Fez Festival of World Sacred Music!

About two weeks ago the Sacred Music Festival of Fez took place from June 8th through 16th right outside my window. I mean literally, right over the high Medina wall. Every night for a week, Sufi musicians would play until 2 or 3 in the morning. Everyone seems to stay up late, then get up late, work for a few hours, then take a long break in the middle of the day for a long lunch and siesta, work for a few more hours and then just walk around with family and friends at night. The streets are filled at night, and with the music festival, tourists were swarming. 

This is a picture of the Sufi artists singing and playing their instruments in the small inclosed garden on the other side of the wall from my house in the old Medina. Many of the Moroccans knew some of the words, and the crowd was very interactive. This was only one venue of many. There were at least four different performances every night... two were free and two were more formal that you would have to buy tickets for in advance. This was one of the free venues, and one of the other ones was only a short walk from my house in a big square at Bab Bojloud. Both were a lot of fun, but housed very different performances. This one that you see here in the picture, usually always had Sufi musicians playing, while Bab Bojloud was usually more international Islamic music, meant for a younger crowd. 

A little gathering with other students from my Arabic school at the top of a friend's riad (or Moroccan apartment) before heading out to some of the free performances. 

I decided I would splurge for one night (about $20), and buy tickets for one of the more formal performances that the sacred music festival offered. My roommate and I bought a ticket for our host sister to come with us, and we all got dressed up for the event. My host sister did my hair and make-up, and we all headed out to Bab Makina to listen to the famous Lebanese singer, Wadih el Safi. 

All ready for the concert!

Bab Makina all lit up for the performance!

My host sister and I at the concert!

My host mom and family friend, after we got home!

Sahara!

I am probably the most exfoliated that I will ever be in my life... the Sahara leaves no edges unsanded!

This past weekend I went on the ALIF program trip to the Sahara where they put us up in beautiful hotels with gorgeous pools. It was a much more luxurious trip than my friends and I would have planned on our own, but the desert it much harder to just wonder around until you find a hostel... and we were glad we did not have to do the nine hour drive on our own. 

As we drove south from Fez, the landscape gradually became more mountainous, and homogenous in color. As the green faded, dull colored shrubs and rocks covered the hill sides. The narrow road we were driving on was well kept, but very windy, as it snaked its way through the sandy colored mountains. Every once and awhile you would look down at a green valley with walls of the sandy colored earth rising on either side. We made a quick stop at one of these valleys...

When we made it to our first hotel, berbers welcomed us with musical instruments, and quickly dragged us into dance...

The first hotel was beautiful, complete with a large outdoor pool, and a smaller indoor pool with a hot tub. A buffet dinner was waiting for us, and we alternated swimming with eating, and later in the evening, swimming and drinking. It was a lot of fun, and we had pretty much complete freedom to run around in bikinis and be as loud as you want. It was a nice to break from the constant stares you get on the streets of Fez.

Just playing around in the pool!
We even got some synchronized choreography going
later that afternoon!

The next day we slept in a little, and prepared for the camel ride. When we arrived at the second hotel where the camels were at, we just dropped our bags off and got our scarves tied around our head in the traditional turban style...

Before we mounted our camels... the scarves were more than necessary, not only to protect your skin from the sun, but to prevent the very fine sand carried by the wind to get into your eyes and nose, and worst of all into your lungs. 

We rode our camels into the setting sun.

When we reached one of the largest sand dunes between Morocco and Algeria we dismounted and began to climb...

We we got back down from the dune, we enjoyed a traditional berber dinner and danced the night away while the berbers played various traditional instruments. 

