Every summer each PCV is allowed to take a certain number of kids from their site to a beach town called El Jadida for summer camp. Like spring camp we do English in the morning and activities in the afternoon and evening. We also take the kids to the beach every weekday. For the kids that PCVs bring, it's usually the first camp they've ever been to, and the first time they've ever seen the ocean. However summer camp can accommodate 100 kids per session (there are four each summer), and our kids only make up half the population. The other half is big city kids whose parents are, shall we say, well-to-do. It's an interesting dichotomy to observe.

I was apprehensive to work summer camp this year after having done two amazing spring camps and a not so nice summer camp last year. But the PCVs I worked with this year were a great bunch that busted their humps to make a great first session, and I thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks there. Here are some photos to tell the tale.

Girls immediately congregate after arriving and start talking frenetically.

Boys, on the other hand, are a little more laid back.

The second night of camp was the talent show. It's a programming choice I've always been confused about. In America, I cannot see 13-16 year olds getting in front of a group of their peers and performing. But Moroccan youth love showing off. So while Angela and David did a performance of Miley Cyrus's Party in the USA, it wasn't really necessary to calm the nerves. The kids sang, danced and did skits.

One of the boys I brought. He's standing in front of a cistern the Portuguese built when they controlled the city.

The camp dogs. She is a very good mother, and he is extremely playful. We wondered how they were surviving food wise, because we never saw them eat. Until I took the trash out one day and discovered the kitchen staff feeding them leftovers. After that everyone breathed a little easier.

This is Ouissal (pronounced We-Sawl) pondering the Meaning of Life before the Fashion Show. She was one of my English students. I taught the Beginners. On the last day of camp, I left before she did. As I walked down the long driveway out of camp I heard my name called from behind me. It was Ouissal running at me full speed with tears in her eyes. I bent down, picked her up and hugged her for a full minute telling her that I'd never forget her and that she's a good kid. When you're in Peace Corps sometimes you're not sure if you're actually improving the lives of the people you meet, if you're getting through to them. This time, I knew.

Here are the three boys I brought - Youssef, in red, in the middle top; Mfadl, in white; and Nordine, in black. On the left is their friend Yassine, who would later appear in the skit written by Mfadl for the Spectacle on the final night of camp.

In the middle of this sandwich, in blue, is Souad. She's one of the two girls I brought to camp. On her left (your right) is Loubna and on her right (your left) is Sara. These three would later play on the same team in a basketball game and destroy the other girls team 10-1.

Souad came in second place in the Traditional category of the Fashion Show.

Here are the four judges of the Fasion Show. From left to right are Liz, David, Karim and Kawtar. On the far right is Omar, another Moroccan counselor.

The winners of the Fashion Show. Second from left, in white, is Manal (2nd place, Modern). In the middle, with the black shirt and yellow sash, is Aicha (1st place, Crazy). Souad is second from right. On the far right is Naima (1st place, Traditional). I point out these four because they were on my country team of Ghana.

The campers are divided into five Anglophone country teams. Throughout the two weeks they can earn and lose points for their team by doing good and bad works. Ghana spent the first week solidly in third place. But with our strong showing in the Fashion Show we jumped to first place. We would stay there until the last day, when Canada took the title by outshining us in the English Olympiad.

When I say, "Star!", you say, "Ghana!"

We had so much fun over the two weeks that Philip passed out with a nose bleed.

My first summer camp was not so great thanks to the cynical second year PCVs and the indifferent Moroccan staff. This year we had a good blend of first and second years that wanted to be there and a Moroccan staff that actually turned out for the kids. For my last camp in Morocco, I couldn't have done better.

- CW

Oh hello there. Back again so soon? Well why wouldn't you be? I'm a fantastic person to know, so of course you'd want to know what I'm up to. Seriously though, I probably shouldn't tease you like this. Three posts in three days. We both know I can't keep up this pace. But until the disappointment sets in, here are some pictures from when Jolie and I worked at the Special Olympics in Tangier.

In this photo are some athletes and PCVs posing in front of the Special Olympics Morocco banner the morning of the competition. The guy in the middle doing the splits - yeah, he did that a lot.

Here we see two guys staying loose and dancing before the games began.

All the PCVs in their white shirts with our Program Manager. As you can see on the right, we're all focused on the job at hand.

Jolie and I (and two other girls) helped with the botchie ball tournament. Here is the future winner of the girl's bracket during one of her matches.

I had to get a picture of the guy in white. Every single time he bowled, he would swing his right fist in a long upper cut punch into the air and then kiss his hands and spread the love. Even if he was losing (and he did lose this particular match), he still did the motion.

At the end of the day Jolie passed out the medals to all those who finished in third, second and first. Every participant got a ribbon just for competing. This competition was a regional meet for northwest Morocco. Next summer are the national games in Ifrane.

We were there for a total of three days, but they were three of the most enjoyable days I've spent in Morocco. We saw a beautiful city, ate very well, assisted in a very worthwhile cause, and I can't remember a single second I wasn't smiling or saw someone else frowning. Every single youth who played had a great time, win or lose. I know some athletes around the world who could use a lesson in sportsmanship, and these are the athletes that should lead the workshop.

- CW

It's late, I'm tired, and I promised more posts. Don't expect any long, witty captions to these pictures. Oh, but before you get to them, I guess I should set this up. These pictures were taken in early April 2011, in a town in northern Morocco called Laarache (also sometimes spelled Larache). Jolie and I worked the spring camp there. We taught English, played sports, led activities, and assisted in other activities. Here is a sampling:

Socializing on the first night the campers arrived. Jolie to your left, I'm in the middle, and Kelsea, a Small Business Volunteer, is sitting to the right.

My English class. Studious and well-behaved. I always do enjoy teaching the advanced students.

The first or second night of camp. Every night after dinner we all went upstairs to the big conference/activity room and did things. Instead of a trust fall, someone suggested something more complex - building a human chair. As you can see the boys pulled it off. The girls weren't so lucky.

Every morning after English class we walked to a nearby sports facility and played basketball and football. Some days I refereed football; other days I played/refereed basketball. What I enjoyed about this camp is that the girls were not afraid to mix it up with the boys.

Not only did each PCV teach English, we also led a club. I did Science Club. I tried to have the kids build bridges out of toothpicks. It would have worked better with wax paper and more than just two days of clubs. At least they appear to be enjoying themselves.

Jolie was in charge of Art Club. A huge success compared to my effort. Here she is teaching color theory before the kids throw down a bunch of paint on paper.

Kelsea and Sanyog, also SBD, leading Hindi Club. It was Kelsea's idea even though Sanyog is ethnically Indian. They taught the kids how to count, introduce themselves, and do some yoga.

One day we visited Moroccan Venture Scouts camping at a site across the bay from us. The leader explains to our kids what Scouting is.

Need someplace to put all those rocks and pine cones so that your tent will lay flat? Why not make a giant smiley face to welcome people to your sleeping quarters?

It's (mildly) hot . . . to the beach! It really wasn't hot enough to swim, but you can't have a camp on the beach and expect the kids to look at the ocean every day for a week without jumping in. Might as well organize and supervise them.

Spring Camp Laarache 2011.

Jolie, Sanyog and I with the Moroccan staff (and a few campers wedged in between Jolie and the director).

The final night. Jolie hands out their artwork to the winners of the art competition. In addition each camper got a participation certificate, and each PCV received a small gift from the Moroccan staff.

I really enjoyed my first spring camp. Like Laarache it was a small camp with under 50 youth. So when people ask which was my favorite it's really hard to choose. I just feel lucky to have traveled around Morocco and got to know some wonderful young people. Still one more camp to go. Summer camp, however, is a much different animal.....

- CW

Yes, it's been a while. But honestly there was nothing to say for a bit. And now I've got loads to say. But instead I'll post pictures. Happy viewing.

Here are two neighborhood boys playing in a pile of sand outside our house. Our neighbors were and are doing construction to their place. It's common practice to mix sand with cement here. Why? Because cement alone is expensive. So Moroccans do a 50/50 mixture of sand and cement when constructing new buildings.

This is a picture of the last day of English classes at the dar chebab. Not all of these people are actually English students and not all of my English students came. It is customary to join other people's parties in Morocco. In fact it's an insult to turn other people away, even if they haven't been invited. The party consisted of Moroccan and American desserts and pop (as we say in the Midwest). A good time was had by all and very kind words were said.

This is a picture of a child taking a swing at Jolie's homemade pinata. That's right, my talented bride used a USPS flat rate box (thanks Mom and Dad Kihm) to make a pinata shaped like a flower. The cardboard (which is the stem) was covered in pink paper. The petals are papier-mache; the mold was balloons.

Here is a picture of some of our completed birdhouses hanging around the dar chebab. The wood was purchased with grant money, was cut by the director and a couple other people, and painted by children during our Sundays-only month long day camp. There are eleven in all.

As I was looking for more photos to upload I realized there are quite a few things I would like to share. It looks like this may turn into multiple posts over the next week. Stayed tuned for more.

- CW

Hello readers. Today we have not one, but two reasons to celebrate. The first is the milestone of 100 posts. 22 months after our first blog entry, Jolie and I have made it to the century mark. Some have been long-winded with lots of pictures. Some (see #99) have been short with little to no value in giving you detailed information about our lives. Nevertheless 100 posts is 100 posts and we're happy you could be with us for this occasion.

The second event worthy of celebration is Morocco's 4-0 drubbing of Algeria last night in Marrakech in a qualifying match for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. The Atlas Lions thoroughly outclassed the Desert Foxes and well deserved the three points. The victory comes with bad news for both nations. The bad news for Morocco is that Adel Taarabt, arguably Morocco's most in-form player right now, has sworn to retire from international football after getting into an argument with manager Eric Gerets during training, just days before the yesterday's match. On the other side of the border, Algeria's manager, Abdelhak Benchikha, has resigned his post this morning. He lasted just three matches, winning one, losing two, his side scoring one goal (a penalty), and conceding six.

I almost watched the match at my house on the computer. But when I came home from the dar chebab the internet was out. So I picked up some sandwiches and went to a cafe. I saw some guys from the dar chebab, we split the sandwiches and some drinks, and had an enjoyable evening. Several people brought flags and I was encouraged to wave one after the fourth goal went in. That goal was scored in the 69th minute and the entire cafe didn't stop singing the rest of the match. As you might imagine, my voice is quite hoarse today. After the match ended we sang the national anthem, and then continued our revelry into the streets. We sang and chanted all the way to the center of town where we met up with more people and sang the anthem again. I'm certain that I'm on the internet somewhere right now because of all the cameras and phones, I just don't know where to start looking. If I do find a video that I appear in, I'll be sure to share it with you all.

Hope you're having a great weekend too. Talk to you soon.

- CW

That's right. I wasted a post only to update you all on just how gangsta I am. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Peace!

- CW

Good day all. Welcome to June. Jolie and I had a great fifth month of 2011. As she mentioned in a previous post, May was a busy month. Let me break t down. First we have so many active clubs and associations at the dar chebab, and limited space to hold all their activities, that all club and association leaders had a meeting with the director of the dar chebab to create a new schedule. English was reduced from five to three days a week (Wed - Fri). Not that I'm complaining. Yes, there are some students that only showed up on Tuesdays and Saturdays because that's all their schedules will allow, but there are other clubs that can only work on certain days and English was able to give up some time to them. I just hope this activity will carry into the 2011-12 school year. As any YD PCV can tell you, March - June are the busiest months of the year.

