"Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle." 
Rasheed on Saidia beach midsummer while Josh looks on in jealously. Don't hate Josh, don't hate! Yet, I can understand. It's hard not to be green-eyed towards a man like Rasheed.
The tourist season in Gafait officially ended last week, although the largest and nicest café will stay open during Ramadan to house entertainment and late night coffee socialites. Store owners began closing their shops, taking away shop materials and food items.
In the recent parliamentary elections held last Friday, 37% of eligible Moroccan voters went to the ballots. In all, there are 31 political parties in the country and 27 were accounted for in nearby Jerada.
I talked with my family; brothers, mother, father, sister-in-laws, and nieces for the first time via video last Monday on Labor Day. A time for picnics and golf tournaments in the states, I did not celebrate the holiday here. However, setting your own daily itinerary most days probably offsets that.
The groom arriving by horse at the wedding reception.
Members of the band (includes percussion and a wood instrument resembling a clarinet), the wedding czar (who solicited money for the couple later in the night), and the wedding singer. 
Line dancing with canes, drums, and some men that really know how to dance, which is mostly in the shoulders and hips. Sometimes in large groups of 6-10 like that pictured, but more often in smaller groups, men stand in front of the audience and entertain their friends. I always deftly avoid dancing at weddings. I do enough already to embarrass and bring attention to myself.
(Sumona and Lindsey outside Lindsey's village near Taza.)
"Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more
A place estimated to be several hundred years old in the desert town of Figuig, where I taught for 2 weeks at a English language camp. Built around an underground spring, the water flows into this walled pool, where local men come to bathe and relax, then is directed into fields in the area through a complex irrigation system.
This is recent mail I received from Ryan, another volunteer in country. I'm a little surprised I didn't hear about it from my postmaster or someone in the government. Although not intended to be a slight on the King, I can see how it could be misinterpreted. Anyways, I thought it was quite funny and so did my neighbors.
“Without realizing it, the individual composes his life according to the laws of beauty even in times of greatest distress.”
-Czech author Milan Kundera, who is too easy to quote. Some more:
“Happiness is the longing for repetition.”
“The sound of laughter is like the vaulted dome of a temple of happiness.”
“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”
“Metaphors are dangerous. Love begins with a metaphor. Which is to say, love begins at the point when a woman enters her first word into our poetic memory.”
Kundera's metaphors are beautiful and his existentialism shines throughout his writing.
We're stuck in Figuig as of this moment following the language camp because of another transit strike brought on by the introduction of a traffic bill in parliament. Of note from the papers:"The bill, which introduces a point-record driving license system, breath analyzing tests and fines up to USD 350, in addition to the incrimination of some infractions especially in serious injuries and death cases, has sparked off much debate in parliament circles as well as the uproar of several transport trade unions, who started, on Monday, a 48-hour strike."And that strike still continues; the bill's future unresolved. If implemented, the point system would allow authorities to take away the license of poor drivers who have been in accidents, fined, etc in rank order. Critics say it will lead to corruption and that it threatens large single income families where the lone breadwinner is a transit driver. From another source,
By slaughter, he's referring to this"Faced with the unavailability of taxis and buses, travellers in both urban and rural areas have been paying exorbitant prices for non approved carriers. According to managers in the key ports of Casablanca and Kenitra, the lack of lorries is delaying the delivery of goods. The prices of vegetables, fruit and basic foodstuffs have risen steadily and many observers feel the situation could worsen over the next few days...
El Bouzid Khallouf, who is in his fifties and owns a lorry, thinks this new law will have to be revised before it can be adopted. "This move to take away drivers’ licences is only likely to encourage even more corruption. We don’t want to be bribing the police and traffic officers to be able to drive around in peace." Yassine, a Casablanca taxi driver, feels that confiscating driving licences poses a real threat to the profession. "Given the mediocre earnings we receive each month, we refuse to be deprived of our licences every now and then for mistakes we rarely, if ever, make...
While waiting for a solution to the conflict, unionists say they are prepared to continue the strike until they get their message across. In their view, the fight against road traffic accidents should be directed not at repressing drivers, but at raising traffic control standards and improving the social and pay conditions for those working in the transport sector.
Transport Minister Karim Ghellab insisted that he will not give in to what he termed as blackmail. He stated that his aim is to make the roads safer by reducing the "slaughter" taking place on Morocco’s highways."
I've always thought the greatest security risk in Morocco is transportation. It seems like the government is trying to reduce that risk, but I can understand where transit workers are coming from. They're stubborn because of the risk associated with change."Morocco is among the worst countries in terms of road safety, as 10 people are killed every day and USD 1.3 billion lost every year.
Last year, road accidents claimed 3,622 lives, i.e. a 4.17% increase compared to 2005. Some 56,426 accidents were recorded during the same period, that is a 5.22% increase compared to the previous year."
We came upon this scene last Sunday evening in Figuig after our first day of class. To celebrate the birthday of Mohammed, local tradition in Figuig is for a man to dress up and march through the streets. As far as know, he represents a bad spirit of sorts. Children were walking with him, taunting him, and throwing firecrackers throughout the city, but not in his direction. This same event happens in the Middle Atlas Mountains and other places with Berbers during Eid Kabir. However, unlike there, this man was not chasing after scared children with a stick. Additionally, I've been told that the Tamazirt language is different here.
There's 3 new signs like this posted in Jerada representing a donkey or mule drawn wagon. In close proximity to most cities and towns, vehicles share road space with wagons transporting souk goods, produce, etc. In Jerada, however, most wagons are carrying coal from the remains of the French turned Moroccan mines closed two decades ago, with drivers' faces and clothing blackened. They're transporting the coal outside of town, where a full load can fetch 500 Dhms. Therefore, these signs for me memoralize those men with charred faces.
"I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs. I think he would be appalled, actually."
Excuse my Arabic or your possible word association, but I'm currently "fuq Fuigig" (on top of Figuig) or "on top of the world" in world's fair Americana. I'm in the southeast corner of Morocco in Figuig, population 16,000, 2 km away on three sides from the Algerian border, and 100 km from the closest Moroccan town. It's geopolitically a border pimple, a town that sustains itself from the governments desire to mark its boundaries with neighboring rival Algeria. Its also a tourist haven (particularly with the French) for its date palmaries and desert feel. Before air travel, it was the last stop in Morocco for those faithful making the long pilgrimage to Mecca.
These are abundant in the Orient region and we tried them once in the survivalist mentality that if we were starving, would it sustain us? No, they're almost inedible. Maybe that's why there's so ubiquitous.
