Readers be advised...this blog posting is not recommended for the faint of heart nor the vegetarians in the crowd...
So the last couple of days have been FULL, and I mean jam-packed, smokin' FULL of new experiences. The highlight being...get ready for it...horse meat!!!
Even as I write I'm grinning ear to ear, just recollecting the experience...well, experiences...I had a horse meat sandwich for lunchy yesterday too!!!
Okay, so the other day some of the guys from the office were going out to lunch and I asked to joing them...I'd been stuck in the office for the morning I think (just uploading photos etc.) and was dying to get out. Plus the sun was shining and I figured that these guys would probably take me to some side street spot that only the locals frequented...I was really quite tired of the tourist track. Right on the money, the two guys wove through the winding alleys towards a busy street full of food stalls. To my dismay and much excitement, one of them informed me that they were buying horse meat for lunch. I seriously thought he was joking as I really only figured people ate horse in, like, Mongolia. I expected camel but not something from Aunt Sally's petting zoo.
So here's how it works. You go to a stall, buy your meat, and take it down the street to the stall that provides BBQ services. There you give them your meat and right before you eyes, voila, the ground meat (called kefta) is kneaded into small pieces and sandwiched between these really cool grilling tools (I don't know how to describe them, but want to bring one back!!). Then your meat waits in line to be BBQd and you watch and wait. The smell of BBQ and smoke was just about enough to make me homesick, but with the warm sun beating down on my back, my camera around my neck, good company to laugh with (even if we couldn't speak much, the fact that I was nervous about eating horse was enough to make the three of us joke and laugh) and BBQ Moroccan-style to be had, I couldn't have been happier!!!!! Honestly, the entire experience will remain one of the highlights of these entire four months!!! And the horse...tasted AMAZING!!!!! Similar to beef, and served on a platter, along with dipping sauce and the country's drink of choice next to mint tea...Coca Cola...I was in HEAVEN...just to sink my teeth into hunks of meat, eat w/ my hands, and watch the locals take their lunch break was almost enough to make me faint with joy! And for the three of us to eat it cost about 1.50 Euros....even better!!! Later on that evening I thought about a phrase I've used quite often "So hungry I could eat a horse!" and realised that this could never just be an exaggeration for me anymore!!! The next day we ate the same but back at the office, and it came in the form of sandwiches!!! And today, gulp, was cow feet served w/ chickpeas and sides of kidney beans and fries. Fries and feet--beautiful. Though the taste was ok, the globular chunks of meat staring me in the face was almost enough to make me gag...but I made it!!!! One of the guys my age from the office kept looking at me eat and said that if I could eat it, then he could eat it!!! The other guys ate it on a fairly regular basis so I think they wondered what the fuss was about!!!
On a much more tame note, I indulged in my first Moroccan couscous with beef and veggies last night. The flavour, the textures, the colours, the fact that we just got to dig in with our hands...amazing!!! And I made my first couscous ball!!! It was really tiny but I tried all dinner to get one and i finally did it!!! Basically you scoop the mixture up with your right hand and using your thumb, roll the mix around, kneading it until it becomes a firm ball. Then you flick it into your mouth using your thumb as if you were going to flip a coin. So fun!
And completely aside from the food factor, I got invited to the hospital where one of the women I know was having a baby. Only minutes after the baby girl was born, I was ushered to the little room where the nurse was weighing her, cutting the umbilical cord etc., to take photos!!! Then I photographed the family when they all came together (the father is not allowed in the delivery room, and their other son was with his grandma before). I'd never done that in Canada never mind a foreign country!!! I felt SO privileged!!!
I really do love it here...I feel like my heart is finding a home here, as it usually does as soon as I become attached to the people and the culture. After one week I really don't want to leave but know that in one more week I'll move on and so will they. Sucky!!!
Anyway, I gotta go, but it was really great to finally type on an English keyboard!!!
More reports after the weekend!!! Oh yeah. GO STEELERS!!!
