Being a vegetarian in Morocco

It's impossible. You can't do it. These aren't things that people just say, this is reality. It's impossible to be a vegetarian in Morocco. Not because you can't find dishes without meat, but because the dishes with meat are too good to turn down.

1. Treed/Rfissa

 For example. My favorite moroccan dish is called Treed (interesting fact: in the south of Morocco it's called Treed, in the north it's called Rfissa). It's a labour intensive dish which includes msimmon, chicken tajine, and many hours of labour. You essentially cut up and re-fry the msimmon (a delicious Moroccan snack that you can eat with cheese or Amlou or you can often find it stuffed with onions and veggies)

Misimmon

After re-frying the msimmon, you put it under the chicken tajine, and let the sauce soak into the msimmon. 

Moroccan Chicken tajine. 

After all of this, you serve the delicious treed. The part that makes this dish so labour intensive is the fact that the msimmon is usually made on the spot, as well as the tajine. And I can tell you from personal experience that msimmon is not easy to make. 

2. Seffa

Seffa is also a delicious Moroccan dish. It's essentially broken vermicelli noodles steamed 5-7 times (on the last time you add the raisins) and then the preparing of the chicken. The chicken should be mixed with saffron (essential in Moroccan dishes) onion, spices, and butter. You MUST cook it until it is very tender, and then you take it out of the liquid (which should be a thick sauce). 

You then take the Vermicelli noodles and toss them with butter and powdered sugar. You place the meat and sauce under the pile of noodles, and arrange the noodles appropriately. Afterwards you create lines of cinnamon and powdered sugar (as in the picture) and you can also add crushed almonds, if you so desire. and voila! You have a DELICIOUS Moroccan dish (please dont use my instructions search better and more detailed ones online) but yes, this is my second favorite dish, Seffa. 

3. Mrouzia

I have no idea how to make Mrouzia, but I think this was the first dish I ate in Morocco. It is a sweet and salty meat tajine (usually made with lamb) with honey, spices and very often times prunes. We ate it during the time period of Eid el Adha (the sacrificing of the sheep). It is so yummy. 

4. Pastilla

Pastilla is essentially a meat pie, although it can be stuffed with many different things. My favorite one is pastilla with pigeon. I know that sounds strange for many people, but it's delicious. The pigeon can be substituted with chicken (although it's not the same). The one with pigeon (or chicken) is then coated with powdered sugar and cinnamon, only adding to the already wonderful taste. 

5. Couscous

This is what I eat every friday for lunch. My host mother (and basically all other mothers in Morocco) prepare this dish on fridays. It is couscous with steamed vegetables and oftentimes either lamb or chicken. After Eid el-Adha, we had lamb couscous for about three months afterwards. The couscous that my host mother makes is so good, with pumpkin, cabbage, eggplants, carrots, fava beans, zucchini, potatoes and other vegetables. Everyone is assigned to a "lane" (lanes are often separated by a zucchini or eggplant in my family) and you must stay in your assigned lane. My host mother always throws the meat into my lane and tells me to eat it. She has made it very clear that this is a gesture of love; guests are often showered with meat in their couscous lane, it gets to be overwhelming. In the beginning of my stay in Morocco, it was hard for me to clear out my entire lane. But now, it's so easy to eat all of the couscous. I guess its a question of getting used to it. 

So yea, these are a few of the many reasons why being a vegetarian in Morocco is impossible. Also this is a list of my favorite foods. This list will be updated since it hasn't even begun to cover a third of my favorites in Morocco. 

It's 1.30 am and my stomach is growling since I've been looking a pictures of food for so long...so

Bsalama for now!

Honestly

Trust is something I've always held dear to me. When the State Department chose me as a candidate for the NSLI-Y scholarship, I assumed this meant they trusted me. They trusted me enough to be a language scholar and to uphold the rules set in place by them. This I have done, but what frustrates me the most about this program is the lack of trust between the smaller players. Between the implenting facility in country and the students. Between the individuals that are responsible for the students and the students. One would think that they would trust us enough to believe us when we make certain claims. The complete and utter lack of trust infuriates me. The simple fact of the matter is that one should just listen and take into consideration what we are saying. If someone simply ignores what we, the students HAND PICKED by the State Department, have to say it not only demonstrates a childish attitude, but also a lack of maturity. Of course, one doesn't have to believe what we have to say on the spot, but I thought it was common courtesy to just listen. 

I guess I never expected to not be trusted; I never expected that my actions would be questioned. I would expect the trust from the State Department to be carried on by the resident director and the place of learning in country. 

As much as the State Department tries to make your stay a most pleasurable and hospitable one (which they have done and I am very grateful), it is oftentimes the indivduals not affiliated with the State Department that make you question whether you really want to be here or not. 

Bsalama for now (and insha'allah, the next post will be more upbeat. I just felt that this was in issue I wanted to address. Hopefully this doesn't cause any further issues, I'm just glad this is out in the open now). 

Honeymoon is over.

When one moves to a different country, a radically different one from their home country, and they live there for a while, they experience something called culture shock. What is culture shock, you may be wondering.
Well, it's essentially how one reacts to the culture they are placed in.

There are usually four stages: 1. the honeymoon phase (everything is great and I love it here!) 2. the negotiation phase (god this is so different from home I hate it) 3. Adjustment phase (it makes sense!) 4. The "understanding" phase (everything is put into place, and one is able to become a functioning member of society and enjoys living there).

For everyone, the time periods between these stages are a bit different. But for me (and a large part of my group) the honeymoon phase is definitely over. Right now, there are parts of living here that are irking me more than they used to, and perhaps more than they should be. But it's nice to be coming out of the "rose bubble". I like to be seeing things with a realistic glass, you know?
And I am starting to miss things in the United States more. Mostly the freedom that the United States offers its citizens. I miss being able to wear whatever I want. I could wear whatever I wanted to here, but not only would that be incredibly culturally insensitive, it would also receive a lot of unwarranted attention from people on the street. I guess part of the reason I'm realizing all these emotions right now is because Halloween is right around the corner. In the States, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays....and people in Morocco don't celebrate it.

Mumkin I'm being a bit dramatic, but hey this is my blog, I'm allowed to rant.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Morocco....yet. No no, I kid, I kid. I don't think I'll ever hate Morocco. But some things might continue to bug me. The trash on the street, the glue-sniffing street youths, the constant stares, the fact that I'm unable to connect with my host sister at all despite the efforts I'm making, the smell that ALL my clothes in Morocco have and the fact that I'm unable to make it go away...that's just a few of the things that bother me.
I know that in the future these things will start to irk me less, but for now they will continue to irk me and I will try to ignore them.

Alot of people say that study abroad is fun, and its nothing but good experiences. That is one of the biggest lies that I've ever heard. Sure, study abroad is fun, but there are difficulties. One thing is that you're learning what you have to immediately apply. There is no "understanding" period. There are no breaks. There is no bullshitting your way through class. You have to understand what you're learning, or else you're stuck in situations where you dont understand what is going on. Then again that is about 85% of your study abroad experience.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that study abroad isn't all fun. It's challenging, like almost everything else you choose to embark on.

I would suggest it to most people because it is a good way to understand your limits and what you're comfortable doing.

Sorry for the super long post but these were things I needed to get out, also they are facts about study abroad that not many people talk about.

Bsalama for now!