I was able to visit two other cities this week: Casablanca and Kenitra. Casa is about an hour to the south, by car, and another hour through lots of traffic in to the site of the book fair, which is very close to the new Hassan II mosque near the port. I was planning on taking the train, but Ahlam invited me to go in the car with some of the MACECE staff. Casablanca is about five times the size of Rabat, and more congested. As we left the Book Fair at about 4:30, a fog had rolled in from the ocean and made a magical view of the minaret of the mosque. Do you remember in the movie "Casablanca" (which was not shot here, BTW) the foggy scene at the end? I wonder if it is often foggy, or if it was just something special for my first visit! This is the Mosque in the morning when we arrived. On Friday, Adil and I took the train north to Kenitra, the town where he lives, so that I could enjoy Friday couscous with his family. He has a beautiful wife named Rajat and two young children. Rajat made a lovely couscous and a wonderful (and large!) flan for dessert. Of course we had tea too. This one wasn't mint, though. The plant in it is called "sheeba" in Darija, but I'm not sure what it is in English. It is in season now, she said. When Hamza, the 4-year-old boy met me, he asked, "Comment t'appelles-tu?" in French. It was adorable! The children are learning French, and Rajat speaks it, so we could carry on very well. We had a very interesting discussion about arranged marriage in Morocco (which theirs was) among other things. Thank goodness I didn't have to rely on my Darija!! This is Adil. He's been awarded a Fulbright in the US next year. He's waiting to hear to which university he'll go. The salon of their home. Look at the carved and painted plaster ceiling! The couscous! This one had beef (chuck roast) between the couscous and veggie layers. Hamza and Mariam with their father. Tea and flan. "It's so much better than restaurants," Adil said (because I had ordered a flan in a restaurant one day at Darija lesson/lunch). "You can have two pieces!" It WAS absolutely delicious! And I had two pieces.
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Marcie StutzmanTeacher, Researcher, Adventurer, Explorer; Maybe crazy; Possibly too old for this Archives
October 2018
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