It took a while to get used to the Ramadan schedule, but I think I've got it now.
Before Ramadan: I would get home later, and then we would eat dinner at home anytime between 10pm-12am. Then we would sleep, and in the morning my host mom would make me a glorious breakfast.
During Ramadan:
Because the majority of the students at the school are not fasting, they serve complimentary breakfast to us and we eat lunch there too. On weekends, if you're not fasting, good luck! In Rabat, there is ONE cafe open during the day. My friends and I went there on the first day of Ramadan to scope it out.... the windows are tinted so you can't see who is inside. It's kinda sketchy.
Anyway, I try to eat lightly during the day because every night I come home to "iftar" which means breakfast. This is the breaking of the fast each day. We wait for the call to prayer around 7:45, when the sun sets, and then we eat, and we eat, and we eat. Typical iftar consists of soup, eggs, figs, meat, bread, olives, juice, tea, and sesame cookies. But of course there are many, many other things that show up on the table. My personal favorite was a stuffed Moroccan pizza with vegetables. Yum.
I've had quite a few interesting iftar experiences already, including....
-Volunteering for the Moroccan organization "Volontaires Libres...Pour un Monde Meilleur", where we served the iftar meal to Moroccans. This was a lot like a soup kitchen.
-Iftar at the beach. This was a true example of Moroccan hospitality. Our Moroccan friends cooked us 2 tajines over a fire on the rocky beach, and at 7:45 we heard the call to prayer echo from across the river and around the city. It was AMAZING.
So, we just returned from our weekend trip to Casablanca/Marrakech.
On Saturday we drove down, stopping in Casablanca only to see the Hassan II mosque. It was built 20 years ago, and 25,000 can go to pray inside at once.
After a few hours, we boarded our bus again to travel to Marrakech, arriving in the early afternoon for lunch at the hotel. As we drove around the city, I noticed that about 75% of the people walking around outside were foreigners. Marrakech is completely different from Rabat. It basically functions during the day because of tourists, and most cafes, restaurants, and shops in the market are open. We visited the garden of olive and argan trees, a spice shop, the tombs, a palace, and the market.
Walking around the souk, most shopkeepers would speak to us immediately in English, because most of the business that they get is from tourists.
Oh- and it was hot. I guess it was unseasonably cool when we went, but usually it's over 100 degrees.
Iftar on the beach
Before Ramadan: I would get home later, and then we would eat dinner at home anytime between 10pm-12am. Then we would sleep, and in the morning my host mom would make me a glorious breakfast.
During Ramadan:
Because the majority of the students at the school are not fasting, they serve complimentary breakfast to us and we eat lunch there too. On weekends, if you're not fasting, good luck! In Rabat, there is ONE cafe open during the day. My friends and I went there on the first day of Ramadan to scope it out.... the windows are tinted so you can't see who is inside. It's kinda sketchy.
Anyway, I try to eat lightly during the day because every night I come home to "iftar" which means breakfast. This is the breaking of the fast each day. We wait for the call to prayer around 7:45, when the sun sets, and then we eat, and we eat, and we eat. Typical iftar consists of soup, eggs, figs, meat, bread, olives, juice, tea, and sesame cookies. But of course there are many, many other things that show up on the table. My personal favorite was a stuffed Moroccan pizza with vegetables. Yum.
I've had quite a few interesting iftar experiences already, including....
-Volunteering for the Moroccan organization "Volontaires Libres...Pour un Monde Meilleur", where we served the iftar meal to Moroccans. This was a lot like a soup kitchen.
-Iftar at the beach. This was a true example of Moroccan hospitality. Our Moroccan friends cooked us 2 tajines over a fire on the rocky beach, and at 7:45 we heard the call to prayer echo from across the river and around the city. It was AMAZING.
So, we just returned from our weekend trip to Casablanca/Marrakech.
On Saturday we drove down, stopping in Casablanca only to see the Hassan II mosque. It was built 20 years ago, and 25,000 can go to pray inside at once.
After a few hours, we boarded our bus again to travel to Marrakech, arriving in the early afternoon for lunch at the hotel. As we drove around the city, I noticed that about 75% of the people walking around outside were foreigners. Marrakech is completely different from Rabat. It basically functions during the day because of tourists, and most cafes, restaurants, and shops in the market are open. We visited the garden of olive and argan trees, a spice shop, the tombs, a palace, and the market.
Walking around the souk, most shopkeepers would speak to us immediately in English, because most of the business that they get is from tourists.
Oh- and it was hot. I guess it was unseasonably cool when we went, but usually it's over 100 degrees.
Iftar on the beach
Hassan II Mosque
Hassan II Mosque