Jaime the Carnivourous
Friday, February 03, 2006
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
wide-eyed
the weather here in Rabat has made a turn for the better, providing perfect lighting and warmer weather for photography. everyone that i work with here is amazing and well, young! i prayed that God would send me some friends my age even if they didnt speak english. funny thing, God and that sense of humour of His because while most of my co-workers speak varying degrees of english and french, the one who knows the least amount of french and absolutely no english is the guy that is acting as my guide around the city!!! its quite funny, however i find myself wishing i could have conversation with someone, especially someone who has a western perspective....basically itd be nice to speak some english wth an english speaker!!! but im not complaining....really, im having a wonderful experience so far! and the girls i live with have provided great company!
the other day we were driving to their apartment after work when the car going up the hill ahead of us put his car into reverse. it being rush hour and us having no where to go, we were left with no choice but to let him roll back into us...which he did despite the fact that our driver was blaring her horn! when the driver of the rolling vehicle realised that he couldnt have done much damage at the speed he was going to a car so old, he waved as some kind of compensation and proceeded to pick up his cell phone and take a call. because he wasnt distracted enough!
voyeurism is also something im dealing with here. more often than not i feel like the voyeur with my camera, but here the men are onlookers. i think, however, that they are not used to a woman staring right back at them! after all, im fairly used to staring at people because of my trade! on the other hand, i find myself feeling terrible for looking around at the other women here--as if i am in a sense acting like one of the men. my intent, however, is not to leer, but to smile, make eye contact, let them know that i and my camera are not a threat. its hard though, and i have no photos of women yet, except for those i live/work with. which is fine, but i would also like some insight and connection with some of the more traditional moroccan women. kids here are fun though because they stare w such innocence and curiosty which i understand because its how i find myself looking around. in salé, the city ajoined to rabat, they are so much less used to tourists, so when in the medina, the kids just stare at me wide-eyed and i smile and say `salem`(hello i moroccan arabic).
anyway, there is so uch more to say but i want to check my emails....thanks for the comments, emails, and knowledge that there are some people reading this blog! i actually have no clue who`s all reading it and i havent been able to email the address to a lot of people yet...their addys are in spain....oops. but if you are reading it, maybe drop me a line either on the blog or at my email address, just so i can get a rough idea! your efforts to connect with me so far have meant so much especially so far from home! and your prayers....thank you for them....there are times when i can feel that the prayers of others are all that is keeping my head above water! and i pray for you too, whether you believe in the power of prayer or not!!!
with so much love!
jaimes
the other day we were driving to their apartment after work when the car going up the hill ahead of us put his car into reverse. it being rush hour and us having no where to go, we were left with no choice but to let him roll back into us...which he did despite the fact that our driver was blaring her horn! when the driver of the rolling vehicle realised that he couldnt have done much damage at the speed he was going to a car so old, he waved as some kind of compensation and proceeded to pick up his cell phone and take a call. because he wasnt distracted enough!
voyeurism is also something im dealing with here. more often than not i feel like the voyeur with my camera, but here the men are onlookers. i think, however, that they are not used to a woman staring right back at them! after all, im fairly used to staring at people because of my trade! on the other hand, i find myself feeling terrible for looking around at the other women here--as if i am in a sense acting like one of the men. my intent, however, is not to leer, but to smile, make eye contact, let them know that i and my camera are not a threat. its hard though, and i have no photos of women yet, except for those i live/work with. which is fine, but i would also like some insight and connection with some of the more traditional moroccan women. kids here are fun though because they stare w such innocence and curiosty which i understand because its how i find myself looking around. in salé, the city ajoined to rabat, they are so much less used to tourists, so when in the medina, the kids just stare at me wide-eyed and i smile and say `salem`(hello i moroccan arabic).
anyway, there is so uch more to say but i want to check my emails....thanks for the comments, emails, and knowledge that there are some people reading this blog! i actually have no clue who`s all reading it and i havent been able to email the address to a lot of people yet...their addys are in spain....oops. but if you are reading it, maybe drop me a line either on the blog or at my email address, just so i can get a rough idea! your efforts to connect with me so far have meant so much especially so far from home! and your prayers....thank you for them....there are times when i can feel that the prayers of others are all that is keeping my head above water! and i pray for you too, whether you believe in the power of prayer or not!!!
with so much love!
