This was always intended to be a personal record of my Peace Corps experience-to try to capture the everyday life in Morocco. Now that has all come to an end, so I need to close this out.

It took 2 hours to disembark from the cruise ship in Puerto Rico, a 3 hr flight to Miami, 2 hour wait and 6 hour flight from Miami to LAX yesterday to get home. As in Huntington Beach home. Joanne-God Bless her parents-was there to pick me up and take me to the house. She came back today to go over some stuff that she’d saved for me and to remind me how to work the things I’d forgotten about.

It’s been a rather surreal day. Woke up in my own bed-showered in my own shower. Picked up a rental car this morning and they gave me a free upgrade to a Mercedes. Yes, a new Mercedes-all alone-not w/6+ other passengers stuffed into it-and I’m the one driving. Got my cell phone-who knew you could get a prepaid month to month phone-great option as I ruminate over the need for a smartphone. Lunch in the sunshine at the pier. Picked up the fine jewelry at the bank-that old Swatch watch that got me thru Morocco is history. Made a brief stop at the grocery store, but just for what I needed, ie; Diet Coke and Honey Wheat Cheerios. Everything is familiar, yet different. Everything looks so much bigger to me. Going thru mountains of mailings-only those Jo felt were important-appears I felled a few trees while I was gone. Got my first phone solicitation. Read the LA Times. Got a Jury Summons. Wearing clothes I forgot I had. I thought about going down to the car dealer to check their inventory, but geez, I’ve got plenty of time, yak?

Now it’s on with life. As usual, or hopefully a bit unusual. Looking forward to the next adventure that awaits. Inshallah.

B'slama.

December 10th, Day 13 of the cruise, 2 days and I’ll be home-really home. Can’t really believe it yet. This has been kind of a 5 week time-warp.

So what’s happened in the last few days of cruising to America?

We had a full day in Cartagena-back on the Spain mainland. It was actually a very pretty and historically interesting place to see. There was plenty to do just walking around the town all day, with great sites at sea level and at the castle remains overlooking the port. We had then had a day at sea while we made our way from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and the Canary Islands. Fortunately they have a lot of things happening on the boat so the day was not an idle one. A champagne art auction. Yes, they serve the champagne to get you bidding. Guess what, it works! I’m the proud owner of a new piece of art. Now I have no argument to the challenge-who the hell buys artwork on a cruise ship? Anyway, there was also a decent art lecture, the ice show (yes, there’s an ice rink on board), started our own personal Project Runway marathon, learned that the ‘sit down’ breakfast and lunch are the way to go, worked out and got the dance floor to ourselves downstairs. Good day.

We’ve also managed to meet up with several other now-RPCVs making their way back to the states after also finishing their service-9 from Ghana, 4 from Tanzania, 2 from Armenia and 2 from Mongolia. Nice coincidence.

Our next stop was in La Palma, Grand Canary. Four of us rented a taxi to take us to the other side of the island to the nicest beach area in Maspalomas. Walking along the beachfront promenade between restaurants, hotels, condos and the shore reminded me so much of Hawaii. That’s when it hit me that the Canary Islands are to Europe as Hawaii is to the States. Who knew? Both are volcanic islands geared to tourists w/year-round balmy weather and great beaches. Go figure. Anyway, it was good to see a bit of the island and do something besides just walking around a port town.

Next was Tenerife-the largest of the Canary Islands-and here 3 of us booked one of the shore excursions. This took us to the World Heritage site of La Laguna-where we had a historic walking tour, visited the cathedral and their market, before heading off to the wine portion of the tour. We stopped at a bodega for wine tasting-6 full bottles of different wines for every 8 people, along with generous snacks to keep us sober. I didn’t personally care for any of the wines, but plenty of others were buying, so I was in a clear minority. We then went to the wine museum-which I figured would be boring, but it was quite interesting and a gorgeous building on a beautiful bluff overlooking the ocean. The structure was a refurbished old farmhouse for growing grapes and making the wine. The building was given to the government of Tenerife several years ago and they’ve done a very nice job of restoring it and telling the story of the Tenerife wine industry. The island is beautiful, mountainous, bright and colorfully painted buildings and homes all over and very well maintained. Anjie and I walked around the center city a bit after coming back from the excursion, figuring we’d have plenty of ‘boat time’ over the next week-and got caught up on high speed internet at a cyber.

And now it’s all about the Atlantic and the boat. That’s all we’ll see for the next 6 days. The motion of the ocean is already affecting several of our group, and they say that it’s been relatively calm so far. Don’t mind the barf bags they tied to the inside stair railings last night. Fortunately none of us needed them. So far.

They also have us on a system of gaining an hour every night so that we’re on the right time zone when we arrive in San Juan. It’s kinda nice to feel like you get to sleep in an extra hour every morning. Not like we’ve got a hectic schedule and can’t sleep in anyway. It’s just nice to get the extra w/o the guilt of “sleeping in”.

Here are a couple additional observations/factoids from the cruise ship: Yes, I am wearing the best of the clothes I have from Morocco. Yes, this includes the fact that for the last 3 days I’ve worn a different top, each having a prominent hole in it. I feel like I should wear a disclaimer stating “Peace Corps” to explain the poor condition of my clothing/shoes/ general appearance. The weather is significantly better than I expected. I thought we’d be in freezing, rainy, dismal weather all the way across the Atlantic. Although we are rocking with the swells, it’s been sunny, windy and in the mid-70’s every day-nice surprise. Emily made the astute observation that the cruise feels like we’ve landed in an upscale“old folks home”, with all the amenities at hand-no further than a few steps from your stateroom. Went to a Q&A with the captain today and learned a few interesting bits: 1200 staff to approx. 3000 guests; 96,000 meals prepared each week; 25,000 lbs of flour, 64,000 lbs of fresh vegetables and 8,000 gallons of ice cream consumed weekly. Gulp.

Oh-I also need to give a thank you to someone-don’t know who-who gave me a “soda cup” for the cruise. It just showed up in our room, designated on my cruise card, and gives me unlimited access to Diet Coke. I didn’t sign up for it, can only figure someone did this for me, but they can’t find a record of who paid for it. So whoever you are, thank you! It’s also contributed to some good mixers for the booze that one of our rooms brought aboard.

Anyway, as I sit sipping on some Diet Coke (post workout-feeling a bit queasy), I’m listening to the guy on the promenade playing “my” music on an acoustic guitar, in full view of the huge Christmas tree they’ve put up, watching guests dressed for their 6pm formal dinner, feeling a bit nostalgic as this 2+ year chapter is coming to a close with the next yet to be written. I don’t think I’ll have many more blog postings as it was always intended to be my personal journal of my Peace Corps experience. Thankfully I’ve been writing it as a continuous Word document (all 270 pages so far) so I’ve got it all accessible. I’ve heard of websites where you can self-publish single editions and I may just do that to have it to go back to in the future.

Well, I thought I’d get this posted several days ago, but the computer terminals they have in the internet lounge don’t have USB access and I’ve had trouble getting my laptop to connect to the wifi. Trying again today to get that connection so I can work straight from my computer.

Despite the fact that I wrote most of this several days ago, there aren’t really any updates. More of the same. The time is going much faster than but I am ready to be home. Fortunately I will be in 2 days. Hamdullah.

Day 2 of Cruise-Mon Nov 29

We all got on board the Adventure of the Seas ship around 1pm yesterday, well ahead of the 5:30pm departure. The 12 of us are in 4 rooms, 3 of them adjacent to one another. The rooms are small interior rooms, cozy, but actually bigger than I expected, which was a nice surprise. So far the food is rated well-and plentiful, as most cruise-goers will attest.

Last night we went thru a strong wind storm and felt a lot more motion than any of us expected. There was a bit of Dramamine purchased on land today. Speaking of which, we all took the transport into Toulon France, our port of call today. No one can accuse Royal Caribbean of overselling the town-it lived up to expectations-which were pretty low. Highlight was the small Christmas craft festival, complete with piped in Christmas carols and décor in an open square in town. We did make our way to a Super Target-like store to pick up a couple items. (Note to self-do NOT purchase items until someone translates…small bottle of hair removal lotion easily mistaken for eye makeup removal). First time to be immersed in Christmas shoppers in 2 years. Suffice it to say, we were all back on board ship in the early afternoon, having seen all we wanted of Toulon.

I’m sorting out how to get the internet service I’ve signed up for (500 minutes for $150-yikes!) via wireless vs at their stations on the 8th floor (there are 14 floors to this ship).

Today I checked out the workout facility. It’s been a LONG time since this old body has seen an elliptical machine and I think it’s high time we got reacquainted. I feel better already-even hope my muscles are sore in the morning.

With 3000 people aboard the ship, there’s no shortage of things to do. There are activities from morning to late at night. Fortunately this group of the 12 gets along well together-enjoying one another’s company as well as comfortable going off on one’s own. With 14 days’ cruise, this is important.

Weird-laying on my bed typing this up, watching CNN news on the TV-yes, a TV. All English channels-choices. That will be another adjustment. But it is nice to know what’s going on in the world-really have been in a bubble for a while here.

I’m starting to get things scheduled for my return. First on the list is to buy a car. I’ve been negotiating over the internet and am hoping that I can get a deal put together for a car to be ready for me when I get in town. Next will be a Smartphone (it used to be a simple cell phone)-which will require a whole new set of skills-they’ve jumped several generations since I last had one in the US. Also on the list will be a bit of necessary clothes shopping. I’ve left most of my PC clothes behind in Morocco and will likely leave some aboard the ship. Most of the rest of my current wardrobe was just fine as a PCV. What I looked like wasn’t so important in Ribat El Kheir and I took advantage of that “freedom” for 2 years. However, even these clothes have become ratty and tired.

Dec 1st-Day 4 of Cruise:

Yesterday we were in Corsica. Sounds exotic, doesn’t it? Well, we decided to “do it ourselves” and rented out 3 taxis to take us to the Gorges on the other side of the island. Turns out that we’ve all seen far more impressive gorges in Morocco, but the countryside was beautiful and it beat just walking around town. We did a bit of that when we returned, including a local market where we sampled Corsa cheese. Back on the boat (had to be back at 3:30), everyone was working out and gussying up, as dinner was formal. I sat on the promenade deck for a bit to cool down from my workout and watched the parade of older folk heading to the early dinner all ´done up´. Sweet. After dinner I finally made it to the theater for a Las Vegas-like show. Not much drinking again last night as the motion of the boat was enough to keep you swaying-high winds on the sea.

It was a longer ‘sail’ to Mallorca, as we didn’t arrive until 11am this morning-that meant sleeping in for *ahem* some of us. Since today is Anjie’s birthday, we all booked a shore excursion to go to the Cuevas del Drach (Cavern of the Dragon)-her choice. It was really beautiful-huge cavernous spaces with stalactites and stalagmites. We were treated to a 15 minute live concert in the bottom, with the musicians floating on what is purported to be the largest interior lake in the world. It was a nice ´natural cathedral´ alternative to the wonderful man-made structures we´ve been seeing. We got off the bus in town and walked around a bit-charming town, saw the Contemporary Art Museum and made it back on one of the last buses before we sail again.

While the cruise is going fast, I’m already feeling antsy to be home and get on with things. At the same time, I want to take advantage of the places we’re going, as I’m unlikely to return to them. Also, we have 7 days crossing the Atlantic with no ports of call. Need to save anything I can do on board for when I’ve no alternatives.

We´re in Cartagena for the day (Day 5). Have seen the beautiful architecture, Roman ruins, castles and now catching up in the only cyber in town and I think half the ship is here doing the same. The satellite connection is remarkably slow. Finally getting caught up and posting this. May be the last posting for a bit.

Catalan fringe (bangs), shorts/skirts/tights/boots, graffiti, contemporary art, convents, amazing architecture, cathedrals, narrow alleyways, boutiques, tapas, vino blanco, crusty bread, throngs walking thru the streets, performance art on Las Ramblas, Gaiudi, design, shoes, designer shops, jewelry, contemporary art, film, Catalan vs Castilian, public spaces, boots, sunshine, stairs and walking, scarves against the cold, jambon, dogs on leashes, Dali, walk til you drop, masks, sidewalk cafes, purses across the body to discourage snatching, beer, art fairs, huge food markets, wide boulevards, manchengo, pedestrian only streets, shoreline, art exhibitions, funky rooftop apartment, cheese tasting, Cal Pep, jewelry, nougat, wine, café con leche, maps, gloves, paella, cobblestones, Picasso. I could live here. A vibrant city where if you can’t walk to it, you can use public transportation. Not a cheap bargain, but reasonably priced. Mediterranean climate. Charmed. What a great way to spend 10 days.

Jess arrived Tuesday late and it was great to see her. I’d done all the tourist things on my list, so now it was all about spending time w/Jess and seeing ‘her’ Barcelona (lived here 8 years). This included some great art exhibitions that I’d never have gone to otherwise (wouldn’t even have known about them). We ran some errands she needed to do that brought me to places I wouldn’t have seen-come on, would I really have found the graffiti shop? Saw a wicked film on public space art (aka graffiti-ever heard of Bansky? Me neither, until the film. We met up with several good friends of hers, who I enjoyed immensely. I got to meet Vanessa, the artist friend who collaborated w/Jess on the piece I bought at Jess’ Life Size exhibition, at a gallery opening. We walked, we shopped, we ate and drank. Cried when we parted. I’ll miss you Jess-you’re a great friend and an amazing spirit.

We joined up w/the rest of the now-RPCV crew for Thanksgiving. Lisa, Kristen, et al had been cooking all day. What a spread of food-most impressive. Everyone was over at the apt that Colin rented-very zwin indeed. Unfortunately Jess and I ate a late lunch w/her friend Izzy, so weren’t hungry for Thanksgiving, but I did taste a couple of the sides-yummy.

Met up again w/some of the others yesterday, as Jess had to leave around noontime. We mostly walked around, shopping for a few things that they still wanted to pick up. You gotta understand, 2 years of pent up shopping demand can make any woman a bit crazy in this place. Purchases complete, pretty pooped out, we went our separate ways for the evening. I was early to bed-really just needed a bit of down time before packing everything up to board the boat today.

I’ve not seen the end of Spain, verdad?

We made our way through the Borne District on Sunday, trying to get to those things that would be closed on Monday. Right around the corner from the apt is the Santa Maria del Mar cathedral-central to a bestselling novel I recently read-kinda neat to see the actual place. And it is very impressive.

We also had the Picasso Museum on our agenda for the day, along w/a special Picasso/Degas exhibition. This took a good part of the day, as we were enthralled with both of the exhibitions. It was a beautiful day (the light rain of Saturday had passed) and we spent a good part of the rest of the day walking around, window shopping, sitting for coffee, etc. We then treated ourselves to a lovely dinner just down the block-we’ve learned our lesson from Seville and are using the “TimeOut Shortlist” guide for dining recommendations-hasn’t failed us once in Barcelona.

We designated yesterday as our Gaudi day-and that it was! We headed up to the Sagrada Familia on the metro, with a plan to walk our way back, stopping to see other works of his along the way. Now, I had heard of Gaudi, had seen a couple photos of his work in Barcelona, but was not at all familiar with his work-his brilliant architecture/creativity/avante garde design. Simply amazing. Once again, we were absolutely enthralled. And to think he started this amazing project in the 19th Century. So far ahead of his time, even by today’s standards.

We made our way over to Casa Mila and toured this additional Gaudi building, which includes viewing one of the several apartments that are privately owned.

We had done a lot of walking, had sat only for lunch, and were pretty pooped by the time we made it back to the apartment. Each day we managed to walk anywhere from 7-10 hours, so I’d say we got our exercise-and our feet and lower backs felt it. We were both just fine w/bread/cheese (from our cheese tasting shop)/ham/wine/fruit for dinner in the apt. Why wouldn’t we be, right? Early to bed, as Miek had to catch a taxi at 5am to get to the airport for her trip back to the states and Thanksgiving w/her family.

It was really sweet to share this trip with her. She’s starting a new chapter in her life after the sudden death of John. I’m figuring out what post-Peace Corps life will look like. Inshallah both of our books will include more chapters of shared adventures.

So today was a slow day. Miek gone, Jess coming in late tonight. I decided to just take it easy. Went out to walk around for about 3 hours, mostly just to get out, no specific sights to be seen. Unfortunately saw a backpack snatched just ahead of me, from the chair of a man having lunch at a sidewalk cafe. The waiters took chase, but the guy got away. Everyone-including shop owners and waiters-warns you of pickpockets, but it's sobering to watch it happen.

Got a couple messages from some of the PC group that’s starting to arrive in Barcelona (pre-cruise positioning). None of us have phones in our apartments (we’re split between 3 apts), but texting on our Moroccan cell phones works-if you still have enough credit. I’ve got Jess bringing me another card to load on my phone so I can contact the others about Thanksgiving plans. I've seen the 'sights' I wanted to see here, and now am looking forward to seeing Barcelona thru Jess' lens.

I’ve lost track of dates, times, everything. I’m in my happy place. Just as it was meant to be. And still lovin’ Spain. We’ve made it to Barcelona, but more on that later…

Seville was absolutely charming. By spending 4 full days (about 2 more than any guide book recommends), we were able to walk all over the town, see all the sights, snoop in any shop that caught our interest, make a few purchases, sit for café con leche and a sweet, have a good lunch and relax at night in the apartment.

The apartment was perfectly located in the heart of the old city district. Narrow cobblestone streets allowed for either pedestrian traffic only or maybe one-way vehicle traffic. This kept it perfect for exploration on foot. Didn’t ride any transport until we left for the airport. We only had one day of rain, so the weather even held out for these adventures.

We did the tapas thing and frankly neither of us was impressed. Just ok. Lots of fried stuff, mostly the same offerings in each tapas bar. Overrated. But the beer and wine tasted just right! We finally treated ourselves to a highly recommended place for lunch, just as we were in need of a really nice meal, and it delivered-4 delicious courses, great service, for about $20pp. Gracias.

We saw the Cathedral, the Palace, a flamenco show, and WAY too much of Plaza Alfalfa. I’ll never think of the word alfalfa again w/o it reminding me of Seville-with a smile. See, despite all the maps, it is very easy to get lost. And we did. Multiple times. And we always seemed to end up in Plaza Alfalfa. So we just made it our Ground Zero.

Bought some chic black tops for our leggings, a bit of funky jewelry, and found the Convent of San Leandro for sweets. Most of the convents (and there are a LOT of them, as well as churches) sell sweets to help the nuns make some dinero. The San Leandro nuns have a window w/a wooden turnstile (which fills the window-you cannot see inside). You ring the bell, put in your money, turn it to them, and they turn it back w/whatever they’re selling that day-all boxed up and stapled shut. You have no idea what you’ve just purchased! We opened up our box later that night at the apt to find that we got sugar encrusted chestnut paste-one of the traditional Christmas sweets of Spain. One was enough and we had ½ kilo. Well, it wasn’t about the sweets anyway, it was all about the experience.

Somewhere along the way that day I set down my package of jewelry and a sweater poncho. I had absolutely no recollection of where I could have left it. We backtracked to the possibilities, but alas, the bag was not to be found. Fortunately the purchases were not expensive and it was just stuff. I was more disturbed about not having any idea when I set it down. Felt like my brain had been a bit muddled the entire trip-get it together Lynn.

Adios Seville, you’ve charmed us, but we still had Barcelona to explore.

Our Barcelona apartment is in what is called the Born area of the old town. Again, great location, but a bit daunting upon arrival. It’s dark when we get here, we’ve got a sweet old cabbie who’s determined to get us as close as he can, not knowing exactly where our street is-it’s blocked off to vehicles, so he drops us off and fortunately a couple blocks later, we find our address. We’ve got the access codes, and we’re in! OK, so they warn you in the website that it’s 5 flights of stairs, no elevator. Even knowing this, it was quite the challenge to lug our 25+kg bags up these high-ceilinged floors. It was rather dark and dingy. Hmm, what have we got? We get into the apt and it appears aptly named Born Rustico. Feels very rustic. It’s on the roof and the floor slopes badly in many places. (Upon further inspection, after initial impact wears off, we note that it’s been very well put together-great nice touches everywhere-it’s actually really charming). Anyway, we get ourselves in and a bit settled and need to figure out dinner, so we pull out our guidebooks to find anything close to where we are. It’s dark, we don’t know the area and our cabbie told us to be careful as it isn’t a safe area. Great.

We decide on a place just a couple blocks over. Just outside the apartment, Miek sees a guy walking toward us with his zipper down and penis hanging out. Fortunately I’ve missed this, but now I’m concerned about what I’ve done to Miek-will she be ok staying here? This has not been an auspicious beginning to Barcelona, to say the least.

Well, the restaurant is packed and there’s a line to eat at the long bar, so we get in line, since we don’t have a good alternative. And boy are we happy we did-hat a fun evening! We end up sitting next to a couple from New York who just arrived also and are on their honeymoon. While we’ve been waiting, we’re watching what everyone is eating, what’s being cooked, and we know what we want as soon as we sit down. This is no quick lunch counter-you are not pressed to move along, in fact, they encourage you to have something else, coffee, dessert perhaps? Miek and I share a number of absolutely delicious small plates-fried artichoke, calmari, chard w/garbanzos, sautéed mushrooms, tuna tartare. We also share back and forth with the couple next to us-so our tasting expands to their selections as well. The wine goes down smooth and quickly. Pep himself (restaurant is Cal Pep) is there, talking, joking, managing the bar/counter. We watch the cooking in front of us. The people waiting in line right behind us want to know what we’ve ordered (just as we did when waiting ourselves). Feels like a party. Such fun! Barcelona, you’re growing on me.

The apartment looks much better in the morning-the charm is working and it’s actually very well put together-just a funky space, that’s all. We get out our guidebooks to plan our day-noting that we need to take advantage of things open on Saturday that will be closed Sunday and/or Monday. We head on over to Las Ramblas-the 1 mile long pedestrian boulevard from the port to the main square of the city. Las Ramblas is full of performance art, other artists and tons of people. We also quickly discover that you’ve got to divert from Las Ramblas to wind thru the narrow walkways of the Barri Gotic area to really experience Barcelona. We search out places we’ve read about-La Bouqueria Market, the costume/magic shop, the herborist, and a fabulous artisanal cheese shop where we sit and have a cheese tasting (with a touch of wine, of course). A bit more shopping behind us (Miek-you look fabulous in that chic new coat), a bit of rain, and we finally sit down for a coffee at Quatro Gatos to rest our weary legs/feet. Refreshed, we head back to the Cathedral, taking time to explore it and the rooftop view. Sit for a bit (it’s warmer inside)before heading out to see if the dancing is going to happen. Every Saturday evening, in the square in front of the church, there is a music ensemble (and it was quite impressive last night) that plays for the Sardana dancers. This is extemporaneous dance where circles are formed, place purses, coats in the center, you clasp hands and the traditional dance ensues. Charmed again. At one point there were no less than 10 circles of dancers in the square-some of about 20 people, some of just 4. Obvious veterans of the dance-all grey-haired-help teach the tourists/novices the steps. What a delight!

We head back to the apartment via another shop on our list-where we’ve once again got timing on our side, and this sweets shop is making that hard candy that has intricate designs in the middle-know what I’m talking about? We watch them make it in front of us, then taste after they’ve stretched and snapped off small pieces. Have to make some purchases (will the candy canes stay intact for Christmas stockings?) before heading back to the apt.

Full day of walking around gives me a new perspective of our neighborhood-sweet shops all around, well lit, don’t feel the least bit unsafe-just be vigilant like in any large city. This is working out just fine.

We have another wonderful meal for dinner-our most expensive dining has been in Barcelona-with the most expensive-wine and dessert included-for about $70pp. And the food here is fabulous. Unlike Seville, this is food to write home about. Oh, right, I just did!

Again, I’m loving this apartment thing (did laundry, sitting in the living room typing this over a cup of coffee while Miek sleeps in) and having the time to not rush, just take our time, explore what we want to see/do, and we’ve been on the same wavelength so it’s been very easy to travel together. Hamdullah.

I’m no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. I’m now a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), having successfully completed my full 27 months of service in Morocco. We had our official “stamping out” ceremony-nothing is complete in Morocco w/out an official stamp yesterday afternoon (started this entry on Saturday). I must say it was a fairly anticlimactic day. Basically we all just finished getting the required signatures to document that all of our paperwork was complete and spent the rest of the day sitting around. Had our last couscous Friday at the Ministry of Fisheries cafeteria across the street. Viewed Cortney’s video/final project. Stamp out. Goodbyes to all the staff and those now-RPCVs who were headed immediately to the US. The rest of us made our way back to the Ville, dinner at the French Institute and an early night of it. Set our alarms several times-2:15am for Kristen, 4:45 for Cynthia, 7:15 for me, as we’re all making our own ways to meet up in Barcelona before the trans-Atlantic cruise. Few tears, as many of us will see one another on the cruise, and besides, we’re all tired of crying-left most of the tears at our sites.

It’s weird to think as I type this-on the train to Tanger for a weekend w/Samira before heading to Spain-that I’m not going back to REK after the weekend. I see the women in my first class compartment on the train look at my hands and smirk. They’re covered with fading henna-each one done by a different woman at different going away parties in REK. It’s a very ‘bled’ thing to do, and the women riding 1st class are NOT from the bled. What they don’t know is that I’m not just some tourist who paid a ridiculous price to have someone in Jmaa el Fnaa do my henna some night on some tour. In fact, this was a gift from the REK women-they set it up for me and joined me in getting their hands hennaed. Similar to the day-before-the-wedding celebration w/your best friends when you all get hennaed together. I see my hands and am reminded of their love. Smirk away ladies, I love it.

The big question-will I return? Inshallah. Best use of the word ever. Hopefully Samira and I will have a chance to talk about her interest doing some importation/resale of Moroccan goods. If she pursues this, I’ll help in any way I can-would love to be able to support the amazing artisans I’ve grown to know, and this would be the perfect excuse to return. Gadi nchufu. We will see.

Well, I made it safe and sound to Tanger. Samira and Souad were there to pick me up at the train station. First stop-my one and only request-to buy something, maybe a ring, in the traditional Moroccan gold filigree. Well, I got that done first thing and the rest of the day was spent in the company of Samira and her friends and family. We got up leisurely today with Christmas carols to accompany our breakfast. Our plan for the day was to take the train down to Asilah. I’ve never been to this beach town, but had heard a lot about it-and the contemporary art murals painted on the media walls at their annual festival. Fortunately the rain held off long enough for us to wander around the picturesque medina, see the murals, and check out a couple galleries before sitting down to a lovely lunch at a restaurant Samira knew about. Mmmm, fresh fish, a glass of wine, how civilized. The rain came as we were searching for a petit taxi, hoping to make it to our train. Little did we know that the train would come 1 ½ hours late and we had plenty of time. Just back now. I can’t get internet to check that all’s well w/Miek’s departure from the US-we meet up in Seville tomorrow. Inshallah the rain holds off for my ferry crossing from Tanger to Spain in the morning.

Samira, I know you will be reading this, so I must thank you again for sharing your Morocco with me, for your generosity in sharing your home, friends and family with me, for experiencing ‘my’ Morocco with me. Shukran bzzaf khti. Maghreb gadi ykun dima f qlb dyali.

B’slama Maghreb/Hola Espana. I’m sitting on the ferry, waiting for transit across the Strait of Gibralter to Terifa Spain. It’s a quick 30minute crossing, not unlike the ferry from Marina del Mar to Catalina Island. Fortunately the skies are clear and bright and the seas are smooth. Already my Dirhams are of no use-I must change them to Euros on the ferry to buy a Coke Light. I will take a bus to Algecerias to catch the bus to Seville.

