Eid is in the air

It’s not that I dislike making up dance moves in my room, or reading when it’s too late to go out by myself, and I wont deny that I secretly enjoy reciting poems to myself; it is also painfully evident that I spend a lot of time blogging. Indeed, some aspects of solitude are agreeable. But sometimes I fear stasis in this city that relinquishes its streets to prowling cats and persisting rats after the evening prayer.

I’d love to expound on my plans to voyage with Soukaina to her family, but in all truthfulness, I can only say for certain what will happen during the first leg. Tomorrow morning, with a backpack full of my most conservative clothing, I will buy some pastries and bottled water on my way to the train station, where I will buy my usual ticket to Kenitra. Then the unknown begins. I’ll have to win a foot-race to a cab, and ask to be taken somewhere I’ve never been. If luck is with me, Soukaina will be waiting somewhere in the vicinity, but if not I’ll be the one waiting because she doesn’t have a cell phone. The length of our journey to her hometown, Sidi Abd el Aziz, is unknown, as is its nature. She plans on staying until next Sunday, and unless the country water or meat wrecks havoc on my stomach, I will stay as well. Apparently, traveling is so outrageously hectic during the holiday week that it is necessary to leave early and stay late.

Oh no! 9 days without new posts? Don’t worry, here’s a list of things you can read/do in the interim:

• follow the Myanmar Elections (http://english.aljazeera.net/InDepth/spotlight/MyanmarElections2010/). Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for my entire life.
• read anything by Sherman Alexie
• find out why Muslims sacrifice sheep during “عيد الاضحئ” (Eid al-adha, also known as Eid al-kabir in North African countries). When I come back, I hope to have pictures of a traditional Eid to share. (pronounced aid, like in aiding and abetting)
• Wish my magnificent mother a happy birthday!! (the 16th)

This morning, I went to a conference on “the problem of harmonizing the Moroccan legal system with international conventions: progress, obstacles, and challenges.”

Basically there were talks about the need for the right to criticize religion, the right to question the government, the problem of discrimination in implementing rights, the issues of human rights, women’s rights, etc,  so many rights that I left. Pun intended. Unfortunately, only small sections of the conference were in French and the rest was in Arabic, so there wasn’t much to do.

Off to bed. I’ve been so nervously shuffling through my clothes that you’d think I was going on a first date. Except that instead of trying to find something enticing to wear, I’m packing anything that shrouds the smallest hint of a curve. Not that I have much too hide in the first place; I have the body of a rhubarb stalk- or maybe its an aerodynamic blessing in disguise. Anyway, I hope to be able to share some of my notes and photos next Monday. Then Tuesday I’m off for my first trip to Fes to fly to Spain again.

What $2.75 can buy you. I had already finished my salad when I took this (little white dish)