of aluminum. The women laid out rug after rug after rug, with purses and blankets in between to show us. They were beautiful and good workmanship. Though you could tell they're still trying to figure out some details...Karen was talking to them and telling them that the purse straps might be a little long and you could tell they weren't taking her too seriously, until I put on the purse and the bag hit my knees... :-)

They brought us tea and sat around watching us and talking amongst themselves as Karen told us a little bit about the community and their struggles and successes. Clearly, the cooperative has brought a lot of opportunities for the women and given them a way to bring some extra income for their families, but also helped reinforce the strong sense of community between the families. It was so nice to sit there and watch their faces as Karen complimented their work or asked about how their families are doing. The toddlers squawking and walking around, one of them, little Abdu allah was practically a weeble, bouncing off of everything in sight and just grinning with delight. The young women our age smiling shyly...those are the times when it makes me wish I could really speak Arabic, and not just the ridiculous Modern Standard Arabic that I'm learning but the colloquial dialect.

It was a lovely morning and was glad to be able to make a couple purchases to support their project...its so nice to see what powerful change a project like that can make, and the importance of people like Karen and community organizations who provide the help to get them off the ground.

So that was Tarmelot...perhaps more thoughts on that some other time. For now, time to go write about Moroccan authoritarianism...

Change can be Made!

Hey ya'll -

Hope your week's starting off great, if you have time check out this link: http://aidemocracy.typepad.com/

My internship director from the Middle East Institute (Spring '06), Lindsay Morgan has a piece featured on the blog (Americans for Informed Democracy) that I found really hopeful! A good reminder that we can indeed make change if we remain truthful and work hard.

The piece was posted May 11, entitled: "So you want to change the world?"

Check it out...

Classes Done

Well, Classes are done! Humdillah (Praise God!) as we say!

Which means I'm just left with two papers (one on Moroccan authoritarianism and the other on the gender bias in the Structural Adjustment Programmes of the World Bank & IMF...sounds exciting...not) and three finals (Arabic, International Law and Middle East Politics).

Really not so much, though I've been severely lacking in motivation this week so hopefully I'll get my act together without losing to much sleep.

Not too much else going on...getting ready to come home!

Hannah

Retreating

So, it's the last week of classes and as a good college student I am doing my duty and avoiding my last homework assignments like the plague. Consider it a form of anger that Valpo is already done with classes and descending into the wonderfulness that is finals week. Bah humbug.

This past weekend, a number of the other international students and I set off with the church community for a beach retreat at a hotel a little outside of Rabat right on...you guessed it...the beach. Ah the Atlantic...if at some point I can live on a beach at least for a little while, I'd definitely be okay with that. :-)

The retreat was nice, though slightly heavy at some points. The topic was how we as Christians attempt to deal with the overwhelming issues of the world. Those of you who know me well, know that I have struggled with this exact issue a lot over the past couple years. And so I was happy to note that as we made our list of huge issues: poverty, terrorism, war, sex traffiking, materialism, affluenza, negative effects of economic globalization, illegal imigration, abortion, hatred, lack of hope, racism, etc. that I was able to not feel that weight of hopelessness but feel like someday I'll be able to do my part in makign a difference in whatever vocation God calls me on and that I have to trust that God and his followers will work to do the rest. It's impossible to do it alone and feeling like its overwhelming when looking at those issues only serves to trigger paralysis.

Unfortunately, my mind did not dwell on this nicely packaged conclusion very long. :-(

After we made this list, we heard David and Julie Brown talk. This is a couple who has been working in Morocco for the past few years with the illegal African refugees. This may come as a surprise to many of you from the states, where the illegal immigration that we hear about is from Mexico and Latin America and preoccupies the minds of many in the US. But refugees and migration are huge issues worldwide too. Morocco especially is currently in a complicated crisis as the closest North African Country to Europe - specifically Spain. Sub Saharan Africans come up through the sub Saharan desert (a brutal brutal journey where 1/3 of the travelers die along the way) to Morocco in the attempt to get to Europe. Some of these are displaced by conflict, many others by poverty and lack of economic opportunity (ringing any bells for those of you who know the ins and outs of the immigration issues in the US). However, unfortunately when they arrive in Morocco they get blocked.

The borders between Morocco and Spain have been cracked down (when I traveled to Madrid a couple of months ago my passport was checked like 10 times between the two airports) and its virtually impossible to get into Europe. Unfortunately, Morocco's response to all of these aliens in their country is less than humane. Officially, there is absolutely no refugee problem. Unofficially, refugees are rounded up int he middle of the night, jailed, and then dropped off back into the desert and told basically to leave ASAP...of course you can imagine these refugees are less than thrilled about returning on the death trip through the desert and many simply returned. Unfortunatley, even if they are granted asylum papers these are not actually respected by the Moroccan police because of the lack of an official policy towards the refugees. These is fruther complicated by the fact that the Moroccan economy is terrible and cannot support its own people - unemployment is HUGE here - much less these people coming in.

Europe's reponse is another complicating factor. Morocco and Europe's relationship has always beena nd continues to be strong, and the EU is virtually dictating this policy because it does not want these illegal immigrants (even though crops are now dying because of the lack of temporary labor that the African refugees provide) coming into the EU. This is understandable. And thus they are forcing Morocco to crack down. However, because there is no official policy there is very little move room...if the refugees want to return to their home countries for example they try to get on a plane, they're taking ot jail and then dropped off in the desert, even if their ticket is payed for. There is an organization, the International Organization for Migration (largely funded by the EU by the way) that sometimes organizes planes to take migrants back...but its very expensive and not easy.

