by Kayla Alen -
Since Morocco is a Muslim country by majority it's a bit surprising how popular alcohol remains. In stores you may find that the bottles of alcoholic beverages are covered in newspaper or black plastic to avoid overtly displaying items that much of the county finds offensive, but the alcohol remains.
Because of it's relatively low alcohol content, beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage as some religious people say that it refreshes the mind without making them drunk.
That said, beer is not the only alcohol available in Morocco, wine comes in second and has more of a history in the county.
Probably the most popular drink in Morocco actually has no alcohol at all and it is full of tradition. Making green tea with mint is considered an art form and sharing it with friends and family, an important ritual. Even beyond the making of the tea, pouring the tea is crucial as well. Moroccan tea pots are designed to aid in this and have elongated spouts allowing the tea to be poured from a height.
If you've got a sweet tooth have a go at making some of your own:
What you need:
2 tablespoons green tea
5 cups boiling water
1 bunch fresh mint
1 cup sugar (mmm)
and what you do with it:
Place tea in teapot
Pour in boiling water
Cover and steep 2-3 minutes
Wash mint under running water and add to pot
Steep for 3-5 minutes
Add sugar
Enjoy with friends
By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo.
In a previous blog entry, I talked a bit about the Ciudad Vieja. Some areas are completely renovated and gentrified. In other areas, the buildings are still completely blown out and abandoned. In between, there's a sort of ghetto "fringe" area. The police were located on the border of the "fringe" area and a blown out section of the old city. The police station occupied the ground floor of a very old and shabby looking row house. We spent the next several hours talking with the police and filling out paperwork about the incident. During the ordeal, a few girls arrived at the station. Ladrones (thieves) had apparently snatched the purse of a pretty girl while she was walking in the Plaza Independencia. Meanwhile, Enrique was pestering me to talk with the girls. "Don't let them go! Talk to them in English. Ask for their phone numbers!" he said. Meanwhile, I'm practically falling asleep on my feet. It was 4 am when we finished at the police station and walked to the public hospital.
The public hospital was only a few blocks away from the police station, though not in the direction of the gentrified area. It seemed to be located in the middle of an abandoned part of the city. The public health care system here is, I'm told, free. Unfortunately, the hospital (or maybe clinic is a better word) that I saw was not a place where most people would want to spend much time unless they were in dire straits. The building was gloomy and depressing and smelled sharply of disinfectant. I saw a few wheelchairs that looked like they had been salvaged from a junk yard. The waiting room was packed with people sleeping on benches and some homeless people on the floor. Uruguay doesn't have a large black population though the majority of the patients here were black or mestizo (mixed black and European background).
It was around 5:30 am by the time that we finished there and the doctors at the clinic had a chance to take a quick look at Adrian's head and Enrique's eye. They handed them a few papers and gave them a pat on the back.
By this time I'm completely exhausted and understanding and speaking no Spanish at all. Enrique meanwhile, is ready to hit another club. "The clubs don't close until 7 am!" he says. I ask him what time he woke up and tells me around 4 pm the previous afternoon. In need of a serious caffeine infusion, we walk to the Plaza Independencia and go to a restaurant for pizza and coffee. While in the restaurant, Enrique asks if we should go to a club in Pocitos or back to the Ciudad Vieja the next day. I nod my head, yes. The evening mercifully ends after I catch a taxi and make it back home at around 7 am.
Things could definitely have been worse.
By Alexa Boyce
When people here in the States think of Martial Arts, they may think of Bruce Lee's street fighting technique or Mr. Miyagi's disciplined approach. The truth is, that martial arts come in a large variety of styles and emphases. Some martial arts styles stress street combat, others stress sports skills and competition, others stress internal energy or chi, while still others are traditional arts that stress perfection of technique, self discipline and etiquette. They also vary in the main body stances, and can be divided into Stand-Up Style, Ground Fighting/Grappling Style, Throwing Style, Weapons- Based Style and Low-Impact or Meditative Style. Below, you will find a list of various martial arts practices and their unique features.