Second the weekly Sunday day camps went well. Jolie and I were in charge of environmental activities and we used the opportunity to have the children make birdhouses, which are part of our Kids to Kids grant. It was also a great opportunity to teach the older kids of the dar chebab what it's like to work at a camp. They're talking about repeating the day camp, so that's a positive sign that everyone had a good time.

Third Jolie and I spent a week in Tangier working at the Special Olympics. It was a regional event for kids in northern Morocco. It was our second time up north and we loved it. We still haven't been on the other side of the Atlas Mountains, but why go when you could visit the Rif? The games were a lot of fun and the next national competition will be in Ifrane next year. Jolie and I assisted with botchie ball. Unlike real botchie this was played indoors on astroturf. The athletes were really good and they lived with every roll. It was competitive, but everyone helped everyone else. All the athletes would line the length of pitch and encourage each bowler, giving them advice on where to roll and how hard to throw. It was true sportsmanship and we're glad we went.

Now we're back home and summer is coming. Jolie put away her warmer clothes in one of the suitcases and we made some changes to the house. You can see these changes pictured below.

First change we made was to disassemble the bed. We've taken off the head and foot boards, and taken away the wooden support under the mattress. As you can see, the mattress is now on the floor underneath a rug. It's really comfortable because the wooden support was actually two pieces placed side by side. It was like sleeping on a futon.

Next we brought the wooden supports into the living room and put them underneath two of our ponjs. Now the ponjs are at the height of a normal chair, so it's not like sitting on a bean bag chair anymore. We have four ponjs in all. The other two, which are blue and can be seen in the lower right hand corner of the photo, we have stacked on top of each other. By taking apart the bed and bringing the wood out here, we have not only increased our seating capacity, we have also made it much more comfortable.

This photo I'm sure needs no explanation. I couldn't resist taking a picture. How could you? He wadded up the blanket and is using it as a pillow. That's adorable.

I will now end this post with a Muchkil story. I was walking him earlier this week when a young mother (or possibly older sister, it's hard to tell in this culture) was also walking with two young children. One was between three and five years old and the other younger than one. The infant in fact was being held by the woman. Both were enamored by the dog and very insistent on seeing him up close. Neither wanted to touch him, but they wanted to be near him. Muchkil loves people; especially people with food. So I wrapped his leach around my hand all the way to his collar and let the 3-5 year old boy approach with his stem of grapes. He asked if Muchkil ate grapes. I told him that Muchkil loves all kinds of fruit. So the boy threw his stem of grapes on the ground right in front of Muchkil and watched fascinated as the dog ate every last one. I told the little boy that I wished God would grant him good health and we parted ways.

As I've mentioned before I'm always intrigued by how people react to Muchkil. Earlier in that very same walk another boy was walking home from school with his mother and he asked her if he could pet Muchkil. She told him no because Muchkil would bite him. She didn't even bother to ask if Muchkil was a biter. She just assumed that because Muchkil is a dog, and all dogs have evil jinns living inside them, that Muchkil would bite her son. Now when you see a dog sitting patiently, wagging his tail enthusiastically as you approach, what makes you think, "This dog is definitely going to bite me"? In Islam it's forbidden to kill any living thing, and I know Moroccans wouldn't go out of their way to kill a dog or any animal. But Jolie and I both believe that you can tell a lot about a culture by how they treat their animals, and the dogs, donkeys and horses that we see on a daily basis aren't exactly living.

I'm done (for now), I swear. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you all again real soon. Have a great Thursday.

- CW

Peace Corps service is a two year commitment. In Morocco, new Trainees arrive every six months. This conveniently divides up the time spent in country into four equal periods. Many years before Jolie and I arrived some PCVs intuitively called each of these six months the names commonly given to the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th years of school in America. Earlier this week the latest and last group of Health and Environment Trainees became Volunteers. Congratulations YD and SBD group 09-09; we are now officially seniors.

Since my last post at the beginning of this month, I've made some observations about life in Morocco. Here's what I've noticed:

You can take the dog out of Morocco, but you can't take the Morocco out of the dog. Muchkil is a good dog. Not the brightest bulb in the box, but he's trainable. Fortunately he is multilingual. He understands English, Moroccan Arabic and sign language. Even though he is being raised by Americans, he is still Moroccan. How do I know? First of all he sleeps completely under blankets, like Moroccans. Secondly his favorite food is bread, followed closely by couscous. Thirdly he howls during the call to prayer. At first I was embarrassed by this, but Jolie says he's just saying Allah Akbar and it's adorable. Finally, on a recent walk, we passed a street that had a broken down truck and a dozen people milling around talking loudly. He looked at them as we went through the intersection, but then began barking and growling at them after we passed. As any PCV can tell you, Moroccans will never say hello to your face. They only greet you just after they pass your shoulder.

Souk is not just for food and clothes. If I can avoid it, I try not to leave my house on souk day. The population of town literally doubles, the streets are packed with humans and animals, and harassment increases accordingly. However we must eat and sometimes Jolie needs me to go buy something for lunch. This past Monday I went out to get some meat and check my PO box when it hit me that women of a certain age (in Morocco that means unmarried women under 30) were dressed to the nines - bright kaftans with matching colorful scarves, tight jeans and high heels. For girls that live on farms in the countryside this seemed to be counterproductive. Unless, of course, you've just made the same realization I did. These women weren't shopping for fruits and vegetables; they were shopping for men.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more musings and reports about life in North Africa.

- CW

so I don't usually write up stories as often as Christopher does but that doesn't mean I don't think of things I want to share with you all. Actually it's quite the contrary, I want to share lots of things about our life here, I'm just not as devoted to writing these things down. I'll try to be better about that.

As you can see we've had a pretty busy month with spring camp, the art exchange and earth day activities. On top of that we've had our regular routine of teaching english, attending other club and association events throughout town. It feels good to be busy. The time goes by so quickly but once a project is complete you can check it off your calendar and feel like something has been accomplished and hopefully someone has learned something new.

We thought May would be a slower month and we would only do revision for the students who are about to take their end of the school year exams. We were wrong...as it turns out we're adding things to our to-do list daily. here's what we've got so far:

-excursion to some nearby waterfalls with an association and 40 kids!

-a trip to Rabat to visit Marche Maroc, where PCVs and the artisans they work with gather to sell their products

-a week long trip to Tangier for Chris and other PCVs to help out with the Special Olympics

-a week long SIDA training in Rabat with some of our counterparts

-every Sunday in May is going to be full of "camp" activities at our youth center, such as theater, sports, and all sorts of fun stuff

Once summer comes you'd think we could slow down because school is out and lots of kids travel to far away places to visit family and vacation, so our youth center activities may slow down...but actually it might even be busier for us. Busier because we'll work outside of our community as well. We're so excited that we'll get to travel and have some fun in summer, but some of the traveling that we'll be doing will be to go work at camps. Camps require lots of preparation and usually leave us drained of all energy! But we do have lots of fun at them.

I'm not counting down the days til we swear out as volunteers, actually I'd like to put that date on hold...there's just too much left for us to do and 6 months may not be enough time. Lately I've had a sense of racing against the clock. And there's only 28 fridays left until we "swear out" as volunteers which means 28 more times to eat couscous with the family. I'm not sure that's enough.

There's more that I'd like to say, in fact there's a lot of stories and personal thoughts that I'd like to share but it's getting late and I need to be first in bed so Christopher has to turn out the lights ;-)

Until next time, love to you all!

~j

One week ago was Easter Sunday. Living in a Muslim nation, we didn't have much opportunity to talk about it, to see family in person, or go to church. What we did have though, was one member of our PCV family over for the weekend. Jolie and she made a chicken in a pressure cooker, mashed potatoes and gravy, and assorted vegetables. We spoke with our friend's boyfriend via Skype, spoke with our family via Skype, and watched a movie with our projector. All in all it was a nice way to spend Easter in a foreign land.

Whenever I get emails from my sister or parents, I ask them to include "Andrew Stories" if possible. An Andrew Story is a retelling of something amusing that Andrew, my nephew, has done recently. The kid has more energy than the Roadrunner on crack and talks more than all the women on The View combined, so it's rare that I don't hear an Andrew Story. I'm telling you all this because I'd like to introduce a new segment to the blog called - Jolie Stories. After all, what's the point of having a wife and a blog if you can't humiliate her in public?

I'm joking of course. These won't be humiliating, just humorous. Here's the first edition of Jolie Stories. Our nights usually end the same way. We move from our big common room on one end of our apartment, to the bathroom to brush our teeth, to the bedroom which is on the other side of the flat. For a reason unknown to me (presumably to take all the blankets to wrap herself up like a burrito preventing me from having any cover during the night), Jolie prefers getting into bed before I do, leaving me with the task of turning off the lights before getting into bed myself. Well a couple of nights ago I almost made it to bed before she did. As I was approaching my side of the bed she walked through the door, kicked off her shoes, and jumped into bed before I could lift the blankets. Ecstatic at her victory, she giggled maniacally. Until I pointed out that her slippers were now so far from the bed that she would have to touch the cold floor with her bare feet when she inevitably got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Undeterred, she sank into her pillows and blankets while I turned off the lights and made no attempt to move her shoes to her side of the bed.

I hope you've enjoyed your time here. If you've got an interesting story about a spouse or loved one, please feel free to share it as a comment to this post. Ta-ta for now.

- CW

As you may have heard, last Friday (22 April) was Earth Day. Jolie and I, as we did last year, spent the entire week leading up to the big day (and after) doing environmentally themed activities. The following pictures are just some of our exploits.

Here begins our world map project, Tuesday (19 April) night around 8:30pm local time. We used a projector, powered by a homemade four meter long extension cord, to trace our map onto a wall in our dar chebab. One of our students, who had been using clippers earlier that day, decided to take a few snips at his home country.

Wednesday morning we took a few hours to paint in the oceans. No, the Artic Ocean has not lost its ice cap and started flooding Siberia. It was an innocent mistake by a Moroccan.

Wednesday afternoon we started painting in the countries. Here is Soumaya working on the aforementioned Russia, and Jolie filling in China.

This is Touria (left) and Fouzia (right) painting Africa.

The final product. A job well done by all those involved. And I know you have nothing to scale this against, but our map is HUGE. It's over two meters tall and three meters wide. Quite possibly one of the largest world maps in Peace Corps. I can't wait to start using it in my lessons.

Earth Week wouldn't be Earth Week if we didn't plant something. On Thursday Jolie brought the marigolds and other flowers she had been growing at home to the dar chebab for a more permanent placement. After all they won't grow in egg cartons, butter containers and yogurt cups forever.

Jolie leads some students in the replanting process.

Success! The flowers now have a sturdier and deeper home, and are ready to be placed around the dar chebab. If and when they bloom in summer, I'll have more pictures for you.

Not pictured - the trees we replanted on Friday in preparation for our nursery. As I'm usually the one taking pictures, we don't have any from Friday because I was busy filling grain sacks with dirt from construction projects in a nearby neighborhood and then coaching basketball at the girl's dorm that afternoon. Our apologies.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we had activities before, during and after Earth Day 2011. Pictures of the events from Saturday and Sunday are forthcoming. Stay tuned and have a great Tuesday.

- CW

Welcome back. Like I said, April is a very busy month and we're still not finished with everything yet. Jolie and I have been working both in the morning and afternoon at the dar chebab recently to knock out all our projects. But today is Friday and for obvious reasons (couscous!) there's no point in going this morning. So I'm taking a few minutes to share some photos we've taken in the past two weeks. Enjoy the show!

As we were walking out of the dar chebab one night, Jolie spotted this little guy hanging on the ceiling. Normally we see lizards just once and then they're gone. But this fella needs a name as we've seen him several times over the past couple of weeks. Suggestions are welcome. Our director wants to call him "Crocodile".