Amidst all of this, David and Julie Brown backed by the churches of Morocco, some Islamic organizations and some human rights organizations are attempting to be a light of support and love for these migrants. They described the above issues to us and their work - interviewing hundreds everyday who are asking for help of some kind. Sometimes medical, soemtimes job, sometimes needing emergency housing or simply a hug. They tell their stories, sometimes lying, sometimes exaggerating, often crying and begging for help. David and Julie and their team (practially the sole people working on this issue in the country) help as many as they can, attempting to use the money in their small budgets for the most urgent needs, but also helping some individuals start their own microenterprises and certainly acting as champions for the people.

For this, they have been followed by the Moroccan government...police have shown up on their doorstep and their voices will not be heard from the officials. Though, they have had to step in and help diffuse tense situations on occassion of migrant sit ins with the police and UN diplomats.

My first response to this story was...wow. It reminded me that facing a long list of issues and keeping hope in the face of AIDS, malnutrition, human slavery, school shootings, suicide bombers and decade long conflict is one thing but thinking about how complex and interconnected each one of these world problems is...devastating.

My second response, was one of amazement at the work this couple is doing. Such hopeless and thankless work...seeing these illegal refugees day in and day out, and then on the weekends going from church to church to raise money to continue their cause. It's just so much. It would be so so hard. And yet such work is so needed. And not just here, in the US, throughout Africa and around the world...

And that brings me to my third response...I've been thinking a lot about international law lately and the tensions between our sovereign state system (our world since the Treaty of Westphalia in the late 1600s) and some of the pressing issues of the day: migration across borders, global warming, intrastate conflict (Darfur, the Congo, Uganda, etc). My international law teacher loves to warn me in class about the perils that will surely occur if the Westphalian system collapses and the sovereignty of states is not respected. Certainly, events today threaten to do so - the US intervening in Iraq, states meddling in other states' business, basically the idea that other states can go into another state and change it as it sees as a direct contradiction to sovereignty...but at the same time I have such a hard time understanding how its so much better when we have people desperately trying to survive crossing the harshest terrain in the world for work and food and being beaten and thrown out of countries because of lines drawn on maps. I know its not as simple as that...certainly its the knowledge that its not that simple that makes my head spin. But it also makes my heart cry out "there has got to be a better way!"

Refugee/Immigration issues are some of the most complex too because you have that problem of "illegality" in that on the face there seems to be a clear "right" and "wrong." These people left their country where they had citizenship (perhaps nothing else, but at least citizenship) to come to another state in an illegal manner. The argument goes that if they had just stayed their would be no problem. And their arrival wihout any resources simply drains economies and causes increased social problems (like in Morocco, there is a lot of racism towards Africans and a new lower class being formed of squatters and the poorest of the poor). So clearly, these migraints are in the wrong and deserve what they get....the problem with those arguments are that they fail to conisder the larger world problems. These people leave some of the most desperate situations...sometimes literally running for their lives, pushed out because of conflict and terrible violence. Other times because it is simply impossible to find jobs and provide for their families. David and Julie told us that sometimes entire villages will pool their money to send two of the strongest young men to go get jobs and send money back to support the entire village. What else are people supposed to do? Especially in a system where globalization is making the rich richer and the poor poorer and where some might say rich countries are continuing a new cycle of exploitation on the poor in Africa and Latin America to support lavish Western lifestyles. Even if you disagree with this argument, the worldwide economy is so interconnected now that we are integrally tied to these people.

Oy. It's so complicated. And I can be the good college student and argue both sides to death and understand the issues till I'm blue in the face and yet the problem is still devastating on the ground with no real solution in sight. Here, in Europe, and in my own country. It makes me impatient to get out of this whole school thing and go do what I can to help. But then again, that's a whole catch-22 in and out of itself because the people who get to make decisions...yeah they have law degrees, and masters degrees and PhDs and job experience...oy. And to achieve any of that I have to first finish two more papers and three finals to end this semester.

And I've come full circle.

9 more days in Morocco...

Home with the Roommate

Hello Again...It's been awhile.

Last week was another one of work...woo hoo. Can you tell I only have 2 more weeks of classes and that I'm jealous that my friends at Valpo are already in their last week of classes and can see the finish line? Ah well, 17 more days after today so I probably shouldn't complain, especially after my fantastic weekend.

My roommate Narjisse had invited me home awhile ago, but this was the first weekend we could make it work. And it was just lovely. We headed out Friday about noon via grande taxi to Meknes where we caught the train to Rabat (about a 2 1/2 hour ride). She lives in Kinetra which is about 20 minutes by train south of Rabat, but we first met up with her sister Khawla (prounced Khoula) who lives in Rabat and works for the Central Bank of Morocco (sort of like our Federal Reserve).

We had a bit of an adventure upon our arrival. I had meant to grab cash from an ATM in Ifrane, but we left in a rush so as to not miss our train and so I didn't. So, as soon as we got in and were walking towards our meet up place I saw an ATM and I was like perfect! [It always makes me nervous to be traveling without very much cash, just in case!] So, I went over to the ATM, a boy probably about 15 or 16 was sitting a little ways away from the ATM on the ground, but I didn't really think much of it as its pretty common to see people on the streets of Rabat begging or just sitting...so I punch in all my numbers as my roommate chats away and as I'm putting my 1000 dirhams in my purse all the sudden the boy lunges up and grabs my money! I was still holding on to the other end but was so surprised! He was holding on fiercely as my roommate started yelling at him to let go...all three of us were now holding on tightly to my money as we formed this little triangle of holding on to stuff, the money, and yelling at him to get away...as this was going on, another man on the street came up and grabbed the boy and started kicking and hitting him to let go (during this time the boy never responded...my roommate said he was probably high and so was in a bit of an obstinate daze)...he motioned for my roommate and I to let go of the money and soon the boy was on the ground being kicked but still holding tightly to my money has the other man began to pry his fingers off...finally he let go, though not without already having ripped most of the bills and we were all able to step back as he just flopped out on the ground still in his daze. We went into the bank and they taped up my money and off we went leaving the man to talk to the police....it was quite the experience. Luckily, both Narjisse and I were unhurt and I left with all of the money I had withdrawn. Narjisse said the boy was probably Sengalese...its a big problem in Morocco that large numbers of Africans come up through Morocco trying to get to Europe but end up getting stuck and begging in the streets.

