cross-cultural tongue lashing and pancakes!

September 14, 2009

So I think Ramadan gave me a mild case of insomnia. I fasted for the first week, so I ended up sleeping during part of the day so I could stay up late to eat and drink. I guess my body decided it liked the schedule, which meant I wasn't able to get to sleep before 6am, when it was light outside. Now that Ramadan is over, I'm hoping I can get back to a normal eating and sleeping routine. Two days ago I tried to get to sleep at 2am, but was restless until 5:30 or so. I went up onto my roof to get some fresh air (read: to smoke, I know, horrible habit, but I'm trying to quit). I noted that it was going to be a beautiful day, so I made the decision to go on a hike to the top of a ridge near my town.
I took off by 5:45 with some ice water and my ipod. I didn't know if there was a trail to the top, so I decided to just go in a straight line up the mountain. I cut through a couple fields (more like skirted the edges of them) until I got to a dried up river near the base of the mountain. Once I crossed the river and up the opposite steep bank, I saw a house maybe 200 yards off, with two dogs that apparently also noticed me. The started barking their little heads off, which apparently woke up the family in the house. Now during Ramadan people tend to be on edge a little, so the second I heard the dogs bark I knew I was gonna get a stern talking to. So I paused my ipod, turned away from the house, and briskly started to walk away. Then I heard a voice yelling at me in the distance. I had two options: turn around and go get yelled at, or jump down the streambank and run away. I chose the former and met the farmer halfway. I figured since I'm the only white guy in town, that he'd eventually see me some day. He instantly reminded me of an Amish farmer (it was the beard and spectacles). He yelled at me in Tamazight, and I quickly realized I don't know Angry Tam, so I started telling him that I just wanted to go up to the top of the mountain and that I was very sorry to wake him up. Either my Tam pronunciation is horrible (pretty likely), or he just didn't want to hear what I had to say. He then yelled at me in Arabic. More apologies from me and quizzical looks 'cause me no speaka da arabic. He then asked me if I spoke french. I said no, more apologies. He started yelling at me in french, so I told him I am an American and that I work and live in the town, and threw in some more apologies. Then, out of nowhere, he asked me if I spoke german and started yelling at me in that language too. Now, I took three years of german in high school and one semester in college; but apparently every word I learned in Tam meant a word of german had to leave my brain, because I couldn't remember a damn word. I apologized one last time and then he just waved me away. I jumped down into the stream bed and followed it for literally two minutes before starting the climb up the mountain. I feel really bad about waking the guy up, but the verbal beating I took in 4 languages was a little much. Left my mind a little sore. I guess I need to learn some Angry Tam and some better apologies.
The hike up the mountain was pretty brutal, and reinforced the idea that I really need to quit smoking. I made it up to the top by 6:45, so the sun was still coming over the ridge, which made for some pretty good pictures. I walked the ridge until it dropped off to a mini cliff. I think I might cowboy camp up their someday to catch a sunset and the real sunrise. It was nice to see some villages on the other side of the mountain that I've heard of but never seen. I then followed the ridge the other way to find a trail down. There actually are a couple trails up the ridge, so next time I go I won't cut through people's fields. The walk down was nice, and I made it home by 8:45. That did the trick to knock me out. I made some post-hike pancakes (thanks for sending the maple syrup mom!) I ended up taking an 8 hour nap after(it was Saturday, so I guess I can sleep whenever and not feel bad about it).
Final note, I've uploaded a bunch of pictures from the last month, so check those out. Take it easy everyone.