The Morocco Report

I've been back in the US for about two weeks now and I wish I had something interesting to say!  My stomach feels a whole lot better, I've probably gained 5 pounds, and I'm spending money like it's going out of style, but other than that, I can't say I feel any more at home here anymore than I do there.  No weird transitions - I get irritated by all the questions, but I love when people ask me to say something in Arabic, which is surprising, because I get pissed when Moroccans ask the same thing.

That's basically it.  I imagine I'll have more to say when I return to the Maghrib next month.

Despite the fact that I should probably feel safer with the new airport security measures in place, I'm actually still quite freaked out.  And angry.  Really angry.  Angry at how the media is treating the incident, angry at the lack of evidence in convicting some of the alleged perpetrators, but especially angry at the fact that a group of people would do something like this (whomever they are or are backed by).  And I can't help thinking how mise en scene this whole thing is, as Hamza so aptly put it.

In case you're feeling left out, I'm flying through Heathrow on my way to New York this coming Wednesday.  Casablanca - Heathrow, Heathrow - JFK.  All but the first make me nervous.

Things here have changed a little.  More students are claiming they'd die for Palestine, more people are acting rudely toward me on the streets; I was spit on last night, three days ago near the train station had some nasty things about white people yelled at me, and last month called a "fucking American Jew."  As I just mentioned elsewhere, I still feel perfectly safe all the time, but my general morale ain't so high anymore.  More than anything, I'm just sick of my life here.  When I stay home with Hamza, I have the time of my life, but not venturing out of the house all that often begins to get to me.  Granted, I spent a beautiful week last week up north receiving hardly any attention at all since we were in a resort town and most of the Moroccans were summer vacances, but Meknes seems to be regressing.

But Wednesday - I'm being extra careful.  Packing in my laptop, iPod, not bringing any toiletries and perhaps even abandoning here the bottle of wine I'd planned to smuggle (well, not really, it's legal) home (Massinissa, for anyone who's curious), and bringing on only my book and jewelry box if I can stand it.  Apparently the less to carry on, the faster they toss you through customs, so I'll wing it.  I was only planning to bring a large purse anyway, I travel light.

I just wrote a lengthy reply elsewhere regarding food politics.  Remind me sometime to get into that.  I'm out.