Salam alekum my friends,
guess who has traveled all the way to Morocco to see me?? My mom! Yes, she arrived in Spain three days ago and I went to meet her there. We stayed in Malaga overnight, did a tour in the town and took a boat to Tangier the next day. She is liking Morocco and wondering all the new things that she is seeing. Yes, I remember being the same way when I was visiting an arabic country for the first time (it was in Egypt three years ago - a trip that really made me fall in love with arabic culture with its tastes, sounds and atmosphere...). It's interesting that my mom is noticing many things -differences between Morocco and Finland that I already take for granted and that I'm used to. In psychology we would call it a process of adaptation! Mom is staying here three more days and then flying home from Casablanca where I'm traveling with her to make sure that she gets to the airport. I only hope that she will manage to find her connecting flight in London and get home safely!
I hope you spent a very nice Easter with your family and friends. For me, there wasn't really any feeling of Easter (only the chocolate eggs and candy that mom brought from Finland -well, that's the most important thing, right! :) However, we had three days of holidays from school because it was prophet Mohammed's birthday and moroccans celebrated that with their families.
I'm getting more and more convinced that this place is my home. I noticed this when I traveled to Spain to meet my mom. I took a boat from Tangier to Tarifa, which is only 35 minutes away from me. This was something that really opened my eyes. First of all, I learned how everything changes when you travel 20 km from here to another continent. It's like another world - new houses, less people, roads in good condition, people living their quiet, wealthy life and most of all, not a remarkable gap between the rich and the poor. You can see the coast of Spain from Tangier when the weather is clear -the coast which is a promise of a new, better life for many moroccans. Because of this, Tangier has always attracted people who want to cross the sea to Europe in hopes of finding the paradise there. Only for me, everything was contrary. As soon as I reached Tarifa and I was in Europe again, everything seemed so weird to me. I was wondering where are all the people? Why aren't people smiling to me? Why aren't people helping me when I can't find my bus? Why is the bus driver respecting all the traffic laws? Where are the sheep, cows, and donkeys beside the roads? Why is everyone in a hurry to get somewhere? Why does everything look so perfect that it can't be the reality of it? I felt sad when I looked Morocco from the side of Spain. I felt that's not where I should be. I should be on the other side. I wanted to get out of that "paradise". And the next day when I got back to Morocco, I felt I was at home and I could breath again.
1 comment:
hehehe, i was speedreading through your blog, and Morocco sounds really like a home. Are you planning of moving in maybe?
Hmmm..... maybe i should check out if Ryan flies to there.... it sounds like worth of the couple of hours flying *mwah* and after the constant rain of scotland, i'm missing the warmth.
But, to get back to your blog, yeah, i know the feeling. You're gonna be missing Morocco for quite some time after returning, but you still have couple of more months before having to think about that. And yeah, the difference between poor and rich can be drastic but sadly, one does get used to it and let's it pass like a water down your back as it comes part of everyday sights and life... Sad but true.
So, rainy and foggy greetings from Scotland, i'm back to my Whiskey! :D Riina
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