Photos from the Beach, Oudaya Neighborhood, and the Traditional Medina

Here are some photos from my most recent adventures around town in Rabat. It is truly beautiful and I am so glad to finally put pictures up to share with everyone. The beach is about a 20 minute walk from my house, and I pass through the Oudaya neighborhood on the way. The traditional medina, or market, is usually bustling with people and vendors, but at night is is quiet and I always feel less rushed. Enjoy!

Moroccan-style Mock Wedding Ceremony

AMIDEAST-Rabat is hosting around 27 students from various American universities for their spring semester abroad program, and I was invited to the “mock wedding” a few weeks ago. The program organizes cultural events for the students so that they are able to sample various aspects of Moroccan culture during their time abroad. The experience was so fun and I now have a greater understanding of the work that goes into a Moroccan wedding.

Traditionally, Moroccan weddings take place over seven days with both sides of the family involved in preparing the food, buying seven different outfits for the bride and groom, and hosting family members from out of town. Nightly parties and feasting occur as family, friends, and neighbors gather to celebrate the beginning of the couple’s new life together. AMIDEAST organized a shortened version of the semester abroad students of one evening with musicians, food, dancing, and traditional singing. The students drew random names to determine members of the wedding party, and the day of the wedding the bride started getting ready hours before the rest of the guests.

My host mother graciously lent me her beautiful kaftan, traditional Moroccan dress, which she wore for the birth of her most recent grand-daughter. Kaftans are floor length dresses with long sleeves in beautiful colors and designs. The male version of the kaftan is called a djellaba (jell-ah-ba), and is a less flashy version of the kaftan. My dress was white with silver beading and embroidery detail, and my host mom even lent me matching shoes! I was so excited to wear it that night to the party, and to see the other female student’s kaftans as well.

We gathered in one of the classrooms at AMIDEAST for the event, and were greeted by Moroccan musicians dressed in traditional loose-fitting clothes. The singer started off the first song as the drummers and tambourine player followed suit. The loudest instrument was the set of castanet-like instruments made of iron that were played in quick jumpy rhythms. All of the musicians danced and sang as they played, moving around the room and catching the attention of the guests. Moroccan guests who entered the room began clapping to the familiar rhythms of wedding songs, and the Americans eventually joined in.

As the music continued and guests greeted and complimented each other on their “mock wedding” clothes, a female student ran down the hall squealing, “She’s coming everyone, she’s coming!” Well, this could only be one person…the bride. Everyone rushed to bring out their cameras in preparation for her grand entrance. As she walked down the hallway, the musicians changed the rhythm of their song to a heavier rhythmic process-like pace. The bride was accompanied by four female attendees dressed in green and gold robes with matching gold pants and slippers. They carried with them a gold padded platform attached to two long planks. As they entered the room, they lowered the platform, allowed her to step in and sit down, then hoisted the platform up on their shoulders and proceeded to parade her around the room high above the crowd. She looked absolutely stunning in her emerald green dress with gold beading and gold jewelry. Once the attendants reached the wedding couple’s table at the front of the room, the platform was lowered and the bride disappeared. When it was raised again, the groom had replaced the bride and a second processional began around the room with increased singing and clapping.

After the wedding processionals, tea and cakes were served and traditional henna was available for the female guests. Henna is a plant based product that temporarily dyes the skin, allowing the design to last for up to two weeks. The bride’s henna design was created by one of her attendants, and included gold glitter. Both her palm and the back of her hand were decorated, and traditionally the tops and bottoms of the feet are also decorated for Moroccan weddings.

After several group photos, the music and dancing continued until late in the night. It was a wonderful experience and I am sincerely glad that I attended. During the following week, everyone was wishing the “married couple” a happy life!

[photo credits to Doha Ait Ahmed of AMIDEAST-Rabat]

Presentations in Casablanca, Reflections on American Higher Education, Finding my Passion

The second week of my internship I went to Casablanca for my first college forum at a private high school. Casablanca, or "Casa" as they call it here, is an enormous city of around seven million people. It is very western in its design and appearance with towering sky scrapers, passive aggressive taxis, and crowds of people everywhere. While Rabat is the political capitol, Casa has developed as the economic and business capitol thanks to the large port.

