Golden Tulip Farah Rabat

... 21 this year, but it will start on August 12 next year. That means for the next 6 years or so, Ramadan takes place during longer daylight hours with longer fasting during hotter weather. That makes it more intense.

The families eat early, 4:00 AM, then hold out until sundown for a traditional meal. An hour before sundown, the streets and grocery stores are packed, people anxious, hungry, tired ...

... br>
Obama was in Egypt on Thursday giving a speech, and Heather and I wanted to see it, but we got home from placement too late. It was so relevent given our conversation with the University students that morning, and simply being US citizens here in Morocco. Abdellah turned on Al Jazeerah and we watched the wrap up - now I just need to see the actual speech. That led to an informal conversation with Mohamed regarding US ...

... late for a meal at home base. We had the best cheese and crackers ever, along with chocolate. Talk about a junk food run! The Acima is a local grocery store owned by the royal family, and is only a five minute walk from home base. While at the Acima, we ran into Abdu, our home base driver, and Hamid, our night security guard. Seeing people we knew right off the bat just added to the comfort level of being back in Rabat.

Monday was back ...

... a couple of small fights that broke out over sharing crayons, etc. I have a new vocabulary word to use for that situation - hshuma - which means 'for shame'. The kids respond to it a little better than 'safi'. We had a couple of new arrivals who were mentally disabled and it was a challenge to keep an eye on them along with all the others. They required specific hand-holding and ...

... outside in the street as well as on the lawn. Nearly all of the women are veiled, to varying degrees, except for us. One of the CCS staff members came along to show us where to go, which was comforting. We got a surprise upon arrival. We are working in the Asthma ward, and expected to be working at a single table tucked in the hallway, with about 6-8 kids. Well, a new play area opened today in the ward, and it drew over 20 kids! Ages ranged from 2 ...

... sort of. He seemed to know where the road we gave him was but when we got there, there was a lack of visible addresses. So he jumped out to ask a store owner, got back in drove us about 4 houses more, decided our address didn't exist and kicked us out of the cab. Luckily our address was basically the last one on the street, so we did have a hostel and could get out of the rain quickly. It was already pretty late (well more like 9pm) as we wandered around ...

... of palms and earth rendered square buildings in deep red, brown and orange. Total postcard. Followed the gorge up passing through small settlements until we reached our hotel - yes that's right no tents for us tonight! Woo hoo. The one big room turned out to be multiple 3 bed rooms - all covered by local payment. You had the option to upgrade to a 2 bed but at the price of 100DH about GBP7. We opted to save some dosh so grabbed Jamie as a roomie ...

... and English they tried to tell us where the Medina was before deciding to show us despite our polite protests.  These three students, two young women (Soukhaila and Hiba) and a young man (Abdessamad), ended up taking us on a tour of large parts of the city, telling us about their culture, explaining history, showing us their favourite places in the city.  The girls pointed out authentic local crafts and jewelry and told Gabrielle what she should be paying ...

Last night was leilat l-qadr, or "Night of Power," a special night on the 27th of Ramadan when the Qu'ran was first revealed to the prophet Mohammad. In commemoration, Moroccans today give this night special significance. Some Moroccans, primarily men, from my observations, go to the mosque to recite the Quran until midnight. I've been told others go to the cemetery to lay flowers and remember the dead, and still more stay outside, eyes pealed ...

... intensely personal experience turned into an annual, common struggle. It's really a play of word choice and interpretation, thinking about this issue of a religiously heterogeneous or homogenous community, and it is lit on fire by politics, to the point that it's almost too hot to linger and consider the nature of both; one is forced to jump immediately to one side and declare their label loudly. After all, could a proud liberal ever let herself be ...