Hammam and Radio 22/3/2012

This morning I was doing the normal drive with the kids and my husband into Casablanca for school and work. On Luxe radio, they were discussing the rights of women in Morocco. A few things mentionned on the radio are women's right to abortion only if her life is in danger. They also said that it is good no one takes seriously the idea that a woman should be killed if she cheats on her husband, which I guess was the case in the past.

Then, one guy said that in the US, I believe Texas, it is legal to hit your wife once a month. I made a loud gasp of disbelief when I heard that. Then, my husband reached from behind and playfully slapped me on the face and said "well I'm good for the month of April," and started laughing hysterically in back seat of the car.

My daughter in the front seat was confused. So I explained to her that the man on the radio is obviously misinformed, that no one is allowed to hit in America, even in Texas. It's called assault and assault is illegal.

Hammam

I went to the hammam today with 2 women. It was fantastic. It was finally my first time going there. I wasn't sure what to expect. There was no one else there, just the 3 of us. We paid 11€ for 2 hrs.

The woman working there washed us with black soap first, then laid us on a warm marble slab and exfoliated us. You bring in your own gomme (like a rubbery, sandpapery, washcloth that fits over your hand.) It hurt at first, but then I got used to it. She took off probably 1 kilo of skin. Kind of gross really. It's hard to imagine you have that much skin just waiting to come off. Then we got soaped again later with a body scrub that has herbs and oils. It was brown goup that smelled like cloves. She only spoke arabic so I had a hard time communicating with her. She poured scalding water on me at first, I cried out as a reaction and said, "trop chaud." I think she understood because she cooled off the water a little after that.

My skin has never been so soft. We were there in the steamy room for about 2 hrs. After 1 hr, I felt like I was going to start passing out, so I had to pour cold water over myself.

I wasn't sure what to wear, so I just went in my birthday suit. I figured that way I'd get everything exfoliated, but I read in a guide book you're just supposed to bring in a towel and shower shoes so that was all I planned for... Oops.

The other 2 women wore bikini bottoms, so I felt a little uncomfortable and exposed. I read you can pick up things in hammams, so you should bring a towel, except it's so wet, you can't really sit on a towel, especially if you've only brought one like I planned to dry yourself in the end. So, next time, I'll be sure to bring a little towel to sit on, since all my bathing suits are somewhere else; hopefully in the freighter on their way to Morocco.