Oh, decisions are tough. We have been doing some thinking about our blog, and its purpose and audience, and have decided to move our little old selves to a private blog. There is no mystery or scandal in our decision. We have had no exchanges with the powers that be about our blog at all… The third goal of Peace Corps is "helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans," and we have enjoyed using our blog as a format for sharing about our experiences here. However, I forget the specifics of the story, there was once a PCV having a difficult day, as a person is bound to have in life, PCV or not, and, understandably wanted to turn to someone for support, and wrote home…. Unfortunately, on a postcard, that, during its journey out of the country, was seen by someone who took offense to the message. The incident nearly jeopardized the whole Peace Corps program in the country. We did some pondering and soul-searching (yes, being a bit dramatic here) :) and thought about who we were writing for and why, and realized our most important goal is to keep in touch with family and friends, and share our lives here with them. We have been doing that publicly, and it has been a lot of fun. Peace Corps is, understandably, though responding to the greater risks to the programs that the expansion of things like blogs and myspace and facebook accounts present, and requiring greater oversight by staff of what goes on in cyberspace. I mean, there has always been risks from frustrated letters falling into the wrong hands, or rogue postcards, but anyone can find and read what we post on the web! It is not that we have negative things we need to say. Michael and I are grateful to this country for its hospitality, and all we’ve learned here. We are also grateful to Peace Corps for allowing us to be here. So many programs similar in purpose require the participant to pay for the privilege to serve. Not only do we not do that, we are supplied with medical care and safety support, as well as numerous other supports. We are finding though that being careful to write in a way that cannot offend anyone is compromising our original purpose, to share our lives with friends and family. It’s not that what we have posted here is not true or genuine… just….reserved. So, we've created a blog that is “invite only.” I know, so exclusive. :) It will add an extra step to those of you who’d like to continue reading…you’ll have to set up a name and password, and sign into our blog to read it, so I hope we are worth the trouble. To find us, we’ll have to send you an e-mail, so, if you would like to continue, mail me ( supergirlmpls at yahoo dot com). Don’t be shy, okay? We don’t want to lose those who stop by just now and then… Thanks for reading, and understanding our decision about this move. Farewell from Blogger!

Oh, before I forget, the way our students said “See you happy” was n-shuf-k ferhan… I’m trying to be better about answering questions!!

The promised elephant picture -- check out the two little ones!

So, a little bit about our trip! Mike and his new friend...

Because of the way the flight connections worked out, Michael and I “had to” spend a night in Amsterdam on our way to Tanzania. We had millions of things we wanted to do in the city, and only one afternoon, but we made the most of it! We really wanted to visit the Van Gogh Museum, but even more than that wanted to go to the Anne Frank House. We did, and I don’t even want to try and say something about how powerful it is, because I am afraid of making it sound trite. We wandered the city, took pictures of the beautiful canals (too many that I’m sure we’ll regret later…but you just can’t help yourself, you know?), and ate amazing sushi.

The next day we met my family at the airport (yay! after 2 weeks shy of a year since we’d seen them!) and flew off to the Kilimanjaro airport to meet our guide, Emmanuel, and crash for the next couple of nights in Arusha. In Arusha we were waiting for the rest of our party, as well as doing some jetlag recovery, and just chilling and catching up! We took off the following morning for Tarangire National Park, which is a gorgeous park full of elephants and baobob trees. We were closer than I ever thought we could be to some of the animals, just because we’d spot them off the road, and they’d keep going on their path and pass next to our vehicles. We saw oodles of elephants, as well as some giraffe, ostrich, impala, dik dik, and all sorts of birds and lizards and turtles… oh! and our first lions! We ventured next to a “permanent tented camp” (meaning, very nice tent, like with ceramic toilets and hot showers…nicer than our house here) :) on the shore of Lake Eyasi. The lake is beautiful, but we were here for some culture. We woke up early one morning and went on a hunting expedition with a tribe in the area that retains its more ancient customs, and observed some jewelry-making later that afternoon. A baby zebra in the crater.

Our next stop was Ngorongoro Crater, which is the largets unbroken crater on earth. It is what is left of a volcano that is believed to have been larger than Mount Kilimanjaro. The crater is FULL of wildebeest and zebra, and is one of the few places you can see black rhino. We also saw our first hippos and hyenas. The wildebeests have a season for having young, so that numerically some of them will survive the hyena and lion attacks, and grow up to be adults, and while we were there there were tons and tons of little wildebeest guys. We had a very “circle of life” moment our second day in the crater when we were driving along and came upon a hyena chasing a little wildebeest. He put up a good chase, but he never had a chance… poor little guy. Me doing some Maasai dancing...just jumping up and down...way fun :)

Our final stop was the famous Serengeti, stopping at Olduvai Gorge, and a Maasai village on the way. The two million wildebeests who live on the plains migrate in a large ovaly shape, and driving through the middle of that many animals is just CRAZY! We saw a cheetah as well driving into the park, and saw our first and only leopard, after LOTS of looking, the next day. In the park, we stayed in a mobile tent camp that was also very nice, but the crazy thing is you are staying in the park which means all night you can hear baboons... and my brother and our guide heard lion noises… creepy…

The highlight of the Serengeti came on our last day when we woke early for a hot air balloon ride over the park. What from the road looks uniform, from above you can see is a complex system of paths through the grasses. It was fun to see the animals from a different perspective than “animal crossing or standing near the road.” We saw birds doing a mating dance, and a hippo out for a morning stroll, and an elephant who was really not a fan of the balloon – and our first hot air balloon ride was cool just for the experience – even if it hadn’t been set in such an amazing location!

After the balloon ride we high-tailed it back to the airport (and saw Kilimanjaro from the jeep window – our first time, because on our way in it was dark…) and started the trip home!

It was a wonderful two weeks – seeing and doing amazing things – and just to be with family would have been enough!

Personal growth is important, right? Peace Corps is an amazing place to learn more about yourself. What sort of assumptions you have about how the world works, personal strengths and weaknesses... time to re-evaluate who you are and where you are headed... exercise more and learn new hobbies...

We knit, play soccer, learn about photography.... and we have to admit, one of our favorite new hobbies is making faces.

Yeah, we don't have a TV. :)

Some of our favorite evidence...

Here's Jack trying to get in on some face-making action...

Okay, he's got a little work to do... but look how big he's getting!

So, this last picture is Mike being scared of an approaching thunderstorm. He's not usually scared of thunder :) but we are driving around the SERENGETI!!! Where we could get stuck in a lot of mud...and be trapped...out with some lions...

That's right, we just got back from an amazing trip to Tanzania with my (jana) family where we were "on safari" looking for all sorts of crazy cool animals, and learning about local culture and such.

Life has been a little hectic since returning. I headed immediately north to be a trainer for a Volunteer Support Network training weekend (you may or may not remember when I was a trainee last September...). The training was for the most recent Small Business Development and Youth Development volunteers, who arrived in country about six months ago. Our group (a very cool bunch of SBD volunteers...) is now ready to listen to and support their fellow volunteers -- hopefully making for easier transitions, good overall morale, even fewer people who feel like this experience is not for them and choose to go home, and just some genuinely happy volunteers!

