morocco unpunctuated

Hello all

    I am writing this email from Morocco, where I have been for the

past week.  The keyboards here are, predictably, in Arabic first, and

anglicized punctuation is really hard to locate, let alone use, so

youll have to excuse certain things, like the lack of apostrophes and

exclamation points. Oh, wait: I just found how to use the exclamation

point key!  Hooray!!!!!!!  I can now write with enthusiasm and

emphasis!

   Morocco is, more than any place I have ever been, a land of

dichotomies.  It is at the same time ancient and modern, with

glamorous restaurants housed inside 13th century walls; it is both

poverty stricken and excessive, with crumbling hovels next to swanky

Sofitel hotels.  It is a place where women are thought to be the

backbone of society but are treated as second class: women are not

welcome in cafes, unless they are prostitutes, let alone bars.

Whenever I have stood in a line, men have barged right in front of me

without a second thought.  I have never really considered myself a

feminist because I have never felt treated as less than in the US, at

least not to my knowledge.  However, here I am struggling with wanting

to be quote unquote culturally sensitive, wanting to respect the fact

this is not my country, my culture, and I am a guest here, without any

right to assert what I believe.  Yet, how can I be these things when

doing so subjugates me.  And, in the bigger picture, how can I expect

people back in the US to conform to my social practices when they feel

to do so changes what they believe to be true.

  In spite of these issues and thoughts, I am loving Morocco.  More

on the good stuff soon!!!!!

Love,

peanut