Narjisse with my taped up 200 dirhams...

So that was my "almost getting robbed" story...luckily it did not have a lasting effect on the weekend. We met up with Khawla and went around Rabat a bit...seeing this cool old wall/gate, walking through the old kasbah taking pictures and being slightly touristy as Narjisse hadn't been to these places either. It was really nice 1) to be going everywhere by car because you see a place really differently instead of coming in by taxi and just walking to places you know from a guidebook, etc... 2) being with Narjisse and Khawla and being semi-local. I could see the other tourists from Spain, France, England or eslewhere and see them just standing out so much and I could blend in a bit more by being with them. Plus, it was nice to see that my touristy experiences haven't been too out of the ordinary...the grande taxi driver still tried to rip us off, we still took tons of picutres and asked for directions, the guys still made comments at us...this time I had two people with me though that could translate and we could all laugh together! :-)

After awhile in Rabat, we drove towards Kinetra on the freeway and arrived at our home just in time for a lovely dinner with her other sister Abir and her parents. They of course stuffed me and while weren't too pushy about filling my plate again and again, clearly wanted to make their hospitality known. Her parents don't speak English, but even they could understand some of what I was saying. Khawla and Narjisse speak really good English and even her sister Abir could communicate with me well, so I was pretty spoiled for the weekend. Narjisse acted as an amazing translator...I'm so proud of her with her English!

Her sister and I hung out a bit that evening and then went to sleep...got up the next morning by her mother's orders to come down to breakfast where there was a delicious spread awaiting. Then, Narjisse, Abir, Khawla and I headed out to see a bit of Kinetra. We saw this really cool old castle that protected Kinetra centuries ago...Narjisse and I have a plan now to marry rich husbands who will renovate it so we can live in it someday. :-) It was very cool and had an amazing view of the beach and the water...ah, the Atlantic. We explored a bit as our guide took us around, again with the girls translating for me. Then we went down to the beach, felt the sand in our toes and the cold water of the ocean, then dropped by the supermarket near their house (very much like a Walmart Superstore with grocery included) picked up a cake for the family and then headed back for lunch.

Lunch was a huge meal with her family and her aunt and uncle and their two girls. It was in this formal dining room which was beautiful...we started out with artichokes and melon, then they brought out bread and vegetables and salad, and then a HUGE platter with a fish surrounded by lots of yummy vegetables (the vegetables at AUI suck, so I love any occasion where I get healthy food). I was stuffed by the end and then they brought out this amazing cake her aunt made and fruit. Followed by coffeee! Oy! It was delicious.

Narjisse, Me and her family (and aunts and uncles) after lunch...my camera took to long to take the picture so i look slightly bizarre. Oh well.

Everyone hung out a while and then her father took Abir, Narjisse, I and one of Narjisse' friends Ichraq to the nature reserve in Kinetra called the Centre National D'Education Environmentale...basically where all of these birds migrate from Europe and make a rest stop in Kinetra before heading down to sub Saharan Africa. Pretty cool, eh? It was very beautiful and reminded me a bit of home with the lush trees and lake and such. Narjisse's father got us in to see the center even though it was closed ("She came from America to see!") and it was cool to see the exhibits they had set up for visitng school kids and such and then to see the birds.

Back for a snack, her mom/their maid made harsha just for me (my favorite breakfast food, sort of like cornbread except not) which was delicious. Then we ran some errands, came back for a quick supper of spaghetti and chilled for the evening. When I went up for bed that night I found a beautiful kaftan waiting for me...one of the traditional dresses here in Morocco. I was so touched, her family was so utterly sweet to me!

Narjisse and I got up the next morning and jumped on the train to Rabat, again met up with her sister and saw a few more of the sights. We saw Hassan Tower (a mosque that was never finished but would have been HUGE) and the Masueloeum of Mohammad V and grabbed some lunch at the mall before jumping back on the train for our trek home. Blah. I think the worst part of traveling is coming back home...train to taxi to Ifrane. Neither Narjisse and I were particularly happy to be back to cold Ifrane after sunny beatuiful Rabat and Kinetra...but alas.

So it was a wonderful weekend, though if anything I was perhaps a tinge more homesick as it was so nice to be in a family house again and to be welcomed so hospitably. As soon as we got back I rushed off to go be a part of the student-led service for church which was somewhat scattered as is the nature of those things, but turned out pretty well overall. We made these little books with our favorite scriptures and quotes that went along with the lectionary's theme of God the Good Shepherd and the whole congregation absolutely loved them! So that was exciting.

Now, I'm sort of back in the grind of things. Tomorrow is Moroccan Labor Day so we have a pretty broken up week, which is lovely because that means I only have 3 days of class...but today has been pretty blah. I'm ready to go home and all my classes have reached that frustrating point of no one wanting to be there. Yesterday in Middle East Politics we debated the Arab-Israeli conflict for about a half in hour which is sort of hopeless...as well I'm getting kind of tired of the dynamics between teh international students here. They're lovely people, but I think we're reaching the end of the rope so to speak...I almost hurled one of them through the window yesterday, so I've taken most of the evening to just chill by myself. Narjisse and I watched Cheaper by the Dozen on tv so that was fun! :-)

But now only 17 more days...2 papers, 1 presentation (this Thursday in Arabic so keep me in your prayers), 3 finals, and one huge packing ordeal to go. This weekend is the beach retreat with church which should be lovely and then after that, we may have one last intl. student hoorah before we go, but we'll see. I may just study and get ready to come home!

Until then....God's peace.

