Whenever I think of last winter all I remember is miserably cold weather and wearing lots and lots of layers.

Last winter I wore wool thermals for about 4 months straight - indoors, outdoors, while traveling, while sleeping. I wore at least 2 fleece jackets to bed each night. I slept in the confining space of a 20 degree sleeping bag with blankets piled on top for months on end. When I finally got the nerve to experience the momentary exposure that comes with changing clothes I would almost always be surprised by the shirt I was wearing. The shirt had been hidden under so much clothing that I had forgotten exactly which shirt I was wearing! Freezing cold toes to warm up each night before falling asleep, pumping and rubbing hands and fingers after each washing due to frigid tap water. Drinking a full cup of water usually means shivering for the next 20 minutes while the body recovers from taking in all that cold liquid.

Having experienced a good amount of this winter season, I began to wonder if I was overdoing the memory of how cold it was last year. So far this winter its been cold, but not super cold. I can wash my hands and not cringe because of the cold temperature of the water. I can walk around outside without my ears and cheeks freezing. I havent even thought about putting on thermals! I use the sleeping bag as a blanket - not zipped up. I can sleep in a thin fleece pullover and be warm.

As of yesterday all that has changed. Its COLD today. Very cold. It snowed in the surrounding mountains last night. The tap water is noticeably colder, its very cold outside, a quick walk to the corner store will leave your fingers and ears freezing. I can see my breath in the air as I write this. I was hoping we would pass this winter without having these really cold times.

Im just happy to know that these cold times will pass. Im sure this summer, like last summer, will be miserably hot. Ill sweat all night. I cant wait.

Im shrinking while here in Morocco. A few scattered ideas to prove it.

I gave my favorite pair of pants from the States away a long time ago. They were a little too big in the US and they quickly became much too big in Morocco.

The ring I used to wear on the ring finger is too big to be there comfortably. Now the ring is always on the index finger.

A leather belt has been tightened two notches from where it was in the US. Its on the last notch.

This summer I started wearing my watch one notch smaller - it kept doing a 180 on my wrist.

Another thought. With so much talk of going green and being easier in the environment, Ive decided that joining Peace Corps is one of the most eco-friendly things I could have done. Im never in an automobile with fewer than 7 passengers. I ride the bus on long trips. I eat fresh fruits and veggies that are grown close to where I live - all organic and probably grown without much fertilizer. I dont use napkins. I dont ever eat out or get food 'to go'. My family here keeps food scraps to feed to chickens and other animals. I get 4 pieces of mail each month - no junk mail. I walk or ride my bike everywhere I go in town. The majority of electricity I use probably goes to my computer. Aside from that I have an fluorescent light bulb in my bedroom.

I should be more mindful of the use of plastic bags. I use way to many of these, and while I usually save them and use them for something else, I need to reduce my dependence.

Its been a while. Sorry.

This week all the people who are at their one year mark in Morocco went to the capital, Rabat, for

Mid Service Medicals. We all got standard check-ups and went to the dentist. For some it was a chance to see the Peace Corps doctors face to face and get some medical issues resolved, for others it was an easy all-expense-paid week in the 'big city'. I had a great time in Rabat. I had spent only one weekend there before, so I was experiencing Rabat for the first time.

Three things about the trip really stand out to me.1) I dont think I saw a cloud in the sky the entire week!2) US Ambassador & Mrs. Kaplan had all of the Volunteers in Rabat for medical check-ups over to their lovely home for dinner. Mrs. Kaplan made wonderful soups for all of us.3) A wonderful American family in Rabat had 2 friends and I over to their house for dinner. It was a unique experience and I had a great time. We even had Hershey Kisses for dessert!

Things Ive really been missing this week

1. Cafe Rio2. Fuddruckers3. Showering like I used to shower back home4. Soy milk ice cream5. Buying packs of cookies and not having them all be broken

When I first moved to this small community in the Atlas mountains of Morocco (nearly a year ago this time), I was thrilled by something I had never done in the United States. Never before had I eaten a pomegranate. While living for a short time with a wonderful host family we would eat pomegranates every night after dinner.

As the winter came in full force pomegranates fell out of season. For nearly a year now Ive been excited by the thought of eating pomegranates again. I kept asking my host mother "When do they come back in season?" or "Are they on sale yet?".

Anyway, now that pomegranate season is back in full swing I realize that my memory of eating them last year is better than actually eating them this year. It takes so much time to dig out each little morsel, and after all that effort, its so small. Then you dig and dig again and again... You touch the outside of the pomegranate and get you fingers all dirty, then they're dirty as your digging and digging for each little morsel.

For me its quite a bit of work for such a little thing. I still eat them and I enjoy them, but the memory is by far sweeter than reality.

In an effort to provide a view into the world in which I live Ill talk about spoken language. I live in the mountains of Morocco, an area that has been home to indiginious Amazight people (AKA Berber) for a very long time. The Amazight have a long and colorful history of fighting off invaders and colonizers. Most of the time they were left unruled by the rulers of the day because they live in the mountains which were too inaccessible for the rulers to bother with them.

Anyway, signs of the past can still be seen today. Some people feel that the Amazight are under represented in government and that many mountainous areas of Morocco are not getting a fair share of government funding. Another way in which the Amazight still show signs of keeping seperate is the language they speak. The Amazight have their own language and writing system. Here in the mountains Amazight pride is strong. They are proud of their unique heritage and their uniqueness among the whole of Moroccos people, a fact that is easily seen in their language use.

Amazight is the language of the street here, its the language the vast majority of people speak in their homes (however, almost everyone here is at least bilingual; speaking Arabic or Amazight with the same proficiency). I often get asked a rapid-firing series of questings when I meet someone new. I dont know Amazight, Im an Arabic speaking Volunteer, so when I greet someone in Arabic they'll usually say 'Oh, you speak Arabic?' the next question, almost without fail will be 'Do you speak Amazight?'. When I tell them I dont I usually get the same response: You should learn Amazight. (Sometimes I wish I could get at least a little credit for having learned Arabic, but it doesnt usually happen. And then I get extra bothered when they say 'Do you speak French?' -I dont - 'You should learn French too').

Amazight is so common here there will be times, say while riding in a taxi, that I will completely blank out the chatter thats going on because chances are they're speaking Amazight and I wont understand. Sometimes Ill be surprised when I finally realize that they ARE speaking Arabic. How nice. Now I have a chance to understand what they are saying. The same goes for the street. Ill be sitting among a group of people and I figure they're speaking Amazight. It always surprises me when they're speaking Arabic. (What dictates if a conversation is in Amazight or Arabic? If you usually talk in one language is there a reason to switch to the other (ie because of the subject of the conversation)? Do the people here notice if theyre talking in Arabic or Amazight? How are you percieved differently by people here in town based on which language you use to address them?).

So I guess Ive painted a decent picture. I usually dont have any idea what people are talking about (because its in a language I dont speak). Ive learned a few Amazight words and some Amazight words are the same as Arabic, so I can usually pick up a few things, but not much. I live in a world where I figure unless someone is talking directly to me they're speaking a language I dont know. A strange reality, perhaps, but its the one Ive lived in for over a year now.

