Prague, Czech Republic
I did it. I am now in the north where the weather is in the low 30s C, and where the euro is not used. It was a crazy journey, involving one night in a bed and three on various forms of transportation. And now it's raining. I hadn't seen rain for 6 or 7 weeks until last night.
I took the night bus from Madrid to Barcelona, put my stuff in the left luggage at the bus/train station and went off to explore. I remember being in Barcelona in 2000, but not many details besides Gaudi buildings. This time I walked up and down the main pedestrian street many times. I also got lost in one neighborhood, looking for the center for contemporary culture of barcelona. They had this really amazing exhibit called borders or frontiers. It was about borders - the EU and non-EU, miami and havana, cashmere, USA and mexico, illegal immigration, refugees, former yugoslavia. There were descriptions, maps, photos, and videos in an attempt to explore borders.
That night, took the boat from Barcelona to Genoa. The trip was about 20 hours. On board I met a spanish guy named Ruben. He as wearing nike sort of shoes and had a bag with english on it, so I asked him if he was from the US. I guess my americandar has been kind of off lately. I slept on the floor that night, and the next morning saw a dolphin swim by the boat. I might have seen a sea turtle too, but it could have also been trash. The dolphin I'm sure about, because I watched it jump.
I spent the night in the only youth hostel in Genoa, after the boat arrived about 5 in the evening. Genoa is one of those very vertical cities. The hostel was basically straight up from the port, but had an amazing view. I was in Genoa with my family in 1998, and I remember it was hot, and we found nothing redeeming, so we drove up into the mountains. On a second visit, old town Genoa is a nice place. There are lots of windy streets, although everyone was on holiday, so the town was a bit dead. The gelato stand per capita also seemed a bit on the low side. Had some very excellent pasta with pesto for dinner, and sat with two austrailians and an italian.
The next morning I took a train to milan, and another to Venice. In Venice I had a couple of hours, so I got some tiramisu gelato (!!!!) and then wandered. I rediscovered that I really love venice, even though it's way more crowded in August than it had been in March. Also, the price of everything seems to double or triple in the summer. I ended up walking all the way to san marco, asked some french couple (I'm really bad at finding the english speakers) if I could look at their map, and realized I had walked all the way accross the city. Hurried back, and got on my last train, Venice to Prague.
I was sharing my sleeping cabin! with two canadians, Becky and Kim. They were both very nice. We ended up all sitting on the middle bunks, spanning the aisle. Next door was a cabin full of germans playing very loud music. I love sleeping cars on trains. They even gave us breakfast in the morning. I also love the youth discounts on transportation in europe. For the first time since I entered spain, I had to show my passport - to exit austria and enter the czech republic.
Wandered around Prague for a few hours before being met by a very bearded Jan, who took me to the car where Maria and Lenka were waiting. Somehow we fit me and my stuff into their already very crowded car, and went to Lenka's appartment. It's really exciting that I'm not going to be going anywhere for a few nights.
Since then I've been hanging out in Prague. Met some of Jan's friends, his step dad, got some dumplings, and found a great book store. Time to go walk in the rain.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Tinto de Verano
Madrid, Spain
I went to Granada. The days were amazing. The nights sucked. I spent two out of three nights trying to sleep on the floor because the bed was too hot. After a month in morocco, I woke up my last morning and decided I was done with the heat, and it was time to go north and east, away from the euro, and hopefully away from the heat. Tonight I take the night bus to Barcelona, and then I plan to camp on the ferry to Genoa, and then take a train to venice and another train to slovenia or the czech republic or somewhere.
Granada was amazing. Standing at the bus stop Gran Via 3 I met Liesje, from Brussels. She had also just arrived and neither of us had a hostel. We decided to join forces and went to visit the hostel I had heard about. They had no space and sent us to this place way up the hill near the enterance to the Alhambra. The redeeming aspect of the place was that it had a freezing cold swimming pool on the roof. That night we walked down the hill and I had my first tapas in spain, and also tinto de verano. For someone who likes cute food and to taste lots of things tapas are amazing. And in Granada, every time you order a drink, they bring you tapas. I hear they don't do that everywhere in spain. Tinto de verano is red wine mixed with fizzy lemonade. It sounds weird, I know, but it's really really good. Although we ordered food the first night, we realized that if we ordered enough drinks we could just have a meal with the tapas.
The next day we got a room in the hostel we tried the day before - Oasis. The hostel is in a building that is centered around a courtyard. It's a nice place, although not as fantastic as I had heard. We explored around the cathedral, and then in the afternoon walked up the hill that faces the alhambra. The neighborhood there is really nice, little windy streets and whitewashed buildings. They also have some really nice grafiti. There are lots of hidden squares with cafes and lots of churches, but in Granada all the churches always seem to be closed. We ended up at this viewpoint that had a fantastic view of the alhambra.
A girl at the hostel told us that everyone goes to the alhambra at 8 in the morning to try to get in, but it's much better to go in the afternoon because there's no line and we would almost certainly get in. She said that many people who go in the morning get turned away. This is after we had tried to find tickets at all the websites and banks suggested. What a mess. But when we got there at 3 we only had to wait 10 minutes. The ticket has three parts - the generalife gardens, the nasrid palaces, and the alcazabah (the kasbah). The gardens are amazing! There are lots of fountains, hedge walls with arched doorways, courtyards with pools of water, and roses. My favorite thing though was a staircase that had really cold water running down the hand rails. The drinking fountains in spain are nice, because unlike morocco, you can actually drink out of them.
The nasrid palaces are amazing, but I think they are more amazing for other people. It's the same style of decoration that is used all over moroco - the mosaic, carved plaster and wood ceilings. This was the most elaborate example I had seen, but it was also the most crowded, which took away from the beauty. On the ticket, they alot everyone a 30 minute time slot in which they have to enter the palaces, or they will loose their chance. They were also doing a lot of restoration work, making the most famous courtyard hard to see in its full glory.
The alcazabah is the fort part of the alhambra. It has the walls that are seen from the outside, and the towers. Inside the walls there are what look to be foundations of old buildings, but not much standing. They didn't give us a map, and we didn't have a guide book, so we may have missed some things. But overall, I think we got the idea. It's such a huge place that it's hard to take in everything in a day.
That night Liesje and I went out for tapas again. I think I could get used to the schedule in spain, and I'm trying to use my spanish. I can at least order food and get a bus ticket and ask for directions. The words are slowly coming back. But being in southern spain in August is crazy! So I'm skipping Sevilla, Cordoba and Porugal, all things I wanted to see, and hopefully someday in the future I will return in the spring or fall.
I went to Granada. The days were amazing. The nights sucked. I spent two out of three nights trying to sleep on the floor because the bed was too hot. After a month in morocco, I woke up my last morning and decided I was done with the heat, and it was time to go north and east, away from the euro, and hopefully away from the heat. Tonight I take the night bus to Barcelona, and then I plan to camp on the ferry to Genoa, and then take a train to venice and another train to slovenia or the czech republic or somewhere.
Granada was amazing. Standing at the bus stop Gran Via 3 I met Liesje, from Brussels. She had also just arrived and neither of us had a hostel. We decided to join forces and went to visit the hostel I had heard about. They had no space and sent us to this place way up the hill near the enterance to the Alhambra. The redeeming aspect of the place was that it had a freezing cold swimming pool on the roof. That night we walked down the hill and I had my first tapas in spain, and also tinto de verano. For someone who likes cute food and to taste lots of things tapas are amazing. And in Granada, every time you order a drink, they bring you tapas. I hear they don't do that everywhere in spain. Tinto de verano is red wine mixed with fizzy lemonade. It sounds weird, I know, but it's really really good. Although we ordered food the first night, we realized that if we ordered enough drinks we could just have a meal with the tapas.
The next day we got a room in the hostel we tried the day before - Oasis. The hostel is in a building that is centered around a courtyard. It's a nice place, although not as fantastic as I had heard. We explored around the cathedral, and then in the afternoon walked up the hill that faces the alhambra. The neighborhood there is really nice, little windy streets and whitewashed buildings. They also have some really nice grafiti. There are lots of hidden squares with cafes and lots of churches, but in Granada all the churches always seem to be closed. We ended up at this viewpoint that had a fantastic view of the alhambra.
A girl at the hostel told us that everyone goes to the alhambra at 8 in the morning to try to get in, but it's much better to go in the afternoon because there's no line and we would almost certainly get in. She said that many people who go in the morning get turned away. This is after we had tried to find tickets at all the websites and banks suggested. What a mess. But when we got there at 3 we only had to wait 10 minutes. The ticket has three parts - the generalife gardens, the nasrid palaces, and the alcazabah (the kasbah). The gardens are amazing! There are lots of fountains, hedge walls with arched doorways, courtyards with pools of water, and roses. My favorite thing though was a staircase that had really cold water running down the hand rails. The drinking fountains in spain are nice, because unlike morocco, you can actually drink out of them.
The nasrid palaces are amazing, but I think they are more amazing for other people. It's the same style of decoration that is used all over moroco - the mosaic, carved plaster and wood ceilings. This was the most elaborate example I had seen, but it was also the most crowded, which took away from the beauty. On the ticket, they alot everyone a 30 minute time slot in which they have to enter the palaces, or they will loose their chance. They were also doing a lot of restoration work, making the most famous courtyard hard to see in its full glory.