A taste of Fez

Want a taste of what Fez is like?

http://travel.nytimes.com//2007/04/08/travel/08Fez.html

April in Indiana...I mean Morocco

So, it's been a while since my last post...

The past two weeks have been largely like April back home. I've finished two 10+ papers (on How International Law affects Truth Commissions and the Effect of Globalization on Sub-Saharan Africa, if you care), a position paper for a UN Conference Simulation on how to deal with the current Iraq Crisis, a draft of my final Arabic presentation, and rushed around getting my homework done. Additionally, it has seemed very familiar as every day it seems we wake up to more rain and fog...one aspect of Val-pour-rain-and-snow that I was hoping to leave behind for a spring.

Not a whole lot else to report...I made one last trip to Fez last weekend which was enjoyable. It's a very cool city. And now looking at 3.5 more weeks here in Morocco...I'm looking forward to being home but also thankful for the last couple weeks here and the experiences they hold. Although, I could do without the 3 more papers, Arabic presentation, regular homework, and 3 finals...

My thoughts are with all the students and faculty at Virginia Tech and the families and friends of those killed on Monday...

Easter Sunday

Sunrise on Easter Sunday in Ifrane.

He is Risen Indeed! Halleluia!

Beautiful Easter Day here in Morocco...complete with a sunrise service and yummy breakfast with the AUI Christian community and then back home to change into our Easter skirts and dresses for a lovely Easter Service, lunch, and fun hiding the Easter eggs with the other international students for the church kids!

I hope your Easter day was blessed wherever you were!

Be Aware

Hey...a few things that have caught my attention in recent days:

"Even as Africa Hungers, Policy Slows Delivery of U.S. Food Aid"
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/world/africa/07zambia.html?hp
I think its time for some letters to Congress people...

Also, in reading up for a paper on economic development in Africa, I again became aware of the issue of blood diamonds and multi-national companies effect on the developing world. This is a really great article from Dollars and Sense magazine: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Africa/Continent_Crisis.html

For more info, watch the movie that came out last fall Blood Diamonds, or check out these links: http://pcrproject.com/blog/2007/03/03/the-war-over-diamonds/
http://www.time.com/time/2007/diamond/

Peace!

Maunday Thursday

I realized recently in one of my e-mail correspondences that I've been in a different place every year for Lent, Holy Week and Easter (ah, the love of a student) for much of my recent past.

Three years ago I was a senior in high school celebrating Holy Walk with my family at home in Indianapolis...two years ago I was in Valpo in the beautiful Chapel of the Resurrection for Easter morning complete with balloons...last year I was in DC going to Resurrection Lutheran with dear Karen Kunze...and now I'm in Morocco. It makes for a somewhat jumbled sense of tradition for Lent, as the past four years have brough at lot of different experiences during this season (dealing with senioritis and worrying about college, being a freshman at VU, interning and living in DC) and a lot of different traditions for celebrating Holy Week depending on which community I've been in. However, though sometimes I feel like I haven't really learned to really celebrate Lent as well as I should, there is a sense of beauty of having bits and pieces of all those places, communities, and traditions with me as we enter the weekend of Maunday Thursday, Good Friday, and finally Easter.

This evening, the AUI Christian community gathered for a lovely Seder meal and footwashing service that really brought back into the present in terms of experiencing the end of this Lenten season and moving toward Easter.

There's a real beauty in celebrating a Seder meal on Maunday Thursday because it reinvokes the Jewish tradition of celebrating passover and allows us as Christians to sort of reexperience the Last Supper in a way we usually can't because we've lost the knowledge and traditions of Judaism. But tonight I just found it very powerful to hear the passover story through the tastes and textures of the wine, bitter herbs, matzah, and egg...and powerfully startling to be reminded how shocking Jesus' words and actions would have been that night so long ago...pronouncing the bread of affliction as the bread of life, the last cup of wine as the cup of the new covenant, and then getting down on the floor to wash his disciples feet...

This was an especially powerful moment for me; after our Pastor Karen had just finished talking about how shocking it would have been for the disciples to have their master kneel before them to wash their feet, how it simply was not done (which has special resonance for me here in Morocco because i'm much more aware here than I am at home, of the actions and words that are simply not cultural acceptable or even thought of)...which was a real reminder of how powerful that action was, and how much that simple action has really affected our tradition. So, it was even more beautiful a few moments later when I watched as Amy, a cute 5-year old with bright blonde ringlets, excitedly knelt on the floor to wash her mother's feet, beaming with delight. To her it was most certainly not a faux pas, but a natural and fun thing to do! For Amy, there were no boundaries and certainly no wariness about taking off her shoes and having someone else wash her feet.

That dichotomy was just really cool to think about, how Jesus' washing of his disciples feet was really the highest service and honor and yet showing love in a natural, childlike way. It's like when we wash each other's feet we cannot but realize each other's humanity and vulnerability, we cannot act without some love and compassion...at least I'd like to think so.

The whole evening was just a very hospitable, warm service with the Seder meal in the middle and certainly a beautiful collection of random wanderers amidst Morocco...African students visiting for an intervarsity conference...AUI professors and students and their families...workers at the local Christian orphanages...outside the warm little room few people even know that its Holy Week here (which seems a far cry from growing up as a PK during which it seemed like spring break always seemed to revolved around church and holy week) and few know the tradition of Easter. And certainly, even the traditions of celebrating Holy Week differ a lot within our little ecumenical community (complete with Catholics, non-denominational Christians, Methodists, Mennonites, Baptists, Orthodox..), although luckily for me feels very much like home...a jumble of traditions, songs, and people (just like the past few years) but with the same base of scripture, reverence for God, and an earnest attempt at finding the meaning within our traditions.

God is very much in this place.

