Moroccan wedding

Hey there…

It’s me again… I just returned from an amazing trip to Amsterdam. Actually I have relatives there and they invited my entire family to the most beautiful day in their live or the beginning of a never-ending nightmare. Anyway, it was the marriage between my Egyptian relative and his long standing girlfriend. The interesting thing is that she is Moroccan decent. I have never been to a Moroccan traditional wedding and I learned much about their country and wedding traditions!!

Let’s begin with some basic information about Morocco

Geography

The Kingdom of Morocco is located in North Africa and it is characterized by its mountainous areas as well as by its large portions of desert. The probably mostly well-known city is Casablanca as it is the biggest one. However, Rabat is the political capital city.

Official languages

Arabic is besides Berber the official language but French is also a recognized national language. In the Arab world Moroccans are difficultly understood due to their variety of barber dialects and French words.

The wedding traditions

Within the week before the real wedding day, Moroccans celebrate a “henna celebration”, where only girls and women participate. Usually it is held in the private home of a relative or close friend where the "hannaya", a professional tattoo artist, tattoos the bride’s hands and feet with beautiful designs. It should protect the bride against disease and ensure the success and prosperity. As men are not allowed the girls and women wear revealing beautiful dresses and dance wildly.

In the morning of the wedding day the bride goes to the beauty salon to be prepared for the celebration. The bride will apply copious amounts of makeup and will be dressed extravagantly. After finishing from the beauty salon the groom will pick her up and drive directly to the venue where the celebration will take place. The celebration usually occurs at night in a beautifully decorated ceremonial hall with a special constructed superior sofa for the bride and the groom. A characteristic of a Moroccan wedding are the special songs the women and only the women sing on their way to the venue. They are dressed in a Moroccan caftan which has long sleeves and a broad belt around the waist.

 During the wedding the bride might change her outfit a couple of times and dance in each outfit some time surrounded by the guests. At the end each guest will congratulate once again and the bride and her husband will leave for their wedding night.

Moroccan caftan

sofa for bride and groom

How to motivate yourself

Hey there,

Today‘s one of these grey, dreary and dull days where you‘re just fucked off with everything especially with stuff you have to do for university. It seems a never ending list of things you still haven’t finished. Everything seems to have greater importance than to cram vocabulary for the next PC.  And that’s no good.
Suddenly you realize you’re hungry although you’ve just eaten some dry cornflakes but you still go into the kitchen and realize for the fifth time this day that there is nothing yummy in the fridge.
The weather isn’t a great help too. On the contrary!!!
It has been pouring down for hours now and no sun in sight. To top it all someone in the dormitory listens to music at a deafening volume, I am not sure but it might be Helene Fischer. : /
Don’t get me wrong. She has some nice songs too.
As I am sitting at my desk thinking of what eating next a thought comes in mind.
Why do we let ourselves down in such situations although we can do something against it?
So I have come up with some ideas how to motivate ourselves in an acute depressed situation.
I would like to share it with you guys.

Here we go:

1. Work out!!  

Even if you don’t feel like at all. I’ll tell you why:
Exercise is not only good to keep your nice figure but it affects our brain on different areas.
On the one hand working out increases heart rate which means that more oxygen is pumped to the brain. This means you feel more powerful and stressless. On the other hand pleasure hormones such as serotonin and dopamine which cause a euphoric feeling are released throughout your exercises
Even if you do not have a membership in a gym, you can do some exercise at home.
Use the following link.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/workouts-that-you-can-easily-do-at-home

                                                                     but do it right

If you do not have the opportunity to work out because your room is too small or you are one of those “no-sport-ever”-attitude people or whatever read the following.

2. Go for some fresh air

Just do it. I know it sometimes will be a huge overcoming but the result is worth it.
The brain function is based on the CO₂ levels in the blood. When take deep breaths the CO₂ level will rise and our brain function as well. Besides that, you will feel refreshed and your circulatory will be animated.

3. Step by step

We all are snowed under with work. The main point not to lose control is to do one step at a time.
Choose one piece of work you start with and finish it. Only then begin with another piece of work.

4. Reward yourself

In our heart we are all still kids who want to be praised when we achieve something.
Although we are adults now we do not have to abandon that. We should reward ourselves when having finished one point on our to-do-list.
In my case it’s Milka chocolate Santa Clauses for some reason.
Find out what your reward should be.

5. Phone somebody who encourages you

If you can’t bring yourself to go outside and meet people, why don’t you call somebody who is close to you? Someone who makes you happy and encourages you.

6. Music

 Music is a powerful force and you should use it. Do not listen to sad music or songs you associate with bad experience it will bring you down even more. Play kinds of music cheers you up.