The alcazabah is the fort part of the alhambra. It has the walls that are seen from the outside, and the towers. Inside the walls there are what look to be foundations of old buildings, but not much standing. They didn't give us a map, and we didn't have a guide book, so we may have missed some things. But overall, I think we got the idea. It's such a huge place that it's hard to take in everything in a day.
That night Liesje and I went out for tapas again. I think I could get used to the schedule in spain, and I'm trying to use my spanish. I can at least order food and get a bus ticket and ask for directions. The words are slowly coming back. But being in southern spain in August is crazy! So I'm skipping Sevilla, Cordoba and Porugal, all things I wanted to see, and hopefully someday in the future I will return in the spring or fall.
Friday, July 27, 2007
In which all plans are defenestrated
Madrid, Spain
It's been rather a long time since I last posted, and much has happened, so I'll stick to the highlights. Defenestrated, a word I love, means to throw out the window.
After Fes we went to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Our hotel was accross the street from this amazing french cafe named Green Cafe complete with amazing french pastries. So instead of eating breakfast at the hotel, we ate their. They seem to be the only place in morocco that actually puts chocolate in their chocolate croussants. We walked everywhere in Rabat I think, and my knock off converse allstars were dying, so now I have some snazzy new purple euroshoes. After trying many shoes stores and finding no arch support in shoes, I started looking at people's feet, and have concluded that morocco is full of flat footed people.
One of the more outrageous experiences was meeting up with the couchsurfers of Rabat and Sale. If you want to know about couch surfing their website is www.couchsurfing.com, but the idea is so people can travel and meet other people and stay on their couches. One guy named Nabil walked mom and I to the tomb of Muhammed V, the king who liberated morocco from the French. It's a very impressive mosoleum, built in the ruins of the mosque that was intended to have the highest minaret in the muslim world, but was never finished. Then, the rest of the couch surfers showed up. They gave everyone, including me, a diploma for having attended the first couch surfing meeting of Rabab-Sale (although I was now attending the second meeting) and then had us take a lot of photos together.
We had heard that boats crossed the river to Sale from Rabat - they don't. So we walked a lot, took petit taxis and then smushed into a grand taxi to get to sale. We ate lunch at this lunch counter sort of place, and had sardine ball sandwhiches. It was very good, but perhaps one of the stranger things that I ate in morocco. Miraculously, none of us got sick from the lunch. This further validates the theory mom and I have discovered of food in morocco - the smaller and cheaper the place, the better the food will be. This holds except for very very nice resturants, where the food is indeed worth the money.
In Sale we also visited the exotic gardens. There are sections of the gardens from peru, china, congo, japan, pacific islands, arid mexico, etc. It's an amazing place. The paths wind through it in such a way that it feels much larger than it is. There are bridges, stairs, stone archways, and a waterfall. And it was nice and cool. We got there an away using the bus, our first public intracity transport. It felt a bit like the bus was falling apart.
We took the train from Rabat to Casablanca, and there bought a new suitcase, so Ian could take lots of things home for all of us. The day was spent repacking for the most part. The next morning, we all took a taxi with him to the airport. He had to spend the night in JFK, but got home okay. The rest of that day and half of the next rather angst filled day was spent deciding what I was going to do after morocco. That afternoon I bought a bus ticket to Madrid. I've decided to throw any plans out the window (unless I get into JET). And I will find that english teaching job when I run out of Money.
The bus ride from Madrid to Casablanca was 24 hours, although not all of that was driving time. The woman behind me on the bus, named Fatih, decided to sort of adopt me, and made sure I got through the whole thing okay. She's from morocco, but has been living in spain for 6 or so years. She didn't speak any english, so I drug out my high school spanish, and we sort of managed to talk. Spanish does seem to be coming back to me, which is nice, although I sound like a three year old.
We drove to Tangiers, then had to take all our stuff off the bus, go through passport control (moroccans aren't too fond of orderly lines) and have our bags scanned. Then we walked to the dock where the boats was, hauled our stuff up the gangplank, and waited an hour and a half for the ferry to go. The ride accross to algecieras was two and half hours. For some reason I thought it was going to be about 30 minutes. Then we did the whole pasport control and customs again, and got back on the bus about 1:30 am. We arrived in Madrid at about 11.
Madrid is beautiful, and seems so calm after morocco. The cars stay in their lanes, there are cross walks and lights telling you when you can cross. The sidewalks are wide and in good repair, and the metro is great. It also seems less poluted on the whole. I've found a hostel and harry potter, and am taking a couple of days to just hang out and not do too much. I have no idea what I'm doing next. If anyone has any friends I could visit or suggestions of places to go, I'm all ears. And now, back to harry potter!
It's been rather a long time since I last posted, and much has happened, so I'll stick to the highlights. Defenestrated, a word I love, means to throw out the window.
After Fes we went to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Our hotel was accross the street from this amazing french cafe named Green Cafe complete with amazing french pastries. So instead of eating breakfast at the hotel, we ate their. They seem to be the only place in morocco that actually puts chocolate in their chocolate croussants. We walked everywhere in Rabat I think, and my knock off converse allstars were dying, so now I have some snazzy new purple euroshoes. After trying many shoes stores and finding no arch support in shoes, I started looking at people's feet, and have concluded that morocco is full of flat footed people.
One of the more outrageous experiences was meeting up with the couchsurfers of Rabat and Sale. If you want to know about couch surfing their website is www.couchsurfing.com, but the idea is so people can travel and meet other people and stay on their couches. One guy named Nabil walked mom and I to the tomb of Muhammed V, the king who liberated morocco from the French. It's a very impressive mosoleum, built in the ruins of the mosque that was intended to have the highest minaret in the muslim world, but was never finished. Then, the rest of the couch surfers showed up. They gave everyone, including me, a diploma for having attended the first couch surfing meeting of Rabab-Sale (although I was now attending the second meeting) and then had us take a lot of photos together.
We had heard that boats crossed the river to Sale from Rabat - they don't. So we walked a lot, took petit taxis and then smushed into a grand taxi to get to sale. We ate lunch at this lunch counter sort of place, and had sardine ball sandwhiches. It was very good, but perhaps one of the stranger things that I ate in morocco. Miraculously, none of us got sick from the lunch. This further validates the theory mom and I have discovered of food in morocco - the smaller and cheaper the place, the better the food will be. This holds except for very very nice resturants, where the food is indeed worth the money.
In Sale we also visited the exotic gardens. There are sections of the gardens from peru, china, congo, japan, pacific islands, arid mexico, etc. It's an amazing place. The paths wind through it in such a way that it feels much larger than it is. There are bridges, stairs, stone archways, and a waterfall. And it was nice and cool. We got there an away using the bus, our first public intracity transport. It felt a bit like the bus was falling apart.
We took the train from Rabat to Casablanca, and there bought a new suitcase, so Ian could take lots of things home for all of us. The day was spent repacking for the most part. The next morning, we all took a taxi with him to the airport. He had to spend the night in JFK, but got home okay. The rest of that day and half of the next rather angst filled day was spent deciding what I was going to do after morocco. That afternoon I bought a bus ticket to Madrid. I've decided to throw any plans out the window (unless I get into JET). And I will find that english teaching job when I run out of Money.
The bus ride from Madrid to Casablanca was 24 hours, although not all of that was driving time. The woman behind me on the bus, named Fatih, decided to sort of adopt me, and made sure I got through the whole thing okay. She's from morocco, but has been living in spain for 6 or so years. She didn't speak any english, so I drug out my high school spanish, and we sort of managed to talk. Spanish does seem to be coming back to me, which is nice, although I sound like a three year old.
We drove to Tangiers, then had to take all our stuff off the bus, go through passport control (moroccans aren't too fond of orderly lines) and have our bags scanned. Then we walked to the dock where the boats was, hauled our stuff up the gangplank, and waited an hour and a half for the ferry to go. The ride accross to algecieras was two and half hours. For some reason I thought it was going to be about 30 minutes. Then we did the whole pasport control and customs again, and got back on the bus about 1:30 am. We arrived in Madrid at about 11.
Madrid is beautiful, and seems so calm after morocco. The cars stay in their lanes, there are cross walks and lights telling you when you can cross. The sidewalks are wide and in good repair, and the metro is great. It also seems less poluted on the whole. I've found a hostel and harry potter, and am taking a couple of days to just hang out and not do too much. I have no idea what I'm doing next. If anyone has any friends I could visit or suggestions of places to go, I'm all ears. And now, back to harry potter!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
An aMAZEing city
Fes, Morocco
The guidebook says that Fes can be a sensory overload. I think I agree with them. The medina of Fes is the largest living midevil city in the world. It's a complete labyrinth, with some of the streets only about a person and a half wide. The only modes of transport are walking, and horses and donkeys act as tucks. We saw the coca cola delivery donkey go past one day. It seems about half of Fes lives in the Medina, which is divided into two parts - Fes al bali (where we are staying) and Fes al jadid (the "new" part). Then there's the ville nouvelle built by the french, and the modern city built after the french left. There's only one problem with Fes, and that's the amount of hustlers. Every one wants to be your tour guide, or to sell you something, or to take you to the tourist resturant so they can get a kick back, or something. This makes it very hard to get good directions anywhere, and because the Medina is such a maze, it makes it very hard to find certain sights.