Exotic Touristy Marrakech

Virtually since we arrived in Morocco people (Moroccans and non-Moroccans alike) have always asked us, "Have you been to Marrakech, yet?"

It's basically like the Florida or LA of Morocco. Warm, full of tourists -Moroccan and foreign alike-, plenty of shopping, hotels, clubs, etc.

So, in honor of Mohammad's 147th birthday (aka in honor of having a 3 day weekend to endure the 7+ hour train ride both ways) a bunch of us headed south...well first north to Casablanca on the train and then south (don't try to figure out the logic of Moroccan trains, it just won't be pretty) to Marrakech this past weekend!

We arrived after a stifling train ride (7 hours in a 2nd class train with little air flow at every stop...just not fun) and got checked into our hotel, the Ibis Moussafir which was basically the Ritz in our eyes. The rooms were clean, the tv worked and even had BBC World in English, the bathroom was downright SPARKLING with little shampoo/conditioner packets on the sink, and some of the rooms even had (wait for it, wait for it) an extra toilet paper roll! Now granted, it was about on par with your basic Holiday Inn room in the states, but it for us students...AMAZING! We stay at the cheap, basic hotels (a bit above the Motel 6 types in the states) around Morocco...and well, they work but you certainly leave feeling a bit dirty. Often because you don't dare go in the showers! Needless to say, waking up to a clean roomy shower was the most amazing way to start Saturday!

Saturday we then checked out of our Ritz...post-Spring break we're all eager to save our dirhams and so we found a different hotel that cost us less than our one night at the Ibis for our two remaining nights! Granted even the Ibis was the equivalent of about $30 per night...lol.

Saturday, we explored the famous square of Jemaa El-Fna where there were women doing henna, guys carrying around snakes with their mouths superglued shut, men selling AMAZING fresh orange juice for 3 dirhams per class (about 25 cents), and plenty of beggars or people wanting to sell you one thing or another. El-Fna opens up into the souks... which are a tourist and merchants paradise...tourists get a taste of all the fun Moroccan medina stuff - the bedazzled shoes, tea sets, rugs, baskets, jewelry, touristy t-shirts, scarves, jalabas, etc. The merchants get to charge insanely high prices for the unknowing tourists who 1) may not know to bargain or 2) may not know what to bargain down too. Thus they weren't too happy when we students come in and scoff at their prices after being here a few months, say we live in Ifrane and study at Al Akhawayn, and bargain like Berbers. Ha ha...I went down a whole row of scarf shops before I got 5 scarves for 120 dirhams! It was a fun time...

Beyond shopping, the rest of the weekend included going to the biggest night club in Africa! Saturday night with the girls, going to the Menara gardens (where it is said that the Almohad sultans would come to the Menara pavilion for their illicit affairs and then would throw their concubines into the lakes the morning after), eating at Pizza Hut (yay for Supreme pizza with fake-but-yummy pepporoni), playing spoons in our sketchy hotel, and seeing the King!

As we were making our way to Pizza Hut from our hotel Sunday afternoon we notice that there were crowds of people out on the sidewalks behind gates and were like "Shnoo?" (What in Arabic)...we slowly figured out we might have a king sighting (since he was in Marrakech for the holiday), so we took up shop right across from the koutobia (famous mosque in Marrakech)...and waited...and waited. We watched the military police come out and choose random posts around the crowds and walk seemingly aimlessly around. The rolled out carpets in preparation...it started raining so they rerolled them. Janiters came out to brush the rain out of the gutters that the king would step over. And still we waited. Out came a bunch of men in red uniforms with cream colored jalaba capes and blue hats...men in suits kept walking around and greeting one another...security men talked on their walkie talkies...streets were blocked off. And still we waited. Finally more military police came whizzing down the street and soon we had our own police officer who came over and nonchalantly talked to us (he knew English surprisingly) about Marrakech and the coming arrival of the king. And still we waited. He assured us that the King would come soon.

And then...it happened! Down came a fancy smancy car with the king standing up through the sun roough in a white jalaba and red fez type hat (without the tassle) waving to the crowds. Surrounding his car and behind for about 200 feet were cars upon cars upon cars in his entourage! It was crazy! All arriving at the koutabia for afternoon prayer and some type of ceremony I believe.

It was really great. And totally made my day...okay I lied, it totally made my trip to Morocco...to see King Mohammad VI (or M6 as we affectionately call him) in person just across the street! Sadly, no one was allowed to take pictures as it is illegal. Silly security state. But it was very cool nonetheless. And we were excited that we randomly came out just in time as when he was in Ifrane a month or so ago he didn't make any public appearances so we didn't get to see him.

Ah, good times had by all in Marrakech.

And then we endured the 7+ hour train ride home, no less painful. Grabbed a taxi from Meknes and back again to Ifrane. To the ever-awaiting homework and Holy Week.

Henna Night

My friend Cassie and I from Henna night...pretty sweet, eh?

Back in M'co...

Firstly, apologies for not getting my spring break reflections up promptly. It seems much of my teeny-tiny readership decided that they would attempt to read these/catch up on my activites via the blog this week and sadly I was a slacking blogger. Hope you enjoy the bits and pieces of my journey and the pictures. I still have a variety of random occurences that I'll share with you all in person whenever I see you next, inshallah.

So, I'm back in good ole' Ifrane, Morocco. And like it often happens the week after spring break was not...how shall I say it...altogether enjoyable. We were psyched to get back to Morocco after the cold, slushy, frigid weather of Paris, we clearly jinxed ourselves by thinking that we were coming back to good ole' Africa. In fact, that was the wrong assumption.

On Monday, it started raining. Valparaiso style. The cold raid mixed with a biting wind, sometimes bringing a little bit of razor-sharp hail and certainly bringing with it the killjoy mood that just didn't help our tired traveling-weary bodies re-adjust to being back in class or having to focus. Bad news bears. But if we thought that was bad, we again were very very wrong. As yesterday, it began to snow.

