Rabat is being invaded. Not by people, but rather, sheep. Teenage boys sitting on bales of hay peddle it on street corners, and if you listen carefully at night, you can hear lonely sheep calling to each other. Their sudden appearance isn’t an accident: families have purchased one or sometimes multiple sheep in preparation for the religious holiday Aid Al-Adha. To celebrate Aid Al-Adha, Muslim families slaughter sheep in a day full of festivities. This year, Aid Al-Adha will be observed on Tuesday, December 9th. After a month away from my home stay family, I will be returning to celebrate the holiday with them (beginning at the generous hour of 7 am). I don’t know exactly what to expect, but I can only imagine it will be gory. For now, Aid Al-Adha means frantic preparations by Moroccan families for the holiday, and for me, frequent encounters with sheep as I walk through Morocco’s streets. To quote a friend, “the poor guys don’t know what’s coming.”
My time in Morocco is drawing to a close. I have nine days left in Morocco before a week in Europe, and then my flight home to the United States. I’m finishing up a month of research and preparing for a final presentation later this coming week. Three months in a developing nation exacts a physical and mental toll, but I’m not ready to leave.
Here’s a link to what will probably be my last set of pictures from Morocco. The photos are of the neighbourhood I live in (the Kasbah des Oudais), and the surrounding area, which happens to back up on the Atlantic Ocean: Kasbah des Oudais.
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