A Moroccan Barbecue and a Birthday Party

Yesterday, Wednesday, we had clubs from 10am-noon as usual. I'd heard good things about the music club, so I decided to try it out. There were about ten students and a very serious but very talented teacher who played the oud. He wrote out the words to a well-known Moroccan folk song called "شمس العشي". The teacher had us recite the words many times over, beating out the rhythm on our shoulders. Then we sang, with and without his skillful oud accompaniment. Besides the vocabulary, which was very poetic, the hardest thing for me was imitating the vocal gyration that distinguishes Arabic music but usually sounds kind of ridiculous when we try it. But I think music club has been my favorite so far -- the oud is a beautiful instrument and the song we learned was really catchy.

In the afternoon, a few of us went to the marche to buy a box of cookies for our Moroccan friend Sara, whose 22nd birthday is today. Originally we had intended to get her a DVD, although all that is available here are pirated copies of largely unknown American films (costing approximately $1.25)... however, Osahon did manage to find such a copy of Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" from a makeup/used children's toys store.

In the evening, the ARANAS program put on a "4th of July Barbecue" with chicken and beef kebabs, rice, and cooked vegetables out by one of the soccer fields during the weekly soccer tournament between ARANAS students, professors, and regular Al-Akhawayn students. This time there was also a band of traditional Moroccan instruments (tambourines, drums, the long wedding horns) and a henna artist (see below).



Later at night, the school sponsored a DJ party outside the cafeteria, and a number of the Arabic professors were present. The whole social dynamic on campus here is very different from the U.S., given that students aren't allowed in the dorm buildings of the opposite gender, the library isn't open late, there isn't much to do in town (and it's a 15 minute walk anyway), and of course there is no alcohol on campus. Students who want to party, and there are plenty of them, rent apartments in Ifrane so that they will not have to come back for curfew (midnight on weeknights) or be interrogated by the guards who monitor the one entrance to campus. There also aren't many gathering places on campus, so if people want to hang out, they usually sit out in front of the cafeteria, in the cafe/game room that opens onto the same court, or the adjacent student activities room. I wasn't at the dance party too long, though, because we were throwing an impromptu birthday party for Sara. We shared the cookies around with everyone who showed up, and Sara supplied sodas and chips.