[some new pictures up on http://picasaweb.google.com/k.zitelman]

In reading news, I have finally finished "Homicide" which was a superb piece of investigative journalism. I have moved on to "A Street in Marrakech: A Personal View of Urban Women in Morocco" by Elizabeth Fernea. It's so interesting to read because I actually know a lot of the places Fernea writes about - not the street that she lives on but the school she sent her children to during her year in Morocco (it's right on the way to the American Language Center, where my Arabic classes are) and where she bought her djellabas, the long dress-type clothing that men and women wear, in the Djemma el Fna, the square and souk where the other students and I usually go when we have a night off.

Last night we went to Catanzaro Pizza. It was delicious. Unfortunately we also stayed out until about 11 and I hadn't done any of my homework, so it was a late night and I have been exhausted today. But the pizza was delicious, and before that we went to what I guess would be the Moroccan equivalent of Gap - "Zara." We are also planning a dinner out on Saturday to celebrate the 18th birthday of one of the students here.

I am writing here just after lunch, which today was lentils, rice, corn, Moroccan meatballs and, of course, bread. I think I will have to do some bread detox dieting when I get home. But before lunch we got to visit a synagogue across the street from the main building of the ALC. There are only about 200 Jewish people in Marrakech now, but there used to be a very sizable Jewish population - since post-WWII it has been decreasing steadily though and there are very few left in the entire country. The synagogue looked basically like an American one, although it was built for about 30 people.

Yesterday and the day before we also had guest speakers after school - Tuesday was a woman who spoke about non-governmental organizations here and yesterday was an imam and the female equivalent of an imam who talked about Islamic education here. The philosophy here in Morocco is that education and upbringing are the school's responsibility, not that of the parents.

I have to use the outdoor wifi here to upload pictures, and it's a little over 100 degrees and - as always - sunny here, so I am going to sign off now before I melt. Ma-salaama.