Mike came home and jumped straight into teaching English, and getting ready for our first weekly health club for the youth in one of our neighboring douars. It took place last Wednesday, and went really well. Mike did a short lesson with a group of pre-schoolers, and a group of 4-6 graders, and then did some coloring and drawing.

So, all to say, we didn't get a blog post written yet about our trip, but soon!

Also, this past Wednesday marked one year since we arrived in Morocco. Crazy.

Our one year anniversary also means it is time for some new Health and Environment volunteers, who arrived in country last week sometime --

WELCOME you guys!!!

Alright, see you happy, and get ready for some crazy elephant pictures...

happy!

I think we've mentioned before that we do an English class once a week at our small local government office place. It's sort of a review, because most of the people that come have studied English for a little bit in school....it may have been several years ago...but it isn't all brand new, you know? Anyway, they are a fun group, and we have fun comparing languages... what to say when someone is traveling or has a new baby in the family... the stuff that comes up in daily life.

My favorite came up a couple of weeks ago. Our student said the Dharija equivalent, and then said, "What do you say in English? See you.... happy?"

We said it's a nice thought, but, yeah, we don't say that.

Mike and I debated what this really means.. I will see you later and I hope you are happy when we meet! I will see you, and we will be happy! I will walk along with you and see you to happiness! YOU WILL BE HAPPY.

I think it's awesome, no matter what. See you happy :) Mike's not totally sold, but I'm working on it. And calling on you all. Let's say it. It's so cheerful and well, happy. How could you not leave with a smile when someone says that as you leave?

So, see you happy....

:)

Busy!!!

Strange things have been happening lately, here in our world. That’s right, the four letter word we despise in America and every volunteer I know craves. To be BUSY! Not all of it is hard-hitting, bringing health to Morocco type stuff, but in reality that is only 1/3 of our job here. So, we may not get "credit" per se from our counterpart, or the community, for that matter, but, in my head at least, I think of every interaction as work. The minute we step out of our doors we are no longer allowed to be mike and Jana, Americans, or even mike and Jana, Americans in another country. We become, like transformers if you like, mike and Jana, PC volunteers from America, trying to bring or exude all things acceptable from America, all the while interacting in a language we sometimes understand. Well, as much of "America" as two white kids from the Midwest can, of course. Two things here. First, we do slip up and little droplets of the first two eek out despite our best efforts. And second, and more importantly, this isn’t to say we don’t enjoy going out. Most of the time we really like it and while we may come back with a smile on our face, we usually come back feeling somewhat exhausted.

So what did this busy week entail for us.

-Visiting a friend who just had a baby. They live in Tata, not in our village.

-Working on a grant for medical waste incinerators at another volunteer’s site an hour down the road.-Setting up a time for doing a school lesson about teeth care with teacher.

-Preparing said lesson, including but not limited too, writing lesson and finishing large paper mache mouth.

-Tutoring for about 3 hours

-Planning English lessons for two different classes

-Going to previously mentioned classes, 2 out of 3 which didn’t actually happen because there was not prior approval from the director.

-Tracking down contact for English class to find out class shouldn’t happen on said day because soccer always happens.

-Prepping simpler lesson about good foods versus bad foods for our teeth, for preschool kids that we presented on Monday which included a massive drawing spree as well as stuffing ourselves with the candy whose wrappers we used to illustrate bad foods in our little game.

-Spending 4 hours at the internet café trying to free our computer from the grips of nasty viruses that were causing all sorts of evils. Seems to have worked for the time being.

-Attending an event by an association in a neighboring community with whom we have become friendly.

-Meeting with the president of said community’s association to discuss grant options that we have to help them build an actual association building.

-Going to town and buying our necessary items.

-Finishing touches on our health lesson we did at the clinic on Wednesday, the busy vaccination day.

-Laundry

Add to this the fact that we cook our meals and none of them come from a box which not only means more prep time but using more dishes and utensils and thus more dishes in the end. In many ways its great, we eat way more fruit and vegetables but sometimes you just want to open a bag of veggies and some frozen chicken breasts or a mac N’ cheese and have one dish, or maybe even order a pizza (not an option for this part of the Maroc as far as I know.) Another small story for your pleasure. As I'm sure you know, we have a real cute cat named Jack, and we, as any proud parents would do, have tried to teach him how to be a good citizen of this world, which for jack means: not jumping on the table or you will get sprayed with water, not attacking my hands with your claws or fangs or... that's right, you will get sprayed, and the list goes on like this. Well, after teaching our preschool class and having tea with one of the mothers afterwards, we were walking home, and see to our horror, some intruder cat on our roof with our beloved jack on the ledge. It all happened so quickly, so I can't confirm, but Jana claims the evil intruder pushed jack off our roof. We saw him hang for a brief second, like Cliffhanger, (a movie I've actually never seen) only to fall maybe 15 feet or so, safely, of course, because cats are like that. Anyways, so over the next 24 hours, in my head I was go through all the scenarios for some sort of training regimen for jack, much like rocky balboa would, so that next time some cat enters unwelcomed, he can at least defend himself and hopefully not fall off the roof. I was thinking of maybe bringing in some other cats in for more of a controlled fight where we could step in, and ring the bell if it just got out of hand. Realize that the fiercest thing jack fights are the big ants, flies, and our toes... until he gets sprayed, of course.

Michael’s Gramma passed away this past week. Our thoughts and prayers are with his Grampa, Mom, Dad, and siblings. We wish we were there, to say goodbye together, and to be there for you. Know that we love you!! Mike promised some L’Eid pictures, so they are coming, but they are going to be down the page a little so this can be a warning space. The pictures are going to be a little…a lot…bloody, so please be careful about who’s around you, and if blood is not your thing – don’t scroll down! In the space until the pictures, I’ll tell you that we have secured a post office box so for the remaining 17 months we are here, we have a real, permanent address! Here it is: Michael and Jana Huffman B.P. 61 84000, Province of Tata Morocco Any mail you send or have sent to the previous address(es) will still come to us, so no worries. Alright, time for some pictures…

So, first is the slaughter. I didn't post any pictures because, well, it is just too bloody. If you guys want them, just let me know... I just didn't want to show too much. This is the beginning of the skinning process. The start at the back legs, and you can see that someone is holding the broken leg... a little handle.

This is the skinning process a little further down the line. We like this one because he is using his whole body -- our host family thought it was hilarious and made sure we got a picture.

Here are the heads of our sacrifices. The little kids thought they were great. This is all a scary adventure for us, but they do this every year and it is a HUGE holiday -- they love it!! Like Mike said, the first day you eat the organs, grilled in stomach fat. Here is the guys getting it prepared to grill.