It was the Night of Animals, apparently. On the way home after we saw the lizard, we then saw this cat lounging on a ponj for sale outside a housewares store. Fortunately for her and us the owner let us take this picture and didn't shoo her away.

Last weekend (15-17 April) we participated in the International Art Exchange operated by OneWorld Classrooms. On Friday we taught the kids basic art techniques such as horizon line, vanishing point, etc. A local artist helped us explain them in Moroccan Arabic.

Here is a picture of the kids on Saturday when they made their final pieces which will be sent to 23 countries around the world. The art produced by the children should reflect their daily lives and/or their culture.

A close-up of three boys that asked for a picture by themselves.

If you want to learn more about the International Art Exchange run by OneWorld Classrooms, you can visit their website here.

On Sunday morning in the dar chebab we had a party for the kids that participated in the art program. After such a long weekend (and a giant frustration yet to come in mailing the art), the family asked if we'd like to join them for a picnic at a nearby lake. Unable to refuse on such a beautiful day, we trekked out with mom, dad and our two sisters.

While snacking on cookies and drinking pop a herd of sheep and goats passed us on a nearby hill. Here's an action shot of some goats leaping a small crevasse in the hillside.

Awwww! It's a baby!

After we finished our snacks the girls and I went off to explore a bit. Jolie saw this tiniest of islands just offshore and declared that she wanted to conquer it. So she did.

And of course whatever Big Sister does, Little Sisters have to do too.

On the way home Jolie asked if we could stop and pick some poppies. Last year she attended a natural dye workshop and learned that poppies make a "gorgeous gray" color. Here's Zineb using her flannel button-up shirt as a hood to keep the sun off her head.

And here's Jolie and Hajar holding up their loot.

Thanks for being so patient after another nearly three week hiatus. We've got another busy weekend ahead, but things should slow down soon. Keep an eye on this page for more photos and stories. Happy Easter to all our Christian readers and Happy Passover to all our Jewish friends. Take care and talk to you all soon.

- CW

Jolie and I will be super busy for the next week, and I seriously doubt we'll be able to update the blog. I admit Jolie and I are not writing on this thing at the same pace we did last year, and for that we apologize. So in an attempt to appease the masses while we work towards building a better Morocco, I throw up these pictures of shiny objects to distract you:

This is a park built around Ain Aserdoun, a natural water spring above the city of Beni Mellal. The city sits at the base of the Middle Atlas mountains, where this water originates from. The flow of the water after it shoots out of the mountains has been slightly altered into the waterfall you see before you, in order to be a tourist attraction. The park is kept clean and trim, and there is enough to see, do and eat that people routinely spend an entire day here.

The next four pictures are a panoramic view of our site:

Again I apologize for the lack of posts so far in 2011. It turns out that Peace Corps's two year model really does work. We're integrated, we speak the language well, and we've got plenty of work on our hands. Hopefully in a week's time we'll be able to share some stories and pictures of us developing youth in Morocco. No promises though - April is the busiest month of the year for us. Hope you've enjoyed looking at the pretties. Come see us again soon.

- CW

Being a dog owner in Morocco is sometimes tough. There are plenty of people who don't understand why we would want to have an animal live in the house with us. Then there are other people who seem to treat animals well enough but still don't think it's clean to have an animal where you eat, sleep or pray. We've had mixed reactions from people, but I always like to approach these situations as learning experiences, for everyone.

I'm obviously a sensitive soul and it breaks my heart to see any animal mistreated. So the other day when I was walking to the dar chebab and saw a teenage boy kick a dog I automatically yelled "Hshuma!" (shame!) It came out of my mouth without thinking. Normally when I receive unwanted attention or harassment in the streets I keep walking, avoidance theory. But when I saw this happen to such a helpless animal, something inside me snapped and I couldn't help but react. This poor stray dog was lying in the street, it looked to have a broken leg or hip and here this teenager goes up and kicks it! Days like that day make my blood boil.

Then there is this evening. We were on our way home from the dar fattat (dormitory for girls) where I routinely teach English. We heard a pitiful meow coming from up a tree. It was a tiny little kitten that had gotten itself stuck! I stood under the tree pondering the situation for a bit and then I decided to try and climb the tree. It was easy enough to climb but the cat just ended up going up a little further out of fear. Right about the time that I realize I couldn't get to the kitten a couple of 20 something year old guys come over to see what we're up to. They saw the kitten, whipped out their phone (for the attached flashlight) and located the kitten. Next thing you know one of the guys scurries up the tree and goes after the kitten. A lot of growling, hissing, leaf rustling and "ouches" are heard from up the tree. The kitten was small but feisty and scared. The kitten ended up tumbling out of the tree, I'm guessing it lost it's balance while going after the poor guy's finger. After it came out of the tree the kitten ran under some bushes, the anonymous Moroccan still tried to get it for me....I'm not sure if he thought it was mine or if I wanted it. But we explained that it wasn't ours but that we were happy it was down from the tree. I happened to have some Laughing Cow cheese in my pocket and put it in front of the kitten. Still too scared to try and eat it... I thanked the two guys very much and we went our separate ways.

In the end the kitten came away unscathed. The two anonymous Moroccan guys restored my faith in their ability to care for all God's creatures and Chris and I walked away with smiles on our faces. I know I can't take in every stray cat or dog off the street and I don't expect every Moroccan to understand my love for furry critters. I do wish there would be more and more people willing to climb trees for kittens and fewer and fewer people who think it's okay to abuse animals for a laugh.

Here's to hope...

It's been over a month since we've updated the blog, and for that I apologize. March, April and May are the three busiest months of the year for Youth Development Volunteers. Winter's over and the weather is sunny all day every day. We'll be working at spring camp, doing Earth Day activities, and preparing students for their Bac - the end of high school exam. Not to mention the Kids to Kids projects, the art projects, the theater performances and the basketball. So until that time when I can sit down to write out a proper update, here are some pictures to hold you over. We begin with a birthday party....

The birthday girl, Hajar (left), the youngest child, Zineb (middle), and the matriarch, Mama Khadija.

Dessert before dinner? In Morocco, always. In the middle is Jolie's "dirt cake" with crushed Oreos as the dirt and licorice sticks as the worms. On the right is Mama's upside down apple cake.

Our latest endeavor - homemade hot wings. Verdict - success!

Mommy and puppy spend so much time under the blanket that they've actually fused together.

Just kidding! He's healthy, and so is Jolie. But he is Moroccan, no doubt about it. If possible, he will always choose to sleep under the blanket than on top of it.

I hope you've enjoyed your stay. Again we apologize for the delay. Please stay tuned for further broadcasts. Until then, ta-ta for now!

- CW

Dogs need a new publicist in the Muslim world. As a dog owner in a Muslim nation, I get mixed reactions from Moroccans on a daily basis while walking Muchkil (مشكل). They range from people whispering, "willy willy willy" and crossing the street to petting him, asking about him, and saying how healthy and pretty his colors are. Why such a long continuum of responses? I decided to look further.

As we all learned in elementary school science class, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The Arabs conquered and converted the Berbers, but the Berbers also transferred some of their beliefs onto the Arabs. Specifically a heavy belief in magic. Many Moroccans today believe in djinns. Djinns are spirits, both good and bad, that inhabit our world and act upon it. For example, for the first ten days after the Islamic New Year, it's common practice to build fires to ward off evil djinns, and spray loved ones with water in the hopes of attracting good ones.

Awkward transition - a hadith (الحديث) is a saying attributed to the Prophet Mohammed. There is a widely believed, but unconfirmed, hadith that says dogs are inhabited by an evil djinn and should be treated differently from other animals. Particularly dogs can be used for work purposes (herding sheep, for example) or for guarding the house, but they should not sleep with humans. To many Moroccans this means they stay on the roof.

However if we look in the Koran (القرآن الكريم) we find a passage in Sura 18, the Cave (السورة ١٨، الكهف). In this parable we find Muslims who were sealed in a cave; the reason is not important. What is important is that they had a dog with them. A dog that ate and slept with them. A dog that Allah counted as one of them - a believer, with a soul, to be saved.

Why then would Muslims, who claim that their book was dictated to Mohammed from Allah (via the Archangel Gabriel), read this and think that dogs are disgusting creatures, not fit to share the same living quarters as humans?

- CW

I can't say for sure. Officially spring doesn't commence in the northern hemisphere until next month. But it's looking more and more like Father Winter is giving up his hold on western Morocco. One sign - we had our first ray of direct sunlight enter the house for the first time since November. Granted it was a tiny box just a couple of centimeters squared, but it was enough to get Jolie excited. She just took a bunch of egg cartons and yogurt containers that we'd been saving and filled them with dirt and marigold seeds yesterday. The plan is to have a plant nursery lining one wall of our courtyard by Earth Day in late April. Soon these little guys will be receiving direct UV rays, and our black and white tile will turn green. I have no doubt about that.

- CW

Hello friends and family. It's been a while since I've written to you all. It's not that we haven't had good news to report. It's just that we haven't had a specific piece of good news to report. Until today.

For those of you who don't know, when Jolie and I returned to Morocco from the USA, two of our checked bags did not make it with us. We found out in Madrid. So I filed a missing luggage request and was told that the bags would be shipped to our house as soon as they arrived in Spain. A week later and still no bags. So I called and was told that they were in Madrid, but hadn't been shipped because the airline didn't know which airport to fly them to in Morocco. I told them Casablanca and they said we'd see them soon.

Two weeks later and no bags. I called again and found out that because the airline that misplaced our bags didn't fly to Morocco, they needed to ask a partner airline to bring them to here. They were waiting for a response from someone.

Another week passes and still no luggage. Another call and I'm told that they're still waiting. But an hour later they call the house and I'm told that the bags are in the Casablanca airport. Woo! That was three days ago. Now Jolie and I are in possession of our bags again. Hemdullah - thanks be to God.

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In other news I'm aware that you are worried about Jolie and I. After the 20/20 "expose" and the trouble in neighboring north African countries, you are concerned for our safety. That's understandable, but fear not. Why?

First, Jolie and I are well integrated into our community. Jolie and I do not believe any harm will come to use during our remaining time in site. We are always careful to lock our doors and windows, but we also have a great support system of family and friends.

Second, there is very little chance of a Tunisian or Egyptian style uprising here in Morocco. Ben Ali and Mubarak had been in power for decades. Morocco has a young, charismatic king that the overwhelming majority of Moroccans adore. Also the king is a descendant of the prophet Mohammed. It is highly unlikely that they will try to dethrone him and run the royal family out of the country and into their palatial estate in France.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and come back soon.

- CW

Welcome to the second of my two part entry on what we've been up to lately. As promised this post will be filled with pictures. Before we get to them though, I'll translate the subtitle of this post. That's Moroccan Arabic for "lots of snow". And now, the pretties:

On the way from Chicago to Cincinnati we pass by Morocco, Indiana. Shhh! Don't tell our parents we've only been 228 miles away for the past 16 months.

My birthday gift to my sister - tickets to Paul Brown Stadium watching the Bengals defeat the Browns.

Should have been a touchdown. Still came away with the W though.

At the Cincinnati Zoo enjoying the annual Festival of Lights. Millions of lights and decorations fill the zoo every holiday season.

"Fast as fast can be, you can never catch me!" Sorry Gingerbread Man, but the ladies caught you this time.

The women get a giant cookie and the guys get stuck with Frosty. Fair?

A winter wonderland in front of Jolie's parent's house. Every single day we were in the States the ground was white. It's exactly what I had been dreaming about since last December.