But we did manage to see a lot of Fes al bali. Yesterday we visited the tanneries, the stinkiest place in the city. They still tan leather the old fassion way, which involves a lot of pigeon shit, lime, and dyes. All the different chemicals for all the steps are in different pits, and the leather moves from one to the other, often sitting in one pit for up to a month. The pits remind me of a honey comb. After accedentally walking into the middle of it all, we backtracked, went up into a shop and up on their roof to get a view from the terrace. They gave us mint sprigs to try to make the smell less. We could see the guys working. Some of them were standing knee deep in the pits of chemicals.
William's Arabic teacher, Muhammed, is in Fes for the summer with his family, and so yesterday morning we walked around the Medina with him, and then yesterday evening he and his wife brought us to his mothers house for coffee. I should have known it wouldn't be just coffee. They also had mint tea, cookies, croissants, a layered flat bread and non-sweet doughnuts, in other words, a feast. We got to meet their two adorable children, and his mother and sister. It was really nice to see how a real moroccan house and family, and to actually get to talk to a woman. Fatihah, Muhammed's wife is very nice. Most of the time on the streets we see men, in the hotels it's men except for the cleaning ladies, in the resturants it's men, etc. Although we see women, being a tourist, the only people we had talked to were men. After coffee, they took us in Muhammed's brother's car to the ville nouvelle, and we walked up and down the streets and stoped at a sort of traditional arts exhibition with music.
Today we hired a driver to go see some of the cities surrounding Fes. First was volubilis, a ruined roman city. Not much of it is left standing after it was sacked for its marble and then there was an earthquake. There were still some very impressive mosaics, such as the one that displays the twelve labors of hercules. They had reconstructed the triumphal arch, and some of the basilica. The city was on a hill, and had originally been surrounded by forest, but it was all cut down to grow wheat for the empire. And today the land is still used to grow wheat.
Next we went to Moulay Idris, where the first Moroccan king is burried. The entire town used to be closed to non muslims, but now it's been opened, although they still can't visit his tomb. In addition to being king, he was a grand son or great grand son of the prophet, and is considered a saint. Five pilgramages to his tomb can replace the required trip to Mecca. Deciding not to eat lunch here, we went to Meknes, the first imperial capital of Morocco. Our driver took us to two fancy tourist resturants before we could convince him that we really just wanted to eat sausage and bread on the square. And the sausage was great! We walked into the medina, then visited the old stables, where they quartered 12,000 horses back in the day. The place is cooled by water running underneath in pipes. At the time it was a major engineering accomplishment, and the place was indeed very cool. We drove past the king's palace, and then tried to go to the tomb of Moulay Ishmael, the one tomb we were supposed to be allowed to go into, and they wouldn't let us because it was supposed to be closed for the holiday.
Our last stop was one of the potteries of Fes. Fes is famous for its pottery and mosaic. They burn olive pits to get the kilns hot enough, ad there was a ton of black smoke pouring out. Although it was really interesting seeing all of the steps involved, the place made me feel ucky. Back in the car I realized that if I had to pick working in the taneries or the potteries, I would pick the tanery. The potteries really reminded me of a sweat shop, where guys were working in dark rooms doing the same thing over and over. In the tanneries, however, it had a more communal feel, even though guys were knee deep in chemicals.
Tomorrow I plan to really get lost in the Medina here, and then we head to Rabat, the capital, and the coast. Across the river from Rabat is Sale, a former pirate capital.
The guidebook says that Fes can be a sensory overload. I think I agree with them. The medina of Fes is the largest living midevil city in the world. It's a complete labyrinth, with some of the streets only about a person and a half wide. The only modes of transport are walking, and horses and donkeys act as tucks. We saw the coca cola delivery donkey go past one day. It seems about half of Fes lives in the Medina, which is divided into two parts - Fes al bali (where we are staying) and Fes al jadid (the "new" part). Then there's the ville nouvelle built by the french, and the modern city built after the french left. There's only one problem with Fes, and that's the amount of hustlers. Every one wants to be your tour guide, or to sell you something, or to take you to the tourist resturant so they can get a kick back, or something. This makes it very hard to get good directions anywhere, and because the Medina is such a maze, it makes it very hard to find certain sights.
But we did manage to see a lot of Fes al bali. Yesterday we visited the tanneries, the stinkiest place in the city. They still tan leather the old fassion way, which involves a lot of pigeon shit, lime, and dyes. All the different chemicals for all the steps are in different pits, and the leather moves from one to the other, often sitting in one pit for up to a month. The pits remind me of a honey comb. After accedentally walking into the middle of it all, we backtracked, went up into a shop and up on their roof to get a view from the terrace. They gave us mint sprigs to try to make the smell less. We could see the guys working. Some of them were standing knee deep in the pits of chemicals.
William's Arabic teacher, Muhammed, is in Fes for the summer with his family, and so yesterday morning we walked around the Medina with him, and then yesterday evening he and his wife brought us to his mothers house for coffee. I should have known it wouldn't be just coffee. They also had mint tea, cookies, croissants, a layered flat bread and non-sweet doughnuts, in other words, a feast. We got to meet their two adorable children, and his mother and sister. It was really nice to see how a real moroccan house and family, and to actually get to talk to a woman. Fatihah, Muhammed's wife is very nice. Most of the time on the streets we see men, in the hotels it's men except for the cleaning ladies, in the resturants it's men, etc. Although we see women, being a tourist, the only people we had talked to were men. After coffee, they took us in Muhammed's brother's car to the ville nouvelle, and we walked up and down the streets and stoped at a sort of traditional arts exhibition with music.
Today we hired a driver to go see some of the cities surrounding Fes. First was volubilis, a ruined roman city. Not much of it is left standing after it was sacked for its marble and then there was an earthquake. There were still some very impressive mosaics, such as the one that displays the twelve labors of hercules. They had reconstructed the triumphal arch, and some of the basilica. The city was on a hill, and had originally been surrounded by forest, but it was all cut down to grow wheat for the empire. And today the land is still used to grow wheat.
Next we went to Moulay Idris, where the first Moroccan king is burried. The entire town used to be closed to non muslims, but now it's been opened, although they still can't visit his tomb. In addition to being king, he was a grand son or great grand son of the prophet, and is considered a saint. Five pilgramages to his tomb can replace the required trip to Mecca. Deciding not to eat lunch here, we went to Meknes, the first imperial capital of Morocco. Our driver took us to two fancy tourist resturants before we could convince him that we really just wanted to eat sausage and bread on the square. And the sausage was great! We walked into the medina, then visited the old stables, where they quartered 12,000 horses back in the day. The place is cooled by water running underneath in pipes. At the time it was a major engineering accomplishment, and the place was indeed very cool. We drove past the king's palace, and then tried to go to the tomb of Moulay Ishmael, the one tomb we were supposed to be allowed to go into, and they wouldn't let us because it was supposed to be closed for the holiday.
Our last stop was one of the potteries of Fes. Fes is famous for its pottery and mosaic. They burn olive pits to get the kilns hot enough, ad there was a ton of black smoke pouring out. Although it was really interesting seeing all of the steps involved, the place made me feel ucky. Back in the car I realized that if I had to pick working in the taneries or the potteries, I would pick the tanery. The potteries really reminded me of a sweat shop, where guys were working in dark rooms doing the same thing over and over. In the tanneries, however, it had a more communal feel, even though guys were knee deep in chemicals.
Tomorrow I plan to really get lost in the Medina here, and then we head to Rabat, the capital, and the coast. Across the river from Rabat is Sale, a former pirate capital.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
On Moroccan food and the beach
Essaouira, Morocco
We're at the beach! Essaouria is a small town with a really nice walled old town that is right on the coast. Part of the coast here is rocky, but there's also a good beach that has been packed during the day. There are little kids in swim suits, covered women with their pants rolled up to their knees, wind surfers, and kite surfers. I think kite surfing looks like it would be awesome!
Some day I'm going to have to learn how. The city is very windy and cool, making a nice change after the desert. Most of the buildings in the city are white, and blue seems to be the color of choice for trim. It's really nice to be in a more laid back city, where I could go walking by myself, and where the shop keepers and touts aren't hasseling people all the time.
One of the biggest industries here is carving the local Thuya wood. Lonely planet indicated that the tree may be endangered, but Ian looked it up on the web, and could find nothing about the tree being endangered, or any groups set up to protect it. So we're going to assume that the guide book is lying. We've discovered on this trip that the guide book is not always correct. Yesterday, after reading about a "laundry mat" outside the walls in the ville nouvelle, mom and william walked half an hour there to discover that it was really just a woman's laundry business, and that she does have a washing machine, but it is not for everyone to use. So they left her our 94 pieces of laundry to do. When william and I came to pick it up they seemed amused at how many bags it was taking to carry it.
Me on a boat
Yesterday night, mom and William went out for their anniversary leaving Ian and me on our own for dinner. We went to a small pizza and pasta place. I got penne gratin, a version of macaroni and cheese. I was suprised when it came in the traditional tajine dish and was still bubbling. A tajine is made out of clay, and has a flat base and then a conical cover. They're used to convert a burner into a sort of oven. They come in multiple sizes, from an individual portion to a family sized one. Tajines usually have chicken, lamb or kofta, and then sauce and vegitables. They are brought to the table still bubbling. On the coast there are also shrimp (amazing!) and fish tajines. One of the most common types of tajine is chicken with olives and pickled lemon. I think it's on almost every menu that I've seen. And apparently they also make mac and cheese in a tajine.