Sometimes people will speak Amazight and Ill be able to respond to what they're saying (in Arabic, of course) and they're usually caught off guard (again, I dont understand very much at all, but I can catch on to a few things). The other day I was having lunch with some people and in Amazight they said something like 'Wait, he [Logan] will eat the rest of that...' Then I said, 'Oh, no, Im done. Thanks.' Everyone there was surprised I had understood.

So thats a glimpse into my experience here in Morocco. Life here is great.

'Bless us in Our Daily Lives' may or may not become a regular installment on this blog, a place for me to put random notes about my life in Morocco. None of the following paragraphs are meant to be related to one another - just thoughts. Thanks for reading.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer Ive had to adjust to being called all sorts of names. Theres Eisam, my 'Arabic name', that many people call me. Beyond that, I had to learn to respond to the actual names and Arabic names of previous Volunteers to serve in this small town (Richard, Rachid, Tim, Hatim). Ive also had to adjust to answer when someone yells out the name of Volunteers (past and present) from nearby towns (Jessie, Yusif, Badr). Ive even been called names of long gone Volunteers that have lived in different cities (Steven).

It seems the local police authorty has restricted the use of the field where the towns trash is thrown. Normally a guy with a donkey pulling a cart full of trash comes by several times a week to collect garbage from our neighborhood. With nobody coming to collect the garbage, certain places (empty lots, parts of the market that are typically full of vegitable vendors on market days, street corners, wide sidewalks... you name it) have become makeshift depositories for peoples trash. Not only does it smell and look bad, its a downright health risk to have so much trash accumulating in town....

Another part of our blessed daily lives here is that there are many, many, many stray/wild dogs roaming around. Ive never known one to be aggressive for no reason, and most of them head for the hills during the day so I dont see many of them while the sun is out. Ive had nights where I wake up and cant go back to sleep because there are so many dogs barking. Im not kidding. They fight, they bark, they run past my house and make noise, and those are only the dogs that are nearby. At night you can always hear dogs fighting or barking off in the distance. I dont know why someone doesnt take care of the problem. Anyway, as trash piles around town growing bigger with each passing hour, the wild dogs are having a hayday! All those leftovers, all those fish heads, all those empty tuna cans to lick out. All they have to do is tear apart the pile of trash to find all those suculent smells, grow bigger, become stronger and reproduce. And with so many trash plies around town, each dog can have its own pile, and its added to daily! Perhaps all dogs do go to heaven. Perhaps doggy heaven is, at least these days, this small town in the mountains of Morocco with no garbage men/donkies.

Now that Ramadon is over schools are getting into the full swing of things. Its interesting to me as Ive asked different students - most of them headding of to the University for the first time - when classes begin, Ive been told anywhere from 'Not tomorrow but the next day' to 'Not for another three weeks'. The most alarming, and most common type of response I get is 'Maybe Monday...' or 'I dont know, maybe in a week'. Here an apparent difference in the culture I grew up in and the culture I currently live in: many people arent sure when classes begin, and its no problem for them.

Well, Ramadon is over. The calendar for such things is based on the lunar calendar, so you never exactly know when Ramadon will end in any given year. This year it lasted for a day longer so we knew the last day of Ramdon would be the 20th - it could have ended on the 19th if everything worked out lunar wise, but it didnt, so everyone knew it would end the following day.

To celebrate the end of Ramadon, a holiday known as 'little feast', people around here walk in the streets and neighborhoods visiting friends and family. Usually children and young adults are given new clothing so the procession in the streets has the tendency to be a time for people to show off a little bit. Not wanting to be shown up - especially in the fashion department - I put on a jellaba (a traditional Moroccan smock; see picture) and the purple dress shirt I got before leaving the US. I have perhaps worn that shirt three times since I bought it so I figured now was a good chance to wear something I packed along clear from the US but hardly ever wear.

Right when I left the house I felt silly. I faintly recalled a quote from Cher about if you're questioning how you look when you dress up you're on the right track to fashion. Drawing upon Cher as my strength I left the house anyway without changing what I was wearing. The first people I saw, a few neighbor kids, immediately started laughing and asked me if I was going to go to the mosque and pray (because I was wearing the jellaba). I could expect as much from the neghbor kids, so I kept walking. Then I passed a mother and her child and the child began to laugh, then the mother let a little chuckle loose. After I rounded the corner to my host families house I saw some more neighbors and they too laughed out loud.

I should have started humming one of Chers songs for motivation to keep my chin up but she has so many good songs... how could I humm just one?

When you visit families on this occasion, cookies, cake bread, dates and almonds are usually laid out for visitiors to eat. Tea is always served (except in my case, since I dont drink the tea) and there are things to dip the bread in - honney, olive oil, butter. One is expected to sit and chat for a little while eating all the things on offer. Then you move on to the next house, greeting nearly everyone you see along the way, and have the same things at the next persons house. It usually makes for a lot of sugar in your system and cookie overload.

After I left my host families I went to the host uncles house. I sat there for a while, told them about Madrid and Croatia then moved on. By this point people had stopped laughing at me and I was beginning to feel ok about what I was wearing. Like I said, you greet just about everyone you see in the streets. Because its a special occasion you usually shake hands while gently pushing your cheek against the other guys cheeks, each in turn, each twice (its not done between men and women unless you're family or very well acquainted). It takes a bit of time and as you do it you have to say things like "How are you, are you fine? Im doing fine. Happy 'little feast'. May God grant you grace..." and so on. It can take time. If you stop to greet one person you should greet all the people with them.

There were hordes of young men in some parts of the streets waiting to greet one another. There were a few awkard moments when I saw people I didint know, and they knew they'd have to greet me. What a site I must have been for them: some weird foreigner in a small town in the mountains of Morocco wearing a jellaba and a dress shirt, greeting people and speaking bad Arabic as they celebrate the end of a very Muslim tradition, indeed, Ramadon is a pillar of Islam.

After the host uncles house, and after greeting many people in the streets there and back, I went to the grandmas house. There they had the usual array of cookies and breads and tea. There were also memebers of the extended family - host aunts and uncles and stuff - that I was happy to see. They all pretended like they liked my jellaba. Too bad they probably dont know Cher and her views on fashion that gave me the strength to leave the house that morning. (How do you say "If Cher were here, she'd applaud me for wearing this get-up in public" in Arabic? Anyway... its not important.)

After spending a while at the grandmas house it was nearing 11:30am and I left my house that morning around 8:30 so I was rather feeling like Cinderella must have felt just before midnight - it was time for this princess to get home. I headed for home, greeted about 30 other people in the streets, and ripped off the jellaba once I finally got through the door.

When I came out later people asked me "Wheres the jellaba you were wearing?" With a chuckle Id reply "At home."

All in all the little feast celebration in this small town is a great experience. A time when everyone is happy to celebrate the passing of yet another Ramadon, a time to wish each other well and generally resume the life they left behind nearly 30 days ago.

The harbor at Dubrovnic, Croatia.

The National Park with the cool lakes.

Candace getting some serious meditation in at the botanical gardens in Zagreb, Croatia.

The church where I heard Organ music (and my eyes welled up with tears.... not reall).One of Zagreb, Croatias main plazas.

After 'sleeping' over night in the airport.

Famous sign in Madrid.

I love candy!