jaimes
Monday, January 30, 2006
fluidity
so ive got a few more minutes to write as ive been back now doing nothing in the office for 2 hrs already. one of the things that the media centre director, bob told me before leaving was that in this country (as in most developing nations i would suspect) i would have to be fluid...as one of my new roommates tried to describe in english: "dissolve"...basically go with the flow, or become a part of. last night i repeated the word "fluid" over and over to myself when the girls told me that we were going to mcdonalds for dinner--my first moroccan restaurant experience consisted of the McArabian meal...pretty much burger in a pita. "fluid" i whispered to myself as a cold breeze danced across my face while trying to fall asleep last night. "fluid" is something God is asking me to incorporate into my everyday life, however, and not just while travelling, so i guess ive got a few months to practice before going home!
moroccan life seems to be this amazing life full of contradictions. the modern and the ancient flow together like nobody`s business. hooded men in their jillabahs (floor-length hooded cloaks) herd sheep by the roadside and look like theyve walked off the set of LOTR. or they just sit around and drink mint tea all day. farmers manuevering their way through the streets atop mule-drawn carts. all this just outside their version of the local walmart called "Marjan", whose parking lot full of bmw`s and other european imports rests amid a foot of rain water (which hasn`t seeped its way down through the lot`s single drain). Inside Marjan is an 'eclectic myriad' (sorry, that`s an inside joke) of spices, child`s semiautomatic toy weapons, and local musicians....along with whatever else a superstore or walmart might carry!
oh gotta run....off again at a moment`s notice! FLUID!!!!!
moroccan life seems to be this amazing life full of contradictions. the modern and the ancient flow together like nobody`s business. hooded men in their jillabahs (floor-length hooded cloaks) herd sheep by the roadside and look like theyve walked off the set of LOTR. or they just sit around and drink mint tea all day. farmers manuevering their way through the streets atop mule-drawn carts. all this just outside their version of the local walmart called "Marjan", whose parking lot full of bmw`s and other european imports rests amid a foot of rain water (which hasn`t seeped its way down through the lot`s single drain). Inside Marjan is an 'eclectic myriad' (sorry, that`s an inside joke) of spices, child`s semiautomatic toy weapons, and local musicians....along with whatever else a superstore or walmart might carry!
oh gotta run....off again at a moment`s notice! FLUID!!!!!
not in the desert yet!
this will be short as ive just arrived at work and this is a different keybord so dont mind my lack of grammer....which has pretty much all gone to pot anyway because m in the midst of learning 2 languages and relearning 1. after 2 days ive made some headway w/ pronouncing arabic....i have about a dozen basic phrases in my repetoire...french is interesting because ive forgotten so much since high school....coming back to me though! i live w/ 2 sisters around my age, really fun....theyve been teaching me moroccan dancing....im pretty rythmically challenged as it is....its freezing here....i sleep in all my clothes plus tuque, mitts etc....no heqt plus the wind was actually shaking the apartment last night....the windows were shut but the curtains were blowing! food is good....lots of bread...i dont think girls my age buy a lot of meat in any country! but i have to run....first day taking pics! bsslama مع السلامة
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Where Life is Pork and Dogs Rule the Roads
So tomorrow I leave for Morocco for two weeks and I'm stinking excited to be on the next leg of my journey! I love all this packing and unpacking and meeting new people and traipsing around everywhere...this is definitely a calling!
I should be there for a couple of weeks but life is fairly fluid down there which means that I will have to fit into the flow of things...so if it's the right time to leave in two weeks then I come back, but if it's earlier or later then I just adjust my schedule as my supervisors in the States, Spain, and Morocco see fit. The Arabic culture is about honor and shame, so the most important thing for me to do is not shame my hosts by leaving at a time that causes them to feel taken advantage of. Anyway, the adventure should be a blast and there will be more updates to come, however, I'm not sure how often that will be while I'm away.
As far as things in Malaga are concerned, life here is interesting. Here are just a few thoughts on what I'm experiencing...
Pork rules the nation...basically, if you are vegetarian (or Orthodox Jew) you're hooped. EVERY menu item includes pork in some shape or form and I'm pretty sure that animal fat is used to cook their meat in as much as the ubiquitous olive oil. I love this country!