The days leading up to this have included various renditions of the “Do you have your hawli (aka sheep) yet?” usually accompanied by a smirk. I, of course, say “no” and then am forced to give some excuse. In a lot of ways, we complain about routine conversations which are still about all we can accomplish with any sort of ease, but the flip side is that at least we can talk about something that we understand. I use that word understand quite loosely meaning we understand the words, not necessarily the why, how, or even always the what, but after several times with the same conversation we are usually able to work out the kinks and thus converse. My excuses usually include something about my lack of killing fortitude, or the fact that we will spend it with our adopted family, both of which are entirely valid.

8:54 standing in a section of the currently unused cemetery, most men of the village have started praying but, as with any event, there are a few stragglers. There is really no set time for anything so to say they are late wouldn’t really be accurate. Children are standing behind those praying, and a few enterprising ones have decided to bring a box filled with candy to sell to the others. As the tradition goes, children have new clothes and shoes, all looking very fancy. The men are all wearing long robes that I described earlier, most have jellabas, generally thicker with a hood, now that it is cold. I finally understand why at seemingly random places all over the country we have seen what seem like a miniature stairway facing east. This is where the religious leader of the community, the faqii, stands while delivering his speech during these gathering outside.

10:55 I’ve since returned, and having eaten our breakfast of oatmeal, Jana and I are out the door to our families house to celebrate and observe the killing of the sacrificial animals. There is certainly a sense of excitement in the air, but I can’t discern if it’s because we all know we will have wonderful meaty tagines and couscous for days to come or if it is something else. Nearly all family members who work or go to school in other parts of the country or in France or Italy return during this time so there are a lot of new faces about town and I think this may be adding to the enthusiasm. Islamic law stipulates that each married man is required to slaughter one animal per wife, either a sheep or a goat. Sheep, I gather, are more expensive, but I don’t get a sense that there is overt bragging or shame based on the animal sacrificed. Within our extended family there are three animals, 2 goats and a sheep.

11:00 We arrive and of course have to drink some tea first off. We are served tea that has been cooked on the small grill that is also used for cooking the first meat. This same grill heats the incense that women fluff their skirts over at special occasions to make them smell all purty, in addition to the cologne. Oh, almost forgot, we too were welcomed with some Masculin 2. (Men take note: The ladies light up when Masculin 2 is broken out, and I know Christmas is come and gone, but it is high time the world start smelling a little more manly)

11:40 Our host uncle who is about our same age and has two adorable little girls gets impatient with waiting for all the proper tools and maybe some of the expertise so we go around back and see him in a nice light yellow shirt holding on to this dear sheep. I made the mistake of asking him if he did it or someone else and he said “Of course, its easy.” I’ll just say, maybe we should have sharpened the knife a little more because it didn’t look hard, but it certainly didn’t look easy either. Nonetheless, after pouring some water over the neck to see if it was still alive, we proceeded to skin it, with the same dull knife. Thankfully, his brother and our host father came with the sharp knives or we might still have been there.

12:15 The insides of the first goat are opened and inside, besides all the usual things, and I do unfortunately mean all, there is a baby goat roughly the size of my hand. It is unceremoniously tossed in the hole located quite conveniently next to their house; thanks to the wall building efforts to enclose the cemetery.

1:46 All told I’ve seen two goats and a sheep get it today, and I’m feeling pretty good. Very generously, they offered to let me do some of the killin’. I declined. Now its time to hunker down, and eat up that delicious liver along with some of the other unknown vitals, wrapped in a thin layer of white stomach fat, kind of like wrapping paper for your meat. Grilled over that small charcoal grill, called a mijmer, and served with some fresh bread, it actually tastes quite pleasant.

3:30 Watch video replay of the Saddam hanging on our family’s satellite TV. Thankfully nothing has been said to us about it except a question about whether we knew it had happened by granny. We assured her that while we don’t have television, we did have a radio that tells us some things.

4:30 Make our way home in order to rest up for the evenings festivities which require a return trip for dinner, but on the way out we see Zahara, our host mom with her goat’s head on a stick, turning it about in a fire, trying to get all the hair off of it. “Could that be dinner?”

7:30 Head back over for dinner and find that Said, who had gone into town to slaughter his brothers animal while he was away with the military has returned so we talk with him a bit. Rest in the sitting room for a while, and then the men retreat to the brother’s part of the house.

9:30 Dinner of olive and goat tagine is served. Said was out and so he missed the meal.

10:30 Decide that its time to go despite the fact its New Years Eve, if we are going to go the Circumcision Party the next day, we best get some sleep.

The day overall was pretty enjoyable. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’m glad I got to see it in person. While family returns for this holiday time there wasn’t really a sense that family all had to be together for the slaughtering, our two host brothers were MIA during that part, or even for the dinner that seemed like it was pretty special. I don’t know if that is just our family, or what but it was the most unexpected part of the day. With regards to the Circumcision party, every year the association brings in a doctor to do circumcisions for kids about 3 years or so. This year there were 5 in our village and 2 in the neighboring village. We went because we were told that the “entire community” is there. We arrived, but quickly found we had been mislead, and so, after just a few “short” hours we retreated. Jana was served lunch at one of the children’s mother’s house, whose house we have visited a couple times before. But because I had left before our lunch was served, in typical fashion, she was sent home with her serving of meat and an extra serving for me.

While not exactly Christmas and New Years, it was certainly festive here for a couple days, and while we are full blown members, we are definitely feeling more and more comfortable with our lives here. Hopefully some pictures will follow but Jana didn’t come in to town and I have no clue what I’m doing with this stuff so getting pictures just seems a little too technical for me, sorry.

Tomorrow is Eid ul-Adha, or Eid L'Kbir in Morocco. We'll have more to say after we've experienced it, but click on the link and check out the Traditions and Practices section of that entry to see what we'll be up to -- and Mabrouk to you if you are celebrating!

So, the snow! A couple of weeks ago it was time for our In-Service Training (IST). IST is a lot of things. It happens after our first six months or so in site. The first six months they want you to focus on getting to know your community and language, and not on “doing stuff” without having done that important relationship-building first. To that end, we are not allowed to apply for grants for projects until IST, both because that shouldn’t be our focus, and also to avoid coming to town and bringing thousands of dollars with us and, first thing, building latrines and buying books and such and giving the impression that we are here as little Santa Clauses. So, IST is where we learn about the ins and outs of grants available through PC, and also talk with each other and our supervisors about what we’ve been doing, and what we would like to do with the remaining year and a half of our service. It’s exciting because we’ve been training and learning and practicing for so long (not that that won’t keep happening!) but after these 9 or 10 months in country we are here! These 18 months are what we’ve got to do big things and put to use what we’ve learned! Woo hoo! Our Country Director, and the moustaches grown in his honor.

