odds and ends

i have talked a little about amine. a young man in his mid 20s, he is single and studying to be a train engineer for the national railways of morocco. he is about 5 oot 6, and as i mentioned for most of the trip he is in the traditional brown jellaba (think ben kenobi) and yellow hat with black and brown stripes. he was on holiday so he also was sporting the need a shave look (i an sporting some totally saeet facial hair myself). the driver was abdul, about my age and build (with maybe a few more tajines added in), clean shaven and with a lot less english proficiency than amine. no jellaba for abdul - he owns only one to amine's 7. abdul is married. interestingly altough it was a lot more work abdul was slightly more curious of the two, but he was always a little nervous with the engligh (a little french sometmes helped; honestly but for amine we probably would have done better in french).

which leads to one observation - while people here SPEAK french, it really goes along way to speak some arabic. it makes sense because french means nothing to them culturally but its been a helpful think to learn the little bit i know

another interesting thing is the dress here. as a rule cities are more western and the rural areas less (although the younger men everywhere are pretty western, even under their jellalba)



also many men were these shoes/slippers moroccan adidas



men wear them in jellaba and without; i have seen a guy in western suit with these shoes (called babouches).

women, even in the moutains still rarely wear the full saudi-style veil; yet many women still cover their heads, but in rabat there were plenty dressed like any frenchwoman or female spaniard you would see on the street.