El Fadl Times: Afternoon Edition

Our little neighborhood is El Fadl. Five to ten years ago this suburb was just farmland and now it represents the edge of the Marrakech boom that has been going on the past ten years. Apart from being obviously foreign, our crew fits in nicely here. It is a family area fairly far removed from the hustle of the Medina, (I always think of Ton Loc). Kids are all around, mostly unsupervised, and everyone knows each other. This does a fairly good job of keeping creeps and bad dudes out. Everyone in a ten block radius knows we are here and the general attitude has been one of total acceptance. It seems that as long as you are yourself, and not a jerk or hustler, we are accepted into the community. Nice.

So here we are in a muslim Arab/Berber community, clearly Americans or at the very least French, and not a bad vibe has been tossed our way. I wonder, given the current state of affairs, would the welcome be as strong if the roles were reversed? Maybe, maybe not. I'll tell ya what though, kids are kids everywhere. People say hello just the same, and a smile goes a long way.

Real important to respect other cultures as well, and some things you have to learn the hard way. It seems that everyone is willing to give us a chance though and we are really grateful for the experience. Being immersed in a muslim culture can be a bit intimidating at first, but in the end everybody just wants the same things: food, shelter, and a better life for their kids. Of course there are bad apples; that is also no different than anywhere else on the face of the planet. For the most part though, they make up a minority and luckily our path has not taken us in their direction.

We have spent the past week or so just hanging around our hood. Playing football, talking with the security guys, cooking and eating, as well as devoting a couple hours a day to language studies, math, science and reading. For languages, mostly Moroccan Arabic, Turkish, and Greek... with some English thrown in.

We have been given a rare opportunity to live in a very foreign environment and the magic of it has not missed us. We have a few weeks left here in Morocco and most of that will be spent on the beach... plans yet to unfold there. We have seen many places in this country and the landscape is amazing. The real gem however has been getting a larger perspective on the world and some of its most resourceful people.