Some pictures from Croatia.

Last week I got back from a trip to Croatia, eastern Europe. Croatia was developed, fun, not too expensive, and very kind. I had a great time. We flew from Marrakech to Madrid. We had time to go see Madrid and do some shopping. Then we spent the night at the airport. I dont sleep too well unless Im comfortable. I hardly ever sleep on buses, trains or planes so I didnt get much sleep that night.

The next morning we flew to Munich, Germany for a very fast layover then on to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. We spent 2 days there, going to museums and the botanical garden. We went in an old chruch and I heard the organ. It made me very happy.

After Zagreb we went to a National Park of some beautiful lakes. Its amazing how beautiful the water is there. The next day we did the 12 hour bus ride to the very southern coastal city of Dubrovnic. There are some beaches in Dubrovnic and we hung out at one for a little while, but it was cloudy and windy while we were there so we never got in the water. Dubrovnic has a beautiful walled city filled with tourists, shops and places to eat.

While in Dubrovnic we decided we really needed to take some time out to do laundry. Since every time we've done laundry in the past year we've done it by hand, we set out to buy laundry detergent and asked the hostel for a bucket. After doing a bit of laundry we both remarked that the laundry detergent we got was not very good. It just wasnt working out like the detergent in Morocco. Only the next morning did I realize that the detergent we bought was designed to be used in a machiene, not by hand. I think its funny that we are so used to washing by hand that we didnt bother to think that the soap we purchased might not be for washing by hand!

Two days later we headed north on the coast to a city called Split. Split was nice. It was still pretty cool outside, but the sun was shining for one of the days we were there. We took a ferry out to a nearby island, again with amazing crystal clear light blue water. I swam a little while we were hanging out on the beach there. This trip to Croatia marks the first time Ive seen crystal clear blue ocean water like that.

Soon enough we were on a train headed back to Zagreb, the capital, to catch our flight the next afternoon. We heard about a museum that had a light display exhibit. I was very excited to see it. We found the museum and were escorted into the nearly completely dark exhibit area. As I stumbled around in the dark, fearful of knocking into something while waiting for my eyes to adjust, I thought for sure it must have been some kind of social experiment and there were night vision cameras recording my erratic, fear-filled movements through the room. The exhibit featured only a few light displays but it was very cool. I had never seen anything like that before. In one room there was a circle of lights above your head and as you walked to the center of the room it looked like the circle of light was getting smaller and smaller. In another room there were hundreds of points of lights moving in unison; some moving forward and some moving backward. It was pretty cool; pretty trippy.

Later that afternoon we saw a guy in a park that had a shirt that read "FRESHNESS". Candace and I both knew this type of shirt is very popular in Morocco right now, so when the man passed us we asked him "Where are you from?" We were both shocked when he told us that he is studying in Casablanca. We thought it was pretty funny we were able to guess he might be from Morocco because of his t shirt.

Again, we had an overnight layover in Madrid. Candaces dad, who travels frequently, managed to get us a very nice hotel room at the Hilton Madrid Airport. It was the nicest hotel room Ive ever been in. Im glad we were able to say there - it was much better than sleeping in the airport.

We stayed in hostels while in Croatia. They seemed to be filled with Aussies, which I didnt expect. We met this nice girl from Germany. We even met up with her later on when we were in the same city then we traveled back to the capital together. Candace and I told her she should come to visit Morocco and we'd show her around.

My favorite part was probably the capital city, Zagreb. It has plenty of old stately looking buildings, nice streets, cool resturaunts - we even ate Chineese food - and nice parks all over the place. They have a good tram (street-level subway) system that was good to ride. We never took taxis anywhere. Oh, and some of the taxis were nice, new-ish Mercedes Benz. I even saw a few that were very nice, new Mercedes. I was impressed.

Getting back to Morocco felt nice. Croatia was fun but I missed Morocco quite a bit, I even dreamed about it a few times while away. I got a hard wake-up call to realities of life in Morocco when the guy at the bus station tried to rip me off - WAAAY rip me off - on my bus ticket. Then he made sure, by giving me the wrong ticket, that Id have further problems on the bus after I had left Marrakech. Bless that mans heart (and to do something so horrible to someone during Ramadon is even worse for a God-fearing Muslim)!

So Im back on the coast working another fantastic summer camp. Honestly, I jumped at the chance to get out of my hot hot hot hot hot house and get back on the beach. Camp has been fun.

We still have a few days left of English Immersion camp for Moroccan youth and already we've had the acting US Ambassador visit the camp, the Peace Corps Morocco Director has visited us, we've been to the beach a bunch of times, unlike last camp no campers have gotten black eyes from fights with other campers (keep your fingers crossed), people from the Consulate in Casablanca and some staff from the US Embassy in Rabat. Good times.

All the foregoing excitement notwithstanding, one of the main highlights has got to be a visit I made with two friends to a grocery store here in town. This grocery store is pretty legit by American grocery store standards. I dont often get the chance to go into places like that. As I was stainding at the registers waiting to pay for my items I heard a familiar song on the stores speakers. Living for so long in a Muslim society it took me an extra long time to pinpoint how I knew the song....

I was astonished to realize it was Celin Dion singing 'Oh Holy Night'. What? Really? Oh Holy Night? In July? In a proud Muslim nation? Yes, yes, its true.

Ive said it before, and Ill say it again. Bless Moroccos heart.

Well, Im back home from working summer camp on the coast near Casablanca, Morocco. It was a really good time. I was able to meet some great kids from all over Morocco and expand my ideas about what life in Morocco is like. I was also able to go to the beach a number of times and the weather was great every day.

The US Embassy in Rabat coordinates these summer camps for Moroccan youth. They are English Immersion Camps. Among Moroccan volunteers, Peace Corps Volunteers also work the camp teaching English and leading different activities. The camp lasted for 14 days.

One of my favorite memories was going to the beach with the kids. We'd all get in the water together and stay in a big group. Some of the people there had never been to the beach before so we stayed together for safety. After we were all done swimming we'd go back up on the beach and play on the sand. There are guys that walk around on the beach and sell doughnuts so many of the kids would buy doughnuts after getting out of the water. The doughnuts were really good. I ate quite a few myself.

There was also a carnival in town. One of the shows was a guy riding a motorcycle on the walls of a circular building made of wood. The audience stands at the top and look down into the circle and watch the guy ride around on the walls. It was loud, exhaust-filled and shaky every time he'd drive the motorcycle past your part of the circle. Good times. I actually paid to see him twice. Ha ha. They also had cotton candy at the carnival, and I love cotton candy.

I found some BBQ - REAL BBQ - sauce at a fancy grocery store in town so I went out for hamburgers and fries as often as possible. I cant get hamburgers and fries in the small town where I live so I took full advantage of the situation.

The last night the camp served hamburgers. Dont tell anyone else, but I ate 4 of them right then and there. Ha ha. And at that point I was out of BBQ sauce so I ate them just as they were. They were pretty good though. I have no regrets.

All in all it was a nice time out on the coast. It was great to see a different part of Morocco and help the kids at the camp. There were 16 Peace Corps Volunteers working the camp and it went really well. I think all the kids had fun.

