Seeing The King

For over a month now, the rumor has been that King Mohammad VI is coming to town, but it wasn't until last Saturday that we noticed beautiful brand-new Moroccan flags going up all over town. Along with these, a frenzy of cleaning began - street sweepers (and I don't mean machines) cleaned the streets each with approximately 5 twigs tied together as a broom, lawn mowers were sighted in the medians for the first time (they usually use weed cutters), flowers were planted although frosts still threaten, street lines were repainted though they were painted a month ago, and on and on and on. It's astounding, really, so see how much work is put into preparing for a king to come.

Once every blade of grass was cut, every flower watered and every flag hung, truckload after truckload of soldiers arrived and were placed on every street corner and all through town. We didn't know if we should feel safe or paranoid, but we did know this was a sure sign that the king was coming! Wednesday I went to the market to buy chicken and found there was almost none left in town - it had all been sent off to lunch for the soldiers.

And so it was that we joined the masses of people lined up to wait for the king to come Wednesday night. Traditional Berber bands played and flags and pictures of the king (in a suit) were handed out. Just about to give up after an hour, we saw in the distance a huge line of car headlights turning the curve into Ifrane. The chatter of the crowd suddenly ceased in an awed silence and then our cheers grew and grew until the noise swelled into a roar as the king passed by standing up through the roof of the car and waving. What an amazing experience!

Then off he rode to his palace in Ifrane and off we giddily went home. Katrina was convinced that he was not the king. "He's supposed to be wearing a suit, like in his picture!" she protested. He had been wearing a Moroccan jelaba and Fezzi hat so I tried to explain that he has more than one outfit!

As we were talking about all the flags put up in preparation for the visit, Kendra said, "When God comes back, there's going to be A LOT of flags!" I told her we don't know when he's coming back and then she said she figured God would let us know. I told her that our "flags" are the way we treat other people and the way we love God. She thought about this for a while and I don't know if she got it or not, but I'm pretty sure she's still convinced God is going to send us a memo! Several of us were commenting on how Biblical references to kings make so much more sense when you live in a kingdom. I guess I'd better make sure my "flags" are ready . . .

Pictured - Gwen (a teacher at an orphanage nearby), Misty (a professor), the girls and I right afterwards.