I’ve been running in circles trying to get some work done, which means I’ve made several trips down the mountain in the last week or so – and I have to be in Er Rachidia again on Monday! Oof! Because … Continue reading →
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One of my friends who did a lot of photography in college is looking to get back into the habit, so he challenged me and some other friends to join him in taking a photo a day throughout the month … Continue reading →
In the US, we place emphasis on charity. We give to religious institutions, schools, and non-profits. We spend time volunteering at soup kitchens, hospitals, bake sales, and environmental initiatives. Occasionally, we’ll even give money to a beggar on the street. … Continue reading →
For the past few months, I’ve gotten a knock at a certain window between 8am and noon accompanied by some high pitched tweeting. Half the time I think House Buntings have entered my house (and occasionally this is true), but … Continue reading →
The chilly winter weather is finally turning the aspens and fig trees a glorious yellow, and their leaves are beaten off the branches by the seasonal cold rains, which are hitting us more than they did last year. I could … Continue reading →
I’m home for a moment between visiting various members of my community – I am full to bursting, and I need a second to let everything settle down. Last year I learned that 3id Kbir (aka Tafaska) is a marathon … Continue reading →
After posting the potentially heartwarming videos of productive PCVs earlier today, I stumbled across this video made by a couple of guys serving in Vanuatu. Brilliant.
Peace Corps is doing a little video series called Peace Corps Postcards. Two volunteers in Morocco have been highlighted, and I thought some of you might enjoy seeing what other volunteers are doing. Moses is a Health Volunteer from my … Continue reading →
I’ve been remiss in posting – here’s a little of what I’ve been up to in the last month: English Classes: I’m on my third week of teaching at the middle school this semester, and overall classes are going really … Continue reading →
I ran across a podcast on the Peace Corps Wiki page today – it’s a retelling of the legend of Isli and Tislit, the Romeo and Juliet story of the Amazigh people which serves as the origin story for not … Continue reading →
The Imilchil Wedding Festival (for info, see last year’s entry), or more commonly known around these parts as the ‘Aydood’ (i.e. really big market party) or “Moussem n l’xotoba” (i.e. festival of engagement), was a ton of fun this year. … Continue reading →
For the last two weeks of Ramadan this year, I left the country for the first time since I arrived in March 2010. I had a direct flight from Marrakesh to Paris. I took the Paris Metro (beautiful thing, that) … Continue reading →
Since I’m already posting pictures, I just thought this was too cute not to be shared. On my actual birthday, I was at my host family’s house and was serenaded by the girls in English, Arabic, French, and Tashelheet. My … Continue reading →
Two days ago, the cloudy sky unleashed quite a bit of small marble sized hail on my unsuspecting town. As the hail was letting up a bit, 20 minutes or so after the initial onslaught, my landlord banged on my … Continue reading →
nb: I thought I posted this a month ago… clearly I’m not as tech savvy as I’d like to believe. Today’s post is on it’s way! “Top Searches” is a rather self explanatory wordpress feature – it tells you what … Continue reading →
In October, I decided to give up my internet. Of course, when I went to the Maroc Telecom store, I learned that it’s not so easy to break a contract here as it is in the states, and started the process … Continue reading →
Most of you know that I live at the end of a road. The road goes down to a town big enough to have a twice weekly market, and that town is on a major Moroccan road. Unfortunately, if I … Continue reading →
During our initial training, we were given a lot of ‘cultural sensitivity’ training. Of course, a lot of this is necessary – very few of us knew anything about Muslim culture or Morocco. Other times, it served to scare the … Continue reading →
My apologies for the lack of blogging.. I actually wrote this in April and then never picked out the pictures. I’ll try to get a better update in soon, promise! And now back to the post: From Monday through Saturday, … Continue reading →
I had the opportunity to go to the Peace Corps office in Rabat a few weeks ago, and while I was there I picked up some Vetiver to try out in my town. Vetiver is a non-invasive grass species native … Continue reading →
At the end of January I wrote a post on eight projects I hoped to make progress on in February. Here’s my progress report: 1) Water Quality Assessments/Lessons with Middle School Students: As of last week, the Ministry of Health … Continue reading →
Yesterday was the prophet Muhammad’s birthday! Of course, this can’t go by without at least a little festivity. The biggest holiday is still L’3id Axatar (which I still haven’t written a post about! Shame on me!), but this is still a cool … Continue reading →
There’s a hike that people in my town do quite regularly – they have family over the mountain; there’s a livestock souq over the mountain, etc. As to get over the mountain by any sort of regular motorized transportation you … Continue reading →
Today a few fun things happened, which I will enumerate in this post. I snuck out of the house early in order to get my laundry done before anyone else came to washing area of the ditch… I thought I … Continue reading →
Today I went down to my souqtown to pay my internet bill and check my mail. I’ve been pricing out bookshelves for a while, and either they are intrinsically expensive or all the woodworkers think I want something fancy despite … Continue reading →