We also got visits from the minister of Youth and Sports for all of Morocco. She is an Olympic Gold Medalist. When she came news crews came with her - there is a picture below of her and the news cameras. We also got two visits from people from the US Embassy in Rabat. It was nice to have them come visit and hang out with the kids.

We also had a fashion show and a Halloween night, as pictured below. The classrooms for the camp were usually outside under big tents - as you can see in one of the photos. Enjoy.

So I want to get something clear here. All my posts lately have been of photos of me doing fun stuff, traveling around Morocco and stuff. Most of the trips Ive taken lately have been work related. I just got back from a week in Marrakech for In Service Training and most of the week we were in long sessions learning about stuff. Of course, I ve only posted fun or interesting photos.

I hope nobody gets the idea that all Im doing is goofing around and not working. On the contrary, I dont post photos of or text about work because its all I do all day every day and I dont figure anyone really wants to hear how I had a difficult time teaching about phrasal verbs so students can pass their English exams.

Typically I work 5 days a a week for a few hours teaching English classes at one of three locations around town. It keeps me pretty busy.

But, when I do get out and do fun things, Im excited to share them with friends and family back home. So enjoy.

Meetings in Marrakech for our In Service Training

Me eating Top Ramen - WOW. Soo tasty! Election leaflets scattered on jema fin'a - the famous square in Marrakech.

My friend and I in Marrakech.

Near the Sahara desert.

Lunch time. Watermellon seed spitting contest. Dressed up for dinner with a Moroccan family.

Island in the Lake Picnic, 2009

Getting ready for the swim race (out to the guy on the tube and back).

Sack races.

Tug 'o war

On the way home - over an hour on the slow moving barge. It was a great day.

I thought Id update the blog with photos, but its just not going to happen. The internet around town is acting up. Oh well. Ill do it tomorrow.... maybe.

Things around here have been going really well. It was warm for nearly a week, then we had a cool weekend, but its warmed up today.

I did laundry (by hand) this morning and its hanging on the line to dry as I type this.

Last weekend I went with a local association to an island in the middle of the nearby lake. They rented a boat to take everyone - 200 people all together.

There were many activities to do like cliff/rock jumping (I did it a bunch of times), tug of war, sack races, foot races, swimming races. Good times. One kid did something to make his head bleed a bit, Im not sure what he did, but he was ok.

By the time the afternoon came I was ready to get off the island and back to home. It was a fun trip and a great chance to get to know other pepople from the community.

Well, I spent the last week traveling around Morocco, visiting old friends, spending time in Marrakech and going to a cool Rose Festival in a town on the edge of the great African Sahara desert. I had a great time.

Marrakech was much the same as before, but I enjoyed it. Its kind of a tourist trap so its hard to not get charged too much for stuff, but I guess thats all part of the game. I went to the Mecca of American-esque grocery stores, the 'Wal-Mart of Morocco', Marjane. I was blown away, for the second time, by all the things they had. I felt as though I could have actually been in Wal-Mart.

Its funny to be in a situation like that after only having small corner stores from which to do your grocery shopping. You think you miss the big-box retailer experience so much, you dream of it.... and then you're there, and its all overpriced and unecessary stuff for sale. Besides, I never really liked Wal-Mart.

I ended up getting only candy and a little tupperware container. Ha ha. Oh well, my intentions were good.

After a night in Marrakech (or as we call it, Kech - thats with an 'SH' sound on the end) I went to Ourzazette to hang out with a friend. I helped her a little to make cupcakes and cookies. It was fun.

Then we went on to the Rose Festival in Kla'a Mgouna. It was a really great experience. The festival is known to nearly all Moroccans. There were very few tourists at the festival so it made for a really cool, authentic experience.

At the Festival they had many Rose products for sale: rose water, rose cream, rose perfume... everything. They had a short parade, which, somehow I manged to miss, and many booths set up for vendors (see photos below).

I think one of the highlights of the trip was riding on a bus home in the afternoon. Prices were raised because of the increased traffic in the area. I saw a super funny older man lead a small rebellion in the back of the bus protesting the price increase.

As the bus rolled on through the gentle hills and valleys of the desert he continued to be the main feature of the back of the bus. He was settling disputes, cracking jokes, leading chants and other songs... this man did it all.

I didnt understand any of it because he was speaking the local dialect but I was laughing at his antics. After a while I put in my headphones and slipped away. When I returned and removed the headphones the man was still the ringleader of the back of the bus. Every now and then someone would make a meowww-ing sound and everyone would roar with laughter. The the older man would respond with a growling sound and everyone would roar with laughter again.

Ive never seen such a thing on a bus in Morocco before. I really enjoyed the experience. The raised bus fare was easily worth the in-bus entertainment. The bus line should consider hiring this guy.

Evenutally I was back in Kech again and enduing the tourist traps. When I woke up it was cloudy and cool - a welcomed blessing in Kech. As I finally returned home in the early afternoon it was cloudy and cool at home as well.

I recently got a kitten from a friend (see photo below) and my host brother took care of the cat while I was away. I was happy to find the cat alive and not only well but a little bigger than I had remembered him.

Life in Morocco is great. I really enjoy living here and helping the youth of Morocco develop and be productive.

My little cat. He is mewoing in this picture, not hissing.

The famous plaza in Marrakech at night.

Crammed in the back of a taxi racing through the desert at mid-day.

Sour gumi worms. My favorite.

At the Rose Festival in Kla'a Mguna, Morocco. It was really cool.

Festival photos and Kla'a a night.

Im back from camp. It was interesting. A few months ago when I went to Ourzazette for an English Teacher Training I came back to home with a refreshed view of life here. (Ourzazette is very touristy, with chic cafes and bakeries, a plesent square to hang out on). The same thing has happened now that Ive been gone to camp for a week.

I was in camp in a nice costal town. The center where we slept and conducted some of the camp activities was right on the river. You could see the tides coming and going each day. It was really cool. The center was nice and kept clean while we were there.

There were two other Peace Corps Volunteers that worked the camp. Both of them ended up getting sick and throwing up. The kitchen staff said it was probably the tap water and that all the foreigners they've had there have gotten sick off of it - a great thing to be told after drinking the water for 4 days straight. Right then I started drinking bottled water and the leg aches and night chills I had experienced the past few nights went away. I was so glad I never threw up or anything.

The center also had hot water all the time - and it never ran out. I think I showered more frequently while at camp than I ever have since coming to Morocco. It was nice.

Our part of the camp was to teach English to the kids and have them work up to performing a small theater skit. It was long and hard at first, but in the end each group put on a pretty good theater skit. It was nice. Each afternoon they'd usually do something with the Moroccan camp staff - field trip to nearby towns, walk along the river, walk around the town where we were staying. It was nice. Each night they'd turn up the music, play thier drums and dance and sing until pretty late.

We found a cool juice making place near the center so the three of us Peace Corps Volunteers would often go there and hang out.

Camp was not like I thought it would be, but it was effective and the campers had fun. I was so tired by the end of camp. Then, of course, I had to travel for 7 hours to get home.

When I finally got home I made some pasta (how irronic since I was so tired of eating pasta at camp - but its all I had) and climbed into bed. I pretty much slept from that afternoon until the next morning.