IST is also two other important things. It is a mini-celebration of completing the first six months of our service. They are supposed to be the hardest, and so the best is yet to come (of course(!) there are ups and downs throughout)! Peace Corps rewarded us with some sweet accommodations and just a great week of big city living in Agadir….I know it is a cliché thing for a PCV to say, but I too will NEVER cease to appreciate the joy of a real shower supplied by a hot water heater… a little bit of heaven :) Lastly, IST is a chance to see people we haven’t seen in six months (since training) and won’t see again for about another six months…and for some of our group – until our Close of Service conference three months before we leave… It is wonderful to see everyone, and to remember what hanging out with a bunch of people who all “get” you is like… it was a crazy, exhausting week! The King drove past our hotel. Mike went out and snapped a pic...that's him sticking out of the sunroof!

Right :) back to the snow… we woke up the morning we were leaving while it was still dark and in our courtyard saw the UFO flashes of lightning…a storm coming. We added our Columbia jackets as the rain began to fall as we loaded up the taxi to go into town and catch the bus. By the time we got to town it was POURING and as the bus pulled out of Tata, it was crazy to see puddles and streams and full riverbeds in our desert! Now, to get to Agadir we pass through some mountains…and they aren’t, like, high elevation kind of mountains…but we were driving, and looked out the window and all of the sudden the rain looked a lot like snow. Just seeing snow fall was CRAZY, but, well, you saw the picture, it got crazier. Snow started collecting on the ground and it looked like a whole different landscape to see our brown, rocky, palm tree-studded desert covered in white. We had a little traffic jam where a bus and some cars lost traction going around a corner and people were getting off of our bus in their sandals(!) to assess the situation and help shovel out a little… which goes to show just how strange this was… we thought maybe it was something we didn’t expect and hadn’t seen before, but the rest of the bus was taking pictures with their cell phones and the bus driver’s assistant was calling EVERYONE he knew and yelling excitedly about the snow… by the time we got to the halfway-point of our trip the snow was about a foot deep and we got held up for a little under 3 hours because the local authorities didn’t think the bus driving around on snow-covered mountain roads was safe… We didn’t get any pictures at that point (Why, I am not sure…) but although it was a lot chilly, and we were ready to get moving, it made us Minnesota kids feel all warm and fuzzy….turned the cell phone to its Christmas rings…. :)

We hope you had a WONDERFUL Christmas, or a meaningful time whichever holiday is yours, and here is to a Happy 2007!!!

We are a little short on time today, but something to ponder...

The picture was taken through a bus window, so the quality is sketchy... but those are palm trees...and that is SNOW!!!!!!

The whole story to come.... :)

Mike here.

6 months and counting… To be honest I sit here and don’t know what this entry is going to entail but we are about to go to our In Service Training and it is something of a milestone for us anyways because it means we can actually start applying for funding from Peace Corps for larger scale projects that we may decide to do. An added benefit of IST is that we get to see all the volunteers that we went through our training with but haven’t seen for 6 months because of our remoteness (meaning we are not by a beach, a large town, or anywhere closely resembling a tourist attraction unless you count the blue buildings Tata is “known” for, according to one website. (This of course is like saying our bed is “known” for the pink blanket we have on it, which means, because you are reading this, it can now be said that someone knows about our pink blanket- get it?)) So this was going to be just another mind-numbing entry telling you Mike and Jana in Morocco this, and Mike and Jana in Morocco that but instead I decided, since we have been in country a whole nine months and out on our own for six months why not make it list time so, here goes… Some ways you know you’ve integrated (In some cases maybe just a little TOO well) - “It wasn’t a bad taste, except that I know peanuts aren’t supposed to taste like VOMIT.” Said by my lovely wife just 2 days ago. - Dreams of bacon frying in the pan have changed to dreams of me eating an entire camel rump roast - Showers have now become optional. Bucket baths, even with warm water is just too cold! - Everything we drink tastes better when we drink it out of teeny tea glasses. - As of last night’s tutor session, we have learned approximately 12 variations for expressing gratitude. - We’re actually asking tourist to “Donnez moi une stylo” and gawking at their enormous campers and tremendously taught, slightly exposed bellies in ill fitting muscle shirts. And shoulders are downright scandalous!

Okay, that's all the hilarity I've got for now. More soon...

We are a little late, but we want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you had a meaningful holiday wherever you are, and whatever you ate! If it was turkey, okay, we are a little jealous... but, even without turkey, we have oh-so-much to be thankful for, and a lot of our gratitude is for the dear family and friends who read this from time to time, and we want you to know we love and miss you!

Time for some pictures! We remembered to get our camera out for a Thanksgiving fiesta this past weekend...

Aaron and April swung by our place on their way into town, and participated in our kitchen beautification project/guestbook. :) Our kitchen walls are plain cement and are begging to be drawn on! You should come visit and draw too! No, I mean it. Come visit! :)

The feast took place at the home of one of our fellow Tata volunteers and a darn cool gal (um, she's in a pic in a minute) but one aspect of her beautifully decorated home is this very comfy hammock, demonstrated here by my handsome husband.

There is our hostess with the mostest! Vanina and Aaron and I... I'm sure we were doing something important... or they were anyway... peeling something...

The two Tata Michaels carving the chickens... :) So much food... so good...

We took a tour of Vanina's village, which is filled with cool passageways and tunnely areas, but unfortunately none of the pictures turned out but this one!

And finally, Van and I putting up her Christmas decorations. We are very proud of our little tree. :) Thanks Vanina for letting me help! Without a non-stop Christmas radio station, day after Thanksgiving sales, and well, really cold weather, it sometimes just doesn't feel like the end of November, but it is surprising how hanging tinsel and putting up ornaments makes you feel all festive...even in the desert. :)

I'm not sure if Sudan is in the news there as much as it is on the BBC around here, but if it isn't, it really should be! I found an interesting link today that rates your state's politicians actions in relationship to Sudan. See how your people are doing... http://www.darfurscores.org/

If you are interested in learning more about the genocide occurring in Sudan, check out these links and please, please take action!!

Two blog-style sites with updated information and news about Sudan:

Sudan: The Passion of the Present

Coalition for Darfur

For good measure BBC on Sudan

"Sleepless in Sudan" is the blog of an aid worker who, although now posted elsewhere, was blogging her experiences straight from Darfur. It is worth reading through all of her blog, but this post is all about what we can do to help.

I know if you've read our blog for a while, a lot of this info is not new, but hopefully this is new for someone, or maybe today it finds you at a time where you have a free minute to investigate. Not to go all drama girl on the blog, but this is our chance to ask those in power to do something (!) rather than look back and remember the tragedy and wonder what we could have done... okay, rant concluded. Thanks for listening. :)

So, those are our new titles. :) Sadly, I am not able to post a picture right now, but check out Nugget News for info on and pictures of our new little nephew. :) That's fun to say!

The basics? Graham Lee Huffman, was born at 12:36 am on November 11, 2006 to Mike's brother Craig and his wife Anissa. He is 7 lbs. 13 oz., and 21 inches.

Everyone is happy and healthy and labor was quick!

Welcome to the world little Graham -- we love you like crazy already and can't wait to meet you!