And finally a look down the Ohio River and the many bridges that connect Kentucky (on the left) and Ohio (on the right).

I hope you've enjoyed this look backward in time. I know I have. Now if only we could get some of that record snowfall they're getting in Cincinnati to fall in my corner of Morocco, everything would be all right.

- CW

In more ways than one. First, and most obvious, I am updating the blog for the first time in over a month. Secondly Tihad, the local amateur football club, won for the first time in five matches. Way to go lads. Thirdly my area of Morocco, Chaouia (pronounced "Sha-wee-ah" and known as the breadbasket of Morocco), is predicted to receive rain sometime this week. There was a 50% chance of rain today, but none fell. Incha'Allah some will fall soon. I know the farmers out there are looking for it. There has been no precipitation so far in 2011.

A lot has occurred in the 36 days since I last wrote on this thing. I've decided to break up the events of the past month plus into two posts. One will be about Christmas vacation in the States and one will be about life since returning to Africa. This will be the Morocco post.

Our story starts before actually landing in Morocco. The curtain opens on Christopher and Jolie landing in Madrid to discover that only one of their three checked bags has made it to the Spanish capital. I went to the luggage counter, explained the situation, gave them my contact info in Morocco, and was promised that the bags would be shipped TO MY HOME IN MOROCCO. That last prepositional phrase is important.

After sitting for twelve hours in a cafeteria in the Madrid airport we go check in for our flight, only to discover that it had been canceled. Not only that, but the airline didn't notify us of the cancellation until 5pm the evening before. We couldn't have possibly received that information in a timely manner and done something about it, but apparently they didn't care. We ended up spending an entire 24 hours in the Madrid International Airport before departing for Casablanca.

We entered Morocco without difficulty, were met by our host father, and were driven home. We had friends waiting for us at our house because we had planned to have a party with them. We were just hoping to beat them to our place. We rang in the New Year and had a festive weekend with our regionmates.

Since that first weekend of 2011 I have been teaching English regularly at the dar chebab, been told to work with girls only 16-18 years old at the dar fettat in order to prepare them for road matches in the spring, and had a very successful meeting with my mudir to get our Kids to Kids project back up and running. I hope to have pictures of a fully functioning fountain posted on here next month.

HOWEVER we still have not received our luggage from Spanair. I have called and emailed them repeatedly. I have not received a response from my email. The first time I called no one at the call center spoke English. The second time I called I was told the luggage was still in Spain because they didn't know which airport in Morocco to send our bags. I was told that I would receive a call when they were put on a plane to Morocco. That was last Monday. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure there are multiple daily flights between Madrid and Casablanca. So what's the hold up Spanair?!

Ok that's enough ranting for now. Stay tuned for the Christmas update. And avoid Spanish airlines (namely Spanair and Iberia) whenever possible.

- CW

In case anyone was wondering where we've been lately, I apologize for the delay. Jolie and I have spent the past few days traveling to the . . . . wait for it . . . . United States of America. We made a stop in Madrid along the way, which was very pleasant. We're with family and friends in the States and we have a lot of fun planned for the next 11 days. Don't know if we'll be able to write about it as it happens, so just stay tuned and we'll try to keep you updated as best we can. Have a great holiday season, whatever your faith.

- CW

So from my last post you'll know that I spent a few weeks in the Fes region. While I was there I spent one week north of Fes helping out with a group of trainees. I attended classes with the trainees everyday. There is the LCF or Language and Culture Facilitator who led classes in the morning and afternoon and then there's a local woman who comes to cook lunch and a snack for all of them.

When I arrived I noticed that the cook was friendly but never said more than "hello" and then went to the kitchen to work. So one day it was just me left in the "classroom" because the LCF had gone to take a nap and the 5 trainees had gone out for an after lunch walk. I said hello to her and immediately she perked up. She had previously thought that I was another trainee and was surprised to learn that I came to Morocco a year earlier and she was happy that we could talk. She asked me all the typical questions, where are you from, are you married, do you have kids, do you want one? I answered as I normally do, I'm American and I came to Morocco last year to work. I'm married but don't yet have children, God willing I will have children in the future. I soon learned that she wasn't actually asking if I wanted to have kids, but asking if I wanted one right now. Um...what?

So I told her that I wasn't allowed to have kids right now because I signed a contract to work until next year. The woman explained to me that there is a woman in town who is pregnant and will soon have her baby. She was in a bad situation and needed someone to take the baby. At first I'm guessing the cook saw that I'm American and saw "opportunity" pasted all over my face. I have to admit that for a millisecond I thought "it would be nice to have a baby" but I then pictured Christopher's face seeing me coming home with a random baby....okay back to reality.

The reality is that my best friend here in my own town has a cousin who has desperately been looking for a baby in hospitals and clinics in Casablanca because she herself hasn't been able to get pregnant. She wants a baby girl, the girl in Fes is having a baby girl.

A lightbulb went off in my head. Maybe I could put them in contact with each other? I ask the woman if this girl is looking to get anything out of the situation or if she's just looking for a good family for her baby? The answer is that she's gotten herself into a bad situation and that she just wants to know the baby is cared for. Good enough for me. I didn't make any promises but told the cook in Fes that I'd ask my friend.

Once back home I talk to my best friend here and give her the phone number for the cook in Fes. She takes charge from here. Two weeks pass and I don't hear anything more about it so I figure maybe they never heard back from her or something.

I got a call from my best friend last weekend and she's bursting at the seams with happiness. The woman in Fes just had the baby, and is ready to give it to my friend's family. They signed paperwork to make it legal and permanent. And my friend's family gave the woman clothes since she had just been wearing rags. They parted ways and that's that.

I am filled with joy. I know it's cheesy but I wholeheartedly believe that I was meant to be in that place at that time to meet the cook and have that conversation. It's not like I did anything great, I just had a conversation and gave someone a phone number. What I think is so awesome is that a year ago I didn't know this language well, and now I know it well enough to talk to people and have conversations that changes lives. I will forever remember that because I came to Morocco and made one phone call one little girl found a family that would love her, feed her, clothe her and support her. That's good enough for me.

It's so hard to know if anything we do here is making a difference, that's always the problem in working in development. Am I making an impact? But this is a story that I'll always hold close to my heart.

The baby's name is Hiba, gift from God.

so I've been seriously slacking off in updating the blog. It's been way too long since I took the time to sit down and write something.

Since the summer I have been busy, traveling a lot, getting back into a teaching routine with the girls at the Dar Fattat and spending lots of time with friends and family here in our Moroccan hometown. "Traveling a lot" is a bit of an understatement though.

I'll give you a brief run down of how I've spent the last three months.

September:

Travel to Mehdia to help with orientation for the new trainees (over 60 people).

Start new schedule of classes at the Dar Chebab.

Start our fountain project at the Dar Chebab(funded by a grant that we worked on over the summer)

October:

Travel to Rabat to meet with staff at Amideast about a study abroad opportunity for some of our students

Travel to a mountain town to meet with a friend about potential collaborative projects between her Dar Chebab and ours, but actually I just used that as an excuse to see her and hang out for a day or two! She's sort of far and we don't have the opportunity to hang out much throughout the year.

Travel to Fes and a tiny village to help with a teacher training workshop for the new YD trainees. It was really fun to spend this week with the teacher that Chris and I had in Ifrane last year. She's so great!

Travel to Rabat to attend a SIDA committee meeting (I'm the 2nd alternate, so I went because our representative was busy in his site) I started working on translations of an HIV video into our target languages for future use in informational workshops held by PCVs.

Started teaching again at the Dar Fattat once the girls moved back in.

Had a Halloween party with the girls at the Dar Fattat

Travel to a nearby site to help with my friend's Dar Chebab Halloween party. Then we came back to have a Halloween party with the Dar Chebab here.

November:

Traveled back to Fes to help coordinate a week of training for the trainees regarding project implementation.

Back in our town we spent over a week enjoying L3id kbir and stuffing ourselves full of sheep and cookies.

One week after l3id kbir was Thanksgiving and as you saw from Christopher's last post we were blessed to be surrounded by friends, family and tons of good food but we all missed our families back in the states too. It was super special for me that we were able to share our Thanksgiving traditions with our Moroccan family and it was so gracious of them to let us have the dinner at their house. We even did the pass one bread around the table take a piece and say what you're thankful for thing. It was so touching, and in two languages! We were all thankful for each other and our families and the food. We made everything from scratch except the cranberry sauce which came from a can because I have yet to find cranberries in Morocco. It doesn't surprise me, I couldn't find them in France in 2007 either, only cranberry juice. Thanks for cranberries Mom and Hilda!

Then immediately after our Thanksgiving weekend I hit the road once more, this time it was a week of mandatory medical visits and programming meetings in Rabat. This time we got a lot of free time to ourselves and we got to hang out with friends that are normally hours, even days away from us.

and now we're back in our town, trying to get things together for our trip home for Christmas.

Now that I type all that up it seems like I've accomplished a lot, but don't worry I've spent lots of time vegging out in front of this computer, facebooking and watching too many movies.

Then there's the mushkil, or as I call him "puppy pants." I recently bought a new chew toy for the problem and he loves to wrestle with it. We took him for a long walk this past weekend when the weather was nice and met up with a bunch of kids from our neighborhood who were painting a sign for the football team. It was especially nice because these kids were really good with the dog, some even learned how to get him to sit, lay down and shake. On a not so positive note we are finding out that now he's a big boy, he may be marking his territory and other street dogs don't like it. There is one in particular who goes nuts when we're out with him, she even follows us sometimes. Kinda scary, so we avoid other dogs. Currently he is tucked into the cow blanket on our bed taking his third nap of the day. Such a hard life.

Then there's the time that I spend hanging out with my friends and family here in town. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life and I try to take advantage of all opportunities to be with these people. My host mom even taught me couscous, which I've been meaning to learn for over a year now. Somehow I doubt that my couscous will ever taste as good as hers, after all when is something ever as good as Mama's?

When asked last week by my program director, "what is your greatest accomplishment in the last year" I didn't hesitate to answer "my relationships." By that I mean the relationships that I've formed with people I work with, people that I see at shops I frequent and people closest to me like my host family and friends. A year ago I wasn't able to talk to them about anything more significant than the weather and now I've forged lifelong (incha'allah) relationships with them. It is not Moroccan or American anymore, it's just us, they're my people now.

There is one place where Christopher and I like to go to buy things for the house like tupperware, dishes and even spices. I've become friends with a woman that works there during the day and even though I forget her name (and am now too embarrassed to ask) she's never forgotten mine. Even if I'm just passing by in the street and she sees me she'll holler "Jamila!" and I go running over to give her kisses and say hello. Once her husband gave me so many raisins and almonds for free that my pockets were overflowing. (Raisins and almonds are not cheap either!) I ended up giving some away to a handicapped boy who I frequently pass in the streets. I was happy when I saw him smile. So recently I went to this place and asked them if they could hold a pressure cooker for me until I came back later in the week to buy it. The woman of course said yes, but it was Christopher who went to buy it when he was out on other business. Because I wasn't with him the woman asked about me and Christopher said that I was fine but out of town (I had gone to buy things in a nearby city). This coming week is a holiday and the woman and her husband had lots of little gifts for sale. The tenth day in the Muslim calendar is called 3ishura and parents usually give small gifts to their kids. So the woman gave a gift to Christopher for me because I'm "so beautiful and sweet." I'm constantly in awe of the generosity of these dear sweet people.

I have one more story but I'll make it a separate post because this is already quite long!

:-) This is what happens when I don't post for months at a time...