Well, the Spanish Immigration guys couldn’t figure something out about my passport, so the delay meant I missed the free bus to Algecieras and then the noon bus to Seville. Instead I took a taxi to Algecieras and caught the next bus onward. Bit of a nap, one bus transfer later and I made it to the apartment that Miek had beat me to by several hours. Hamdullah we both made it safe and sound. It’s in a great area-the Santa Cruz old district, with picturesque cobblestone streets and cool little shops and cafes all around. We went out for a bit of a walk and some exploring before deciding on a spot for dinner (early at 8pm). A fabulous selection of tapas and dessert and drink-all for about $30pp. I’m loving Spain already! So great to share this with Miek and catch up with her. Time for bed now, more exploring tomorrow.

How perfect to leave from souk. Mondays are souk day and all transportation moves over there. So I go over a bit early to wait for the bus-it’s not like I’ve got a chair to sit on in my place and everyone else from the village is over there anyway. So I sit and watch the parade-the normal bustle of Monday souk. Young women in tight jeans, sweaters/coats to modestly cover their butts, and fancy heels or boots. Souk is social after all. Then there are all the older women in their jellaba and practical rubber soled shoes. I hear the guys on the loudspeakers, others just calling out their prices in ryals. Lots of sheep and goat. I mean LOTS of sheep and goat. Stopping to admire and inquire the price of someone else's sheep. Newly purchased pottery grills and bags of charcoal. Leid Kbir is next week. The sheep and goat are loaded on top of transports, in trunks of taxis, dragged along the sidewalk. (One is shoved into the baggage hold of our bus-I can hear its hooves trying to get a hold as we turn sharp corners all the way to Rabat.) They say that 10 million sheep are slaughtered for Leid Kbir each year-that’s one for every 3 people. Even if that figure is off by a factor of 10, 1 million sheep is a LOT of lamb. Goat is for those who cannot afford a sheep.

While I wait for the bus, Amina texts me. “Where are you, I want to say goodbye, can you come over?” “I’m at souk waiting for the bus”. “I’m coming over”. Sure enough, she does. Just to sit with me while I wait. Zahra is also coming and she brings Ferida with her.

I’m so emotional about leaving these people. It’s hard to describe how close you can get to people when your language has limited the depths of your conversations. Suffice it to say, actions do speak louder than words.

I did make it over to Fatima’s for my final goodbyes to her and her family. Hamdullah, her sisters and mother were there as well. OMG it was sooo hard. You’d think I had no tears left by then, but they flowed like a river. Allah yxlli likum lli 3ziz 3likum.

When the bus finally arrives, I’ve got a full entourage to see me off-Aicha, Naima and Halima have joined us. They watch out for me to be certain I get a “good” seat and my bag is safely stored below (with the sheep).

As I’ve said before, Morocco grows strong women. I’ve been so fortunate to work with some of its best these last 2 years-some of the most remarkable women I’ve ever known. Their love, generosity, acceptance, patience and gratitude are the greatest gifts I take with me from this place. I am humbled.

Allah yrhm l-walidin Ahermoumou. Gadi ntwashtkum bzzaf. Gadi tkunu dima f qlb dyali.

I wanted to take the bus-a bit easier, but much longer, because I want to savor the countryside all the way to Rabat. As we go thru Zouia, I’m reminded of what Courtney told me, and wonder how it affects this little village just outside REK. The original residents of towns named Zouia are supposedly descendents of the Prophet, and the King distributes money to the current descendents every year. The downside (in Cortney’s town for example) is that this discourages initiative, as they’ll get enough money to live on simply for being there.

The bus takes us on the 'trek Sefrou', so I get to see my favorite views-the gorges, switchbacks, rivers. The countryside is turning green after the recent rains and sunshine. The olive trees are laden with green/black/purple olives awaiting the post-Leid harvest. Men are active plowing the fields w/their mules, getting the next planting ready. New seasons, new beginning for all of us.

We’re almost in Rabat when the rain starts. No problem except that the windshield wipers on the bus don’t work. I’m thinking that I’ve made it thru God-knows-how-many treacherous bus and taxi rides for 2 years and I’m gonna die in a head-on due to equipment malfunction right outside Rabat. Fortunately the rain subsides and we make our way safely to the bus terminal.

I finally arrive at the PC-friendly Hotel Velleda. “Complete” says the sign. So says the guy at the desk. I have a reservation. No you don’t. I show him the email I’ve printed out (yes, I've learned from prior experience). Hmmm. Mushkil. Last test of Moroccan service (not something you typically admire). Front desk guy tells me there’s an American girl in Room 6, thinks she’s Peace Corps-I can share her room. Uh, no. I don’t know her and am not bunking w/a stranger. Besides, even if I was willing, who says she would be? Well, there are 2 American men in singles, maybe they’ll share and you can have their room. Uh, you don’t know when they’ll be back, what they’re willing to do, and it may be very late by the time we find out and then I’m stuck. OK, he says he’ll sleep on the couch and I can have his apartment downstairs. Bsssah? I don’t think so. He calls around and all the local budget hotels are booked except one, but the price is 200DH, ok? No, I’m only going to pay what I reserved. I tell him that in the US, if a hotel is overbooked, they find another room and charge the same price to those who have confirmed reservations. He calls the manager (who I know well) and wants me to talk to him on the phone. No, unless he has a different answer, I just need a room at the same price I booked. He proposes that they cover ½ the price and I the other and take the 200DH room, safi? Iyeah. He calls the manager and confirms it’s ok. Yes. I’ve got a room, he’s apologized for the inconvenience and I’m a satisfied customer. After travelling all day, nothing to eat or drink since early morning, emotionally exhausted from all the goodbyes, no sleep the night before, all’s well. Hamdullah. Thanks for keeping the faith Morocco.

Ahermoumou will always be a part of me.

I have shared tea, cookies, cakes, tears, couscous, farewells, inshallahs, all my apartment belongings and more tears over the last 3 days.

The Jam3ia Mawahib Wataqat Nisaiya (ATPF) women threw a party for me on Friday. I managed to send off the last of the boxes home and went to join them in the afternoon. They had party streamers, balloons, a “Good By Lynn” cake complete with a candle/sparkler, confetti blaster, henna for all and a gift candle. So sweet, many tears and difficult b’slamas.

Then on Saturday I headed over to the Taeawniya Adwal for a day with the ladies and another party. We had another cake (yummy-thanks to Nora) and tea and a bit of ceremony. They gave me 2 beautiful woven rugs and Zahra gave me a lovely bracelet. To see the women crying just killed me, and my tears quickly joined theirs. Fortunately we were able to get ahold of ourselves to present Ferida and Nora with their Certificates of Completion for their computer/internet training. Tbarkalikum.

Fatiha then cooked an amazing couscous lunch for all of us. Meanwhile, Nora brought henna to do for all of us-what a sweetheart. Thankfully I anticipated this may happen, so when Amina was doing henna for all of us on Friday at the ATPF party, I only had her do one hand. This left my other hand for Nora’s handiwork. We all closed up shop together and walked back to the village w/promises to see them again today when I brought over the things from my apartment that I was giving to the Coop.

Then it was off to the Tawmatine Association’s couscous workspace. They’d been waiting on me with tea, cookies and milowi. I’d seen most of the women over the last couple of days already, but it was so sweet of them to get together to say thank you to me. They are such generous souls. Shukran bzzaf.

I walked back into the village w/Meriem, which gave me the opportunity to take some photos of the ATPF purchases made with the PCPP grant monies. I’m so ** proud of them! What started out as a project to get some equipment to expand what they offer in their Creamery has morphed into something bigger and better. The cheesemaking initiative is on hold while they pursue opening up a bona fide ristura (restaurant)-note, there’s only swiya 2 in town. They looked hard for the equipment they wanted and were able to find a good buy from a guy in Sefrou. Oh. It’s all or nothing. They can’t just buy the items they want from the restaurant he’s closing. He’s selling it all to a single buyer. Well, the grant covers only ½ the total purchase price, and it’s bigger and better equipment than they first envisioned. However, they chipped in the rest of the money and the ATPF women are now looking for bigger, more affordable space to open up their ristura. Tbarkalihum bzzaf! I also got the receipts I needed to be able to submit my final report for the grant. Nothing like working up to the last minute.

I woke early this morning, no doubt with my moving out plan weighing on my thoughts. I managed to pack all my stuff in my single big suitcase-hamdullah. At least I’ll be travelling relatively light for the next month. Then I finished taking things apart, as Khalid and Jess were coming in the morning to pick up all the furnishings. Khalid, Siham and 2 others arrived w/the truck and (thankfully) loaded the stuff I was giving to the Adwal Coop and took that down for me. Then they went to work on the rest of the apartment. I forgot that here people really want everything they can have. Metalan, Siham even wanted the sticker/décor on the hallway walls, they took the tubing for the buta gas tanks and the tanks themselves. Merhaba. Just didn’t realize you’d want those things. Finally had to (jokingly) close the door to the storeroom, as the items I’m leaving for Karen and Doug are in there. Oh, and I needed to keep the blankets so I have something to sleep on tonight. I’ve got invitations to stay elsewhere, but want to spend my last night here.

I can’t forget to mention one of the best going-away presents, and this was from Khalid and Siham. They gave me one of the yet-to-be-released “Clock Book”-the recipe book Tara’s been working on for Café Clock. They had their celebration party last night-I couldn’t make it for obvious reason, and figured I’d just have to wait to order it on Amazon. Nope. Signed copy in my hot little hands. Hamdullah.

Now I’m procrastinating going over to Fatima’s house. If I didn’t have this to do, I’d probably slip on up to Fes tonight instead of going to Rabat tomorrow. But I can’t leave w/out saying goodbye to the Akchmar family. They’ve been my family here. It’s just gonna be so hard.

My priority this week has been to do whatever I can to help Doug and Karen get introduced and updated on activities and organizations in Ribat El Kheir. They’re very nice and very experienced and will bring a fresh pair of eyes and ideas to these same organizations to help them over the next 2 years. It’s time for me to go and all is in good hands.

Adwal had a couple visitors from the UK on Tuesday-they were coming to see what Adwal could do for them when they bring a group of 12-15 knitters to Morocco in March. (Day Trip marketing payoff). OK, so knitting isn’t exactly a common activity in Morocco, but hand spinning bldi wool and then using natural dyes is, and Adwal can put on a participatory workshop for the group. Hamdullah they’re in agreement and this should be a good project for Karen and Doug to follow up on with the Adwal women. Inshallah it becomes a regular tour each year.

I’ve demonstrated that even 2 years in, my Darija leaves a lot to be desired, but it gets me whatever I need. Examples aplenty today. I thought Zahra wanted Doug and Karen to meet the belladya. No, she was just inviting us to walk with her as she went there at the end of the day. Amina asked me to come meet her at 4pm-I thought to go see the new location for the Creamery. Nope, just wanted to meet me, and was also telling me at the time that the Assn is having trouble deciding about a new location. Waxa. Oh, then we went to meet my landlord-Karen and Doug thought they’d like to rent my apartment. Hmmm, high rent. They want to talk it over, we’ll come back. Which we did. He’s not budging on rent. I know he’s a savvy businessman. Is he bluffing about having 2 teachers who want to rent it starting Dec 1 for 1000DH? I think he does have someone who wants to rent it, but the price seems high. What to do? I leave it to Doug and Karen to decide, then negotiate on their behalf. They decide to pay what he’s asking, but I get him to agree to fix all the things that need to be fixed. Hamdullah. So the language can still both fail and save me. Go figure. Time to go.

As we’re walking around town, Doug asks about all the construction that’s going on. According to Pete, there’s a new tax on empty lots in the village. If you build, you no longer have to pay the tax. The belladya wants development completed in the village. I think he’s gonna get piles of rubble instead.

There have been sweet moments this week. Halima stops me on the street and asks me to come to her house. Can’t as I’m on my way to the Coop. Can’t she come down there? When? After lunch. Waxa. She’s a Coop member, but hasn’t been coming since her diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer. She was diagnosed at the cancer screening I helped organize my first year. She was successfully treated as a result. She comes to the Coop and takes me aside privately. In tears, she says she wants to give me something in thanks-apologizing that it’s not something ‘bigger’. I’m blown away. We’re not close, but I’m witnessing the outcome of the project-live-in front of me. No Halima, thank YOU. I go up later to meet w/Amina. No, she doesn’t want to go see the new Creamery site. OK, let’s go have you meet Doug and Karen. OK, but first, she takes me aside to give me a scarf and thank you. Wow. She doesn’t have money to buy anything to be giving away. Oh-and this is after yesterday’s fall (on my part) when she comes by my place to tell me “I saw you fall my sister, all you all right?” Amazing. Side note-she said “shft xti” (I saw, my sister) and I thought she said “shfti xti?” (have you seen my sister?). I was confused-I don’t know her sisters. Took me a minute to realize she was calling me her sister. Wow. Then there’s Ferida. Oh my gosh. She was really glum Tuesday-listening to her music, not really working at the Coop, just not herself. I asked what’s wrong. She just shook her head. I asked again and she started to cry. Shnu? What? Walu. Nothing. Waxa. She doesn’t want to talk to me about whatever it is. I see her again yesterday. She’s the same. “What’s going on?” “I am going to miss you”. Oh. Wow. Htta ana (me too). She’s the newest member of the Coop-finished her apprenticeship and joined when I arrived and we’ve been the Coop novices together these last 2 years.

I’ve pretty much cleaned out my apartment and have piles for different people for distribution/carrying away on Sunday when I all-but-move-out. I’ll actually be taking the bus out on Monday. I’m feeling bad that I’ve promised virtually everything to others-not selling, but giving everything away. Unfortunately there isn’t much left for Doug and Karen-they’ll have to buy their own things. They will get the allowance as I did from Peace Corps, and the purchasing will help the community, just sorry I’m not helping them out more. Zahra and Fatima came by today to check out the shelves for the Coop-if they didn’t want them, others did, but wanted to give them first dibs, since I know they need them to get their materials off the ground in the workroom. They’ll take them, just need to get the legs shaved off a bit (thanks for that idea Doug) so we can get them back down the stairwell.

Another bit of misc. good news. Pete says he’s heard it’s official that the mudir (Director) of the Dar Chebab (Youth Center) in Immouzer Marmoucha is moving here Jan 1 when the mudir here retires. This means Pete will definitely be able to stay here. Great news for him and REK. He’s got quite a following in his English classes and has been working hard to get some activities, ie; summer camp, going. Looks like it will happen this coming year. Tbarkalih.

We (Karen and Doug, Jo and I) set off to Sefrou today for them to meet the Sefrou Artisana Delegate. We were able to see him before lunch, so had a walk around town to show them things like the medina, taxi and bus stations and *ahem* the liquor store. We then met up w/Jess so they could all meet one another. It was also fortunate that Yassine showed up at the café. He’s an impressive young man in Sefrou who has always been a big supporter and friend to PCVs. He was selected to participate in a MENA Youth Leadership Program last summer and spent 6 weeks in Montana. Wouldn’t you know, Doug and Karen are from Montana, so they got to chat a bit. Yes, it is a small world.

We had good transit karma all day. Got on the nuql to Sefrou despite the crowd waiting for it to come. Nice introduction to Karen/Doug/Jo on how to fight for seats. Stopped ½ km out of the village for a new battery. Got 10 feet down the road and got a flat tire. Basically in front of the car repair place that just installed the new battery. They jack up the nuql-with all of us still in it, the motor running-and we’re on our way w/in 10 minutes. When we say our goodbyes in Sefrou, we make it to the nuql stand there as there are 4 seats left. We fill them and take off for REK. Jo and I are just killing a bit of time now before we head over to Nora’s family’s place to join them and Karen and Doug for dinner.

Then they’ll be leaving tomorrow to go back to Azrou, then on Saturday to their training site in Midelt. They’ll be sworn in the day before Thanksgiving and will return back here on Thanksgiving Day to start their 2 years of service. Merhababihum.

I made it out to Azrou on Thursday after stopping in Ifrane to meet up with Amy and Bouchra and introduce them to Jess. Hopefully they are able to work with one another on the many ideas that came up in these brief meetings.

Side note while I think of it-trek slama to Achmed, Jess’ neighbor/Sefrou angel, who is going to have a much-deserved mini vacation courtesy of all those whose lives he’s touched. Tbarkalik Achmed.

I participated in a couple sessions with the SBD trainees in Azrou-back in the old Auberge de Lion de Atlas. Wow-just 2 years ago that was me, sitting in those same sessions, waiting to hear where I was going to spend the next 2 years of my life. Flashback.

Following the session on Friday afternoon I made my way up to Fes. This was really my last opportunity to see my Fes friends to say goodbye and thanks for all they’ve done. Fortunately I was able to catch up w/virtually everyone, so I left in the early afternoon on Saturday to get back home.

I did stop by and see Michele (and Khadija), which was nice since she couldn’t make it to the dinner a couple weekends ago. She’s in month 9 of her pregnancy and not supposed to travel. Yosef is on the road right now, hoping to get back before the baby comes. Interesting factoid, if you are born in Morocco, your name must come from a list of approved (Muslim) names. Michele really wants to name their baby Rose. I think she’s going to use Rose as a middle name and also use it in the Australian birth certificate/documents.

Everyone is asking how I’m feeling about leaving-sorry to leave, mixed feelings, etc.? Honestly, I just feel ready. When you start this thing, you know the exact date that it will end. That significantly colors your perception. Things you don’t like, you know you only have to live with for 2 years. Things you love, you get your head around the fact that you’ll be saying goodbye to it/them in 2 years. My 2 years are up and it's time to move on. This is making the goodbyes easier. At least in the last 2 days. We'll see as the week progresses….

Unfortunately today dawned overcast and windy and only got worse. The worst storm we’ve seen this fall-steady rain and heavy wind. Not such a big deal, but today is when the new PCVs arrived in town (my replacements) for their 5 day site visit. It’s tough to travel in inclement weather anywhere, but especially when you’ve got to lug all your stuff yourself through multiple transportation sites, trying to figure out where you’re going, walking thru muddy lots, etc.

I was down at the Coop when they arrived, so Nora (she’ll be their host sister) and I walked up to meet them in front of the patisserie. Doug and Karen (the couple replacing me) travelled with Jo who will be in a site near REK called Dar El Hamra. It’s a new site that Casey developed with a very motivated group of women already working together. Anyway, we all trekked up to Nora’s house and sat down to a lovely lunch that her mother had prepared. When Casey called around 3pm that he’d arrived from Sefrou, Jo and I took off to meet him, leaving Doug and Karen to get situated with their new host family.

Figuring I was already completely soaked, I went ahead and did my shopping. Fortunately my vegetable guy was still open and my favorite hanut guy had turkey breasts, so I don’t have to go to souk tomorrow (and it’s gonna be an ugly, muddy mess there tomorrow). I’ve invited all the PCVs around here (that’s 4 of them plus me) to come for dinner and help welcome Doug, Karen and Jo to the region. I’ve got tortillas just out of the freezer-bought them last Christmas and been in the freezer ever since-so we’ll be doing some Mexican food tomorrow night.

Got news from Zahra that the Cooperative showroom party has to be postponed. Some of the Ministry folk who were going to be coming will still be in Agadir. Nuts. I so wanted to be there to help them celebrate. Hopefully Doug and Karen will be able to attend.

I’ve got my last box of stuff packed to ship home. Think I’ll try to get it out tomorrow if the rain lets up. Then it’s just a matter of starting to give stuff away and clear out my place. I’ll check the bus schedule tomorrow (it’s Monday=souk day and that changes all transportation schedules) to see what time/where the Rabat bus leaves on Mondays and will likely be on that one next week. I don’t actually have to go to Rabat until Tuesday next week, but once I’ve emptied my apartment on Sunday, no reason to stay around. Goodbyes will already be done. Nsfhufkum mnbad Inshallah.

I thought it would be a great idea, a good opportunity, to take Bouchra up on her offer. She’s the marketing professor at Al Akhawayn that I’ve been working with for the last 1 ½ years. She did the marketing workshop at the first Marche Maroc in Fes, she’s the one trying to pursue a Fair Trade website to sell Moroccan artisanal products, etc. She’s mentioned a number of times that she’d like to try and get her students out to work with rural artisans and do a project to help them market their products.

Pick me, pick me! We finally put it together for them to come out yesterday, and all 19 of them made the 2 hour trek. (Bouchra did comment that she had no idea what it took for me to come and meet w/her esp. since I use public transport and it takes me 4 hours). Welcome to the world of the countryside.

Despite the fact that the AUI crew didn’t arrive until 4pm, all of the Coop women AND apprentices were there (the apprentices came back and the women usually are gone by 3). Poor Zahra took the brunt of it (Fatima had to go to Sefrou), answering questions directed at her in rapid-fire from all directions. And I forgot that she was fasting all day, so that really exhausted her. I tried to get the students to address their questions to the other members, but this was difficult at best. Several just wanted me to answer their questions. In English.

A bit of background. Al Akhawayn is an all English-speaking, prestigious private University. Annual tuition/housing/etc. runs about 50,000 DH. At least 4x the average countryside annual income. Most of the students speak French in their homes, not Darija. Most had never been to the countryside of Morocco. Getting the picture?

Here I was hoping to get the Coop some great input and expose the students to this wonderful group of women. Most of the students couldn’t be bothered. Most didn’t engage w/the women at all. Some just wanted to weigh in w/their opinions to me-without having spoken with the women. “Why don’t they just sell to shops in Fes?” “It takes them too long to make these products” “They need to sell abroad” “They need to take their products out of the town to sell them.” No shit?! How about sitting down with each of the women one on one and talk with them, ask them questions, get to know their goals, who they are targeting as their customers, what have they done, what are their traditions, what constraints do they need to work within and which can they overcome, etc.? Oh my, I had great expectations, and now realize that this was students just going thru the motions, talking w/one another, not the women who were sitting around the perimeter. Tfoo. Opportunity lost. Live and learn.

Oh, hello Lynn, can we get you off your high horse now??

Got my comeuppance this afternoon when I sat in on the ATPF Association meeting. First item on the agenda was their workshop for the REK Day Tour program. I’ve talked w/Meriem and Amina at length about it, we discussed what they would do, pricing, etc. They attended the meeting we had 2 weeks ago with all of the organizations participating in this program. Safi? Yak?

Well, it appears that the rest of the Association wasn’t up to speed and this meeting was the first time most had heard of this project. 2 ½ hours later the meeting concluded, with only that topic addressed. See, it’s not quite so easy. Where will they do the workshops? Well, the members can take turns hosting them. Gee, one has her kids all afternoon after school so she can only do mornings, another has to check w/her husband to see if it’s ok, another doesn’t have an oven, another has other family obligations, etc. Hmmm, not as easy as it appears. Yes, these women have constraints and oh yeah, we’ve got to work within them. Chewing on my own words. Lesson #593. It’s never as simple as it appears.

On a lighter note, it was good to catch up w/Fatima. The Rabat craft fair was good and very informative-lots of good workshops and she’s heading off tomorrow to another craft fair in Agadir. Good exposure. She ran into Tariq in Rabat and he told her about the Marche Maroc in Marrakech in December and she’s hoping that they can attend. Hamdullah. The mundub is encouraging them to make smaller items, ie; just like the cushion cover I’ve ordered (with the intention of paying for it and leaving it behind as a sample). Finally told them that was my plan and they don’t want me to pay for it, they need it to sell at the craft fair, and will be making a bunch more. Nice.

Goodbyes are in the works. Final spin thru Fes on Saturday to say my goodbyes to friends there. The ATPF Assoc women want to have a party for me. Adwal has a party on the 6th to officially open the showroom and will be bringing in a bunch of folks I’ve not seen in a bit-will be my chance to say goodbye to them all at once. Gulp.

Luck=opportunity meets preparation. We’ve got it in spades. I think we’ve got incredibly lucky timing w/this tourism project. It seems like there are people coming out of the woodwork who are interested in visiting Ribat El Kheir on our Day Tour program. RPCV from Morocco sends out a request. Cynthia refers study abroad group. Randy sends meet group of knitters who are coming next week. The guide that Pete and his family are using this week gets lots of requests from his clients for day trips to the countryside. We’re averaging a group a week already. This has already brought amazing money to the women here in REK. Ham-du-li-lah!!! Oh, and I’ve updated the Adwal Coop’s website to reflect these new offerings. Check it out: http://adwalweaving.com

Thursday started on a high note. Amina (PC LCF) and one of the PC drivers came and picked up my bicyle and a couple bags of stuff for return to Rabat.We’re required to get our PC-issued bicycles back to Rabat for maintenance. Between passenger vans, grand and petit taxis and train-there’s no easy way to do this. I knew that Amina (my trainer in CBT) would be in the area to pay host families in Budrehm, and asked if she could come and get my bike. She did. Saved me a TON of time, money, and effort by picking it up here. God bless her parents. We had a chance to sit and chat a bit to catch up. She’s one of those who I just am not ready to say goodbye to. I know I’ll get back up to Fes for some goodbyes before I leave, and since she’s based there during training, I’ll see her there one more time.

Then I headed down to the Cooperative. Got Ferida and Nora back in front of the computer to load additional files from my USB. Daily exposure is good for their recall. In addition, Ferida and Fatima were cleaning up the showroom, so we decided to go ahead and bring their products in and set it up. I don’t know what happened to the money they were supposed to have in the grant to buy wall and floor shelves, but they need to work with what they got from Sefrou. I bought tablecloths when I was in Fes last week to cover the swiya tables so at least they look presentable and consistent. Finally there’s someplace where they can more professionally show and sell their products. First customers-Pete’s family. Shukran.

And the saga of the Day Tripper continued yesterday with Paul/Finley/Hassan/Lynn’s excellent adventure. Paul and Becky-expat friends in Fes-are hoping to open their renovated Fes medina riad/hotel in the spring. They are also passionate about bringing guests to the countryside, hopefully for day trips, where they return at night to their Fes-based hotel. Paul and Finley (their 3 y.o. son) came down yesterday to see the area. Since Paul’s got a LandRover Defender we could actually get to some places that are difficult to access w/o transport. I invited Hassan (Tourism Assn Pres.) along so they could get to know one another for future tourism planning. And just my luck, I was finally going to get to see the infamous Auberge up in the mountains. This lodge (sleeps 27 but in need of some repair) is fairly remote, owned by the Ministry of Youth and Sport, and available for use. Pete wants to work w/Hassan’s Assoc to bring kids up next summer for a camp. It’s also a great spot from which to hike all over the Middle Atlas Mountains.

Well, it was much more adventurous than just a ride into the mountains. The roads are not maintained and sketchy at best in many spots. After making our way to the Auberge and stretching our legs a bit, we decided to try to make it up to Ain Jeu. This is a natural spring above the Auberge and legend has it that if you drink its water, you’ll become hungry. So off we set-and with the Defender in full 4WD on rain-slicked mud and rocky ‘road’, we were slipping and sliding like a wild Disneyland E-ticket ride. Only we weren’t OSHA certified. A couple km up the road, we came to a rockslide that completely blocked our way. Tfoo! And there’s no backing down the road we just bounced up-likely to bounce right off the downhill side. Tfoo! It took about an hour of Paul and Hassan checking best spots, a couple of shepherds weighing in with their opinions, before Paul magically managed to turn the Defender around on a road that was NOT wide enough to do so, without careening off the cliff. I kept Finley occupied, safely out of the car and out of the way, and walked back down to the Auberge so Paul could control the descent w/o worrying about others (esp. Finley) in the car. I’m not sure who was more relieved when he got the Defender to the Auberge, but Hassan needed a cigarette! OK, so maybe it’s hiking only above the Auberge, yak?