Many students decided to sleep on the sand dunes where the stars stood out brilliantly against the thick darkness. I decided to pull my mattress out of the berber tent and sleep with my other girlfriends inside the berber camp. There we were protected from the sand but we were also able to enjoy the dry desert air. On our way down from exploring the large sand dune in the pitch darkness, one of our friends came up to us and told us that one of our friends, Jacob, was very sick. He was throwing up and had severe abdominal pain. The berbers had apparently tried to improve his stomach pains by placing him face-down on a cup they had put in the sand so that it dug into his stomach. They commenced to push hard on his back, and message his limbs as he writhed in pain. In his delirium, he tried to roll away from the berbers, trying to get away from the pain. He couldn't hold anything down, and he was severely dehydrated. A group of students stayed up with him all night long, slowly giving him water from a wet cloth. There was not much we could do for him, so we just came and checked on him every once and awhile, and by morning he was awake, but still very weak. We all got up right before sunrise... which was only a few hours after we had fallen asleep, and we mounted our camels to start the long walk back to the hotel. Jacob was driven back, over the sand-dunes, and slowly began regaining his strength as he slept at the hotel. As we made our way back, we enjoyed a spectacular sunrise over the sand-dunes which was a mixed blessing. As beautiful and welcoming as the sun was, it also brought the stifling heat. The temperature increase was rapid, and unforgiving. Thankfully we left early enough, that our ride was quite pleasant, and I found myself nodding off to sleep in time with the rise and fall of my camel's easy stride. 

Shout out!

I just want to give a shout out to my wonderful mother who's birthday just recently passed on June 10th, and to my little brother who just graduated high school!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!!!!! You are amazing, and the best mom I could have wished for. I love you sooo much, and I know you are always looking out for me. I can't wait until you and Dad come visit me in Fez at the end of my trip... I have already begun planning where I am going to take you guys! I just want to warn you... the mint tea is VERY sweet, and I know you like your tea unsweetened... it seems as though they make up for the heat by eating a lot of sweets, and putting a huge amount of sugar in everything. They do have strong turkish coffee, and we all know you need your coffee in the mornings, so you should be fine! ;) hehe I LOVE YOU!

Lachlan, Congrats again! I know you must be enjoying all those graduation parties! I really wish I could have been at your graduation, but im glad Sophie was able to come to part of it... We all know you would be looking for her in the audience anyways... :p Good luck with your summer plans, and in the meantime, enjoy the time you have without deadlines. The weather must be beautiful in Boston right now, and I hope you take this time to get to know our wonderful city! Don't forget to spend a little time with Mom and Dad! As much as they want you out of the house as soon as possible, they will miss you when you leave for another city... so try and make the time count (after all, you're not that special)! ;)

LOVE YOU GUYS!

Rabat!

The fried donuts were probably the highlight of our Rabat trip. Below are two pictures of Jacob posing with the one dirham donuts that we would pass every morning and evening on our way in and out of the old Medina in Rabat. He even got to know the young lady who was selling them. She miss understood his Arabic when he said he loved them, and instead she thought he said he loved her. She got a little shy after that, but continued to smile at us and timidly hand us our donuts, avoiding Jacobs eyes.

Jacob posing with the amazing donuts that
they dipped in sugar for us.

Jacob with the donut lady!

 Exploring the city... It was much cooler than Fez since it was on the water, and we made sure to get some beach time while we were there.

The beautiful coast and fortress of Rabat!

The King's burial place. 

The ruins of an ancient mosque that was never completed, only the
 columns remain and the bottom of what was to become the largest minaret
of the largest mosque in the world.  

At the beach!!! Pretending to ride the baby horse! 

Then finding a big horse to ride down the beach for a small sum.

It was so much fun!

Enjoying the night life in Rabat!

Emma and I in the dance club!

Our last morning we were walking around the city and ran into a large protest. My friend found this sign lying around...

It says: We are the 99% in Arabic!!! Here you go Dad! :) 

I spy an intruder! ...Jacob trying to blend into the protest.

A nice government building in Rabat I think... it was right
across from where we sat and had dinner the first night.  

liquid Nutella from the heat on the train ride back... so delicious!

Just Living the Dream

I know it was a successful weekend when my butt is still burning and my shoulders are sunburned.