Its nice to be home. I have a new view of Morocco and of the village where I live. Its good to be home but it was nice to be away for a while.

Old Spanish (or Portuguese) water storage area.

Theater skits.

Game with toilet paper headbands.

Working on projects.

The two other Peace Corps Volunteers at the camp.

Getting ready for a jazz chant.

Peace (Corps).

Coolest trash art creation.

Halloween night.

During class.

Best Actors from final theater performance.

The Roman baths in the city of Bath.

My bro and his wife before Wicked.

You can see Big Ben off in the distance.

Where they keep the Crown Jewels.

Stonehenge.

Cool old castle.

St. Martin in the Fields church.

The tube.

So Ive been AWL from the blog for a while. Let me just say that things are fine. Life in Morocco is still greater than I ever imagined it would be and it gets better all the time.

I recently went to visit my brother and his wife in London. It was a nice opportunity to get away after adjusting to Moroccan culture since early September 2008.

Before I left town from Marrakech I spent some time at the famous suqare there - D'jema l'fnaa - and I enjoyed it. I got offered hashish (pot) more times than I could count and got heckled to buy shopkeepers' stuff even more. I met a nice guy from Belgium that had been traveling in Morocco alone for about 15 days.

D'jema l'finaa after dark is full of food vendor stalls. A nice Moroccan by the name of Mohamed was tring to get me to eat at his stall and asked me where I was from (in English). "Im from the US - from Utah." Much to my surprise he said "Oh, Utah.... thats in the west, right? Salt Lake City?." I was impressed - I dont remember another Moroccan telling me so much about Utah.

What he said next has NEVER happend to me before in Morocco "In Utah are too many Mormons, are you Mormon?" "Yeah, Im Mormon. I dont know anyone in Morocco that knows a lot of Mormons live in Utah." He went on to tell me he likes to learn about the US and that he knows there are "Too many Mormons in Utah." I told him its "many Mormons" not "too many Mormons." He told me what he knew about the Chruch and its beliefs in the Savior. I corrected one thing he had wrong, told him the real name of the Chruch, and ordered some Moroccan soup at his food stall. What can I say, I was very very impressed. Im looking forward to seeing him again the next time Im back in Marrakech.

While in London I did many of the usual things: heard Big Ben (which was my nickname while I worked at the bank) chime on the hour, saw a cool building facade DECKED OUT in LEDs, went to so many museums and historical sites they lost all meaning, ate Chineese and Thai food. The best meal I had was dinner the last night in London. I was in a cheap hotel in Luton, where one of Londons airports is, and went to a small Italian place. I had pasta and it was FANTASTIC. I really enjoyed it, in fact, I almost ordered another plate of it.

I went with my brother to Stonehenge (smaller than I thought it would be), Bath (bigger than I expected), Saulsbury Cathedral and Warwick Castle. With my brother and his wife we went to see Wicked in London (I new very little about it going into it and enjoyed it very much), ate pizza, had Hall style tacos and went to church together. It was my first time going to chruch in about 6 months. It felt good to be back in such a familiar religious environment again.

My brothers wife washed my clothes for me (the first time my clothes have been dryed in an electric dryer since early September 2008). They smelled like dryer sheets afterward. I love that smell.

London was good, it was a great vacation, but I was very anxious to get back. As the plane touched down in Marrakech my eyes welled up with tears and I knew I was home (not really, but it sounds good). No, really though, I missed Morocco a lot and was very excited to get back home.

Shortly before I left my boss came to visit from Rabat. She helped me work through some snags Ive encountered here and she also brought me a mountain bike. Its great. Ive been riding nearly every day since I got the bike.

I try to lay as low as possible and blend in as much as I can, but when Im on the bike it seems nearly impossible. Peace Corps requires me to wear a helmet (Id still wear it even if it werent required) which is something very very very few people do here, I have some biking gloves, and a pretty decent mountain bike.

Its like Im wearing a sequin dress and ruby red slippers while I ride - EVERYONE stares at me. People call for me to come over to them, people yell out 'give me a ride!'... the list goes on and on. Oh well. I like biking and Ill keep riding around town until people get sick of noticing me (until, that is, I actually wear ruby red slippers and a sequin dress - then they'll all stare again, but at least they'll have something new to stare at).

So Im pretty sure spring is here, and that its here to stay. Im so glad because I thought this cold winter would never end. This was the coldest winter here in about 15 years. Lots of rain and cold days. Im happy the gray skies have cleared up. Its been kinda warm and very sunny lately. Im so glad.

I found some cotton candy at the big market that comes to town once a week. I never thought about finding cottong candy here, but if I had, I would have thought it impossible. Anyway, I bought some and snarfed it down. It was heavenly. It tasted very good.

This weekend I went to the lake. Last weekend I also went to the lake but only for an hour or so. This weekend we went and made food there and spent most of the day. It was very nice. Its still too cold out to swim, but we hung out and enjoyed ourselves. Some of the country around here looks very similar to southern Utah. Its cool. Life here is great and Im enjoying it here.

Look! Cotton candy in Morocco! Im in love. I never thought Id see this stuff here.

The busy market on market day - one day a week when vendors from surrounding areas come to town to sell there stuff.

On our way to the lake.

Last weekend with freinds at the lake. The kid closest to me had some cool techno on his phone. It reminded me of my brother, Morgan.

Look, Tiger Woods!

Well, Im happy to say this morning I had a peanut butter sandwich and a glass (really a small Nalgene bottle, not a glass) of warm (soy) milk. All thanks to my dad. He sent peanut butter packets and powdered soy milk mix. It was great. Its like I was home for a brief moment. Ha ha. Thanks dad.

Things here are going well. Last night I went to teach English at the Youth Center (and I even had a fun game to play with the students) but the power went out shortly into the lesson and we all went home. How sad.

I finally got the window in the cieling of my house to stop leeking. Its nice not to have to sqeegie the water out the door every day. Ha ha. Ive decided that having a house with the window in the cielling is a bit like a convertable. It seems so fun and cute at first but then you realize that wind noise in convertables is annoying, the roof leeks easily, and it really windy when the top is down. All of the sudden convertibles arent as cute anymore.

Not that I regret living where I live, I really like it. Its just funny the things you realize once you get accustomed to something. Also, over the window I have a sheet of plastic. Every time it gets hit by rain the sound is amplified all through the house. Its like sleeping in a tent when you can hear the rain hitting and you dread having to leave. Then you go outside and its not nearly as bad as it sounded from inside. That happens to me all the time. Ha ha. I think its going to be raining really hard out but its only sprinkling a little.

In Morocco they have Turkish toilets, right? So how do kids give each other swirlies? Well, Ill tell you (I saw it happen the other day at the public bath). Two kids were play fighting and the bigger kid was trying to put the littler kids head into the buckets of water they use in the public bath. There you go. Thats a Moroccan swirley. Of course it would be a bit difficlut to get mad at a kid, get him to go to the bath with you, change your clothes, enter the bath, fill up the bucket then try to dunk his head in it... but hey, you work with what you've got, right?

Ok, things here are still cold and windy and rainy. I tell people I cant wait for summer and they all tell me that it gets really really hot in the summer and I should not be wishing for it. I dont care. Im ready for summer - or at least spring.