I guess it’s my turn to add a little something about where we live.

First things first, I’ll try to answer question. Anytime we talk about appearances we tread on dangerous ground and because of this we must say that we can only report what we see and have observed in our limited time here. As in all countries there is intermarriage. In Morocco, marriage between Arabs and Berbers is relatively common and therefore the lines between these two cultures is growing closer. This obviously includes appearance. Nonetheless, the village we live in is considered an Arabic one and the neighboring one only 1 km away that speaks Berber is considered by many here to contain the “darker” skinned people. While, I will admit that a large number of people from that village do in fact have darker skin there is an extremely high number of people in our very own village that also have dark skin, yet speak Arabic as their first language. Some of the discrepancy is due undoubtedly to the fact that for hundreds of years, darker skinned sub-Saharan Africans have come to Morocco, many as slaves, concubines, or as hired armies, and now the descendants of these people live in all parts of Morocco, and consequently identify both as Arabs and Berbers. In the northern portions of the country, Berbers tend to have fairer skin and may even possess blue or green eyes and lighter hair colors such as red. So all of this to say that differences may be observed, but in doing so, one will undoubtedly make incorrect assumptions about the person or group of persons being observed.*

Clothing for men varies quite a bit depending upon what the occasion is. Men who work in towns or at government offices typically wear slacks and buttoned shirts. Men who want to relax may be found wearing track suits or the more traditional foqiya (some version of that dress thing I was wearing) here in the south. In the north track suits or the more famous jellaba is typically worn. There is very little difference between these except that the jellaba has a hood. For men, they are often brown so when the weather is bad and everyone has their hoods up it looks like there are a bunch of ewoks walking around. In the south, there is a “traditional” foqiya that is blue with some gold embroidering. As far as I can tell in our area there is very little difference between what Arab men and Berber men wear. I would say that the greater difference is between north and south due to climate differences.

* Information was taken from Orin Hargraves’ book Culture Shock: Morocco

We thought we’d take a little bit of space to tell you about our douar (village) and community. Just some basic stuff like who lives here, what we do for a living, how many of us there are, and all that. Hopefully too a little bit about what is worn here, what kinds of things are eaten…but let’s start with the basics!

First, here is a little map of our douar and the ones around us. We didn’t put names of douars for security’s sake, so it is a little vague, but gives the general picture. Our douar is about 4 kilometers from the main road, and the farthest douar (the one we haven’t visited) is 11. These are all considered our site, or area to work, although it isn’t expected that we’ll hit all of them equally, just that we’ll seek out the greatest needs and people interested in working with us.

Okay, so, our douar has about 1100 people in it, and that translates to about 125 households. Some employment is in our local government or schools, in the little city about 15 km away, or in one of our little shops in town. There is a large percentage of men who seek jobs in other parts of Morocco, both in private businesses and in the military. Also, some families have sons and daughters living and working abroad. France is very common, because French is taught in schools to all children and used in official documents, etc., but places like Spain or Italy are possible as well.

The whole of Morocco is composed of people of Arabic and Berber descent. We are located in the province of Tata, which is composed primarily of people of Berber descent who speak a Berber dialect called Tashelheet. For a reason we don’t know yet, our little group of douars, except for one, speak Arabic. Despite this, in most of the douars there is strong Berber influence on the culture. In addition, there is a strong cultural influence from the south of Morocco and the Saharan culture there. For example, the way we demonstrated of making tea is generally acknowledged here to be “Saharawi.”

Dress is one readily apparent thing influenced by this mix of cultures. From the south comes the Saharan wrap that is worn by some women here. (For a picture of me displaying it, click here. In some of the douars here, that is all that is worn. In our douar about half of the women wear that, and about half wear the Berber influenced dress. For some women, it just depends on the day! The Berber women’s wear consists of a multi-layered satiny skirt, usually in white or light blue, and long of course. On top they wear a black scarf. Aha, I found a picture...

(From this website...http://lexicorient.com/morocco/tata.htm)

Just a quick note, pictures are sensitive things in this culture. People are often hesitant to let you take them, unless they know you well, because they are not sure who all will see them, and that they will be respectfully used. For that reason we've been slow to use our camera in town. We imagine eventually we'll start taking pictures of people we know and memories around town and all, but even when we do, we can't post them online without asking the people in them... Many people in town are quite unfamiliar with the internet, but even if they did fully understand, probably wouldn't feel comfortable with pictures in such a public place... We want to share our lives with you, and so we just want to explain why pictures of the people around us may be scarce, but we'll do our best!

That’s probably a good amount of info for now, we’ll add some more next week, and let us know if you have any particular questions you’d like us to answer!!

Before I forget, I did some updating in our Mail Advice and Wish List page, if you are interested, click here!

Okay, so did you know that October is Fair Trade Month? Me either. I’ve been looking into Fair Trade more lately, and since it’s the month and all, I thought I’d share in case you are interested. Mostly I’ll give you some links to learn more, and also to do some shopping, because, well, shopping is fun, especially when you are supporting people in the process!

At Oxfam they have some great information on what Fair Trade is and their Make Trade Fair campaign.

As always, I bring you Wikipedia's Fair Trade info.

Some places to check out...

Global Mamas They have clothes for the whole family, with accessories and stuff for the home.

Sweatshop Free Sneakers. Always a good thing.

There is lots of great fair trade coffee available. Peace Coffee is a Minnesota based company that makes some kick butt coffee.

Check out People Tree for more great clothes.

Finally, Respect, a fair trade sports blog. Of course. :)

Now I said I’d say a little about the holiday that celebrates the end of the month of Ramadan (see the last entry for some Ramadan info if you missed it). Because Islamic months are lunar, no one knows until the holiday has almost arrived, because they have to watch the moon and see. For example, this year we knew Sunday/ Monday-ish that the holiday would be Tuesday.

As with many Moroccan holidays, the focus is on spending time with family. In our part of the country, many of the men leave to the larger cities throughout parts of the year to earn money, and holidays are fun because as many people as are able come home to celebrate.

On the morning of this particular holiday (And maybe others? This is the first one we’ve really celebrated here!) people walk around town and knock on doors to say congrats to each other. The kids wear new clothes, and have a great time running all over town to say hi. We didn’t observe too much other out of the ordinary stuff as far as celebrating goes, but, like others we spent time with our (host) family, and enjoyed having people around we don’t get to see too much of!

That’s about all about that. :) Mike and I have been working lately on our (required) Water Resource Guide for our area. We need to become experts (just by talking to all the current local experts) on what the water situation is in our area. For example, how many water towers (although they are usually on mountains, not towers, in our area) there are and how many people are served by each, and how they are fed, and if there are people without access to public water, etc. We are compiling this info both for use locally and for the government ministry in charge of such things. For example if we were to notice some particular need, our community can use that information to rally the people to solve it, or to apply for a grant, or maybe even just hold some sort of training. The ministry can use the information from all the volunteers to see how things are moving towards their goals.

