The end of Ramadan is oh so near!! Hurray!

I’m so excited to be able to eat and drink water in public and to eat real meals for dinner(hopefully) … I’m also excited for the CCCL (where we have class) to stay open until 6 pm everyday—meaning my time online will increase drastically and hopefully I’ll actually have the real opportunity to upload pictures! But in all honesty, experiencing Ramadan was not totally awful and I’m so happy I was in Morocco for the holiday. I’m very anxious to see post-Ramadan life and how different it becomes. In a sense, Ramadan is supposed to represent a month of purity, being extra pious and simply beholding the essence of “a good Muslim”, so I’m very anxious to see how much this month really affects people’s actions and way of life. Even within the month of Ramadan itself I’ve been able to see a slight decline in “piousness” (If I’m really one to judge…) as the holiday has begun to whine down. For example, now you can see one or two people smoking during the day when a few weeks ago you never would have seen that. Even our Ramadan “breaking the fast” meals have gotten less stringent and less shbekkia is being served. Also, none of the clubs or bars have been open during Ramadan because duh, Muslims are “never supposed to consume alcohol” but especially during Ramadan. So the clubs do their renovations during this time because they’d hardly get any business anyway. I’m very excited to see them open though! J
My family has also, thus far, seemed to be very religious, meaning they definitely do all their prayers everyday and both of my parents visit the mosque at least once that I know of every evening. Not everyone’s families pray at home from what I’ve heard and I’m interested to see if the dynamic in my family will change at all. I don’t even know if we all will continue to have dinner all together.
TV is also a big thing in Morocco and there is hardly a house without a TV set. My family watches while we eat, just like everyone else, but it’s not really where the family congregates besides when we’re eating. And I know some students in my program who spend hours every night with their family watching silly soap operas in Arabic. (I’m very grateful I’m not forced to do that more that during dinner! Haha) Yes, in a lot of ways, I’m very lucky. My family is very good about giving me my personal space to write, read or just lay down. I’m very grateful they give that to me because I am definitely the type of person who needs a certain amount of time dedicated to myself. But this concept of “personal space” is one of the many American traits that do not transfer in any way to Moroccan culture. My siblings don’t even have any personal space besides a few shelves in a communal closet. (My things are all hidden under a small table with a long table cloth. I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this aspect of life yet but I’m literally living out of suitcases and I have to climb in the floor and rummage through everything to get what I want everyday… its really awful and makes me want to cry everyday… but it’s still more personal space than anyone else in this household has! One of the more unbelievable aspects to Moroccan life…)
But of course, as I’ve found through talking with my classmates, every Moroccan family is very different and has their own style of doing Ramadan or anything—just like there’s no American family that eats dinner in the exact same fashion. Some families are more rigorous and strict, some are more casual. But I don’t know how much Ramadan is affecting that. Hmmm I don’t know! I’m very anxious to see what changes.
But as I was saying, Ramadan ends either this Tuesday or Wednesday (you never know until the very last day because it depends on the moon which is apparently unpredictable in advance). And, the end of the holiday is as much of a celebration as the beginning. We have Wed-Fri off school because the center will be closed. It’s called something like Aid Liftar. And I have no idea what that is translated, probably something simple and I could just ask but I’m to the point of not wanting more Arabic in my life than necessary after 3 painful hours each morning.
Anyway, for the 5 day break I think a small group of us are going to Agadir which is Morocco’s most happenin beach spot. I’m aiming for relaxing and stress-free after roughing it last weekend… I can’t wait to shower for 5 days in a row (that has not happened yet)! Granted I will probably spend more money than will make me happy but not every vacation can be dirt cheap I suppose… And it still will only cost $20 to go half way across the country. Not complaining.
Also, I decided I had to figure out this Skype business even though it stresses me out because it’s just such a cheap way to communicate. My user name is jacey.totta and you all can download it for free and call me for free if you have a microphone OR we can instant message through it. So add me and talk to me if I’m ever on at the same time you are… I’m becoming desperate to talk with my family and friends!!!!