September 26-27, 2008
September 27-28, 2008
So tonight was the first presidential debate, and I had an election debate party. A few friends and I watched CNN International and stayed up late/got up early to watch the coverage. The debate itself aired at 01:00 here, but the pundits stayed up late and so did we!
This was one of my excuses for splurging for satellite: I need Grand Slam tennis and election coverage. The tv is one of the few luxuries I allowed myself in my house and seems a bit excessive, but it's also a big part of entertaining here. It's also a nice paradox when you take into account that I have no running water in my house, but I have a really "zween" (very very nice) satellite.
It's so much fun to be with this group during such an important election year. I think I'm probably one of the most moderate PCVs in the group, but that's normally the case at home, too. We had a great time picking apart the candidates. You can probably guess which one we were supporting... : )
It's so much fun to be with this group during such an important election year. I think I'm probably one of the most moderate PCVs in the group, but that's normally the case at home, too. We had a great time picking apart the candidates. You can probably guess which one we were supporting... : )
On election night itself we'll be at our In-Service Training and hopefully have coverage of the results. All the PCVs who trained with me will be there, and excepting one or two most of us have a leftist slant.
The plan is to watch debates with other PCVs and have little get-togethers in the run-up to the big night. It's fun to tell my community that we're staying up late to watch the election news from America. Some of them have definite opinions on who should win!
For the first of the debates we made an Indian feast, which was quite a feat considering all the food was cooked before we broke fast and there was no taste-testing allowed. We left that up to the one of us who wasn't fasting, so thanks, Emmy, for ensuring that we didn't gag on the results of our guesswork dinner ; )
For the first of the debates we made an Indian feast, which was quite a feat considering all the food was cooked before we broke fast and there was no taste-testing allowed. We left that up to the one of us who wasn't fasting, so thanks, Emmy, for ensuring that we didn't gag on the results of our guesswork dinner ; )
Tonight was Laylat al-Qadr, or the Night of Power. It's a night when the men stay up all night at the mosque reading the entire Quran and the women all get together outside. This is done because in the Muslim tradition, it's believed that the Prophet Mohammad was transported on the 27th night of Ramadan from Medina to Jerusalem and back again. The entire Quran was revealed to him on that night. Muslims commemorate this miraculous event by reciting the Quran at mosque. The men go to the mosque together and the women take them food (here it's either couscous or lamb tagine) throughout the night.
It felt oddly like a wedding, because we sat and chatted and ate tagine. I hadn't had tagine in about a month because of Ramadan, so it was nice to eat with the women. We started out at the well near my house where I sometimes draw water. Then a group of us moved to another house and stayed until about 1:30. We sat outside the whole time, and it was a beautiful night.
It felt oddly like a wedding, because we sat and chatted and ate tagine. I hadn't had tagine in about a month because of Ramadan, so it was nice to eat with the women. We started out at the well near my house where I sometimes draw water. Then a group of us moved to another house and stayed until about 1:30. We sat outside the whole time, and it was a beautiful night.
It's great to spend the holidays with the people in my douar and I can't wait until Eid next Wednesday!
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