Ahlan wasahlan Casablanca!

We left Rabat on Wednesday after 4 days of meetings during the day and exploring at night.  Even though it is the capital of Morocco, the center of the city is fairly calm and easy to walk around to see the many historical sights.
Casablanca, only an hour down the coast, is completely different.  It is the financial powerhouse of, not only Morocco, but much of Africa.  The traffic is insane.  It reminded me of Turkey and some parts of South America; if there is room for another car, then an extra "lane" is created.  Drivers usually drive down the center of two lanes because they don't want to commit to one or the other.  Honking is constant and usually unnecessary.

My balcony

We checked into our hotel and, while the others explored the city, I went to get my apartment keys and then see the university where I will be teaching, Ben M'Sik.  My apartment is in the embassy area and on a main street.  It is very safe and women wear almost anything that you would see in any European city, except shorts and extremely short skirts.  There are cafes, grocery stores, and bars as well as small specialty shops.  The apartment itself is large and has a tiny balcony off of the main bedroom.  I usually eat out there and at night I sit with a glass of wine and watch the traffic and all of the people. 

Fellows, department head and vice-dean at Ben M'Sik

The neighborhood around Ben M'Sik, however, is very different.  As we rode out there, it became rougher and more conservative.  On the streets, most women wear the chador.  At the school, the dress tends to range from covered legs and arms (jeans and a shirt are okay) to the chador.  I wear a longer skirt and cover my shoulders, but I am probably wearing the least conservative outfit.





Thursday night we went out to dinner at a lovely restaurant across the bay from Hassan II Mosque which was built 30 years ago and is the 3rd largest in the world.  It is hard to see how huge it is, but I included people to give a sense of scale.  At sunset it is incredibly beautiful.

Since it was Margot's birthday, we had to get cake and each feed her a bite.  I'm not sure where this tradition comes from, but you can see the mosque in the background.  A strange thing about this restaurant is that the smoking area is inside and the nonsmoking is outside on the covered patio.

Friday we had more meetings and then went out dancing.  We found a place, Back Stage, right down the street from my apartment that had a band playing American covers, Bruno Mars, James Brown, etc. the first half and then Moroccan pop the second half.  There wasn't a dance floor, but everyone was dancing.  We didn't leave until 2 am, but there were lots of people walking on the streets, including groups of women, so it felt safe.  Saturday morning everyone else left and I settled into my apartment.  I have spent a lot of time walking around the last week, getting to know my neighborhood and the sea front promenade.

Cathedral near my apartment

Sunset on the promenade

On Thursday, I went to visit Hassan II Mosque.  The tile, stone, and wood work inside are incredible, very intricate.  The only items not from Morocco are the glass chandeliers from Murano, Italy.

Door with man cleaning

Afterward I went to the museum and there was a gallery of students' work from the Academy of Traditional Arts and the cool thing was that many were a combination of modern and traditional themes.  They were also very reasonably priced.  Luckily I have no place to put them; I might have been tempted otherwise.

o

I