We’ll write more soon, and Happy Halloween!

So, finally! Here is the scoop on Ramadan. Definitely not the whole scoop, because Mike and I are far from qualified to deliver that, but we can give you our perspective. As always, we can’t speak for a whole religion or even a whole country when it comes to traditions and beliefs around Ramadan, but we can give you our take on what life is like for those in our villages this time of year!

What is Ramadan? Let’s see if I can find a good source here…. okay, here, from Wikipedia, Ramadan is "is the ninth month of the Islamic (Hijri) calendar, established in the year 638. It is considered the most venerated, blessed and spiritually-beneficial month of the Islamic year. Prayers, fasting, charity, and self-accountability are especially stressed at this time; religious observances associated with Ramadan are kept throughout the month."

The Islamic calendar is lunar, and moves forward on our calendar about 10 or 11 days each year. Holidays then move a little bit each year, and this year Ramadan began September 24th and yesterday was the holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan (I'll come back to that...).

Okay, so onto how people live out the ideas from the definition above. Fasting, which is abstaining from both food and water, is observed during daylight hours. People eat a pre-dawn meal, at this time of year around 4 am, and try and stock up on energy and water to last them through the day. Fasting is observed until sundown, right now around 6:15, where people eat a fast breaking meal, usually consisting of Harira, a Moroccan soup, called Harira, is served, and various breads and sweets. Dates and juices are also typical of this meal. Moroccan tea is, of course, present, and people will make a type of coffee, a little bit of instant coffee mixed with a much larger portion of sweetened milk, sometimes as well. Depending on the economic level or tradition of the family, some will eat their regular dinner meal around 10 or 10:30. Staying up later is normal during Ramadan, and some people may stay up until their pre-dawn meal, and then sleep.

Fasting is a requirement in Islam, so everyone participates, although there are exceptions for those who are sick, pregnant, nursing, or traveling, among others. Fasting is also not just from food or water. Participants are to refrain from things like smoking, intercourse, and gossip, and in general are to be more mindful of their behavior and the influences around them ("bad" movies, music, etc.)

This is just a very brief sketch of the month (I didn't even really touch on the charitable aspects of Ramadan!!), so please let us know if you have questions, and here are some great resources if you want to investigate further.

Wikipedia Ramadan Article

An Idiot's Guide to Ramadan, BBC

Sawm: Fasting the Month of Ramadan

I do want to tell a quick story though that does touch on both the kindness of Moroccans, and Ramadan charitableness. :)

I was traveling a couple of days ago, and was close to the end of about a 4 hour taxi ride. We were only about 20 or so minutes outside of Tata, but it was time to break the fast, and the taxi occupants decided not to wait until we got to town. The problem was we were driving through lots of little villages, and there were no cafes to be seen for travellers to stop at. One of the riders spotted a door open to a tiny hanut, and we quickly pulled over to buy some water and yogurt...not as good as a meal at home for my taxi mate guys, but... so I wander into the hanut, definately searching for some water, and one of my fellow taxi riders insists on buying both of us yogurt and muffins. As a woman traveler in Morocco, we have to be aware of people with wrong intentions, but there was not a bit of that in his face, he was just doing a kind thing. That is cool enough, but as we were sitting and breaking the fast, men and women from the surrounding houses kept showing up with bowls of soup or dates or cookies... even tea. We had an impromptu feast! It was that much cooler because no one was surprised, or making a big deal out of it, on the giving or receiving end. There was appreciation for sure, but it was accepted that this is just how it is -- it's just part of the culture to take care of each other and make you feel at home even in the middle of a strange douar.

Anyway, just one of those Peace Corps moments... :)

Yesterday we celebrated Eid L'ftur, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, so I'll write about that next time!

Hey!

So, here are some random pictures, and I promise to have some Ramadan info soon. I had an informative entry about 1/2 written, and managed to delete it...don't ask. :)

This is a cute camel pic Mike took one evening.

This one defies description. :)

A little Jack update. :) He's doing well, and pitching in helping Mike sort through some donated soccer shorts and jerseys.

And here's a Huffman family pic. :)

Will write more soon!

Hey there, it’s been a while since I last entertained you with my informative and enlightening point of view from morocco. For any of you out there who think that PCVs don’t work, or are just lazy bums freeloading on government money, I am writing this today to let you know that that is not the case. Those of you who have read previous posts of mine may think that we have dropped the ball on one of our most important tasks here and again, I can assure you, that is not the case. We initially had a great deal of success doing our field research followed by what can only be called a ‘dry’ spell that I know most volunteers in Morocco experience during the summer months when so many local people intelligently head for the beaches in an attempt to avoid the scorching summer sun.

Nonetheless, after scouring store after store, I have recently been encouraged to once again ramp up my exploration. Within the last couple weeks I have come across two magnificent new products that I think could really be popular if they were marketed correctly. First, there is the delicious smell of Nana. Why should a scent of this magnitude just be limited to nursing homes and our favorite granny’s house. Imagine: you are a family of four and you’ve just picked your kids up from their favorite grandparents’ house. They don’t want to leave. Their bawling their eyes out and nothing you do is working. Then you remember you just purchased Nana and begin spritzing the minivan. Instantly, the children are silenced, reliving their weekend of spoiling. Of course this is only one of any number of uses for this fine Eau d’ Toilette.

The next will certainly have a very specific market base, but with a little luck, it too can be expanded, bringing profits to all who invest. The name: Springer. I know what your thinking, “Of course, the smell of that favorite dog of the bourgeoisie, the springer spaniel.” But I feel the makers were going for a much different appeal, thus, I propose the Jerry Springer angle. Sure it’s a worthless show about all sorts of nothing, but we, the American people love our worthless shows all about nothing. Do you really want me to start naming them off? No, I didn’t think so. One, because it would take forever. Two, you know there would be one in the list that you watch!!!

Okay so enough about work! Yesterday around 11 or so the power went out. Not a completely strange occurrence, so I thought nothing of it. A few hours later however I decided that I would just check to see if other houses did in fact have their power out as well. Since our fuse box is only accessible from other part of the house where no one lives, I have no way of checking if it was just a fuse or something along those lines. Well, am walking around and lo and behold I hear a TV. Oh no. I have to go find the landlord and get into the house and possibly even buy a fuse and I don’t know if they sell them in town or if I’ll have to make the trek to centre for it. I find the landlord and we walk back. We call (by call I mean find him in his car on his way out of town) the local electrician to also come take a look. He opens the fuse box and flips the switch. Nothing. Great, larger problems than I thought. We go outside and… turns out… the meter reader man took my meter!! Fantastic, I’m thinking at this point. Simply disconnected it from the house. Most likely because no one had bothered to pay the bill for a while, which our landlord said he was going to bring to me but hadn’t yet. So this is quite the predicament. Well, no worries. Our local electrician was already on it. Back to his house, he grabbed an open ended extension cord and hooked me back up via our nice neighbor’s light switch in his courtyard. Powered up in no time at all. All we need now is our own meter back because this morning our landlord came back and quick disconnected it giving me instructions that if anybody came asking I was to say that I didn’t need anything. HMMM, something smells fishy besides our cat’s delicious sardine feast.

