Author: greenbee

Just a few more photos from the first few weeks here.

These are mainly street images of the oldest part of Rabat, called Oudaya, that sits on the highest point in town overlooking the beach, and some of the outer edges of the medina with old style architecture that I love. The photos with blue in the walls are all part of Oudaya. I’ve only taken a couple photos of the interior parts of the medina, mostly the new wood work in the part that is a bit more touristy. They are doing renovations in other parts. Chellah is a Roman ruin that was later inhabited by Moroccan royalty. An Asturian colleague (Asturias is the northernmost province of Spain, just west of the Basque country, where I was lucky enough to spend a couple months with a wonderful family when I was a teen) recommended visiting it, but it is closed for renovations. A young tour guide, Hussein, gave me a tour of the grounds. He knew all the plant and animal names in English, which he’d learned from his father, who was (and maybe still is) also a tour guide. The site has tons of storks nesting in eucalyptus trees they have rearranged for their nests.

Oudaya is just to the left, across the street and farther up the hill.

Thought I’d try posting a couple sets of photos since I arrived, then maybe see if I can just post individual photos more often, since batches don’t seem to work from the phone.

I’m not sure if they do washing or just pressing…but they may have chosen the name because the avenue it’s on is Rue Amerique.

Probably more than enough for one day, though I may try to post some of Oudaya, too…wishing all well!!

[Later] Adding a few photos from the Photography Museum exhibit. It’s photos of people dealing with COVID from around the world. There’s a video about it in French (I thought maybe I could all the photos online, but no luck so far) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4mippwTris.

Julien asked if goat was the main meat available, and I promised to try to get photos of a butcher shop. The first butcher I asked, however, did not want a photo. Many people here don’t want their photo taken, but are ok with me taking the stand. The fellow who sells fish saw the butcher ask me not to take his, and was fine with me taking him, though he did pointedly turn his head…

One of the sweet memories I have from Tunisia is swimming in the evening in Bizerte after our language training. One evening, a school of sardines must have been chased ashore and jumped out of the waves, reflecting the sunset all around me. Soooo magical. I had only eaten sardines from a can until I visited a friend, Machi, in Thessalonika, Greece. My mouth still waters just at the thought—wow, were they delicious! I imagine there are a lot of different kinds that look similar, but I think those two containers at front toward the right would be sardines.

The reason the butcher shots are not great is that I didn’t ask…

Since I haven’t had much luck posting photos from phone, I downloaded, then exported, and reduced the file sizes. If anyone notices a dramatic loss in quality, I can stick with the originals in future…just let me know, please. Some will not be as good, anyway, due to zoom on the phone…

I’ve been wanting to post photos of murals around town. And I’ve also been struggling a bit with Arabic and refound the wonderful Peace Corps Moroccan language course, so thought I’d share the link (mainly for old Tunisia Peace Corps buddies who might visit but others might want to learn if they venture here)–some of the basics are really different https://www.livelingua.com/peace-corps/Arabic-Moroccan/MO_Arabic_Language_Lessons.pdf. While I’m mentioning language, you might notice another script on the National Library sign. That’s a Berber (Amazigh or Tamazight languages) script from a written tradition that’s about 2500 years old. You can learn more c/o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berber_languages.

This is my third draft–still struggling with internet connections, I guess. I will figure things out eventually…

I don’t have any sense of how recent the murals are, if any relate to this year with COVID. Morocco had a higher safety rating than the US or Europe largely because restrictions were so drastic. Lots of closed shops around town, unsheltered folks, moms and and children or older women sitting in wealthier neighborhoods begging. I may capture the murals of women more than others, but does seem like they are prevalent. I’ll probably add others I run across to this blog.

There are many heartbreaking images, too, but nothing goes to waste around town. Leftover bread is placed on tarps for the many unsheltered folks, and all other leftovers seem to be saved for the cats and dogs.

If you use Kanopy, the free film library, you can find a film about cats in Turkey that’ll give you a good sense of the relationships here.

Adding a couple shots of the main cat caretaker since I happened to be there when what looked like a tv crew came to film him and the cats. He knows them all and tries to keep certain ones happy (away from the others if they are bullies or shy).

My friend Susan, who traveled the globe buying textiles for a fair trade company, loves swimming outdoors, and asked me if I’d been in the ocean yet. As soon as I wrote something about being hesitant due to it being all men fishermen and swimmers, I realized that in the US it’s almost all men fisherman, too, and I was just being silly. That being said, you’ll probably be able to see in a couple of photos how powerful the water is, and it may take me a little while to drum up the nerve to jump in the ocean here, but I’ll definitely be out exploring life along the coastal edges a lot more from now on! And I’m looking forward to swimming at a beach where I’ll worry less about being swept out to sea or being the weird old lady intruding on young men’s fun…

I live in a part of town called L’Ocean and there is an outdoor market just a couple blocks away, where the street is semi-closed to traffic.

People here, unlike Tunisia, really seem to purposely not stare or say hello randomly. One vendor, however, always smiles and waves and was kind enough to let me take her photo.

The first time I stopped by her stand, I held up one carrot and asked “How much?” She said 4 dirhams. After I’d filled up a basket with carrots, turnips, and beautiful sweet red peppers, she said, “4 dirhams,” but she also made a bit of a funny face and said something to her husband. I worried I’d misunderstood something and she hadn’t charged me enough (you know me, a worrywort). Later, of course, I realized that the price was 4 dirhams per kilo and I probably had about that much (~2 lbs). Her funny face and comment were probably from the look of surprise on my face. 4 Moroccan dirhams is about 45 US cents.

Some things here are about the same or even more expensive than the US. Rent is about the same as in Greensboro, for example, but vegetables when in season, are very little. Tea, if I go to a fancy cafe is about 10 or 12 dirhams (~$1.25) but from a tiny shop with just one or two chairs, only 2 dirhams ($0.23).

The beautiful tramway with free wi-fi is 6 dirhams ($0.70) per ride.

I finally made it to Morocco on May 24th, after Covid related delays (new strains in Europe prevented me traveling thru France, the original itinerary, then Ramadan brought new restrictions within Morocco).

Rabat is beautiful and folks are super laid-back and friendly.

I’m hoping to post photos here, but despite having started a blog several years ago for Dunleath Community Garden, I am struggling with posting so far. Maybe it’s the theme or connection, but my drafts keep disappearing or I can’t upload a photo…

In any case, you will probably be scratching your heads about the kinds of things I find interesting. I love the people, pollinators, and plants, of course, but I also love the small trucks and if I had capital would want to bring them to the US! I love how there’s artwork in everything—window grates and garage doors, sidewalks and walls. I love how every evening, family and friends walk along the coastal sidewalk or sit in the grassy areas spending time outside.

Anyway, rather than babbling on, I will try to grab some photos and make some photo posts. Fingers crossed!!