Morocco: Culture & Ecology, Fall 2009

Assalaam Aleikum!

We have all made it happily to Casablanca! We are really here and we can definately tell as the call to prayer rings out over the city, barely masking the chorus of horns in the street. As it is Ramadan things are a little different than normal, such as most cafes are closed during the day, but everyone we have met is extroadinarily kind and happy to see us enjoying their country. We have found that traffic is most easily coped with if we don't look out the front windshied, but the red 'petit taxis' have taken us to amazing places. Today we visited the hassan 2 mosque, which is the thrid largest mosque in the world after one in mecca and medina. The previous king had it built in only 6 years. We took some amazing pictures there which i'll try to get up soon. One of the most astounding parts is that aside from some venitian glass the entire building is constructed from materials all found in Morocco, a point of extreme pride. The mosque holds over 25000 people inside and another 8000 outside on nice days, the ceiling even opens to let in sunlight when it's hot and the floor is heated for the winter!!! We also had a truly enlightening tour through the jewish museum in casablanca where the perceived gap between islam and judiasm seemed to shrink. On thing that really stuck with me is that during world war two Hitler asked the sultan of morocco to expell all of the jews (over 20,000 at that time) and the sultan responded 'what jews, we have only moroccans here?' There is so much history just waiting to be explored and I cannot wait for the first Arabic lesson in Fes (where we go tomorrow) so that I can talk more in-depth with the people. We are also very much looking forward to our homestays and our introduction to the fes medina! By the time we get back we will also probably all be extraordinarily skillful in all card games as they are an excellent way to pass the time on long train rides or periods of relaxation. Tonight we are going to talk with someone in Casalanca on a Fulbright scholarship who has been researching the immigration patterns of Africans who stop in Casablanca and Morocco in general to work up some money to move on to Europe! Until next time,

bla jmil (goodbye in moroccan arabic),
Lexi Kate