This port was the first sight (and smell for that matter) that I experienced upon arriving in Casa. I took a combination of train + taxi + interesting directions to finally arrive at the El-Jabr school in time for my tabling session. After arranging the table with my "Education USA" and Amideast materials, I received many questions from interested parents and students on studying in the US: How much does it cost? What is the best school? Can I get a scholarship for sports? What is a good SAT score? Which is better, a private or public university? What kind of visa do I have to apply for?

These and many more questions floated around my table that morning as did my best to provide answers in French. The visitors were very patient with my language skills, which made me feel much more confident about the presentation that I was scheduled to give that afternoon. There were 45 students crowded into the room, and for the first time during my internship experience I actually felt like an educator. I knew that these students were attending my session because they wanted to study in the US, and I had the information to help them achieve that dream. The presentation went well, and my assistant was able to clarify for the students the differences between the American and Moroccan education systems. She assisted me in answering questions after the presentation, but made sure that I had the main floor for the main portion. I was really proud of myself for jumping in and giving it my best.

After the presentation, I visited the Amideast office in Casa and met a few of the teachers who were working that afternoon. It is always interesting to see different branches of the same organization. The staff was friendly and gave me a tour of the offices and classrooms, which are labeled with American states (i.e. the "Washington" Room, the "Florida" Room) and decorated with coordinating posters from the state. I thought it was clever and cute. I was bummed to see that there was no "Oregon" room, as California and New York seem to be more popular and recognizable to international students. That's ok, I see it as my job to represent my state and teach my friends and colleagues at the Northwest US in general. After thanking the office staff and my assistant, I took a cab back to the station and caught the evening train home. It was an exciting day with lots of new experiences to build upon for the future.

Throughout my time abroad, I have developed an emotional readiness scale for myself to determine if I am prepared to experience something new. I call it having a "brave day" in which I do something that is entirely new and different from my previous experiences. The day in Casa was definitely a brave day for me.

This week I traveled to Casa again for another presentation on Graduate and MBA programs at the Ecole Nationale de Commerce et du Gestion (National School of Business and Commerce). Navigating around the city was slightly easier this time, and I was surprised to see the great turnout of 165 students for my presentation. Representatives from the US Consulate and US Embassy gave a presentation directly following on obtaining a visa for study and travel in the US, which was great for the students. I have found it very inspiring to see so many students who are taking steps in preparing to study in the US. Before going abroad, I was not aware of the popularity and prestige of the American higher education system. After interning with Amideast for several months, I have learned so much about my own education system and the systems in Morocco and Tunisia. I am proud to be a citizen of a country that many foreigners seek to improve their education and skills in order to advance their own countries upon return.

If I have learned anything during this internship experience, it is that I have developed a passion for education, specifically for helping students obtain opportunities to learn and grow as individuals in their own country and abroad. I sincerely hope that this passion and experience will guide me onto the next point in my life, wherever that may be. For now, I am taking the experiences one day at a time and enjoying what life brings me here in Morocco.

Thanks to my contacts at Amideast Casa, I was put in touch with a wonderful English couple who gave me a tour of the downtown area and invited me back to their house for dinner. After a lovely evening with fascinating conversation and more than one "linguistic misunderstanding" between our different dialects of English, I reminded myself that everything really does happen for a reason and sometimes you just have to be open to the unexpected things in life.

Arrival to Morocco, First impressions of Rabat

Morocco!

I have now been living in Morocco for a month and am settling in quite nicely. On my very first day arriving in Casablanca I was met at the airport by two Amideast representatives holding a hand-written sign that read "Amideast Intern". I instantly felt welcomed into the country. I was very excited to meet them and get to know basics on Moroccan culture during our one hour drive north to the capitol city of Rabat. I met the Amideast host family coordinator as soon as we arrived into the city, and then we drove to my host family's house. They live in an apartment in Rabat Centreville, the main downtown area of the city. I can see the walls of the old medina, or historic neighborhood, and a large public park from the third-floor balcony. It is a 15 minute walk to the beach, and a simple 10 minute bus ride to the more lively part of downtown with cafes and fancy shops. There is always lots of traffic outside our apartment building with the daily market and main busroute nearby, which makes for an exciting place to people watch.