Another common dish harira, a widly variable soup with a meat or tomato base, and vermicelli and chick peas in it. Here at the coast fish soup is popular. Couscous is another major moroccan dish. They serve it with cooked vegitables. They have lots of salads with tomato and onion, as well as the ocasional pizza and pasta. One good legacy of the french is great pastry and coffee. The national beverage is mint tea. It is served in a metal pot that is full of fresh mint leaves as well as some gunpowder green tea and lots of sugar. A pot usually contains enough tea for two or three cups. Breakfast is usually bread, butter, jam, orange juice, and coffee or tea. Sometimes they add pancake type things or hard boiled eggs to that.
We're at the beach! Essaouria is a small town with a really nice walled old town that is right on the coast. Part of the coast here is rocky, but there's also a good beach that has been packed during the day. There are little kids in swim suits, covered women with their pants rolled up to their knees, wind surfers, and kite surfers. I think kite surfing looks like it would be awesome!
Some day I'm going to have to learn how. The city is very windy and cool, making a nice change after the desert. Most of the buildings in the city are white, and blue seems to be the color of choice for trim. It's really nice to be in a more laid back city, where I could go walking by myself, and where the shop keepers and touts aren't hasseling people all the time.
One of the biggest industries here is carving the local Thuya wood. Lonely planet indicated that the tree may be endangered, but Ian looked it up on the web, and could find nothing about the tree being endangered, or any groups set up to protect it. So we're going to assume that the guide book is lying. We've discovered on this trip that the guide book is not always correct. Yesterday, after reading about a "laundry mat" outside the walls in the ville nouvelle, mom and william walked half an hour there to discover that it was really just a woman's laundry business, and that she does have a washing machine, but it is not for everyone to use. So they left her our 94 pieces of laundry to do. When william and I came to pick it up they seemed amused at how many bags it was taking to carry it.
Me on a boat
Yesterday night, mom and William went out for their anniversary leaving Ian and me on our own for dinner. We went to a small pizza and pasta place. I got penne gratin, a version of macaroni and cheese. I was suprised when it came in the traditional tajine dish and was still bubbling. A tajine is made out of clay, and has a flat base and then a conical cover. They're used to convert a burner into a sort of oven. They come in multiple sizes, from an individual portion to a family sized one. Tajines usually have chicken, lamb or kofta, and then sauce and vegitables. They are brought to the table still bubbling. On the coast there are also shrimp (amazing!) and fish tajines. One of the most common types of tajine is chicken with olives and pickled lemon. I think it's on almost every menu that I've seen. And apparently they also make mac and cheese in a tajine.
Another common dish harira, a widly variable soup with a meat or tomato base, and vermicelli and chick peas in it. Here at the coast fish soup is popular. Couscous is another major moroccan dish. They serve it with cooked vegitables. They have lots of salads with tomato and onion, as well as the ocasional pizza and pasta. One good legacy of the french is great pastry and coffee. The national beverage is mint tea. It is served in a metal pot that is full of fresh mint leaves as well as some gunpowder green tea and lots of sugar. A pot usually contains enough tea for two or three cups. Breakfast is usually bread, butter, jam, orange juice, and coffee or tea. Sometimes they add pancake type things or hard boiled eggs to that.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Photos from Marrakesh - Part II
The entrance to the Jardin Majorielle (paradise)
Plaster carver at work
In the courtyard of the Marrakesh museam
The only woman chief in the Jeema Fna food booths
Moroccan doughnuts
Goats in a Tree and other Tales
It seems forever ago that I wrote the last post. Since then we went to the Sahara, left the Sahara, changed a tire, saw the Atlantic, saw goats in a tree, got a speeding ticket, and returned the car.
Pre sahara we spend a night at toudru gourge, a very beautiful place. My favorite part of that day was the walk through the palmarie. It was amazing!! From the outside it just looks like many many palm trees.
But when you walk under them you see that there are many small fields that are growing alfalfa, tomatos, peppers, corn, cabbage, and more. There are also lots of other trees including pomagranite, fig, apricot and others which I have now forgotten. Because a river flows through the center of the valley, there are irrigation cannals with running water that wind their way through the fields. The fields have walls that are built up, and they are flood irrigated - water is let in from an irrigation cannal and then allowed to sink into the soil. I'm sure there's a lot of work going on in the area, to me it was a beautiful and magical place.
The sahara. After leaving toudru gorge we drove south to Zagora. As we were driving we passed a sign - welcome to the moroccan sahara. It began to get very hot and we drove through a lot of stony desert. Then, we started driving through yet another valley filled with palms - the Draa valley, home to the biggest river in Morocco. Our destination was Zagora, one of the last major towns before the serious desert. William had lived here for a month 12 years ago, so it was exciting to see what he had been talking about. We also went to the market - it was very hot and there was so much stuff. To attempt - spices, building materials, old tires made into baskets, cassettes, grains, produce of all kinds, especially watermelons, clothes, metal pieces, and jewlery.
That day at 6pm it was 102 in the shade. That afternoon we drove south, but decided not to go to the end of the road because william was worried about the tires. Very fortunatly the hotel had a pool, as well as excellent tomato, onion and pepper salad. And we learned that mom only sweats in the Sahara.
After two nights in Zagora, we drove out of the Sahara, and west. We drove along small roads, went through a couple of towns that were having markets, and then all of a sudden, the car started bumping and william pulled over. The result is that I know know what to do if I ever get a flat tire. And we were all very glad that it hadn't happened in the desert. Onward we went. We drove into Taroudant, a walled city thinking of staying there. The sign said it was 97 F, but to us it felt cool. It was market day there too and things weren't going right, so we drove all the way to Agadir, a big resort town on the Atlantic that also has a major port and fishery. It did not seem at all like the rest of Morocco, but it was nice and cool.
Yesterday we left Agadir, after trying to get to the beach and failing, and drove a two lane road with lots of very heavily loaded trucks. After a wile we passed a bunch of bottles on the side of the road. William told us it was Argan oil, made from the nut of the Argan tree. Traditionally, goats ate the nut and then their digestive system got rid of the hard outer coating. The nuts were recovered, the kernals pressed, and then you had this oil which is supposed to be very good for you, and is catching on in places like Paris and NYC. And to get the nuts, the goats have to climb the trees. Which is why I saw goats in a tree as we passed. The Argan tree can live in temperatures up to 50 C, which makes it an ideal plant to fight against desertificaiton. Back to the oil, now they have coopertives which are cutting out the role of the goat. Mom was joking and said there should be a campain for "full employment for goats"
After the goats in a tree we were driving along only to get pulled over for doing 82 in a 60km/h zone. The guy pulled out his book to show us the fine was 400dh. However, we didn't have that much money. He was kind of shocked, and we didn't understand him and he kept getting louder. He decided he couldn't take all the money of some stupid tourists, and let us go with only a 200dh fine and no written ticket.
We returned to Marrakesh, and then had to drive in the old city to get to the parking near where we were staying. William returned the car, and tomorrow we head out for Essouira, a small town walled town on the coast.
Pre sahara we spend a night at toudru gourge, a very beautiful place. My favorite part of that day was the walk through the palmarie. It was amazing!! From the outside it just looks like many many palm trees.
But when you walk under them you see that there are many small fields that are growing alfalfa, tomatos, peppers, corn, cabbage, and more. There are also lots of other trees including pomagranite, fig, apricot and others which I have now forgotten. Because a river flows through the center of the valley, there are irrigation cannals with running water that wind their way through the fields. The fields have walls that are built up, and they are flood irrigated - water is let in from an irrigation cannal and then allowed to sink into the soil. I'm sure there's a lot of work going on in the area, to me it was a beautiful and magical place.
The sahara. After leaving toudru gorge we drove south to Zagora. As we were driving we passed a sign - welcome to the moroccan sahara. It began to get very hot and we drove through a lot of stony desert. Then, we started driving through yet another valley filled with palms - the Draa valley, home to the biggest river in Morocco. Our destination was Zagora, one of the last major towns before the serious desert. William had lived here for a month 12 years ago, so it was exciting to see what he had been talking about. We also went to the market - it was very hot and there was so much stuff. To attempt - spices, building materials, old tires made into baskets, cassettes, grains, produce of all kinds, especially watermelons, clothes, metal pieces, and jewlery.
That day at 6pm it was 102 in the shade. That afternoon we drove south, but decided not to go to the end of the road because william was worried about the tires. Very fortunatly the hotel had a pool, as well as excellent tomato, onion and pepper salad. And we learned that mom only sweats in the Sahara.
After two nights in Zagora, we drove out of the Sahara, and west. We drove along small roads, went through a couple of towns that were having markets, and then all of a sudden, the car started bumping and william pulled over. The result is that I know know what to do if I ever get a flat tire. And we were all very glad that it hadn't happened in the desert. Onward we went. We drove into Taroudant, a walled city thinking of staying there. The sign said it was 97 F, but to us it felt cool. It was market day there too and things weren't going right, so we drove all the way to Agadir, a big resort town on the Atlantic that also has a major port and fishery. It did not seem at all like the rest of Morocco, but it was nice and cool.
