Easter in Marrakesh

In another vacation from my study leave, I took the opportunity to travel to Marrakesh (Morocco). I'm staying in a riad in the old Medina that looks like this...

Last last night I arrived to these views and an amazing tangine of veal, fig and prune

Easter preparations

Being a largely Christian and Catholic country, Easter is a pretty big deal here.  Being France, food is one of the most important parts of the festivities.  And among food items, Easter chocolate is one of the most important.  For the last 2 weeks all of the patissieries (bakeries) and chocolatiers (chocolate shops!) begin displaying their artistic wares.  Here are some of the more normal products, chickens, eggs, and bunnies...

There are also some more exotic chocolate critters, such as squirrels...

..frogs...

...pigs (for you bacon and pork lovers)...

and, of course, the traditional Easter gorillas (and whatever that critter is on the right)...

Another interesting tradition is church bells. Starting Good Friday, no church bells toll. (Makes sense with the notion of somber Holy week). The historical evangelical story is the bells go off to Rome (to be blessed). Then, Easter morning, they return and spring back into action. (Or another bit of rebirth). Lisa, as a teenager who likes to sleep late, has been annoyed by the bells since we have arrived in this apartment.  So she is REALLY looking forward to the bell's silence, more than maybe even chocolate.  Deb and I have found ourselves a bit disoriented without the automatic timekeeping every half hour.  We even had to rely on our stomachs to told us it was lunch time today!

Carnaval!

David's teacher told us that his school, maybe because it is multilingual and therefore multicultural, celebrates one North American holiday, one German holiday, one Muslim one, and one French holiday every year.

The French holiday is primarily about Mardi Gras.  The school missed the normal date for Mardi Gras Carnaval, so it was put off to this week.  Normally Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday is a rowdy celebration that marks the last day before the start of Lent. This week, though, is Holy week, traditionally one of solemn observance. French schools aren't supposed to acknowledge any religion, but stomping on the most important Christian holiday with a pagan one doesn't seem the most sensitive way to work around the religious issue. Oh well... Anyway, perhaps as a result of trying to encompass a variety of French holidays, this Carnival was celebrated with a mishmash of pagan traditions that marked the end of winter.

Of course Carnaval involves costumes. So Deb worked up a penguin costumer for David.  I think it turned out rather nice..

The kids and teachers assembled in their courtyard after lunch and enjoyed each others' costumes.  The teachers set up Mr. Carnaval, who was a combination clown figure and Monsieur Bonhomme Hiver (literally Goodman Winter, or Jack Frost). I knew right away this guy was a gonner.  

Almost on cue, as soon as this guy was strung up, the sun came out... With the arrival of spring, the kids marched off around the block in their costumes...

They returned to the courtyard where they assembled and sang what seemed to be songs about Spring (familiar melodies, but I kept hearing "printemps" in the words).

Finally everyone got with their classes for a photo opportunity...

Meanwhile Deb headed out to get some treats for the kids to enjoy in their classroom. Then we headed home. But I hear after the parents were gone everyone returned from their classroom and kept with the tradition of setting Bonnehomme Hiver on fire in the courtyard, to free themselves from the grips of winter.

All in all, I thought it was a great celebration and I enjoyed seeing it. Maybe pagan holidays are more fun than religious ones. Anyway, the kids really seemed to have a great time.

The shear terror of missing vocabulary!

Another temporary expat friend here in France blogged at being humbled by the baker. I agree that no other French profession seems to hold my French in such sheer contempt.  There is even one bakery that I stopped visiting because they seemed so dismissive of my pronunciation.  But with multiple boulangeries within one block of our place, I'd really have to ramp up my sensitivity before I would run out of options; heck, I wouldn't even have to go a couple blocks out of my way.

Butcher shops seem almost as offended as bakeries when I butcher the language.  I have already stopped visiting one boucher because I was tired of him looking down his big Gallic proboscis at my pronunciation of "saucisse."  C'est la vie buddy because, again, we are bombarded by butchers.

