We've been told things run on Moroccan time. This means things don't run on time. They call it being polychronic as opposed to those monochronic americans. So you go to meet whoever you're supposed to be working with and it turns out they aren't there. Or, they show up two hours later and it's no big deal. Further complications arise from Ramadan and strange daylight savings. On Ramadan all the official business hours are different, and most people stay up all night long so they don't do anything at all in the morning. As for when Ramadan starts, that's somewhat up in the air too. Apparently it's when 19 different people in 19 different places see the moon sometime in mid july. Morocco considers this a more technical/logical method than most of the rest of the Muslim world so Moroccan Ramadan doesn't necessarily coincide with the others. I'll need to pay attention, because once Ramadan starts it is illegal to chew gum/drink/eat in public. The daylight savings is also strange. Last night we turned the clocks forward one hour. They've only started doing this about three years ago so many people don't really know what's up. If you're following the clocks that are turned ahead, you're on "new time" as opposed to "old time". This needs to be clarified before any and all appointments. In David's household the kitchen clock is on old time because that's the domain of the mother who basically doesn't want to deal with this new time crap, and the living room clock is on new time because the kid goes to school and the other daughter works outside of the house. So, now, when I'm on new time at least, I am five hours ahead of the East coast. In a month or two we turn the clocks back (I think). And then I think in a few more months we turn the clocks ahead again. Whether this counts as new time, I'm not sure. As they say, "there's always more time in Morocco".
Here are some pictures from early on- we went to a waterfall near sefrou
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| The only trash bin I've seen |
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| David |
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| a team |
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| culturally inappropriate |
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| fitting in |
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| saeed, culturally facilitating us |
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