By the time we were driving back to REK, the fog and low clouds had lifted, so we had good views all the way down-incl. through the beautiful cedar forest. Fortunately Finley was a star and slept most of the way back-not a peep out of him-despite no lunch either. God bless Paul’s parents and the Defender. Otherwise we’d still be walking back.

I just came across this summary of the tribute to Wooden in the UCLA Magazine online and had to share it. My first year at UCLA was Wooden's last coaching the much heralded Bruins. It was remarkable and so was he....

Last spring, UCLA was busily planning to pull out all the stops in a birthday bash for Coach John Wooden, who would have turned 100 on Oct. 14. How could we appropriately thank this extraordinary teacher who served as head men's basketball coach from 1948-1975 and had brought us 10 national championships in 12 years, a feat that will never be equaled? How could we show the boundless love and respect we all shared for the man we simply called Coach (and he must have liked that, since the title of Wooden's first best-selling book was They Call Me Coach)? How do you appropriately honor the author of the deceptively simple Pyramid of Success, a blueprint for a well-lived life that inspired thousands, perhaps millions, of people around the world for decades — and still does?

Sadly, we never got the chance. Coach passed away on June 4, 2010.

Instead, the Bruin family honored Wooden with a memorial that took place on June 26 in Pauley Pavilion. It was a moving celebration of Coach's rich life that was at times joyous, at times sorrowful. Speakers on the program — including sportscasters Al Michaels, Dick Enberg and Vin Scully, UCLA head men's basketball Coach Ben Howland and former Bruin basketball players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar '69, Keith Erickson '65 and Jamaal Wilkes '74 — drew both laughter and tears as they relayed their favorite Coach maxims or stories.

When the nearly two-hour-long ceremony ended with a video chronicling Wooden's life, viewers were left with one final image of Coach, smiling and waving from the balcony of his little condominium in Encino. The lights were still low as the entire audience in Pauley rose to its feet, applauding.

One last standing ovation for the man we will always call Coach.

— Wendy Soderburg '82

That is, the time I’ve got left. Had just another week in town. Yet not. I’m trying to make the most of my time now that it’s so limited. Starting to wrap things up…

Got access today to the Coop’s computer. Delighted to find that they’ve finally got Microsoft Office loaded-at first they had some very basic operating system software and I was concerned that it wouldn’t be of much use to them. Sat down w/Nora and Ferida to teach them all about its use w/photos. Downloading, editing, copying and pasting, saving, etc. Downloaded some of my files to their hard drive-need to download the rest on Saturday. Told the two of them that they need to monitor the Coop’s email address at the cyber at least once/week (and that I’m gonna send them messages to check up on this). I’ve received a couple requests for quotes from people who got the email address off their website, but finally tracked me down when they didn’t get a response from the Coop. Can’t afford to lose out on these opportunities.

Had a very sweet time w/the Coop women on Tuesday. They’ve got Samira’s zrbya on the loom and are working hard to get it done and sent to Tanger before she leaves for the states in November. It was fun to sit with them and help tie the knots on the zrbya (the only weaving I can be trusted to do), talking and laughing together for hours. Love those women!

Had a nice time w/Pete and his mom-she was in town and we swapped doing dinner. I also got invited w/them to Hassan’s family for lunch on Monday-at it was a ‘treat’-actually a dish pronounced ‘treat’. Very labor intensive, similar to rafissa (w/o miloui and fenlgreek)-and delicious. They’ve gone back up to Fes until Saturday when they return w/more family for the couscous workshop. Apparently the Tawmatine women have changed the location for the workshop to a nicer, newer, less expensive building. I’ll go by and see in on Saturday when they’re doing the workshop. Inshallah Amy from AUI and her friends are still coming over then and I can show them as well.

I also need to get in touch w/Paul to see what time he’s coming on Sunday to check out trekking sites in the area w/Hassan. Hopefully Becky and Finlay are coming as well. Inshallah the weather holds out for us-it’s been absolutely glorious fall weather the last several days.

I’ve also got this foodstuff that I’ve basically hoarded-saving for ‘special’ occasions. Exactly what does that mean? Means that I’ve held on to goodies like cheese, curry paste, tortillas, brown sugar and chocolate chips for WAY too long. All of things have been either shipped or carried over from the US and are precious cargo. I’m trying to work my way thru them in the limited time left. Made chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies yesterday. It’s always interesting to see how the first batch goes before I get the temp on the oven figured out. Reminder-the oven is just a metal box w/butane-fueled burner inside. No temp gauge, etc., so the first batch usually burns. And it did. Then decided that I needed to give away cookies or I’d eat them all myself. Peanut butter cookies to the café boys, choc chip to the Tawmatine women. Bismillah.

My ‘to do’ list is shrinking by the day. Leaves me with time on my hands. Good time to search for a chess tutorial to start learning some strategy-before Colin kicks my butt playing on the cruise. Found a fabulous site, w/over 50 games to learn from (http://www.50chessgames.freeserve.co.uk/). That’ll keep me busy!

I got word from Peace Corps that I’m definitely being replaced, and Nora’s family was told that it is going to be a couple. This is great to know-whether 1 or 2 people, either way I’m really happy to get this confirmation. It helps to know for planning purposes. They have what’s called a site visit from Oct 31-Nov 4. This will be their orientation time while I’m around to introduce them to people, projects, etc. I obviously need to be here, and can coordinate some of my final/checkout meetings, ie; w/the Artisana Delegate, when I can introduce them. Merhaba.

Gulp. Just got word that I'm definitely going to be replaced w/another Volunteer in my site. Don't know yet male or female. Thats so real. Gotta get the transition plan in place. Gulp. Forget the abstract "when I go home....", It's happening. And soon. Only 3 weeks to my last day in Ribat El Kheir. Gulp.

(posting started yesterday)

Stars aligned across the sea. The annual “Girl’s Weekend” in the states is taking place this weekend and it’s the 3rd one I’ve missed while in Morocco. Meanwhile the Fes girls gathered last night at Gail’s for a farewell party for Cynthia and me. Similar sized groups. Same generous souls. Same great support network. How fortunate to have both in my life. I can tell that I’m really not ready to say goodbye to any of Morocco. It’s touched me too deeply to let go just yet.

So I’ve had the weekend here in Fes, not only with the girls, but running into other medina friends. Abdulwahd and his lovely Niina-about to wed-tbakalikum. Caught up w/Khaild. Ran into Josephine, Evelyn, Max and the Clock Crew, Fulbrighter Lauren, Stacy and Pete w/their moms.

We (the girls) dragged ourselves out of bed –actually ponges--to the Boujeloud café for qHwa and petit pan. That was when I realized I really didn’t need to head home, as tomorrow is souq so it will be quiet in town. Instead, I’ll stay and play in Fes and go to Sefrou w/Jess tonite instead.

This gives me a chance to go w/Jess down to Paul and Becky’s place deep in the medina. They’ve worked 18 mos to renovate their riad/home and it’s a beauty. Their finishing and restoration of originals details is gorgeous. Paul and I had a chance to talk about some ideas he has. See, he and Becky are also renovating another place to make into a hotel, and hope to open to tourists in the spring and have property in Chaouen where they want to do the same. In addition, Paul’s got a strong background in rural development with many years working for NGO’s/agencies in Africa and he misses this in this current (great) life in Fes. He’d like to combine the tourism they’ll soon have with development efforts somehow. Anyway, Inshallah he’s gonna come out to REK next weekend and we can get Hassan to take him to check out the natural springs, hiking areas and the Auberge in the mountains for overnights.

We left Jess to the mural she’s doing in their son Finley’s room to go and see Omar the second-hand furniture guy. I was just going along out of curiosity on my way back up the medina to Gail’s. We duck into this doorway where Omar meets us to unlock another door to his “shop”. Clearly you need to know Omar to see his shop as it’s well off the tourist track, not marked and only opens upon request. Don’t know what Paul was looking for, but my drooling commenced immediately. First stop-Beni Ourain carpets like the Adwal women weave. Curious on the price. 500DH. Bsshah? Rxis bzaf. Very cheap. What middleman sold them to Omar and how little did the artisans get paid? Hshuma. The irony is that this tells me his prices are very affordable, so I start looking around. OMG, he’s got a bunch of the fab old painted shelves that I’ve craved. The only Moroccan décor item I’ve not purchased ‘cuz how in the heck would I get them home? Omar, will you ship to the U.S.? No. Negotiate price. Only 600DH. Yikes-great price. Mushkil. How to get them home. See everyone thinks it’s so easy-just take them to a carpenter to get a crate made and ship via the post office. Easy if you live in Fes, not so easy to get them to REK and find a way to do this. OK, just take them with you. Right. Carry them back to REK, to Spain, on the cruise, etc. No way that’s happening. Omar, 3afek, wes nta gadi tsiftu liya l America? Waxa. He finally agrees, and for only 400DH more. Bsshah? Sold! Oh, but Paul needs to come back tomorrow to help him do it, and Paul agrees. God bless his parents. I go to sleep last night dreaming about where I’ll put them.

Transaction completed, I headed back to Gail’s to help her out a bit-had several hours to kill. I get set up in the Clock kitchen to sterilize and fill jars w/zmita for Fes Deli. 37 jars later I meet up w/Jess and we head to Sefrou. Early night as her DVD player isn’t working. Leyla saida.

I’m excited for Jess’ home renovation in the Sefrou medina kasbah-her kitchen’s gonna rock when it’s completed. She’s also getting the artwork I purchased from her show all crated up to ship. One of the pieces I bought was a collaborative piece w/a friend of hers named Vanessa. Seems that the sale of the piece will fund Vanessa to come visit Jess in December. Hamdullah.

Back home in REK now and need to work out my calendar for the little time remaining. Need to see if Hassan’s available to take Paul and I around next weekend; find out when Bouchra wants to bring her marketing students to talk w/the Adwal women; when Raja is coming down, when I can get Alice and Jess together w/Amy at AUI and if I’m for certain getting a replacement so I know if I need to be in town my last week for their site visit. See, I need to get another Fes trip in to say my goodbyes there.

Time is running out fast. Am I ready to let go?

Those of us fortunate enough to work alongside Moroccan women on a daily basis have seen the power of the Cooperative in their lives. Read more here from an article commissioned by Magharebia. http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/09/30/feature-02

Morocco co-operatives strengthen female independence.

By Siham Ali 2010-09-30

Co-operatives are changing the lives of women, teaching them new skills and rewarding them with financial freedom. Many women in rural areas of Morocco have joined female-only co-operatives and taken their destiny into their own hands. The businesses have changed their lives completely, providing the women with their own income and increasing their self-esteem.

In the Souss-Massa-Draa region, for example, thousands of women have joined forces for a tree cultivation project. Nezha Aktir, a graduate of Agadir University, decided in 2004 that she would help women in her region by setting up the Tifaout Women's Agricultural Co-operative, which has 72 members. She admitted that revenue is still modest, but previously these women were earning virtually nothing. "There are no clubs for women. They go the whole year round with nothing to do. Hence the idea of setting up this co-operative so that they can receive a financial benefit and meet other people," said Khadija Benchich, chairperson of the Adrar co-operative.

Sociologist Hamid Bekkali says that co-operative work enables women in rural areas to open up to the outside world and to build on their skills, even though the men were reluctant to accept the idea at first. "Women had to be patient in order to change their daily lives," Bekkali explained. "Women in rural areas have always worked hard, but have never been able to have a tangible income." "The organisation of women into co-operatives is an important turning point which has given women financial independence and the power to take decisions," she added. "This has a positive effect on family life and children's education. Women in rural areas have become real actors in local development."

The co-op employees also receive tuition for literacy classes and training in other skills, including business organisation and marketing for their products. "At the start, my husband was suspicious. He didn't want me to work in a co-operative. Despite that, I decided to go down this route. After a few months, he came to realise the value of my decision," Zahra Tasskifet, a mother of four, said. She added that the income she earns helps to provide education for her children.

According to Moroccan government statistics, the proportion of co-operatives run by women has risen from 2.14% in 1995 to 12.5% in 2010. There are now more than 7,000 co-operatives in the Kingdom, representing 360,600 members. "The ministry of economic and general affairs has shown a great interest in the sector. The idea is to promote local products and enable co-operatives to market their products with much greater room for manoeuvre than in the past, when intermediaries would minimise the workers' earnings," said economist Reda Bachaoui.

Fatima, a mother of three, was desperate to tell Magharebia how she became a different person after starting work with the co-operative, earning around 1,000 dirhams (90 euros) a month. "In the rural area where we live, that's a very attractive income for a woman. I feel my life has changed. I'm not totally submissive any more. I feel stronger and I've got a lot more self-esteem because my efforts are being rewarded," Fatima said.

Hand-off Al Akhawayn University project to 1st yr PCV: Check!

Marketing Day Tours to Ribat El Kheir: Check!

Money to ATPF Assn: Check!

Showroom catalog for Adwal: Check!

Going away party w/Fes friends: Check!

Managed to catch up w/Bouchra and Amy at Al Akhawayn on Tuesday and introduced Kate to them. She’ll be following up on the Free Trade website. Hopefully Bouchra and I will have time to get her Marketing class over to REK week after next to initiate their project to help Adwal with their marketing efforts.

I’ve got all the marketing materials completed and sent out to solicit Day Tour tourists/visitors to Ribat El Kheir. Generating interest already. Inshallah this will bring a lot of badly-needed tourists and their *flus* to town. I’ll try to attach a copy of the flyer. Merhaba Day Trippers!

Finally sat down with Meriem and Amina to give them the PCPP grant money so they can complete the purchase of their equipment. Slight mushkil. They had trouble making the 500DH/mo rent in their Creamery, so are looking for a cheaper place. Meanwhile, another group of women have set up shop to sell their breads, hlwa, etc. immediately downstairs from my apt. One idea multiplied quickly by 4 and the ATPF Assn women have a lot of competition. The equipment should really give them an advantage in what they can cook and offer for sale. Inshallah.

I received an inquiry-second one from the website I made for Adwal-to quote on several items-handira and zrbya. I gave the info to Fatima last week for a quote, but she’s now in Rabat for a 10 day expo. I told Zhara that the woman who sent the inquiry also contacted Peace Corps, and there could be a number of other Coops bidding for this business. If they want the business, they need to get me the quote. Got it and sent it today. F l-xyr. Also asked them to add carding and spinning wool to the Day Tour workshop-people like more ‘hands-on’ experience and this would be a good addition. Check!

I’ll be heading up to Fes on Saturday for a going away party for Cynthia and myself w/friends there. Gail’s gonna host a dinner-will be great to see everyone, but I’m not ready to say goodbye just yet.

The more I think about it, the more enamored I am with the prospect of doing business w/Samira on importing Moroccan handicrafts into the US. We met w/several artisans and some of my Fes friends to discuss this possibility last week when Samira was in town. There are a lot of people I’ve met-Moroccan as well as expats, who have or are starting businesses to develop high quality goods and need a US-based contact to export. Hmmmm, ymkn.

Meanwhile, I’ve started a list of some things I’ve learned (or appreciated anew) over the last 2 years here in Morocco:

I can have more patience than I ever thought possible

I’m more creative than I gave myself credit for

Forgiveness-of others and myself

To sit back and go w/the flow

People are people are people-we’re basically all the same

Friends are invaluable to happiness

Extreme heat is harder than extreme cold

Music soothes

Walking helps you see the world

I love donkeys

Long hair is easy

Family matters

I’m not ready for grey hair

I can live w/o a TV, but not w/o a computer and internet

I’ll always be amazed at the handicraft of artisans

I can learn a new language at my age

Moroccan generosity is world-class

I don’t need much, just friends and family

I won’t melt in the rain

I really don’t like to cook

Most NGOs are well-meaning but bring band-aids

Makeup is overrated

I can amuse myself for hours at a time

Air dried laundry rocks

I love sweet mint Moroccan green tea

Go when others invite you come along-you never know what adventure awaits

Most of the best images are in grey cells, not pixels

I’ve enjoyed not driving

Morocco grows strong women

I can now manage “hand wash only”

One really good glass of wine can seem bottomless

Acrylic nails-no; Pedicures-yes

Text messaging has clear benefits

It is NOT about me.

After decades of turning out yellow-framed covers featuring Egyptian artifacts and other Mideast treasures, National Geographic magazine will for the first time soon start printing in Arabic.

The picture-packed science magazine lining countless bookshelves plans to issue its first Arabic edition next month, making its more than century-old publisher the latest Western media company to tap the growing Middle East media market.

"The stories in this magazine talk about all countries and all cultures," said Mohamed al-Hammadi, editor-in-chief of the new edition, who expressed hope it would give Arab readers a deeper understanding of the planet and how others live. "The readers here, they need this," he said in an interview.

With backing from the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi, "National Geographic Al Arabiya" aims to reach readers across 15 countries from Morocco to the Persian Gulf. It will contain translated articles from the 122-year-old U.S. edition and original pieces tailored to the region.

On Wednesday, the magazine named a panel of seven Arab experts who will serve as advisers and contributors. They include Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, female Saudi medical researcher Khawla al-Kuraya and Essam Heggy, a Libyan-born planetary specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The goal is to produce at least a fifth of the articles locally, al-Hammadi said.

This is great news. Merhaba National Geographic-Al Arabiya!

Left Rabat on Sunday as soon as our COS conference ended-needed to get on the 6pm train to Fes to meet up with Rebecca. We stayed at a new riad in Ziat-well located and a nice place. Monday we prowled around the medina-down to the tanneries, Place Seffarine and Nejarrine, pottery and zelij works, all before meeting up with Samira after her train arrived from Tangier. We then headed over to Michele’s so she and Samira could discuss Michele’s Hammam business idea and Samira’s interest in setting up an import business. Future collaboration? Ymkn.

We headed off Tuesday morning to Ain Leuh for Samira to see the Coop’s weaving, for me to pick up the handira that Khadija wove for me and to see the Coop women one last time. Unfortunately Khadija was in Meknes, so while I didn’t see her, I got my handira and 11 year old Ahelan made us tea. Purchases and orders were made, tea drunk, Ain Leuh-check!

We managed to convince Randy to come with us and on Wednesday headed over to my site. This trip was made considerably easier by buying out the 5 taxis it took to get there. Even that relatively easy trip amazed Samira and Rebecca with how complicated is it to get around here. Samira was constantly comparing “your” Morocco (meaning Randy and mine in the countryside) to “her” Morocco. Shuf, you can get anywhere you want to go in Morocco-you just need time and patience.

We got to REK and made a bit of lunch before heading off to the Adwal Coop. I had told Zahra and Fatima that I wanted them to do the natural dye and weaving workshop for us. This would be their first trial run at this new day-trip tourist option. They came thru like stars. They had tea and milowi for us, the natural dye demo ready to go, showed how they card and spin the wool (same wool we washed in the river in August) and demo'd their weaving techniques. Overall a very good showing for their 1st workshop. A few bugs to work out, but they did a very nice job. Purchases made, orders taken and we set off on a walk.

During our walk I received a concerning call from a PCV about another PCV friend. This led to calls late into the night, Peace Corps staff involvement and her early departure back to the states on Friday. Trek slama JC. Love to you.

Thursday we headed over to the Tawmatine Assn for their hand-rolling couscous workshop. I’d run into a friend in the Fes medina with Rebecca on Monday and Vanessa wanted to come with some visitors to REK to do the couscous workshop. Great timing-they joined Samira, Rebecca, Randy and I. This was the 4th tourist workshop the Tawmatine women have done and it was good to see it run with a group of 7 of us. That’s more complicated and good to observe the logistics to make a few suggestions.

Keeping to our plan, it was back to Fes for all of us-Rebecca and I to continue on to Rabat, Randy to Ain Leuh and Samira to meet w/Gail and Michele again and then visit with family members in Fes.

By the time Rebecca and I arrived in Rabat, we went on to the French Institute for dinner before heading to our riad on the back side of the medina. And what a riad it was-a beautiful mix of contemporary and traditional Moroccan design, all beautifully finished. Lovely.

Friday morning I headed over to the office for a brief good bye to my friend before she headed to the airport and back to the states. Back to the riad in time for a leisurely breakfast with Rebecca. We then wandered thru the Oudayas kasbah and gardens. It was a short walk from our riad, right on the Atlantic and a very picturesque blue and white charming neighborhood I’d never seen before. By the time we walked back thru the medina to see some of the Ville area, the Friday call to prayer had sounded and most of the shops were closed. At least that made for an easy walk thru the medina.

As we headed up Mohamed V Blvd, we saw crowds in front of the Parliament building. Since protests are commonplace events in the capitol, I figured this was just another one. However, it was quite orderly and ½ the boulevard was blocked off. Ymkn not the usual protest crowd. Asked a policeman what was going on and discovered that it was the opening of Parliament and the king was coming in an hour or so. We found the best vantage point we could and parked ourselves on some steps for the wait. How many opportunities do you have to see a king? About 2 hours later, we know we saw him ascend the stairs across the street, but I honestly have no idea which of the cloaked men was him. Yes, I have photos-you tell me which one is the king.

Back to the riad, we had a couple hours to lounge/read on the zwin rooftop before heading out for dinner to a restaurant that Samira had recommended. We had a lovely meal, drank a very nice (and what felt like bottomless) bottle of wine and back for an early night to bed. I got Rebecca on the train to the airport yesterday morning and I headed back to Fes and onward to REK. I’m glad that timing worked out as I had to remind people of our meeting today.

Today’s meeting was a good one. I brought together all 5 Associations/Cooperatives who are involved in the REK Tourism options, the translator and Gail from Fes (one of the tourism booking agents). Thankfully everyone (except Michele-but Gail will relay the info to her) was there and we reviewed all the details-who will do what, how the trips will be booked and paid for, etc. We’ve already run 4 couscous workshops, 1 olive oil workshop and 1 natural dye and weaving workshop. Inshallah there will be plenty more to follow.

Now I’ve got some catching up to do. Been away from the computer and internet for over a week and a lot I need to follow up on. Fortunately I have only a day trip this week to Ifrane, so I’ll be able to get a lot of things checked off my ‘to do’ list.

Oct 3

We’ve just completed our Close of Service conference in Rabat and I’m on the train as I type this (to be posted later) to Fes. Caught Rebecca quickly on the phone last night to make certain she got to the riad safely. Spoke to her as she had a glass of red wine and was sitting down to dinner. Hamdullah. My train is on time and I’ll join her in a couple hours to start catching up.

The conferece was really geared to the youner PCVs who will be returning to the states to face job hunting, grad school, etc. The best session for me was the last one-getting us thinking about how we’ll say goodbye to the people of our communities. I need to have a game plan and communicate my timing as the last 2 weeks will be really crazy and involve some last-minute PC travel.

Our superlatives and photo session (complete w/burgers and onion rings at the American Club) was followed by a party at the Marine House behind the American Club. The Marine House is part bar and part fraternity. While my fraternity party-going days are long behind me, it was fun to be there as a group, dancing together, having GOOD beer, a final hurrah all together. We’ll all be together again for our 72 hour checkout when we officially sign out of service, but this was our last opportunity for a gathering like this. Now I need to sign off as the train is pulling into the Fes station.

OMG it’s OCT

Wow. October already. Only 6 weeks left in country. Yikes. So much to do.

I’m in Rabat for our Close of Service Conference and final medical exams. Medical and Dental are done and a clean bill of health, Hamdullah. The good news is that everyone is really delighted w/the Medical staff-a complete turnover and turnaround from last year’s Medical fiascos. Our conference starts this afternoon.

It’s been a really sweet couple of days w/just our SBD group. We’ve been a very tight-knit group and it’s great to see everyone and catch up. Funny thing is that despite how spread out across the country we are, we’ve been able to see one another (side trips, work related leave trips, etc.) fairly often. We’re staying at the Balima-a nice hotel for a change (nice=towels, soap, good water pressure and hot water all day, etc.). Shukran.

Got to catch up with Sarah on her and Brahim’s wedding. So great to hear about the traditions in her far southern Berber town. So different from the Arabic-style weddings of our area. I’ll post a photo of she and Brahim in their wedding attire. Wish I’d been able to go, but had promised Jess I’d be in Fes to help her with her show instead. Dena, another of our stajj-mates announced last night that’s she’s now engaged to her Moroccan boyfriend. She’ll be staying here in Morocco after we’re done as she’s already got a job w/an organization that runs Morocco cultural tours for student studying abroad in Europe. Tbarkalikum.

Why has it taken us 2 years to discover the restaurant at the French Institute? I could have been treating myself every time I’ve come into Rabat. Seven of us ate there the other night-maybe the best meal I’ve had in Morocco-sole meuniere, fresh spinach, crème brulee. Yum. Cynthia and I are going back for lunch today before we have to head to the office.

Tonight we’ve got a party set up at the American Club for just our stajj. Joy’s been polling everyone to develop “superlatives” on each member of our group and Lisa has spent the last week making an ink drawing of our entire group-it’s amazing, and we’ll each get a copy of it.

Meanwhile there’s even more work to be done. I received an email from an American woman who has seen Adwal’s website and wants to order product-Yipee! However, the women aren’t monitoring their email, so this American has tracked me down somehow and persisted in making contact-hamdullah. Need to coordinate that order. In addition, a group from the US Embassy is having a meeting in Marrakech the first week in November and contacted me about bringing in some artisans to sell their stuff. I volunteered to help coordinate this and they took me up on the offer. Be careful what you wish for! Since it’s the week of the new Volunteer’s site visit-and I’m supposed to be replaced-and the week before we leave the country, I’m gonna try to get someone else to do the coordination-timing is just tough. And then I’ve been invited to participate in the Environment/Health PCV training in Marrakech, so that’s another long trip to fit in. I’m running out of days. Quickly.

Anyway, it’s been a nice quiet week, with time to get things done around our medical appts, and it will be good to see the YD PCVs who are coming in today. Now I need to get dressed to meet up w/Cynthia. B’slama.

Is it terrible to bugger out of the last Moroccan wedding invitation I’ll get? I think not. Didn’t feel like getting stuck all night down in the zlul. Mbruk Hassan, but I’ll toast you from the village and Fes instead (sipping something worth toasting with vs sweet mint tea).

Lost my excuse (stifling hot heat), so back on the Pilates track. It was a nice break while it lasted, but I was really getting lazy and while I do walk everywhere, it’s not THAT much walking!

Nice to have a ‘normal’ week in town this past week. Mostly working on getting the Ribat El Kheir Day Trip for tourists put together. We’ve got all the arrangements made-options for Couscous handrolling/cooking/eating workshop, natural dye and weaving workshop, cooking traditional Moroccan breads and sweets, seeing a traditional olive mill and olive oil tasting and/or hiking. We have a meeting on the 10th with all players, including the 2 friends from Fes who have tour booking agencies and are advertising the trip.

I’ve also been playing Travel Agent all week for Samira and Rebecca’s visit week after this coming week. Rebecca will come in before I’m done w/my PC conference in Rabat, so I’ve got arrangements for a day trip to Meknes, Volubulis, etc. set up for her. I’ve set up our riads, visits to artisan coops in the countryside (incl. REK) and visits to Fes and Rabat. We’ll do the couscous workshop w/the Coop here and the natural dye and weaving workshop w/Adwal, so those will be our “trial runs” for future tourist day trips.

