Hiwar jins filmaqha

Today our Moroccan speaking partners visited us in class. This has been a really awkward experience for the past two weeks, but today three of us and our Moroccan friend left the classroom to sit in a cafe and talk there instead. Our speaking partner, let's call him Khaled, led us to a cafe in Al-Hamariya (the new city) which is apparently a hotspot for local shabab (young adults). There we had a relaxed conversation and naturally the topic turned to sex.

Khaled confirmed that there is absolutely no source for reliable information about sex in Morocco. Discussing sex with family members is strictly taboo, so young people only talk about it with their friends. Still, sex happens, and condoms and birth control are legal (though maybe not widely used, judging from the amount of children I see running around in the streets). We also talked about elopement (zawaaj al-urfee), which is a new but growing phenomenon in the Arab World. Laws concerning marriage and elopement change from country to country, and in Egypt, couples who elope have fewer legal privileges than do couples who receive their parents official blessing.

I also asked Khaled about the recent law concerning women's rights. The law is known as Mudawwanat al-Usra (The Family Code), and its latest amendment was passed in 2004 and extended greater legal rights and protections to Moroccan women. One of the key portions of the amendment grants women the right to initiate divorce proceedings against their husbands. Other provisions of the law concern children's rights, polygamy, and marriage. You can read more about the law here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudawana.

Today I procrastinated doing my homework in the best way possible: by going swimming! We are hoping to set up a game of Ibn Battuta, our Arabic innovation on Marco Polo, which honors the Moroccan explorer and Islamic scholar Ibn Battuta, who traveled the world by ship in the 1300s and covered a greater distance than any explorer after him until the invention of the steam ship.

Lastly, I want to describe the horror that is the hotel soundtrack that plays in the lobby and all the hallways of our hotel. The playlist consists of the following:

25%: “All By Myself” sung by Celine Dion

25%: “It's All Coming Back to Me Now” sung by Celine Dion

25%: “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” sung by Celine Dion

20%: 15 Minutes of Santana Guitar Licks

5%: Other

Sometimes one of these options will be looped over and over for up to a day straight. If Hell has a soundtrack, it is certainly this.