We got your tv.
Morocco is a satellite jungle. It struck me as amusing on our drive into Rabat that every apartment building and house has at least 4 satellite dishes on top, and that they're all at least 4 feet in diameter. It didn't really hit me until we drove past a lot of cardboard and tin shacks that everyone here has a television and a satellite dish, even those who live in a one-room shack.
The available programs are varied and amusing: Moroccan news and Al-Jazeera, random sports matches (plenty of soccer), unsuccessful American movies like Cellular and Robocop 3 with which my host sister Fatima taught herself to speak English, and the ever-popular soap operas. We've seen Berber, Mexican dubbed into Darija, Egyptian, Turkish dubbed in Darija, and Moroccan soap operas so far, with the promise of more to come. Reality contests also seem to be popular, from Arab-Idol to a particular So You Think You Can Dance episode that brought us closer to our host mom when my roommate Brittany voiced a very appropriate Hshuma! (Shame!) after a cross-dressing food-covered stripper's performance. (Our host mom laughed for 5 minutes at least, I don't think she expected us to know colloquial Darija yet.) Our host mom and sister also sat through a Darija Fairy Barbie Adventures episode solely for our benefit, as kids shows are much more understandable for someone learning a language than regular programming ever is. Tonight, who knows what the television holds!
p.s. Happy birthday Mom!
Morocco is a satellite jungle. It struck me as amusing on our drive into Rabat that every apartment building and house has at least 4 satellite dishes on top, and that they're all at least 4 feet in diameter. It didn't really hit me until we drove past a lot of cardboard and tin shacks that everyone here has a television and a satellite dish, even those who live in a one-room shack.
The available programs are varied and amusing: Moroccan news and Al-Jazeera, random sports matches (plenty of soccer), unsuccessful American movies like Cellular and Robocop 3 with which my host sister Fatima taught herself to speak English, and the ever-popular soap operas. We've seen Berber, Mexican dubbed into Darija, Egyptian, Turkish dubbed in Darija, and Moroccan soap operas so far, with the promise of more to come. Reality contests also seem to be popular, from Arab-Idol to a particular So You Think You Can Dance episode that brought us closer to our host mom when my roommate Brittany voiced a very appropriate Hshuma! (Shame!) after a cross-dressing food-covered stripper's performance. (Our host mom laughed for 5 minutes at least, I don't think she expected us to know colloquial Darija yet.) Our host mom and sister also sat through a Darija Fairy Barbie Adventures episode solely for our benefit, as kids shows are much more understandable for someone learning a language than regular programming ever is. Tonight, who knows what the television holds!
p.s. Happy birthday Mom!
Hey - Thanks! My B-Day was nice :) It was nice to talk/skype with you! I guess Barbie is better than The Simpson's. No slang. Painful either way, so they are very good to humor you. Love, mom
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