And speaking of olive oil...WOW...i went to the grocery store last week (the one called Carrefour is about the size of 2 Walmart Supercentres (I think you may need to be living in the South to really understand the immensity of THOSE places) and really sells absolutely everything under the sun. Anyway, a row pretty much the length of a jetway was FILLED with various brands of olive oil. Are these people DRINKING IT???? If they are it's apparently quite the competition for the entire row of wine the next row over...no liquor stores here...this stuff as available as milk is back home...
And why is milk not available here? I don't know, but maybe it's because you can't milk pigs. Seriously, milk here is not all that common...fresh milk that is. And most people don't buy it in the summer because it can go bad by the time you get it home if it's been sitting in a hot car (the due date is apparently just for kicks). So there's this milk in cartons that is called 'long-life milk'. I'm sorry, but those words combined really don't encourage me to Get Milk. I'm pretty wary of dairy past it's due date as it is.
Moving away from the topic of food...because we really don't want me to come back with a Spanish hind end...dogs. Everyone and their dog...well, has one. Behind gates, running loose, in the next apartment, on a leash, in the elevator....all shapes and sizes, many times clothed in sweaters...I'm surprised I haven't seen one yet in a matching track suit. And I'm totally fine with dogs, except for the fact that picking up after them doesn't seem to be the trend here and the sidewalks get quite slick with their trail markers. I'm sorry, but I'd prefer flagging tape to dog droppings if someone wants to leave a happy little trail for me to follow to and from work every day. And to top it all off, what I'm hoping was DOG excrement (and NOT HUMAN) was smeared ALL OVER our elevator buttons the other morning. I just about lost my entire breakfast and then proceeded to hurtle myself down eight flights of stairs at a very rapid speed. Needless to say I used the stairs for a couple days before venturing back into the coffin-sized elevator. It's all cleaned up, but I let someone else press the buttons now...or keep a very long fingernail on my right index finger.
Maybe I should say a bit about learning the language. If anyone has butchered Andalucian Spainsh, I have, and have almost begun speaking English in the same way: "I no good Spanish. Only English. I take photo?" Oh wow...just wait till I get to learn Arabic. Fabulous. But seriously, despite my broken Spanish, I've mastered (ie gotten to the place where my mouth will form words and I'll say them aloud) about 100 words and phrases in about a week and a half. That doesn't mean I can roll my r's properly or piece the phrases together in a way that doesn't sound like a 3-yr. old, but I'm quite proud of myself nonetheless. Oh, and I can 'lithp' like the Andalucian's and though I don't find it attractive (especially coming from men...they sound so feminine) it's the one thing I can do well!!!
Finally, as a good Canadian, and as someone who comes from a family where it seems the new default channel in our house is the weather network, I should bring up the weather. Pretty blatantly, I'm cold, but really, what else is new? I wear at least 5 lbs of clothes just during the day (double layers of socks, tights under my jeans, jacket & scarf indoors) and oh so many blankets and duvets at night. There's no central heat in most Mediterranean dwellings, and to top it off, the weather's been pretty cool. Coastal winds and rains one day and then it'll surprise us with beautiful sun for the next. Either way, the Spanish themselves seem to be cold so I am in good company. Everyone here is like, "But you're CANADIAN???!!!" and my response is that everyone back home thinks I'm crazy as well. Oh well, give it a month or so and it should be spring here...and hey, if this is winter, I'm doing all right!
Anyway, that's where I'm going to leave off! Hopefully you're all going to go home and slaughter a pig now...I'm actually going home to a rotisserie chicken picked up from a chicken place down the road from my apartment...seriously the best chickens ever!!! Don't you all just want to sink your teeth into a big chunk of juicy meat???!!! I can't wait till Morocco....lamb, kebabs....oh I'll be in heaven!
Catch ya soon!
Jaimes
I should be there for a couple of weeks but life is fairly fluid down there which means that I will have to fit into the flow of things...so if it's the right time to leave in two weeks then I come back, but if it's earlier or later then I just adjust my schedule as my supervisors in the States, Spain, and Morocco see fit. The Arabic culture is about honor and shame, so the most important thing for me to do is not shame my hosts by leaving at a time that causes them to feel taken advantage of. Anyway, the adventure should be a blast and there will be more updates to come, however, I'm not sure how often that will be while I'm away.
