The Generosity of Others

Here is the story of the unlucky nomad: Before leaving Paris I had an apartment lined up for one month, after which time I would clearly find something else. After one week the owner's son put me in a hotel for 'a few days' while his uncle was in town. After a week in the 'Shower-Over-The-Toilet' hotel and multiple phone calls I discovered that the apartment would be indesposed until the end of the summer. One week later I found myself in a friend's apartment, the only problem being the lack of electricity due to months of outstanding bills. Two days before my two-week departure to the north of Morocco with 120 kids, my friend's business partner, disgusted that I was not paying any rent, made it clear that my presence was not in any way condoned and only minutely tolerated. I returned to the S.O.T hotel. Two days before returning to Marrakech I was informed that the apartment I had waiting for me upon my return was, in fact, waiting for someone else. Who wasn't me. I stayed with a new friend from the camp and his family for a few days until they left on an impromptue vacation/marriage in Casablanca. I packed my things yet again and moved to the 'Enough-Space-For-A-Bed' hotel. I am 168 cm tall and I would estimate that the bed was therefore 175 cm. Luckily I am getting better with confined spaces. The Marocan family returned and after a conversation with Aissam about my discontentment with being yet again in a hotel his family offered to take me, once again, and very generously, into their home. I am going to see an apartment tomorrow and may have one place to put my things for the last 2 and half weeks of my stay. Yes!!!!
I am incredibly indebted to Aissam and his family, however, for many many more reasons than simply allowing me a place to leave my things and rest my weary self. They have accepted me, whole-heartedly, as I am, into their home, without question, pretention, or alterior motive. They are genuinely good, sincere, hard-working, and above all loving people. It has been a very very long time since I have felt part of a family and it has been a wonderful and unexpected bonus of my Marocan adventure. Moreover, their modest but comfortable accomadation have meant that I am really living and experiencing Marocan culture, down to the very finest detail. I am extatic to have this opportunity that I know is something very rare and special and without getting too cliché or overly sentimental is something that will stay with me for a very long time. I am beginning to see things in my life through a different, Marocan-tinted lense; I am not entirely sure what that means yet but I am discovering. And I like it.
And the nomad will return with much more than she started off with, even if superficially the difference seems only a change in skin colour.

La Langue Arabe est la Rigolade

"Et maintenant que tu es au Maroc tu peux apprendre l'arabe. C'est facile!" Et moi, soit à haute voix soit à l'intérieur, "vous rigolez, ou qoui?" Mais c'est exactement ça que j'ai commencé à faire il y a deux jours. Non seulement est-ce qu'ils rigolent mais je crois qu'ils sont complètement fous!
Voici ce que je connais déjà: il y a 28 lettres, chaqu'un peut prendre une forme différente, mais similaire, dependant si elle est située au début, au milieu, ou à la fin du mot. Les voyelles prennent deux formes, soit la lettre alif qui change entre le 'a', le 'o' ou le 'i' son selon la position d'un symbole qui s'appelle hamza, soit par 3 symboles différents qui se placent directement en dessus ou au dessous de la lettre. Il y a seulement trois voyelles dans la langue arabe. Par contre, dans l'écriture courante ses deuxièmes symboles sont laissés tombés et il faut simplement savoir le voyelle qui accompagne la lettre en question. Il y a aussi les symboles qui indiquent les dypthongs, les pauses, l'emphase, et un 'n' (même s'il y a une lettre 'n'). Au niveau des lettres il y a deux 'h', cinq lettres qui ressemblent à 'd/th', et il y a deux 't' qui apparament seulement les experts en arabe peuvent differencier. Super!
Après deux jours je connais les symboles et 12 lettres dans les trois formes différentes. Je suis contente avec le progrès que je fais. Bizarrement je suis capable de lire quelques mots, que je prononce pas mal, mais que je n'ai aucu'un idée de ce qu'ils signifient. Mon vocabulaire est toujours assez débutant et bassé sur les mots que j'entends les plus souvents.
Il me fait du bien d'utiliser mon cerveau un peu, l'exercise mentale. Il ne reste pas enormement de choses à faire quand il fait 50 degrés dehors, mais le climat veut dire que je dois me pousser un peu plus parce que je manque de l'envie sauf pour dormir. Par la fin de la semaine prochaine j'aimerais être capable de lire les petits livres comme 'Pierre Mange' ou 'Le Chat Orange', mais l'equivalent arabe, evidement.