Party at the ALC Riad

The American Language Center in Fez has been renovating a riad in the medina for use as a study and cultural center.

My neighbor Jess has been overseeing most of the work and this week hosted a party there on Wednesday night.

As with most parties in Morocco, the absence of alcohol was noticeable since the guests, mostly bored American students studying Arabic through the ALIF program and the staff of the ALC who are almost at finals didn’t linger for a long time. There was however a bit of mulled wine which was interesting to observe within the mixed crowd of Muslims and non- Muslims. Since the guy who was doing most of the serving is pretty devout, I ended up pouring the wine and found myself a little surprised by who was most anxious to have it and who avoided it. But of course, I ‘ll keep those observations to myself.

Jess hired a number of musicians to perform at the Riad and Hanane who loves to sing joined them for a good portion. In addition, both Hanane and myself helped out in the kitchen with food prep and some serving duties. I had intended to take a lot of pictures, but my battery was much weaker than I expected and so it was only a few that I actually got.

I also managed to get a nice video of Hanane singing with the musicians. She has won a couple of competitions and while a little out of practice and not used to singing with a mike, it is really a joy to hear her. If I can put the video here, she has given me permission to share it.

About Vago Damitio

Vago Damitio  (@vagodamitio) is the Editor-in-Chief for Vagobond. He jumped ship from a sinking dotcom in 2000 and decided to reclaim his most valuable commodity, time. He bought a VW bus for $100, moved into it and set out on a journey to show the world that it was possible to live life on your own terms. That journey took him from waking up under icy blankets in  the Pacific Northwest to waking up under palm tress in Southeast Asia. Three years later, his first book, Rough Living: Tips and Tales of a Vagabond was published. After diving into the Anthropology of Tourism and Electronic Anthropology at the University of Hawaii (with undeclared minors in film and surf) he hit the road again in 2008. Since that time,he's lived primarily in Morocco and Turkey, married a Moroccan girl he couchsurfed with, and become a proud father. He's been to more than 40 countries, founded a successful online travel magazine (this one!), and still doesn't have a boss. Life is good. You can also find him on Google+ and at Facebook