I’ve also finally finished a couple things I’ve been working on for the Adwal Coop showroom. I’ve put together an Arabic/French book on their products, examples of how to use them in the home, info on the Coop and REK and then framed summaries of all for the shelves. This was a big undertaking and I think will be good for tourists to be able to view. I also got time, finally, with Nora and Ferida to review the Windows Office-based files I’ve created so that they can modify, update, etc. Adwal also has the new digital camera that I purchased for them so they can do their own photo documentation from here on.

Since Eva the Meknes cheesemaker cancelled the workshop w/the ATPF Assn and Milk Coop on Saturday, this left me free to support Jess on (what was supposed to be) her final day of the Life Size exhibition in Fes. This was also a “Knit for Peace” day-bring your knitting needles or use theirs to knit (water) pistol covers for a collage. She’s done this a number of times and has had participants from all over the world. Interesting enough, last night most of the participants were young men. It was also my first time trying my hand at knitting. In addition, I made another purchase of Jess' work-the piece that got my attention when we were first setting up the exhibition-and the collaborative piece that was her inspiration for the rest of her contemporary collection. I love it. Oh, and the Ministry of Culture said she can keep her exhibition up for another month. She won’t be there every day, but will be able to show the work to others who expressed interest and didn’t make it to the show. BssHa Jess!

I decided to go late morning yesterday when taxis are most likely to be running up to Fes. Went to the Clock, figuring I would kill a couple hours on their wifi. Much to my delight, I ran into Kristen and Dan (his birthday). They were also killing time, so we had lunch and then went to the Artisanat for them to do a bit of shopping. I had NO intention of buying anything, but while I was wandering around, what did I see? An inlaid wood carved, portable chess set. OMG. Was this just Perfect or what? I’ve really caught the chess bug, but have been only playing via computer. Can’t study any strategy w/o an actual board, as you need to be able to move the players around when studying to visualize the implications of those moves. I now own my very own chess board. Wahoo! And don’t you know, I played…ahem…and won….my very first chess game w/a live opponent. Onward!

Jess’s friend Brian is visiting and they were kind enough to let me crash in Sefrou with them last night after the closing of the show. Oh, and after a G&T at the Pub on Hassan II. (Still can’t get over the fact that you can drink alcohol at a sidewalk café in Fes now).

That worked out well since I was meeting Marian and her tutor Nazha to do a marketing workshop first thing this morning. We spent several hours together and hopefully it will help Nazha and the Tafajight honey coop get the info they need to make sound decisions on next steps toward improving their profitability.

Jae, a PCV from down south then joined us and we made our way back to my site. Along the way we heard-and asked for more opinions-about a proposed transit strike scheduled for tomorrow. Final word was that it is a sure thing, likely to be just Monday and taxis only, but both Marian and Jae decided to leave REK after a couple meetings so that they wouldn’t get stuck here. Too bad-I’ve got fresh turkey and a pasta and sauce mix ready to make up for a yummy dinner. However, I fully understand, as they have other places they need to be able to get to tomorrow.

I’ll work on cleaning up my place a bit, get my bicycle and some other stuff that needs to go back to PC office over to Pete’s. The PC driver will be bringing a staff person to a town nearby this next week, and instead of my having to schlep my bike all the way to Rabat, they’re gonna come over and load it up and take it for me. God bless their parents.

Then I’m off to Rabat for our COS (Close of Service) Conference and Medicals. This includes an exit interview with the Country Director. Last formal meeting before our check out mid-November. Wow. I’ll go straight from our COS conference to meeting up w/Rebecca and Samira in Fes for our artisan/weaving tour the following week.

Here’s an interesting link to check out: the Sept 22 entry of the following blog: http://www.onetribegourmet.com/. If you’re familiar w/my blog, you know how much I love Fes and how much time I spend at “the Clock”. The aforementioned blog is a great article from someone who attended one of Clock’s cooking classes, complete w/yummy recipes. Check it out.

I came across a particularly interesting article about the tradition of the djellaba in The View From Fez, a very informative blog on “all things Fes”. I hope Helen Ranger, wonderful writer of the blog, doesn’t mind my copying here-she gets all the credit. Read on:

What to wear in Ramadan: the Moroccan djellaba (31/08/10 http://riadzany.blogspot.com/)

Many women don traditional caftans or djellabas during Ramadan, even if they don't usually. The View from Fez takes a look.

djellabas for sale in Tiznit

The djellaba is a long garment, usually with bell-shaped sleeves and a hood. It usually features heavy embroidery and hand-made silk buttons. It can be a work-a-day coverall, or a highly fashionable statement. As people look to tradition during the holy month of Ramadan, many women wear them as a matter of course. Tailors do a roaring trade just before Ramadan starts, and again just before the Eid, when many people like to have new clothes.

silk embroidery and hand-made buttons adorn a djellaba

Imane Belhaj, writing for Magharebia, reports that interest in the djellaba grows around national and religious holidays. "In Ramadan, I stop wearing modern clothes and I wear djellabas that I buy especially for this occasion, because we are supposed to wear decent clothes, and there is no better option than the djellaba," said Farida Nasi, who chooses modern designs.

modern caftans

The garment has actually started to respond to the fashion of the times. It no longer is restricted to one type of sewing or one colour as was the case in the past. Rather, traditional tailors have excelled in sewing and making them a form of dress that responds to fashion without losing its peculiarity and identity. This has made it a uniquely Moroccan form of dress that is indispensable at all times and occasions, even in the workplace for female employees, as it no longer impedes them from moving easily," says tailor Hajj Bouhlal. There are sleeveless djellabas to suit the hot weather, and dresses made of silk of different colours and patterns.

Fatima Mourad, a university history researcher, explains that "the djellaba has a traditional image that embodies the past and links it to the present by adding a modern touch that makes it suitable for all time and for all generations." Rashida al-Jabri, a teacher, added that she can't foresee the extinction of the djellaba. Regardless of developments taking place over time, she stated, the garment will be passed on to later generations.

Although some types of Moroccan djellabas are still affordable to a large category of middle class citizens, the innovations of top designers and dressmakers have made them very costly. Prices in some cases are now higher than those of traditional caftans or takchitas (a form-fitting dress with matching coat). "These prices are due to the type of fabric and sewing accessories used, which are often of very high quality so that we may not let our customers down when they are looking for quality and elegance" said designer and dressmaker Soad Benkirane. Benkirane added that customers could choose to have more affordable djellabas made. "Everyone knows that the hands that excel in making djellabas are very cheap, while all the huge profits go to the owners of stores or holders of trademark," lamented Nora, a consumer.

I can tell that my short time left in REK is starting to influence what I am doing and how I feel about what I need to get done.

First up. Met w/the ATPF group late yesterday after finally returning from Mehdia (with new PCV group) and Fes. On the positive side, they’re excited about the prospect of being included in the Ribat El Kheir day trip for tourists. They’ll get paid to show tourists how to make the traditional breads (i.e.; xubz, harsha, miloui) and cookies/sweets (i.e.; shbkya) of Morocco. We’ve now got everyone in REK and Fes on board w/the itinerary options, just need to agree on a meeting time to get them all together with Gail and Michele so there’s complete understanding and transparency.

Next I gave them their final print-ready logos and business cards. They also told me that they’re struggling to make the rent each month, as sales have been slow-Ramadan not helping at all. They’re thinking of moving to a smaller, more affordable space. Sounds like a good plan.

We also discussed at length the cheese making information workshop scheduled for next Saturday w/Eva and Fouzia coming from Meknes. All of this was sorted out, only to receive an email from Eva late last night, after meeting w/ATPF, that she’s not coming after all. Seems she’s concerned w/too many cheese makers and not enough customers, so is now not willing to share her experience w/the ATPF women. (Anecdotally she’s still encouraging the women pursue sewing or tanning of rabbit skins. Hello. The women here are just trying to make an educated decision on whether to pursue cheese making.) Thanks anyway. Next step? I think give the cheese making idea a rest, pass along all the contact info to my successor and see if the women are motivated enough to pursue it later. If not, then it wasn’t important enough to them in the first place.

Meriem and Amina have also been approached for help by 2 young, unmarried, pregnant girls in town who have been thrown out of their respective homes by their families. I’m trying to find out more about the women and children’s shelter in Fes that Gail has worked with-Inshallah they can help out.

Quick discussion w/Maqol about the Women in Technology project. He’s spoken w/Widad and understands the opportunity, but says none of the women in REK want to pay for training. I told him that’s too bad but they must be willing to invest themselves. I’m not about to try to help them find more funding. This is an amazing opportunity that they’re turning away, but if they’re not sufficiently motivated to invest a few DH each week, then that’s their decision. Just don’t complain about “no way to make money”-it takes an investment to make money. No handouts. Safi.

I’ve got a message out to Bouchra at Al Akhawayn University. I’d really like to get a final meeting set up to hand off the Fair Trade Website project to another PCV who is interested in pursuing it. I’ve also passed along info on the Cultural Complex in Fes that Jess used for her exhibition to the SBD Program staff. I think it would make a really terrific (and affordable) location for the next Marche Maroc Fes next spring. More and more I’m finding myself in the position of getting things ready to pass off, rather than finish up.

As I mentioned, I did have a chance to meet the 68 new volunteers who arrived in Morocco last week to begin their training and 2 years of service. It doesn’t seem that long ago that we started, until I fielded some of their questions. They appear to be a really good group-great attitudes, energy, etc. Good luck to them all as they get started in their new CBT sites around the Fes and Azrou regions.

And now a bit of info on the status of education in Morocco, courtesy of the GAD Committee for PC Morocco: In January 2004 the King of Morocco, despite much resistance from religious fundamentalists, introduced reform measures to the family code providing more freedoms for the girls of Morocco. While the new reforms have provided a platform for change, the messages are still not reaching many rural communities and are meeting resistance by long held social and cultural beliefs. These restraints are hindering the education system in regard to the discrepancies between girls and boys education.

Primary education is free and compulsory for kids 6-13 but 70% of Morocco’s rural population is illiterate, for women in rural areas the rate of illiteracy raises to 82%. While women participate in up to 41.4% of economic activities, their enrollment an illiteracy rates are ominously low. The majority of those jobs going to women, especially in rural areas, are low qualifying and of low compensation.

Aware of these issues the King has invested a lot of money in social and human development activities, declaring education as the country’s second national priority. The government initiated a ten-year charter program in 2001 to eradicate illiteracy. While the National Education and Training charter was well intentioned, illiteracy rates still remain very high nine years later and there has been recognized need to focus on promoting adult education classes in addressing retention issues.

The quality of schooling is additionally in question as a large number of students leave school without basic numeracy and literacy skills. The UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report in 2009 recorded that 30% of Moroccan children did not reach the basic competency thresholds. In 2008, official figures found that only 38% of baccalaureate test takers passed their exam, with over half of those passing being girls. This last year, the highest scorer on the BAC exam was a young Moroccan girl. While the percentage of those who passed is rather low, it is encouraging to see that girls are also among some of the highest scoring individuals.

Programs funded by USAID are trying to work on the issue of equal education for girls and boys and has found that rural communities are most hardly hit due to economic and cultural strains in the community. The USAID identified that education in rural Morocco faces barriers such as the direct/indirect costs of schooling, the toll of poverty, traditional and cultural views of women in society, concerns for girls safety, parents illiteracy, family perception and school-level constraints such as lack of infrastructure, water, electricity, latrines, teachers housing, school distance, poor teaching and learning environment, inequitable treatment and a low female teacher population. Moroccan Observatory of Children Rights (ONDE) found % of rural children suffer from at least one of the above mentioned problems against only 13% in urban areas.

To change things, support will need to come from programs that are locally developed and rely primarily on local resources. It is important to communicate how the benefits of girl’s education and education for all outweigh the costs at all levels. USAID found that when indigenous girls in rural areas are able to complete primary education, entire communities benefit as girls become more informed citizens, more productive and knowledgeable, place fewer social and economic strains on their communities and have greater opportunity and increased life choices.

Tbarkalik Jess on a successful opening of your art exhibition! What a great night it was. That’s Jess’ art exhibition in Fes. She’s got about 40 pieces of her work on exhibit at the Complexe Culturel Al Houriya for the next 10 days. It’s a one-woman show, filling 2 galleries. First night sales included 4 art pieces and 1 piece of jewelry. In addition, she’s had 2 offers to buy up the entire jewelry collection. T-bar-ka-lik!

I’ve been in Fes helping her get it set up since Monday night. She got access to the space early, but has to do all of her own installation. The space is really fabulous-2 exhibit rooms, open to the public, secure, and available free of charge. Remarkable.

Also remarkable is the attitude of the 5 guys working here. They’ve got this great space, yet we’ve had to scrub down all of the walls, floors, windows and bathroom, and most of the spotlights don’t work, etc. It may be free, but you must invest “sweat equity”, literally and figuratively, since the heat is back and we’re dripping as we work. And they can’t be bothered-no pride whatsoever in this space or their work-they sat on chairs at the entrance watching us working our butts off for 3 days. Our work the last several days was to clean up the space so that those who attend the show see only the artwork, not the flaws in the space. Adding insult to injury, the guys wanted Jess to give them money to serve the tea that she bought and brought in-despite the fact that the Director for the complex promised that they would do this for her. Of course he doesn't come to work all afternoon, so why should he expect them to work, yak? And who was first in line for the tea and cookies? You guessed it. The 5 guys. Hshuma likum. This is an attitude not uncommon in Morocco that really puts people off-expecting ‘payment’ to do work that is already part of their job.

Moving on...it was a terrific crowd last night for the opening, a fun group, a violinist playing thru the galleries, great to watch people stopping to really take in the body of work. I’m so happy for and proud of Jess. She has really put together a great show. Nice little celebratory group gathered around the corner for a drink-at a Pub on Hassan II-drinking a G&T on the Fes sidewalk? Really? And why did it take me 2 years to discover this was possible? Better late than never! Oh, and did I mention that I’m the proud new owner of a Jess Stephen’s work? Oh yeah. BssaH aliya.

As a side note-this space would be fabulous for a Marche Maroc event. It wouldn’t attract tourists so much, but has great foot traffic and visibility for the Ville Nouvelle crowd. The space is perfect, free and secure. Since the team who is responsible for the next Fes fair are having difficulty securing a location, I’m gonna take pictures and send them off for them to consider. I also asked Tariq (PM) if he’s heard from the Ministry of Artisana whether our funding request (which I submitted back in June) to help sponsor the next year’s Marche Marocs has been approved. He doesn’t have final word, but was told that they included it in their overall request, so it looks really good. Inshallah.

Meanwhile, I’ve used my time here in Fes to get other things done as well. Had a good meeting w/Gail and Michele on Monday to iron out details for the Ribat El Kheir Tourist Day Trip. I’ve got all the REK parties in line, but needed Gail and Michele’s input on things like what the REK folks will be paid. The REK folks of course say-‘li bgiti” or “as you like”, and in all honesty, don’t know what a fair rate would be to charge tourists. We’ve put that together and the next task is to bring the 2 of them down from Fes for a day to meet w/all the REK folks so we’re all on the same page w/respect to expectations, etc. Inshallah we’ll get that scheduled early in October.

Khalid finished the translation editing I needed to finalize the Adwal showroom book I’ve been working on. I needed the Arabic and French reviewed before taking it to the printer. The idea here is that since the women don’t speak much French, when tourists come to their new showroom, they’ll be able to look thru the book to read about the Cooperative, their work, their products and see photos for ideas on how to use the products.

Then I got an email from our Program Manager (PM) that I had to respond to asap. Next year Peace Corps will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. There will be a lot of events associated with this milestone. One of them will be a Smithsonian celebration on the mall in July. Part of this program will include HCNs (host country nationals) who PCVs worked with during their service. My PM sent me a request to submit a nomination from REK. Naturally I’m nominating Fatima, but I’m going to wait to tell her until I know if it’s gone any further. I have no idea how many nominations they’ll have to weed through, selection criteria, etc., so I don’t want to set any expectations at this point. Nevertheless, how fabulous would it be to have her go to Wash DC and share her work, demo weaving and natural dye techniques, etc.? Stay tuned.

I’d make a “note to self”, but won’t need it personally-so this is for any others who remain in Morocco. Do NOT travel on the Monday after a l-3id holiday weekend. Just like trying to travel the Sunday after Thanksgiving. You know, when everyone else and their brother MUST get home that day? What ideally takes me about 1 hour and 2 taxis (when the taxi gods are smiling down on me) to get to Fes, instead took me 4 hours and no less than 7 different transits (taxi/nuql/buses). Good thing I had a meeting to get to or I would have never left REK when I found out that there was NO transportation to Fes or Sefrou.

When I was waiting to meet w/Gail and Michele, I ran into an RPCV who was visiting Fes w/his wife and friends. He got my contact info from my blog and we’d communicated a bit-they were looking for things to do while in Fes. I must have suggested a cooking class at the Clock, and they were there on Monday. It turns out that he’s a visiting professor with the Semester at Sea program. His friend is just travelling with the group. It’s insanely affordable and they’re having a blast-highly recommend that I look into it. Hmmmm, post PC idea? Ymkn.

I also got to catch up w/Siobhan. She’s back for a short bit from Bristol UK-checking in on her house, getting a new batch of Fulbrighters to rent it for the next year, etc. Sounds like this year’s Doris Festival was another success-I’m excited to attend it next year and volunteer. Hopefully Alice and Ali (other friends from Fes) volunteer again next year-this year they went to cook the l-ftr for all who were fasting for Ramadan.

It was also great to catch up w/other Fes ex-pats who came to Jess’ opening-some I hadn’t seen in a while (Alice, Kobe), some back from travelling abroad (Raja, Yassine, Maia), some back from Ramadan travel. My time is running short with these lovely folks.

Sat down w/Alice to talk about an idea she and her husband Ali have. They’ve got a shop in the medina and are exploring the idea of making it a Free Trade space for artisans working w/PCVs to sell through. An intriguing idea that we’re gonna talk thru further. They’re really a wonderful couple, with a real passion for anything they do, and I’d love to help them make it happen-Inshallah.

I'm also in the process of planning for Samira and Rebecca’s visit. Samira is finally going to come to the countryside so I can show her “my” Morocco (ahem). Rebecca has been talking about coming, and the only time I’ll have is when Samira comes, so we’ll all travel together. Samira wants specifically to see artisan Coops-ymkn an import business in the future?-and we’ll go to Ain Leuh and REK. Then Rebecca and I will spend time in Fes so I can show her my favorite Moroccan city.

Now I’m off to Rabat for 2 days-helping w/a session with the 68 new volunteers who just arrived in Morocco yesterday to begin training. Merhaba l Maghreb.

Army. The curse of Ahermoumou

by Abdellatif El Azizi (translated from French)

If, in his vindictiveness, Hassan II thought scratching the story "Ahermoumou" by renaming the village guilty of having housed the school of the mutineers of the putsch Skhirat, his attempt failed. 35 years later, the curse of Ahermoumou is a hard life. Latest victim, Hamidou Laanigri.

Was Hamidou Laanigri caught in this famous curse because of his classmate, Mohamed Belbachir? Just weeks have passed between the retirement forced the powerful boss of military security and the departure of the direction of Laanigri. The two generals had spent their entire stay on the same bench of the famous school of Ahermoumou.

Laanigri as Belbachir and two or three other top officers are the exception since they are the last survivors of the school. However, it seems that one cannot escape the curse of Ahermoumou even when we had no role in the coup of 1971. Hamidou Laanigri and Mohamed Belbachir have in fact among the first developments in the late 50s. The man who talks about him, is part of the cadets who were lucky enough to be sick and bedridden when the rebels took the road to Skhirat. "It does not stop me from being thrown into the street like a dirty scoundrel," sighs the fifties now reduced to begging. Victim of vindictive royals wanted no part in any coup contagion, and the man still considers himself fortunate to have escaped Tazmamart and his life was saved. His comrades, they have not been so lucky.

A little history

Recall the facts that date back to July 10, 1971. That day, 1400 Ahermoumou Military School cadets leave their camp in the morning in two motorized columns, under the command of Colonel M'hamed Ababou, for a so-called maneuver to Benslimane. The convoy passed through the gates of the royal summer palace of Skhirat which held a reception to mark the 42nd birthday of Hassan II and as his men landed, the cadets who do not really know what they are doing here. Their officers have just said: "The king is in danger. He is surrounded by enemies. We must go and deliver. For three hours, the rebels carry out orders and shoot "anything that moves". It's carnage: children, women, old, young, rich and poor. No quarter among the dignitaries of the regime and foreign guests. The mutineers have somehow faithfully applied the instructions given to them: the dead and wounded, there were 1,036 victims around the pool Skhirat but the king is safe. Cadets and their leaders are arrested. The execution of those responsible for the killings took place September 13, 1971, before the television cameras and is followed by a mock trial, on February 29 next year. Then the famous verdict of Kenitra, which for much of the mutineers, opens the gates of hell Tazmamart and other prisons, forever engraved in the pantheon of prison horror.

Eradication

For Hassan II, this is no doubt the home of incubation, the instrument of the plot are ideal: the military Ahermoumou School, located a hundred kilometers north of Taza, Mount Bouyeblane, which are derived most of the actors in the plot. The king, pushing its logical conclusion, convinced of the educational value of exemplary punishment, will make every effort to eradicate the evil, he decided the seizure of the property of rebels "for creating a fund Compensation of victims "who, incidentally, will never see the day, and the final closure of the school. He does not forget to erase forever from the map the name of the place. "Delenda is" Ahermoumou, at least on maps, the cursed village is now renamed Ribat El Kheir, a decision that sounds the death knell for the future of the school and the whole village. "Even those who had nothing to do with the coup have been punished", said Farid Belmejdoub, which has experienced hell just because he belonged to the same class as the mutineers.

Admittedly, in defense of the sovereign, that the attack Skhirat was not the first warning shot. January 1971 had been a first attempt of assassination of Hassan II in El Hajeb by Ababou and his accomplices. The king, who was to attend military exercises in the mountains above the village, was saved by officers at the moment when the weapons were heard on the range. But at the last moment, when the maneuvers were already well advanced, the sovereign had fled to board a military helicopter. The sergeant Belmejdoub Farid ran the elite commando No. 5: "We had no specific instructions, but apparently Ababou was in cahoots with other officers to shoot the king”. Arrested while returning from leave, Belmejdoub was not freed until two years later, after having toured all torture centers of the time.

New Carthage

And now? Thirty-five years after the events of 1971, the Military School Ahermoumou is still under a blockade. The area is still under close surveillance and guards watch over the barricaded entrance to the main gate. The famous training center, built under the watchful eye of a few CIA agents in 1969 that Ababou presented proudly to his visitors, was invaded by weeds. "Ahermoumou neither Saint-Cyr or West Point, though Ababou had the ambition to make it the cradle of the first elite corps of the army. In 1971, the drills have been intensified with combat exercises and firing live ammunition, but at no time did we imagine what was happening and would happen in Skhirat, "recalls Belmejdoub Farid who was in charge to train the commandos of the elite training center.

The school, built on 24 hectares, is located more than 1000 meters of altitude in an area surrounded by forests. According to the villagers, the dungeons which were used to stop inmates Tazmamart are still there. "The house of Colonel Ababou, and those of other officers coup plotters, are uninhabited and in disrepair," recalls an ex-military officer, who miraculously escaped the purge. "I had just been transferred to Taza for disciplinary reasons. ”That saved my life "he sighed.

Punishing the school also punished the village. The closure of the training center has had a clear impact on economic activity in the region. After the coup, the railway station was closed. "You should know that thousands of soldiers who occupied the school represented a windfall asset both for the farmers and traders in the region", said our retiree. "The only offense Ahermoumou is to have housed the School of Military NCOs. Today, more than thirty-five years after the events of Skhirat, the entire population still hopes to see this page fully closed, "concludes a recent unemployed graduate of the village.

While the main economic activities of livestock, agriculture (cereals, olives, apples) are dying, young people themselves, killing time at sidewalk cafes, dream of alternatives to rampant unemployment: illegal immigration, or ... engagement in the military.

Rama-Done-done-dun. In Morocco, you have to wait until the official guy in Fes actually sees the new moon before it’s the end of Ramadan and the holiday L-3id Sgir. All other countries go by the lunar calendar, and the new moon on the calendar signifies the end of Ramadan. If the skies are cloudy over Fes, and the guy can't actually see the new moon, Ramadan is extended one more day. Hamdullah, with the clear skies, the moon was spotted tonight and life will get back to ‘normal’. You can already feel the energy in the air, horns are honking, people are out in the streets. Tomorrow will be for visiting-sweet mint tea and cookies and small gifts for the kids all day long.

The last 2 days’ weather has been so beautiful, I’ve been reinvigorated. Got my cooking jones on today, and since this is a rarity, figured I’d go with it. What are the odds that I have all the ingredients I need for a Thai chicken salad w/noodles? I’m talking fresh garlic and ginger (Marjane in Fes 2 weeks ago), chicken (had a frozen one I needed to cook up), cellophane noodles (available in town despite the fact that I’ve never seen anyone cook them here), curry paste (Paris) and peanut butter (Marjane). And that my vegetable guy would have great looking cabbage (hasn’t had it in a while). But wait, there’s more. Homemade vanilla ice cream (vanilla beans from Paris). So it was just ok-think I overcooked the custard a bit. More you ask? Leftover brownies (made 3 days ago and still have some!!). Add a yummy dinner to Top Chef download and I’m one happy camper.

Also got excited about putting together the information for REK Tourism. Michele and Yusef are starting to advertise a day trip to Ribat El Kheir, and we met last week to put more structure around it. I’ve met w/the Couscous Coop women, spoke briefly w/Fatima and Meriem about tourists’ interest in seeing natural dyeing and weaving and ran into Aziz today to ask him about the olive oil press. I think we can really have a nice day for those tourists who want to see Moroccan life in the countryside. I’m hoping to have a meeting w/Gail and Michele when I’m back in Fes next week to talk thru this. Then I think they need to come down here and we all meet together, including those community members involved. I’m really excited that this is finally coming together. Hopefully we can also get Hassan involved via the REK Tourism Assn, but I know he’s getting married sometime after Ramadan, so he may not be available.

All that aside, now we’re really on the downhill slope to the states. If only I wasn’t going to Fes and Rabat next week-Coop won’t open until Tuesday-after a couple days’ holiday and Monday souk. Oh well, damn the torpedoes and full steam ahead! Mbruk l-3id!

Could it be true? Is this weather change a tease or have we moved into Fall? Last night I slept with a blanket for the first time since about April, and woke to make hot coffee, also absent for months. Too hard to think of consuming anything hot when you wake up sweating. Last night was the first night I’ve not needed to take a shower to clean off the day’s sweat since I can remember. My fan? Not necessary on me or my computer. It is gloriously clear outside-the view of the valley and mountains beyond is terrific. Nice breeze coming thru the apartment. I could live in this year-round.

Got home on Monday in time to meet w/Meriem and give her several updates for the ATPF Association women...

First, they needed to decide on which of the 2 final logo options they wanted to go with. Done-it's the pink hamza. Thanks to Jess and Emily for the help with the design. Also got the Arabic for their business cards from her, so those are done and delivered.

Next I updated her on the visit to Eva and her Meknes cheese operation. Shared Eva and Fouzia’s willingness to come to REK and share their expertise and experiences. Meriem’s going to check if the 25th works for the Assn women. She now seems very lukewarm about the idea of making cheese. Hmmm. What about the Zouia Milk Coop women? She’ll check with them as well. Then she wants to know about the trip to Ouarzazate. Huh? No need to make that long trip, these women will come from Meknes instead-much easier and cheaper. Please don’t tell me she just wanted a trip to Ouarzazate. I don’t believe that’s the case, but disappointed in her sudden lack of interest in cheesemaking. Nevertheless, if some of the women and the Zouia group are still interested, I’ll still bring Eva and Fouzia out-at least get them more facts to base their decision on whether to pursue it or not.