Yesterday we left Agadir, after trying to get to the beach and failing, and drove a two lane road with lots of very heavily loaded trucks. After a wile we passed a bunch of bottles on the side of the road. William told us it was Argan oil, made from the nut of the Argan tree. Traditionally, goats ate the nut and then their digestive system got rid of the hard outer coating. The nuts were recovered, the kernals pressed, and then you had this oil which is supposed to be very good for you, and is catching on in places like Paris and NYC. And to get the nuts, the goats have to climb the trees. Which is why I saw goats in a tree as we passed. The Argan tree can live in temperatures up to 50 C, which makes it an ideal plant to fight against desertificaiton. Back to the oil, now they have coopertives which are cutting out the role of the goat. Mom was joking and said there should be a campain for "full employment for goats"
After the goats in a tree we were driving along only to get pulled over for doing 82 in a 60km/h zone. The guy pulled out his book to show us the fine was 400dh. However, we didn't have that much money. He was kind of shocked, and we didn't understand him and he kept getting louder. He decided he couldn't take all the money of some stupid tourists, and let us go with only a 200dh fine and no written ticket.
We returned to Marrakesh, and then had to drive in the old city to get to the parking near where we were staying. William returned the car, and tomorrow we head out for Essouira, a small town walled town on the coast.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Photos from Marrakesh - Part I
Jardin Majorielle
Food stands in Jemma Fna at night
Orange juice stands in Jeema Fna at night
Friday, July 06, 2007
Drumming in Dades Gorge
Dades Gorge, Morocco
Yesterday morning, after spending the night in the hotel where David Lean stayed during the filming of Lawrence of Arabia, we crossed the dried up river bed into the old village - a UNESCO world heritage site.
A lot of the village had been rebuilt for the filming of the movie, but as we discovered walking around, what was rebuilt was what could be seen from afar. Everything else was still a little bit falling apart. All the buildings are made of rammed earth - similar to adobe, and when it rains the walls have an unfortunate tendency to melt. We got to see the inside of one of the towers of the kasbah (fort) and then walked all the way up to the top of the hill. From the top we could see the arena they had created for the filming of gladiator.
After recovering from our very hot walk, we drove east, into the valley of the roses, then the valley of the kasbahs, and finally into the dades gorge. The gorge is spectacular. The sides are made of red rock, which has been carved into strange brain like formations in some places. The floor of the valley is green - there are lots of fig and olive trees, as well as fields of potatos, wheat, mint, and other plants I couldn't indentify. The fields are small, but they make use of every inch of land, and it's all very intensivly cultivated.
After finding a place to stay, mom, Ian and I were walking along the road and we saw a threshing machine that was getting hooked up to a tractor. Since it was taking a while we walked on and then when we walked back by it they were feeding wheat into the machine.
As we stood there watching one of the women working motioned for us to help them carry the wheat to the machine. When we actually started to help, they looked very surprised and pleased. I guess it was a kind of dare or joke, they didn't think we could actually help. After a few trips to the machine the woman told mom to stop, I guess we were overloading the system.
At dinner that night (we were the only ones staying in the hotel) we asked the guy who broght us dinner, who is a trek leader most of the time about the thressing machine. He told us how easy it made the process. Now they could separate an entire family's grain from the wheat in two or three hours instead of the day or two it used to take them with a mule walking in circles over and over and then throwing the hay into the air.
At dinner William asked about drumming, because when he had stayed at the place 10 years ago, guys had been playing drums after supper. So the trek leader guy found a couple of guys working in the hotel to play the drums. Then they got mom and Ian, and later me to give it a try. The drums they gave me were heavy and kept slipping, but it was really fun. At one point the hotel manager came out and played for a while.
My camera and the computer are now over their argument and are talking again, so hopefully there will be some photos soon
Yesterday morning, after spending the night in the hotel where David Lean stayed during the filming of Lawrence of Arabia, we crossed the dried up river bed into the old village - a UNESCO world heritage site.
A lot of the village had been rebuilt for the filming of the movie, but as we discovered walking around, what was rebuilt was what could be seen from afar. Everything else was still a little bit falling apart. All the buildings are made of rammed earth - similar to adobe, and when it rains the walls have an unfortunate tendency to melt. We got to see the inside of one of the towers of the kasbah (fort) and then walked all the way up to the top of the hill. From the top we could see the arena they had created for the filming of gladiator.
After recovering from our very hot walk, we drove east, into the valley of the roses, then the valley of the kasbahs, and finally into the dades gorge. The gorge is spectacular. The sides are made of red rock, which has been carved into strange brain like formations in some places. The floor of the valley is green - there are lots of fig and olive trees, as well as fields of potatos, wheat, mint, and other plants I couldn't indentify. The fields are small, but they make use of every inch of land, and it's all very intensivly cultivated.
After finding a place to stay, mom, Ian and I were walking along the road and we saw a threshing machine that was getting hooked up to a tractor. Since it was taking a while we walked on and then when we walked back by it they were feeding wheat into the machine.
As we stood there watching one of the women working motioned for us to help them carry the wheat to the machine. When we actually started to help, they looked very surprised and pleased. I guess it was a kind of dare or joke, they didn't think we could actually help. After a few trips to the machine the woman told mom to stop, I guess we were overloading the system.
At dinner that night (we were the only ones staying in the hotel) we asked the guy who broght us dinner, who is a trek leader most of the time about the thressing machine. He told us how easy it made the process. Now they could separate an entire family's grain from the wheat in two or three hours instead of the day or two it used to take them with a mule walking in circles over and over and then throwing the hay into the air.
At dinner William asked about drumming, because when he had stayed at the place 10 years ago, guys had been playing drums after supper. So the trek leader guy found a couple of guys working in the hotel to play the drums. Then they got mom and Ian, and later me to give it a try. The drums they gave me were heavy and kept slipping, but it was really fun. At one point the hotel manager came out and played for a while.
My camera and the computer are now over their argument and are talking again, so hopefully there will be some photos soon
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Old tiled buildings
The past two days have been days of old buildings. Yesterday we went to a palace that took 20 years to build by the Saadians, and then 12 years to strip by the next ruling group. Now the tops of the walls are filled with nesting storks. The word for stork in arabic (or at least moroccan arabic) is el clack (not spelled like that) because of the noise that they make. Their nests are huge. The palace is also home to a mimbar of the oldest most famous mosque in the city. The mimbar is made of wood with elaborate carving, and was done in the 1100s in andalusia, and then shipped in parts. It's been restored and was taken out of the mosque in the 1960s.
We also went to the jewish quarter, saw the old cemetary and a fake cynagogue and were scammed. It reminded me of my worst experiences in egypt. Yucky
Today we visited the Marrakesh museam, the Ben Youssef medresa, and this domed building that was an abolution fountan and was surrounded by an elaborite hydralic system, although since the description was in french, and kind of technical, mom wasn't quite sure how the system worked. The museam is in an old restored house of someone who must have been very wealthy. It's build around a spectacular tiled courtyard, which has been covered for preservation purposes. The museam does have exhibits, but what's most interesting is the building. I can't really describe it, you need photos.
A medresa is a theological school. Contrary to reports in the american news, when Barak Obama visited a medresa, he was visiting a school, not a terrorist place. This one also has an amazing tiled courtyard, topped by carved plaster and then carved wood. Around the courtyard are rooms for the students. All the rooms are off of mini, two story, court yards. They're about the size of a small dorm room. It was really neat to be able to walk into all the rooms, and get an idea of what the school could have been like.
On our way to the famous buildings we passed a guy who was doing the carving in plaster, He had a square of it, and he was chipping out the design with what looked like a screw driver. He said it took him 5 hours for a square that must have been 6 inches on a side. I can't even imagine how much work went into the tiled mosaics, and carved plaster and wood in these buildlings. And it's not just in the fancy buildings. Many doors we've past while exploring have also been carved.
Tomorrow we rent a car (hopefully with air conditioning) and head off east to the village where lawrence of arabia was filmed
We also went to the jewish quarter, saw the old cemetary and a fake cynagogue and were scammed. It reminded me of my worst experiences in egypt. Yucky
Today we visited the Marrakesh museam, the Ben Youssef medresa, and this domed building that was an abolution fountan and was surrounded by an elaborite hydralic system, although since the description was in french, and kind of technical, mom wasn't quite sure how the system worked. The museam is in an old restored house of someone who must have been very wealthy. It's build around a spectacular tiled courtyard, which has been covered for preservation purposes. The museam does have exhibits, but what's most interesting is the building. I can't really describe it, you need photos.
A medresa is a theological school. Contrary to reports in the american news, when Barak Obama visited a medresa, he was visiting a school, not a terrorist place. This one also has an amazing tiled courtyard, topped by carved plaster and then carved wood. Around the courtyard are rooms for the students. All the rooms are off of mini, two story, court yards. They're about the size of a small dorm room. It was really neat to be able to walk into all the rooms, and get an idea of what the school could have been like.
