Update

Sorry for the lack of posts for several days.  I haven't been able to venture outside Ifrane again, but have been busy from dawn until dusk with homework, lectures and such.  In Contemporary Issues, we had a guest professor lecture on Monday about Maliki Islam, which is the branch of Islamic law that is most prevalent in Morocco, and another lecture on Tuesday about Sufism in Morocco.  The professor spoke about how Sufism came here, through the network ribats, which were a sort of fort designed to protect Islamic lands from invasion and serve as staging locations for those going on the hajj to Mecca -- they created a subculture of young men based on a shared religiosity.  Sufism did not become organized in any way until the 12th century, though.  The lecture also addressed the importance of calligraphy with embedded symbols, the whirling dervishes, poetry (like that of Rumi, though he is not Moroccan), the centrality of the student-teacher relationship, and the alternating encouragement and suppression of Sufism in the Islamic world.

I also made a new Moroccan friend, Sara, who does wear the hijab and studies business administration here.  My American friends and I have figured out that if we sit in themaqha (cafe) long enough, a native speaker will eventually come and help us with our Arabic.  Yesterday, Sara helped us with our assignment of skimming a Moroccan newspaper (in my case, El-'Alm, "The Flag") and writing a paragraph or two about the issues contained within.

As we were working on our essays, an outdoor concert began right outside the maqha.  This was the first campus-wide event of this sort since I've been here, which has struck me as a significant contrast with American universities (it may different during the regular school year, although many of the students here complain that there is not much for them to do socially.  Despite the cold, many, many people came out and the dining staff barbecued kebabs for us all.  The concert was DJ'ed by Moroccan students and most of the performances were all-male bands featuring covers of American pop or hip-hop songs, but an American from Florida also played his banjo for the crowd.

Today, we had our first exam in Arabic class.  Fortunately, the tests at Princeton were much more difficult (we were never given a word bank before).  After the test, we proceeded to our usual Wednesday morning activity -- clubs.  This time, two of my friends and I decided to check out Qur'an Club.  First, an elderly American woman who converted to Islam many years ago in Egypt (and is a professor of linguistics here) spoke to us briefly about a few different aspects of the Qur'an: the traditions regarding the naming of children, healing the sick, and her own search for a "mystical experience" that she had found within.  We listened to different recitations of the fatiha, which is the short sura that observant Muslims say a total of 17 times per day during their five prayers.  We then practiced reciting the fatiha many times over and the professor in charge of the club attempted to teach us how to sing it in the melodic chanting voice used by the imams.  About two-thirds of the participants were Muslim themselves, so when we were each asked to read aloud alone, they had quite an advantage!  It was extremely helpful for improving our Arabic pronunciation, since the Qur'an is just about the only Arabic text that is fully vocalized (that is, all the short vowels and case endings are written in).  We also learned the first sura, or verse, of the Qur'an, which is a little more difficult.

This evening, one of my professors, Mohamed, offered to take me to the marche to buy a cell phone.  (It's hard to imagine any of my professors in the U.S., now matter how friendly, doing that!)  He helped me negotiate a decent Nokia phone plus a good amount of minutes (everything here is on a pay-as-you-go system, not monthly plans) for approximately USD$47.  The keypad has Arabic letters on it!  (Also, I can call to the U.S. but it's fairly expensive -- when I found out the exact cost I'll let you all know.)  After negotiating for me, Mohamed left me and two of my Princeton friends, Sebastien and Osahon, at a restaurant in the marche, Pizza Diafa.  We've eaten there twice before, but as soon as the proprietor saw that we were associated with Ustaadh Mohamed, we got unbelievable service.  (The marche is semi-outdoors and the owner even came and specially wiped up the mosquito that Osahon had speared on his placement.)  He brought us copious amounts of ketchup and mustard, despite that fact that we were eating traditional Moroccan tajines and kebabs that don't particularly lend themselves to these condiments, perhaps because we were American.  We hope to become regulars at Pizza Diafa, which, while it has cats in the kitchen in amounts almost as copious as the ketchup, is clean, tasty, and friendly -- and then, perhaps, we will be able to convince the smiling proprietor to speak to us in Arabic instead of responding to our attempts with French and English!

I also now have an e-mail address from Al-Akhawayn: C.bordewich@aui.ma.  I haven't used it yet, but it should work if anyone tries to e-mail me.

I hope you are all well!