Sena jadeeda saïda! (Happy Islamic New Year!) Today is the first day of 1432 in the Hijri calendar. If you want to know more about the Islamic calendar, visit my good friend Brendan's blog.

In Christopher and Jolie news we are now back in site and wondering when exactly the winter rains will arrive. Not that I'm complaining. But we did spend last week in the capital city of Rabat getting our mid-service medical check-ups and it rained every single day we were there. There was even a thunderstorm one night! But since coming home the weather has been gorgeous. The high temperature was over 20 degrees Celsius yesterday and it promises to be like this until we leave the country, according to the long-term forecast.

I went to my third Casablanca derby (pronounced dar-bee) last Saturday. I went with the aforementioned Brendan and both of my host brothers. The sun was shining, the atmosphere was boiling (as always), and the football was mediocre. Wydad pulled out a 2-1 victory with a free kick in the final thirty seconds. Not exactly the ending all the Raja supporters surrounding us were hoping for.

That's all I've got for now. It's time to get back to packing and anxiously awaiting the next explosion from the boys outside. Expect an update from Jolie soon.

- CW

Everyone gathering for lunch at the host family's. From left to right: Tanie, Matthew, Mama Khadija, Nejwa, Zineb and Hajar.But that's not all! There's also (from left to right) Liz, Alex, Ryan and yours truly.

And don't forget (from left to right) Bradley, Tyson and Liz (again). For those of you keeping score at home, that's nine Americans and four Moroccans taking part in a traditional Thanksgiving meal. What meal, you ask?

This one! Chicken (every vendor in town was sold out of turkey because of the recent Moroccan holiday) with stuffing and gravy, carrots, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and deviled eggs were on the menu.And for dessert Jolie made a pumpkin pie and Mama made an apple tart kind of thing.*ding* Round two! This is a picture of dinner. We had sheep meat with prunes, along with the leftover veggies from lunch. Delicious. God bless the parents of all the cooks - and all the people that shipped food in order for this meal to happen.

Uzbekistan won the match 0-1 after extra time.

Please visit the USA 2022 bid page and vote for a host city (preferably Indianapolis).

For my non-American reading audience I learned this weekend that my cousin Ricky, 22, died in a car accident early last Saturday morning. He was driving and no one else was in the vehicle. He will be dearly missed. I am glad to report that his organs have been used to save the lives of seven other people. Knowing that helps.

In other news Jolie has left the dog and I. Again. God willing she will return this coming weekend after inspiring another CBT group to do great works here in Morocco over the next two years.

In addition I have taken on the audacious task of teaching girls at the dar taliba basketball. Some come with talent, others do not. All come with a willingness to play. Hopefully I can make a good head start with winter (and rain) right around the corner.

And to all the second years out there that will be leaving at the end of this week - mahalo and treq slama.

- CW

Muchkil and I watching Celtic lose at home to Rangers 1-3.

I present to you pictures (with captions) of the (currently unfinished) fountain in the courtyard of our dar chebab. Enjoy.

This is what you would call a "before" picture. The center of the courtyard before digging commenced. You see the baby tree in there? Don't worry; he was moved to another location in the DC with the sod that nourishes him.

The gold shovel has pierced the earth. As you can see, we were very careful with the delicate little palm tree.

From left to right: Abdelkhalek, our mudir (pronounced "moo-deer"); Jolie, my wife; Radwan, friend. We have filled the hole with a lot of rocks and buttressed the hole with bricks. When else in your life could you use the word "buttress"?

We have now filled the hole with cement and used a one by four to make the base more or less level.

The mudir building the well in the center of the fountain. As I wrote in a previous post, the well is made of large rocks on the outside and filled in with smaller rocks. The large black hose will be used for recycling the water. Behind it, even though you can't see it, is a smaller orange hose that will be used for electricity.

Khalid (left) and Abderzak (right) stepping in while the mudir takes a smoke break.

We have added the khabiat and the tajine lids. As of today we have built up the well to be level with the top of the water jugs with a small cavity for the motor.

There she is. We hope to have her completed soon, but as of today the mudir has been absent for three weeks. We'll keep you posted. Have a great hump day.

- CW

As many of you know, Jolie has been away for the past two weeks. The house hasn't burned down, the dog is still alive, and yet no one was afraid that I would light my dwelling on fire or inadvertently cause Muchkil to perish. Rather most people were afraid that I would starve without a wife to cook for me. Well guess what haters? I'm still alive!

How can this be, you ask yourselves. He probably ate at the host family's a lot, if not every meal, you respond. Not so! I only went to the host family's for one meal. That's right, just one. But I thought you said Jolie has been away for a fortnight. Wouldn't that mean she's been away for two Fridays?

And that's where the title of this entry comes in. I have a fantastic host mother who has many talents. One of them is preparing a delicious couscous lunch every other Friday. (She alternates with Mama Fatima across the street.) I also have a fantastic bunch of students at the dar chebab. (A group that is growing, I am happy to report.) Knowing that Jolie is away, that it's nearly a sin to not eat couscous on a Friday, and that I must not have anyone who could possibly prepare me a plate of the national dish, Radwan invited me to his house for lunch this past Friday. Because it's extremely rare for a married couple, or one member of a married couple, to get invited to a student's residence, I took him up on his offer.

He met me at my house shortly after noon and we caught a ride to one of the small villages that dot the landscape outside of town. His family owns land and animals; his father earns a living this way. His mother, having raised four sons, is an excellent cook. So good, in fact, that I did not feel bad that I wasn't with the host family. The vegetables were steamed so thoroughly that they literally melted in my mouth. The chicken still had the skin on it (that's how most Moroccans prefer it), but the meat slipped right off as soon as I put my spoon to it. And the couscous itself was spiced perfectly. If I had to eat only my host mother's couscous every Friday for the rest of my life, I would never complain. But if I had to choose which couscous I would eat every Friday for the rest of my life, my host mother's would be third on my list.

I'm sorry, Mama, but another woman's couscous has stolen my heart. I hope you understand.

- CW

That's right, Jolie and I have passed the true midpoint of our service. While some people posted about being one year in country last month, and still others might post about being one year in as Volunteers next month, I'm going to be that rare shining gem that writes exactly halfway through service.

However I am not going to write a reflection about what it's like to be a PCV in Morocco. That's all been done before. No, today I'm going to treat you to a real secret. A secret that I revealed in the title of this post. While I still can't prove it, I believe my dog is really a cat. Here's my reasoning:

1. I've never seen my dog drink water. Trying to catch my dog drinking water is like trying to catch cats having intercourse. Cat owners, you know what I'm talking about. It's late, you've just finished watching Letterman and you've been in bed for twenty-three minutes. You're at that point where your alpha waves have given way to beta waves and you're drifting off. Your muscles are relaxed, eyes are closed, and your brain is preparing for some much needed REM sleep. And then you hear it, that sound. It's like a toy fire truck's siren. At first it's low and it comes in fits, but it steadily gets louder and more constant. And then it's gone, and you have to wait another twenty-three minutes before you'll start your first REM cycle.

I know he has to drink water sometime. He wouldn't be alive if he didn't. And if he's not drinking water, then what is that liquid he expels by the pint every time we go on a walk? Maybe I should set up a video camera rigged with a motion sensor, like photographers do in the wild? Erect a box and camouflage it to record some evidence. Or maybe I shouldn't worry about it? Unless he stops urinating altogether. That could be a problem.

2. He's curious to a fault. Whenever we go out, his nose has to be in everything. And I mean everything. Plastic bags, paper bags, piles of sand, piles of rocks, trash people put out to get collected, trash just blowing in the wind, sidewalks, paved roads, pot holes, gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse. Okay, I may have borrowed those last seven from Tommy Lee Jones, but you get the idea. Moroccans always think they have the right of way, whether they're on foot, donkey, horse, car or truck. I can't tell you how many times I've saved that dog's life. One of these days, though, that nose of his is going to get him in trouble. And I can't be there every time it does.

3. He loves other cats. When Ryan's cat, Muskina, was here for a month this past summer, he had the time of his life. He chased that cat everywhere trying to get her to play. Even when she whipped out the claws and stabbed him in the eyelid (I am not making that up), he would just run her down and ask for more. And when we're outside, he'll strain to the end of his leash to go sniff and play with a street cat. He honestly can't get enough.

4. He is shedding wildly. It's October. The daily high is dropping just a little bit more every day. It rained nonstop last Friday through Tuesday. And yet, whenever I pet him, fur falls out in clumps. I sweep up and two days later there are dust bunnies of his hair in the corners of every room. Shouldn't he be growing hair in preparation for winter? I mean, I know you were born in the mountains, dog, but it still gets cold here. He obviously doesn't remember last winter when he absolutely refused to go outside if it was raining. This past weekend? It didn't bother him a bit. I was in a hat and jacket with the hood up, and he just pranced merrily down the street looking for another bag to sniff.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Partly because I like to tell stories, but mainly because it's all true. I hope you've enjoyed today's post, and I'll see you next time on . . .

READING RAINBOW!!!

- CW

It's been two weeks since we've written on this blog, so I think you good people deserve an update. What do you think? I thought so. Here's what you've missed:

Jolie is currently out of the office. She will meet up with the new YD Trainees in Fes today. She and others will get together to make a syllabus on how to teach English. On Saturday morning she will accompany a CBT (Community Based Training) group back to their site and spend next week teaching them how to be effective English teachers here in Morocco. She will be home the following Sunday.

The fountain is coming along nicely. I would show you just how nice it is except for the fact that Jolie has the camera and I did not upload the pictures of the fountain thus far taken onto the computer before she left. My bad. So do your best to picture it in your head. It's an above-ground concrete pool two meters in diameter. The wall of the pool is about a foot tall. In the center of the pool is a well made of big rocks that we found in the dar chebab and brought in from outside. The well is a meter in diameter and nearly two meters tall. Running up the center of the well are two hoses. One will be for an electric wire that will run the pump we'll buy in the next few days. The other will be for recirculating water. Besides those hoses the well is completely filled with rocks. We have started to decorate the well with khabiat (water jugs is the best translation) and tajine lids. The only major portions of construction that remain are running electricity to the fountain (in the center of the dar chebab) and installing the pump, which, as I mentioned, we haven't bought yet.

Muchkil is doing great. He's grown up so much in the past eight months. At heart he's still a giant puppy, but he's matured a lot too.

Finally before I let you go I just wanted to say that opposable thumbs are very neat things and you should protect them. If you're ever playing goalkeeper and someone takes an extremely hard shot, don't be afraid to punch it out. That's what professional keepers do. Don't try to catch the ball; you might sprain your left thumb because you didn't catch the ball cleanly. And where does that leave you? Doing things awkwardly for the next couple of days, that's where.

Have a great Thursday.

- CW

Some people have asked me "what do you do?" Actually I got that a lot from the new volunteers in training that just arrived in the country; they're so curious about what I do in any given day. So here it is. It's a long one, I hope you're ready for this...

This week will mark our first week back in a routine at the Dar Chebab and elsewhere. We're making our rounds, making sure people of the community know that we're still here and that they can find us at the Dar Chebab if they wanna learn English. We're only two days into our "work week" and we've already been blessed with success stories to report!

As a side note, for those of you unaware, we wrote a grant back in May, submitted it to an association called Kids to Kids in America and were awarded the grant earlier this summer. With the beginning of the school year and re-opening of the Dar Chebab we have started work on our project. Our project is to create ecological additions to the Dar Chebab, a huge fountain (3meters high) in the center of our Dar Chebab, a world map (popular among PCVs), a plant nursery, bird houses and other smaller projects. Yesterday we bought the cement and other raw materials to start the fountain project.

