Midterms? Already?

It is officially midterms week! Which means I am officially halfway done with my semester abroad.

Last Saturday (not this past Saturday) marked a holiday – the Prophet’s (SAW) Birthday. It was interesting to celebrate this with my host family since it is not a holiday I celebrate with my own family. Some Moroccans regard the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad ‘s (SAW) birthday as shirk.

The celebrations were simple and based around the meals. Instead of having our usual orange juice, bread, jam and cheese for breakfast, we had a whole beautiful array of honeyed pastries. Our host mother had spent the previous week preparing sesame-seed encrusted cookies, pastries soaked and re-soaked in honey, crepe-like things which you pour honey over, etc.

The family-style method of eating in Morocco reminds me very much of the wadhwan-eating style of Kashmir. Here, the main dish is placed in the middle of the table and everyone eats from that communal plate. This is the style we eat in every Friday for couscous (a later entry will detail the joy of Friday couscous) and how we ate lunch.

For lunch, host mama had prepared a huuuge shoulder of sheep. Afterwards, she served chicken pastilla (pastilla is light, round pastry stuffed with sweetened meats, almonds, powered in cinnamon) which had to have been at least 14 inches in diameter.

Anyway – back to studying for midterms but now all I can think of is food! I can’t wait for Wednesday – midterms will be over and then Friday, we are all traveling to the North to Ceuta in Spain, Chefchaoeun, Tangiers and Asillah.