Finding the Punctuation. I’ve been having a hard time connecting to the internet. The wireless on my laptop didn’t work with the wireless at the big hotel in town, so I tried a cyber café. But I couldn’t access my e-mail because I couldn’t get to the $ sign which is part of my password. There are 4 things on each key on an Arabic keyboard, but no one could tell me how to get to the $ which was in the upper right on the usual 4 key. The bottom two characters were something else. So that was a bust. Today, I found a different Cyber café, and while they tried to help me with the $ sign, I figured out that I could copy the symbol from Word and access my e-mail that way.
Finding the symbol was just the beginning, though. Typing English on an Arabic keyboard gives you really weird words…I kept getting words that looked like s*/ql. The gal running the place thought I was really funny because I spent a lot of time looking for the keys, and often had to go back and correct what I wrote. Some keys, across the middle, are in the same places, but a and q are reversed and m is way out on the end after a bunch of punctuation. I had a hard time finding the period, and never did find the apostrophe. It seemed like there were lots of punctuation keys, but I couldn’t get to some because of the four things on each key. So my e-mails may be a bit screwy.
The cyber café was, however, an interesting experience. A guy repairing a computer in the shop wanted to talk while I was trying to write e-mails. We had quite a conversation in French, and he told me a number of times that I should learn Arabic, but when I tried Arabic, he would switch to French. In theory, I was paying for an hour on the computer, but he talked for at least fifteen minutes…and an hour costs about $0.40, so I figured it was worth it for the conversation and experience!
Eid il fitr. Today (21 Sept.), in Morocco, is the Feast of Breaking the Fast (Eid il fitr), the holiday that ends Ramadan. The occurrence of the feast is an interesting quirk. Some (I don’t know whom) Islamic authority in Morocco has to see the moon for the feast to start. All the rest of the Muslim world in the Levant and North Africa ended Ramadan on Saturday, but apparently the authority in Morocco did not see the moon, so Morocco didn’t end Ramadan until Sunday night…so the holiday was Monday. Another historical idiosyncrasy which seems a bit incongruous in today’s world, not knowing when a holiday will be until the night before.
Everything was pretty much closed today, but people were promenading all over the city wearing fancy new clothes. Lots of bright colors and shiny fabrics, and stripes on caftans (for women) and djallabas (for men). It was a pleasure to walk with little traffic and I took quite a lot of pictures. Not of people, though, because I didn’t feel comfortable as it was their holiday. I saw a woman in a brilliant orange tob and several bright reds and a number with vertical stripes, a few abstract patterns. I saw a man in a djallaba that was shiny silver with black and brown vertical stripes…he looked a little like a fancy living room chair, as it looked like upholstery fabric. Very festive, though.
Finding the symbol was just the beginning, though. Typing English on an Arabic keyboard gives you really weird words…I kept getting words that looked like s*/ql. The gal running the place thought I was really funny because I spent a lot of time looking for the keys, and often had to go back and correct what I wrote. Some keys, across the middle, are in the same places, but a and q are reversed and m is way out on the end after a bunch of punctuation. I had a hard time finding the period, and never did find the apostrophe. It seemed like there were lots of punctuation keys, but I couldn’t get to some because of the four things on each key. So my e-mails may be a bit screwy.
The cyber café was, however, an interesting experience. A guy repairing a computer in the shop wanted to talk while I was trying to write e-mails. We had quite a conversation in French, and he told me a number of times that I should learn Arabic, but when I tried Arabic, he would switch to French. In theory, I was paying for an hour on the computer, but he talked for at least fifteen minutes…and an hour costs about $0.40, so I figured it was worth it for the conversation and experience!
Eid il fitr. Today (21 Sept.), in Morocco, is the Feast of Breaking the Fast (Eid il fitr), the holiday that ends Ramadan. The occurrence of the feast is an interesting quirk. Some (I don’t know whom) Islamic authority in Morocco has to see the moon for the feast to start. All the rest of the Muslim world in the Levant and North Africa ended Ramadan on Saturday, but apparently the authority in Morocco did not see the moon, so Morocco didn’t end Ramadan until Sunday night…so the holiday was Monday. Another historical idiosyncrasy which seems a bit incongruous in today’s world, not knowing when a holiday will be until the night before.Everything was pretty much closed today, but people were promenading all over the city wearing fancy new clothes. Lots of bright colors and shiny fabrics, and stripes on caftans (for women) and djallabas (for men). It was a pleasure to walk with little traffic and I took quite a lot of pictures. Not of people, though, because I didn’t feel comfortable as it was their holiday. I saw a woman in a brilliant orange tob and several bright reds and a number with vertical stripes, a few abstract patterns. I saw a man in a djallaba that was shiny silver with black and brown vertical stripes…he looked a little like a fancy living room chair, as it looked like upholstery fabric. Very festive, though.
It has been quite a cultural experience to be here and in close contact with the staff of the guesthouse, who were all observing Ramadan. Even though I’ve been in various Islamic countries when Ramadan occurred, it has been much more immediate here. Everyone (except children and sick people) here observes the fast from before dawn to sunset for the month of Ramadan.So the deal is, you pray, then eat a huge meal at 3:30 or so in the morning, then go back to bed for a few hours, but not really to sleep. It’s hard to miss the racket when they get up at 3 AM for the call to prayer and then eat. And the last few days it has been chaos at that hour, so we haven’t really been sleeping much after 3 AM either. Then, in theory, you work all day, pray a couple more times, and then just before sunset, pray again and then go home and eat another huge meal. And everyone does it.
The half hour before the end of the fast is utter madness. People are crazed from hunger and thirst and men want to get to the mosque to pray or get their food for the meal home, so being on the streets is chaos. Everyone, including pedestrians, donkey carts, bicycles, mopeds, cars and trucks, is in a massive hurry; hungry and thirsty. The traffic, the noise, and the chaos were unlike anything I have ever experienced.
One day I went out half an hour before the end of the fast, with Saïda in a carrier. I turned around and came home after five minutes because she was meowing so loud and I was afraid for my life because of the mopeds screaming down the narrow roads at top speed, cars and pedestrians dodging each other and the sheer volume of noise. I think you get bonus points in heaven if you die during Ramadan. Then, as soon as the fast ends, it is absolutely quiet for several hours while they eat!
It is really amazing that all of these people feel compelled to practice their faith en masse, in the same way it has been practiced for over a thousand years. It is impressive to observe; but, when you really start thinking about it, it is also incredibly scary. Imagine airplane pilots, tanker captains, even taxi drivers - or surgeons, computer system technicians or people making money transfers in banks - after a month of half a night’s sleep each night, no food or water for 14 or 15 hours everyday…by the end of the month, how can they function without making potentially disastrous mistakes? Yikes! It is mind boggling. It helps me to understand why progress is slow. When one month out of the year is pretty much unproductive, that must have massive impacts on the economy, education, the efficiency of any services, etc.
However, it is amazing to observe the unity with which they all observe the rituals. We could do with some of that unity. On the other hand, I am really not up for fasting to this degree! The two Englishmen in the guesthouse and I did a bit of fasting in sympathy…but only to the point of skipping lunch! And we were still drinking water all day. Normal life in Morocco will be a pleasant change tomorrow.
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