I'll give you a run down of our day here including both personal and work related stuff:

9am: wake up, get dressed, grab a banana for breakfast and walk to the Dar Chebab to meet the mudir. We have plans to go to all of the schools in town to let them know our English teaching schedule this year.

10am: get to Dar Chebab, find the assistant mudir. We talk for about an hour while waiting for the mudir to arrive. The mudir never came, but while waiting some girls came to inquire about our English schedule. Yay! The assistant to the mudir asked us to come over to her house later today too.

11:15 : walk home, buy some ground beef for lunch. while walking some of the girls that I taught at the Dar Fattat last year stop me to say hello. It was so nice to see them, I asked if their mudira was back and if I could come speak with her later in the day to inquire about my working there this year. It always makes me feel good when my students chase me down just to say hello and ask "wllfti shwiya?" to which I always respond "shwiya." (asking if I've adjusted to the Moroccan lifestyle, and I only say "a little" because there's always something more for me to learn). We continue walking home to start lunch.

11:20 until 12:30 : lunch cooks, we worked in the kitchen together, which is always nice. We had potatoes with stuffed peppers. Yum!

12:30-1:30 : eat, watch a bit of t.v. on our computer.

1:30-2:30 : I rest a bit and Christopher catches up on his Fantasy football league online.

2:30 : we get ready to leave

2:45 : we leave, buy some small cakes at the bakery to take to the people we're meeting for tea.

3ish : we arrive at her house, are welcomed inside and Hshuma-ed for bringing the cakes. (They told us "shame on you" for bringing the cakes, because they wanted to spoil us with sweets, but secretly I think they liked it. I mean come on, who doesn't love cake?) It was just the woman that we work with as our assistant director and her mother. They're very sweet and tell us over and over that we're good people, they like us and that we're like family. They told us to come over all the time, that they want to teach me how to make certain Moroccan dishes, etc. We drink tea, eat cookies and pancake-like treats. They bring out the "good" honey special for us. Anyone who knows the difference knows that this is a real treat because the good stuff is super expensive. (about 40 US dollars per kilo, or so we're told cause we never buy the good stuff).

4ish : Our assistant to the mudir, Christopher and I walk to the Dar Chebab together to meet with the other people that will be working with us today. We get there only to realize that she forgot the keys and has to go back to her house. No problem, we all just chat and sit in the shade.

4:15 : I go to the Dar Fattat with one of my students from the Dar Chebab to meet up with the Mudira there as well as the staff. We talk about the upcoming year, English classes, Basketball practices and small weekend projects. It will be a good year. The staff there is so wonderful and I really look forward to working with them again. I explain that I will need to travel a bit in the upcoming months but it's no problem, we'll cross that bridge as we get there. On a side note, the dog there has just had four or five little puppies and they are adorable!

4:30 : back to the Dar Chebab we go. We clear the space for the fountain, replant the palm tree and the grass elsewhere and level the area for the fountain. We bring in rocks, sand, the cement bags and the water and get to work. There were a few random guys who show up to the DC to do theater or just shoot the breeze, but I was delighted to see that everyone who showed up pitched in for the fountain project. And as we all know, many hands make light work and we all had a blast. It only took about 2 hours to make the base and then we had soda and some pastries. Of course, what is a work day in Morocco (no matter how short) without something sweet to eat and drink at the end of it. We all congratulated each other on a good start and I'm crossing my fingers that we can maintain this momentum. The other guys are already thinking of other ideas that we can do later on in the year. Pictures of all the stuff will come later, when we can do "before, during and after" pics.

6:30 : we walk down the street with one of the guys to buy a hose for the fountain and I end up in a shop across the street that has household goods. I saw a pan that can be used to make the Moroccan pancakes (bghrir) that we ate earlier in the day and I inquired as to how much it would cost. They told me 70dh which sounded a bit steep, but it was a nice pan and they told me that I could have a spatula and 6 cookie cutters to go with it if I bought it. Hmm, I really didn't go into the store to buy anything but after all it's my birthday tomorrow, I should spoil myself a bit, right? Next came a 5 minute conversation about how I'm from America but came last year to work in this city and will stay until next year. I told them that if they kept it at the counter that I would bring the money tomorrow to buy it. They said, "no, just take it now and bring the money back whenever." What?! That's awesome, the trust that you can find among strangers here amazes and humbles me! I told them that I'd see them tomorrow, with the money and a schedule of my hours at the DC. (They have kids that they are gonna tell to come visit with me at the DC.) So we then walked home, we passed the bread vendors on the way and one shouts to Christopher "Salam, khuya, labas?" (Hello brother, how are you?) And Christopher explains to me that he is the guy that he usually buys bread from.

7 -7:30 : we get home and change into cooler clothes as it is still a bit summery during the day. I start to type this but am stopped by a honk out our front window.

7:30 : My best friend here has come to wish me a happy birthday. She bought me some pretty clothes and her mom sent me a bottle of perfume. We have a short chat, but she could only stay for a bit because she needed to pick her dad up from the mosque and her brother up from the pharmacy where he works.

Now it's past 8, we start to cook dinner, we'll eat and will probably fall asleep while watching movies or something. I feel energized by the motivation and excitement that was shown to me by the DC kids today. There are plenty of things like walking the dog, reading emails, etc etc and all those everyday things that I didn't include here, but there you go... a day in the life of me. I had a really good day. I'm really happy that a concrete (literally) project is happening here because it is sometimes so easy to lose focus on the impact you're making while teaching or leading activities. But to make something that will last, that is easy to see and appreciate. Oh and one more thing we accomplished today...we changed the lightbulbs! Which can be really entertaining because our ceilings are SO high that I had to sit on Christopher's shoulders and stretch as far as I could in order to change them!

What a long post! If you made it this far, I applaud you!

Thanks for reading!

Jolie

Brownie bites and Macaroons, treats that I made to share with family, friends and neighbors to celebrate L3id lsghir (the end of Ramadan holiday). It's a tradition here for people to go visiting family and friends for this holiday. You bring a plate of cookies to those you visit and they give you cookies that they've made. Or at least this is the tradition in the part of Morocco that we're in.

So one of the things that I missed the most while living in France was an oven. That sounds weird because ovens abound in a country known for their bread, but that fact is, we didn't have one in our house. If I wanted to bake something I would've had to go to the Foyer David d'Angers (dormitory) and use the communal kitchen. I would do that occasionally (usually on Tuesdays when we got together with friends living in the Foyer to make American/French/Mauritian meals.) This was our "family" time to make dinner together and I would usually take advantage of the oven. Still, there were plenty of times when I wished I could have one in my home, to use whenever I wanted.

And here in Morocco there are communal ovens in each neighborhood, but I have an oven in the house too! I use it a lot, mostly to make breads, cookies, brownies, cakes and desserty things. Sometimes I'll make meatloaf or quiche or other savory foods. The dog gets his homemade dog biscuits thanks to the oven too. And as you know I've recently been on a search for real cheesecake. So after a skype chat with my mom and a lovely woman from my church back home who has faithfully been sending me goodies, it occurred to me that they might like to see the outcome of my cooking adventures. So above are the brownie bites and macaroons and below is the unicorn of dessert treats, the magical cheesecake!

yay! the recipe was perfect, so delicious. i can't wait to make it again. for all the PCVs who are craving cheesecake, this recipe is in the latest edition of Peaceworks. (the one with the cup on the front). I can't wait until next spring when strawberries will be back in season and we can have strawberry topping!

And on a non-food related topic: happy birthday to all us September birthdays: Jacob, Tina King, Ahmed, Uncle Jerry's dad, Andrew, Brandon, Tanie, Alli pants (even though technically she's October, I'll still count her), Cara and all the others that I can't remember off the top of my head! l3id milad s3id!

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."

- Edward Everett Hale

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

-Mahatma Gandhi

Thanks to all that commented on my last post! I have written down your t.v. and movie suggestions and am looking forward to getting them! Or rather, looking forward to asking Chris to get them for me :-)

As I was baking a tray of chocolate chip cookies in my metal box of an oven (see earlier post regarding "souk" for pictures of the oven) I stepped outside into my courtyard to get some fresh air. It's hot in the kitchen almost always, but lately the evenings have been cooling down so nicely. LHamdullah! (Thanks be to God!) We even have been sleeping without the fan! As I was standing out in the courtyard I looked up to the starriest sky, it was so beautiful and peaceful, and in that moment I felt so calm. I was taken away from Morocco, from Peace Corps and anything else, and allowed myself to just enjoy that moment, just me and the sky. And yes, Mom, I did think about the song from Fieval Goes West, although I'm pretty sure the unobstructed starry sky on my end looks more appealing than what you're getting over there. It's times like that, that I wish my courtyard was a roof and I could just lay there for hours.

Then later I sat in the "living room" and listened to all the outside noises (occasional car, but much more frequent hee-haws of the donkeys pulling carts, the neighborhood stray dogs and cats, the groups of goats passing by and of course the kids playing soccer out in the street until the wee hours of morning...quite obvious to know when one scores a goal because all the kids yell "Ouais" the French word they've adopted as "yeah!"). I mentioned how that I will miss those sounds when I'm back in America, and how this is feeling like home more and more.

To Aunt Carole, thanks for the comment about helping us with a cheesecake recipe! I've been looking for a taste of home in the form of cheesecake lately. It is sometimes hard to use recipes off the internet or from cook books because oftentimes the ingredients we have accessible are not what the recipes call for. Because of this I have become pretty adventuresome with substitutions and found out that Nestle condensed milk added to white sugar will make a decent substitute for brown sugar in Chocolate chip cookies! The recipe book that was given to us when we swore in as PCVs has a lot of great recipes and suggestions for substitutions but no cheesecake recipe! So I turned to the interwebs and found lots of delicious recipes, I tried two but they weren't perfect. And when it comes to cheesecake, I'll settle for nothing less than perfection! :-) So I sent out an email to my fellow PCVs currently in Morocco and found someone who is known for her in-country cheesecakes! She's sent me a recipe and I can't wait to try it. She's done all the work for me putting it into "Moroccan" terms and I'm hoping to use it for my birthday in a few weeks. I even found a spring form pan! She also sent me one for pumpkin cheesecake, so I'm pretty sure I know what I'm making for Thanksgiving!

I think the cheesecake got me feeling adventurous in the kitchen because now I've set my sights on making my own Neufchatel cheese! There is someone here that is working with a cheese association and has posted a cheese recipe online. If it works, then I'll have another way to make cheesecake (maybe all my motivation comes from my stomach). The other recipe that I want to try from her blog is how to make homemade ice cream. I've tried the bag way, and it didn't turn out. I'm pretty sure the milk that we get here is not conducive to ice cream making. It's the box kind that can sit on the shelf without refrigeration for awhile. Next time I'm gonna go straight to the cow, literally. I'm going to go to our souk (on Sundays and Mondays) and get milk straight from a guy who brings a cow. I'll have to boil it of course, but it will be delicious. None of that pasteurization for me thank you.

This weekend we have all of Settat province staying with us! We're having a "party" for the boys to do their fantasy football draft picks as well as a Labor day celebration. Chris is on his way to Casablanca to find hotdogs and goodies at the Marjane. Party time is a good excuse for me to be in the kitchen, hence the chocolate chip cookies. :-)

I truly hope this Neufchatel cheese adventure works out, if it does I'll be able to hold a workshop at the women's association to show them how. It's always fun for me to think of workshops that I can do for them. This coming year I hope to do a natural dye workshop, a felting workshop (I have to learn that one first too), a women's health and wellness workshop, another planting workshop (rooftop veggies) and maybe the cheese workshop. Lots of fun stuff, I'm hoping on inviting other PCVs who can help out leading the workshops.