Third and final update was on the Creamery Grant status-that it’s been fully funded and I’m just waiting to hear that the money is in my account to transfer to them. Also that they need to be prepared to purchase everything and provide me receipts by November 1st so I can get the final report completed before I leave.

She thanked me again for the girls’ gifts from last Saturday. They had 50 girls get all ‘dolled up’, hennaed and photographed for their first Ramadan fast. A lot more girls than they expected and it went very well. Hamdullah.

The night (Monday) was filled with the sounds of chanting, singing, and reading. It was the night before the 27th day of Ramadan-the holiest day of Ramadan. It is signified by reading of the entire Koran at the mosque, and it goes all night long. Needless to say, people were dragging yesterday-no sleep, nearing the end of Ramadan, the heat-they’re so ready for it to be over. This is why the Couscous Coop women weren’t keen on doing a couscous-making workshop yesterday. They made an exception-for me and the prospect of more tourists coming to do the same in the future. God bless their parents.

Dudana-the tourist who was staying in Fes, came by private driver in the morning to REK and we headed down to Rebha’s son’s house where the Coop does their couscous making, twice a week. Dudana is from LA (yes, it’s a small world), is a private chef, and dug right into hand rolling the couscous, cleaning the veggies for the meal and cooking/fluffing the couscous that we ended up eating for lunch. That was just a bit awkward since the Coop women were fasting, but they knew we’d be eating when we set it all up. The women were wonderful-they did a terrific job for their first tourist workshop. Dudana was also terrific-flexible, and gave me good feedback to pass along to the women to make it even better for the next group. Gail’s message to me after she spoke w/Dudana was “Dudana was thrilled. It was a raging success.” Tbarkalikum Couscous Coop women!

I then called Fatima to open the Adwal workroom to show Dudana, and despite the fact that she was sleeping when I called, she still came over to open it up and show it off. Shukran bzzaf. Got Dudana back to her driver to head back to Fes. I look forward to connecting with her when I get back to LA-what a delightful new friend.

Got home just in time for Sam to arrive (former PCV here in REK who is visiting the area). He’s been staying w/Mustafa and Jamila, but they’re out of town, so he’s staying here. Pete joined us for dinner-fajitas/guacamole and yes, shredded cheddar cheese (I kid you not-of course, sent from the US). Brownies (also from a mix sent from the US). Rummicube and Bananagrams.

Now I’m in the process of changing my Barcelona reservations for November, since I’ll now be travelling with Miek and Jess-need a larger space and have found several apartments that would be great.

Marian coming tonight, dinner at Pete’s, it’s been quite the social week here in REK.

Bit of a sad note. I sent a message to the woman who heads the US e-commerce business that imported the Adwal Coop’s table runners, just to check in and see how they were doing. They’ve had a real rough go of it, starting the business at the time of the economic downturn, and they’re now in the process of shutting down the business and liquidating their inventory. Sorry to hear this.

(written Thursday)

Hmmmmm. A few days in Fes. Best tonic w/o gin that I could hope for.

First I need to find a way to get about 40 small gifts (think hair clips, nail polish, about 3DH each) to REK tomorrow. See, it’s tradition for young girls to have a celebration when they complete their first Ramadan fast (makeup and hair, dressed up, photos, ululating-the whole bit-took numerous photos of Ahelan at hers during CBT training in Ain Leuh 2 years ago). Meriem and the ATPF women are organizing the celebration in REK and she told me it was going to be next Tuesday. Fine, I’ll be back in plenty of time. Called her today to let her know I’d purchased the gifts (so she wouldn’t be trying to get them elsewhere) only to be told that the celebration is going to be on Saturday. This Saturday. Mushkil. I’ll be in Meknes and Fes. Called around to see if anyone I know is going to REK tomorrow, but no such luck. Guess I’ll go to the transit stand here in Fes and have them take the stuff to REK for me.

I’ve had a couple items on my ‘to buy’ list and had some time today to get them. Just my luck, I was able to find a weaving tool (like the ones all the Coop women use) but the pottery shops weren’t open in the morning. Then I realized that the Artisanat would be open, would have a great selection, and is right around the corner from FedEx, where I could get everything shipped. Not only did I get my ‘to buy’ list taken care of; I got most of my Christmas shopping done while I was at it. Note-I get back to the US only 2 weeks before Christmas and will have a lot to do, so nice to get major purchases out of the way.

Lots to talk about w/the girls tomorrow when we go swimming. Finishing up month in November-Gail has to move out of her rental and we leave…party at Gail’s?? Meet up in Barcelona on Nov 19th w/Jess, Gail and Tara?? I mentioned it to Miek and she’s thinking of joining me in Spain. That calls for one major Inshallah!

I declined Khalid’s offer to join he and Siham for l-ftr and not join Gail and Francesca at Clock for l-ftr. Why is it I come to Fes and immediately my system goes haywire? I love Harira. One of the (few) best things about Ramadan, but acidity from all the tomatoes does a number on my stomach. Back to Pepto and BBRAT (banana, bread, rice, apples, tea) diet. Tfoo.

Grabbed a banana and a baguette on my way out of the medina. You should see the madhouse at the medina entrance right before l-ftr w/all the guys and their food carts. We’re talking oj, breads, pastries, nougat, Harira, cigarettes, fruit, and multiples of each. An absolute mob of people buying food to eat as soon as they hear the call to prayer. Walk outside the bab (medina gate/arch) to see some tourists flipping through their Morocco Lonely Planet guidebook. Does it tell them anything about l-ftr and the madness right before and extreme calm and quiet right after the call to prayer when everyone disappears to eat and everything closes for the next 30-45 minutes? Or do they think that this is just normal Moroccan evening behavior?

So here I sit in my air conditioned cheap hotel, watching TV in Arabic (only 3 channels-2 Arabic and 1 Hindi channel in Arabic). So imagine my surprise to see a dubbed show on extreme sports, televised from the Huntington Beach pier! Yes, your mother was right, it is a small world.

Oh My Meknes! (written Sunday)

I managed to get the girls' gifts into a taxi first thing Friday morning so they’d have them for the celebrations all day Saturday. Just had to pay transport fee and they called Meriem when they arrived. Great, got that taken care of. Back in time to meet Kate, get her situated in her hotel and off to meet the girls for a swimming excursion.

So how come I didn’t know about the wonderful pool at Hotel Rebaa until now? Michele’s husband Yusef drives us out trek Sefrou to this hotel where you can pay just 40dh and spend the day. It was Gail and Francesca, Michele and Khadija, Jess, Pippa, Kate and me. One of those “am I really in the Peace Corps?” experiences.

We got back into town in time for l-ftr at the Clock. One of the things they do for the staff during Ramadan is to close down the kitchen so the staff can have l-ftr together. Guests are welcome to have l-ftr, but nothing else is coming out of the kitchen for an hour. It’s a particularly nice gesture for the staff since they’ve been working, cooking and serving food and drinks all day long to non-muslims while fasting themselves. Bsmilla.

Finally it’s time to go and see the infamous Eva of goat cheese fame in Meknes. Gail put me onto her-a woman making and selling artisanal cheese in Morocco-hamdullah. Eva and I managed to communicate via email-thanks to Google translate-since I don’t know French and she doesn’t know English or Darija-and set up the meeting. My goal? To find out if Eva’s operation is relevant to the REK women and if she’d be willing to share her experience and expertise w/the women of the ATPF Association and the Zouia Milk Coop.

Plus, if this works out, we don’t have to trek all the way down to Ouarzazate to Linda S.’s cheese coop to learn the same things. That would be 2 days travel both ways and Meknes is a day trip out and back.

Gail, Kate and I train and taxi out to Meknes and Eva’s “country” place (it’s still within Meknes, but not her “city house”). We arrive to a huge fruit bowl and open faced sandwiches. She’s hosting us and I’ve invited myself to pick her brain-tells you a bit about how wonderful she is right away.

She has a friend who has had a cheesemaking operation himself in the past in France and he’s visiting to teach her new techniques. He’s got a lot of expertise and has worked w/a Cooperative of Moroccan women in the north. Now Jacques (Jack) has a ton of knowledge, and he’s not only willing, but insistent on sharing it with us. Kate (who lived in Paris for a year) is translating, but Jack bulldozes right over her, hardly giving her a chance to translate. He describes at great length all the reasons not to make cheese and offers no solutions on how to overcome them. I want to see Eva’s operation to get her perspective. He asks who is financing this project. Huh? Well, you need all this equipment and it’s very expensive. Does Eva have it? Can we see her operation? You must have certification to sell handmade cheese. How to get it? He doesn’t know. Does Eva have it? No. I wanna see her operation.

We’re getting textbook answers from him and I want to see Eva’s real-world operation for perspective to all that he’s saying. The Cooperative he worked with in the north didn’t work out. You must have each woman specialize in her step of the process. Geez, it’s not like we’re going into production line cheesemaking in REK. He tells us that the women should just make leben and butter. That’s not what we’re here for nor am I going to tell the women what to do. Kate explains to him the role we try to assume in our communities as PCVs, i.e.; to facilitate decision making process, not to do it for them. He informs us that the women can’t make decisions-you need to tell them what to do. Needless to say, I’ve had more than my fill of him and even Eva’s showing signs of frustration. Somehow we realize that he’s just disappeared-no good bye, just gone-thankfully. He’s a walking self-fulfilling prophecy-he believes they’ll fail, just as the Coop in the north did.

I’ll take his points, but delivered by someone who is more solution oriented. We again express our interest in seeing Eva’s operation and she finally shares her experience. It is sooo like what the REK women would be doing-they’d really relate to her-her experience, her space and equipment-just what they need-she’s perfect. She speaks to the challenges she’s faced, how she’s dealing w/them, just very real. Things like; it’s a delicate process, the milk needs to be at the exact right temp, cleaning of the cows, packaging is just saran w/a label, and she shows us how she transports the cheese. She’s an open book.

I’ve never been a goat cheese fan, but I’ve got to say I loved her stuff, especially the harder cheese enveloped in pepper. We almost buy out her supply of goat’s cheese, including aged, hard cheese that you shred like parmesan. Yum.

Eva also invited a friend of hers from the Ministry of Agriculture to join us. Fouzia is in charge of trainings, REK is in her region and she wants to help out. They both agree to come out to REK-Inshallah on Saturday 3 weeks from now. I need to get both the ATPF Association and the Milk Coop women together and agree on this date. Money from the PCPP grant that was recently funded will pay for Eva and Fouzia’s transport.

We make it back to Fes before l-ftr, p/u Kristen on the way and go to Gail’s’ for wine and bread and the goat cheese we’ve bought. Gail goes off to l-ftr and we’re still there 3 hours later when she returns, talking away. Didn’t make it to the all-female gnaoua group and the culture center (sorry Jess). Thank goodness Kate decided to postpone returning to her site a day to go with us. We needed her French translation. We talked about team and communication dynamics on the train to Meknes only to observe it with Jack. It was quite a day.

Off to Sefrou today to catch up w/Jess. Finally got up to see Amina Yabis to buy a copy of the Arabic edition of the Natural Dye Handbook for the Zouia and Adwal weaving cooperatives. Home tomorrow, Inshallah.

Fes=tonic to the Ramadan-weary Westerner. Hamdullah.

First and foremost, a huge thanks to all who contributed to my PCPP (Peace Corps Partnership Program) grant for the ATPF women’s Creamery equipment. It’s been fully funded by friends and family in less than 2 weeks! I can’t tell you how meaningful this is for the ATPF women, and will be posting photos after the funds are released, equipment purchased and installed. Shukran bzzzzzaf u allah rHlm l walidin.

Meanwhile September snuck up on me and I’ve got to start organizing. Yesterday I sent off 3 more packages to Huntington Beach-trying to get stuff shipped from here before Joanne moves out so there’s someone to receive them (since you never know how long it will take them to get there). One of my “to do’s” was to find a couple mailing tubes. Then I drew upon my PCV resourcefulness and headed down to the ‘druggeri’ or hardware store. Note to self-PVC pipe makes great shipping tubes for awkward items, ie; Berber tent poles, multiple paintings. In addition, the ugly plaid souk bags make great shipping bags when wrapped in duct tape. In the process of clearing sh** out of my place-and I’m sorting like mad-anything that needs to be tossed is in the trash and anything needing to be sent back to the US has pretty much been shipped.

I’ve not gotten rid of most of the stuff-I’m leaving almost everything here in Morocco. I’ve got my list of who’s getting what. I need to get the Adwal women here to decide on several items-they either go to the Cooperative or I’ve got someone else I’ll give them to. This isn’t a money making operation (a lot of PCVs sell their stuff to make a few bucks), I’m giving my stuff to people who either really need and/or can’t afford to buy it, ie; replacement PCVs, newlyweds just starting out together, Coops, Assns or friends in town.

Had another good long talk w/the Couscous Coop women. They told me that they couldn’t do the workshop next Tuesday after all-that they wouldn’t be there and I passed on this bad news to Gail. Then I thought more about it and realized that the women just didn’t want to do it during Ramadan (and hard to blame them at that). What I needed to do was get them more information about what these workshops would entail and what it could mean to the Coop to be the “go to” spot for Couscous Workshops for tourists out of Fes. Got the pricing, timing, potential booking volume to put together a more compelling story for the women. Now they understand the bigger picture. This made them agreeable to make an exception next week for the one woman who has paid for a solo couscous workshop during Ramadan. I promised the Coop that there wouldn’t be any more single person workshops and no more during Ramadan. Thankfully they’ll work thru this exception and it will be a good run-through for future workshops.

I also talked w/Michele about day trips to Ribat El Kheir for clients of she and her husband’s tourism business in Fes. We’ve had preliminary discussions, but need to put together more specifics. Tentatively it would include any/all of the following; couscous workshop/visit Adwal weaving/visit the ATPF Assn/visit the neddi/see the traditional olive pressing process. I also need to help find another translator for English speaking clients, as Fouzia has started her job in Taza-maybe Fatima’s brother M’Hamed (Hassan can take care of the French folk). Hopefully we can pull this off to bring in more tourists to REK.

Also met up with Sam-former YD PCV here in REK. He’s in town for about a week, so he, Pete and I had coffee last night. He preceded me here by about 4 years, so we didn’t overlap. Seems that REK has grown up and improved a lot according to what he had to say. It will be interesting to see what changes I see if/when I return for a visit.

Since the du-Gods (the electricity) have been shining upon us, despite the high temps, I’ve been able to use my computer when everyone else is sleeping during the day-what a blessing! My latest craze has been Chess Titans. Never played chess before in my life, but I may be getting addicted. I’m learning by playing-haven’t read books or strategies-you really need to have a board to understand the written moves and I’m too much of a visual learner. Fortunately I can learn as I play by undoing moves when I make a bad one. I of course lost my first 32 games straight-improvement measured only in the increasing length of each match. In the last couple of days however, I’ve won 3 and had 2 draws, so am making progress. Swiya b swiya. May need to dig into some internet strategy /tutorials, but so far this has been a good diversion. The Grand Masters can keep their crowns.

Nice cool evening/night made for great sleeping last night and the trip up to Fes this morning wasn’t too steamy. I’ve got several meetings lined up while I’m here-with Michele/Yusef, with Gail, need to pick up Community Creamery donation from Mike at the Clock, helping Jess out with her art exhibition pre-work, going swimming w/a bunch of folks Friday afternoon and will meet up w/Kate afterward and on Saturday Gail and I are going to Meknes to meet with Eva-the goat cheese maker to get info for the ATPF Assn women. It will be nice to feel productive.

OK, so I did an involuntary fast on Saturday. Two Fulbright scholars from Fes came down for the day. I wasn’t hungry before they arrived, but had planned to make a nice salad for lunch. Then I find out that they’re both fasting. So there go the lunch plans, and I know they’re thirsty, but it’s not like I’m gonna drink in front of them. So instead, off we go to the meetings I’d set up for them w/the Adwal women and the ATPF Association women. By the time they leave and I run a couple of errands, it’s l-ftr time (break of fast at dusk) and I’m very lightheaded since I’ve been sweating up a storm all day long. I drink some water and eat a shbekya (fried dough slathered in honey) that the ATPF women were making. Have a bit of dinner. Feel like crap. Watch some download TV shows. Go to bed and read. Until 3am. Not sleepy. No energy all day, seriously dehydrated all day long in 110 degree heat, then feel like crap when I finally consume something. I had no motivation whatsoever to fast before, and now having made it only a single day, I’m not going there again.

We did have a good day talking w/Adwal and the ATPF women. Lauren and Rebecca are researching the impact of microfinance on women’s business enterprises and both want to stay after their Fulbright money runs out to develop training on domestic violence. They’ve both got great language and had good discussions with all of the women they met. Lauren had her camera to take shots of the women making shbekya and I hope she remembers to send them to me-it’s such a tradition. Of course, they also fell in love with the women and REK-naturally. Is it any wonder that I love ‘showing off’ REK and the wonderful people here?

Then yesterday I was invited to join Khalid and Siham in El Menzel for l-ftr. I haven’t been travelling as much during Ramadan this year, so had not really checked out the late afternoon transport situation. Mushkil. Nothing running out of REK after about 4:30pm. Nothing-unless you want to buy out a taxi for round trip fare. (Taxis take 6 passengers-2 in the front passenger seat and 4 across the back. You want to buy it out, you pay for all 6 seats. And if they aren’t otherwise going, you have to pay r-t fare. Gets pricey to say the least!). Imagine-no means of transport out of your town after 4:30 in the afternoon, until the next morning. Of course, it’s hard to blame the drivers-they’ve been driving while fasting all day long in the heat and want/need a break. Fortunately El Menzel is the next closest town, so buying out r-t fare was all of 60DH, or about $7.50.

Khalid met me and took me to Siham’s family’s house. What a nice house, ie; western toilet and tp!, and a wonderful family. Naturally we all sat around and watched the DVD of their wedding-both DVDs, maybe 3 hours worth. This is very typical-visitors are almost always brought family photos to look at and wedding videos. The difference here was I wanted to see the video since I wasn’t able to go to the wedding (it was while I was in Uganda).

We had l-ftr and then went for a walk around town. I was absolutely amazed at the number of people out walking around. Since there is almost no vehicular traffic (only a few personal vehicles on the road), the people flood the street. I didn’t realize how much bigger El Menzel is than REK until I saw the streets so filled for such a distance. Everyone comes out and walks around after l-ftr and they’ve got full bellies and are hydrated and it’s cooled off a bit. It’s a parade of ‘meet and greet’-feels festive every night. I think this is my favorite thing about Ramadan.

I also had an interesting discussion w/Khalid about enforcement of fasting. He mentioned that Max at ‘the Clock’ refused to serve some Moroccans who came into the café since it was Ramadan. Case it point, it was reported yesterday: ‘Moroccan police arrested two minors in Marrakech because they were eating in the street during daylight hours this month of Ramadan, reported the Moroccan daily "Assabah". According to the newspaper, the juveniles were arrested and are waiting to be brought in front of a judge. The newspaper quoted an eyewitness, who said that the minors were arrested after an officer of the security forces saw them eating in public in plain view of several people. Article 222 of the Moroccan Penal Code punishes public eating during daylight hours during Ramadan with a penalty of between one and six months in jail and a fine of about $150.’ So how is ‘the Clock’ responsible if they serve a Muslim person? And how do they know that this “Moroccan” person is Muslim? After all, even if born Muslim in Morocco, they may have converted. And this is a café that serves food all day. Maybe just to those who look like ‘foreigners’? Could Max and the café personnel be held liable if they serve a practicing Muslim who breaks the fast ‘publically’ in the café? I asked Khalid what he thought. He thought Max did the right thing-it would be hard for the café staff to see a Muslim eating during the day during Ramadan. Hmm. Interesting.

Anyway, Khalid and Siham had to go to work today, so they had a friend who was going to take them to Fes also return me to REK on the way last night. But first we had to stop back by Siham’s house so she and Khalid could have some dinner (it was now around midnight). Despite the insistence that I eat, I told them that since I don’t fast, l-ftr was my dinner and I didn’t need another meal (I mean really, just take a look!). They’ve invited me back for couscous anytime, and if they lived closer, I’d readily take them up on it-such a lovely family. Shukran bzzaf.

Looked back over recent postings. What a bitch-not me, the weather and the boredom! Yes, I need to get a new tune.

Soooo, what does one do in times like these?

1. Bake-made brownies. Hey-it’s not like it’s gonna heat up the kitchen

2. Do laundry-to get your feet wet and to have something that smells fresh and clean.

3. Shower. Multiple times daily. I’m not kidding.

4. Dishes-without having to heat up a kettle of water to rinse.

5. Learn chess. OK, so I’m just playing the game on my computer and have lost all 32 games I’ve played, but hey, it’s taking longer to lose each time. That’s something, right?

6. Count the # of liters of water consumed to see if I break a new daily record.

7. Plan trips-like post-COS Spain trip to Seville and Barcelona-and Seattle in January-can’t wait!

8. Skype. With everyone. And anyone. You online?

9. Research topics interesting and obscure-see #10.

10. Post to my blog. Again.

That call to prayer I’ve referred to? The one that sounds like a symphony when 20 mosques start simultaneously in the Fes Medina? Here’s a bit more about it:

It’s called the Adhan and Muslim are called to prayer five times a day. The call to prayer is heard at dawn, at the midday, about the middle of the afternoon, just after sunset, and at night fall about an hour after sunset. It is virtually identical the world over (ie; slight variations for Sunni and Shiite Muslim), the same each of the 5 times every day.

The muezzin is the man appointed to call to prayer and typically is no longer required to climb the minaret; instead he will use a loud speaker.

Responding to this call on Friday afternoon, praying in the mosque, and making the pledge to Allah, is the only thing needed to become a Muslim. At this point one crosses over from ‘Dar ul Harb’, the house of the pagan, into ‘Dar ul Islam’, the house of Islam (submission).

A prayer carpet may carried by the Muslim to the mosque, or to the place of business if he cannot leave to attend mosque. At the times of prayer, he will determine the direction of Mecca, roll out his prayer carpet, and say his prayers to Allah. Women do not commonly attend mosque, and if they do, there is a segregated section in the back or side for the women to pray. Whether the Muslim can attend mosque or not, or if they are otherwise occupied during the call to prayer, the expectation is that they still take time out 5x/day to pray. If you are in a business transaction or a place where music is playing, both will be suspended until the end of the call to prayer.

ADHAN:The Call to Prayer

1 Allah u Akbar, Allah u Akbar

-- Allah is Great, Allah is Great

2-Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah - Ash-hadu al-la Ilaha ill Allah

-- I bear witness that there is no divinty but Allah

3 Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullaah

-- I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger

4 Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullaah.

-- I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's Messenger

5 Hayya la-s-saleah - Hayya la-s-saleah

-- Hasten to the prayer, Hasten to the prayer

6 Hayya la-l-faleah - Hayya la-l-faleah

-- Hasten to real success, Hasten to real success,

7 Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar

-- Allah is Great, Allah is Great

8 La Ilaha ill Allah

-- There is no divinity but Allah

Adhan is now completed.

Suf. KanHtarm dyn dyalk, 3afek katHarm dyali. It was inevitable. The religion discussion during Ramadan. Just didn’t expect it from the Busta boys. Trying to pick up my package from Peace Corps. They’re holding it hostage as they double-team me with questions. Do I fast? No. Do I pray? No. Do I believe in Allah?

Htarm. Respect (Darija). 1: a relation or reference to a particular thing or situation 2: an act of giving particular attention: consideration 3a : high or special regard : esteem b: the quality or state of being esteemed

Now I know that a lot of PCVs tell little white lies during Ramadan-that they’re fasting, etc. I simply choose to be honest with whoever asks. If they want to know, I’ll tell them. I don’t go around advertising that I don’t fast or pray. Neither do I eat or drink in front of anyone else outside of my apartment. That’s simply being considerate.

I do believe however that there is value in honesty surrounding fasting during Ramadan. The goals of the Peace Corps include helping people of other nations to better understand people of the U.S. In my case, that is someone who is not religious, but respects the beliefs of others. If I’m not honest with them, how do they learn about our differences and similarities and debunk prejudices?

So thank goodness I was inspired by all the cooking last week in Ain Leuh. I just polished of the remainder of the Asian chicken salad leftovers-made it 3 full days. Lovin’ that! And of course with a chaser of a liter of water. These days the only exercise I’m getting is walking to the bathroom after I’ve downed yet another liter. Lost count today of how many I’ve consumed. Fortunately the power and water have held on through this heat, so I can refill and refrig the empties.

Now I’m down to mind-numbing boredom. No one. I mean NO one is working these days. Go by to get the info from Hind that she was proofing in Arabic. Gave it to her 2 weeks ago. Not done. Meriem’s office is closed, so will have to wait to update her on the PCPP. Hassan’s hanut closed so can’t get the memory card I need for the Coop’s new camera. Fortunately the Couscous Coop women are working hard-making bread and miloui for l-ftr, and I confirm that they’ll do a workshop for tourists with Gail on the 7th. If it wasn’t for my computer and internet, I’d be pulling out every grey hair on my head. I’m counting the days, the hours. Goin’ crazy. So I’ve started some lists….

Things I will not miss from Morocco...

Eating with bread as my utensil, food cooked until it’s mushy, lack of lines, prices in ryals (equivalent to nickels), long boring evenings, lack of insulation/air conditioning/heating, washing my laundry by hand-esp in freezing weather, my buta gas oven w/o thermometer, donkey poop on the sidewalk, Ramadan and Leid Kbir, stuffed transits, 12 hour bus rides racing thru the Tishka pass w/people vomiting right and left, no napkins, no hot water in the kitchen, stuffed w/6 other people in a grand taxi, needing Pepto Bismol on a regular basis, electricity and water outages, running out of phone credits when you really need to use your phone and there’s nowhere to buy minutes, the intense heat of summer and intense cold of winter, sheep heads and intestines in the zwiqa, saying what I WANT to say-not what I CAN say, reporting wherever I go, not being able to drive myself wherever I want to go, Turkish toilet and making certain I’ve brought in Kleenex for tp, sharing a single water glass, corruption, waiting-and waiting-and waiting and fighting with the petit taxi driver to katstml l magana!

And for fair balance, some of the things I will miss from Morocco...

The incredible hospitality of the people, my friends, the women of the Coop and Jam3ia-I really love them, couscous Fridays, miloui, Fatima’s family, all my dear friends in Fes, Café Clock, Jess, having ns ns in the café downstairs, the view of the zlul and mountains from the Coop, festivals, long walks w/Fouzia, the affordability of seeing the country, the amazing availability of public transportation to get almost anywhere in the country-from the largest city to the smallest duoar, sweet mint tea, zllij, homemade bread every day, donkeys, meeting someone on a walk and being invited in for tea, Amina Yabis and her incredible initiative, American Club, Fes and its fabulous medina, Moroccan prices, summer breezes on the roof and incredible star gazing at night, the quiet of the country, purple olives and fresh olive oil, did I mention the women of the Coop and Jam3ia?, not worrying about hair and makeup, not having to drive anywhere, the beautiful diversity of Morocco-landscape, people, cultures, Moroccan greetings, their loyalty, sitting at a café as long as you want, taking the train, watching the women weave, getting the Coop to the point of asking for information-not money/design and color choices/finishing quality, clementines and pomegranates…the list could go on.

