Bleeding green and white!

Ph.: Nick Dentamaro, The State News

One of the things that I really love about being here is that sense of belonging being an MSU student gives you. Being a Spartan. I myself have paranoid ideas about this sometimes, thinking that it’s just a silly thing that they make you believe in order to make you choose this university instead of another, and then to buy the MSU items once here. It is definitely a successful marketing tactic. But at the same time, I think that it does have a psychological benefit. Probably at least for international students who would need a sense of belonging once they move to a (totally) different culture.

So being a Spartan is of course not present in my mind all the time now. Life goes on normally once you get past the “honeymoon” period that lasts a few weeks after you first arrive here. During those weeks, I was willing to learn the fight song, and was excited at the idea of meeting our cute mascot Sparty. I even put my love for my favorite color (blue) on hold and became a fan of “Spartan Green”. But having spent exactly seven months now, it would take something stronger than just being an MSU student for me to remember that I am a Spartan… and be proud of it.

Yesterday was one of those days when I felt “the spirit”. The MSU men’s basketball team had got to the Final Four in the national championship and won yesterday 82-73 against the Connecticut men’s basketball team, qualifying to the final game! I am not particularly fond of basketball, but being able at least to understand what’s going on during the game (unlike when I watch American football ) I was glad to see our team qualify to the finals.

I also have great respect for the players who are very young MSU students that manage to succeed their course work while devoting so much time and effort for the game.

Anyway, tomorrow is the big day Spartans! We want a Spartan green final! Good luck to you and...

GO GREEN! GO WHITE! GO SPARTANS!

Badhai Ho!

A father drying his tears of joy; a mother’s gaze overflowing with tenderness and pride; The bitter-sweet separation that one day has to come. Then smiles illuminating the place. A young lady with a graceful lowered gaze, a serenely happy young man… and an oath to love and cherish each other for the rest of their lives.

A joy which, at moments turns into tears, and others turns into laughter… or simply translates into eloquent sparkles in the eyes. Blessings and tight hugs of congratulations; ornamented landscapes, glittering colors, flowers and golden threads promising a bright future for the bride and groom.

Jenney and Amit, you made me realize that Bollywood movies are not just movies :)

You were real stars on your wedding days…

All my wishes of a long, happy life!!!

Badhai Ho! बधाई हो !

Mabrook! مبروك

Congratulations Félicitations

Sweet visions...

The color of my tea this morning was not echoed by brownish Moroccan crepes and cookies. Instead, I have had some colorful M&Ms and guess what... Sushi for this Eid :)

I have enjoyed my special meal today... keeping in the back of my mind the sweet vision of a warm Moroccan cup of tea, lighted by the smiles of those I love...

Eid mubarak said :)

Obama at MSU!!

So, it seems that I will get the chance to see Obama speaking live here at MSU!!  The presidential candidate is scheduled to speak next Thursday at 2:30 pm  at Michigan State University's Adams Field. 

I am not an American citizen (which implies that I have no voting power here), but being a "world" citizen is enough for me to be interested in the way these presidential elections are going and in who will be the next resident of the White House.  

Now remains one problem: I have class Thursday at that time!!  :(  I'll give it a try today and see if the professor would agree to make next session and exception!  We'll be learning there, won't we? :D

More will be coming soon!!

  

 

Ramadan this year

A dozen-hour flight, or simply an ocean away from home, Ramadan feels so special this year.

It feels weird not to hear adhan announce iftar time, weird not to see restaurants close during the day, weird not to see totally empty streets at sunset, and not to see drivers lose their minds a few minutes before sunset, trying get home before Iftar. .

But it feels so special though to see one meal bring together people from all over the world. Pakistanis, Indians, Sudanese, Egyptians, Kuwaitis, Kazazkhs, Maleisians… and a Moroccan gather in one place these days, share their first meal of the day, and the joy of learning things about each other .

To all Muslims around the globe I wish a blessed Ramadan.

Could Cupid explain that??

Scene 1:

She: Why do you complain about such occasions? We are the ones who have trouble finding good presents for you. It’s never been an easy task for me to find a present even to my father.

He: On the contrary, it’s men who find it difficult to think about suitable presents for women.

She: Come on, there's plenty of things you could buy to a woman and make her happy.

He: Like what?

She: Well anything! A jewel, a cosmetics product, flowers, or something practical she needs… You could also invite her for dinner in a nice place, make a good surprise... But what about men?!

He: You could buy something traditional, a belgha (Turkish slippers), material for djellaba, this is the kind of things your father would like to receive.

She: (Stops short of asking what a man –other than a father- would like to receive for a present).

Question 1: Will that mystery about “what women want” and “what men want” ever be solved?