As far as things in Malaga are concerned, life here is interesting. Here are just a few thoughts on what I'm experiencing...
Pork rules the nation...basically, if you are vegetarian (or Orthodox Jew) you're hooped. EVERY menu item includes pork in some shape or form and I'm pretty sure that animal fat is used to cook their meat in as much as the ubiquitous olive oil. I love this country!
And speaking of olive oil...WOW...i went to the grocery store last week (the one called Carrefour is about the size of 2 Walmart Supercentres (I think you may need to be living in the South to really understand the immensity of THOSE places) and really sells absolutely everything under the sun. Anyway, a row pretty much the length of a jetway was FILLED with various brands of olive oil. Are these people DRINKING IT???? If they are it's apparently quite the competition for the entire row of wine the next row over...no liquor stores here...this stuff as available as milk is back home...
And why is milk not available here? I don't know, but maybe it's because you can't milk pigs. Seriously, milk here is not all that common...fresh milk that is. And most people don't buy it in the summer because it can go bad by the time you get it home if it's been sitting in a hot car (the due date is apparently just for kicks). So there's this milk in cartons that is called 'long-life milk'. I'm sorry, but those words combined really don't encourage me to Get Milk. I'm pretty wary of dairy past it's due date as it is.
Moving away from the topic of food...because we really don't want me to come back with a Spanish hind end...dogs. Everyone and their dog...well, has one. Behind gates, running loose, in the next apartment, on a leash, in the elevator....all shapes and sizes, many times clothed in sweaters...I'm surprised I haven't seen one yet in a matching track suit. And I'm totally fine with dogs, except for the fact that picking up after them doesn't seem to be the trend here and the sidewalks get quite slick with their trail markers. I'm sorry, but I'd prefer flagging tape to dog droppings if someone wants to leave a happy little trail for me to follow to and from work every day. And to top it all off, what I'm hoping was DOG excrement (and NOT HUMAN) was smeared ALL OVER our elevator buttons the other morning. I just about lost my entire breakfast and then proceeded to hurtle myself down eight flights of stairs at a very rapid speed. Needless to say I used the stairs for a couple days before venturing back into the coffin-sized elevator. It's all cleaned up, but I let someone else press the buttons now...or keep a very long fingernail on my right index finger.
Maybe I should say a bit about learning the language. If anyone has butchered Andalucian Spainsh, I have, and have almost begun speaking English in the same way: "I no good Spanish. Only English. I take photo?" Oh wow...just wait till I get to learn Arabic. Fabulous. But seriously, despite my broken Spanish, I've mastered (ie gotten to the place where my mouth will form words and I'll say them aloud) about 100 words and phrases in about a week and a half. That doesn't mean I can roll my r's properly or piece the phrases together in a way that doesn't sound like a 3-yr. old, but I'm quite proud of myself nonetheless. Oh, and I can 'lithp' like the Andalucian's and though I don't find it attractive (especially coming from men...they sound so feminine) it's the one thing I can do well!!!
Finally, as a good Canadian, and as someone who comes from a family where it seems the new default channel in our house is the weather network, I should bring up the weather. Pretty blatantly, I'm cold, but really, what else is new? I wear at least 5 lbs of clothes just during the day (double layers of socks, tights under my jeans, jacket & scarf indoors) and oh so many blankets and duvets at night. There's no central heat in most Mediterranean dwellings, and to top it off, the weather's been pretty cool. Coastal winds and rains one day and then it'll surprise us with beautiful sun for the next. Either way, the Spanish themselves seem to be cold so I am in good company. Everyone here is like, "But you're CANADIAN???!!!" and my response is that everyone back home thinks I'm crazy as well. Oh well, give it a month or so and it should be spring here...and hey, if this is winter, I'm doing all right!
Anyway, that's where I'm going to leave off! Hopefully you're all going to go home and slaughter a pig now...I'm actually going home to a rotisserie chicken picked up from a chicken place down the road from my apartment...seriously the best chickens ever!!! Don't you all just want to sink your teeth into a big chunk of juicy meat???!!! I can't wait till Morocco....lamb, kebabs....oh I'll be in heaven!
Catch ya soon!
Jaimes
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