Volubilis, Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, and the Tafilalt Oasis...but no camels.

I can't believe I will be heading home (for the first time in six months) in just 11 more days. It doesn't seem real, but at the same time, I'm ready to go back. That's not to say that I'm not having an amazing time here -- I am, and I'm learning so much. But the schedule is pretty packed, and I'm ready to take a break and relax in my house with my bed and my family -- after living in other people's houses and beds, and with other people's families, since February.

Still, there's a lot to look forward to in the next week and a half. But first, here's a quick summary of last week:

We had a normal class schedule on campus on Monday and Tuesday -- that's Moroccan Arabic from 8:00-10:00, Development in Theory and Practice from 10:30-12:00, and Islam and Democracy from 2:00-3:30. On Wednesday, we took a day trip to Volubilis and Moulay Idriss Zerhoun.

Volubilis is an archaeological site that used to be the capital of the Berber kingdom. It was incorporated into the Roman Empire as an Imperial Province, then was reappropriated by the Berbers after the Romans left. Mawlay Idriss I (the first king of Morocco) lived there at one point, but it was finally abandoned in the mid-18th century after the Lisbon earthquake. Sadly, the site is not very well-preserved due to both French and Moroccan ignorance and/or negligence. Some of the mosaics have been reconstructed using concrete (meaning that once they begin to crack, as some have already, they can never be restored again) and other elements of the site (arches, pillars, walls) have been restored incorrectly or put in the wrong place. Apparently the Moroccan population as a whole does not feel much ownership of the site because they view it as a Roman city, not a Moroccan one. It is currently listed as a UNESCO heritage site, but it has been in danger of losing this status for years due to its poor management.

After our tour of the site, we drove to the nearby town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun. The town is built around the shrine dedicated to Mawlay Idriss I, the king mentioned above. We also visted a neighboring shrine town called Sidi Ali Hamdush. This village was slightly more colorful -- it is inhabited by a Sufi order that specializes in the treatment of mental illness. According to their tradition, mental illness is caused when a person is possessed by a malevolent spirit, called a jinn. This is the disclaimer that was listed on our information packet for this trip: "There are a number of important restrictions about the Hamadshah (the Sufi order) including colors that provoke the various jinn. It is recommended that you not wear anything in black, red, yellow, or green if we go there. People who are possessed may bite themselves or others when provoked. There are bread stalls along the pathways for you to buy loaves of bread to stuff in the mouths of those biting others." Thankfully, we all made it through without getting bitten!

After a short break on Thursday, we headed out on another trip early Friday morning, this time to the Tafilalt Oasis on the edge of the Sahara Desert, near the Algerian border. This is the largest (man-made) oasis in North Africa, and it is known for its fossils. More recently, it has also become known for taking tourists out to the dunes on camels. No, I didn't ride a camel. I decided that, all things considered -- the fact that I didn't have any particular desire to get that close to a camel, the fact that it's a tourist trap and not at all authentic to the culture of the town, and the fact that it would have been too cloudy to see the sun rise, anyway -- I would rather not get up at 3am to do it. And yes, I am slightly defensive about this -- only a few students decided not to go, and the rest of the group didn't seem to understand why. Oh, well.

I much preferred the other experiences of the trip. We learned about the irrigation system of the oasis, and it turns out that the traditional dirt canals are actually much more effective than the new concrete ones the government tried to install several years ago -- to the point that local citizens have taken to filling the concrete troughs with dirt to redirect the water back to their old system. We also visited a local (and locally run) development agency, and I had a nice conversation -- in Arabic! -- with one of the female teachers who works for them. And as the highlight of the trip, we were invited to dinner at a Sufi brotherhood. I got to shake hands with a Sufi sheikh and descendant of the Prophet Muhammad -- a round, jolly, bespectacled man who served us Berber pizza (basically stuffed pita bread) and answered all our questions in between singing verses from the Quran.

As for this week, yesterday and today were regular class days again. Tomorrow, we're going to Meknes, and this weekend we head to Marrakech. Then it's just three more days of class, two final exams, and one night in Paris before I'm home!