8.6.07

There were fifteen weddings in Tamazitinu last night. Now, depending on who you ask, Tamazitinu has between 2500-4000 residents. Yesterday was a crazy day, though I only went to two weddings.

I started off by going to my souk town. (My souk town is the nearest city to my site, and I go once or twice a week for tutoring, shopping, internet, and the post office, as well as any official business pertaining to getting a national identity card) On souk days, transportation out is a royal pain: it fills up easily and the tobis driver turns people away sometimes, effectively locking people in Tamazitinu. To diminish the odds of being kept in, I walk about a mile or a mile and a half to the paved road, which is one of the first stops. This means I have to wake up at about 4:45 am to get there by 5:30.

Once in my larger souk town, I checked email and met up with two nearby volunteers. We walked (about two miles) to souk instead of a petit taxi because it’s good to get the exercise, and I bought a few necessities: some plastic shelves for the bathroom, towels to clean with, clothespins, and a pressure cooker.. I can’t wait to learn how to cook lentils and beans here, and the pressure cooker makes it a lot easier, since canned beans are a lot more expensive than dried. I also saw a man from my town who invited me to his family’s house for tea, but since I was with friends, we refused

I realized I was going to be late for my tutoring session, so I somehow managed to find a petit taxi and got back to the main part of town. After tutoring, I priced fridges again and might have found a good deal on a small new one. It’s not coming in until Thursday or Friday, but it’s worth the wait to save the money. I did some more internet, grabbed some fruits and vegetables and a headscarf that matches my new kaftan, and on my way to get flour, I saw my friend who is getting married today and yesterday’s father who helped me get flour and get a kid to wheel the bag to the tobis. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to how wonderfully friendly and helpful people are in my town sometimes, in completely unexpected ways.

The bus ride back was, as always, hot and cramped as we fit 20-25 people in a 15-passenger van, but there were some boys in the back who were playing the drum used for wedding aheydusses and so it was particularly festive.

Once I got back, I was encouraged to sit outside with some neighbors, and I did until I was exhausted and headed back to change out of my sweaty clothes. As soon as I did that, they came to my door and took me to my friend’s house to prepare for her wedding.

After bread and tea, I sat around, talking to the bride’s family and some of her friends. There was a huge vat of couscous over a fire that was probably four feet tall. I offered to help, but they said I didn’t know how to cook Moroccan food, which is true, so I felt in the way but had fun anyway. This all started at about 8 pm. People started arriving an hour later, and by ten-thirty, I was utterly exhausted. It was taking an effort to sit up and stay awake. I told myself to stay at least through dinner.

Dinner (couscous and fruit) gave me a surge of energy, so I went home and put on my kaftan and new headscarf. Everyone loved it. People tend to get very excited when I wear the black wrap or a headscarf or any Moroccan clothes. When I was walking back, the bride saw me through her bedroom window. “Katy!”

I walked into her room and gave her a hug before her appearance outside. It made me feel really good that she wanted to see me before her wedding, you have no idea. I’ve only been here two months, and sometimes I do feel lonely. This made me feel like she really wanted me there, as did her mother and father.

I told her I had to run across town to see another wedding- at least make an appearance—but that I’d be back. Now, this other wedding is of two other “friends” of mine and it’s in the part of town that my host family lives in; again, maybe a mile away. I trudged over in my kaftan and was immediately grabbed into the aheyduss line: a line of women facing a line of men singing a call and response, stepping in time with the music, and playing drums. The association vice president’s brother, who also happens to be my friend’s brother and my ex-neighbor, and newly-wed husband of my landlady’s daughter, saw me with the clothes and said, “Oh, hakek, Katy!” “You’ve got it!” Erm, yeah. I really feel rather self-conscious at times because I know at weddings a lot of people stare at me, so I left the aheyduss line after two songs and stood on the sidelines, waiting for the bride and groom to appear.

My old next-door neighbor, the woman who I said was more like a host-mom, called me over and so I went and sat with her and a lot of people I knew that were hostfamily neighbors. It’s strange feeling like I know people in town even though I’ve only been here two months. I waited, and the bride and groom came out. I watched them sit for awhile, then dance, and after about half an hour, decided I had to go back to my other friends’ wedding to not miss her grand entrance. Her mother had insisted I take pictures, so I felt obligated not to miss it.

I trudged the mile back and realized it was 1 am. Exhausted, I came back upon the wedding to find it very empty. Someone told me that they weren’t starting until all the people from the other wedding came over. So I could have stayed longer! If only I’d known…

The reason that I was so surprised that there were two weddings a mile away is that the two grooms are brothers. I was wondering what family members were planning on doing, and I belatedly realized the answer: start at one, and move to the other.

The bride’s mother grabbed me and made me dance and take pictures of her. The bride and groom came out. There was an aheyduss line. I was exhausted. I took some pictures, and left before the end. When I got home it was 3:30. I had not only walked probably 6-8 miles when it was all said and done, but had been up for 23 hours, spending the majority of that time outside. I felt badly for missing the milk (when the bride and groom feed each other glasses of milk), but the weddings continue today with lunch and more aheydusses and traditional bride costumes. I can’t wait. I just hope that they combine the weddings today.

This is why it’s almost 11 and I’m still sitting around in pjs eating a power bomb, and drinking my newest juice concoction: one cucumber, two oranges, and a pear. Delicious. Why didn’t I ever make juices or smoothies at home? During the summer, there’s nothing quite as magnificent.