The end of Ramadan is coming soon, and thus will end the lazy days of summer. I hope I'm ready because I have a feeling this year is gonna fly by.

Skype me! (mjolie.kihm)

~Jolie

Thank you Mommy and Daddy for my wonderful toys. And thank you again Daddy for the hour-long walks every night during ftur (breakfast) during Ramadan. You guys are the best parents evar!

- Muchkil

I'm much better at making lists than writing in coherent sentences for the moment so here's a list of what I've accomplished over the summer

1. parasites (at least 2x)

2. a week of IST (In Service Training) in Rabat

3. a trip to South Africa, with a short layover in Paris, yay!

4. almost but NOT getting mugged in South Africa, whew

5. feeling like I was going "home" when getting off the plane in Morocco

6. UNO, ping pong and painting at the Dar Chebab

7. fainting at the Dar Chebab and feeling completely embarrassed as the director and others completely violated my personal space bubble in order to carry me inside.

8. spending 2 weeks planning out super cool lessons for summer camp only to get sick (see #1 and #7) and only be able to do two lessons at camp. Sorry to team UK, but thanks to Donniell, Duncan and others for stepping in and giving the kids a great club time. I hated more than anything feeling sick and defeated physically but felt so loved and supported to be surrounded by my PCV friends who just encouraged me to get well. So I only got to stay at camp for a 1/3 of the usual time. :-(

9. lots of friends have been passing through the area on work or personal related travel and we've had lots of house guests. It has been lots of fun.

10. on the same note as house guests, we had a kitty staying with us for awhile during our friend Ryan's time at camp. His kitty and our Mushkil got to be best buddies and despite their chase games during the day, they would snuggle at night. too cute.

11. Now that it's just Chris, me and the dog we feel like we have an empty house, our dog even goes looking for the cat. hopefully before summer ends and before we have to get into our fall work schedules our friends can come back for a visit.

12. summer is hot, we try to stay cool by sitting directly in front of the fan.

13. we have a lot planned for the fall but for now we're just waiting out the hot, boring summer. everything shuts down during summer, especially since this is the Holy Month of Ramadan.

14. I nap at least once a day, wake up at 11 and go to bed around 3 or 4am. It's better to be awake at night.

15. dog got a bath today and then proceeded to run around the house like a wild child for the next hour. it reminded me of all the times Chris or I would assist with bath time with our nephew, Andrew, and he would want to run around the house in his skivvies (or less). I can't wait to have kids :-)

16. Watched a ton of movies, Die Hard series complete, on to Lethal Weapon series. There is no way to gauge how many hours we've spent in front of this computer.

Things I want to do before the end of summer:

1. Plan for the upcoming school year, events, schedule, lesson plans etc.

2. Study Arabic and French, I feel like I'm getting rusty in both

3. Find a recipe that will work for cheesecake. I know there's one out there, i can taste it....

4. Write more letters, especially to my Grandma.

5. I want to get healthy!

We don't have the motivation to do anything but stay cool and we're actually really lucky with a cooler apartment/location than a lot of our friends. Summer has seemed to drag on though, we're ready for fall. We're ready to work again.

We hope you're all staying cool, if you have any movie suggestions let us know, hahaha.

~jolie

Hello fans! How are you all doing? Hope your summer is treating you well. August in Morocco is . . . indescribable. But some things are constant. 1) It's hot. 2) PCVs travel. Jolie and I, living in a region that has a total of five Volunteers, don't see a lot of people except at trainings. Until this month. Whether Volunteers are traveling for their own personal pleasure, for work, or are seeing friends or family, Jolie and I have been able to host five PCVs in the past few weeks. Some were for just a night, some for multiple nights. I don't know if any of them read this, but if you do - it was a pleasure having all of you and we hope to see you again soon. For those reading this and still haven't been to 3nd (Chez) Wieland, our doors are open.

Many of you reading this know that the holy month of Ramadan has started. This means that all good Muslims (and PCVs who want to share in the experience) are fasting from sun up to sun down. Jolie and I are not on this list. We are being respectful by not eating or drinking anything in public, but we won't be fasting. There are, however, parts of Ramadan that I am enjoying very much. One is the lack of people awake in the middle of the day. Yesterday I went to a nearby big city to do some shopping at a large grocery store and I took grand taxis to get there and back. I was passenger number five going and number six returning, so I did not have to wait long for my rides. And because there are hardly any drivers on the road between the hours of 11a and 2p, my drivers were able to do over 100km/h (60mph) for long stretches of the trip. It was enjoyable to finally make the 50 kilometer trip in 40 minutes.

Another enjoyable facet of Ramadan is the football. My male peers take it easy during the day. They work a little, they nap, they watch movies on television - they don't exert themselves much. Until about 5:30pm. That's when they gather in large numbers in flat, rectangular spaces. Someone brings a ball and they play until 7pm when it's time to make the walk home in time to break fast at 7:15pm. Since Ramadan started over a week ago, I've played football every other day. Usually I play at the dar chebab, but yesterday both the mudir and the groundskeeper were out of town. As a result the guys I play with and I were invited to play on the pitch of the local semi-pro team. (My mudir is on the management of the club.) The team was there practicing, so they gave us half the field and we played width-wise. Having seen half a dozen matches from the stands around the pitch, it was a lot of fun playing on it.

I believe that's all I have to say for now. Hope you enjoyed reading and don't be afraid to write a comment. Talk to you all later.

- CW

Hello one and all! It's your friendly neighborhood blogger. It's been two weeks since I returned from summer camp, and earlier today Jolie left for the same. Every summer Youth Development Volunteers are required to work at an English Immersion camp in the beach city of El Jedida (which means "the New"). It's quite an arduous task, being forced to work at the beach for two weeks teaching children English and playing games with them. Now I could talk and talk about this for another hour, but you would only be able to imagine the hardship I suffered. So instead I will show you my pain through pictures.

Opening night introducing the children to the American and Moroccan staff.

The ubiquitous dance party. Every Moroccan camp must have one every night.

Matthew, an employee from the United States Embassy in Rabat, passing out backpacks full of goodies for the kids.

Brendan (center) leading the kids in how to dance like a penguin. Also pictured (from left to right: Audrey, Wes, Mari, Juan, Courtney, Cara, and Melanie.)

Talent Show Night. The kid in black is doing magic. Before this picture was taken he put the string in a tube, cut the tube, but not the string. Amazing!

A classic Moroccan camp game. Line the kids up in chairs, have them play follow the leader, then put a wet sponge on their chair before they sit down again.

I was the leader for the Brazil country club. These are my kids during one of our afternoon club sessions. In a few minutes I will be teaching them elementary Brazilian Portuguese.

This is Asma. She was in my club. She's also the winner of the Traditional Dress category of the Fashion Show we had one night. Go Brazil!

Yours truly during the Fashion Show, competing in the Crazy Dress category. My shirt is on inside out and backwards, I'm wearing one shoe and one sandal, and my underwear is outside of my shorts.

This little birdie came to check out the cafeteria in between lunch and dinner one day.

Halloween Night, a camp favorite. On the left is Melanie, on the right is one of the kids from her site that she brought to camp. Melanie would eventually win this Bobbing for Apples battle.

My kids practicing capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that's more dance than combat.

On the final full day of camp the kids compete in the English Olympiad, a fun test of all they've learned during camp. These kids are trying to guess what Brendan is drawing during a round of Pictionary.

Three of my boys performing a skit about Brazil during the end of camp Spectacle.

Ashley (left) and Fauve (right), the Volunteers in charge of team India, leading their kids in the Slumdog Millionaire dance.

You see what I mean? An absolute nightmare. Not only did I go through these events, but I also had to go to the beach, play sports, and explore the Portuguese section of the old city. Be thankful you didn't have to go through that. Stay tuned as I try to regroup after this horrifying experience.

- CW

Moroccans (and speakers of Arabic in general) have a lot of God phrases - phrases that they say to other people in the hope that God grants His blessings on them. "God save your soul", "God help you", "God make you useful" and "God bless your parents" are spoken on a daily basis. They also have sayings about health, and one that we hear often during summer is "To your health and relaxation". It's a great phrase for this time of year because people do a lot of relaxing.

Unfortunately relaxing can be a very physical business. Earlier this week Jolie and I were helping the kids paint the outside perimeter wall of the dar chebab. Around 8pm Jolie sat down on the curb and asked me to get her water. When I returned she was flat on her back inside the dar chebab with people pouring water on her face, hands and feet, and lightly slapping her cheek. She had passed out two seconds after asking me for water. She bruised her right knee and cut her face near her right eye. Thankfully she was sitting when she passed out or it could have been worse. She's better now but the doctors have asked her not to travel for a few days. She should have been at camp by now.

In the next week the holy month of Ramadan will begin. During this time it is popular for boys and young men to play football before breaking fast at sundown. So this week these same males play football at the time they will play during Ramadan. I played this past Wednesday and will play again later today. This past Wednesday during my rotation as keeper I came out to collect a ball when a player on the opposing team decided he was going to try and beat me to it. As I was bending down to scoop up the ball, his knee connected with my face sending my glasses flying a meter or two. But I got the last laugh because I got the ball and did not cough it up in the collision. That was just one of several good saves and I received many a "To your health and relaxation"s after the game. I imagine I'll be playing a lot more keeper today.

But the pain isn't limited to humans. Our friend Ryan is currently at camp and we are watching his cat. So in our house is a crazy dog and wild cat. Just use what you've learned from Looney Tunes to imagine what goes on here. The cat has claws and she's not afraid to use them. More than once have we watched them play in time to see her claw attached to his eyelid. He also has several scratches on his snout. Despite these injuries he keeps going back for more.

Well everyone is awake now so I'll end this here. Pray for our healing and God grant you all good health and relaxation.

- CW

so i'll be the first to admit that i rely on Christopher to take care of a lot of things at home. in fact it is safe to say that I'd be lost without him. he probably accomplishes more before I wake up than I accomplish in a whole day. well, that might be a bit extreme, but you get the picture.

one thing that he does most is take the dog out on walks. there is a multitude of reasons why he does this instead of me and most of it comes down to me being a girl and foreign. i don't like to walk by myself because i get hollers from every aged boy, adolescent and man. Usually nothing more than words, but recently I was followed, so I must be careful. i don't like to walk at night especially because i don't feel safe, nothing has happened but there are plenty of dark corners where sketchy guys like to hang out. I always feel safe if I am with Christopher or with friends. Safety in numbers and all that.

As a guy, Chris doesn't get the same harassment as I do, but he definitely gets "unwanted attention." here's why: there are always people outside who are interested by the dog (usually kids) and they think it's a good idea to whistle, meow, bark, insert any noise that comes to mind, etc. at the dog. Now, our dog LOVES kids, and will whine at the door if he hears them outside because he wants to play, but these kids don't have any clue how to play with a dog because frankly we're probably the first people they've ever met that have a dog. So in the end, all the kids accomplish by coming up to the dog is taunting him and getting him excited. poor little guy. I have more patience with this than Christopher and view it as an opportunity to let the kids get to know me, a crazy American dog owner.

Christopher is off at camp for two weeks and I'm here. Other than recently figuring out how to jump ON TOP of the kitchen counter, our little guy has been really well behaved. ...Until this afternoon that is...and I know that I will take the dog's side, because he's my baby, so I'll say that his behavior this afternoon was not his fault.