We hiked for over 9 hours on Saturday to a waterfall close to Chefchowen, a city that is know for blue walls and beautiful mountainous scenery. The normal hike is a solid two hours from the city of Ashcour, and Ashcour is a 40 minute drive from Chefchowen. We decided to hike through the small mountainous towns to Ashcour and then hike to the waterfall from there. It took all day, and when we got back from the water fall it was already beginning to get dark... needless to say, we were forced to take a taxi back to our hostel in Chefchowen. Here is a picture of the narrow alley ways of the old Medina... no cars are allowed or can fit in the old Medina. 

The walls were all painted blue... It was perfect for the hot days.

We hiked through fields of weed. Their emerald green color of the plants stood out among the dry shrubs and bushes that inhabited the majority of the land. We were told we would have no problems from the locals because it is not picking time... otherwise we may not have been so kindly treated.  We walked through about three small villages where little kids would come running out and walk with us a little until the edges of their villages. It was always difficult to know which language to use with them... even my Spanish came in handy while other times, French could be used. Most of the towns spoke berber, which is not close enough to Arabic to make our formal Arabic vocabulary useful. There was no marked path, and thankfully the little kids recognized the town we were were trying to get too and would led up through their town, and through the fields of weed to the main footpath at the edge of the village. 

Here is the picture of our group... all kids from my Arabic school. It was a great group of kids, and most of us will probably be traveling together again this weekend to Rabat!

When we finally made it to the town and began the walk to the waterfall, everyone was passing us... already heading back. We set a fast pace so that we could get back before nightfall, and just as we were about to make it to the waterfall a group of berbers who were camping out and eating dinner, called us over. They offered us food and drink, and we some of them spoke the formal Arabic that we are learning! We talked to them for a little bit, and then they got up and played their instruments for us, and included us in their traditional dance. It was sooo much fun and although we were anxious to cool off in the freezing water of the waterfall, we were completely absorbed in the generosity, kindness, and pride of these berber people. We found out later that some of them are in a traditional berber music group in Rabat, and we were invited to see their performance if we were to ever visit.

They were so excited to dress me up with a sword and flag!

They loved taking pictures with us! lol

Finally! We made it to the waterfall! It was gorgeous, and everyone else had already left, so we had it all to ourselves. It was pretty cold, but after hiking all day, the water temperature was perfect! 

We took a few pictures and jumped in...

After we got back to Chefchowan, we found the one place that sells beers, and celebrated a successful day!

We learned the berber symbol of three fingers... 

I think it stands for the earth, the sky and the person/soul. 

A street vender/homeless guy joined us for a little while and 

he managed to make us pay for his coke.

On Sunday, before our bus ride back, we hiked up a short distance to see the whole city and enjoyed a leisurely morning sipping orange juice, and browsing through the stores. 

As the weekend drew to a close, we decided to make our motto the phrase we had continuously been joking with all weekend when we couldn't believe the beauty and kindness around us... "Just Living the Dream".

Surprise!

Last Thursday night we celebrated Emma's 21st birthday. We would have celebrated it on her birthday, the 30th, but she was still throwing up from her sickness, so we decided to surprise her with a small party the following day. My host sister and her friends planned it all... all I had to do was bring Emma on a short walk and be back around 8pm.

When we got back, the living room had been transformed! The table was covered with plates of cookies and chips and they had hung streamers across the walls. A large speaker was blearing music and when we entered the room, the boys had shaving cream ready to spray us with. We were all covered in it, and began attacking each other with the spray bottles. It was just a small group of us, mostly Fati's guy friends and a few of her girlfriends. We danced a lot and when we got tired, we lit sparklers. Fati, my host sister, brought out the cake, and we all sang happy birthday. Everyone was so excited for Emma and wanted to take pictures with her. I don't think many Americans expect to spend their 21st birthday in a Muslim country where drinking is haram, but somehow, drinks were unnecessary... It will definitely be a night to remember!

Cutting the cake!

Trying to feed Emma!

Fati and me eating cake after exhausted from dancing!