Yes, snow. It's almost April. In AFRICA. March 29 in AFRICA and we have 5-6 inches of slushy gross snow, gray skies to replace the permanently blue ones, and a sluggish tired feel among everyone here on campus. I brought back out my blue boots (thanks mom), long underwear (again thanks mom), ridiculous hat with ear covers and my scarf and trudged back and forth to class the past couple of days.

Add into that the normal homework load and a lovely essay midterm in my history class and let's just say I'm really glad to be done with the class week! However, clearly God had a plan as we at first thought that it was inconvienent to have a 3 day weekend right after spring break but now we are all very ready to get away from the cold mountain region of Ifrane for warmed weather...such as the exotic vacation place of Morococo, Marakesh down in the south in the desert. :-) We leave tomorrow. Should be a good time.

So that's the plan. After that, I will be really traveled out and will be sticking around Ifrane for awhile, especially next week as we experience Holy Week and Easter in Morocco land. Should be interesting.

In the meantime, this evening, some of the girls and I went to Ladies Henna night and all have henna designs up and down our hands and arms (I'll put pictures up soon) and took the opportunity to go all out and paint our fingernails and toenails and watch The Mummy in honor of our return from Egypt. :-)

Well, that's pretty much all the news from me at the moment! I'm down to about 6.5 weeks left here and feeling good...like I'm both making the most of my experience but also will be ready to come home. Pretty good place to be. Although unfortunately, I've hit the lovely point in the semester where academics seems more like a chore, so hopefully I'll return from my weekend trek inspired to write 3 papers in the next couple weeks, then do a couple of final papers, an Arabic presentation, and three finals and fly back to the US...craziness!

Love and Peace to you all!

Part 3: Paris, The Last Leg

After flying all night and sleeping in the Barcelona airport, we arrived in Paris about 9:30am to a dismal cold and rainy day...but hey, it's Paris!

Aileen and I met up with Nicole Koehler (VU, in Germany for the semester) at our hotel, changed clothes and were back out on the Parisian streets to begin another two crazy days exploring our third and last city for the break. We hit the Louvre where we ran into the VU Germany group who was doing their art class for the day in the huge Parisian muesuem, saw some amazing artwork and tried not to get too lost in the winding hallways and galleries. From there we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral (beautiful, huge, and centering) and then went back to the hotel to pick up Anna before heading out to climb the 200 steps up to the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur which had an absolutely view of Paris at night and where we had our first Eiffel Tower sighting. Probably one of my favorite spots. Then Anna, Aileen and I had a lovely French dinner (Onion soup is really amazing in France...) complete with funny, stodgy resturant owner, three courses, French wine, and a woman serenading all of us eating in the resturant...beautiful.

Day two started out with me deciding that I valued sleep more than seeing Versailles (don't judge me...we'd done a lot of traveling!) and heading to the Bastille and doing a little window shopping (which later turned into real purchasing) before meeting up with the girls for lunch and the day's plan. Aileen, Nicole and I went to the Musee D'Orsay which was awesome. I think I liked it better than the Louvre because it was so well laid out and slightly less intimidating. We saw some amazing art by Degas, Monet, Manet, van Gogh, Renoir...awesome. Then we jumped back and forth from the metro into the rain to see the Opera House (very magestic), Moulin Rouge (pictured here), and then the Arc D'Triumph where we had a hilarious but slightly traumatizing experience for Nicole in which a Paris pigeon took direct aim at Nicole's head covered in her blue hood...I have a great picture which juxtaposes green bird doo on her head with the amazing architecture of the Arc D'Triumph, all the while standing in the middle of the street with cars on both sides whizzing past. Good times.

Aileen and I then went back to the Bastille for a mad-quick shopping trip in which we decided that French fashion is amazing and that it's probably good we don't live there because we would never have any money. :-)

Back to Notre Dame to meet up with some other VU students studying in Germany (Caitlin Kerr for you Valpoites) for dinner...keep in mind that all of this back n' forth is done basically running through cold shivering rain. Awesome.

After dinner, Aileen, Nicole and I finished our time in Paris by going and seeing the Eiffel Tower all lit up and sparkling. And I must say, wow. It's one of those touristy things that you just have to do, but at the same time it is gorgeous and does have a romance to it that I didn't really see in Paris (which could have just been the rain) up until that point. Ultimately, a great way to end our two days in the city.

That evening, we packed and I basically stayed up and recorded the week in my journal and showered just in time to wake the others up and leave at 4am to catch a taxi and bus to the Paris Beauvis airport(notice that this is the 3rd Paris airport I visited within the week), flight to Madrid, Madrid to Casablanca...customs, back into Morocco, train to Meknes (with all our fellow international students who were journeying back from various places such as Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Italy, the Canary Islands...), taxi to Ifrane. It was BRUTAL. I was pretty much dead and unamused the whole time and very glad to be back by the time I arrived in my room at 10pm that day. Whew.

But ultimately all of that traveling (over 20 hours in airports + flight time) was totally worth it to see good friends, three amazing cities in three different countries, eat good food, and have the lovely experience of traveling a crazy amount within a week on discount airlines and staying in hostels and cheap hotels...there's a reason people only do that as students I think. But hell, it was a really good time! :-)

And that was my spring break...check out the pictures. They're awesome.

Part 2: Riding Camels in Cairo

To pick up where my last post left off...

Claire, Libbi and I woke up bright and early at 4 am Tuesday morning (March 20) to catch my bus from Cambridge to the Luton airport and was greeted with a lovely wet snow as my departing gift. Made it to the airport and had plenty of time to read the latest issue of the Economist (my fellow travelers would later make fun of me mercifully for this. apparently the Economist is not on the list of cool magazines to read...craziness) and eat some breakfast before meeting up with Anna and checking in for our EasyJet flight to Paris. We arrived in Paris (Country #2) late morning where it was cold and gloomy (Weather Change #2) and had little trouble, in fact we didn't even get a passport stamp! For those of you who haven't traveled around Europe since the advent of the EU, it has apparently streamlined travel so much so that there's not even a need to go through customs if you're coming from another European country.