The work of an Peace Corps Volunteer can be difficult to explain (as well mocked in this video), and I often get asked what exactly it is that I do here. I’ve been doing a little organizing the last few … Continue reading →
I don’t mean to overly push one topic, but while biking back from my Tashelheet lesson today I had to stop and take a few more pictures. This whole spring in January thing is killing me. Also, it seems someone … Continue reading →
Theoretically it’s winter right now, but for all of my life I have lived in places where it snows in the winter. I was told it snowed here at least once every year, but I’m not so sure it’s going … Continue reading →
It’s a little difficult to explain without a picture, but there are four PCVs in the area I call, for simplicity’s sake, ‘up the mountain’. Eric is least up the mountain (and therefore in sweltering heat in the summer), Tim … Continue reading →
During our PPST (Post-Pre Service Training) in August, a 2nd year volunteer talked about screening the kids in his village for vision problems and then partnering with the Department of Education to provide a free eye exam and eyeglasses for … Continue reading →
Yeah, I know it’s already the 8th – shh! I’m signing up to the post a week challenge on wordpress, and to do that officially they say you need to write a post officially declaring your intention. Here it is! … Continue reading →
November 1st through the 5th was In-Service Training (IST) for all the Environment and Health Volunteers that came to Morocco in March. November 5th, as it happens, was our 6 month anniversary of our swear-in! We’re over a quarter of … Continue reading →
Hello all! It’s 2:35 am, and I’m still awake – packing, reading, daydreaming, digesting… thought I’d give you a quick rundown of my past week! No point in sleeping before the transit now anyway… Once again, I’m not responsible for … Continue reading →
I assume most of you have seen OK Go – Here It Goes Again (and please, look it up if you haven’t), but I was just introduced to White Knuckles and had to share.
Before I talk about my failed attempt to give up my internet, I will briefly mention my project news! Eric and I went to the Ministry of Education in Errachidia, which handed us over to the Ministry of Health – … Continue reading →
I’ve decided to get rid of my at-home internet. I know most people (save Sarah, thank you darling) think this is a terrible idea, so I’ll tell you why. First and foremost, I love the internet too much. It has … Continue reading →
It’s corn shucking season here in the maghrib! I’ve spent multiple afternoons with my host family (and my host family’s family) sitting around/on large piles of corn and shucking for all I’m worth. Corn in Morocco isn’t exactly as I … Continue reading →
Sorry for the incredibly lame title to this entry, but it’s true! People are saying it’s the beginning of winter at my site, and some of my friend’s sites have already received snow! Of course, down the mountain in my souq town it was still hot enough to sweat while standing a few days ago [...]
This title is misleading – when trying to go to the wedding festival (mohsim n xotoba, which actually translates to engagement festival), taxis and transits will invariably drop you off half an hour before Imilchil at the Agdud (or Aidud, or Agidud, depending on the region), which is a very, very large souq (market). It [...]
I’m shamelessly stealing this from other shameless blog thieves. I don’t know who deserves the credit, but I’m pretty amused: Why Belle, from Beauty and the Beast is actually a Peace Corps Morocco volunteer Popout 1. She reads books, and people think that’s odd. It’s especially odd because she carries them around with her all the [...]
The new Trainees are here! They’re probably in their CBT sites right now, being introduced to their new target languages. They’ll be visiting their sites when everyone from my staaj is gathered for In Service Training (IST), so we won’t meet them until they swear in and move to their new sites permanently. We have [...]
Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in [...]
Last week, several noteworthy things occured: my birthday, for which I appreciated the calls and well wishes (and will be celebrating with my sitemate tonight, with some sort of pre-packaged noodle and broccoli dish her mom sent from the states!) and L’3id Amzant, which I will talk about in this post. First off, Ramadan is [...]
since I last posted. Too long, I know! I’ve recently gotten internet at my house, though, so hopefully I’ll increase the frequency of my entries. Where to begin? I spent just over two months with my host family, May through July. They taught me a ton – Tashelheit, working in the fields, cultural dos and [...]
After the site visit, we spent one more week at our CBT (community based training) site, where we were tested for language proficiency. Everyone passed at a novice high level or above – I received above novice high, but below what I would have liked. Hopefully I learn quickly how to pick up language outside of the [...]
I spent the last week at my site: A view from the hill above my town – if you click on this picture to make it larger, I think you should be able to get some idea of the geology of the area. I would love a roadside geology book of errachidia province; the rocks [...]
Salam u3alaykum!
I’ve spent about another week at my site, and tomorrow I’ll head off for another week and a
half there – and then when I get back to the hub, I’ll learn my final site! All the PCTs are
very excited about that moment. Will I be in the North? South? Mountains? Desert? Will the
language that [...]
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