Well, Ive spent the past week in Ourzazette, Morocco. Its in the south, south of Marakech, and it was warmer there than I had expected. It was sunny every day - it was really nice. Peace Corps had a English Teacher Workshop. It was nice to be around with other Volunteers and friends from training.

While I was in Marakech I stopped by Marjane - the Wal-Mart of Morocco. It did not let me down! That store is awesome. Before Christmas I went to a grocery store near where I live but I was let down. Marjane is the real deal. It was great! I got some speakers to use with my MP3 player at home.

I also got a cool blanket for my bed and a new sweater. I got to hang out with my Peace Corps BFF while in Ourzazette too. She is great.

Being away and seeing other Volunteers sites made me happy for what Ive got and where I live. Its a small town surrounded by beautiful mountains. I would not want to be anywhere else. I appreciate the friends I have made here.

Now our Peace Corps mandated travel/visitors from home restriction has been lifted. Feel free to visit anytime. Life here is AMAZING.

I spent a small amount of time in Marakech. Im excited to go back and explore more than the bus station and a few main streets.

After lugging my new speakers and suitcase full of stuff I bought in Ourzazette all the way back to a nearby city I learned that the road to where I live was closed because of snow. All I wanted to do was go home! Anyway, I saw a freind at the taxi stand and he finagled one of the taxi drivers into taking us home. It truly was a miracle for me. Without him I would have spent the night away from home - again - when all I wanted was to go home.

Life here is going really well. To be honest I never thought Id like life here so much. I love living here and would not rather be anywhere else... except maybe Disneyland - but only because its the happiest place on earth.

We had two nice, warm, sunny days then yesterday it rained all day. How sad. Im on my own now. Any guesses as to what I prepared for my first meal? Ill give you a hint: it starts with H and ends with ot dogs! 3 of em! They were great. I had catsup and everything.

I only have one cooking pan so I cant make rice or pasta yet. Last night I made some kind of veggie/meat stir fry that was pretty good. My little brother was over and I dont think he liked it much, but he's kinda a picky eater.

Yesterday morning I figured Id make some peanunt butter - thats a good sabbath activity, right? So I roasted some peanunts and broke out the new blender for its maiden voyage. I quickly learned, however, that the blender doesnt work. I dont know why. We'll have to take it back and get another. Also, I discovered the blender has two settings: on and off.

On one of the two sunny days I talked about I bought a used shirt. Its cool. Its a t shirt with button up front. Its blue and black. Im excited about it.

Some kids at the youth center have started a Ping Pong club and Im in it. Ive never really played before but on Saturday I played for a total of 4 hours - kinda allot of time to play ping pong. Im not very good though - imagine that! I was twice beat by a kid thats probably 8 years old. Bless my heart!

Anyway, thats about it for me for now. I like living on my own and cooking on my own. Life seems to get better and better all the time.

Well, after a few crazy and really busy weeks Im going to move into the house Ive rented. Earlier this week we got the furniture and now Im ready to sleep there. Im pretty excited. Every Peace Corps Volunteer looks forward to the time when they can have their own space in a community. Its kinda like now Im really a part of town and not just living with someone else in town - the host family.

This week has been as cold as its ever been. Very strong, gusty (not gutsy) winds, lots and lots of rain, and, from time to time, snow. Every day that passes gets us closer to spring and summer and I cant wait.

Today it has been very windy and raining hard for most of the day. Its been an unusually wet and cold winter round these parts. Stuff with me getting my own little house is coming along. This morning - after more than a week of hoop jumping - the power got hooked up. I also went with my host father and brother to buy stuff for the house. We got a mattress, some couch pads, a stove top, blender and water heater. Im looking forward to moving in by the end of the week.

Late last week the power went out for a few hours. It was cool to look over the town and only see darkness. It was a good chance for me to pull out a few of the many flashlghts I brought.

Things are going really well here. I really enjoy working for Peace Corps and living among Moroccans. They are a very kind and welcoming people. In the past few days Ive even had the chance to talk with guys who speak good English and Ive been able to ask questions about Islam and some of their beliefs. Its all very interesting to me. This is a fascinating experience and Im looking forward to two years of it.

The taxi lot where most of the action in town happens.

Im afraid of animals that are larger than I am - and this town is full of donkeys and horses. Here are two horses along the main road. Im slowly overcoming my fear.

Me on the roof. Im wearing two jackets because its been cold lately. The green jacket was a birthday present from my brother and his wife.

View from the roof of my little house.

This is common around here - kinda a window in the cieling. Its pretty cool.

The kitchen.

The front room. There are transparent bricks below the window in the cieling so the house below has sunlight too.

The cool resivor/lake nearby. Its beautiful. Cant wait to go there in the summer.

It snowed a few weeks ago. It was pretty cold.

A Moroccan kid that looks like he could be my little brother - or cousin. Im wearing a Jellaba in this picture.

Special New Years Dinner just for me. Fried chicken and french fries. We had cake after. It was great.

New Years party at the Youth Center.

So Im no longer 27 (my idea of the 'Sexiest age for a young man' http://loganinve.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-super-sweet-27-so-far.html ). And the latter part of my 27th year has been plenty exciting. Here are some highlights:Moved to Morocco and completed Pre Service Training with Peace Corps.

Began adjusting to a new culture and different way of life.

Dedicated myself to serving those around me full-time.

Mastered the basics of Moroccan Arabic.

Got accustomed to using Turkish toilets.

Stopped going to Chruch, which is kinda weird for me.

Began integrating into an awesome little town in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

Lived with host families for 5 months.

Learned adllot about Islam and Muslims, although I still have a million questions I want to answer.

Relied on Aljazeera for all my news - not CNN.

Spent a little over $100.00 of my own money.

Its been a while since I wrote last. Plenty has gone on since then. New Years was exciting. The host fam made an American meal - we even had french fries! It was nice of them and a total surprise to me.

Im still looking for a good little house to rent. Ive seen a few but none are quite right. New Years Day I looked at 4 but 3 were far from where I work and 1 was in the center of town and filthy. Oh well, someday my prince will come... er... uh... someday a good house will come. Peace Corps rules say that I stay with the host fam until the end of Jan, so Im with them either way.

Plenty of people have been sick in town. I think Ive avoided getting the bug somehow. That makes me happy.

I got two packages from home. One of them had a journal I've really been wanting and I also got a great, soft, warm (not black) jacket. I appreciate the support from friends and family back in the States.

Wow, it feels like its been forever since i last updated this blog and i have so much to tell.

leaving our community based training site and my uber-generous host family there was hard, but i knew it was coming. i was very excited, it made my day, actually, when my host parents called me the other night just to make sure i was ok. they are very sweet and i cant wait to visit them again sometime - perhaps sometime when i can say more than 'how are you? is everything fine?' to them. ha ha.

morocco has gotten allot - and i mean allot - of rain lately. roads are getting washed out all over the country. anway, its been cold and rainy at our training center too.

on halloween we all found out our site assignments. i am assigned to a small town about 2.5 hours to the east of marrakech (or however you spell it). its about an hour away from a bigger city. its a small community with mountains, heat in the summer and cold in the winter, a good sized body of water.... wow. its awesome. im here now for 'site visit' which will last 6 days. my new host family is fantastic and they have hosted at least 2 other volunteers.

this community has not had a peace corps volunteer in almost a year. the volunteer last assigned here left before he completed his two years of service.

im excited to be assigned here. im sure im going to enjoy being a peace corps volunteer here.

