A secret gem in Marrakech

  
 
  

A lovely oasis in the suburbs behind the Palmeraie.
A place of peace, beauty and inspiration.
A secret gem of natural blessings in a bohemian style.  
A firework of colors and wonderful little details.
A café with lovely food, juices and cakes.
A retreat for the whole family far from the smoggy, noisy town.

A dear friend in Marrakech recently showed me her favorite place to be with children. It is a real oasis and I immediately felt in love with this place which is so unusual inMoroccoand offers really unique things here. For people like me, who live already several years out here, things like children playgrounds, eco-food and hippy-style-locations are something special.  

I love the Flower Power Café and I really recommend it to everyone who needs a break from busy life in the red city. Happy weekend!

My Marrakech 01’11

  

It’s been quiet a long time since I wrote my last post, I know. We had holidays over here and spent some days in Marrakech – only the girl and I.
It was the first time since a year that I quit our valley and the day we left it snowed and rained for the first time this season, subhanallah. It felt strange to leave home, the boys and the mountains to come back into modernity. With every hill we crossed, the rural simplicity faded away and vibrant city life welcomed us with lots of noise and new things to see.
Time was short and filled with professional appointments and things to get done. Unfortunately there was no time to meet all friends, to visit all the places I would like to, there even was nearly no moment to take beautiful pictures of the old town markets or of the warm colours of that vivid city called M’rrakch. But there were so many new ideas, inspiration and things to think about, but also a deep feeling of thankfulness to come back to our life in the High Atlas of Morocco, alhamdulillah.
I stayed with two dear friends and had a very quick but really lovely meeting with moroccomama Nora.
So here you go with some simple impressions of beautiful homes, typical views and lovely food.

Welcome back, wishing you a wonderful week!

 
  
 

Simplicity of Life

  
  

Life around here is frugal, basic, and simple: no shopping malls, no fashion boutiques, no cinema, no fitness studios, no luxury, no restaurants, no fast food, no newspapers, and no distraction.
There are no insurances, no assurances and no bank accounts.

Electricity, heating and fluent water are not there for granted and often it is a life “back to the roots” with candles, water from the spring and blankets against the cold.

  
  
  
  

People here would be mostly considered as being poor.
Living is harsh and rough just as the nature around. The rhythm of life goes along with weather and seasons and the days are scheduled by the five prayer times.
Clocks tick otherwise in this part of the world…

  
  

Life and its circumstances are imperfect, just as natural as human beings.
There is no hurry, no rush; there is always time for a glass of tea or chatter in the sunlight. There is always a real relation to nature, to the self and to existential things.
There is no anonymity and being part of the community sometimes is a lifesaver.
It is a living that totally submits under Allah’s will.
It is a living that teaches modesty and contentment with the little things.
It is a living that teaches gratitude with every breath. Subhanallah!

  
 

Different Blessings

  
  

Over the weekend there happened some different sorts of blessings:

- We had the most awful rainy weather possible, with sometimes no electricity or no internet-connection, a lot of wind and water running down the hills. The fields in front of our house became a lake, it was stormy and cold and inside our house it dropped in some rooms, so we had to put towels and basins everywhere. Mud-houses are not really built for such heavy wet weather… But subhanallah, our outside-façade protected the main walls and yesterday, when the sun finally came out again we discovered only some broken pieces on the outside we will have to redo, but nothing really fundamentally bad. Alhamdulillah for the blessing of Allah measuring rain and water and how much He lets pour over us.

- Over a year ago I met sister Brooke through my blog. We came into contact and the last weekend finally she and her lovely family made the way to visit us. Subhanallah, I am so thankful to have met her and I am so happy about their lovely enriching visit. It was a very short one and the weather really bad, but it was a very blessed time, alhamdulillah. And the gifts they brought are really treasured around here now: a selection of great Waldorf-books (soon updated in our books-list), a giant plain paper roll to draw and play on, marbles, dates, coffee, yoghurt, cereals… subhanallah and thanks God for the blessings of internet-friends!

- Through my blog as well I met another dear sister again whom I already knew from meeting twice in Marrakech: Nora. Alhamdulillah, I am so glad that she found my little space here and made me discover her great blog about life in the red city http://moroccomama.wordpress.com. I really recommend reading her blog in which she describes so fantastically well things and reasons about living in Morocco. Mashaallah, and thanks Allah for the blessings of blogging.

What blessings did you experience? What are you thankful for?

Spring Clean

  
  
  

It is going to be this time of the year when the almonds blossom, the fields get green again and I feel the big urge to spring clean our life and living.
Just as Allah cleans the nature with rain, beautifies it with flowers and green grass and clears it up with fresh winds, subhanallah, I feel the need to do so as well with my little spaces. It is once again all about beautifying and creating a blissful home and about implementing new inspiration and fresh ideas.

