cooking lessons (if i was in charge, this is how all bread would be baked)
reason #23 why my village> your village in the summertime: fresh fruit for ur pickin, including, but not limited to, figs, blackberries, grapes, and prickly pears
little people i love
reason #17 why my village> your village in the summertime: a river and a rock
lfdur — during ramadan, lfdur was the delicious bounty that accompanies the sunset allah aqbar, signifying, at long last, the end of our fast. the menu: tharirt (yummy tomato/lentil/garbanzo/bean soup), fresh figs, dried dates, chebakkia (most dangerous/delicious cookie in all the world), fresh orange or banana or avocado or carrot or beet juice, slilo (ground sesame/peanuts/anise/otherspices/flour), spiced coffee and tea, and a rotating cast of baked goods or stuffed bread or some other delicious ramadan surprise. even something as simple as eating (and helping cook) lfdur at a different house in my community every day has definitely shown me a lot about how varied the families here can be: the ones that sit in front of their TV while fdur’ing and the ones who fdur on their rooftops over conversations, the ones who can afford tomato harrira everyday and the ones who eat white porridge, the big families that have to begin cooking at 2pm everyday or those that just begin preparing as the sun gets lower in the sky.
allow me to proudly introduce the newest addition to my (host) family: suleiman (at just a few minutes old in the above photo) — born on the 2nd day of the holy month right in the house i lived in a short month ago (thereby increasing my already overwhelming respect/admiration for aicha, tenfold)
welcome to this big, beautiful world, baby suleiman, and into a family so full of love they are bursting at the seams. you will love it. and they will love you. and i will love you too, and babysit you, and vow to endure all your smells and sounds and fluids for the next two years.
Meknes. last stop on our northern adventure, before a 10-hr journey down south, homeward bound. yellah’
Ifrane. our tentless camping adventure in ifrane national park. monkeys in morocco, ‘nuff said.
Fes the “spiritual and intellectual capital of morocco,” but also home to delicious fatbread, pigeon-poop-reeking tanneries, beautifully tiled babs, and awesome alleyways to get lost in.
Azrou. i saw in a guide book that azrou meant “the great rock”, named after the giant outcrop that sits in the middle of town with a gazebo-sized crown placed on top of it. erroneous though. azrou, in tashlHit, simply means “a rock”, one of many great place names in morocco. another favorite: the town of “el moudaa” which simply means, “the place”
field trip! exploring the ruins of an old castle(?) a few k from from my site
fwiends.
weddings and picnics. = summer in the village. between may and ramadan, weddings and picnics are major events for us here. at some point i’ll go more in depth about the details of the tashlHit wedding, but for now, just know that they are loooong (and late), food-and-dance-filled and manage bring everyone in my community together.
homestay adventures, part 1. june was one of the hardest/most educational months so far: exploring my site, meeting as many of my fellow villagers as possible, fighting/correcting/being humbled by american stereotypes, learning about personal space and community and the intersection/collision of the two, more -and newer kinds of- food than i could ever eat (goat face, anyone?), trying to explain to my community exactly why i’m here while simultaneously trying to figure that very thing out for myself. little by little, imik s imik..