Scene 2:

He: Has the woman on the radio said that they’ve been talking about love for an entire week? Weird choice! What’s going on?

She: Yes! Well it’s Velentine’s day!

She2: Don’t you know about it?!

He: (A bit surprised, laughs) Lucky you!

She: What do you mean "lucky you"? Valentine’s day is everybody's business!

He: No... We celebrated our Valentine's Day a long time ago. Now it’s your turn.

She: Love has no age! (Playfully) Come on! Why do you men keep coming up with pretexts to ignore this kind of occasions? Just to avoid buying presents? :p Why don’t buy a present to your wife after work. She’d be happy about it.

He: (Laughs, addressing He 2): We have women’s movements here.

Question 2: Why are men too proud to admit that they do care about such things as love!?

Boss, shoof, Masr bte3mel eh!

(Picture: BBC Sport)

They play fair, they play with devotion, effort and love, and that’s what has made of them the best African football team for the sixth time. The Egyptian football team won the 2008 African Cup of Nations yesterday in Ghana, and with it the respect of millions around the world!

Compared to many other teams – and I wouldn’t exclude the Moroccan national team – the Egyptians have proved that mastering the game itself is not the only prerequisite for a squad to become champion. Nor is it the abundance of financial resources. The team spirit that reigns has a real magic effect. Look how respectful they are towards each other and towards their coach and how united they are even in the way they thank God after each goal.

And then look how ruthless they are during the whole match. The way they play makes you feel that they truly care! I am not writing poetry here, but I did see the Egyptian legendary “namoutou namoutou wa ta7ya Masr” (we would die to give life to Egypt) dominating the game during yesterday’s match.

Thinking about all this, I can’t help wondering what’s wrong with the Moroccan national team. What’s wrong can’t be financial. We all know that huge sums are made available to offer our players the best conditions compared to other teams during this cup and any other championship. Nor can the problem be the efficiency of the players themselves. The great majority of Moroccan national team players are part of well known international teams which wouldn’t pay them millions if they’re not real masters of the game.

Then what? Morocco has just changed the coach again, a coach who, despite his clear mistakes, has faced us with the painful reality about the management of sports in Morocco. Officials criticised Henri Michel’s remarks and dismissed them as utter nonsense, but, on the other hand, didn’t answer that big question haunting all Moroccans: What has made such an ironically renowned team a complete failure! Well if it’s not the money, and not the players, then what can it be except management?!

Anyway there are certainly lessons to be learned from this cup, and there are new challenges coming soon. All I hope is that something will be done –very soon – to avoid our team becoming a specialist in qualifying to international championships and disqualifying from the first round!

Ok, let’s go back to the happiness the Egyptian squad offered us yesterday (and, by the same occasion, smile at the thought that football does succeed in what politics and economy fail to fulfill: creating for real that legendary Arab union whole nations have been dreaming of).

Abu Treka, Zidane, El Hadary, and all their friends, led by “El Me’alem” Shehata, have done a great job, and do deserve the Cup. So hey, enjoy the amazing goal that made Egypt the winner of the 2008 African Cup of Nations 1-0 against Cameroon:

And the winner is... ?

It’s a special night for Moroccan bloggers. At these moments in Casablanca, the bloggers elected the best in the Moroccan blogsphere for 2008 must be receiving their awards.

I couldn’t attend the ceremony, but I did vote for my favourite bloggers, and hope they will win ;)

A big bravo to very active Agadir bloggers who had the bright idea, and made the great effort of organising the competition and all the activities related to it (a well made website, interesting goodies, etc).

Let’s wait for the results, and for what the bloggers who attended the ceremony will tell us about it! Good luck to all! :)

DABATEATR is back!

Le metteur en scène Jaouad Essounani nous revient avec une nouvelle création : « D’HOMMAGES! » La tournée commence aujourd'hui même à Bruxelles. Je n'y serai pas malheureusement, mais j'attendrai que DABATEATR arrivent en tournée au Maroc... notre première à nous débutera le 19 Mars 2008 au Théatre Mohammed V à Rabat.

Bon courage les artistes! You're the best!

"Devant le grand Miroir des grandes toilettes de la grande villa, quelques heures avant l'enterrement du grand General qui a marqué l'Histoire de notre grande Nation. Des personnages défilent : des histoires, des images, des musiques des chants et des gestes reviennent de loin pour célébrer le présent, le passé et l'espoir d'un petit peuple de notre histoire commune et peut être ce qui reste ancré dans notre Mémoire après un Départ. De quoi demain ?

« D'hommages ! » est un essai de mise en mosaïque d'un ensemble de clins d'œil aux petits sentiers de notre Mémoire, d'une certaine Mémoire toujours incertaine, fort heureusement.