Karate:
This Stand-Up Style martial art is traditionally considered to have originated in Okinawa, Japan, though it actually originated in China. Karate emphasizes power through various stances and footwork. Karate is practiced in stylized routines.
Kung Fu:
Another Stand-Up style, Kung Fu originated in China, Tibet and Mongolia. The words Kung Fu literally mean “hard work” or specifically, skill achieved through hard work. There are more than 400 different sub-styles of Kung Fu, and can stress skills such as stances or hand techniques.
Tai Kwon Do:
This Stand-Up style originated in Korea during the Koguryo dynasty, though modern TKD was developed in the 40's during the Japanese occupation, and bears little resemblance to the traditional TKD. Modern TKD emphasizes kicks and sparring, punches to the head are not allowed.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
This Grappling style originated in Japan, and was brought to Brazil in the early 20th century when Jiu Jitsu master Mitsuo Maeda emigrated from Japan. Brazilians honed this art through street fights until it became the completely unique art that it is today.
Capoeira:
An Afro-Brazilian martial art whose influence can be most seen in Northern Brazil, in places such as Salvador. This style is heavily influenced by dance, and is always performed to music. Characteristics are deft, tricky moves played on the ground or completely inverted. It is very acrobatic and fun to watch as well as do.
Krav Maga:
In Hebrew, Krav Maga means “close combat”. It is a self-defense and military hand-to-hand combat technique. It is popular among civilians as well, though civilian classes generally leave out the killing techniques taught to the military and the hold stances taught to Israeli police.
Tai Chi:
This Meditative style art originated in China in the 15th and 16th centuries. For the most part, Tai Chi is a slow moving style that stresses breathing techniques to facilitate the flow of chi. Broken up into Yang, Chen, Wu, and Sun styles.
By Kayla Allen
For years Japanese pop art has been popular and recognizable worldwide but in recent years with video games and anime becoming more like moving masterpieces and just as suitable for adults as children, Japanese pop art has become more pervasive than ever.
From fine art to manga (Japanese comic books), to the stationary you write your letters on, Japanese pop images and icons are everywhere.
Even with its international growth, nowhere is Japanese pop art more popular than in Japan. Manga crosses all parts of society and age groups with themes and images to entertain and attract all its audience members. In Japan it is not uncommon to see a business man reading a manga at lunch in a restaurant or a woman reading a romance manga on the bus.
Though Japanese pop hasn't reached those proportions in the states yet, when I look around my house, I have to say, we may just get there.
My refridgerator and home are covered in Nara. An artist with his beginnings in manga, Yoshitomo Nara has taken a huge role in American pop culture, art culture and my home. You can walk into both popular clothing stores and popular art galleries in the states and see his images. His reach is widespread and I hope it only grows.
While I'm not a big video game fan, when I saw how fun Katamari Domacy is, it became the first video game that I've purchased as an adult. Designed by a starving Japanese artist who had to go to work for a big company to pay the bills, he said his intentions in designing this game were to make people happy. It's done just that with hysterical imagery and happy inducing music to boot.
When manga met America's hardcore comic fans it instantly gained popularity and a permanent rapt audience. And although our market for manga may never quite reach that of Japan's, anime is now a mainstay for television before and after school and on Saturday mornings as well. So with millions of children growing up with these images I'm wagering Japanese pop is here to stay.
By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo.
The plan for Friday night was another late night excursion into the Ciudad Vieja with Adrian, the school tour guide and ambassador. This time the group was much smaller; it was just Adrian, his girlfriend Daniela, Enrique (a former student at the school) and myself. The evening had bad karma from the start. Daniela was in a foul mood and was insanely jealous every time that Adrian would look in the direction of another girl. There were girls and guys handing out pamphlets for clubs nearby. On several occasions, I saw Daniela snatch the pamphlets from Adrian's hand on throw them on the ground. We walked back and forth across the streets of the Ciudad Vieja while the two of them argued about which club to go to. Needless to say, no one was having a good time and I was feeling stupid for traveling half way around the world to be in such a ridiculous situation. "This is a train wreck," I told Enrique, and we both agreed to "lose" ourselves if we didn't settle on a place to go in the next 5 minutes.