Went from the Paris Charles De Gaulle airport to Paris ORLY where we met up with Aileen and caught our Iberia flight to Barcelona (Country #3) and then our flight to Cairo (Country #4)! We effectively spent over 20 hours flying in and out of 5 airports, 4 countries, and almost all of the seasons (as we arrived in Cairo to beautiful early summer like temperatures). Utter craziness.

Arriving in Cairo was a little more confusing than it needed to be since we'd been traveling so long and were a little slow on the uptake. But we soon had bought our visas and got a sweet Egyptian stamp in our passports, picked up our luggage (all there!) and were soon driving through the Cairo streets with our driver from the hotel. We arrived at the Ramses II hotel in one piece, and after going to get some Egyptian pounds from the ATM to pay our bill and basically planning our stay with the hotel manager, we got to our beds. Those semi-clean beds with shade maroon coverings could never have looked so beautiful to us!

The next morning we woke up and met Adam, a friend of a friend who is studying at the American University of Cairo and who offered to show us around for the day. (Amazingly all of our "meet ups" and various connecting points throughout the entire spring break trip happened with fairly little problem, which is good since we never really had any true back up plans!) We started off exploring Cairo - we went in the Citadel of Salah al-Din (which some tour guide calls the squat mosque, but its huge!) and went in the Mosque of Sultan Hassan and the Mosque of Al Rafai. It was cool to go into the mosques because for some reason they're not quite as open to visitors here in Morocco. We visited the Cairo marketplaces...both the touristy one and the more true Egyptian one accidentally. It's pretty funny, no matter where you go, shopkeepers have their specially crafted phrases...in Egypt they attempt cleverness: "let me help you spend your money" "free to look" plus the simple "Welcome to Egypt" Welcome to Cairo" Welcome foreigners" which we heard over and over and over again within our short stay.

We also went up in the minaret of Bab Zweila which I think was one of the old city gates/mosque...either way it was cool, though a little scary once we were up at the top. We basically paid our fee and started up without anyone else around...up and up and up the winding uneven stone stairs (reminded me a bit of going up in Blarney Castle in Ireland) and you end up at the top where there is just a drop off where you could fall/hold on and look out at the city. I'm glad I didn't think about how high up we were going to be until after we were at the top! Though, the scariest part was actually problem descending the minaret when parts of the winding staircases were shrouded in complete darkness...awesome when you're never sure how big that next step is going to be!

Anyway, we made it down alive and got some excellent Egyptian food called koshary with a light tomato sauce over the top....SO GOOD! Energized, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the huge collection in the Cairo Museum which is sort of like an art history major's best and worst nightmare all collected in one building. There's artifacts everywhere which is really cool...but most of it is right there for all visitors to touch, examine....and there's so much in there that its all crowded in between the walls. It was fun to be there though one because 1) there's so much stuff and so much history with each artifact that its hard to really grasp it all and 2) there are tons of other tourists from all over the world which wasn't bothersome since we're not usually around a bunch of tourists in Morocco.

After that we went back to hotel briefly and the got dinner at a great little restaurant called Felfela not far from our hotel, then went back for a good night's sleep which was greatly needed at that point!

On Thursday, we awoke refreshed and met up with our private driver for the day, Moses (this was the same guy who picked us up from the airport early early Wednesday morning, who basically is like a freelance driver for various Cairo hotels and tourists). He was GREAT. Really nice, funny, pretty good English, and he seemed to have fun with us for the day too! We left and went out on the edge of Cairo to Sakara - the step pyramid and dodged the large Asian tourist groups that covered the place...got done really quickly and so Moses took us by a carpet "school." Basically, kids start there at a young age and learn how to make carpets and then get a certificate to work anywhere else...they had some beautiful stuff but it was a little sketchy. It was hard because in the west we hear so much about child labor exploitation and sweat shops that even if this place was legit it was really hard to be sure, especially since these kids don't get any other schooling...where do you draw the line I wonder? I don't know, we didn't buy anything but it was cool to see some of the differences between Egyptian and Moroccan carpets. Heck, after a few more Arab countries I should be a carpet connoisseur. Ha ha...just kidding. I still have trouble judging prices, but I'm getting there.

From there we grabbed some lunch and then went to the camel stables (again guys partnered with our hotel/driver...clearly a daily operation). We made our little camel caravan and received a 16 year old guide named Mohammed who made sure our camels continued at the pace and direction they were supposed to and chatted with us ("Where are you from? "Indiana...near Chicago" "Chicago!...mafia!). The camel ride was a laugh fest for me as I was at the back of Anna and Aileen and so I got my own personal show as Aileen was nervous and jumpy on the camel and Anna was just eating up the whole experience. So we rode the camels for awhile and soaked up the warmth (sadly it was hazy and not sunny that day, but still nice and desert-like), took funny touristy pictures with the pyramids (see photo albums for the whole Cairo trip on the link to the right), and saw the Sphinx from the distance. We had been told by multiple people that it wasn't worth it to go inside the big pyramid, but it was Anna's dream to come to the pyramids and go inside...so we did.

Yeah, let me tell ya about that...first imagine paying money to descend about 25 feet at a steep angle down into a structure which has thousands of tons of stone above you. Then imagine what it would feel like 10 feet into the descent to lose clean air and instead breathe in the B.O.-filled stale air that really has no where to go as you continue about 50 feet straight and then ascend and find yourselves in....wait for it, wait for it...and empty stone room with an empty tomb. Yeah, good times. Aileen and I get into the room and look at each other with the "I can't believe we just did this, much less paid for it and lets turn around and get out of here" look and then we see Anna turn around with this huge grin on her face. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. To each her own I suppose.