The fact that bakeries and butchers could be so snotty about my French seems to run counter to anything Adam Smith and his "invisible hand" would have said about competition -- since there are so MANY bakeries and butchers, theoretically, they should be the MOST accommodating of my "funny" French phraseology.  But they're not. Adam Smith would be right, though, in predicting that their prevalence would result in no fear on my part of stepping into a shop and mispronouncing any number of the dozens of different breads, from baguettes, flutes, pain au chocolates, pain au lait to tartes. Same with the various viandes, from agneau, boeuf, and poulet to veau or with the strange cuts. If they look at me funny, I move on. Heck, I might even start mispronouncing things on purpose, just to narrow down the options.

Restaurants don't intimidate me, either. I can walk into any restaurant anywhere. Not only is the vocabulary for foods almost international, It's just a matter of routine. Walk in, hold up the appropriate number of fingers for the folks in your party and follow the host. A waiter will bring a menu, and then disappear for a long while. Eventually the waiter will return, at which time you point to something on the menu and grunt. Then wait until the food arrives. Chew the food, swallow, repeat... Get up when you're done and give them money. It's so scripted it hardly takes any language at all.

The one shop that DOES strike terror into me is the hair salon. I HATE putting myself in a position where I don't have ANY vocabulary. I even have to look up the word "coupe de cheveux." Even with Google Translate I don't think I could say "just a little off the top" if my life depended on it. And it's not that I CARE much about my hair (what is left of it). And it doesn't matter that my hair will grow back in a week (well, the places that are still growing). Heck, I could even wear a hat. It's just I feel so utterly helpless with none of the vocabulary. Who knows what I might walk out with, a flat top, mohawk, or even a reverse mohawk...? You sit there and don't know if the person is asking you what you would like done with your hair or whether they should put Aunt Mabel in a nursing home. My kids suggest just saying "Oui." But what if they're asking if I want to try out a green and pink mohawk? Oh, the fear!

Long story short, I walked out with a haircut that looks pretty much like every haircut I get at home. And I've found over the years there is that routine thing that helps. They wash my hair (sometimes), then cut it. When I'm at home they say things I don't care about, when I'm overseas they say things I don't understand. But then they pick up the towel and I stand up and pay. Done. Freedom for another 6 weeks!

Anyway, note to language teachers everywhere (I used to be one): Forget the silly phrases like "Excuse me, can you tell me where I can catch a cab to the airport?" If someone can't figure out they can get a cab at their hotel, they're probably too stupid to learn another language. Instead, focus on teaching the practical things regular people CAN use. Language instruction should be based on phrases you'd have to use, and the order you'd use them. For example, German instruction should start with "Ein bier bitte" and then move on to "Where is the restroom?" French should stay with "Bon jour, madamme. Je voudrais un..." But after you have mastered those those basic survival phrases you need to learn USEFUL phrases like, "Just a trim. Tapered on the side, please" and "Yea, I think it's time that old bag Aunt Mabel went to a nursing home!"

A nice spring walk

Apart from its location in the Alps, one of the attractions of Grenoble is the telepherique you can ride to the top of the bastille hill (which also affords a nice view of Grenoble's setting in the Alps).  David and I did this trip as soon as we arrived in Grenoble, and Deb and David did it on a nice day last week.  But we decided it was time to drag Lisa up to the top.  So we had a nice lunch and headed out...

Of course, being France, dogs are OK...

Here's Lisa finally admiring the view from the top...

Grenoble and it's environs..

And our location in the center of town...

We had a nice hike down.  Skoshi isn't aware that she's a lap dog, and just LOVES the trails.  She is happy to hike alongside us and never seems to get tired.  If she gets the chance she is happy to go after any kind of critter, even deer at home.  If she had the chance she would probably try to bring down a bear.  Luckily this doesn't seem to be likely here.

Day 3 in Egypt

At the Egyptian museum we met a man named Mohammad who said he was a history teacher and Egyptologist who offered to give us a tour. Since we were trying to move fast we declined, but he offered us a trip to other pyramids. So we made arrangements.

The next day Mr Mohammad showed up at our hotel at the designated time of 10 a.m. and we headed out through the edges of Giza to Sakara to see some other triangles.

The first stop was about 45 minutes south of Giza. We crouched down to see an amazing tomb with original paintings and hieroglyphics that are 4,000 years old. Tips were involved. Next we saw the "step pyramid" which was the first attempt at a pyramid, kind of like a pyramid with training wheels. More tips.

Our guide suggested a camel ride. We had done one in Australia at Uluru and no one was interested. So we opted for some photos instead. Of course we tipped the camel man.

