In addition to blogging, I have been keeping a personal journal of my experiences abroad.  The following is a journal entry from Saturday, December 5th. I was in Morocco.

We’re currently staying at a hotel in the middle of the Sahara desert.  We started out in Fez today and after almost eighth hours traveling by bus through the mountains (some of which we looked down on through clouds to see their peaks and ridges), winding around rock formations, coming upon huge, sparkling bodies of water (so unexpected), we got to the town of Merzouga, which means “white whale.”

We saw many people as we passed through several villages.  After reading so much about the anthropology of development, I find myself wondering why we (Westerners) feel the need to come here and change lives.  Just looking at the people reminded me that there are many ways of living, ways completely different from mine or any I’ve yet seen, completely distinct ways of living good, full lives.  I am not the center of the universe.  I am only the protagonist of my own life’s novel.  Same goes to you, Western world. [Note: my thoughts on this are far more complicated than are represented in this entry.] Anyway, it was fascinating seeing all the different people.  And so many flags!  Red with a simple, five-point, green star.  I love it.

The last leg of the trip was most exciting.  We piled into 4x4s and I was with a few other students, a tour guide, and the most vibrant, free spirited Berber man named Adde.  He is a musician and works with tourists.  He is amazing.  He taught us to say beautiful (heh leh–la) and wow (een wa) in Berber.  He told us about his philosophy of music and how some people say music is peace.  He thinks music is peace too, but that it is also love.  And when he is older and he has enough money he’s not going to play for pay anymore, rather just for sharing… because to use music for business is to sell it, and you can’t sell love.  His favorite music is African jazz.  I asked him how he got into it andhow he learned to play.  His answer: “spirit will.”

After dinner, Adde and a bunch of others started playing drums.  We all sat and listened and eventually danced.  Those of us who stayed late ended up doing the limbo with someone’s unfurled turban.  They all (well, not all) have turbans and hats and the long over jackets.   It was so fun that I felt like I had a giant smile on my face the whole time.

Late into the night Elizabeth and Nora, two friends, came to get me.  They led me away from the hotel and into the dunes where there was a bonfire fed by dry palm branches.  We spent 45 minutes sitting with the Berbers on blankets around the fire.  We communicated in Spanish.  I met a 21-year-old named Azu (Ah-zoo) who, until three years ago, lived with his family as a nomad.  When he was 18 they moved to a town (we could see the lights of it glowing across the darkness of the dunes) and now he works with tourists and is learning languages.  It was so interesting.  He said he likes the life in the town more than as a nomad – he said the pastoral life is really hard.

At one point my friend Esteban and I went out to look at the dunes and the sharp, clear night sky.  Orion’s Belt is vertical from here!  It is a metaphor!  This place is so foreign even our constellations are turned on their heads.  Wow.

-SBT