On our way to the famous buildings we passed a guy who was doing the carving in plaster, He had a square of it, and he was chipping out the design with what looked like a screw driver. He said it took him 5 hours for a square that must have been 6 inches on a side. I can't even imagine how much work went into the tiled mosaics, and carved plaster and wood in these buildlings. And it's not just in the fancy buildings. Many doors we've past while exploring have also been carved.
Tomorrow we rent a car (hopefully with air conditioning) and head off east to the village where lawrence of arabia was filmed
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Orange juice in the square of all squares
Marrakesh, Morocco
First I would like to say that the orange juice here is fresh squeezed amazingness, especially when you can get it for 30 cents a glass. On the down side, orange juice will never be the same again.
We got to Marrakesh by train and to the edge of the old city (medina) by taxi. The petit taxis here are tiny - you can only fit three people in each if you try, so we always have to take two. There are no cars allowed in the medina, only bikes, motor bikes, and donkey carts. But let me tell you, that creates quite enough excitement on the streets, and when you're being passed by a motor bike and a donkey cart on a narrow street, it gets a bit tight. Motor bikes also seem to come flying out of passages all along the side of the more main streets.
We're staying in a riad, or restored court yard house in the medina that's quiet, provides breakfast, and is air conditioned!! It's very hot here - yesterday it was 100 F. As William says though, at least it's dry heat.
The main attraction of Marrakesh is the main square of the medina (spelling is escaping me right now). It's an open area that's kind of shaped like an L. Durring the day there are lots of people, donkey carts, motor bikes, carts, etc crossing it. Set up in the square are lots of carts selling fresh squeezed orange juice (amazing, see above). You have to make sure they squeeze it fresh for you instead of pouring it out of a bottle though. There are also dried fruit carts, guys selling herbs with horns and other magical things set up on their tarps, snake charmers that play a loud and obnoxious double reeded instrument, and more things that escape my mind for the moment.
The day is fantastic, but it's night that's really amazing. Out of nowhere come these food carts with their associated metal picnic tables, and they take over the part of the square that is the official square part. There are guys selling fish (a long way from the ocean) lamb, sausages, and salads. Other booths sell snail soup, another harira, and some sheeps head. Mom noticed that the signs for sheeps head area all in arabic - no tourists at those booths. The orange juice booths are still on the other part of the square. The snake charmers had left, to be replaced with (judging from last night) story tellers, ladies doing henna, drummers, guys in drag dancing, fortune tellers, a guy dressed in a crazy costume, and then the smoke from the food booths drifted over, making it the much more um whatever the proper word is. And it's mostly locals. It's like what you could imagine in the square in europe or the middle east and then square or cube it. Take visions from orientalist dreams and you might be half way there. As my brother was trying to figure out all day yesterday, how do you describe this place to someone who's never been there.
We also went into the souks (markets). I found a new bag, since the zipper on my trusty red one has died. And I tried on athletic shoe knock offs, decided not to get them, and then the guy offered me 2,000 camels for my hand in marrage. 3 days in morocco, and already the first one. Of course, mom said no.
First I would like to say that the orange juice here is fresh squeezed amazingness, especially when you can get it for 30 cents a glass. On the down side, orange juice will never be the same again.
We got to Marrakesh by train and to the edge of the old city (medina) by taxi. The petit taxis here are tiny - you can only fit three people in each if you try, so we always have to take two. There are no cars allowed in the medina, only bikes, motor bikes, and donkey carts. But let me tell you, that creates quite enough excitement on the streets, and when you're being passed by a motor bike and a donkey cart on a narrow street, it gets a bit tight. Motor bikes also seem to come flying out of passages all along the side of the more main streets.
We're staying in a riad, or restored court yard house in the medina that's quiet, provides breakfast, and is air conditioned!! It's very hot here - yesterday it was 100 F. As William says though, at least it's dry heat.
The main attraction of Marrakesh is the main square of the medina (spelling is escaping me right now). It's an open area that's kind of shaped like an L. Durring the day there are lots of people, donkey carts, motor bikes, carts, etc crossing it. Set up in the square are lots of carts selling fresh squeezed orange juice (amazing, see above). You have to make sure they squeeze it fresh for you instead of pouring it out of a bottle though. There are also dried fruit carts, guys selling herbs with horns and other magical things set up on their tarps, snake charmers that play a loud and obnoxious double reeded instrument, and more things that escape my mind for the moment.
The day is fantastic, but it's night that's really amazing. Out of nowhere come these food carts with their associated metal picnic tables, and they take over the part of the square that is the official square part. There are guys selling fish (a long way from the ocean) lamb, sausages, and salads. Other booths sell snail soup, another harira, and some sheeps head. Mom noticed that the signs for sheeps head area all in arabic - no tourists at those booths. The orange juice booths are still on the other part of the square. The snake charmers had left, to be replaced with (judging from last night) story tellers, ladies doing henna, drummers, guys in drag dancing, fortune tellers, a guy dressed in a crazy costume, and then the smoke from the food booths drifted over, making it the much more um whatever the proper word is. And it's mostly locals. It's like what you could imagine in the square in europe or the middle east and then square or cube it. Take visions from orientalist dreams and you might be half way there. As my brother was trying to figure out all day yesterday, how do you describe this place to someone who's never been there.
We also went into the souks (markets). I found a new bag, since the zipper on my trusty red one has died. And I tried on athletic shoe knock offs, decided not to get them, and then the guy offered me 2,000 camels for my hand in marrage. 3 days in morocco, and already the first one. Of course, mom said no.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Fish, lamb, chicken turtles?
Casablanca, Morocco
My family (Mom, William and Ian) and I arrived here yesterday after taking a direct flight from JFK. As we were checking in for the flight we were amazed at how much baggage we were checking, and were rather amazed when all of ours managed to get here. Then we were picked up from a guy from the hotel at the airport, and somehow all four of us and our large 6 bags managed to fit in his mid-sized car (with the help of a broken bungee chord). On the roads, Morocco is no different than Egypt and slightly worse than Turkey. There was no point in painting lines on the road. And pedestrians beware! - the car or motorscoter always has the right of way.
We're staying in a hotel in the newer French section of town. When they became a colonial power in Morocco, they decided they didn't like the small windy streets of the medina, so they built the ville nouvelle. We've done a lot of walking around, and it has some very impressive art deco buildings. They also built a huge art deco cathedral. Now it's used for plays, concerts, and currently a modern art exhibition. As usual, Ian and I, after being told we could, climbed the staircase to the roof of the church. The stairway was full of 50 or so years of pigeon guano, and there were some pigeons roosting at the top. The view was great - we could see all the way to the ocean. When we got down, the caretaker laughed at us, and poured the contents of his water bottle over our hands to rinse off some of the guano. We also saw a strike by the postal workers that was in progress. The old post office has a very impressive tiled front.
We found our way into the market - fish, turtles, lamb, whole chickens complete with feet, lots of amazing fruits and vegetables, and fish restaurants. Nothing is better than fish that is freshly caught about a mile away, freshly cooked, and eaten with one's fingers.
While drinking coffee, we realized that if we were going to see the big mosque in Casablanca, we had to do it right then, because the last tour was starting in 20 minutes, and the mosque would be closed tomorrow for Friday prayer. The mosque is the third largest in the world, built in the late 80s, and I think it would have been better if the king had used the money to feed his people, but the building is impressive. It can fit 25,000 inside and 80,000 outside. It reminds me of the vatican in that way - room in the courtyard for thousands that can't get into the main building. We walked back through the old city, past lots of shops, and the garbage dump. Crossing the major street back into the Ville Nouvelle, the difference was clear.
My family (Mom, William and Ian) and I arrived here yesterday after taking a direct flight from JFK. As we were checking in for the flight we were amazed at how much baggage we were checking, and were rather amazed when all of ours managed to get here. Then we were picked up from a guy from the hotel at the airport, and somehow all four of us and our large 6 bags managed to fit in his mid-sized car (with the help of a broken bungee chord). On the roads, Morocco is no different than Egypt and slightly worse than Turkey. There was no point in painting lines on the road. And pedestrians beware! - the car or motorscoter always has the right of way.
We're staying in a hotel in the newer French section of town. When they became a colonial power in Morocco, they decided they didn't like the small windy streets of the medina, so they built the ville nouvelle. We've done a lot of walking around, and it has some very impressive art deco buildings. They also built a huge art deco cathedral. Now it's used for plays, concerts, and currently a modern art exhibition. As usual, Ian and I, after being told we could, climbed the staircase to the roof of the church. The stairway was full of 50 or so years of pigeon guano, and there were some pigeons roosting at the top. The view was great - we could see all the way to the ocean. When we got down, the caretaker laughed at us, and poured the contents of his water bottle over our hands to rinse off some of the guano. We also saw a strike by the postal workers that was in progress. The old post office has a very impressive tiled front.
We found our way into the market - fish, turtles, lamb, whole chickens complete with feet, lots of amazing fruits and vegetables, and fish restaurants. Nothing is better than fish that is freshly caught about a mile away, freshly cooked, and eaten with one's fingers.
While drinking coffee, we realized that if we were going to see the big mosque in Casablanca, we had to do it right then, because the last tour was starting in 20 minutes, and the mosque would be closed tomorrow for Friday prayer. The mosque is the third largest in the world, built in the late 80s, and I think it would have been better if the king had used the money to feed his people, but the building is impressive. It can fit 25,000 inside and 80,000 outside. It reminds me of the vatican in that way - room in the courtyard for thousands that can't get into the main building. We walked back through the old city, past lots of shops, and the garbage dump. Crossing the major street back into the Ville Nouvelle, the difference was clear.