So I managed to get to Fes on Friday just in time for l-ftr. I mean just in time. As in I managed to flag down the only taxi still running. Everyone in Fes was eating/drinking. We sped all the way across town, including blowing through stop lights, because there was no other car on the road-in all of Fes. Had to sit outside the locked door of the hotel until they’d finished eating before checking in. Normal Ramadan life.

Saturday I got up to head over to Marjane (as close as Morocco gets to a Target) to get a number of items. Got there around 9am, figuring that they’re big enough, they’d be open. Nope. Didn’t open until 10, and by that time I was joined by about 30 others who also were unclear on Ramadan hours. Normal Ramadan confusion.

I did buy the Adwal women a digital camera. PCV Ali from down south has one that she was going to donate to the Coop, but I’ve not managed to get it and the next opportunity won’t be until late September. Since I don’t know its condition and need to train the Adwal women, esp. Nora and Ferida, how to use it, I don’t want to wait until the last minute. Thus this purchase which will be my gift to the Coop.

I then went on a lamp hunt. In Morocco, buildings are finished with bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and most people leave them as is. This is the case in Adwal’s new showroom that’s nearing completion. I decided to get them traditional Moroccan light covers-carved brass-that were going to need some modifications. I finally struck a good deal deep in the medina, and dragged my sorry ass back uphill to Boujeloud, got my computer and parked same sorry ass for several hours at Café Clock to use their wi-fi. It’s where I can eat and drink during the long Ramadan day-and it was so blazing hot out that I needed the water. Note-cafes do not have a/c in the medina. I had a chance to quickly Skype w/Debbie and wish nephew Philip a Happy Birthday ‘live’. Nice.

I also managed to finally connect w/the woman who makes goat cheese out of Meknes. She wants me to come and see/talk with her before bringing the ATPF Association women out to see her. I need schedule this, as it would be SO much easier to get the Association’s questions answered in Meknes vs the long trip down to Ouarzazate. Inshallah I can put this together.

I decided to stay another night in Fes and sleep in the luxury of the a/c at the Boujeloud Hotel-for 150 DH, it’s quite a deal (that’s about $20).

Yesterday bright and early I headed back down to Place Seffarine in the old Fes medina to pick up the light covers. Hamdullah they were ready for me and the changes had been made. Now I hope the Adwal women will pay a few DH to have them installed in the showroom. I was about as hot as I could get by the time I made my way back up and out of the medina, grabbed my bags and headed for transport back home.

Once home I headed to the rooftop to do laundry. Really it was an excuse to get wet in cool water. It did the trick and my huwaj smells fresh and clean. Got the house all cleaned up-switched out my neighbors siddari that keep breaking-meaning my bed mattress is now on the floor and those siddari are under my salon ponges. Nice to have the house all cleaned up.

Khalid (ex-tutor) and his new wife Siham came over a bit later to share their wedding photos with me. Khalid had downloaded them (200+) on my USB yesterday at Café Clock, but it’s much better to look at them w/the 2 of them. I asked Siham how many outfits/jellaba she wore. She told me 6. Looking at the pictures, we counted 7. She forgot one! This is very typical of a Moroccan wedding. The photos are beautiful and I was relieved to find that a friend of theirs was the photographer so they got a good discount on printing all those photos. Unfortunately (but perhaps fortunate for me), they forgot to bring the video. It is also a Moroccan custom to show your wedding video to whoever comes to visit. And it’s mostly of people sitting around the room staring at the camera, not talking. They’ve invited me for l-ftr next Sunday, so perhaps I’ll see it then. I also walked them through my place to show them what I was planning on giving them when I leave-it will be my wedding present to them, as they’re starting from scratch.

Hamdullah, Khalid was also able to put his computer expertise to work for me. I showed him how my fixed internet line had been snapped when one of the girls tripped on it last weekend. I was bemoaning how long it was going to take Maroc Telecom guys to come out and repair it. One kitchen knife later and Khalid had my internet line fixed. God bless his parents!

Now it’s Monday souk day, and I need veggies, but I’m gonna wait until late afternoon when they shut that down and bring the leftovers back to the village-too hot to go traipsing around souk. Invited Pete over for dinner-good excuse to cook and we need to catch up.

Meanwhile, as I catch up on emails, I received an amazing note from Trish from Uganda. They’ve brought home one of the orphans from the “Rehabilitation”/Prison for a week. They’re feeding Angela, getting her medical attention. Fortunately she’s not HIV +, but has TB, Malaria, amoebas, UTI, a respiratory infection and is severely malnourished. Three years old and only 16 lbs. This is a lucky girl to have the nourishing help of the Manarin family, if only for a week. The work of this amazing family continues. Bless them.

I had l-ftr (break-fast at sundown during Ramadan) with my CBT host family last night. Now of course, I hadn’t fasted all day, so wasn’t that hungry and you should have seen the spread before us. I’m talkin’ apple/milk juice, orange/carrot juice, dates, shbekya (fried dough slathered in honey), harira (the traditional Ramadan soup of Morocco-and all other Harira in Morocco are measured against Khadija’s), bread, hard boiled eggs, cake, fried fish, fat bread (kinda like a thin vegetable calzone) flan, hot sweet milk /w Nescafe. Despite my modest appetite, I managed to still be full several hours later-it’s food that really fills you up. All of this consumed w/Khadija, Driss (who did his usual slurp of Harira, dates and off to the café for the night), Ahelan and Ayoub. All in their newly decorated salon, served w/new zwin pitchers. Tbarkalikum.

We (the 7 of us here in Ain Leuh for “Adult Summer Camp”) had been down earlier in the day to the Coop while I did a workshop on Product Quality/Development and took them through the requirements to attend the Santa Fe International Folk Art Festival. They didn’t know what it would cost them, even if they were accepted and received funding to attend the Fair. I walked them through all of those costs, as well as the volume of product they’d have to produce to take with them to make it worthwhile. I think they got a lot to think about, but at least they’ll now be making an informed decision. Hopefully they are able to attend either next year or the year following, as I think they’d do amazingly well w/their beautiful work.

I also got to see the progress that Khadija has made on the hanbel that she’s weaving for me. Inshallah it will be done before we leave. The intricacy of the design can take one of the weavers 4 months to complete a 1.5 x 2 meter hanbel. Angie also ordered a hanbel for Khadija to make.

Anyway, once we were done with the workshops, Khadija invited all 7 of us over for l-ftr. I told her it would only be me, but if others decided to come as well, I’d give her a call. So of course I felt bad when I realized once I arrived last night that she had indeed cooked for all of us. However, I also know that they’ll manage to eat all the food-nothing goes to waste around here.

The worst news of the day by far was that Lisa’s camera was stolen. Every morning several of the group has been going out blackberry picking (“camp” is scheduled to coincide w/Ramadan and berry season). They were up on the main road thru town, picking on a large bush. Lisa had put down her camera and berries with her sweater on top. Now during Ramadan, there’s no one around a 7am-they’re all sleeping. Someone managed to come up to the other side of the bush and take the camera w/o Lisa seeing them. And her’s is a fabulous camera. Fortunately she has insurance on it, and spent the greater part of the day (and a couple hours last night) filing a report w/the gendarmes and getting a copy to send to her insurance carrier. We told everyone we saw in town all day long about the theft and to be on the lookout for the camera. It definitely will stand out-not one that you’d typically see in Morocco, especially in the countryside.

I should have counted the # of jars of blackberry jam that they ended up making out of all the berries picked. I don’t know how they’ll get through it all before we leave. Most impressive! And of course, we ate blackberries at nearly every meal (cooking and eating being a focal point of Adult Camp)-on French toast, cheesecake, ice cream, smoothies-you name it, we ate it!

Fortunately for Jon, Colin came over in the afternoon from Azrou (1/2 hr away) to keep him company and raise the testosterone ratio. This was after we made him join us for a group pedicure (only one banyo or bucket) while watching downloaded Project Runway (I’d downloaded 3 episodes of the most recent season).

So Camp 2010 is over, the summer heat is back and all but Angie and I have left, and we’ll be heading out in a couple of hours. She’s returning to her site and I’ll be going home via overnight in Fes. I’ve got some things I need to check out there and will head home tomorrow morning when I can get a direct taxi (vs having to wait for and take 5 different transits to get home from Ain Leuh).

Wahoo-my PCPP (that’s a Peace Corps Partnership Program) grant request was accepted and it’s now posted on the PC website. What is this? Recall my request to fund the Marche Maroc Rabat craft fair event this past May? Well, I have one last request for my service.

The 11 women of the ATPF Association (Jam3ia Mawahib Wataqat Nisaiya or Association for the Development of the Talents and Potential of Women), formed in March 2010-yes, just this year-need additional supplies to generate income in their Community Creamery. They’ve already progressed at light speed and need a bit of help to continue to move forward with their mission.

The Association seeks to empower their members by developing their skills and knowledge to apply for social or economic gain. In addition, they will use the Association proceeds to develop programming for the women of the surrounding area. They have also identified the need for a space for women to get together in Ribat El Kheir. The male dominated cafes make it difficult for women to gather and discuss social issues outside of their houses. They have rented and renovated a space for their Creamery and are already open for business. Note-the Creamery is open to both men and women.

Currently they are limited in what they can serve and sell due to limited equipment. They cannot initiate cheese production, make and sell the popular 3asir (juices) or ns ns (half coffee, half milk) until they have cold storage and their single cup coffeemaker limits their ability to serve their customers.

My PCPP request for $2353 is to help them purchase the needed equipment and pay travel expenses to visit an operating cheesemaking Cooperative to learn how to commercialize their efforts.

Any help you can provide in the way of a donation would be very much appreciated. Please go to https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.donatenow and search for Project 378-135 Community Creamery to make your tax-deductible donation. And on behalf of the wonderful women of ATPF, thank you.

Yes, I got my reservation in early, so I’ve got a ponge to sleep on in Randy’s place as we eat and play games and conduct workshops for the Artisan Cooperative all week here in Ain Leuh. We’re a group of 7 this year-2 new and missing a couple from last year.

The blackberry picking is in full force, and we’ve had freshly made syrup on French toast and on homemade ice cream and angel food cake already. There are 2 big pots on the stove today making jam. And that’s only 2 days of picking and we’re not at the peak of the season. Funny, but Moroccans don’t seem to care for the berries-they didn’t pick them last year either, so more for us to enjoy!

Yes, it’s been a festival of eating (we’re thinking of naming the week Culinary Camp)-Peruvian dinner, green curry dinner, freshly made cheese for our lasagna tonight.

Oh, and yes, we do work-gotta earn our pay, yak? Yesterday Joy did a terrific Color Theory workshop for the women of the Cooperative. It was really great to see them all-this is where I did my 3 month initial training. Got to spend some time w/my host mom, see Ahelan and Ayoub-will go back and spend more time with them tomorrow, maybe l-ftr (Ramadan break fast). I’ll be doing a Product Development workshop with the Coop women tomorrow and also help them work thru the decision process of whether they’re going to apply to attend the Santa Fe International Craft Fair next year.

We got to see the work that Randy has done with the Coop-and it’s amazing. She got them to move all their looms downstairs and converted the upstairs, streetfront workroom into a showroom. It’s fabulous. Randy has such a good eye for interior design, and has been really creative in getting things made or buying pieces for the showroom at really great prices. Tbarkalik Randy!

Yes, it is Ramadan, and so far we’ve managed to avoid it almost completely. We did feel kinda bad when a Moroccan friend came in the house yesterday as we were all sitting around eating lunch. Oh well.

In addition, we’ve had 3 days of fall-like weather; cooler, cloudy, some rain in the afternoon, and sleeping w/a light blanket-hamdullah. We’ll get the heat back, but enjoying this respite while we’ve got it.

We’re all feeling a bit anxious about the time we have left-less than 3 months, and so much we all want to do. I told Jess I’d help her with her art exhibition in Fes mid-September and we’ve got a PC conference in Rabat the end of September. I’ve also got to take my Women’s Assn president-Meriem-down to visit the cheese coop in the far south in October. We’ve also got Sarah and Brahim’s wedding in the far SE the middle of September. I’d so love to go, but just don’t see how I’m going to fit it in-minimum 2 days travel each way + 3 day wedding.

Just got called to another game of Bananagram-gotta go. I’ve got my priorities, after all.

It’s been a while since my last posting and the biggest news, by far, was the death of my dear friend Miek’s husband John. So unexpected, so young, so incredibly sad. I cannot imagine what she is going through. I’ve not yet been able to connect with her ‘live’ yet-hopefully we’ll be able to Skype later today. They’ve just completed their condo on the Upper Michigan lake Charlevoix and have developed a great circle of boating friends for their summers, just redecorated their home in Indianapolis (theirs is the home that both sides of the family come to gather), and just had their first grandchild. They both retired within the last 4 years. In other words, the next phase of their retirement years ahead of them to enjoy together. My heart is broken for Miek, and only wish I could have been there for the memorial service for John yesterday.

It was otherwise another travel week for me….

Great to catch up w/Jess before she and I both left on holiday (she to escape the 1st 2 weeks of Ramadan in Spain). I got to see a number of her pieces for her solo art exhibition in Fes next month. I can see a piece of Jess Stephens art in my possession in the very near future.

Then it was off to Fes to meet up w/Randy, Kristen, Dan and Dan’s friend Justin who was visiting from the US. We headed out Saturday (a week ago) to Ras El Ma, also known as Cap d’Leau-a small beach town in far NE Morocco on the Mediterranean. When we arrived, there were a total of 19 of us, and the Auberge had put us across the street in a house all together. This was a fabulous set up (incl. dragging the ponges to sleep on the rooftop), until the drain for both showers and toilets backed up on day 2. Mushkil kbir. Plumber couldn’t get it fixed, so we moved back and into 3 apartments. At least we were close together, all had kitchens and increased our ratio to 3 bathrooms/6 persons.

Poor Justin was the butt of laughter most of the week-don’t know what he expected-perhaps a zwin Med/beach vacation-but certainly on a Peace Corps budget we do things pretty simple. He was a miserable camper all week long. Don’t think I ever saw him smile. You know, maybe things don’t turn out as you expect, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go with the flow and figure out how to make the best of it.

Anyway, we soaked up the rays and swam multiple times daily in the beautiful sea. Couldn’t get enough of it. We also walked down into town-maybe 1 ½ miles-daily-to eat grilled fish for either lunch or dinner. You go and pick which fish you want them to cook up-lots of fresh calmari, shrimp and sole. Yum. You see, we’re all living far enough inland and w/o refrigerated transport, rarely get to eat good fish in our sites. I think we all made up for it this past week.

It was also a big enough group that there was always someone to do things with, and w/3 apts., space for solitary pursuits as well. We had a nice little balcony that we made good use of all week. Unfortunately the time went quickly and we all had to head home. A few headed home via Melilla-a small Spanish town (part of Spain) on the coast of Morocco. When they got there, 2 of them didn’t have all their documents and couldn’t cross the border. I almost went w/them, but glad I avoided that hassle. Six of us headed back via Fes w/an overnight in a cheap hotel with a/c, great showers, comfy beds-just the right end to the vacation.

Joy and Angie came w/me to my site, and there will be another gathering next week in Ain Leuh for Adult Camp…ahem, I mean for Train theTrainer and Artisan Workshops. I’m just catching up w/folks in town before heading back out.

Great to see Fouzia last night and be able to congratulate her on her new job, but unfortunately that means she’ll be moving to Taza. I’ve put her in touch with Steven, the PCV who lives there, who will help her find an apt. and introduce her to people in town. I will miss our walks and her friendship, but so happy for her.

Just got word yesterday from Fatima that the Coop is closing all of Ramadan. So there goes an entire month of getting anything done-the showroom finished, Nora and Ferida trained up on the internet and digital camera, Fatima weaving the pillow covers I’ve commissioned, etc. I forgot that they worked last year thru Ramadan because they had the table runner order they needed to complete. Otherwise they wouldn’t have worked. I’ll be down to just 2 months left when they return. Yikes!

Found out some other interesting info. The Coop apprentices have been weaving with a new material a lot lately. I really like it and burned it to see what it’s made of-natural 100% cotton. It’s got a real nice feel and look, and the colors are more natural, SO unlike the garish colors of the acrylic they’ve been using so much of. Go figure-the hanbels that the apprentices are weaving with this are the items that are selling-and Adwal has really taken note. In addition, I’m delighted that when they ask me as they begin a design and color combo if I’ll like it, all I have to do is compliment their choice-they’re making good decisions. Yipee!

So I commission Fatima to weave me a cushion cover, in their traditional design, using this nice cotton yarn, in black and cream. Had a bit of trouble convincing her that was what I wanted. No, I don’t need the expensive bldi (natural, hand woven) wool-it’s for a cushion. And no, I don’t want that acrylic you guys use so much of. I want you to weave me what I think tourists will really love. (And of course I’m going to buy 2 of these cushions and then leave them behind for display in the showroom, just as I’m doing w/the Hasir I had them finish for me). I then talk w/Fatima about pricing-just how expensive is this cotton yarn? See, I’m also trying to help them make something traditional to the area, in a more accessible product (price and weight) for tourists to buy. Turns out that the acrylic is actually more expensive than the cotton! Who knew! Fatima was trying to convince me to use what she thought was ‘better’ because it was more expensive. And until we did the fiber burn test, they had no idea what type of fibers they were using. Hamdullah the cotton is cheaper, much nicer quality, and I’m going to work on Fatima to switch out all of their acrylic purchasing as she sees how nicely the cotton weaves on the vertical loom. Keep your fingers crossed!

I also met with Meriem yesterday about the grant proposal for the ATPF Women’s Assn-sent it to Center for Women in Democracy. No reply to request. No acknowledgement. Walu. OK, I’ll put together a PCPP request (which would be funded by my friends and family in the US) if ATPF will come up with their 25%, which amounts to 6600DH-no small task. Meriem immediately says that’s no problem. In addition, I’ll include monies for she and another member to go with me to the Cheese Association in the south to learn more about cheese production/scale-up, packaging, any regulations, storage, marketing and selling fresh cheese. Now I’m working to get this up as quickly as possible so it can get funded by the end of September.

I also received an email from Widad of Women in Technology this week. It included a video highlighting the successes of the women who participated in the program in Ain Leuh. Got me all worked up again. I sent a message to her to see if it would still be possible to do it in REK-and she immediately replied ‘yes’. I had tried this earlier this year, and the ATPF women weren’t interested-IT wasn’t a priority for them at the time, and they couldn’t think of who else to approach. This is such an amazing opportunity, and now with a video in Arabic to show how great it’s been for other women, I’m back on the bandwagon. Took the video, along w/my old notes, over to show Maqoul-cyber owner/IT instructor in town. He watched the video and said that his Association may be interested-enough that he promised to call Widad and the Association in Azrou who has implemented the program to find out more. Inshallah, WIT comes to REK.

And then today. One of my favorite days of all time in Morocco.

I knew to be at the Coop at 9am, when we were leaving for the river to wash wool. They asked me to bring my camera. I figured we were good for several hours in the blazing sun, with me documenting their next step in moving toward natural dyed wool.

Little did I know that this was a real Adwal outing-first of its kind. They arranged for Fatima’s husband to drive the 15 of us (2 in the front w/him and the rest of us in the back of the open truck, with all our stuff for the day) to where we were going to do the washing.

Now, I’d heard that there was a ‘source’ aka natural spring between El Menzel and REK, but had never been there. Apparently neither had most of the Adwal women. Took us about ½ hour, off a less travelled paved road, then off on a dirt road for quite a ways. No public transport-you gotta have someone drive you there, it’s so remote. Anyway, this is a shallow beginning of the river, fed by several springs, opened up for washing/bathing/swimming, etc. It is quite the gathering spot. And we were there for the day.

In the morning the area is filled with women washing clothes (the duars around don’t have running water), carpets, salon slipcovers, wool, wheat. As the day progresses, the women are then fixing lunch on their small buta’s w/pressure cooker, watching their kids, before moving on to the next series of washings. Lots of families come for a swim and lunch. In the late afternoon, the area starts filling in w/teenagers coming to play in the water, cool off and have a place they can be w/the opposite sex.

We get there around 10am and don’t leave until after 6. It was a full day of washing a huge sack of bldi (that’s natural, shorn off a live sheep) wool. We have tea. We have lunch. We have water fights. Lots of them. All of us get completely soaked at least once during the course of the day. Nobody really complained, and it was so great to see the Adwal women having such fun together. In fact, some young guys came by late in the afternoon w/drums and played while the Adwal women sang. It was such a wonderful, fun, relaxing day-even with the wool washing. We sang and ululated all the way home in the back of the truck, getting home just in time to get a little laundry on the line to dry (including what I was wearing!).

Note: It's not until I'm posting some photos that I realized I forgot to mention a couple things about today. Such as, the women go it the water in their jelabas-no swimsuits. Oh, and I've taken Pepto Bismol prophylactically-after watching a donkey leave droppings in the same water that they rinsed our tea glasses in. Things about Morocco that you just accept as normal, hardly worth a mention.

Now I’m off in the morning (after catching Meriem, Inshallah, to sign the PCPP form) to meet and catch up w/Jess. Then I’m off to Ras El Ma-small place on the Mediterranean coast where 12-15 of us are gathering to use up our vacation before Ramadan starts. Can’t wait to swim in the Sea.

I’m posting an updated “Unofficial Guide” for volunteers who are headed to Morocco-written and just updated by one of my training mates-Colin Huerter. It’s quite comprehensive and right on target. If you appreciate the work he did compiling this for others' behalf, let him know it at colin@huerter.com.

I can only think of 5 things I’d add….buy a hair dryer once you’re here-right voltage and you’ll want it in winter to warm up after a shower…notify your credit card company that you’re going to be overseas for 2 years so they don’t put any fraud holds on it if you use it…and set it up w/someone to have access to your checking account while you’re gone-so you can order stuff from Amazon, ship it to that person, have them ship it to you and reimburse themselves by check (I did this a fair amount for items I found I really wanted, ie; good wool sweaters for winter)…think about getting a Kindle-PC library has tons of English books, but you may not have great access to the library and a Kindle is amazing (note I had a Sony E-reader that has now become obsolete-I bet on Betamax and Kindle is the VCR of e-readers) and get one with a backlight for those electricity-free nights/days in winter-if you’re much of a reader, you’ll quickly run out of reading material otherwise. Most sharp knives do suck here, but you can buy a decent one at a Marjane or Acima in major cities. That’s it. Read on for Colin’s advice (and if my blogging skills were better, I’m certain there’s a way to insert a pdf file into my blog, but I can’t find it, so here goes, courtesy Colin):

"Unofficial Peace Corps Morocco Guide & FAQ

Hello and congratulations on having been invited to Peace Corps Morocco! I wrote this guide/FAQ to address some of the questions and concerns that volunteers-to-be commonly have, and to try and disseminate some information I wish I’d known before coming. I should, however, make it clear that everything here has been influenced by my experiences and is written from my own perspective. I’ve tried to make my advice as general as possible while still being useful, but there is a common (and completely true) adage that every volunteer has a different experience, so keep that in mind and do not take anything I say as gospel.

Here is some basic information about me. I am male, 25 years old, and a second-year volunteer in the Small Business Development (SBD) sector. I am posted in a town located in the Atlas Mountains with a population of approximately 50,000, which makes it one of the largest sites.By volunteer standards I live luxuriously with fruits and vegetables available daily, easy access to transportation, and a large apartment with running water and electricity. I even have a refrigerator,hot shower, and DSL hooked up to my apartment. I never dreamed I would have these things when I applied to become a volunteer, but this is how things ended up and I am grateful for it.

Now onto what you really came for…

Welcome Book

It’s a good resource, and I would recommend reading it. This guide is meant to supplement the information in the Welcome Book, not replace it.

Location

Morocco has a varied geography and many different climate zones. This makes it harder to prepare, because you won’t know where your final site is until just before swearing in. Some places are bone-chilling and there will be winter days where you think you have never been so cold in your life. Others can get so hot you have trouble sleeping at night and during the day you can wash a pair of jeans, hang them up on the clothesline, and watch them dry in minutes. No matter what, you can be fairly sure that for about three months of the year, the weather is going to suck.

There are sites almost throughout Morocco. The only places you are guaranteed not to end up are areas south of the Tiznit/Tata regions and north of the Rabat-Meknes-Fes-Taza axis. In general, it seems that many health education (HE) volunteers get placed in the south (i.e. warmer regions), while environment (ENV) have more mountainous sites, located close to or within national parks and forests. Youth development (YD) and SBD are split fairly evenly.

Site size varies as much as climate. HE and ENV usually have the smallest sites, followed by SBD, and finally YD with the largest. SBD sites have the widest range of population, with some volunteers in tiny villages of 300 people and others in large cities of 100,000+. YD work in dar chebabs, or youth centers, so their towns are necessarily large enough to support a dar chebab and typically 10,000+ people. Staff sometimes will put females in smaller towns to minimize harassment issues, but they can and do end up in large sites.

During Pre-Service Training (PST) we were interviewed by our programming staff and could state any preferences we had such as climate, potential projects, site size, and access to running water/internet/etc. However, none of that was guaranteed and in fact in some cases was completely disregarded and people ended up with exactly the opposite of what they asked for. It was at the whim of our programming staff and where they decided our skills and background best fit.

Languages

There’s a lot to be said about languages, no pun intended. Morocco is like a melting pot of languages and almost everyone is at least bilingual. Occasionally you will run into polyglots (some PC staff for example) who speak five or more languages – Moroccan Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), a Berber dialect, French, and English.

Volunteers learn one of three languages. Moroccan Arabic, known as Darija (which literally translates to ‘dialect’), is the most widely spoken in Morocco. Of the three main Berber dialects Tashelheet (Tash), Tamazight (Tam), and Tarafit, PC has language training for Tash and Tam. Tarafit is spoken in the Rif Mountains of northern Morocco, where a large percentage of the world’s supply of cannabis is cultivated, thus no volunteers are placed in that area. Tam is spoken by Berbers of the Middle Atlas, and Tash is the language of the High Atlas and the south. Generally, the larger your site, the more likely it is that Darija is the everyday language, and vice-versa for Tam and Tash in smaller sites.I believe all HE volunteers learn Tash and Tam. If any do Darija it is only a very small number.ENV can learn all three, with a bias towards the Berber dialects.

SBD can learn all three. In 2008 there was a bias toward Darija (60%) with a minority learning Tam, and no Tash CBT groups. In 2009, 40% learned Darija, 40% learned Tam, and 20% learned Tash. In 2010 there will only be Darija and Tam CBT groups.YD only get instruction in Darija, you don’t have a choice! But I know of a few volunteers that either switched to Berber after they got to their sites and decided it would be more useful, or started learning Berber in addition to Darija.

Thanks to Morocco’s legacy as a former French colony, French is by far the most commonly-spoken language that any of you are likely to know. Many big-city Moroccans are fluent in it, and even people in small villages usually know a few words. Spanish is common in the Rif area, which used to be a Spanish Protectorate. English is not very widely spoken. Having French knowledge can be nice, but is by no means necessary, and I and many other volunteers have never studied it either formally or informally.

Before anyone gets all excited about Darija and decides that is what they want to learn because knowing Arabic will help them get that dream job after Peace Corps, stop for a minute. Although Darija is related to MSA, it is only used colloquially and they are not mutually intelligible, so the usefulness of Darija is pretty limited outside of Morocco. It might give you a slight head-start if you decide to study MSA, but they are distinctly different languages both in terms of vocabulary and grammar. Moroccans will actually be much more impressed if you can speak Tam or Tash than if you learn Darija. With the changes to training that have occurred since I swore in, I’m not even sure you can express a preference anymore. My advice is stay open-minded and not let your heart get set on anything.