So that was an adventure. We got out, back on the camels, and back to the stables and went for a water-check-out-the-perfume-shop-nearby break and then were back on horses this time to see the sunset over the desert as we looked out over the pyramids and the huge sprawling metropolis that is Cairo. Pretty cool.

After that, Moses took us for a boat ride on the Nile, where we had a nice dinner and watched some Moroccan dancers...gotta get in your Egyptian belly dancer before leaving Cairo...then we dashed back to the hotel to grab our bags, thank the hotel managers, and back into Moses' car to the airport.

Obviously, we shoved a lot into Thursday, but it turned out to be such a good day! We had so much fun chatting with Moses about stereotypes about the US, listening to the Arab music in his car, and seeing him weave in and out of the crazy Egyptian traffic. We got to see the pyramids and sphinx and realize that the history books are misleading in two ways - first, the pyramids and sphinx are basically right by the edge of cairo...the city stops at the edge of the desert and then there they are. And secondly, the sphinx is teeny compared to the pyramids! We also got a little taste of Egyptian culture and life; here's some random bits and pieces...

• shops are open all night long in the summer because its so hot, so year-around there are always tons of people on the streets from like 8pm-midnight and often beyond, and its very common for all the shops to be open all hours too.


• Egyptian Colloquial Arabic sounds a lot more like Modern Standard Arabic which means even though I couldn't understand everything they were saying, I could distinguish a lot more words than I ever can in Moroccan Arabic. Which was cool. They just say some words differently. Oh and English is the second language...who knew?
• Everyone we met was very friendly...
• You tip everyone even if they only do a very small service. Kind of to the point of ridiculousness. Especially coming from Morocco where you barely even leave tips for waiters.
• Egyptians are very proud of their history and heritage and clearly very used to showing it off for tourists.
• Cairo is HUGE. Huge huge huge. And very very polluted. For every picture you see of the pyramids and the sphinx add a layer of smog to the bright blue sky depicted and it will be a lot more correct.

So that was Cairo...very very cool. A great 2 days...and then it was onto Paris.

Part 1: Jaunt to Cambridge

I am currently sitting in the comfy 2nd floor room in the VU Overseas House in Cambridge, looking out onto the street that winds its way through the heart of this old college town and which tomorrow will take me to the bus station bright and early in the morning to embark on more adventures.

However, for the past few days, I've had the opportunity to spend time in lovely Cambridge with my dear friends from VU, Claire and Libbi which has been rejuvenating and refreshing and has been a lovely piece of home filled with hugs, laughter, familiar faces, and tea! :-)

I got in on Saturday after flying with friends from AUI from Fez to London Luton and then taking a bus to Cambridge. Claire and Libbi met me and stuffed me with tea and scones before we spent a lovely evening cooking dinner and catching up. Yesterday, we woke up and went to church; the VU Overseas Center is right next to Westfield House, an LCMS seminary where they take a couple classes and a little church. So, we didn't have to walk far. Then we had a lazy Sunday afternoon while Libbi worked away at her honors thesis and Claire and I went for coffee. Who knows how much I would miss Starbucks!

Last night was our girls night and what a night it was! We had wonderful italian food at a little place called ASK and then went to a little pub called the Elm Tree and met up with one of Claire and Libbi's friends, toasted Libbi's productivity and listened to some great live jazz. Very fun. Then went to a little kabob place before having a fun walk back home.

Today, the girls showed me Cambridge...which for those who haven't been is basically a town built around the gorgeous old buildings housing the various colleges within the University of Cambridge. These majestic buildings are all around with their high gates, gorgeous stone walls, and a very lovely academic-sort of pretentiousness that comes with having prestige and good reputations. We had a lovely time sneaking around through some of the private gardens and trying to see what we could see as its not quite tourist season and the end of term for the students here. The colleges and their grounds are really beautiful and was fun to hear a bit of the history and myths that hang around these parts.

Also amusing to see Christ College, which CC at VU is modeled after...though not quite living up to the coolness or the majesty. Although, some might say that we do often achieve the pretentiousness...but I think until we have a private garden that only the Lily Fellows can sit and read in or only CC students can be in with necessary CC ID we're still safe. ;-) Although, I do agree with Nicole that getting some sweet academic-wear...scarves and shirts and such...with a Christ College crest and it being a faux pas for any non CCer to wear them. Ha ha.

Anyway, so we had a lovely day of going around Cambridge and also walking in all of the fun shops with amazingly wonderful looking clothes and laughing at the awful prices. Things are SO expensive here! But I think Claire, Libbi and I each had picked out a dress or two that we would buy if we suddenly won the lottery or something. Mine was green and fairy-like as Libbi put it.

We had wonderful sandwiches at Tatties and had a good time dancing to various random songs that came on over the speakers and that dashed out back into the weather that by this time had gotten very chilly. England weather, not unlike Indiana weather. Who knew?

Explored Borders (I heart bookstores. Especially ones with English books. I miss English bookstores) and then went and had wonderful dessert at a place called Slug and Lettuce which was divine. Came on back for more girls night and tea and now its time for sleep before I leave!

Basically I'm very thankful for a couple days of friends and getting to see a little bit of this place called Cambridge. The more I travel the more I enjoy getting to sample little bits of the places in this world. The accents, the street signs, the different styles of houses and though we all wear simliar clothes these days, it's with a different air, a nuanced sense of priority and sense of beauty. And of course, I can't lie and say that its not refreshing to see the GAP, Starbucks, and various packaged foods and familiar consumeristic products...I know that globalization has many downfalls and that the free market system isn't all good (sorry to my Republican readers) but sometimes on a very basic level its nice to see something from home.

And now for Egypt...