I think its interesting the dream i had about the waterfall and site assignemnts. there is water nearby and if people could see my site im pretty sure they'd be jealous. there are many opportunities for mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing and even river rafting. i have it good. it also seems that living within the allowances peace corps gives us will be feasable living in a place like this.

its been raining for most of the 24 hours ive been on site visit. like i said before, we've gotten plenty of rain lately and im pretty tired of it. oh well, it will pass... in a few months.

in the mountains towering over this little community there is a good dusting of snow already. im not too sure but i think the snow usually does not come down into town.

this morning i went with my new host father to the police station to let them know im here and introduce myself. it was interesting how everything turned out, but they were helpful and nice. as volunteers the local police authorities are pretty concerned about where we are - they want us to be safe and not have any problems. from what i hear the last volunteer told the police whenever he was leaving town and when he expected to be back.

anway, ill post pictures sometime, but im not sure when.

i should be getting a post office box tomorrow (so if you want my address and/or want to send me packages) let me know and ill send you the address once i get it.

Well, we're leaving our community based training site tomorrow. we'll never come back here - at least not as trainees. its kinda sad. ill miss my family. we shared one (perhaps final) bonding moment last night as we were talking pictures of all of us together. my host mom also gave me a gift and i really appreciate it. they sure are a great family and i have appreciated living with them and sharing experiences with themm.

earlier this week we had a party to thank all the host families. lost of people were there. i went with two of my brothers and a cousin. there was plenty of pasteries, cookies, juice, soda... and even a cake. it was great. we also had a duscission about the differences in moroccan/american culture and everyone was invited to ask questions about why we do things the way we do.

GO WHERE YOU WANT ME TO GO

in the next few days we'll get our site placement assignemnts. im excited to find out where ill be sent. its kinda like waiting for a mission call all over again... ha ha.

i had a dream a few nights ago that we all got our site assignements and i was assigned to work in the most beautiful area of morocco with a huge waterfall nearby. everyone was jealous i got assigned to work there. ha ha.

we'll see how the actual site placemtns work out. a fellow trainee has been having premonitions regarding where people will be placed. when i ask here where i might go she draws a blank (bless her hert). i wish she could give me some idea. im dying to find out.

(sorry for any errors in this post - the keyboard im using is incredibly sticky and hard to use).

i have a small gift to give my famiy to show my appreciation for their efforts to make me comfortable and safe here in morocco. they have been great.

im also anxious for site placement because a few days after finding out our assignmnts we;ll go to the site for site visits - which should last about 5 days. its scary to think ill have to do most of the following with the meager language skills i have right now: meet local law enforcement, meet school/various association directors, observe activities at the house of youth, open a po box (get ready to send me packages, please ha ha), start the papers for a moroccan identification card, and get used to new host families...oh yeah, two more things... travel to the place, somewhere ive never been before, and keep an eye out for an apartment to move into within the next month and a half.

wow. how exciting. thats allot to do with so little language skills, but im sure it will work out.

RUNNING BACK TO ME

i have a miracle id like to share. a few nights ago i lost one of the zipper pull strings off my beloved patagonia rain jacket. when i saw it was gone my very first thought was 'oh, ill find it somewhere' but then i quickyl thought 'it could be anywhere, i wear this coat everywhere i go, oh well, its gone'.

the next day i asked my fellow trainees to keep an eye out for it. well.... that night one of the other trainees found it in the classroom we use to teach english. it was a miracle. i was so happy. some bunny up there loves me.

Yesterday afternoon and today have been pretty cool around this little town. The clouds moved in and now its foggy. today after class we opened the door to our teachers house and could not see to the end of the neighboring lot. its pretty cool.

last night our training site - our little town - was visited by two of the Peace Corps Morocco big wigs. it went well, it was very casual. we sat and talked about the training period, what we thought was going well, what we think should be changed. then they came to the 'house of youth' to see what activities are going on there. last night there was an english class, a singing group and play practice going on. (Usher was there too!).

today is thursday - my last thrusday living with my uber-sweet host family. we go back to the training center wednesday morning. its kinda sad, really. and its strange that time here during training has gone by so fast. oh well, i guess thats life.

after we go back to the training center we'll find out where were going to be assigned to work for the next 2 years. thats pretty exciting. im anxious to find out where i will be placed. i have not had any requests about where i would like to be placed other than id like to be in a small city/large town.

Me and Usher after he gave dance lessons to the youth at our 'house of youth'. ha!

I dont see too many look alikes around these parts, but from time to time i hit the jackpot! there is one kid that kinda looks like donnie osmond, maybe ill get his picture and upload it. there is also a kid that reminds me of carrol burnett - but that would be rude of me to post his picture and say he looks like a girl .

anyway, i have done my laundry and the rain seems to be keeping away - for now. i also went to the public showers again and the water was hot the entire time! it was great. now im clean, i have clean clothes drying on the line... life is good. when i got to the showers (a short walk from our house) the lights were off in all of the individual showers. i was kinda excited because it would have been a fun opportunity for me to use one of the many flashlights i carry with me wherever i go... but they got the lights working before i even had a chance to whip out a flashlight. oh well.

i also got to talk to my (real) mom because today is her birthday. i only had to try to call from 5 different phones and have two people help me before i finally got to talk to her. happy birthday mom.

peace corps asks us to do nice things for our families while we are staying with them - help around the house, buy laundry detergent, help out by buying things we use often. anway, i thought it would be fun if i bought some pasteries and took them home so we could have them after dinner.

i bought some pasteries and left them in the kitchen. we had dinner... but no pasteries after. the next morning we had pasteries for breakfast (along with other more nutritious stuff, of course). i was happy.

little did i realize that i would be having pasteries for breakfast (new pasteries - not the pasteries i bought) for breakfast for the next few days. it was a funny experience becasue i didnt mean to imply that i wanted pasteries often - i just thought it would be fun for a change, a one time thing.

i love my family. they are great people.

to finish things off here is a picture of me on a lovely tree-lined street near one of the schools where we went and shared with the students about protecting the environment.

well, happy birthday mom. i hope you have a great day.

things are going well here in morocco. the end of our training period as we now know it is coming to a close - just 9 more days before we find out or final placement sites and go for a site visit. after that we'll have classes and stuff for a while until we swear in and become Peace Corps Volunteers! weeee! its crazy to think is coming so soon. and its even more crazy to think i can hardly put a sentance together in moroccan arabic! ha ha.

my tummy has been acting funny lately. yesterday i laid in bed and didnt eat anything for 24 hours. now im eating but my tummy doesnt seem so sure about it. sometimes it feels like something is swimming around in my stomache. oh well, it will pass - hopefully.

there is a american-like grocery store here called marjane. i really want to go but is a few towns away and cant go - per peace corps rules - unless i go with someone in my family. anyway, we talke about going to marjane all the time and this weekend two girls from my training group went with their families. one of the girls, candace, even brought me some candy from the marjane! now im totally jealous. oh well, im sure ill get a chance to go sooner or later.

anyway, i really should get going since i need to run home and get some laundry done. over the weekend i made up some flash cards and they real helped me allot.

this week has gone by really fast. i cant believe is saturday already. we did the major part of the activity that everyone has been planning for the past month. we went to two different schools and cleaned up the grounds and taught about preserving the environment. the kids were pretty cool and fun to be around - so eager to help and learn.

my cousin was at one of the schools so it was cool to see him. he kept smiling at me and wanting me to come by his desk to show me his drawing. he is a good little kid.