Many people wonder if they should do any independent language study before staging. PC sends out links to some Darija audio lessons and an introductory PDF (which is taken straight out of the Darija language manual that is used for training here), and I believe they also provide access to some French lessons via the peacecorps.gov website. Forget the French stuff unless you’ve had previous experience and want to brush up a little. The handiest thing would be learning numbers, say up to 20 or 30, because many times when you ask how much something costs, the shop-owner will see you are foreign and automatically reply in French.

Before coming I did not do any of the audio lessons or study the introductory PDF, and I have no regrets about that. Not to say they couldn’t be useful, but one hour in PST is probably equal to ten hours of studying on your own. It would also be a bit of a downer if you spent a lot of time studying Darija and then get here only to find out you got assigned to a Berber CBT group. If you do want to take advantage of those tools then I would recommend going over the greetings and numbers (lessons 2, 3, 19, 20, and 21). Those you can use the moment you land in Morocco, and you’ll need them even if you end up learning Berber.

Luggage

Regular suitcases are fine and you can use them later in your house for storage or to keep your clothes reasonably organized. Hiking packs are very popular and definitely work well for the many times you will be traveling, since they’re usually more practical than trying to roll a suitcase around. And if you are planning on doing any trekking or camping, then it’s a no-brainer to bring one. I usually stick with a duffel bag or backpack for traveling. Suitcases and duffel/travel bags are in plentiful supply here so you can always buy one later if you need to. A normal backpack or messenger bag is essential. Bring luggage locks with you because you will definitely want to use them when you are traveling around Morocco. There are TSA-approved locks that you can leave on your baggage after it is checked and TSA willnot break it.

If the papers they sent you in your invitation packet are the same ones I got, then you’ll have a flyer which says something about being able to bring two pieces of checked-in luggage but the combined weight cannot be more than 80 pounds. Ignore this; here is what you really need to know:

All major U.S. carriers are now charging for checked baggage; it will be something like $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second. Save your receipts for those and you will be reimbursed at staging. You will not be reimbursed for more than two checked pieces. Also, please save yourself a lot of potential trouble and make absolutely sure that no individual piece exceeds more than 50 pounds. Use a bathroom scale to check before you leave for the airport. Once you go over 50 pounds you will trigger all kinds of ridiculous fees which PC will not reimburse.

On the Royal Air Maroc flight from New York to Casablanca, the limit is basically identical (23 kilograms), and you can check two bags at no cost so you don’t have to pay anything out of pocket. Basically what this means is that you can have two 50 pound bags for a total of 100 pounds, not the 80 that is stated. Finally, do not count on there being people who have room to spare that will take some of your stuff on the flight over.

One great tip I got was to pack an empty duffel bag in one of my suitcases. During PST you get a huge stack of books, manuals, and handouts, not to mention the medical kit. Once I got to Morocco I just got that bag out and put all my training materials in it instead of trying to cram them into my luggage with the rest of my things.

Electronics

Electricity: almost every volunteer has electricity in their house, even if it’s just one outlet. However, the plugs, voltage, and cycle are the European standard and different from the US. US electricity is 120 volts at 60 hertz, while in Morocco electricity is 240 volts at 50 hertz and the plugs have two round prongs.

Power adapters vs. power converters: an adapter is small device that allows you to plug a North American appliance into a European outlet. It does not alter the power in any way. A converter is larger and bulkier, and will either ‘step-up’ (120v -> 240v) or ‘step-down’ (240v -> 120v, which is what you want in this case) the voltage, in addition to changing the plug so you can use it in a European outlet.

Almost all high-end electronics are self-converting and can accept both 120v and 240v. For example, look at your laptop’s power brick. It should say something like ‘Input: 110-240v, 50-60Hz’. Ditto for things like mobile phone chargers and digital camera battery chargers. If it says that, all you need is the adapter to plug it in.

However, many simpler electronics like hair dryers and curling irons are only designed for 120 volts and in that case you need the more expensive converter like this. Make sure your device does not exceed the wattage rating of the converter.

Solar chargers: I wouldn’t bring one. You will almost certainly have electricity in your house. I believe there are only one or two volunteers in the entire country that do not have electricity.

Batteries: all common formats including AA, AAA, and 9v are readily available here and about as expensive as they are in the US, so save the weight and don’t pack extra. If you have something that takes batteries which you know you will be using frequently, e.g. a digital camera, then rechargeables are a good investment.

Laptops: some people don’t want to bring one and they get along just fine. However, if you are undecided about what to do, I recommend bringing it. There are an increasing amount of surveys, reports, forms, and other paperwork that you need to complete for PC, not to mention any number of other work-related things that are much less painful with your own computer. It’s also a lot more convenient to type up blog posts and replies to emails from the comfort of your own home rather than struggling with French keyboards at the cybercafé. A lot of volunteers find they use their a lot for downloads, watching movies, etc. on those evenings that can become long and boring alone. Be aware that if you have a Mac, hardware and software support may be hard to come by or simply nonexistent.

Internet: cybercafés, or cybers, are cheap and littered throughout the country. The vast majority of volunteers are within one hour from a cyber. I’d say at least 50% of SBD volunteers can get internet in their home, either with a wireless modem through Wana or a hardwired DSL connection through Maroc Telecom. 95% of YD volunteers can get internet in their home. If you are ENV or HE you’ll just have to pray. Not everyone that can get it does, as it takes up a sizable chunk of your monthly living allowance. Computers at cybers all have MSN Messenger and Skype installed already if you want to chat with family and friends. Cyber owners will let you bring your own laptop and plug the Ethernet cable in (some places also have wifi), which is nice as you’ll have all your programs and bookmarks available.

USB drives: watching movies and TV shows is a favorite activity of volunteers and we like to swap movies and music whenever there is a get-together. An external USB hard drive will be invaluable for this and general backup and storage, and highcapacity drives are readily available for less than $100. Don’t forget a small USB thumb drive as well to take to the cyber so you can print things, and make sure your laptop has updated antivirus software.

iPod: essential for relieving boredom during interminably long bus/taxi/train rides. Many volunteers rave about podcasts and download them at the cyber so they can listen to them the rest of the week and keep up to date with the news.

Mobile phones: text messages are the primary method of communication between volunteers, and Peace Corps also relies heavily on mobile phones to get information to us. There are two large operators, Maroc Telecom and Meditel. Both have service throughout most of the country, although I believe that Maroc Telecom’s network is slightly larger. If you have a GSM phone you can bring it with you and get it unlocked here for a few dirhams, saving yourself some money. A new SIM card is 20-30 dirhams. There are some plans but they work differently than in the US and are relatively expensive, so most people opt to buy phone cards and add credit as needed. One thing to note is that the GSM service here is on 900 MHz. If your phone does not support this then leave it at home as it will not work here. Any quad-band phone will definitely work here. Tri-band phones with 900/1800/1900 will also work. Look in the manual or call your phone company to find out which frequencies your phone supports.

Hair clippers: I thought it would be smart to bring one and save money cutting my hair, but it turned out to be a waste of space. Haircuts are dirt cheap here (10-15 dirhams, 5 more with a shave) so I would pack something else.

Insurance: I didn’t get any electronics insurance but I think Peace Corps includes some suggestions in the invitation packet. You can have the premiums automatically taken out of your readjustment allowance as an allotment.

Household

Water: running water is more of a rarity than electricity. If you are a HE or ENV volunteer, I would not count on having it, but you may be pleasantly surprised. Some of you will become very familiar with how to boil and bleach well water. As far as I know, PC here does not supply water filters.

Sheets: since bed sizes vary, and you won’t know until several months into training if you are replacing a volunteer (and will thus have a chance to purchase or be gifted their furniture), you may want to hold off on bringing bed sheets. Your host families may have some, and they will definitely have blankets. I had my family mail me a set once I knew what size bed I would have. Note that they don't sell fitted sheets in Morocco.

Cooking: PC will give you a great cookbook that has been written by volunteers and contains Morocco-specific recipes and advice as well as common translations. Unless you are totally averse to it, you will have plenty of time to improve your cooking skills. You may even surprise yourself!

Kitchen supplies: there are a few spices and other items are hard to find here or simply not available. A few that I can think of off the top of my head are basil, curry powder, vanilla extract, and brown sugar. Many volunteers have them shipped here, but if you think you will be using any of those you can just bring them. I would recommend a basic set of measuring cups and spoons as well. The recipes in the cookbook are all given in standard measurements, whereas things here are usually given in metric. And finally, one thing that I would seriously consider is a decent knife. Even a $15 santoku from Target will absolutely blow away the dull, weak, sad excuses for knives that you will find here.

Personal Care

Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, and shaving cream of major brands are all available here. I used up quite a bit of space bringing three cans of shaving cream and other things that were, in retrospect, totally unnecessary. Unless you need something specific, you can pack something else instead. You can also pick up sunscreen from the medical unit in Rabat for free. The quality of the sunscreen varies depending on what they have at any given time. Previously you could request sunscreen and lotion to be mailed to you, but unfortunately they stopped doing this in order to cut costs, and lotion is no longer available at all.

Razor blades: you can find these fairly easily. I have seen both Mach 3 and Quattro blades in shops in my site, although you may need to go to your souk town to get them. I assume that women’s razors are widely available as well.

Small bottles for shampoo, body wash, etc: it is worth your time to pick up a few of these from the store. They come in very handy since the hotels that Peace Corps uses are pretty basic (besides the staging hotel in Philadelphia) and probably won’t provide anything. You will also use them when you go to the hammam, or public bath, and whenever you travel in general.

And don’t forget a set of shower flip flips, a large towel, and washcloth. You can buy these in Morocco, but they are things you will need right away and you might not have time to go around looking for them since the first few days are so busy. You can look online or at outdoors stores such as REI for lightweight, fast-drying towels that work very well and are nice for traveling. However, a normal cotton towel is also just fine and is what I use.

Contact lens solution: may be purchased in well-stocked pharmacies in larger towns. I believe they run around 100 dirhams ($12) for a large bottle. Bring at least a few months’ supply with you. I’ve never seen hard contact solution here, only soft.

Medical kit: as mentioned before, Peace Corps gives you a small black case filled with various medical supplies. This has quite a few things in it, from ibuprofen and a thermometer to band-aids and condoms. Aside from sunscreen you can also request multivitamins, pepto, insect repellant, eye drops, etc. One thing that is not provided is toothpaste and toothbrushes. Dental floss may still be available unless that was also cut, but it is unflavored and unwaxed.

Clothing

“Business casual” clothing is mentioned in the invitation materials but is almost entirely a waste of space. You may want one nicer outfit and set of shoes for swearing in, but I wouldn’t put too much thought into it. Ties and polished shoes are totally unnecessary, and a pair of khakis and a button-up shirt should suffice for men. You may catch some flak from the PC Washington staff at staging if you don’t at least make some effort, but the truth is that will have no effect on your service. You can just wear the same clothes for three days in a row – in fact, I would recommend getting used to that!

Cold weather gear: most people envision a boiling hot sun and endless sands when they get placed in Morocco, but the winters can be brutal. The concepts of insulation and interior heating have not quite made it here. As I type this, it is about 40 degrees both inside and outside. I would bring at least the following: waterproof winter parka, warm leather gloves, a fleece top, set of thermal underwear, and several pairs of wool socks. Consider that a starting point, as ENV volunteers in particular will probably want more. The good news is that if you are coming as ENV or HE, you have seven or eight months before you have to face a full Moroccan winter – plenty of time to assess the weather at your site and have your family mail you additional clothes. High quality winter clothing can be hard to find here, which I why I advise bringing it with you. Even if you do get a very hot site, you will be traveling during the winter so these things will still be useful.

Other clothing: jeans are great since they are comfortable, durable, and don’t show dirt and stains very obviously. You will find that dress etiquette in many sites means you can’t wear shorts in public. I have no problem in my site as a male, but I rarely see Moroccan men wearing shorts. A light waterproof shell/windbreaker can be very useful, as the country was in a drought for several decades but has received a surprising amount of rain and snow the last few years. Layering is important, so try

and bring clothes that you can add or shed easily. And don’t forget a swimsuit!

Shoes: I wore x-trainers or tennis shoes 95% of the time in the US, and I do the same here. I took my dress shoes back for good when I went home on vacation. A lot of people live in their Chacos/Tevas and go from wearing sandals one day to boots the next, and straight back to sandals after the winter is other. I don’t think hiking boots are necessary as I hike as much as anyone I know and get by fine withx-tra iners. Many companies offer discounts for Peace Corps volunteers; you just need to contact them to ask about it.

Other items to consider bringing

Sunglasses: you can buy a pair here, but the problem is you can’t be sure if they have UV protection since they are all knockoffs.

Nalgene bottle or Camelbak: I would bring a Nalgene bottle or equivalent at the minimum.

Swiss army knife or Leatherman: quite nice to have, not only for the household uses but also for the bottle and wine openers!

Maps: they make for good wall decorations and you should bring at least a Moroccan map (that includes Western Sahara). Michelin #742 is very detailed, and I also have the laminated and waterproof Borch Morocco map.

Flashlight: the electricity goes out a fair amount, so it’s good to have one of these to go along with your candles. LED flashlights are bright and the batteries will last forever. You can also try and get a phone with a light built in.

Sleeping bag: I use mine all the time, not only when I travel but also when people stay at my house and we run out of blankets.

Pocket French dictionary: sometimes you just can’t explain the word you need in Darija or Berber, but they might know the French word. Also handy for deciphering restaurant menus.

Travel alarm clock: not needed in my opinion. I use my phone as an alarm.

Miscellaneous Information

Bringing money: you shouldn’t have to bring any. Peace Corps will give you well over $100 in cash at staging for per diem and spending money. You may want to notify your bank that you are moving overseas as there are many ATMs here where you can use your bank card in the case of an emergency.

Host family gifts: you will have two host families, one during CBT and one at final site. I brought some candy, crayons, and small souvenir trinkets like key chains and postcards. The first time I met each family I gave them fresh fruit, and before I left I handed out the other gifts. I would not worry too much about finding gifts as you can get things here if need be. Unusual or interesting things are great if you have the time, but they will also appreciate practical items. When I went to the US a year into service, I brought back more substantial gifts for my host families and Moroccan friends.

Bikes: Peace Corps will provide a nice mountain bike once you get to your final site. You also get supplies like a tire pump, helmet, patch kit, etc.

Books: the office in Rabat has an extensive collection of books, both professionally oriented and for leisure reading. There are also things such as GRE study manuals, travel guides, calendars, and periodicals available. M’hamed is the librarian and will mail anything to you on request. Volunteers also trade books around frequently.

Reliability of mail ranges from good to questionable depending on your specific post office (try to befriend the employees and manager). It takes 2 or 3 weeks for things to get here from the US, and vice versa. If you get a package, especially a larger one, expect it to be opened and inspected by customs. You may have to pay a duty, depending on what is in it. All of the packages that have been sent to me arrived without anything missing, but I had to pay duties on several. Some people have had things stolen from packages before they picked them up – sometimes valuable things. The only surefire way to get something from the US to Morocco without duties is to have a family member or friend bring it when they come to visit.

Setting boundaries

I include this as a final bit of advice because many new volunteers aren’t quite sure what to do when a Moroccan asks them for something or possibly starts to take advantage of them. Remember that you always have the right to say no, and the earlier you set your own boundaries the better off you will be.

For example, what do you do if your host brother asks you if he can use your computer for the day? You may like him a lot and feel you can trust him, or simply want to accommodate him because you are living with his family. However, what would happen if it was stolen, or he dropped the computer, or spilled tea on it? It is hard to imagine that he would be able to replace the computer. During my homestays loaned a few small items that were not exactly returned to me in the same condition. It was nothing serious but I took that as a lesson and am very careful about whom I loan things to now. Realize that you are the only one that has ultimate responsibility for your belongings!

That is one example of what boundaries mean, but it can extend into many other areas. If you are full, don’t let them convince you to eat more. They will not stop when they think you have had enough, they will simply keep telling you to eat. Don’t feel bad about saying no because you don’t want to offend anyone – in fact, it is a cultural norm that dictates how they are acting, you just need to learn the proper way to respond to it. If you have any cultural questions, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask your LCF or any other Moroccan staff. Remember, that’s their job!

It has taken me far longer than anticipated to cover what I consider the topics of interest in this guide, but I hope that future volunteers find the information helpful. One last suggestion I have is to read the blogs of current PC Morocco volunteers. There is a wealth of knowledge contained in those blogs and it will give you an invaluable glimpse into what your life could be like in a few months! Thank you for reading this, and if you have any questions or would just like to talk, I can always be reached through e-mail. Good luck and I wish you a fantastic two years in Morocco!

Colin Huerter

SBD ‘08-10

colin@huerter.com"

Coop lesson the other day-symmetry. Customers like it. Work it into your designs to improve quality. They get it. Showed me today 2 pillow covers that they got right. Also showed me where Malika screwed up-right? Yak.

Sit and watch Fatima weaving. The warp is so tight, it’s as though she’s playing a harp as she sings to herself and counts the threads to weave in her design from memory. When I sit and watch the women weaving like this, I’m always impressed by their talent, artistry, and frustrated by the lack of appreciation they get for their work. I just wish it was easier to get their story told, understood, appreciated, sold.

I ran into my old tutor at the café-he’s back for summer holiday from deep in the Sahara where he got a teaching job this last year. He’s a really good guy-smart, industrious, studied in Canada-and until he got the position to teach sciences in public school, had been hustling up tutoring jobs here in REK. He says he likes his work, the people, but it takes him 26 hours to travel to REK, so can only come back for summer and Leid Kbir. He looks happy, so I’m glad it’s worked out for him.

Having computer/internet issues-went to the cyber to get online to send a couple messages and they told me the whole region was not working. Finally came on late in the day Thursday for a bit. Off all day yesterday, and with it being a holiday, no hope for it to be fixed. Meanwhile, my computer battery seems to be taking a charge, but won’t boot up my computer, so the charge doesn’t do any good. For some reason, I have a spare battery-can’t remember why, but hooked it up and it’s charging. Inshallah it will work so I’m not dependent upon a power source to use my laptop from here on. Good news is that the rizzo is back on this afternoon. I know, I shouldn’t complain. I do have internet in my apt after all. However, it also costs me 20% of my monthly allowance, so if I pay that much for it, I want it to work.

Took a good walk right before dusk Thurs. night-finally cooled off enough to do so, and I really needed to get some exercise. Hard to work out when it’s over 100, but need to do something or I just feel so sluggish. Lots of people are out when the evenings cool off, so had plenty of company all along the way.

And while walking, I passed the time thinking of all the things I want to do when I get back to the US (ok, so I’m starting to focus a bit too much on my return….). Anyway, here’s the early list:

Go to: Plays, concerts, museums-anything cultural; sporting events; a movie theater-bucket of popcorn, big drink, the works; the beach-walk from my house along the strand down to Main Street for breakfast; places w/air conditioning when it’s blazing hot; see family and friends…

Do: Pilates-boy I miss it-the exercise and the group; 24 hour fitness-the routine is so good for me; entertain in my own home; girls’ weekends; drive myself anywhere; laundry in a washing machine; lay on the couch and watch TV; pick up the phone and talk to anyone I want for as long as I want; spend time w/family and friends

Eat: Mexican food w/a margarita-on the rocks-no salt; ice Cream; fish-no way I’m buying and cooking the fish they sell here at souk-we’re too landlocked to trust its freshness; broccoli-they just don’t have it here; fresh mushrooms-the canned stuff just doesn’t cut it; salads; Fuji apples; Honey Nut Cheerios; anything grilled-oh how I miss my Weber grill; whole grain bread; cook what I want vs. what’s available today.

OK, need to get off that topic-doesn’t help when I’m incredibly bored, hot, ready to go home. Need to stay focused-not that much longer-I can do it-just make up shit to keep myself busy. On top of that, it’s a holiday today (wrote this yesterday)-Throne Day-whatever that is-and everyone’s with families. I chose to stick around my place today-just not feeling like visiting. Besides, whenever I eat at someone else’s house, I end up w/the runs. Even if Pepto Bismol is one of man’s greatest inventions, I really don’t want to make it thru the 60 pack that I just picked up from PC Medical.

Instead I got motivated to clear thru some junk that’s been collecting in my spare room. Note to self. NEVER have an entire extra room to stash junk. Anyway, sorting thru what I’ve got to ship eventually, what I’ve also got to give as gifts to folks here. Just getting a handle on it as I couldn’t remember all that I had bought. Also my awakening sending Sandy’s gift-the cost and hassle-will be much greater w/basically a small suitcase and a box of books. Need to drag it all to the busta and check what the damages will be. Oops, back on the ‘wanna go home’ kick. Sorry. Focus.

At least I’ve got a trip to the beach next week to look forward to. Our vacation moratorium begins Aug 12, same time that Ramadan starts. We can’t use vacation days the last 3 months of service, so a bunch of us are meeting in Ras El Ma on the Mediterranean for 4 days to chill out and spend those last few vacation days. Also, it will be a good break before the dullness of Ramadan.

Ramadan will be approx. Aug 12-Sept 12. It’s based on the new moon. Everything changes-business hours, whether people are working or not, and that varies day to day, no cafes open during the day (duh-no one drinking anything), no one has energy during the day to do anything. Basically they just shift their day to nighttime-after dusk. Everything comes alive after sundown. That also means not much work happens at all, and if you want to meet with someone, they may want to meet at 2am, after they’ve had “dinner”, before they go to bed.

I don’t fast during Ramadan-have no reason or motivation to do so, but I’m respectful of those who are, so I don’t eat or drink in front of anyone else. This makes any travel tough, esp. if you have a long train or bus ride. That also means that I don’t shift my day into night-I’m not fasting and resting all day and eating all night, so the entire month is kinda topsy-turvy. Of course, government businesses still have to operate during the day-at abbreviated hours-even the Peace Corps office has shorter days, i.e.; 10-3. You’ve got to get anything you want done during those hours, and hope that you can catch whoever you need in-between. The transits also are running, but it’s good to avoid late afternoon transport. The drivers haven’t had anything to eat or drink, no cigarettes, since dawn. Same goes for the passengers. This makes for a tinderbox and I’ve never seen so many fights break out as I have on a 4pm transit. Best to try to avoid them. So you can see why I’m so excited for Ramadan to come. Right.

Gotta find reasons to go visit other PCVs and escape it together, even if only in the quiet of our own homes. Can you say ‘work related travel’? I can!

Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the summer storms, maybe it’s that I’ve been here almost 2 years and it’s wearing on me….

It was a sobering thought on the train yesterday from Rabat to Fes. I bought a first class ticket-only way you have a chance at a/c in your car (and that’s not guaranteed). Only 3 of us in the car-older man reading, me, and a young guy on a laptop w/headphones. When I realized that he had left the car, leaving behind the laptop, and had been gone more than 15 minutes, I actually started to get concerned about the laptop. Who walks away from a laptop anywhere in Morocco for that long? I was gonna give him another 5 minutes to return or I was leaving the car-I actually was thinking it could be a bomb. First time in my life that has ever occurred to me. Sobering. To my relief, he returned shortly after I checked my watch to count down the 5 minutes. No terrorist. Just stupid leaving behind his laptop out in the open like that. Welcome to the new world order.

It’s amazing how accustomed to sweating I’ve become. I guess it helps that I don’t care how my hair looks, don’t wear makeup, so what difference does it really make? Will I be able to channel some of that attitude when I return to the states?

We’re back on internet, power and water intermittent shut-offs. The heat of summer gets to everything. Including, I fear, my laptop. Today the battery isn’t holding a charge. Fine yesterday. Not today. Maybe it cooked just a bit too much in the heat of yesterday and has given up on me. We’ll see. It won’t be the first or last laptop battery to crash on a PCV here in Morocco.

A bit ago my neighbor sent her daughter up to tell me something. I couldn’t get her to slow down enough to understand anything beyond water from my kitchen, so went downstairs to talk w/Samira to see what was up. Seems that her drain is clogged and when either I or the other neighbors on the 2nd floor (between us) use our kitchen sinks, it overflows onto Samira’s floor. That’s obviously a problem for her. I asked if she’s got someone coming to fix it. No. Would I use my toilet faucet instead of my kitchen sink? No, you need to get it fixed. Are you going to call someone to fix it? No. OK, that’s your choice, but I need to be able to use my kitchen. This is the same neighbor that sent her daughter up yesterday the minute I arrived (after over 2 weeks travel), had barely put down my bags, and wanted me to pay my share of the water bill. Um, maybe can I catch my breath-you know I’m good for the money, but give me a break, I JUST arrived home. And now you want me to wash dishes and fill pans for cooking in my toilet? I don’t think so. So much for neighborliness. Too bad.

Took 45 minutes in line at the Post Office to get Sandy’s birthday gift off in the mail. This was after going yesterday at 4pm and they had shut off the computer so I couldn’t send it then. Old woman tried to get in front of me in line today. I told her she was behind me. She tried to appeal to my ignorance, but to no avail. Ana qdem, nti mura, safi? Kanfhm, blati, yak?

Went by to see Hind to see if she's completed the French translation of the Adwal display book info that I gave her. She's in some sort of training, so still don't have it to work on.

Also still waiting for Meriem to get me the Arabic information that they want in the menu and brochure for the ATPF creamery.

If it's this slow and quiet now, what is it going to be like during Ramadan?

Bright bit of news-they’ve painted the Coop’s showroom-just as Jared’s design indicated, and the tile is all in. It looks really nice. Neither Fatima nor Zahra were around to find out the timing for their grand opening.

Pizza night tonight w/Pete. He and I have terrible timing. I’m gone, then he is. Site-mates should coordinate so we have more overlap, esp. during summer months when it gets so quiet, to keep one another entertained! He’ll be heading out most of August and “gets” to miss Ramadan here-lucky guy. I need to check w/Randy on Adult Summer Camp in Ain Leuh. I’ll need a Ramadan break for sure.

After an uneventful, but long 24 hour trip from Kampala to Fes (via Dubai), Lynn, Andrew and I finally arrived to the special luxury of the Riad Lune et Soleil at Batha in the Fes medina. What a delightful place to stay. They spoiled us with AIR CONDITIONING, cold Coca Light on demand, comfy beds, great showers, yummy breakfasts and a wonderful traditional dinner thrown in. With all the traditional Moroccan décor and a great, quiet location, it’s a winner and I’ll recommend them highly to others looking for a place to stay in/at the medina.

Of course, I really love Fes, so had fun taking Lynn and Andrew all over the medina-and we saw it all-the souks, the tanneries, shops, pottery-you name it, we saw it, but had time to do it at our own pace. We also did a cooking class w/Café Clock-Andrew loves to cook, and it was a great way to get more of the ‘local flavor’-including shopping w/the chef. Nice program.

I also took them down for the day to Ribat El Kheir so they could see where I live, meet the women that I work with, take a walk around the town to see the wonderful views. We caught up w/Pete, and I was so disappointed to hear that his Environment Day Camp had been cancelled. All in anticipation of the annual REK Festival-the belladya didn’t want competition I guess. Only to find out while I’m there that the REK Festival has been cancelled. No Festival this year. Nice. Really felt bad for Pete.

Anyway, I’m now sitting in Rabat-back in my PCV world-meaning of course, a cheap hotel-toilet down the hall, no a/c-sitting here sweating in my room while I type-reality is a bitch. Lynn, Andrew and I were up bright and early (4:30am) to make certain that they caught their plane-I accompanied them on the train to the airport-there’s one transfer and the stations aren’t marked-and just got back to Rabat.

