Some Things I've Learned

Since coming to Morocco a few days ago, I’ve been absorbing a whole mess of random (and some relevant) information. For the past few days, I’ve been staying in a hotel with all the other new Morocco PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) and host-country staff, it’s amazing the things you’ll learn when you’re surrounded by very smart, very open/giving people. Here’s what I got so far:

The word for “And” in Farsi is “Va” like it is in Israel, though it’s “Wa” in the Arabic-speaking world.

The Darija (Moroccan Arabic) word for “Eight” is “Tlata” though it’s “Thlatha” in FusHa (standard Arabic) and “Shlosha” in Hebrew (maybe the pronunciation I’ve been taught for “Three” in Aramaic really is “Tlata” and not “Thlatha” like I had assumed).

Impromptu jam sessions involving flutes, violins, and ukuleles are ridiculously fun.

Nobody speaks FusHa “standard Arabic,” the type spoken in the Qur’an, not even in Saudi Arabia or Mecca. I’m told it’s like Latin to the Arabic-speaking world, but most books/newspapers/news shows are in FusHa, and everybody learns it in school/uses it to communicate with other Arab countries.

Without FusHa, Darija speakers can’t understand Middle-Eastern Arabs, nor can those in the Middle-East understand Moroccans.

At least one member of the Moroccan (as in from here) staff has Israeli friends on facebook.

The acting ambassador’s wife is Jewish, and has no problems in Morocco. The last name of the new ambassador (who’ll be sworn-in soon) Kaplan, he’s Jewish.

Those last two points make me feel a whole lot safer.

The sky is just as blue in any part of the world. Not that I’ve never been abroad before, but it’s always weird to me. For all I know, I could be on some sunny beach in the U.S. with a large Moroccan population. It doesn’t intrinsically feel like a new place, just a place. that’s weird, but nice.

Grasshoppers can fly in Morocco. They can’t fly well, though, as they’ll repeatedly crash into walls.

After sunset on Ramadan, this town gets crazy. I haven’t gone out at night, but from my window I can see the lights/hear the music…and it’s loud.

Learned a new finger-picking technique for the Ukulele.

Shwarma was introduced to Morocco in the past few years. As far as I can understand, Falafel, pita, and laffa are pretty unheard of here (except maybe in a Lebanese or Syrian restaurant…except for the laffa, nobody here seems to know what that is).

Pop-ups in America are pretty much all for sex. Pop-ups in Morocco don’t show girls (let alone girls showing some skin). They’re all in Arabic or French, but I don’t think they’re for sex/hook-ups/finding yourself a girl-or-boyfriend.

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I can think of right now.