I still have not gone to the hemmam - public bath house - but i have gone to the public showers. the showers i went to were nicer than i expected and, sadly, the water didnt get very hot until I was about to turn the water off. so i decided to brush my teeth in the shower so i could enjoy the hot water. I think ill go back on monday. lets hope the water is hot the whole time.

we have a lady from the community that cooks lunch for us every day we have class. we buy the groceries and she cooks for us (we pay her to do it). anyway, earlier in the week we asked her to make stir fry. it was pretty good considering she had never heard of the stuff. today we had her make french toast. it turned out waaaay better than i would have imagined. it was good.

all the trainees in the group and our teacher have put in allot of hard work this week. we're ready for a break. sunday is our only day 'off' although we usually end up having some sort of meeting for something but it seems like tomorrow might actually be completely off. that will be nice.

i have a funny pictgure i want to post but dont have the wire to connect my camera to the computer so it will have to wait... but look forward to it soon.

Kids getting trash around the school yard for an activity.

The kid in red LOVED the guy in gray. Mohamed, the guy in gray, is one of the organizers of the activity.

This picture is out of order. This is the park we went to on Sunday to figure out the activity.

All of us with the school director after the activity.

During the activity they started burning some of the brush they cleared away. Mind you school was in session and kids were running around the grounds at the time. It was great.

The newly cleared out soccer field at the school. When they were done they put Moroccos star in the middle of the field.

All the girls LOVED trina, a fellow trainee. She loved every minute of it.

Well, i dont have anyting specific to say. im pretty much trying to kill time before dinner.

this weekend was a great one. on sunday morning - sunday is supposed to be our day off but it hardly turns out that way - we went to a park with some of the youth from the 'house of youth'. we went to the source of some springs we have in our little town. its a pretty cool place but the springs dont run much these days - especially since the water bottling company moved into town.

anyway, we walked to the spring park and played games in preparation for an activity the youth have planned later this week. we had allot of fun playing all the different games. kids came from the park to watch us and this nice lady even joined in. turns out she speaks a decent amount of english and is a teacher in a neighboring city. she was really fun. she wanted us - peace corps trainees and youth from the town - to come to her shool and play the games with her students.

after we were done in the park some of us walked the long way home. it was great to see the outer parts of town and get a different perspective on things.

today has been a busy day. we had class this moring, then went to the market to buy veggies and fruits for lunch for the entire week. like always, we run into people we know in the market. its great. then one of our training directors came and met with each of us.

when we started talking about site placement - like where ill be assigned to live and work for the next two years i told him that would like to have a larger site - maybe a small city or something. other than that i dont have many requests. it can be hot or cold and i wont really care.

after the interview i went home and did some lanudry - by bucket - again. it was nice to get that out of the way. when i got home my dad asked me if i had already eaten and i said that i had.... about 10 mins later my brother called me from the bathroom - where i was washing my clothes - and told me to come eat. they had food ready for me anyway.

i live with a great family and i love and appreciate them. my dad is anxious to have all the other trainees and our teacher over for tea someday (how do you say 'when is a good time for my friends to come over for tea?' in Moroccan Arabic?). Morocco has great mint tea and everyone dirinks it all day long - except for me. i abstain from the tea. i usually dont even drink soda but lately my mom has been getting 7up for dinner and i have some of it. its good. oh yeah, this morning we had apricot jam on bread for breakfast and the jam was AMAZING. holy cow it was good!

My sister left for college Sunday morning. Saturday night we had a party/dinner thing at our house. it was an interesting experience for me. for the most part women sat in one room with the little kids while the men sat in another room. before dinner was served a washbasin was brought around with some soap for each of us to wash our hands. we did it while sitting at the table which was new to me. then the food was brought in, then when we finished the first course we had the next course. to finish it off we had fruit. after we were all done the wash basin was brought back in again and we washed our hands again. only this time the two guys in front of me slurped a little of the water out of their hands, swished it around their mouths then spit the water into the basin. i was kinda weirded out by this - because i had never seen this done before. i didnt know if it would be ok if i didnt wash out my mouth so, sure enough, when it was my turn i washed my hands and swished water in my mouth then spit it in the basin.

i was totally relieved when the basin passed to the next guy. only as i sat back into my seat did i notice that i had spilled some water all over my lap! it was great. so i sat there with wet spots all over my pants while the guys talked and talked.

my host grandpa was there. i had never met him before. he is a really great guy with clear brown eyes. it was nice to meet and mix with extended family. the neighbor girl - who is a cousin - was there with her little brother and they love hanging out wiht me. to be honest i enjoy hanging out with them too.

anyway, things are shaping up really well around here. the past few days have been warm and pleasant.

today i learned that the public showers - they have both public baths (hemmam) and public showers - are very near my house. i think ill stop by in the next few days and soak in the hot showers. (unlike the hemmam, public showers are private, you pay then go to your own enclosed shower and proceed as you like).

im really excited for this opportunity to be here among such amazing people.

Hey, in case you cant tell i got a haircut - and i got steps cut into my hair. when i worked at the bank we joked about doing it all the time but this time i realy did it. all it took was a month in morocco. hey, lets be honest, i im a fair skinned redhead and i stick out like a sore thumb in morocco. i get stared at all the time so why not get steps and really give everyone a good reason to stare? so far the feedback ive gotten from the steps is positive.

anyway, we just got back from almost a week at our training center about 40 mins away from where i live with my host family and fellow trainees. we had a good time. it was nice to be back in one place with all the trainees. we were in training sessions all day long. sessions on health, stds, peace corps policy... on and on. we also had workshops on how to coordinate theater activities and aids workshops and stuff.

its gotten colder now. the past few nights ive been sorta cold. there are not many heaters in morocco and i for sure did not have one at the training center and i wont have one with my host family so I was sure to bring my sleeping bag with me so i dont get too cold.

PHOBIA

ill have those of you who think im a total germ-o-phobe that i often eat with my hands, surrounded by other people eating with thier hands and we all eat off the same dish. i do it every day and its getting more and more normal for me. its really not a big deal.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

its nice to be back in our community based training site. before we left my group of 6 trainees and i had just gotten to the point where we could not go anywhere around town without seeing someone we knew. we randomly run into youth from the 'house of youth' and -host- parents/family members of the other trainees. its nice to be here and know people. we have also made friends with several vendors at the market. if you want bread you should go to the nice woman on the corner, if you want pasteries you go to the nice woman across the street. if you want general stuff like soap, soda, cookies, shampoo, toothpaste, you go to this guy named Omar. if you want nuts you go to this nice man that smiles allot. if you want fruit you go the guy at the center of the market and he'll make sure you get taken care of.

My heck! Belss Moroccos heart. This place is amazing.