Through the Looking-Glass

After our language school this past Friday we wandered over to a nearby McDonalds for a good-ole home cooked meal. Surprisingly, the McDonalds restaurants we've encountered overseas--and this one in particular--are leaps and bounds above the quality of those in the States. In many ways, they're actually 'high dollar' meals: I think we paid around 80 or 90 dirham, which is about $10 or $11. Excited about a good meal and a break from our love/hate relationship with the Arabic language, we took our Happy Meals up to the second floor and sat down next to a window to eat, rest, and take in the world.

But we not only enjoyed a great meal; we also became privy to an event common in this country. In the Arab world, Friday is the holy day of the week. Mid-day prayer and a special service, in particular, constitute the 'high tide' of this day's rituals. Around one o'clock, men come to the nearest mosque to worship and participate in the service. A large section of the city shuts down so that men are able to participate. From our second floor window in McDonalds we had a unique vantage point to see this world.

Traffic was stopped as thousands of people spilled over into the courtyard in front of the mosque and then into the street. These men sit on prayer rugs facing the mosque, waiting for the sermon to begin.


After the sermon, these men pray formally by bowing, rising, bending over, and then standing, all while a particular prayer is recited outloud.



Viewing this 'through the looking-glass', to borrow from Lewis Carroll, was an opportunity to see a whole new world. It is, of course, a challenging experience to encounter a world that is so different from our own. Yet in this encounter, we're trying to avoid what Edward Said called the "inane vagueness" of simply and tritely "learning about other cultures." Viewing another world--even if from the safety of a removed 'looking glass' like our second floor window in McDonalds--should be 'about' more than realizing that a world surrounds us (although this, too, is vital). Differences don't exist so we can tritely observe, "Hey, you're different from me. That's cool." Furthermore, it's crucial, even essential, to reject the temptation to see this 'other' world as if it were inferior or a nuisance and, as a result, to expect it to conform to my image. In other words, instead of (1) tritely and merely recognizing diversity, (2) responding to this world by wanting it to change and conform to my preferences, or (3) becoming isolated and acting as if the world didn't exist, there has to be another option.

How do we respond to this bustling, beautiful, strange, and vast world? By isolating ourselves? By attempting to solve all of its problems with our answers? Should we only seek to be informed by it? Or do we even have a response at all? Should we just be apathetic?

Hopefully I can pick this thread up again. But until then, I hope this post provides a little insight into the thoughts and questions wafting around in our thoughts.

Oh, how we suffer...

In case you were wondering how difficult life has been for us in Morocco...

















Welcome to the Atlantic! The plaj (beach in Arabic) here is a bit different from what you would see in Destin. Rows of beach chairs and umbrellas do not line the coast for miles, and I (Ashley) saw only two bikinis on teenage girls (I am quite sure that they would never leave the house again if their fathers' knew what they were wearing). Instead of luxury resorts and high-rises, a couple of Muslim holy places dot the skyline--the second largest mosque in the world sits right here on the Atlantic and a shrine at the tomb of a famous Muslim martyr.


People find all kinds of things to do at the plaj...

Surf in the huge waves...



Enjoy the view... (this is what most women do at the beach)

Play with your pony...

Ride a four-wheeler with a toddler...




or play soccer.

Introducing Language and Culture

What We've Been Doing
So, it's been a blast so far! We've mainly been getting adjusted to life in Casablanca, learning about cultural distinctives of this part of the world, and trying to navigate our way through the complicated byways and highways of the Arabic language. We didn't expect to focus too much on language, but several folks who live here stressed that it is necessary for making friends and 'surviving' in the city (i.e., getting a taxi, eating at restaurants, and (my favorite) ordering coffee). As it turns out, learning Arabic has been a lot of fun, albeit challenging. We're learning Moroccan Arabic, which is a dialect of Classical Arrabic and only a spoken language. As a result, we've been learning the language phonetically, and so we basically only know how to say, "I have one pen" and "She is my wife." The first picture featured in this blog is one of our teachers, who is a lot of fun. Her name is Aziza and she works at a local school, but (I think) she also works part-time at the tutoring center/school where we go most days. The second picture is me (obviously) at the language school...you can tell that my mind is fried from the onslaught of a foreign language. We feel like little babies, but it gives us much needed confidence in interacting with folks because we know that (if/when we have to) we can go into a local Hanut (small suppermarket in most neighborhoods) and say, "I want cheese, please." And that's always a good feeling.

A Few Thoughts
We had no context for knowing what life in Casablanca would be like. The city is surprisingly modern (not just in the sense that it has been influenced by globalization and Western culture). There are several neighborhoods or parts of the city where the houses, stores, and streets are very nice. Of course, there are shanty towns in many outlying parts of the city (and a few pockets throughout), and these areas are extremely poor. There are also economic and social situations in between these two extremes.

Moroccans, as a general rule, are friendly and warm. Everyone we have met so far has been so kind and excited that we're trying to learn their language and want to know about their culture. Casablanca is, in many ways, one of the less expensive vacation cities of Europe, so there is a lot of negative things associated with Westerners. So far we're in a kind of 'waiting room' because we're trying to learn the language, so we have not had a whole lot of interaction with Moroccans (just small conversations at cafes, having coffee, and with our teachers). However, in about a week we'll be living with a Moroccan family for two weeks (which we're a little nervous about). We're really hoping that we don't offend them inadvertently, but this will nonetheless be a great and challenging time!

We'd love to hear from you all, so feel free to email us. (Of course, we don't have a whole lot of time to respond because of all the language and school work we're doing, but it's great to hear from folks back home.) Thanks, again, for caring about us and keeping up with what's going on in our lives. Love you all!!!

We're Here!!!

Just wanted to let you all know that we made it safely.  Expect a fuller post in a few days.  Thanks for your thoughts!

A Moroccan Preface

We are going to Morocco!
Our flight leaves at 8am from the airport in Jackson on Monday morning. We'll arrive around 4pm (time in Jackson) on Tuesday (about 10pm in Morocco). For the first week and a half of our trip, we'll be in Casablanca learning about culture and some basics in Arabic so that we'll be able to get taxis, order food, and so Ashley can find the bathroom. Just so you know, we'll be in Morocco from May 19th - July 19th, and then we'll hop over to Kenya until we get back to Jackson on August 1st.

We plan on updating this blog at least once a week, but we'll send you an email with the link so you can copy & paste it into the address line of your web browser. If you have any questions or words of encouragement, please send all emails to benjamin_mangrum@baylor.edu or ashley_mangrum@baylor.edu.

We are grateful for our friends and family, for the questions you ask and the support you give. We'd love to hear from you throughout the summer. Please continue to think about us as we journey.