In my host family I have a host mom who is a retired custom's officer and a host sister studying finance at the local university. She is in her early 20's and goes out with her girlfriends often to cafes and to the medina to look for fun things to buy. It has been great to hang with her and meet her friends. They speak French and Arabic at home, and my host sister has an intermediate level of English to help me out if I get stuck somewhere. Each day I take the city bus to work at Amideast, where I am working as the Educational Advising Intern. Although I am interning for the same organization, my tasks here in Rabat are more focused towards educational outreach and maintaining our resources in the Advising Center. When students come to the center with questions on studying in the US, taking the TOEFL exam, or getting a scholarship, they come to me. I am able to advise them in English, and am also slowly working my way into advising in French as well. I make mistakes of course, but generally the students understand my main ideas and are happy to receive the information. I also have the opportunity to travel as an Amideast representative to college forums in the region, which has been a fantastic experience.

Rabat is an interesting city to live in, and I am making the most of my evenings and weekends by venturing out and exploring new places. I love the mix of French architecture and traditional Islamic architecture than can be found sometimes in the same neighborhood. The mosaic designs are incredibly beautiful, and can be found in many places of the home. Moroccan textiles reflect a similiar busy pattern with wonderfully vivid colors. My favorite part of the city so far has been the corner shop juice stands where you can get a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice for about $.40.

Again, great people watching and friendly guys who run the shop. Before coming to Morocco, I honestly did not know much about this North African country. I have done some research since I have arrived and now have a better understanding of the political system and the country's foreign affairs. I am learning more and more about the culture every day through meeting new friends and making new connections. One thing that is important to remember is that Morocco is a safe place and that there are no talks of "revolution" here. Life is good and I am enjoying every moment of it.

Christmas in Sicily, January's Jasmine Revolution, February in Sicily and Germany

Hello friends and family! Apologies for my long and unintended hiatus from my blog. I will make a much more significant effort in these next few months to post more entries and to keep everyone more informed on my travels and experiences abroad.

So . . . quick recap from the last few months:

In December I finished up the first half of my internship at Amideast-Tunis. It was a very busy time with post-IEW plans and preparing for the deadline of all the student applications for the Tomorrow's Leaders program. Everyday was a new project and a chance for me to really experience the behind-the-scenes work of an exchange program. My work was preparing the selection process and beginning to review applications as they came into the office. I also proctored another SAT early in the month, which gave me some extra spending money for Christmas presents.

I am fortunate enough to have friends all over the world and I do my best to keep in touch with people throughout the year. Friends living near Catania, Sicily invited me to their house for the holidays, and I gladly accepted. We toured around the region visiting small traditional Sicilian villages and the big city of Catania to experience a Mediterranean Christmas complete with cappucinno and cannolis. It was fantastic to walk on the beach and hike up the nearby cliffs on Christmas morning with only a light jacket while enjoying the sunshine and crisp sea breeze. Christmas dinner was a wonderful experience with an all out holiday-style dinner and friends from all over the region. I ate very well that night and enjoyed the company of military friends who had traveled all over the world thanks to their posts and personal interests. It is always great to mingle and to hear other's stories about their adventures abroad.

As always, it was difficult to leave my much needed vacation in Sicily to return to Tunis for work. I said goodbye to my friends and boarded the plane bound once again for Africa. New Year's eve was spent with Canadian and Italian friends in Tunis as we watched the satellite broadcast of countries all over the world ringing in the new year. We ate well and toasted to the upcoming year filled with new friends and new adventures.

Little did I know that when I returned to work at Amideast in January, Tunisia was already experiencing great change that would start a revolution of massive proportions. I had heard of some unrest in the south of the country, and that a young man had drenched himself in gasoline and burned himself in response to the lack of opportunity for educated youth in Tunisia. It was very difficult to find any news of the event in the local press or on the evening television reports due to Tunisia's strict censorship laws. The secret police are in fact a very big deal in Tunisia and the citizens take care to not discuss politics or their opinions on the president Ben Ali. As the days progressed, I heard more rumblings about the situation getting worse, and that the frustrations over the lack of government support were not only in the south but were a general national resentment. I was able to find a few articles on France 24, the NYtimes, and BBC online which became my primary resources for the next few months. Rumors of riots growing larger convinced the director of Amideast to close down the school for a few days until things settled down, and so the revolution began in Tunis.

