02-17-2008
I really felt ashamed today as I went with Gigi and Andy to the Scottsdale Library. A huge building which attests of the civilization of the people. It is really weird how Americans are technologically developed and still stick to books and reading and how we lag behind in both. I found very old people sitting in front of windows giving onto beautiful views reading, people of different ages either sitting on chairs or on the floor reading and very young people sitting in a youth area reading. I tried to compare the scene to a Moroccan library, oh! Sorry; in my city Tangier no one could say that we have a library in the real sense of the word. Old people in Morocco play dominoes in cafés, people of different ages do nothing and young people do a lot of things except reading. “WE ARE A PEOPLE THAT DO NOT READ”. The civilization of a people can be measured by the amount of books they read. Please do not do any measurement; we do not want to know the results.
We also went to an art gallery. Gigi is very much interested in artistic creations. As far as I am concerned, unless something really appeals to me, I can’t appreciate it .But I liked an exhibition made by students. It is a kind of project between American students in Arizona and students from Ghana. Students are given topics like: what I see on my way to school, what I dream to have or how I imagine an American. Students are required to express their ideas and feelings through words and pictures, the outcome is just impressive. The dream of one of the students from Ghana was to have a cow while that of an American was to have a car or maybe a more beautiful car than the one he owns.
Later, we went to an Indian market. Twice a year It takes place in Scottsdale, Arizona. Native Americans coming from different tribes come to the market to share with other people their art of handicraft. I was lucky to go to the market and see the artistic productions of these fascinating peoples. Most of the things exposed are made out of silver sterling. The designs are marvelous and resemble to a great extent the designs used by Berbers in Morocco. I did not buy anything though, very expensive for my modest purse.
The market is also an opportunity for these people, whose languages and cultures were being stamped during years and years, to express themselves in chants and dances. I can say that I was drifted to a world beyond when I was listening to their mesmerizing music.
I learnt that there are in America 500 Indian tribes, 24 or 28 of them are in Arizona. What is so sad about these peoples is that while they were the real owners of the land ; now, when you are driving through Arizona, you will be told that a part of the land there is Indian, meaning it is theirs. And it is referred to as Indian reservations. Indians can sell, rent, plough or do whatever they like with that plot. I was also told that most Indians now are very poor, overweight and heavy smokers and drinkers. I can understand that.
At lunch, we came back to the house and had sandwiches of smoked salmon. I never wanted to taste salmon, I just never felt like eating it. But I was hungry and I had to go through the experience. It was not that bad.
At 5:30 Gigi and Andy were very kind to take me to the Mosque. It is not in Scottsdale, but in an area called Tempe. The mosque is quite big, even bigger than the one near my house in Tangier. Its architecture is rather North African. A kind of curtain separates the spot for women from that of men. I stayed a little, did the evening prayer and was very glad to find the prayers time schedule and joined my hosts. We went later to a middle- eastern grocery and restaurant which turned out to be Tunisian. I did not find anything that can interest me. Gigi bought henna; she said we can do that to each other. It was weird henna though, because the one I know is powder while that one was like dough, ready for use I guess. Well, why should henna be an exception to the rule in America, everything is ready for use. I will wait and see what paintings we can get from this magic henna.
On our way back home we passed the ASU (Arizona State University) which is just near the mosque. Andy told me that this university has many Arab students and that is why the mosque is there as well as the grocery and the so-called restaurant. I was to at least 3 restaurants since I came to Arizona and they were all clean and nice except this one. Was it because it was Arab?
We also went to a bookshop. A lot of things were on sale. I am a book lover, but I can’t buy a lot because I a worried about weight. I can’t have more than 40 kilos in my bags in the plane. However, I bought an agenda and a nice book about colors and forms for my son, Hamza.
I had a busy schedule all day and I was tired at night. We had quite a good dinner: Mexican food. Don’t ask me about the names. I hear a lot of them every day and can’t remember half. But what I know is that everything was vegetarian about the dinner. I abstain from eating meat or chicken. The desert was banana spleen, it was good.
As I had problems sleeping and was still Greenwich oriented, Gigi forced nature and gave me two sleeping pills to be able to relax. I took only one. I slept well although I woke up twice or three times at night.