Friday. Stomach full of couscous. The usual feeling of Friday.
Friday is the holy day for musulmans. Most of the shops, banks, etc. close at 11 am when men go pray in the mosque. When they come home, families eat couscous together that the mother has started to prepare already in the morning. Unfortunately, I'm not so lucky to eat delicious home made couscous every Friday. Luckily, restaurants have taken into consideration those that are not so talented (and lazy as well..) in the kitchen. So, Friday is the only day that couscous is served in the restaurants here. In the beginning, I was always waiting for Friday and couldn't wait that the couscous plate to be brought in front of me. Well, now the glory has pretty much disappeared. Sometimes it's a bit disappointing to notice that some things that seemed so special to me in the beginning, have started to feel something just normal. But there is another side of it also: when I have noticed that I've gotten used to something, it makes me realize every time that I'm getting more and more adapted into this culture.
We are back to our studies after the holidays we had. That means our Tour du Maroc has finished as well. From Ouarzazate, where I last time wrote, we continued to Tinghir which is a small town north of Ourzazate, on the Atlas mountains as well. We stayed there with a Moroccan couple and visited the area which was something really extraordinary. There were big canyons that were really impressive. The nature had a distinct reddish brown color that I had never seen in my life. One of the most amazing things here have been to see the kind of nature that I have never experienced before. As in Finland, we are used to seeing nature only with different shades of green. Here it has been quite opposed, especially in the south, brown colour was dominating in the nature and as well as in the houses. But I find that it can be very beautiful - in its own particular way. When we were sitting on the bus back to Marrakesh, crossing the Atlas mountains one more time, I was looking the views through the bus windows and everything I saw really made me cry in all the beauty that it kept inside: snow peaked mountains, desert, oasis, people living in their simple houses, children playing . I've never seen anything that sheds tears in my eye, touches my whole presence and makes me forget everything but that moment. Maybe I've never felt such a tranquility in my life.
Today we got a new family member with Laura. It's a tiny kitten that we saved from the street. It was in the middle of the road where cars were driving really fast, scared and confused. Amazing enough, it had not been hit by a car yet. Laura is the biggest cat lover ever, so she wanted to take the kitten with her. I couldn't say no. So, now it's here in our house, sleeping on Laura's bed and eating tuna. In the cat's paradise, I would say. We have no idea what we are going to do with him. Laura is already planning to take him to Finland with her. Sadly, there are many cats and dogs on the street. As animal lover, it's something very sad to see. Here people are not used to having animals at house. Well, I have stopped to feel so much sympathy for dogs after one bit my leg some weeks ago! But it was my fault that I was crossing a construction area that the dog was apparently garding. Luckily, the wound was not bad but I had to take three vaccinations against rabies, just in case since you never know what kind of diseased street dogs here have.
As for Friday evening, this is something very peaceful. We are staying at home with Laura and maybe going to see some friends later. Going to see friends on Friday evening, doesn't mean partying and getting drunk. It means passing a nice time with people, chatting and drinking tea. A simple life. Simplicity, that's something I have learned to respect here. Finding joys in little things - especially in the presence of other people, sharing things with them, laughing, exchanging ideas about life. Not needing a feeling of artificial happiness brought by alcohol and at same time, losing the sense of who you really are. Why would we need that? Here I have had learned more about myself than ever before and learned to respect myself as who I am. I have learned to listen to myself and that way, I know what I want from life - simplicity, that was all the time in front of my eyes, but I was just looking for it too somewhere too far.
Friday is the holy day for musulmans. Most of the shops, banks, etc. close at 11 am when men go pray in the mosque. When they come home, families eat couscous together that the mother has started to prepare already in the morning. Unfortunately, I'm not so lucky to eat delicious home made couscous every Friday. Luckily, restaurants have taken into consideration those that are not so talented (and lazy as well..) in the kitchen. So, Friday is the only day that couscous is served in the restaurants here. In the beginning, I was always waiting for Friday and couldn't wait that the couscous plate to be brought in front of me. Well, now the glory has pretty much disappeared. Sometimes it's a bit disappointing to notice that some things that seemed so special to me in the beginning, have started to feel something just normal. But there is another side of it also: when I have noticed that I've gotten used to something, it makes me realize every time that I'm getting more and more adapted into this culture.
We are back to our studies after the holidays we had. That means our Tour du Maroc has finished as well. From Ouarzazate, where I last time wrote, we continued to Tinghir which is a small town north of Ourzazate, on the Atlas mountains as well. We stayed there with a Moroccan couple and visited the area which was something really extraordinary. There were big canyons that were really impressive. The nature had a distinct reddish brown color that I had never seen in my life. One of the most amazing things here have been to see the kind of nature that I have never experienced before. As in Finland, we are used to seeing nature only with different shades of green. Here it has been quite opposed, especially in the south, brown colour was dominating in the nature and as well as in the houses. But I find that it can be very beautiful - in its own particular way. When we were sitting on the bus back to Marrakesh, crossing the Atlas mountains one more time, I was looking the views through the bus windows and everything I saw really made me cry in all the beauty that it kept inside: snow peaked mountains, desert, oasis, people living in their simple houses, children playing . I've never seen anything that sheds tears in my eye, touches my whole presence and makes me forget everything but that moment. Maybe I've never felt such a tranquility in my life.
Today we got a new family member with Laura. It's a tiny kitten that we saved from the street. It was in the middle of the road where cars were driving really fast, scared and confused. Amazing enough, it had not been hit by a car yet. Laura is the biggest cat lover ever, so she wanted to take the kitten with her. I couldn't say no. So, now it's here in our house, sleeping on Laura's bed and eating tuna. In the cat's paradise, I would say. We have no idea what we are going to do with him. Laura is already planning to take him to Finland with her. Sadly, there are many cats and dogs on the street. As animal lover, it's something very sad to see. Here people are not used to having animals at house. Well, I have stopped to feel so much sympathy for dogs after one bit my leg some weeks ago! But it was my fault that I was crossing a construction area that the dog was apparently garding. Luckily, the wound was not bad but I had to take three vaccinations against rabies, just in case since you never know what kind of diseased street dogs here have.
As for Friday evening, this is something very peaceful. We are staying at home with Laura and maybe going to see some friends later. Going to see friends on Friday evening, doesn't mean partying and getting drunk. It means passing a nice time with people, chatting and drinking tea. A simple life. Simplicity, that's something I have learned to respect here. Finding joys in little things - especially in the presence of other people, sharing things with them, laughing, exchanging ideas about life. Not needing a feeling of artificial happiness brought by alcohol and at same time, losing the sense of who you really are. Why would we need that? Here I have had learned more about myself than ever before and learned to respect myself as who I am. I have learned to listen to myself and that way, I know what I want from life - simplicity, that was all the time in front of my eyes, but I was just looking for it too somewhere too far.