I’ve got some business at the PC office on Monday, so will just “chill” here for 1 ½ days before heading back to REK and business as usual.

Uganda-Pearl of Africa; Part 1 Uganda

Oh, where to start? What a wonderful trip. So much so that I’ll split it up into 3 parts-the country, the people, the gorillas.

Impressions of Uganda: green lush hills, mountains, volcanoes, bananas, speed bumps, ground nuts, gorillas, women in bright colored multi patterned dresses skirts headscarves, friendly, drums, amazingly temperate and no humidity, English speaking, tropical, lakes, birds and butterflies, brick ovens, dusty, matoke laden trucks and bikes, all things transported on top of the head, Christianity, rough roads.

We arrived the day after the bombings of 2 popular sites full of people watching the final match of the World Cup. Over 75 dead. All innocent victims of 2 suicide bombers. Al Shabaab claims responsibility for the attacks with promise of more if Uganda continues to send peacekeeping troops into Somalia. Presidential elections are coming next year in Uganda and the opposition leader is calling for withdrawl of the Ugandan troops from Somalia. Newspaper commentary on need for pan-Africanism-which has helped rid South Africa of apartheid, Uganda of Idi Amin. Uganda does not act alone nor should other African nations-they need to work together. People of Uganda are surprised we came despite the bombings, ask us if we feel safe, and thank us for being there.

After 2 days in Kampala with Trish and Tim and their kids, we head west across Uganda to the gorilla trekking. It is a 12 hour drive, 1/3 of which is unpaved. Eight of us in their 4WD vehicle, and we need the 4WD at times. Not many places to stop along the way. First stop our first morning was for breakfast at a café/shop at the Equator.

I’m amazed at the lushness of Uganda, along w/very mild temperatures and low humidity. I always associated tropical foliage w/heat and humidity. Who knew they didn’t have to go hand in hand. It was Winston Churchill who dubbed Uganda the “Pearl of Africa”. Nevertheless, the mosquitoes are out each night and we sleep under mosquito netting, even in their home in Kampala.

The roads are treacherous, even in the city-potholes galore. Traffic is crazy, and boda bodas (motorcycle taxis) zip in and around the cars, even w/a family of 4 aboard. Once we’re on the road to the west, it’s a mix of paved and unpaved roads, with weird stretches of newly paved highway that last less than a mile. We decide that maybe some towns didn’t pay their taxes, so they have to wait for paving or improvements-why else such seemingly random work?

The impact of colonialism and missionary work is evident to this day. The Brits colonized Uganda. English is the most common language (with regional/tribal dialects second). Driving is on the left side of the road, all cars have steering wheels on the right. Shops carry products from England.

The presence of Christianity is pervasive. Churches everywhere, multiple denominations. Signs on businesses, automobiles, everywhere, praising God. Coming from a Muslim country in North Africa, this is almost startlingly. I at first wonder if it’s just me, not having been around churches for a couple of years, until the others tell me that they are very aware of it in Uganda as well.

The food of Uganda-all things banana. Although there it is primarily of the matoke variety-more starchy than sweet. Our first dinner in Uganda at Trish and Tim’s is cooked by their housekeeper Eunice, and it is a traditional meal. We have posho (like cornmeal), matoke (which she has cooked down over coals in banana leaves) and millet-the 3 staple foods of Uganda. They are accompanied by what are referred to as “sauces”- sautéed greens, beef stewed, beans and a ground nut sauce. Not the most flavorful meal I’ve ever had-feels heavy-starchy, but delighted to have the chance to eat a traditional meal.

Quite the contrast is our 2nd day in Kampala, where we had “meat on a stick” for lunch. Ugandan fast food. You pull over to the side of the road where they’re grilling meat on bamboo skewers and cooking matoke bananas on a grill. As soon as you pull over, you’re surrounded by people trying to push their skewers into your window for you to buy them. Two skewers, no fat, and one banana per person and we’re on our way chowing down in mere minutes.

Uganda-Pearl of Africa; Part 2 The Manarins

I’ve got to pay homage to the Manarin family who opened their home and their hearts to us for our week in Uganda. A bit about this inspiring family….

Trish and Tim are both ordained Baptist ministers. Tim is currently working for the US Embassy in Uganda. They met when they both were doing missionary work in Africa-Tim in Uganda and Trish in Zambia. They are living a relatively “good life” as Embassy folks, which comes with things like a housekeeper/cook/babysitter, gardener, guards, etc. Trish is almost apologetic and advises us to just relax and enjoy it while we have it-don’t even bother to make our beds as Eunice will re-do them anyway.

They have 3 wonderful kids-Peter, Nathaniel and darling Maggie (who let me “bunk” with her in her room-thanks Maggie!). These kids are going to have such rich lives-incredible experiences. One thing that really strikes me is their creativity. Case in point-they had to entertain themselves and one another for the 12 hour ride to and from the west of Uganda. That’s right. No video. No electronic games. Their own imaginations.

Trish and Tim also serve their mission within their Kampala/Ugandan community in several ways.

First off is our visit to the Kampiringisa National Rehabilitation Center. This is a center for youth who have committed crimes, have been abandoned by their families or collected off the streets of Kampala (this perhaps some clean up prior to the start of the African Union meeting starting that same week). The living conditions are spare to say the least. The wife of an Embassy worker somehow connected with the site and has blogged about it. Trish connected with her and got involved. A couple men from Atlanta also connected via her blog and have become involved. Improvements are already under way. Example-the porridge meals used to be dumped on the floor for the kids to eat w/their hands. The blogger has brought in plastic plates for them to eat off of. The Atlanta guys are photo documenting the conditions and kids stories (see www.sixtyfeet.org) to help raise funds back in the states to improve conditions. We visited with the kids, shared in worship with them, brought some treats and then had to take our leave. Two of the children who are orphans-no family but no bad behavior-who Trish has really taken under her wing-were moved to Mama Kathryn’s orphanage in Kampala while we were there-where they’ll both get needed medical care (pinworm, conjunctivitis) and decent nutrition. The Atlanta guys were also in town while we were there. They brought along a Pediatrician who was able to examine a bunch of the kids. The filmmaker spent the night to get better/more real footage to bring back to the US to share w/church groups. They’ve only been involved a few months and are already making a significant difference in these children’s lives. Inspiring.

Trish is also very involved with the American School where Peter and Nathaniel go. Our second day we headed over to the school for a craft fair that Trish helped organize. There were students from US-based Eastern University there to help artisans with their business skills. Great to see the different types of both traditional and contemporary handicrafts the artisans are making. Made a few purchases and took some photos to bring back to share with the Adwal women.

Everywhere we go I am impressed by the service orientation of staff. Morocco could take a few lessons from Uganda.

Uganda-Pearl of Africa; Part 3 Gorillas

Only 700 mountain gorillas in the world. Half of them are in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Permits to track the gorillas are hard to come by and will set you back $500 per person. Only 2 groups of up to 8 people per day are allowed to track. The Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is at about 6500 feet, near the Zambia/Congo/Rwanda/Uganda border and 550km (342 miles) from Kampala, thus the 12 hour drive to get there.

Trish and Tim worked their magic to get us the 3 permits we needed. They and the boys went on another community excursion while we (Lynn, Andrew and I) tracked the gorillas (children under age 15 are not allowed). Our first destination was a lake-side place called the Nkuringo Safari Lodge-a welcome stop off the rough dirt road after 12 hours. The boys went out on the lake in a pontoon boat while we had a chance to talk w/the Country Director of Peace Corps Uganda, who coincidentally was also staying there (in one of the 6 cabins!)-and knew it was him because Trish and Tim and he are friends.

Trish had the foresight to arrange for a driver for Lynn, Andrew and I the next morning so the rest of them could sleep in while we went on our gorilla trek. Good thing she did, as I’m not sure that their 4WD would have made it up the roads to where we started. The entire group of 16 gathered at 9am and we were off on one of the most strenuous hikes I’ve been on (maybe 2nd to Tiger’s Nest Monastery in Bhutan). We had to hike in about 2 hours to start off, with the lead guide on walkie-talkie with the trackers who go out early to try and spot the gorillas to tell the guides which way to hike in. That was the easy part-plenty of very steep incline and descents into the mountains, but usually on paths that had been used before. Once we met up w/the trackers, they pointed the guides in the right direction and the adventure really began. We hiked another 1/2 -1 hour until we came upon our first female gorilla, sitting and eating leaves. She didn’t sit long-and she took the rest of the group with her, moving constantly up the mountain. This is when the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest lived up to its name-we were trekking by machete-up, down, thru-wherever the gorillas went, we tried to follow or anticipate, while maintaining at least 70m distance (to prevent disease transmission)-and unfortunately they were going up! They finally mostly climbed into trees to eat and nap and we could stay still, try for photos and observe them, but only for another ½ hour, as each group is limited to 1 hour of observation/day. We never did get a good glimpse of the big silverback (most mature male of the group), as he was high in the trees the whole time. I have to say, it still amazes me when I look at my photos to think that these were actually gorillas in the wild.

After our all-too-brief hour was up, we still had 2 ½ hours of hiking out of the forest. Gotta say that we earned our keep that day-exhilarated but really exhausted. Our driver had gone on the hike with us-2 of the women in the group had an extra permit-seems some Americans they knew got spooked by the bombings and left the country early, giving them the permit to give away. He’d never trekked the gorillas, so was very appreciative. He got us over to our next lodge-the Wagtail-where we met up with the Menarins for dinner, a campfire, and some local storytelling/singing from a pygmy family (the pygmies of that region were pushed out of the Impenetrable Forest to protect the gorillas).

Up and out early the next morning for what turned out to be a “quick” 10 ½ hour return to Kampala. Unfortunately it was also our last day, as Lynn, Andrew and I flew out the following day (Monday) via Dubai to Casablanca.

OK, I lied. One more blog before I take off for Uganda. I "splurged" last night-all of 50 dollars-for a room at Hotel Balima in Rabat to kick off my Uganda vacation: Can't get to the airport in Casablanca from REK in one day to make my flight; so took advantage to escape the heat, grab a shower-where a clean towel, soap and hot water are provided-and watch TV. Yes, the World Cup final.

True confession? I'm a real soccer novice. This was the first soccer match I've watched beginning to end. Soccer became poular in the US after my school days and with no kids I didn't spend my weekends sitting on the sidelines as a soccer mom. Just never had a reason to tune in.

Well, let me tell you, soccer is king in Morocco. Events, evenings, the rhythm of the town has revolved around the televised matches. So, when in Rome....

I had no idea that soccer was so much like basketball-and I love a good basketball game-esp NCAA Final Four-whoever is playing. The fancy footwork, ball handling, sprints, defense coverage, dirty plays, fouls and theatrics-several Oscar worthy performances last night-soccer's got it all. Call me a convert.

One last email before shutting down the computer Saturday night initially really pissed me off. I've decided instead that it's a great lesson for the Coop.

I've exchanged several emails with a woman who is starting an e-commerce business in the US to sell products on etsy.com. She wants to source artisanal products from Morocco-or so she says. Anyway, I get her linked to Adwal's website http://adwal.wordpress.com and she told me she wanted me to submit photos of final products and all the other required specs. No problem-happy to do so. I spent several hours Saturday explaining all of this to Zahra -yeah- to someone who doesn't use a computer, that a woman who's starting an internet business to sell product on another internet site, and oh by the way, you don't actually sell anything until someone orders, then you've got to produce in 3 weeks, etc.. They want to pursue it. I spend a couple hours hauling products out to the construction rock pile out back-makes a nice neutral backdrop-in the over 105 degree heat, get all the specs and head back to my apt to spend the next 4 hours compiling all of the information, editing and posting photos; all of it in a form to send out. Within 2 hours I receive back a "thanks but no thanks" response with the explanation that quality, colors and photos need to be perfect for online sales and these don't cut it.

My initial reaction is to want to shoot off a reply that people who want to buy a hand-spun, naturally dyed wool, hand-woven w/indigenous design hanbel from Morocco usually really appreciate the imperfections that come from all that handwork. And by the way, you saw this work on the website photos so what changed? Why have me do this work if this is the case?

I managed to restrain myself from sending that email. Instead, I will use this when I return as a great lesson for Adwal. First lesson-who do you want to sell to-because here's feedback on US internet sales-they may place no value on "artistry" and want perfection. Do you look for other customers or work to improve your quality, or both? Second lesson-it takes a lot of work to find and develop selling connections-you've got to be willing to send tons of emails, respond, send information, follow up-and most wont pay off. How bad to you want it? What are you willing to do? Your choice.

Nice to have had all week here in town, especially given the heat-don’t want to travel if I can help it.

There’s nothing like waking up at 5am to the unique ululating of women at a wedding celebration to be reminded that, no Toto, this isn’t Kansas, this is Morocco in July. With all the weddings that I know about the next 2 nights, not to mention those I’m unaware of, the nights promise to be a bit long. Oh well, it is after all, Wedding Season.

So a bit about the wedding/marriage process here in Morocco. The marriage is official when the couple sign the paperwork at a government office. That’s all it takes. The often-lengthy celebration is just that-a chance to celebrate w/friends and family.

And to help Nora-one of the Adwal apprentices-celebrate the wedding of her sister tomorrow, we all traipsed up to her house on Tuesday for lunch. This is a typical pattern for the days-long wedding celebrations.

First you have extensive lunches w/your women friends-usually ensconced in different salons and served one after another, multiple course lunches. First the salad. Then the chicken. Then the beef. Then the couscous. Then the fruit. All washed down with ’limonada’-usually Coke or Orange Fanta. It’s enough to put a diabetic in a coma. The women are all dressed in nice jellabas. (Note-it was over 100 degrees in the house, the women wear their usual 2 layers under the jellaba-I’m almost passing out in my lightweight pants and top-they’ve got to be ready to keel over). Then the tables are moved aside, the Moroccan CD is put in the player and the dancing begins. In this heat, it thankfully doesn’t last long, and after 5 hours, we say our “b’slama’s” and depart. The wedding gift is brought to this celebration and the guests leave w/a small package of hlwa (cookies).

The next day (or later that same day), the bride and her closest girlfriends and female family members will have their henna done. Traditionally for the bride this means the front and back of her hands and her feet will be dipped in henna.

The next 2-3 days are parties-bands are either hired or friends volunteer to play or a CD is played. Dancing and incredibly long nights waiting in salons for your turn to eat are the norm. Some rural towns take it a bit further with the bride and groom consummating the marriage during the first night-with the sheet brought out and displayed as evidence of the bride’s purity. Thankfully I’ve not witnessed this bit of tradition.

One of the nights a group with the bride and groom will get in the back of a pickup, along with the musicians, and ride around town, playing their music, honking the horn and blowing horns. You try to remember to smile in happiness for the newlyweds at 3 in the morning when they go by your place-my apologies if I forget to do so at that hour. All of this will of course be photographed and videotaped-and you’ll be subjected to viewing these tapes over and over at the bride’s house after the wedding.

So do I have you convinced yet that you need to experience this? It’s pretty common that PCVs will look forward to their first wedding and all the hoopla, and immediately afterward start strategizing on how to avoid attending any more of them. It’s just not that fun to be packed in a hot salon all night w/mostly strangers, most of them not even conversing, in show of support to the couple, when you could be getting a good night’s rest. But culture dictates a certain level of participation, and we all get pretty good at being able to negotiate limited appearances.

Even with Khalid and Siham’s wedding celebration-the only one I’m truly sad to miss-I’d be working out how to attend only some of it, as I don’t know their families in El Menzel-only know the 2 of them. Maybe it’s just as well that I’ll be gone and can come back and take them out somewhere in Fes to celebrate afterward.

I also had a chance to meet Pete’s family on Wednesday. They’re in Morocco visiting for just a week, and spending most of it in Fes. They hired a driver to come to REK, to see where Pete lives and meet the people he works with. They were delightful-felt bad for them travelling in the heat, but they were going back to their air conditioned hotel in Fes. I took them down to see the Adwal women where they bought a handira (God Bless their parents) and they were going for a walk and lunch in town when I left them to run errands.

Jess came over from Sefrou yesterday so we could complete the logo workshop for the Women’s Association (Jam3ia Mawahib Wataqat, or ATPF for the French translation). I confirmed w/Meriem on Tuesday that it was for 11am NEW time. Jess and I were about 15 minutes late. Only Meriem and her sister Hasna are there. Where’s everyone else? Oh, they’re coming. OK, we’ll go have a Coke. Come back at noon. Still Meriem and Hasna. Where are the other women? I’ll call them so they’ll come. OK. We finally get started at 1:30. OK, so I know this is how things work in Morocco-why don’t I just chill out and accept it, yak?

The women select the design they want to go with from the mock-ups that Jess has prepared. I’ve sent it on to Emily-PCV in Oulmes-who is going to Photoshop it so it can be used in print materials (God Bless her parents).

Jess really needed to get to Fes, but the women had cooked lunch, won’t we stay? Since I had recently felt rather ungracious w/Salwa’s visit to find host families, I felt obliged to stay. Convinced Jess to do so as well, as this is the only thing they can do for us-cook for us-and it is their way of thanking us for our help. Least we could do is be gracious guests. Glad we did-unbeknownst to us, they had prepared a feast! Salad and this wonderful eggplant/tomato spread (I really need to learn how to make it-one of my favorite Moroccan foods). Two whole chickens for the 9 of us-that’s a TON of meat to feed us. Fresh baked bread-right out of the oven. Yum! Thanks to the ATPF women and especially to Jess for her help in putting together the logos for them.

I went by the couscous coop today-OK, I’ll confess, I really went to buy some miloui for my breakfast. It’s one of those yummy guilty pleasures that I keep myself from buying very often, but had a hankering for it today. All the women were there. Friday’s a big day for their little ristura (restaurant-3 tables) where they cook up the couscous for lunch-they pack in the single men after mosque.

It was great to see that they’ve been producing couscous-using different grains and incorporating herbs with some. They’re still working on their packaging, but have put up a little display case to sell from. I asked if they had labels yet for their packages and Latifa informed me that they do-tbarkalimum!

So I’ve spent the rest of this morning working on my post-COS-cruise itinerary. You see, we’re now only 4 months from Close of Service (COS), and I’ve got the 2 weeks between COS and the trans-Atlantic cruise to travel-just have to be in Barcelona for the cruise departure on Nov 28th.

I’ve decided to see Spain, specifically Granada and Barcelona. I don’t want to schlep all over the place in those 2 weeks, but really see a couple of places. Jess was the one to convince me to go to Granada. Since she lived in Spain for 7 years, her recommendation carries a lot of weight. I’ve got inquiries out to hotels and apartments in both places and hope to have them both booked shortly. I’ve told others who are still contemplating their post–COS-cruise plans that they’re welcome to join me, but I’m going ahead w/my plans, even if I travel solo in Spain.

And then of course, I’ve got to get myself packed for Uganda. Yes, we’re gonna go trek for gorillas! Trish, Lynn and Andrew’s friend in Uganda, has been awesome in getting us the permits (limited access to trek), accommodations, etc. that we need. I’ll head to Rabat this Sunday and leave from Casablanca on Monday. We meet up in Entebbe on Tuesday, and from there, I’m going w/whatever plans have been made. Really nice that someone else is doing the planning. Oh my gosh, I might see gorillas-in their natural habitat. Wow.

After Uganda, Lynn, Andrew and I will be travelling back to Morocco together. They’ll only have a few days, so I’ve booked a riad in Fes for us where we can explore from. We’ll have 2 full days in Fes, will do a day trip to REK so I can show them my town and the people I work with, then we have to head back to Casablanca for their trip back to the states. It will be great to see them and catch up-haven’t seen them since their wedding 2 years ago.

Since I won’t be taking my computer with me to Uganda, this will be the last posting until afterward, so stay tuned for photos and updates!

You get invited to 6 weddings in a single day.

You spot the berber tents going up on rooftops all around town.

You lose count of how many liters of water you’ve consumed w/o going to the bathroom.

You choose what to wear by its ‘sweat’ factors-will it make you and how bad will it show?

Weird mountain storm winds w/o the cooling release of the storm.

The water pressure is gone by 3pm, not back on til 9pm at earliest.

You start having electricity blackouts (as I write this).

You have to chase down your clean laundry that’s blown off the roof (make that once-clean laundry).

No one wants to work much-on vacation-oh dear, how can it get worse w/Ramadan next month?

You sit and type this w/as little clothing on as possible, given that someone may come on the roof of the house across the alley and see you.

You worry that your computer will either crash or self-immolate from the heat.

Your only small fan is facing said computer to keep it, not you, cool.

You avoid travel so you don't have to ride a nql or grand taxi w/people getting sick all around you.

You cook as little as humanly possible and still eat. Eating is not much fun either.

How many meals of baguette and Laughing Cow before it’s considered malnutrition?

How many hours and to what degree of sweating counts as aerobic?

You feel no guilt for NOT putting in the Pilates CD to work out. Heck, walking up from the Coop was my workout today. And yesterday. And probably tomorrow. Because the next 3 days promise temps over 109. And there’s no escaping it. No a/c to cool off. No cars with a/c to go for a cool ride.

Just heat.

And it’s only July.

It completely escaped me that this is 4th of July weekend. Happy Fourth to everyone! No holiday here or reminders, so it’s not until I’m asked if I want to come to party that I realize that it’s a national US holiday. Oh well. And I'm gonna miss the PCV celebrations. I’m pooped from travelling and trying to coordinate meetings in this heat. Wanna get home tomorrow, so will skip the festivities.

June was so nice that I think I’d forgotten the toll that the heat can take on you, especially when travelling.

Had a good meeting w/Amy at AUI on Wednesday. She has an interesting business proposition for me, but it would require that I stay in Morocco right after COS, and I’m not willing to do that. She’s left open the possibility of talking about it again after I’m back in the US and have time on my hands. It has to do with a business she’d like to start-producing artisanal home furnishings and selling in the US. Never say never.

Made it as far as Azrou on Wednesday to stay over at Colin’s place. First time there-he gets PCVs staying over 2-3 nights each week, as his town is a major Moroccan transportation hub. Nice place. Great host-very easygoing despite all the visitors. Thanks for your flexibility, Colin.

Thursday Emily D and I got an early start for Khenifra to check out the carpet washing guys. Hot, hot, hot. Get to see their Coop weavers in production-they get a lot of command orders from clients in the US and Marrakech. We then had them take us to where they do the actual washing-I wanted to see the process and the finished product. They weren’t actually doing the washing, but took lots of photos to compare the “before” and “after”. Supposedly this is a required step in the new Ministry quality standards for export. It’s really a 2-3 man operation. The Coop has women who weave beautiful zrbya-many in the prized Beni Ourain style. Then the 3 guys take their Coop zrbya and those of other weavers who pay for the service to their place outside of town by the river where they chemically treat/wash the carpets. They’re not set up for volume, but the result is clearly better. Whether it’s worth the added cost and hassle factor of getting zrbya to the guys to process is another questions. Will write up a summary of what we found and send it to the PC office to share w/other PCVs.

Poor Emily-I think she had a touch of heat stroke, as she had a terrific headache and vomiting all through the day. Not an easy thing to deal w/under the best of circumstances, and here she was travelling across Morocco in high heat. She did make it up to Fes and after a cold shower, fluids and a good night’s sleep, she was good to go on Friday.

Before leaving Khenifra, we had a chance to have lunch w/Annie and Michael-the 2 SBD PCVs posted there. Said a sad farewell to Annie, as she is ET’ing (that’s Early Terminating her PC service), and leaves for the states tomorrow. This is her second PC tour, she’s been PC staff and had other jobs overseas. She always told her daughters that if they wanted her back state-side, they just had to say so. And they did. So she’s US-bound. PC Morocco’s loss.

Emily and I made it up to Fes in good time, and she got her room quickly to get some rest. I headed over to Gail’s where Cynthia and her host sister were in the middle of a major ‘jam camp’. They had been making watermelon jam for 2 days, watermelon syrup, almond butter, and needed to complete the cooking and get it all in jars and sterilized for Gail’s Fez Foods business. Fez Foods is slated to open up (inchallah) in September-right under Café Clock-to sell artisanal food products of Morocco. Hopefully I can get the REK Women’s Assn going with their cheese-Gail says she’s interested in potentially selling it in her shop.

I also had a chance to see Khalid at work at Café Clock. He’s my tutor ( make that WAS my tutor)who Mike has employed as his assistant-and delighted to find that it’s working out really well all around. Siham, Khalid’s girlfriend, has found a new position w/a private school in Fes, so that means they get to get married. Ham-du-li-lah! I am so terribly excited for the 2 of them! The only sad note is that the wedding celebration is going to be in 2 weeks, while I am in Uganda. Bummer. The only wedding celebration I’ve been interested in attending since I’ve been in Morocco and I will miss it. Tfoo! (In Morocco, you’re married once you both sign the paperwork at the gov’t office-no ceremony even. However, you’re not really married in the eyes of family until you’ve gone thru the typical 3 day celebration w/friends, family and your community). I will take them out when I get back from Uganda to celebrate with them. Tbarkalikum Khalid and Siham!

Yesterday was full, hot, productive and long. I took Eric and Emily all over Fes to introduce them to the Ministry folks, printers, suppliers, venues, etc. for the next Marche Maroc Fes. Back to Gail’s to see the finishing touches of the jam/butter/etc. production and catch up a bit w/Rebecca who was on her way thru Fes. Quick shower and joined Gail and friends on Josephine’s rooftop to help Gail celebrate her birthday. I headed back to Gail’s about 2am to sleep while the rest headed out dancing until 5am.

‘Cuz I was then up to get my act together for a meeting w/other PCVs to develop the proposal for the future/sustainability of Marche Maroc. Good meeting-great input-so glad we got together-as usual, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and I think we’ve ended up w/the elements of a terrific proposal.

I also had a chance to see Becky and Faye-both up from the deep south of Morocco-again, coincidentally in Fes. Great to see them-they’re both in the Youth Development sector, but went thru training the same timing as mine, so I don’t get to see them often. Mike L. is also in town w/his parents and brother who are visiting from the states. They did a couscous-making workshop yesterday thru Fez Foods (Cynthia and her host sister managed to run it in between the jam making) at Café Clock. Mike was then able to join us for our MM strategy meeting this afternoon. His mom then joined us for lunch, but unfortunately his dad is under the weather-likely due to the heat and dehydration-not atypical in this type of weather and unusual diet. They’ve had to cancel their trip to Taza tomorrow, but probably better lying low a bit vs trying to travel further east (hotter) when not feeling your best.

Gail’s been an absolute gem. Cynthia and her host sister cooking here for 2 days. I had a hotel reservation, but they wrote down the wrong dates. I got a different place to stay on Thursday. Then yesterday I show up for my room and turns out for 150DH (relatively expensive on PC standards, but only about $20) they have this room that’s about 40 sq ft, no window and a shower stall in the corner, on the roof and it’s stifling hot. Sweat is pouring off of me as soon as I step inside the room. No way I can stay there at any price. The riad is right across from Gail’s so I knock on her door and she saw the desperation (and profuse sweat) on my face and told me to stay at her place instead. God Bless her parents!

So after spending about 5 hours on Café Clock’s rooftop today-for meetings, lunch, catching up-all in the breeze of an impending mountain thunderstorm, I head to Gail’s to dump my stuff before heading out for more errands. I shut her front door as the skies open up. Now I’m just waiting out the rain to decide what’s next-errands, meet up w/Becky? Mike? Early to bed? Who knows. But it will be an early night. Then off to finish errands and back to REK tomorrow morning.

Happy Fourth-fire up the barbecue and have an ice cold beer in a frosty glass for me!