Friday, April 27, 2007
The Adventure Continues...
I have a plan of sorts. I am going to Morocco the third week in June (ish). If I am accepted to the JET program (I'm an alternate now to go teach English in Japan) I will return in time to leave. If not, I will stay abroad and find a job and such. So, after I leave the country, as is now my custom, I will once again begin posting. Oh goodness
Monday, July 31, 2006
Istanbul, Turkey
I've been really bad about this blogging thing. I swam across the bosforus!! We went on a boat trip this past saturday, and climbed up the castle on the asian side and then had an amazing lunch and then got to swim across while doging the tankers. It was about 30 minutes in choppy water, and at the end it was all I could do to climb up the ladder into the boat. But it was a really amazing experience
Class is going well. I know the past and present tenses, the forms for can you do something, and let us do something as well as all of the cases (of which the accusative is the most annoying). I had an hour long conversation with my friend Cat and a ceramics seller on Friday, which was super exciting. And watching movies I find myself understinding a lot more.
Last night we went to a concert to hear this pop star named Yalin (although there's not a dot on that i). It was held in an outside ampitheater and it was a bunch of fun. And it was exciting because we had been listening to his CD, so we knew some of the songs that he played. And he also played an obnoxious maroon 5 song, but it was crazy how like them he sounded. and for the first half he had a purple velvet couch that he sat on.
I've started my shoppping. If you have any requests of things that you'd like from Turkey you should send them my way and I'll see what I can do. Back to my odev (homework). I really want to get to the future tense!
Abreviated turkish version typed on an american keyboard
Gecen hafta sonu bogaz turuya gittim. Bogaz'da Asya'dan Avrupa'ya yuzdum. Kucuk balikle meze yedim. Dun aksam konsere gittim. Konser cok guzel, ve dans ettik. Sarkici adi Yalin. Bu aksam arkadaslarimle ben patlicanle domates pisirdik.
Ders iyi gidiyor. Oretmenlarim cok iyi. Ders kitabi cok ilginc, ve resimlar var. Benim en sevdim sozcuk gezmek.
Turkiye'den ne istiyorsunuz? Simdi odev yapiyorum. Cok odev var.
I've been really bad about this blogging thing. I swam across the bosforus!! We went on a boat trip this past saturday, and climbed up the castle on the asian side and then had an amazing lunch and then got to swim across while doging the tankers. It was about 30 minutes in choppy water, and at the end it was all I could do to climb up the ladder into the boat. But it was a really amazing experience
Class is going well. I know the past and present tenses, the forms for can you do something, and let us do something as well as all of the cases (of which the accusative is the most annoying). I had an hour long conversation with my friend Cat and a ceramics seller on Friday, which was super exciting. And watching movies I find myself understinding a lot more.
Last night we went to a concert to hear this pop star named Yalin (although there's not a dot on that i). It was held in an outside ampitheater and it was a bunch of fun. And it was exciting because we had been listening to his CD, so we knew some of the songs that he played. And he also played an obnoxious maroon 5 song, but it was crazy how like them he sounded. and for the first half he had a purple velvet couch that he sat on.
I've started my shoppping. If you have any requests of things that you'd like from Turkey you should send them my way and I'll see what I can do. Back to my odev (homework). I really want to get to the future tense!
Abreviated turkish version typed on an american keyboard
Gecen hafta sonu bogaz turuya gittim. Bogaz'da Asya'dan Avrupa'ya yuzdum. Kucuk balikle meze yedim. Dun aksam konsere gittim. Konser cok guzel, ve dans ettik. Sarkici adi Yalin. Bu aksam arkadaslarimle ben patlicanle domates pisirdik.
Ders iyi gidiyor. Oretmenlarim cok iyi. Ders kitabi cok ilginc, ve resimlar var. Benim en sevdim sozcuk gezmek.
Turkiye'den ne istiyorsunuz? Simdi odev yapiyorum. Cok odev var.
Monday, July 10, 2006
And the Winner is....
ITALY! May the team with the best ice cream win. I went with Jason, and he's fluent in Italian, so we were rooting for Italy. And the game was very exciting. I may end up a football fan yet.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
whoops
Istanbul, Turkey
So I guess I said I would write and it's been kind of a long time. But I haven't been slacking! There's been lots of Turkish. We've done compound nouns, temporary and permanant posession, location, there is/there is not sentences, and there have been lots and lots of words. Some of them I find more exciting than their english counterparts, so I use them alot. My favorite word right now is salatalik, which is for cucumber.
Other things besides class...yesterday we went on a field trip to the asian side to this place where they make really good yogurt. And it was good. (Yogurt is a turkish word by the way). I had some balli yogurt (yogurt with honey). The day before that a bunch of us went with our TAs to get baklava. And that was also yummy.
I went to Bursa with the sufis last weekend. We went to all the important sufi sites and then they sang songs and prayed in them. It was very interesting, although I felt a little bit out of place. Bursa was very nice but very hot (cok sicak). The ulu camii was especially interesting because the middle dome is glass and it has a big fountain in the middle. I also got to see Ali Kahn (the son of Aylin and Kubi) which was very exciting. He's just as cute as ever, and when I said a few words of turkish to him he got really excited and started talking to me for the first time ever.
Mom and William were back in Istanbul for a few days and I got to see them which was very exciting. One day we went over to a professor's appartment and had tea. The professor was someone they met at the conference. His wife had chicken pox, which was sad. But they were very nice. We had an excellent dinner at a fish resturant under the galata bridge. They had eaten there before and all the people remembered them. And I asked for napkins (pecete) and got them which was very empowering. I've used the word a lot since. And the next night we ate at Devali, which looks over the sea of marmara and has amazing food. And then mom gave me her debit card, which means I've been able to get money. Which is always a good thing.
I think it's been a long time. I went to a Turkish punk rock concert - the band's name was Athena. And the next night we went on a party on a boat. I'm having difficulty remembering other things that we've done, but there have been a lot. And there are always new turkish words...weather words, food words, clothing words, family words, words, words words. Excitement
So I guess I said I would write and it's been kind of a long time. But I haven't been slacking! There's been lots of Turkish. We've done compound nouns, temporary and permanant posession, location, there is/there is not sentences, and there have been lots and lots of words. Some of them I find more exciting than their english counterparts, so I use them alot. My favorite word right now is salatalik, which is for cucumber.
Other things besides class...yesterday we went on a field trip to the asian side to this place where they make really good yogurt. And it was good. (Yogurt is a turkish word by the way). I had some balli yogurt (yogurt with honey). The day before that a bunch of us went with our TAs to get baklava. And that was also yummy.
I went to Bursa with the sufis last weekend. We went to all the important sufi sites and then they sang songs and prayed in them. It was very interesting, although I felt a little bit out of place. Bursa was very nice but very hot (cok sicak). The ulu camii was especially interesting because the middle dome is glass and it has a big fountain in the middle. I also got to see Ali Kahn (the son of Aylin and Kubi) which was very exciting. He's just as cute as ever, and when I said a few words of turkish to him he got really excited and started talking to me for the first time ever.
Mom and William were back in Istanbul for a few days and I got to see them which was very exciting. One day we went over to a professor's appartment and had tea. The professor was someone they met at the conference. His wife had chicken pox, which was sad. But they were very nice. We had an excellent dinner at a fish resturant under the galata bridge. They had eaten there before and all the people remembered them. And I asked for napkins (pecete) and got them which was very empowering. I've used the word a lot since. And the next night we ate at Devali, which looks over the sea of marmara and has amazing food. And then mom gave me her debit card, which means I've been able to get money. Which is always a good thing.
I think it's been a long time. I went to a Turkish punk rock concert - the band's name was Athena. And the next night we went on a party on a boat. I'm having difficulty remembering other things that we've done, but there have been a lot. And there are always new turkish words...weather words, food words, clothing words, family words, words, words words. Excitement
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Day Two
Istanbul, Turkey
The second day of classes has come and gone. We're moving fast, and the four hours of class I have in the morning pass quickly. My teacher is really nice. On the one hand there are so many words it's hard to get all of them, and on the other hand I almost want to have class over the weekend because I want to talk to people now. I'm hoping that in a week I'll be able to actually make sentences and maybe have a semi-conversation. Today we did telling time, and numbers, including three digit numbers, as well as more of what we did yesterday, and we started with how much.
After class I went walking with Meghan, one of my roommates, so that she could get a plane ticket to fly to the east. And then a bunch of people were hanging out in our common room when we got back, so we joined them. And there was tea, cake and jam and cherries. The dorm here is set up with suites. Each suite has a number of bedrooms which are just big enough for a bed and a desk. And then there's a kitchen, bathroom, and a room with a table, chairs and two couches. It's definitely the nicest dorm I've stayed in.