Adrian and Daniela finally agreed on a club called Ciudad V and we were sitting down at a table drinking beer. Enrique was goading me into talking to a couple of girls sitting behind us. "You've got the accent," he said. "I don't have an accent," I told him, "its more like I have no Spanish." As I was thinking about the first few sentences of a possible conversation in Spanish, I was stunned by a loud noise like a bomb going off and glass shattering. Beer and glass fragments went flying everywhere. When I recovered from the shock a few moments later, I realized that a glass disco ball hanging from the ceiling had fallen. After striking Adrian in the head, the ball landing in the middle of the table in between us and shattered, along with the beer bottles and glasses. It turned out that no one was badly injured. Adrian had a nasty bump on his head and a few scratches. Enrique had some glass in his face and was worried about some glass near his eye. I had a few scratches on my face. And, of course Adrian, Enrique and I were drenched in beer and glass. As luck would have it, all the beer and glass somehow miraculously missed Daniela. When we talked to the owner he flatly denied any responsibility for the accident and even refused to refund the club entrance fees that we paid. Adrian was furious and told the owner that we were going to the police. We hailed a taxi outside the club and went to the police station. It was around 2 am at this time.
By Lawrence Selby - Guest blogger traveling in Montevideo.
I went to the Teatro Solis for a concert tonight on an excursion with the school. The Teatro Solis is one of the premier music theaters in Latin America, so I definitely didn't want to miss the opportunity. The big event also had the unexpected side benefit of drawing out all the other current students at the school: Lorenzo (or Lorenzo Numero Dos as he is sometimes referred to) a new Swiss German student, Anna from Holland, and Daphna an Israeli American.
The concert was violin and piano pieces by Mozart and Shostakovich which I thought was an odd combination, though I did enjoy the music and the experience of being in a grand theater again quite a bit. The Teatro Solis itself is a beautiful building. It reminds me a little of Lincoln Center in New York City only much smaller and more intimate.
After the concert Adrian, Anna, Daphna and I went into the Cuidad Vieja in search of a cafe for coffee and dessert. Strangely, Lorenzo Numero Dos wandered off abruptly after the concert performance muttering, terminar, terminar ... He doesn't speak much English or Spanish unfortunately. The Cuidad Vieja was beautiful at night and we found a nice outdoor cafe on
Sarandi Calle (the main street in the Ciedad Vieja). Without doubt one of the best things about traveling is that you get the chance to meet some of the most fascinating people. Daphna semi-retired and a self proclaimed gypsy who feels she may have finally found a home at long last in Montevideo. Anna is another free wheeling, bohemian sort of person. She started studying Spanish in Montevideo in November and recently returned from a volunteer project at an orphanage in Cordoba, Argentina. We had a long conversation that spanned many topics including: life in Montevideo, learning new languages, how to meet people when you move to a new city, making and losing a fortune, failed marriages (Daphna had 4) and relationships, life in an Israeli kibitz, and winter in Siberia. They both agreed about something that immediately struck me as profound. "My home is wherever I am," Daphna said. This made me think of something that Alan Alda once said, "Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place is where no one else has ever been."
Later this month, Anna is going to pack up again and live in Vienna, Austria with her boyfriend (whom she met a few months ago here in Montevideo). She is looking forward to learning the tango and the Viennese waltz with him. Daphna recently had all her things shipped to Montevideo and is renting a great apartment in the Ciudad Vieja for $300 a month. She feels that she is living her life backwards. And for an encore, I am going ... where? Maybe I'll go home.