We continued about 45 minutes further south where we saw the "Bent pyramid," and the "Red Pyramid".  We all climbed the steps to the entrance of the Red Pyramid, but only Deb and David ventured inside (Lisa and I were tired of crouching down).  David counted 140 steps.  Deb paid another tip.

Our final stop was a Egyptian restaurant on the way back.  We saw fresh pitas being made (tip paid).   

Then we had a great meal of fresh pita, Egyptian mezas (tahini, babba ghanoush, etc.).  The main course was  (lamb) sheesh kabab.  I tipped the musicians on the way out.

On the return to the hotel we ran into a terrific traffic jam.  It took us 30 minutes to move a couple feet.  (This Mohammad didn't seem to have as much pull with Allah.  We couldn't see the cause, but Deb said she saw a woman in an argument with a man, so she thought maybe it was a traffic accident that turned into an argument, or maybe vice-versa. Mr Mohammad tried to interest in a trip to the papyrus store, the "Sound and Light" at the Great Pyramid, and a seafood restaurant to no avail. 

We opted for an early night in light of our return trip tomorrow. But when we got back to the room we saw the edges of the Great Pyramid lit for the sound and light show.  So I reckon we "kinda" saw it.

Day 2 in Egypt

On our second day, we ventured into Cairo to visit the Egyptian Museum. We caught a taxi from our hotel with a driver named Mohamed. We made the 20 km trip through the crazy traffic of cars, broken down cars, camels, horses, pedestrians and blaring horns in just over an hour.  That's 15 kph (10 mph)!



The Museum is an amazing collection of hundreds of thousands of old artifacts collected from crypts and the side of the road. We saw mummies, daddies, and other corpses that didn't make it through the humongous museum.



Emerging from the museum we were besieged with a dozen informal taxis all clambering for our business. Deb selected a reasonable looking older man figuring if he had survived this long driving in Cairo, he must have some skills. She thought being named Mohamed might help with Allah. This was almost a no-go when Deb got in and didn't find enough seat belts. Mr. Mohamed prayed to Allah and the seat belts appeared. The trip back along the ring road (the highway, hardly any camels or horses) we saw almost no traffic and we made it back in 30 minutes. Apparently Mohamed had some pull with the big guy.

Back at the hotel we had lunch by the pool. David and I jumped in and swam. Meanwhile Deb went shopping and emerged with 3 t-shirts and a camel for a total of 320 Egyptian pounds. The salesman was named Mr. Mohamed.

For dinner EMO Tours picked us up for a "Nile river cruise."

This included dinner with such exotic Egyptian delicacies as spaghetti, Kung pao chicken, and cheesecake. A couple Malaysians appeared.  Then a few Egyptians.  Finally a crowd of about 60 Indonesians all clad in down coats appeared (it was 20C, 60F, so we knew that had to be from someplace really warm). Judging from the frown on their faces, the Egyptian belly dancer showing lots of skin really seemed to offend the Indonesians. But the Egyptian whirling dervish named Mohamed went over well. When it was all over our tour company threaded us through the camel, horse, human and car traffic and the roadside evening meals to our hotel.

Vacation to the big triangles

We used the opportunity of this school vacation to trip to Egypt. It's not all that close to Grenoble, but Grenoble is a lot closer than Canada. We woke up to this view out our window...

So, after breakfast, we decided to visit the Great Pyramid.

We also visited the boat museum

The main pyramid area involved lots of opportunities to interact with salespeople. Most of the way we were pursued by one guy pushing a camel ride on his camel named Bob Marley. When he was gone I had other opportunities.  Saying I was from Italy was successful. The family followed me and were quite amused by our exchanges.  Finally we surrendered to the salesman, and had him put David on a camel.  It made for a great photo, and I tipped him 50 Egyptian pounds ($5).

Once he was gone, the touts were back. So, apparently having a a tout on your tail is also a good strategy. By then we had circled the pyramids and moved on to the adjoining Great Sphynx which was lower key.

We walked (!) back to the hotel where we saw some of real Cairo. We had a nice lunch and a swim.

This afternoon we went on a sunset horse trip to the desert near the Great Pyramid. It ended in some neighborhoods where we were very glad to have 2 Egyptian guides! We finished the evening back at the hotel with a Tex-Mex dinner.