This just shows what is great and not so great about life in Morocco. In spite and as a result of all this, we are doing well.

September is flying by, just like August did. The new group of Morocco trainees arrived this last week (Welcome to Morocco guys!), so we are no longer the newest kids here. The new group is half Small Business Development and half Youth Development. It’s fun for us to think back (not that far ago…) and remember what we were thinking and feeling when we got here. We haven’t been here for very long…but we’ve come a long way and done a lot of learning.

This past week, I (Jana) participated in a training for the Volunteer Support Network. It is a volunteer run group that is, well, exactly what it sounds like! :) Whoever is interested can sign up to go to the training, where you learn about issues that volunteers typically deal with, the “cycle” of volunteer life (there is a certain pattern of ups and downs that has been documented that most of us go through during our service), and a basic outline of a counseling session. We are obviously not professionals after this weekend, but we are able to do some kick-butt listening, and hopefully lead a volunteer through the steps to devise their own solution to their problem (if necessary – sometimes they just need someone to listen!). What we were learning was really interesting, and it’s a good feeling to know that you are prepared to help someone out if they need it. Our names now will go on a list of trained volunteers that people can call or e-mail if they want to talk, and we can assist in future trainings, if needed.

So, what else do we do here besides play with the cat and make tea? Our jobs right now (for the first few months or so…) are to learn the language, get to know the community, and start thinking about and planning for the work we’d like to do here. We learn oodles of stuff in training, but it’s only when we get to our community that we see what of all we learned will be useful and relevant. So, we’ve been here for a bit, and here is some of the stuff we are thinking about….of course, all of it is dependent upon whether there is interest in the community and various community members coming forward to get involved, etc. We always have to remember not to get too far ahead and excited about our own ideas that we just go ahead with them on our own. Our job is to bring new perspective, and find and bring together people and resources in the community to make things happen. We aren’t really the do-ers – we should be facilitators or co-trainers, etc. It is a tougher role, and takes longer, but leaves the community in a richer place than if we just did it ourselves… Anyways, back to the ideas…

1. Traditional Birth Attendant Training – Many of the women in our area, whether due to finances, distance to the hospital, or tradition, give birth at home, assisted by women in the community who are known to assist with birth, but generally have no formal training. PCV’s have done trainings going over things such as good hygiene practices, when to refer women to the hospital, HIV/AIDS, etc.

2. Men’s and Women’s Health Talks – Many of the issues in health are things that this culture would not be comfortable talking about in mixed gender groups. We are considering ways to meet, perhaps with women’s craft groups or the men’s associations to do health talks that could be about one issue, or perhaps cover a range of isssues.

3. Teaching Health in Schools – Many volunteers have done this and been really successful! Teaching health to kids is a great way to get the whole family involved, get to know your community, impact the future – good stuff. :)

4. Health lessons to those waiting at the local health clinic

5. Painting Murals – Another classic PCV activity. It’s a great way to leave a lasting health message, but also get people from the community involved in planning and creating!

This isn’t everything we’re thinking of, but we wanted to say a little bit about our work, since it is starting to get off the ground a little. We know that this is a lot of ideas, but also know that a lot of things will fall by the wayside. Some things may be fine ideas, but there isn’t community interest. There may be things that we think are great, but are misguided and won’t work for this community. Some things it just isn’t the right time for… so, we’re going with the have a lot of ideas and see what pans out approach.

:)

That’s all for now! Ramadan is coming though… September 24th…. stay tuned…

Hi! Jana here. I realized that I am terrible at answering the questions that people ask in comments, and so I am going to be better at answering them! Here is some from the last entry.

About Jack...

"Will he be a house cat, or is there even such a thing in Morocco?"

Jack will be a housecat. Most cats here are not, they roam and I think probably have a few family's that are "home" where they get a little food. They are not generally mistreated, but tend to be a little skinny. Jack is not going to roam, but his house involves a courtyard where he can be outside, and at night hunt grasshoppers that are attracted to the light, so, he gets the best of both worlds I think. Staying away from other cats and the stray dogs around is safer for his little self, and keeps the fleas away!

"Is there any place to get drops for his eyes?" "Did you have to take him to the vet for his crusty eyes?"

Due to dust and flies, etc. eye concerns in people are pretty common here (the not very friendly trachoma used to be a big problem in our area, but due to a concentrated campaign to eradicate it, it is on the decline). Anyway, because of that eye cream is everywhere, and the doctor at the sbitar recommended using a little of that. I bought some last week, but his eyes, with some cleaning in the am and pm, are now non-crusty and the redness is gone... hopefully for good! I'm a little afraid to use human strength medicine on him, but don't think there is a pet pharmacy around...

What kind of food do you feed him?

Right now we are feeding him rice and tuna, eggs, bits of the meat we eat...whatever we have handy. I'm doing some internet research on kitten nutrition to try and make sure we are doing alright, but most of the sites talk about which manufactured food to purchase! Any advice here would be appreciated, if you happen to know something we should know.

About Tea...

Is there mainly one kind of tea sold in your area, or do they have many varieties like we do here?

Tea sold here is Gunpowder green tea. Check out that link for good info. That is pretty much all that is used. In a trip to a bigger city that has a bigger supermarkety store, you can find herbal tea and "regular" tea bags.

Alright :) I'm going to finish up this tea business, and then Mike will finish up.

So, we just finished rinsing. Next step is just to pour out your rinse water into one of your cups, and then discard of the rinse water if you need the cup (depending on how many people you have) and clean it out.

Fill the teapot about 2/3 full with water, and put it back on the buta.

This is about what the tea looks like when it is done...about when it comes to a boil.

There are two words for sugar. One for sugar that comes in a cone shape, and one for granulated sugar you use for baking, etc. Cone sugar is what you use for tea, but you have to break it up into chunks first. A lot of people in our area, including us, just find a rock...

And then use it sort of like this to break up the cone.

This is about how much sugar is in a typical pot in our area. Yes, it is sweet :)

So, after putting in the sugar, the way to melt and mix up the sugar is to pour tea into the glasses and then pour the glasses back into the pot. It also helps to cool it down a little. Everyone I've seen pour tea here can do the really tall pour -- here is Michael doing a darn good demonstration...

When you have poured the tea in several of the glasses and back into the pot, you taste it to make sure it's alright (meaning, does it have enough sugar?) and then pour out your glasses. More bubbles (from a tall pour) are better, and you only pour about 1/2 a glass full.

Here is the man behind the tea. :) Now, enjoy tea, and the way we do it here is to add more water to the pot and put it back on the burner and make a second, and maybe third, pot, all with lots of good conversation and such.

