I hope my last letter helped you learn a little bit about Morocco and that it found everyone in good health and happiness.

I find life in the Medina and Morocco to be similar to life in Wisconsin and Minnesota, in the sense that it evolves around work, family, friends and religion. But how it is expressed is vastly different and it took a little bit for me to adjust.

An example of this difference is the Moroccan concept of time and schedules. Of course, there are still 24 hours in a day here, and I have already adjusted to a five-hour time zone difference between Wisconsin and Morocco. I will do my best to explain this, but when I talk about time in Morocco I’m looking at how flexible and relaxed the idea of time is to Moroccans. In Wisconsin, many adults and children have their days planned out to the minute as to where they will be and what they will be doing.  Instead of rushing from one place to another, Moroccans seem to take their time and enjoy themselves and their lives, often having chats and conversations with people along the way they are headed. An example of this is if a close friend or relative is going to stop by, rarely is it just for five minutes or an hour; rather, it is a long process involving tea and coffee, and takes up several hours of the day - and this is on both weekdays and weekends. If you plan to meet a friend somewhere around 4 p.m., you can probably expect them sometime before 5 p.m., just because on his way, the friend will talk to people he knows. Now this can be very frustrating at first, coming from a society where “time is money,” but it is actually very comfortable and relaxing once one becomes used to it.

One will often find that life in the Medina (the old city of Fes) centers around three locations: the mosque, the home and the coffee shop! In Islam, a Muslim is required to pray five times a day; with the times being approx. 4 to 5 a.m., around noon, around 3 p.m.,, around 7 p.m., and around 10 p.m. A day in Morocco “starts” around 4 a.m., when the Call to Prayer for Muslims is chanted through the PA system of every mosque in the Medina. Now this wouldn’t be bad, except that they are not simultaneous; so as a result, after being woken up, I hear the Call echo throughout the city - with each mosque being not quite in sync with the others. It is very beautiful, despite the frustration of being awakened rather suddenly like that, and I have become used to it now; some mornings, it doesn’t even wake me up. What surprises me is how many people wake up and choose to walk to their neighborhood mosque and pray there, rather than remain at home to pray as they are allowed to do, This continues throughout the day. At each prayer time, most of the shops in the Medina will close for around 30 minutes, to allow the owner or workers to go to the mosque and pray.

For the most part, this closing of shops for prayer seems to happen just in the Medina. In the Ville Nouvelle (the new city of Fes), working hours are more strongly influenced by the French, thus there seems to be fewer mosques and fewer people going to pray. I am unsure if this means that the people in the Medina are more “religious” than those who live and work in the Ville Nouvelle, or simply that there are different expectations as a result of one’s living and working location.

Besides the prayer schedule, the dining schedule is varied far more than I had expected when I was preparing to come here. In the Medina, unless one has set work hours, most people do not head to work until 9 or 10 a.m., and for breakfast it is usually bread with jam or butter, and Moroccan mint tea. The mint tea is my favorite part of Moroccon life, because it is very sweet and delicious! Lunch is by far the most important meal of the day, and typically, between noon and 3p.m. is considered family time in Morocco. Throughout the city, including the Ville Nouvelle, almost all shops and many government services close so workers can go home to be with their families. Lunch is also usually the biggest meal and will usually contain meat, veggies, fruit and of course bread! Although, since there is prayer around noon, it is about that time that the shop owners will close until the 3 p.m. prayer time, after which they will reopen their shops. The importance of family time is so great that the schools will bus children to and from school twice a day, which allows the children to be part of family time.

After family time and prayer, the are open until the next prayer times and will typically close around 8 or 9 p.m., depending upon the owner; it is around this time that supper is served. This varies from family to family. My host mother typically serves supper around 8:30 p.m., although I know that several of my friends typically will not eat supper until after 10 p.m. Between supper and lunch - maybe around 6 p.m. - most families will have a snack time, when tea or coffee is served, along with some cookies and other food.

In Islam, the traditional Holy Day is on Friday, so typically Friday is the quietest day in the Medina. Usually, shops will open at their regular time in the mornings, but after Friday prayer at noon, the Medina is basically shut down and semi-deserted the rest of the day. It is on Friday that families will typically cook couscous, which is a meal reserved to Holy Days and special occasions. The closing down of the city is confined to the Medina only, as the Ville Nouvelle’s day off or slow time is Sundays, in accordance with the French work schedule This contrast between the two parts of the city is surprising at first; it is all one city, and (unlike during the French Colonial Period) the Ville Nouvelle populace is Muslim Moroccan like the Medina.

The final center of Moroccan life is the small cafes and coffee shops. It is there that many people, mostly men, will spend large portions of their time outside of work and family at the coffee shop. It is here that many men will gather to talk about current events, as well as to go to find jobs, watch soccer or conduct personal or public business. It is rather surprising at how full the coffee shops are at all time of the day and night, especially in the Medina. On several occasions when I have had early classes, I have seen the same men waiting outside a coffee shop for it to open or even helping the owner move the tables and chairs to the outside patio area.

The weather has cooled down a bit in Morocco, with average temperatures being below 90 degrees most days, which is very nice, relaxing and cool compared to the first couple of weeks when the temperatures reached near 100 degrees most days.

I hear the fall colors came in well, and I am quite jealous I am unable to enjoy Wisconsin at its best. I hope all is well and once again please do not hesitate to email me with any questions or comments at lcampa@uwsuper.edu