Leila, Janet, and I ditched the final session of Friday morning to start our white paper / quad chart on Electronic Materials:  This will grow into a proposal coordinating women scientists from Morocco, Tunisia  Algeria, and the US. This is not an artificial collaboration -- we self-assembled and have new ideas on how to create, analyze, and produce new magnetic and superconducting materials.  We plan to have the quad chart to Geri today.  I want it done before my afternoon presentation!

Back to reporting on Wednesday's Mosque madness...

After working through lunch, we started forming our focus groups -- the one I mentioned above.  We got VERY efficient so we could get out and sight-see... so by 3:30 we self-assembled in cars and went to the Hassan II Mosque.  We had our headscarves and went into the first layer. Upon entering, a nice lady guard asked in Arabic whether I was a Muslim (Oy vey, was I that obvious?) and she said I could not enter.  Some of the other US women were more clever in putting on their head scarves and walking in quickly and they got in.  Nora Berrah tried to get me in through a different entrance claiming I was her sister (Nora is my US friend who was raised in Algeria and is Muslim) and arguing with another nice lady in Arabic.  Lots of loud voices and Nora finally gave up and took me out.  The lady apparently told Nora, "Why are you making my job so difficult?"  We could go the next day if we paid -- which I had no problem with but my Muslim hosts were upset that it was a "business."  Such is religion --- can be the same all over the world!

Outside the Mosque.

Kathryn looks perfect with that head scarf and got into the Mosque!

Outside the Mosque

Partially inside the Mosque

Various photos from outside the Hassan II Mosque

Here is my good friend Khadiga Ziat in front of the Hassan II Mosque.

This is a rather glorious sight -- the detail of the carvings and inlays are amazing.

These are places of study outside the Mosque -- I guess like a Yeshiva