Here's what happened. This morning a 3 year old neighbor boy who is as tall as the dog's head wanted desperately to pet him. So I try to keep the dog calm and keep him from jumping up on the kid, which is what the dog wants to do. Success. UNTIL the dog realizes that the kid is holding bread in the non-petting hand. UH OH. This is our dogs favorite meal and probably the reason why he learned to jump on the counter in the first place. I'm talking like if you put a juicy, tender piece of meat in front of him and a crusty piece of old bread hidden somewhere in the house....he would sniff out the old bread before he bothered eating the meat. crazy. i know. So I tell the boy that he had better stop because the dog is excited over the bread, but the sweet little kid decides instead of eating breakfast himself he would feed the bread to the dog. Awe. That would have made a sweet picture and the situation worked out much better than I had envisioned.

However, when round 2 came along this evening there's another ending to the story, and this time his family was around to witness the action. same kid, another piece of bread in his hand. this time the kid only wants to pet him. The dog isn't the smartest but certainly remembers people, and more importantly food. And remember, this is his favorite food we're talking about here. So when the kid advances to pet the dog, I again try to keep the dog down but he's whining and jerking about trying to get free of my grasp. He finally manages to bounce up just enough to throw the kid off balance, all the while whining and crying for the bread. the kid manages to stay on his feet and his older sister walks along to direct him away from the dog. I try to hold the dog in my arms but he's manic and had to let him down ...only to see him lunge the length of his leash after the poor kid who was thankfully down the street. Nothing happened, fortunately, but it made me increasingly aware of how "in a fishbowl" Christopher and I (and our doggy) are in our Moroccan world.

The dog didn't do anything wrong, he just gets too excited for a 3 year old to handle.

I want people to know that (not all) dogs are not dirty and mean creatures that should be feared. I want them to know the joy of having a dog as a pet and friend. I desperately want to show them that it is important to be humane to the critters on this planet, critters of all sizes, domestic, exotic, even animals that are "work animals" deserve to be treated properly. So I feel terrible when one situation occurs that may leave a bad taste in their mouths towards dogs, or towards Americans for that matter. And all over a piece of bread.

While I sit and write this our little guy is asleep, curled up as small as he can get on our couch. He's probably dreaming about bread.

Love to you all, thanks for reading!

Jolie

In the past five days the temperature has consistently been over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). As you might imagine, people tend to go outside their house in the early morning and the late evening, avoiding the sun during the hottest hours of the day. However that still hasn't stopped some people getting into it.

Last week my dar chebab held a football tournament for kids aged 10-14 years old. On the third day of matches, when the kids were lining up to hear which teams would be playing that day, two youngsters started going at it. Nobody was hurt and both children were given a warning. The next day, during a match I was refereeing, two older kids who had come to watch their little siblings play, began to tussle just off the playing surface. Both of those kids were thrown out.

On Sunday I went to visit my friend Brendan to watch the World Cup final. On my way home, as the bus I was riding passed through the town of Kasbat Tadla, the bus was forced to come to a stop because two tussling young men in their 20s had spilled into the road. Everyone got a free show for about two minutes before a couple of elderly gentlemen split them up. They both went their separate ways with red faces and bruises.

In other news I leave for summer camp in a few hours. Pray for Jolie as she tackles the dog alone for the next 12 days. I'll talk to you all later. Take care of your heads with umbrellas.

- CW

Before, when I looked like this, I could make infants and toddlers cry without a word. But now that I like this . . . .

If it weren't for the beard, you would think I was Hayley Mills circa 1961. I know I do. - CW

Here begins our vacation in pictures. It starts in Paris. Jolie and I had a 10 hour layover there after arriving from Casablanca, before continuing to Ethiopia and then South Africa....

This is the Crypt of Paris. It's a museum underneath the Cathedral of Notre Dame on the Ile de la Cite in the Seine River in the middle of Paris. The ruins down here are Roman, from when the empire began to settle in Gaul. None of this would exist except for the fact that everyone who settled here after the Romans did respected the roads the Romans laid down and built on top of where the Romans built. Now we know exactly what the island has looked like for the past 2500 years.

Finally we made it to the Republic of South Africa. We had a couple of days to kill before our first match, so we hit up the Johannesburg Zoo....

This bird is called the Saddlebill. It's unique feature, as you have probably already figured out, is that it's knees bend forward.

Jolie makes some friends with the meerkats.

These peacocks were sitting on top of another bird cage, taunting its residents. Like at the Cincinnati Zoo peacocks, dozens of them, were allowed to roam the grounds at will.

Jolie feeding an Eland.

A cheetah awakened from its nap by Jolie snapping photos.

After Jo'burg came Cape Town.....

Jolie hanging out with some fur seals. Signs around the docks warned visitors that they will bite. Fortunately, no one was hurt this day.

Jolie on top of Table Mountain. In the hazy distance is the Cape of Good Hope.

Cape Town as seen from atop Table Mountain.

Many cities around the world have a service called the Hop On Hop Off double-decker red buses. We descended Table Mountain in one of these buses and took it down to the Waterfront. In this picture are the ridges of Table Mountain, called the Twelve Apostles. An odd name considering there are seventeen total.

Cape Town is a very windy city.

While in Cape Town we took a ferry and toured Robben Island, the infamous prison complex that held Nelson Mandela among many other freedom fighters....

The just as infamous limestone quarry on Robben Island. Prisoners would work here for seven hours a day in the blazing sunlight and were not allowed to wear sunglasses. As a result Mandela and many others have serious eye conditions and it is forbidden to take a photograph of Madiba (Mandela's nickname) using the flash. It should also be noted that the limestone that the prisoners broke up was never used, it was just a job to pass the time and keep them occupied. One last note about the picture - notice the pile of rocks on the right hand side. When Madiba first visited the island after becoming president, he took a rock and placed it at the entrance of the quarry in commemoration of those who did not leave the island alive. Now it is a tradition that leaders of all nations who visit the island and quarry place a rock where Mandela did, and now the pile is several feet tall.

This is a cell block where sixty prisoners once lived. They would work from 7:30am - 3:30pm and after lunch would be locked in their rooms until the next morning. Activities to pass the evening hours included cards, Scrabble, and political debates.

One of the many penguins that inhabit the island.

After Cape Town we departed for another coastal city - Port Elizabeth....

In P.E. we saw Chile v Switzerland. Before kickoff many fans waved the flags of those two countries, plus that of the Rainbow Nation.

This little guy sat a couple rows in front of us. Jolie used the "Sports" feature of our camera to nab this photo of his cheeks fully inflated, ready to blow his vuvuzela. For those of you who don't know, the vuvuzela is a plastic horn that is a favorite instrument of South African sports fans. It's not so bad, unless it's being blown directly into your ear.

Our final stop was Nelspruit, a city just outside Kruger National Park, where Jolie and I took a day safari in an attempt to see Africa's "Big Five".....

Here's one now - a rhinoceros. How lucky are we? One of the first animals we see and it's one of the most sought after by safari takers.

This is the kudu, whose horns are those that the vuvuzela is modeled after. The picture doesn't do his size justice. He's easily as big as an elk.

During one of our breaks at a camp inside the park, we found this shiny little guy grabbing a bite to eat too.

This bird is known as the Ground Hornbill. He's one of the rarest birds in the park and our guide told us it was good luck to see him, because this particular species only lays two eggs every seven years.

The omnipresent impala. There are over 100,000 in Kruger. Notice how the black stripes on their hind parts look like an M. Because of that and the fact that the impala are so abundant and the cats love to eat them, they are known as the McDonald's of the wild.

Mommy and baby hippo napping on the river bank.

A crocodile getting some sun.

In the final hour of our safari was saw some zebras.

And also some rockhoppers. These small deer were obviously comfortable that a leopard was not about to leap at them from above.

So that brings us to the end of part one. Please stayed tuned for part deux.

This post starts at a very good place. The beginning. We begin at the Johannesburg Zoo....This cute little guy showed off for anyone and everyone, whether they had a camera or not.

Daddy was more interested in finding something to drink.

The Fennec (or Desert) Fox. They have the largest ears in comparison to their body size of any animal in the world. They are also nocturnal, hence the napping during the daylight hours.

The giraffe is one of only a few animals with a black tongue. It is also semi-prehensile and can eat leaves off trees and the thorns are left behind.

After Jo'burg we hit up Cape Town....

On the road from Jo'burg to Cape Town. "And for those of you sitting on the right hand side of the bus, you will see snow-capped mountains."

Fur seals on one of the many piers in Cape Town. The cuts on their bodies are from when they play with fishing line and other things left over in the water. Sometimes they wiggle free and sometimes they don't. If they don't, the line slowly cuts deeper and deeper into their skin and they die.

Overlooking one of the many bays around Table Mountain.

Hanging out 1700 meters (5100 feet) above sea level.

Signal Hill, part of the Table Mountain chain.

Nelson Mandela's cell on Robben Island, reproduced to look exactly as how he lived in it for 18 years. The cell is 2 meters by 2 meters square. Those pads, blankets, small table, books, and trash can (to relieve himself in) were all he was allowed to have. The prisoners woke up at 6:30am every day, had breakfast, worked until 3:30, ate a combined lunch and dinner, and went back to their cells until lights out at 11pm.

Our tour guide - Gus was his English name - one of the former prisoners on the island. All tours on the island are given by former prisoners.

Our third stop is Port Elizabeth....

Christopher decked out before the Chile v Switzerland match. Guess who he decided to support? Chi chi chi! Le le le! Viva Chile!

Jolie with her face painted before the same match.

A Swiss fan sitting a few rows behind us. He definitely does not need more cowbell.

After our elephant ride in Addo National Park. This was Jolie's mount, Dama. It means "thunder" in Swahili.

Our fourth and final stop, Nelspruit....

Christopher outside the Mpumalanga stadium before the Australia v Serbia match. This stadium is also known as the Giraffe Stadium. Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oy oy oy!

I smell funny...

A male lion walking down the road in Kruger National Park. A rare sighting as lions tend to sleep during the day.

A monkey in Kruger. He came up to our vehicle, said hello, and then went back to eating grass and other things off the ground.

What's behind this tree?

It's a giraffe! We were less than 10 meters (30 feet) from this guy.

Hello, Mister Baboon. What do you have there?

This is one of dozens of African buffalo that we saw near the end of the day. They were in a giant herd just grazing by the side of the road.

Mama and baby. The grass is taller than the little one. - CW

Hello friends and family,Jolie and I are back in Morocco. We have returned safe and sound with all our passports and money. We had a great time and will tell you all about it soon. Pictures and stories will follow. Watch this space. Hope you're having a great weekend. - CW

Be sure to watch:

Slovenia v USA on Friday 18 June at 10am EDT

Chile v Switzerland on Monday 21 June at 10am EDT

Australia v Serbia on Wednesday 23 June at 2:30pm EDT

You just might see a face you recognize in the stands.

- CW

(Sung to the tune of "Going to the Chapel")

Going to South Africa

And we're gonna see some football

Going to South Africa

And we're gonna see some football

What else is there to say? No words can describe how excited I am about where I will be and what I will be doing in 86 hours. The football is the meat of our delicious June vacation; the bread is a ten hour layover in Paris to begin the trip and a twelve hour safari in Kruger National Park to end the trip. Who do you think is more excited for what?

In other news Jolie and I just got back from a week long training session. It was fun to reconnect with everyone, even the SBDers (who stayed in a different hotel back in February but the same one as us YDers this time). I think I enjoyed getting to discover a new city the most.

My condolences to the Boonville (Indiana) High School Girls Softball Team who lost the Class 3A state championship less than 30 minutes ago. And good luck to those of you who read this and are participating in my World Cup pool. And to all - have a great weekend.

- CW