Okay, enough from me. :)

Here's Mike --

It’s been a crazy month for Jana and I and I don’t really even know where to begin. We are beginning to feel settled into the community a little, and even more so into our own house. We are starting to get a routine, but maintaining the motivation to continue working on things wanes at time when the temperature makes sleeping at night a tough task, and makes everything almost too hot to touch including walls, and the ground. Our little Jack has taken to sleeping in the bathroom because we usually take a couple showers in there, keeping the ground cooler. At first he thought it would be good to lay on the squat plate itself, but luckily a bath later, and a cover for the squat plate, and he sticks to the floor now. I haven’t yet given him a full blown shower but I have been getting my hands wet and wiping him and he seems to like that. I have never seen a cat pant so much. Anyways, we do have actual work and lives outside of the cat so I will move on.

This month has moved as quickly as we expected as we went to a SIDA, (French acronym for AIDS) training that was led by a volunteer who is about to finish up her service her in December. It was really a great opportunity to meet her and get her perspective on life here, the challenges and perspectives, but mostly techniques for overcoming those challenges. She commented that she appreciates Morocco because everything is a challenge, nothing and I mean nothing, is easy. Transportation is probably consistently the most difficult and frustrating because we have to use it but it is so unpredictable. For example, when we were trying to return from our SIDA training, we went to the bus station to ask when the bus would be there because we knew it only returned every other day. We were assured by someone who we thought worked there, or at least answered like he knew that yes, Monday the bus would be at the station and leave at 9. Perfect, that would get us home at a good hour. We show up and another guy washing buses says, oho… no bus here today -- it was here yesterday though and should be coming tomorrow. So we rushed to get a taxi to a different place about an hour and half away only to miss that bus at 10 by about 15 minutes. There was a taxi going to tata but it only had one spot, and of course we are two. We had to wait from 10:15 am until 4 pm when last bus arrived. It was packed, and we had to stand for the entire 5 or so hours it took for us to get home. That is was I call excruciatingly frustrating. But we rode home standing next to the sister of one of the ladies who works in our clinic as a cleaning/assistant type person. We had a nice chat and only the next day did we find out who she was. The point? None except to say I have yet to appreciate frustration, anger, and disappointment like our friend Lo has learned and to realize that while those things are challenges, if we overcome them, they are the things that mold us and make us the people we are supposed to be either by teaching us patience, love, or understanding or another life lesson.

But first, you have to meet Jack. :)

So, he's not very good yet at posing for the camera. Here's another try...with Mike looking a litte crazy :)

Mike has never been a cat guy. When I volunteered at Feline Rescue, he was glad I had somewhere to get a cat fix, but was always glad there was a reason not to get a cat (landlord rules, leaving for PC, etc.). He, sort of, though, came around when the cat that hung out at our host family's house took a shine to him. All of the sudden, he was a man who wanted a cat. No arguments here, but there isn't really somewhere to just go get a cat here, so we didn't have any plans...

(I should say quick that the decision to get a pet in Peace Corps is kind of a tricky one...from how your community will view American-style pethood, what to do about nuetering and vaccinations in a place where those things are not normally done, but still important, what happens when the volunteer leaves -- does the pet come home, or stay with the host community and adapt to a very different life? We haven't answered these all yet...)

We went to the sbitar (local health clinic where we work) last Monday, and it was quiet. Mike and I were sitting and talking to the doctor and assistant who work there and in the middle of saying something I am startled by a giant meow. because I hadn't even seen the tiny little thing that made it before it talked!

He was oh so skinny and his eyes were a lot crusty and he sort of toppled over when he walked... we asked whose he was and where he came from. They said he had been there with his mom and siblings (who they said were "very pretty, not like this one...") but they'd moved on...so, there he was, little orphan Jack.

I think we were both thinking, gee, we want a cat, and here is one that no one wants... but he is a little, well, sickly looking... but, we're suckers for an underdog...undercat? So, we borrowed a box from the clinic and took him home for a bath and some food.

You can see he's making himself at home. :)

He's been exploring and finding the coolest places in the house to chill, and, I was home alone so I don't have a picture, but I bet it looked hilarious...I was laying forward, leaning on my elbows, watching a movie and he crawled up my back and onto my head. He just sat there for a while, but then started attacking the bun in my hair. :) Needless to say he's keeping us entertained, and me company while Mike is traveling this weekend to P.C. headquarters for the quarterly Volunteer Advisory Council meeting (I think we wrote that our training group elected Mike to represent us -- bringing ideas/issues to Administrative staff?)

So, that is our new baby, Jack. :)

On to tea!

The first thing to say, is that I said this was a "Moroccan" Tea tutorial...which it is, but specifically our area of the country. The love of tea is country-wide, but this particular process, the way I understand it, is sort of a Saharan thing.

Here goes:

First, you heat up your water in the kettle. Most people do it on one of these little buta tanks -- it's good for making tea wherever you happen to be sitting!

Next, pour the tea into your hand to measure...about a handful.

Here is what the tea looks like.

So you pour your tea into the pot, and then add some water from your kettle -- just a little -- and then swish it around to rinse it.

Oh, forgot we had a picture of that. Here is Mike rinsing...

We are just getting to the good part and I am so, very, out of time. Sorry, I'll finish next week! Have a good one!

Alright :) More pictures. These are the stairs up to our roof...

Here's a sort of fuzzy shot from the roof. We'll have more of these as life goes on, I'm sure.

Of course :) we have to have a bathroom shot...

Here's the view from one direction in our bedroom, including our bed and the mosquito net all bunched up in the back. If you look too, you can see that our bedside tables are, um, luggage. :) So far we have slept mostly outside in the courtyard though -- it is a lot cooler!

Here is Michael showing off our dresser. :) Michael dreamed it up and ordered it from a shop here in our bigger town. Hooray for finally unpacking out suitcases!!

We'll have some more pictures later, as we settle in and make it look more homey.

We were honored to be mentioned in AIDS Combat Zone's post International Carnival of the Pozitivities, number 2 (to check out what the Int. Carnival of the Poz. is go here). Brad and Faith have a great website, with links to tons of resources. In addition, Brad and his wife Whitney are applying to Peace Corps, and are blogging the experience at Life is Calling.

We'll write more soon!

in the entryway...

one view of the courtyard...

a second view...

the kitchen...

okay. so it is hot here. sometimes we get a little crazy :)

An important new purchase last week...we had to search for these fabulous mugs. Worth the wait!

this is our sitting room...

and our Moroccan tea set. time is short at the internet cafe this week, but we will try and show and tell you how it all works soon.

hmmmm...blogger has decided to stop uploading pictures :(

i will put more up next week, along with what we have been up to lately! have a good week!

I forgot to put these pictures up with last week's blog entry from Mike...

The "Survivor" Pigeon

The Pigeon House

Mike in Moroccan gear...he likes having his picture taken, can you tell?

We moved! We settled in for about a day and we are off this weekend to meet up with some other volunteers for an HIV/AIDS mini-training session. We'll post house pictures as soon as we can though!