Here is a Times Magazine article with more details on the revolution:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2043331,00.html

I must say that I have never actually experienced a revolution from within the country, and it was so powerful to see the spirit of the Tunisian youth challenging their oppressive government by telling them "you are not doing enough for us, so we want change". Almost half of Tunisia's population are youth ages 16 - 25, many of whom have college degrees with no opportunity for work. Many of these students have become disenchanted with the system that promised a good education leading to a good job, and consequently have no option to properly support their families. I was so proud of my Tunisian friends who joined their fellow countrymen on the days of the protests to support the change that they wished to see in their own country. President Ben Ali was very stubborn with his people and did not give in easily, but eventually the pressure became too much.

During the day the military protected the government buildings and establishments, but at night the city of Tunis turned volatile. A curfew was imposed from 5:00 pm to 6:00 am in order to prevent more protests on the streets. I was instructed by my colleagues to stay indoors and not venture out at all because the police had orders to arrest anyone who looked suspicious or anyone who was gathering in groups larger than three. There were snipers on the roofs near my building, and army tanks driving in each day to protect the buildings from looters. At times it was reassuring to have so much protection around the building that I was living in, but at the same time I knew that the tanks were close because there was a chance that we would actually see some of the violence. I made sure to stay in my apartment with my friends and not go outside during the day unless it was absolutely necessary. We stockpiled as much food as we could and began to wait for things to get better in Tunis.

Each morning, I would log onto my computer and check facebook to see what had happened the night before. My Tunisian friends would post status updates, photos, and even short videos taken from their cell phones to show what was really happening. By the afternoon the videos would be taken down and oftentimes the photos would be blocked by the government. It was a pretty strange time for everyone in the country. As the portests became more violent, the death tolls started to rise and we knew that something big was going to happen. Finally President Ben Ali came on the news and said that he was stepping down as president of Tunisa. We couldn't believe it. Had this really happened? The biggest question that was on my mind was, "now what?". None of the youth who were less than 25 years old had ever voted or witnessed a real presidential campaign, and policital activism was something that only happened in secret with individuals who held strong views due to all of the censorship and press restrictions. "What is going to happen now?" I asked myself this question that night, and I am still asking it now.

Ben Ali had at least 2500 personal body guards on his payroll that acted as secret police to inform him on what was happening in his country throughout his 23 year presidency. When he fled the country he essentially told his body guards to destroy everything of value so that Tunisians could not enjoy what he had created for them. Talk about a "god-complex", right?

The apartment complex that I was staying in at the time had shops and boutiques on the first level of the building. Within days of Ben Ali leaving Tunisia, everything underneath my apartment was looted by gangs of pro-government supporters. I remember looking out my window one afternoon and seeing hundreds of people running down the hill and into the courtyard with pipes, bats, and fence posts ready to destroy the shops. I called my roommates together and we shut all the curtains and gathered in the living room together away from the windows. The sounds of yelling and smashing glass echoed up the stairwell, and I had never been so scared that our apartment would be broken into. We locked the door and braced it with a heavy cabinet and prayed that no one would venture up the stairwell. It was a very scary feeling knowing that we lived on the fourth floor and the only safe way out was through the front door. That hour is potentially the longest one that I have experienced in my life thus far.

When we heard the sound of large trucks driving down the street, we ventured toward the window to move the curtain aside. The Tunisian army haad finally showed up with more tanks and soldiers to chase away the gangs, but not before they looted everything from the shops below us and threw most of it into the street. When things had quited down outside, we ventured out onto the balcony to look down at the debris. Shop owners were arriving to check their their wares, and were sadly sweeping up the broken glass and taking what was left from the looting to better storage facilities. It was frusterating to know that these were Tunisians doing this to their own people, and that it was simply creating more problems for those who were just trying to be safe and follow the rules. Those who were loyal to Ben Ali were not going to give in easily.

The frightening part was that many of these body guards were also policemen, so the people found that they could not trust the organizations that were supposed to protect them. The army, on the other hand, remained in good graces with the Tunisian people throughout the revolution because they would not fire on innnocent protestors. In a sense, the army was called in to protect the citizens from the police and from the violent protestors.

