Hey horse!

A friend might greet another by saying hey horse? Apparently Mr. Karim’s sense of humor went over my head because no one else seems to have heard of this.

Today in Philosophy Karim’s students were sharing with their classmates about the values of friendship, tolerance, respect, and love. His students were so shy and hesitant to respond to his question, what is love? He clarified love does not only pertain to relationships of dating, even so they could not help but giggle. Karim’s class is taught in Arabic but he was kind enough to not only invite me but to translate for me as well.

Through the course of the lecture he clarified many things I had observed. Men and women live in completely separate spheres. Women do not have male friends that they would hang out with and vice versa. He explained that while younger people are more accepting of friendships between the sexes the older ones are not.

I had the opportunity to see Mohamed deliver instructions to his students and it was great to watch the interaction between them. In Madiha’s class I learned about a new holiday in which children jump over fire as part of the celebration. I learn something new every day about the culture.

I also went to the gym with Madiha. The workout was challenging, I cannot even remember the last time I worked out. Once again I got to see how women behave in a private space just for us. They wore gym clothes and after aerobics we danced to some traditional Moroccan music and that part was awesome…these women have some serious moves.