Weaving away

Here is a video of a carpet being woven in a shop in Fes. There were three women working on it and we were told it would take over a month to be completed.

La vista de una malagueña

When my fellow English teachers and I first arrived here there was a lot of complaining going on- our commute to work, rude people in the street, restaurants, slowness everywhere, not knowing who to go to for help etc. I figured that I would get used to it thereby becoming a "malaguena" who could not be phased by any bump in the road. Yesterday I learned that it is not just us foreigners who are frustrated and fed up with the way of life here...

It started in a conversation during my private English class. My student, who normally can be timid during our conversations, choosing to speak more Spanish than English was on the ball from the second I walked in her flat, "Hi!!!! How are you??? Would you like a coffee?" Our conversation started with a summary of our respective Semana Santa vacations and then there were three main important things we talked about that I would like to share:

She began by saying that recently she has been feeling very frustrated, disappointed and turned off by Málaga and wants a change for a while. First she told me about a man on her street who wears a green jacket and will put a big metal object in front of your car when you are trying to park so that you have to pay him in order to park. There is no one she can talk to about it and clearly it is illegal since the parking is supposed to be free. She says if she called the police they would think she was crazy and ask her why she was calling. They have no doorman or super in the building so they can't complain about problems on the street or in the building. I cant imainge not having a super. My building in New York is very safe, but small problems or even big ones come up every once in a while and you need a person to go to for help. The woman said the attitude here is (and she put her head in the air and started humming) that no one cares, people want to mind their own business because no one wants to be the person to complain about something. She said that the laweyer they have doesnt give a "mierda" either. Note: Spain could use some passionate and caring lawyers

Secondly, she is fed up with all of the doggy doo on the street. As I have mentioned before Málaga is a candidate for European Cultural Capital in 2016 and the other day some woman printed out signs saying "Málaga European Cultural Capital 2016" and stuck it in all of the dogg droppings she saw on the streets in Málaga. Pretty funny right?

Thirdly, she commented that women here are not equal to men like they are in other countries, that Spain is still very backwards in this regard. She said that instead of fighting for equal rights, women are extremely aggressive and rude especially when they drive their cars and constantly honk their horns and yell things our their windows.

And just today I was walking along the promenade towards Limonar to give a clase particular when three malagueños rode by me on their bikes and the last one pinched my butt. They kept riding, but would turn back periodically to smile and laugh at me and one even fell off his bike further up the road. It's like... really? What kind of education and upbringing did you have that you think you can ride by a woman on your bike and grab her ass. Give me a break Spain. Me da asco. Odio los malagueños.

So in conclusion, you are not being a high maintenance bratty American. People here ARE really rude, sleazy and inappropriate and the way of life IS extremely inefficient and frustrating to locals as well. And for those of you malagueños that this does not apply to, I did not mean to offend you, but PLEASE tell your compañeros to get their act together and start acting like a respectable society instead of a pack of barbarians.

Inspirational Quote #12

" I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel´s sake. The great affair is to move" - Robert Louis Stevenson

Semana Santa

Don't be alarmed at the photos. This is not a KKK celebration , it is a procession from Semana Santa in Málaga! For those of you who don´t know, Spaniards don´t celebrate Easter like we do in the United States. In the south of Spain at least, the biggest celebrations being in Sevilla and Malaga, there is a week long celebration of music, dance, theater, culture and religion during the last week of lent called Semana Santa which means "Holy Week." The week is defined by its stunning processions. Generally each procession boasts a float with either the Virgin or a scene from Christ´s passion. Holding up each float are about 40 or 50 men called "costaleros" who haul the float on their shoulders and control the swaying motion of the float. The biggest difference between the processions in Malaga and Sevilla is that in Malaga the costaleros can be seen carrying the float while in Sevilla they are hidden under a curtain and you can only see their feet shuffling by.

The processions went on all week long, but since I was in Morocco I just got to see the last two days of them. There were dozens going on all day from 4pm until 4am right in front of my flat! Many times it was very difficult to exit and enter my building, kind of like how people living on Fifth Avenue feel during the Puerto Rican Day Parade. I felt privileged to witness such an important tradition in southern Spain (even though the outfits really creep me out.)

I'm on a camel!

"Ride a camel" has been on my to-do list for quite a while now. Very happy I can check it off and proceed down the long list of things I need to do in life-two of those things being "african safari" and "background dancer in a rap video."

Our group of over 50 people took a two hour camel ride from the hotel in Merzouga to an oasis in the Sahara. Before out departure the hotel staff dressed us in a burqa to protect us from the sun and sand.

I have many things to say about riding a camel. First and foremost, they are way taller than I realized. When the camel goes from sitting/lying down to standing up you have to hold on tight because it jerks forward and then backwards and then forwards again. It kind of reminded me of a bull riding experience at Johnny Utahs.

The initial feeling was quite exhiliarting. I was a big horseback rider in middle school so it felt good to be straddling a large animal once again .. We were sorted into groups of five, our five camels connected by a rope with a guide holding the rope at the front. So it was very different from horseback riding in the sense that we did not have to direct, lead or do any kind of steering. It was also very different because instead of a saddle with stirrups we sat on a bunch of blankets and other unknown uncomfortable items strapped on with ropes with our feet dangling down on the sides.

Unlike humans who generally pause, think and then motion towards the nearest "WC" sign, camels go to the bathroom whenever they want. And they go a lot. The girl in front of me was basically riding a walking toilet the whole time and I couldn´t handle it. I guess I´m kind of immature because every time I saw her camel do his business I felt the need to shout out to her and laugh about it.

All of this silliness said, the camel ride was so liberating, relaxing and unlike anything I´ve ever experienced. Knowing that I was in the middle of nowhere, let alone the Sahara surrounded by sand for miles was such a calming feeling. However, by the end of the two hours my body was more than ready to dismount from the creature. I never expected to actually get a workout from riding a camel, but my legs were super sore afterwards!

Buffet Me

One of my favorite things about Morocco was definitely the buffet style eating, at EVERY single meal. It was pretty much my dream come true ( did I just say that out loud?!?) There were amazing vegetables, mystery meats and desserts every day three times a day. It was a blessing and a curse that I had a pretty bad cold the whole week in Morocco and had to rely on Rachael to taste and smell things since I was not able to. When I could taste the food though it was amazing!

Inspirational Quote #11

"Make your bargain before beginning to plow" - Arab proverb