So I decided to dedicate this new month to “Spring Clean 2010”, inchaallah.
Not only do I want to do a deep cleaning of the whole house, but also purify our bodies and souls. I wanna clean up hidden corners around our home but as well those in my mind. I wanna beautify the rooms but as well beautify my Iman (faith) with some new knowledge. I wanna renew our wardrobes but as well our meal-plan.
I already sat down and thought about all the things that need a clean and a change. I made a list to write down all the ideas for changes around the house and for what to do in every room along with the regular weekly cleaning. I collected ideas for new decoration items, for crafting ideas, fresh wardrobe design and healthier meals…
So here’s a lot to do, inchaallah, and maybe I will give you some updates along this month on how we’re going on with all of it.
But for now, I leave you with a “salamou alaikoum and happy March!” and with some fresh ideas to get inspired:

Some spiritual decoration and design 
How to clean up the kid’s room
Lovely felted boxes in different forms

Simply Breakfast and a Reflection

  

Do you remember my series “Simply breakfast and a quote”? It’s been a long time I haven’t posted one… so here you see today’s breakfast: Roibush tea with milk, Berber-bread with butter and “Aisha crème Ipomée”.

Have you ever tasted sweet potato spread? I’ve talked about it already once on my old blog. The best Moroccan jam brand “Aisha” distributes it and it tastes great!

A little bit like a mixture of chestnut-spread and caramel, but more fruity.

If you would like to do it at home, you find a recipe here (in French language).

Another thing that makes me really happy is the design of that delicious roibosch-tea. Have you seen the lovely picture of mother and daughter drinking tea together? Very old-school and very kitschy, but I simply love it…

After my breakfast I am reading at the moment once again Elma Ruth Harder’s book “Concentric Circles”, a great Muslim book on homeschooling and early learning. And here is some reflection out of it for today:

“Do I take time to reflect?
How did I use my time today?
Did I lose or waste any time?
Do I think of my time as a test?
If I am held accountable for how I have spent my minutes today, am I happy with my day?
If the worthwhile moments were collected onto one side of a balance scale, and the unworthwhile moments were placed on the other, which side of the balance would be heavier?
Do I think of my time as a gift?
Do I begin my day with a sense of true celebration, considering it a time for gratitude and joyous expression?
Am I thankful for each new day?”

Wishing you a joyful Sunday with lots of moments to be thankful for! Assalamou alaikoum.

  
 

White Greetings

...  and my best wishes to all !
May this old year end well and the new one begin with all things good, inchaallah!
Love and Blessings to you and your families, may God shower you with His mercy.
Ameen.

(Pictures taken at Dar Bellarj, Marrakech medina,
a wonderful place and art gallery to visit, right beside the Medersa Ben Yousef, free entrance)

“A well-behaved child”

  
  
  
some images of the village we belong to (pictures unrelated to this post)

I have to say…

I strongly believe that children are naturally born with a good character.
I believe that they are wonderful as they are and deserve the most merciful and loving company.
I do not believe that they need to be formed, manipulated and criticized to become “real human beings”.

I do not believe that a little baby for example needs to be trained to sleep alone to become an independent child; I rather think she first needs to feel the maximum of warmth, love and protection to feel safe and to establish a strong self esteem and trust in the world.
I do not believe for example that a toddler has to be forced, out of politeness, to shake hands with or to give kisses to other people. I rather think his refuse and his personal boundaries should be respected to help him establishing a healthy relationship with his true self.

I do not think that kids need to be reprimanded all the time to become good and well behaved people.
I do not think it is right to force a kid at his expenses simply to please others or to feel proud as a parent.
I do not like to command my kids all the time and to give them instructions on how to behave and on how to do things right.

I believe in their natural wish to behave well and to be part of a community.
I believe in their natural instinct and their inner-feeling of what is good for them and I do not want to interfere al the time (unless the situation is about something really dangerous or obviously wrong).

I believe in the importance of boundaries, but only in those which are natural and logical.
I believe in the importance of parents to guide, but their intentions have to be the best for their kids and not the most comfortable solutions for themselves.

I don’t think we establish strong and respectful characters by criticizing our kids and by making them do what we want them to do.

I do not want to make them behave well only for the superficial sake of other people’s praise.  
I do not want to sacrifice their true feelings for the sake of my own interests.
I do not believe in the saying “kids should be seen but not heard”.

I believe that kids, until they are grown-ups, will definitely learn to say “please” and “thank you”, they will learn to greet with their right hand and to be friendly to guests, they will learn how to behave polite and being a respectful sociable human being;
they will learn to do and to be so simply by following our own good examples;
without us forcing them, without moralizing all the time, without creating an atmosphere of hierarchies and control.

And I believe kids should absolutely be supported in establishing a deep self-love, self-confidence and a true self-esteem and be fully respected as human beings, with all their needs, feelings, moods and opinions! 

… Alternative-merciful-parenting is a long way, and often a hard one. I have still so much to learn, but I had to say this today.

Wonderful week to you, friends!

Crafty Greetings

  
  
  
  
 

Just a quick hello and thank you so much for the lovely energy and words you’ve sent me after my last post – they really touched me.

With these pictures of my latest crafty outcome (an “inchaallah”-banner, a love-cushion and a bathroom-rug) I wanna wish you a beautiful blessed Friday!

I was inspired, felt in love with and want to recommend soulemamas new book to all handmade-lovers and to everybody who wants to bring more crafted bliss into his home…

Jumuah moubarak, friends!

Guests in BerberLand

  
  

We had guests and we have been guests this week.
Time was filled with a whole lot of chatting and togetherness, good Moroccan food (up here: couscous), lucky moments and some beautiful insights into colourful Berber houses … subhanallah.

Wishing you a Jumuah moubarak – blessed Friday – friends!