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Tanjah!
December 20, 2008 | Posted by Abu Muqawama - 10:14am | 6 Comments
[Warning: this post has nothing to do with war or counter-insurgency.]
The New York Times has a travel article today on the city of Tangier, where I spent the summer of 2007 thanks to a language fellowship from the U.S. Department of State. I am an enthusiastic champion of this city. You know the scene in the last Bourne movie
where the annoying Julia Stiles character gives the assassin his new cell phone? (You're ashamed to admit that yes, you remember the scene.) I spent every afternoon in that same cafe doing my Arabic homework and reading the newspapers.
Tangier is wonderfully resurgent city. If you have never traveled to an Arabic-speaking country, a short ferry ride from Spain to Tangier (followed by a train ride to either Fez or Marakesh) would be a great introduction. (Also, the "Tangerines" often speak Spanish and/or French as well as Moroccan Arabic -- which, I confess, I can't understand very well myself.) The expatriate community of artists in Tangier is something special as well. My friend Irina's mother has a nice quote at the end of the article:
The New York Times has a travel article today on the city of Tangier, where I spent the summer of 2007 thanks to a language fellowship from the U.S. Department of State. I am an enthusiastic champion of this city. You know the scene in the last Bourne movie
where the annoying Julia Stiles character gives the assassin his new cell phone? (You're ashamed to admit that yes, you remember the scene.) I spent every afternoon in that same cafe doing my Arabic homework and reading the newspapers.Tangier is wonderfully resurgent city. If you have never traveled to an Arabic-speaking country, a short ferry ride from Spain to Tangier (followed by a train ride to either Fez or Marakesh) would be a great introduction. (Also, the "Tangerines" often speak Spanish and/or French as well as Moroccan Arabic -- which, I confess, I can't understand very well myself.) The expatriate community of artists in Tangier is something special as well. My friend Irina's mother has a nice quote at the end of the article:
“There’s a wonderful term in ornithology that is perfect for the kind of people that end up here,” said Elena Prentice, an American painter and philanthropist who lives in Tangier. “They are called accidentals, birds that end up in an area they don’t really belong. Everyone in Tangier is some form of accidental.”
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