what ramadan looks like, for us

How have we been spending the Holy Month of Ramadan?  A little of this, a little of that.  

We fasted at the beginning of Ramadan in solidarity with our community.  During the day, we hugged our fans and rested in our living room.  Episode after episode of Lost passed on our computer screen (we're not finished!  no spoilers!) as we avoided eye contact with our water bottles.  At the sound of the call to prayer around 7:45pm, we broke fast with new friends.  Slurping harira, spoonfuls of sellou, mouthfuls of shebakia.  Some evenings, we walked to “the piscine,” a pool/café in town that stays open very late during Ramadan (no swimming at night, just the ambiance of blue pool water).  We drank Sprite and practiced Darija in the moonlight.  And, then, the next day, we did it all over again.  It was fun to see our city, sleepy during the hot day, erupt at night.  There is energy in the air as people, men and woman alike, walk through town together under the stars. 

Then, France happened.  When I asked more seasoned volunteers how to survive summer in Morocco, everyone said, “Leave.” And Nice was oh so nice.   We slipped out of Morocco for a week and ate our way through the south of France.  Literally.  We found cheeses and mussels, macarons and croissants.  We spent the week walking around and holding hands in public (!).  We saw a movie in a movie theatre, and I used my college French to make us dinner reservations.  We ate ice cream at least once a day, and we spent lazy afternoons at the beach.  It was a much-appreciated break.

Oui, we'll take one of every pastry, s'il vous plait. 

Moules Frites!  Fries and Mussels! 

We went on one guided food tour of Nice.  We went on 23 self-guided food tours of Nice.

Climbing up for better and better views.

Long live the baguette!

Oui, we'll take the apartment in the middle.

Now that we are back, we aren’t approaching Ramadan fasting with quite the same zeal.  While fasting and then breaking the fast with our friends has been incredibly special, we also know that the best way for us to endear ourselves to this community is to improve our language skills.  And studying Arabic is hard to do when you are thirsty.*  So we’ve reintroduced coffee and small meals so that we can stay energized and motivated enough to do what we need to do.  I’m still receiving the occasional cooking lesson, and Pete is braving the heat and crowds in the late afternoon to pick up dates and other Ramadan goodies.   And, our kind friends still have us over to break the fast with them in the evenings.

Despite our decision not to continue fasting, we are finding this a time of spiritual renewal.  We’ve incorporated some of our own Catholic practices into our lives lately, and it has helped us think more about people we love and ways to approach our new lives here. I’m not going to lie: Morocco is tough.  Peace Corps is tough.  Leaving France after the most perfect week was tough.  It’s hot, hot, hot here, and we don’t have any meaningful work to do just yet.  But we have each other, we have you, and we are trying to take it one day at a time.

* It’s hard to do.  Period.  See the thermometer photo from a few weeks ago.  Not THAT much has changed.