« D'hommages ! » le clin d'œil est aussi une expérimentation de « l'effet miroir » dans une société en transition, en croisé de chemin où le non dit fait toujours toile de fond."

Jaouad Essounani.

Eid mubarak said :)

Time to celebrate Eid al Ad7a came yesterday in Morocco, at last, one to two days after the rest of the Muslim countries :) Sounds a bit weird, but it's OK. What matters is to enjoy the Eid (despite the endless house chores this occasion brings xD).

Eid mubarak said to all of you :)

Happy birthday

One year ago, I decided to start this blog. I still remember that Sunday afternoon when I decided to cross the line and become a blogger. A lot of things happened since then. I learned a lot, made news friends, gained things, lost others, went through ups and downs, said things, self-censured others… Both me and my blog grew one year older.

I unfortunately wasn’t able to mark the birthday on its exact date (November 19^th) due to my trip outside Morocco, but better late than never.

My thanks to all of you have been following the blog, encouraging me, bearing with my absences, reading my posts and sharing your opinions during this whole year. I hope this blog will be able to offer you beautiful things in the future…

Happy birthday BWL :)

Wa 7yat albi w afra7ou

Il y a deux ans à peine, c’était mon grand jour. Deux ans de moments tantôt beaux, tantôt pénibles derrière moi, un diplôme dans la main et des dizaines de points d'interrogation dans la tête.

Aujourd’hui était leur jour. La 19ème promotion des lauréats de l’Ecole Supérieure Roi Fahd de Traduction ont reçu leurs diplômes aujourd’hui. Malheureusement Cette année, je n’ai pas pu tenir la promesse qu’ont s’était faite un beau 26 novembre à Tanger. Je n’ai pas pu assister à la remise des diplômes, mais le téléphone est là, et les news, moi, je les ai eues de la bouche de mes sources sur place :p

Avec ces 41 lauréats, un nombre plutôt élevé par rapport aux promotions précédentes, l’école aura formé 510 traducteurs et traductrices (lauréats des quatre départements de l’école : Français, Anglais, Espagnol, et Allemand.)

Wassima, Asmaa, Maha, et tous les autres, félicitations et très très bon courage pour les jours à venir.

Allah ysehel li fiha lkhir à toutes et à tous :)

Mbrouk l3id :)

Des retrouvailles, des rires, des chuchotements, des sourires, du thé, des jus et des gâteaux, des gens qui nous manquent en prennant des photos, je me vois déjà à leur place, le téléphone qui passe de main en main, de petites doses de ta voix partagées par tout le monde, mais jamais assez pour faire oublier ton absence, des voitures et des maisons, des familles réunis – disons, des phrases dites et redites, des vœux et des prières...

Eid mubarak said …

To all of you :)

Ramadan kareem

It's never too late to say it I guess:

Ramadan Mubarak Said :)

D-Day past... ! :)

50 spams in my Gmail box, 16 unread emails in my Hotmail box, and many unread emails in Yahoo, including a relatively urgent professional one!! These are signs of complete disconnection for me! The reason? I talked about it in my previous post: my sister’s wedding took place a few days ago!!

Now that the wedding is over, our main activity at home is watching the DVDs and the pictures over and over again, commenting on the way the wedding went, trying to remember details. I never imagined how overwhelmed you can be when you organize such an event until I experienced it in fact.

Now if I have learned anything from this, it must be the fact that whenever I am invited somewhere, I should always understand my hosts if they don’t pay enough attention to me or to one of my guest relatives, or if they don’t seem calm enough at certain moments. Being a guest is a wayyyy different experience from being a host!!! (Reference to Naima Samih’s “li ma ye3der, daba yettebla” lol)

Anyway, the celebration went well lhamdullah – a rewarding ending for all the efforts before, during and after. A special bravooooo to you cousinino (l’homme des missions impossibles lol) who came from overseas specially for the wedding. A special thank you for all those who came although they were working the day after! (and naturally for those who came from all over Morocco)!

And I was so happy to have you there you ktikita who stayed only a few minutes – I totally understand! And I will never thank you enough SABA for all what you did!!! (How nice to live that zombie experience with you lol). As for you my dear khwalati, your support was really precious !! "Iwa Manal bentna," you would reply :) Allah ykhellikoum lina kamlin :)

Yallah, enough with thanks now, and time for wishes!!

To the gorgeous

Manal & Amine

I hope your life together will be inshaAllah as beautiful as you always wished, and more...

Allah ye7fedkoum :)

Just married :)

Exactly one week ago, I was in Tangier to attend my cousin's wedding :)

Today I have received some pictures, and I thought of wishing

*** Widad and Omar ***

a happy life together, full of love, respect and success...

Allah ykemmel 3likoum bikhir w Allah ye7fedkoum :)