10 days in Morocco...
There is no way to sum up this experience in a post, each picture has a story that I would love to tell. For now I will share a few highlights from my journal, but if you are interested in more let me know and I would be glad to expound.
Upon arriving after dark in the village, where we had been invited to a wedding, we were welcomed by the family and us women were quickly segregated from the men. The women were celebrating by decorating hands (for single women) and feet (for married women) with henna (temporary tattooing), a traditional practice in preparing the bride and is considered good luck for everyone present to be decorated.
For dinner, at 11pm, we were served a "meat" dish of...well...every part of the sheep that we don't eat in America...at the time I didn't recognize much, but later, after some discussion, we realized what it all was (tongue, arteries, male parts, fat from the brain, spleen, heart, etc). My strategy was to turn my head and grab a piece, put it in my mouth, and tried to get it down without knowing what it was. God was gracious to get me through without offending my hostess.
The women can use anything to make music. They pass around various types of drums, beat spoons on a metal cylindrical device, know all the words and tunes to the indigenous folk songs, and dance like you have never seen. I was chosen to join in the dancing. I was nervous and kept stopping to laugh at myself...though to my credit I was being stared at by about 200 women who were straining to see if the foreign girl could move.
While on the roof we saw the sheep that had been killed and skinned earlier that day. It was dark but out of the corner of my eye I noticed a smallish creature eating on it and after a few more nonchalant glances realized that it was a monkey!! Odd, yes. Hilarious, yes. But did I eat that meat the next day, most likely.
Since men and women are kept segregated I did not know how he was related to the family. He was very nice and was fascinated by my digital camera. He is from this village, way out in the mountains where some houses just got electricity but none of them yet have running water or a phone line. My camera is decades ahead of anything he has seen. He took us to the well and taught us how to draw up water in a bucket. Later he took us on a 45 min. hike up the mountain, and asked if we wouldn't like to stay in Morocco...pretty sure this was a proposal, I was quick to reply that it was lovely but that I really enjoy living in France.
Things I saw but was not able to photograph: camels grazing beside the road, goats that climb trees, women dancing, the monkey that eats sheep, local men & women who transport goods by mule, hundreds of colorful and unique doors on houses, inside a mosque, a shepherdess herding her goats on the mountain we climbed...I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the idea :)
Upon arriving after dark in the village, where we had been invited to a wedding, we were welcomed by the family and us women were quickly segregated from the men. The women were celebrating by decorating hands (for single women) and feet (for married women) with henna (temporary tattooing), a traditional practice in preparing the bride and is considered good luck for everyone present to be decorated.
For dinner, at 11pm, we were served a "meat" dish of...well...every part of the sheep that we don't eat in America...at the time I didn't recognize much, but later, after some discussion, we realized what it all was (tongue, arteries, male parts, fat from the brain, spleen, heart, etc). My strategy was to turn my head and grab a piece, put it in my mouth, and tried to get it down without knowing what it was. God was gracious to get me through without offending my hostess.
The women can use anything to make music. They pass around various types of drums, beat spoons on a metal cylindrical device, know all the words and tunes to the indigenous folk songs, and dance like you have never seen. I was chosen to join in the dancing. I was nervous and kept stopping to laugh at myself...though to my credit I was being stared at by about 200 women who were straining to see if the foreign girl could move.
While on the roof we saw the sheep that had been killed and skinned earlier that day. It was dark but out of the corner of my eye I noticed a smallish creature eating on it and after a few more nonchalant glances realized that it was a monkey!! Odd, yes. Hilarious, yes. But did I eat that meat the next day, most likely.
Since men and women are kept segregated I did not know how he was related to the family. He was very nice and was fascinated by my digital camera. He is from this village, way out in the mountains where some houses just got electricity but none of them yet have running water or a phone line. My camera is decades ahead of anything he has seen. He took us to the well and taught us how to draw up water in a bucket. Later he took us on a 45 min. hike up the mountain, and asked if we wouldn't like to stay in Morocco...pretty sure this was a proposal, I was quick to reply that it was lovely but that I really enjoy living in France.
Things I saw but was not able to photograph: camels grazing beside the road, goats that climb trees, women dancing, the monkey that eats sheep, local men & women who transport goods by mule, hundreds of colorful and unique doors on houses, inside a mosque, a shepherdess herding her goats on the mountain we climbed...I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the idea :)
posted by Bethany at 3:04 PM
1 Comments:
I love your pictures! I need to call you to hear about your trip... soon my friend, very soon.
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