After more than a week of protests, violence, and living under a curfew while watching the news indoors all day, my university program decided that it would be best for me to leave the country for a while until things settled down. They arranged a flight for me the enxt morning that would take me to Italy, and then onto Sicily to stay with the same friends that I had spent Christmas with just a few weeks prior. I packed what little I had with me that night and caught a cab the next morning to the airport. All foreign bank accounts had been frozen at that point to prevent the Ben Ali family from withdrawing their savings and departing the country as well. I waited in line for what seemed like hours due to all the tourists who had unfortunately been cooped up in their hotel rooms for their vacation. The flight was nice and my friends were more than happy to receive me as a "refugee" from North Africa.

It was comforting to finally be staying in a place where I felt safe. I no longer woke up at night to the sounds of gunfire outside or smashing glass, and finally felt at ease to be outside of my residence without hearing the drone of helicopters hovering overhead. The first week that I was in Sicily the tv was my main source of news to follow everything back in Tunis. I was able to access youtube for the first time in months, and Al-Jazeera in English, which allowed me to follow the events in real time. I spent five long weeks in Sicily and one week in Germany waiting for things to calm down in Tunisia so that I could return to continue my internship. At times, I wresteled with feelings of guilt for leaving my friends and my work behind, but was reminded that I had to follow my university program's guidelines.

As with all revolutions, there is no designated timeline for things to work themselves out, as it is oftentimes a people's movement that requires time effort to build a solid foundation. I knew that this was a project for Tunisians to do for themselves, and it was not a situation where I could necessarily help. I am truly fortunate to have friends in this part of the world and to have been welcomed into their homes during my time of, shall we say, "displacement" until I found a new place to go.

My university internship program advisors were fantastic in working with me throughout the time that I was gone to figure out what my next move would be. Tunisia was no longer an option, at least for the next few months. Finally, Morocco arose as a viable option because they had an Amideast office in the capitol city of Rabat. I happily accepted the offer, and made arrangements to start my new internship on March 1. Five weeks in Sicily and one week in Germany gave me a wonderful chance to relax and to process everything that had happened in Tunis, and also to prepare for future plans. I greatly enjoyed my time spent with friends and the trips that we were able to take together.

So now, as I prepare to start a new adventure in a new country, I will take with me the things that I have learned and create whole new experience.

On to Morocco!

Photos from around Tunis

Here are some photos from the beginning of my internship experience in Tunisia as I was beginning my work at Amideast and gettling settled into Tunisian life.


Day #1 of my internship. So young a hopeful!

IEW and Photos

Now for some updates! IEW went very well, and I am quite pleased with the outcome and the spirit of teamwork and support as the deadlines approached and the mild chaos of event planning took over. The events that were hosted at Amideast this year brought in record attendance at the American Corner, the international lounge/library, and we are now very busy with advising and directing students on their options for using the services at our organization. I say it was a success!

Last week the new director of my IE3 internship program came to Tunisia to make a site visit, so the timing was perfect for him to see what I was able to accomplish during my short time with the organization. My supervisors were very pleased, and are making plans for my work to carry over to the next intern who will arrive the in the spring, in-sha'allah (God willing)!

I have finally figured out how to get the photos off of my Blackberry phone, which has served as my camera for the duration of my trip thus far. Here are some photos from the week:

The image at the beginning of this entry was the banner that was hung outside the Amideast Annix building that housed the American Corner. The text translates to "Open House Days", and was a great addition to the advertisement that we placed in the local newspapers and on Facebook.

Here are a few from Thursday, one of my favorite days during the week, when we presented on the story of Thanksgiving and had the students do puzzles and quizzes for candy prizes. The quiz was really hard . . . I didn't even know the answers to a lot of the more difficult questions. Maybe I need to brush up on my American history while I am here in Tunisia . . .

Friday's panel presentation, the event that I was looking the most forward to during the entire week, experienced a small hiccup prior to the start of the event when two of the panelists were not able to come at the last minute. As I frantically attempted to call my backup panelists, the facilitator of the event, Lee Jennings (also the director of Amideast), suggested that I fill in for the missing people because I fit the criteria and had the experience to present on the topic of international experience. I was very flattered and honored that my director would ask me to be part of the panel, so I happily obliged. The evening turned out to be very smooth, insightful, and allowed students to really see the impact of a study abroad experience in the short-term and long-term possibilities.

Here's to more successful events in the future!