Tonight we walked down the (very steep) hill to Bebek and found a cute place to eat. It was very yummy. And they gave us magnets. We walked by the water for a while. And then came the downside - going down a steep hill means going up that very same steep hill. We got up to our dorm in 15 minutes and I think I must have been bright red by the time we got here. Time to do my homework and learn these words
The second day of classes has come and gone. We're moving fast, and the four hours of class I have in the morning pass quickly. My teacher is really nice. On the one hand there are so many words it's hard to get all of them, and on the other hand I almost want to have class over the weekend because I want to talk to people now. I'm hoping that in a week I'll be able to actually make sentences and maybe have a semi-conversation. Today we did telling time, and numbers, including three digit numbers, as well as more of what we did yesterday, and we started with how much.
After class I went walking with Meghan, one of my roommates, so that she could get a plane ticket to fly to the east. And then a bunch of people were hanging out in our common room when we got back, so we joined them. And there was tea, cake and jam and cherries. The dorm here is set up with suites. Each suite has a number of bedrooms which are just big enough for a bed and a desk. And then there's a kitchen, bathroom, and a room with a table, chairs and two couches. It's definitely the nicest dorm I've stayed in.
Tonight we walked down the (very steep) hill to Bebek and found a cute place to eat. It was very yummy. And they gave us magnets. We walked by the water for a while. And then came the downside - going down a steep hill means going up that very same steep hill. We got up to our dorm in 15 minutes and I think I must have been bright red by the time we got here. Time to do my homework and learn these words
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Classes Begin
Istanbul, Turkey
So I'm in Turkey. The DC orientation was not that helpful but I got to meet all the program and stay in a fancy hotel. There was a lot of walking around DC and we went to the state department to hear one of the assistant secrataries talk.
For the first few nights we stayed in a hotel in Ortakoy. It was also a fancy hotel. But I was in the only room without two beds, and so I had to share a bed. The first day here we did a tour in the morning and went down into the cistern. Lots of the other museams were closed though because it was a Monday. We went to the kapili carsi and had some food. And then went up to ARIT to have more orientation and get maps and Akbil. That night four of us went up to Taksim to explore and walk around.
Unfortunatly, on the bus ride back from Taksim my wallet was stolen. Grrr. So I had to cancel my debit card and credit card. Fortunatly, all the people in my group are really nice and have offered to lend me money until I can get a new card.
Class started today. There was an introductory lecture (the fourth orientation so far) and then the beginers (like me) left and everyone else took the placement test. Our teacher didn't use much english. The books we got are exciting though. They're in color and have a story. These foriegers are supposed to find a copy of a hittite tablet that's somewhere in Istanbul. They get clues that are in Turkish, so they have to learn Turkish. There are also Turkish people and some bad guys. Most of today we did very basic stuff - hello, nice to meet you, how are you, etc. We seem to be moving pretty fast. We're supposed to get through volumes 1 and 2 of this book in the next 7 weeks. Time to go do my first homework assignment
So I'm in Turkey. The DC orientation was not that helpful but I got to meet all the program and stay in a fancy hotel. There was a lot of walking around DC and we went to the state department to hear one of the assistant secrataries talk.
For the first few nights we stayed in a hotel in Ortakoy. It was also a fancy hotel. But I was in the only room without two beds, and so I had to share a bed. The first day here we did a tour in the morning and went down into the cistern. Lots of the other museams were closed though because it was a Monday. We went to the kapili carsi and had some food. And then went up to ARIT to have more orientation and get maps and Akbil. That night four of us went up to Taksim to explore and walk around.
Unfortunatly, on the bus ride back from Taksim my wallet was stolen. Grrr. So I had to cancel my debit card and credit card. Fortunatly, all the people in my group are really nice and have offered to lend me money until I can get a new card.
Class started today. There was an introductory lecture (the fourth orientation so far) and then the beginers (like me) left and everyone else took the placement test. Our teacher didn't use much english. The books we got are exciting though. They're in color and have a story. These foriegers are supposed to find a copy of a hittite tablet that's somewhere in Istanbul. They get clues that are in Turkish, so they have to learn Turkish. There are also Turkish people and some bad guys. Most of today we did very basic stuff - hello, nice to meet you, how are you, etc. We seem to be moving pretty fast. We're supposed to get through volumes 1 and 2 of this book in the next 7 weeks. Time to go do my first homework assignment
Thursday, June 15, 2006
A New Adventure!
I've just finished packing one of my two bags, so that tomorrow I can leave on another adventure. This one is much more planned than the other ones. But I have no idea what to expect. If I haven't told you, I'm going to Istanbul to learn Turkish. It's with the Critical Language Program which means it's your tax dollars at work. I'll be at Bogazici University for almost two months, and during that time I'm supposed to learn a years worth of Turkish.
First though, there's an orientation in DC. The dress code is business casual, because part of the orientation is meeting an assistant secretary of state. And we get to stay in a fancy hotel. I'm really nervous...it's like the first day of school.
I guess I should finish packing. I'll write more when I actually get to Turkey.
First though, there's an orientation in DC. The dress code is business casual, because part of the orientation is meeting an assistant secretary of state. And we get to stay in a fancy hotel. I'm really nervous...it's like the first day of school.
I guess I should finish packing. I'll write more when I actually get to Turkey.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
If it were a year ago I would be on a plane right now, flying over the atlantic ocean for an adventure that would last six months and include 26 countries. As it is this year I am at home, in school, and not going further than Wisconson for the rest of the semester. It's been a very weird week, mostly because I did a play in the same space during the same weekends both years, but this year I wasn't getting ready to go after strike. And while my feet are getting itchy and part of me would like to drop out of school and go somewhere, the other part of me is also really happy where I am now. And I know that I am really lucky to have traveled as much as I have been able to.
For me today seems much more to define the end of a year than new years eve did. While last year seems so recent, it also seems so far away because I think I've changed a lot in the past year. I'm happier now than I was last year, I feel like I appreciate where I have more, and I have a better idea of what I might like to do with my life. Spending that much time alone, I learned how to be happy within my self, instead of always relying being around others to make me happy. I discovered (or maybe rediscovered) my love of maps, and learned the best way to know a city is to walk around it for days. And maybe most importantly I have more faith that things will work out; that it's okay for plans to change, or to not have any plans.
While I went alone, I didn't travel without the help of others. So I feel like I need to thank all the people who I haven't specifically thanked. Thanks to my mom who was always supportive, and whose worrying I feel must have kept me safe. To William, who was always supportive, gave good advice when I was tired and hungry, and kept mom from worrying too much. To Ian who let me kidnap him and didn't complain when I had to visit doctors. To dad for calling me. To Margaret and Peter, Richard, Anna, Rashmi and Subir, Sahar and her parents, Gamze, Hasan and Umran, Ulgen, Ceren, Aylin, Kubi and Ali Kahn, Erol and Reidar for taking me into their houses and making me part of their families. To Canguzel, who provided the connections to my sufi family. To Efdal for showing me around and having rooftop adventures. To my sufi family for making me feel the I belonged. To Richard who helped me when the atms hated me. To the french students in Bulgaria that let me stay in their dorm room. To all the strangers that gave me directions when I was lost. To Anne for eating lots of ice cream and wanting to see everything with me. To Emily for meeting me on a dark corner and drinking in the square with me. To Henry and Megan who happened to be abroad and run into me. To everyone that operates an ice cream store, an internet cafe, a bookstore with a bathroom, or a public transportation company. To everyone in eastern europe, turkey and egypt (with the exceptions of a few sketchy guys in egypt) that I met.
"Not all those who wander are lost" Some of us like the road, and any new destination is exciting.
For me today seems much more to define the end of a year than new years eve did. While last year seems so recent, it also seems so far away because I think I've changed a lot in the past year. I'm happier now than I was last year, I feel like I appreciate where I have more, and I have a better idea of what I might like to do with my life. Spending that much time alone, I learned how to be happy within my self, instead of always relying being around others to make me happy. I discovered (or maybe rediscovered) my love of maps, and learned the best way to know a city is to walk around it for days. And maybe most importantly I have more faith that things will work out; that it's okay for plans to change, or to not have any plans.
While I went alone, I didn't travel without the help of others. So I feel like I need to thank all the people who I haven't specifically thanked. Thanks to my mom who was always supportive, and whose worrying I feel must have kept me safe. To William, who was always supportive, gave good advice when I was tired and hungry, and kept mom from worrying too much. To Ian who let me kidnap him and didn't complain when I had to visit doctors. To dad for calling me. To Margaret and Peter, Richard, Anna, Rashmi and Subir, Sahar and her parents, Gamze, Hasan and Umran, Ulgen, Ceren, Aylin, Kubi and Ali Kahn, Erol and Reidar for taking me into their houses and making me part of their families. To Canguzel, who provided the connections to my sufi family. To Efdal for showing me around and having rooftop adventures. To my sufi family for making me feel the I belonged. To Richard who helped me when the atms hated me. To the french students in Bulgaria that let me stay in their dorm room. To all the strangers that gave me directions when I was lost. To Anne for eating lots of ice cream and wanting to see everything with me. To Emily for meeting me on a dark corner and drinking in the square with me. To Henry and Megan who happened to be abroad and run into me. To everyone that operates an ice cream store, an internet cafe, a bookstore with a bathroom, or a public transportation company. To everyone in eastern europe, turkey and egypt (with the exceptions of a few sketchy guys in egypt) that I met.
"Not all those who wander are lost" Some of us like the road, and any new destination is exciting.
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