Classes are falling into regularity now, as the group is settling in and becoming familiar with the city, hotel, and school. We are settling into a rhythm which is relieving. As things become de rigeur, I will probably post less regularly, but will attempt to make the postings more relevant, organized, intentional.
We toured the Medina yesterday with the director of the AALIM Center, Dris, and one of his teachers, Habib, a favorite of mine. The tour (Walking) began at 9am, before the Medina was fully awoken and active. We went by the neighborhood oven, and saw the proprieter stoking his wood stove, readying for the local families to bring their bread dough to be baked. The community oven is a phenomena not typical to the Western world - in cities like Meknes, not every home has the room for a large wood bread oven. Not to mention the fact that the heat would be excruciating if every home had an oven of that sort. So by relegating the actual kiln itself to one central location, with a skilled baker running the place, order, civility and quite frankly a cooler air is ensured. The baker is skilled enough to manage his baking in such a way to ensure that loaves of individual families maintain their integrity - there is no mixing of bread, each family gets what they dropped off. That is the mark of a skilled oven proprieter.
We visited a local saint's shrine, which we could not enter, but which was marked with pale blue flames of sorts eminating in pale azure paint from around the small, grated windows. We were able to peer in on tip-toes and attempt to make out the sacred space from the city street. We saw the local schools, where Dris grew up, and as the Medina slowly woke up, made our way to the city's Great Mosque. Non-Muslims are not allowed inside, however we were treated to a tour of the masjid's library, a rare treat which many have never seen. The proprietor, who happened to see us walking by, a diminutively statured man who's condition I've only seen on movies, insisted on showing us his library, clearly his pride and joy. I am loathe to say this, but for those of you who have seen the film, "Freaks", the two German "midgits" who are proportioned exactly like fully developed people, only about 3 feet tall - the librarian had this same condition.
From a small, grated window he provided us a glimpse of the mosque itself, which was under construction. An honored glance, however, which few non-Muslims are allowed. From the mosque we wandered to the true treat, the old medresa (madrasa) - the Qu'ranic school attached to the mosque (now closed). We walked through the narrow, low ceilinged halls and doorways, seemingly built for children in its small proportions. From the cool halls of the medresa we climbed shallow stairs to the roof of the building, which offered a stunning view of the mosque's minaret, and the green tiled roofs which punctuated the vast cityscape and mosque complex.
We saw many breathtaking courtyards, paved entirely in stunning mosaics of all colors, entirely geometric and floral, evoking paradisical ambiance around fountains and intricate stucco work. My peers ran around giddily, taking photos of each other under arches, in front of mihrabs, in intricate doorways, while I focused my camera on geometry of walls, roofs, alleyways, capturing all the different mosaic patterns possible, each form of stuccowork, and every doorway possible. I grabbed some occassional snapshots of others, requested the occassional photo of myself in front of such and such, but most of my photos are of the light, the colors, the people, the patterns, the structures, and the beauty. I hope.
From the Great Mosque, Habib took over the tour and led us through the plaza el-Hedim which led to the great Bab el-Mansur. From the gateway (bab), we entered the Palacial city, still part of the Medina but separate by means of the great bab. In the Palacial city we entered the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, the sultan who made Meknes his capital in the 17th century. Stunning architecture surrounded us, and it seemed as though the mausoleum was the magnet of all the tourists in the city at the time - we were shoulder to shoulder and vying for space and photo space simultaneously.
By this time the sun was at its apex, heat was pressing down on us and the air was becoming stifling. We settled down for lunch at a small cafe, where I had a simple, light salad with only vegetables and a light vinaigrette, water, and mint tea to finish. School dominated the rest of the day, which was welcome in the dark, cool rooms. My peers have still not learned to buy water in advance, and are frequently sharing bottles of waters. They're all going to get sick, one way or another.
Arabic is challenging, and my international studies course, Muslim and Christian Relations in the Western Mediterranean, is going to be edifying and relevant. We'll cover the history of Islam, the nature of the culture, the development and spread of Islam in relationship to religions and cultures in the territories they expanded into, and the dual relationships that ensued. This is interesting stuff people!
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