L-Hayat Zwina means "The beautiful life" in Moroccan Arabic. The past week I have been in my CBT site Ouled L-Arbia which means the children of Arabia or Arabic women. I absolutely LOVE my site and was sad to have to come back to Ouarzazate and the dreaded hotel which I spent many hours being bed ridden and sick. My site consists of about 20 families whom are pretty much all related. It's awesome since everybody is related because we just go from house to house and hang out. I realized today that I haven't seen myself in a mirror for 7 days, showered once, and haven't used toilet paper for a week. (See turkish toilet). Let's just say I now know why people don't use their left hand to eat or great other people. My host family is awesome and I already feel like a part of their clan. My Mama is a strong Berber woman full of energy and charisma. She always has a smile on her face and is constantly busy. Every morning I wake up and eat my breakfast in the kitchen while she sits next to me and swats flies away with a palm tree branch. I attempt to talk to her but she speaks a mixture of French, Berber, and Arabic which I don't understand. I basically just sit there and smile and nod my head. The food is soooo much better than anything we've had thus far. Our village is set on the hills overlooking the fields that have passed down from generation to generation. If there's such a thing as paradise, this comes pretty close. The fdaden (fields) are full of kbira ngla (large palm trees), zitun (olive trees), mish mash (apricot), and tons of other great smelling and beautiful plants. The village has set up a series of sgiya (streams) which men divert the water flow from time to time making sure that each field gets enough water. Every evening after class my host brother takes me through the fields and quizes me on vocabulary and we pick fresh tmr (dates), luz (almonds), and ruman (pomegranates). It is probably my favorite time of the day because we see the sunset and then walk back home just in time for the call to prayer and l-fatur or break-fast time.
My brother Jawad with some pomegranates.
Abdelrafour and my uncle Hussain picking dates from the largest palm tree I've ever seen.
We were actually done eating in the picture but Moroccans love to pose for pictures with stuff. I'm not sure who the woman on the left is but I think she's related to Abdelrafour. The little boy is her son Muhamed. The other girl in the picture is my cousin Nawal who is 16 and already engaged to Muhamed the hanut owner who is 28. Their marriage was arranged from what I understand.
Mama and I!
The food we eat for l-fatur. It consists of a lot of bread usually.
4 comments:
What is that dish in the first picture? It looks like some type of bean I'm guessing but it looks iridescent.
You pasty ghost devil! Get some sun why don't you! How many people can say they've been sun burnt in Morocco? I bet no one reading this post!
I'm so jealous... but what else is new? Oh... wait! I have toilet paper. Nevermind then.
p.s. I listened to the song you sent me and cried myself to sleep. Hope all is well (it looks well!)
Kristian! It looks like you're having a great time. I can't believe you're so far away for so long though!
I can definitely predict that your blog on your trip will be my new favorite thing to distract me from everything else. :)
The iridescent looking beans are actually pomegranates. If you've never had them they're delicious! They're almost like Gushers in that they have a little bit of juice or water in them when you bite into them. They're great to eat when you're walking in the hot sun and leisurely strolling about. The figs and dates are also good for that :)
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