Hi Rachel, WOW!! THAT is impressive!! I am blown away at what you were able to do given your limited resources - a true testament to how we can overcome obstacles when our heart desires to be with others in celebration. Totally amazing! Your food and guests seem much more sophisticated and alluring than anything I can imagine back here stateside (with the exception of any Brooks gathering, of course, they are equally rich :) I am sooo happy for you, looks like an experience that will nourish you for quite some time. It made my morning here! We had a really lovely Thanksgiving and I've got lots of photos to share - will do that in an email. Congratulations on pulling off a rich, exotic, awesome Thanksgiving! So impressed!! Love from Aunt Therese xoxo

We were able to enjoy our Thanksgiving knowing that you'd had a great time with your Peace Corps friends.

I’m no Martha Stewart, but after this past weekend I do feel a sense of domestic accomplishment. I hosted my very first Thanksgiving dinner! This is a big event for any young woman, but hosting a Thanksgiving in a strange land, in less than ideal kitchen conditions (say that three times fast!) made it all [...]

Great news about the fridge. I hope your Thanksgiving meal turns out great...with or without cranberry sauce.

I'm glad you fixed the fridge! That thing is epic! Miss ya, kiddo. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Write me sometime, please?

Molly and I will be cooking up a storm here in a few days. Lots of photos to come :) I heard you are thinking of moving to Florida! That's where I'm from. I am excited to be neighbors with Molly. :)

Rachel, I love that you hugged your refrigerator! And it probably feels better for it. Happy Thanksgiving! Say hi to my daughter. Tracy

About a week ago, here in the Christmas Village, a tragedy occurred. My beautiful monster fridge broke! He stopped his roaring for what I feared would be forever. I called my usual repairman and his phone was off, and off, and off. So I go to my nearby hanut owner and asked him if he [...]

Awww Miles! I'll see what I can do :) Missssss youuuuuuu!!!!!!!

LoL Thanks for your vote of confidence Mom! My family slaughtered a sheep and a cow this year! Wow. Think of all that blood! :(

I want those wall tiles on a shirt that is on my body. Well, the design... lol.

In celebration of the holiday/to help protect my delicate vegetarian eyes, some friend are visiting the Christmas Village for a few days. There isn’t a ton of things to do here, so we “stole” the projector from my Dar Chebab, and had some fun This is the hand of Fatima, it’s supposed to offer protection [...]

A few weeks ago myself and a few other PCVs did a crochet/knitting workshop in a nearby village called Anzal. Most women here in Morocco know how to crochet, but they use very small hooks and thin thread like yarn. I showed a few of the ladies how to do “American” type crochet with bigger [...]

Peace Corps postcards is a video project that was taken on by the Peace Corps Association for our 50th anniversary. The filmmakers were here in early September to film four volunteers in Morocco. The video postcards turned out awesome, they each make me proud to be a Peace Corps Volunteer (especially in Morocco!). http://peacecorpspostcards.com/

      Happy Halloween! Given this particular holiday I thought today would be a perfect time to update you about my newest addition to my Peace Corps home…   This past weekend while hanging out in the Christmas Village with a nearby friend, we decided to make my fridge look like what it sounds [...]

I went to the Dar Chebab on Thursday to speak with my mudir about a Dar Chebab beautification project. With all the vandalism that happened over the summer, I got to thinking that if the kids had the opportunity to fix up the grounds themselves (with help from willing adults) they might feel a little [...]

Yesterday I was tricked into attending a wedding. I know that might seem like a rather bombastic statement but it’s true. This sweet older woman Hajar, asked me to lunch at her house on Wednesday at 12. I have a rule in my village that if someone invites me over, I will go no matter [...]

      http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2094254_2094247_2094228,00.html     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ross-szabo/peace-corps-is-worth-ever_b_973199.html     http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/07/travel/destination-adventure-morocco/index.html    

Where to begin?! Forgive me for being missing in action for so long. There is no excuse! I’ll do better Starting at the beginning is usually the best place to start. After my last entry, I conducted a VSN training. For those of you who don’t know, I’m one of the two VSN reps for [...]

After leaving Rabat I headed back down south, first stopping off in my dear friend Aly’s site. We didn’t realize it, but towards the end of Ramadan transport becomes pretty difficult to find. When we started looking into getting down to Zagora, we quickly discovered that lots of transport was already full, or we heard [...]

I was just in Rabat for warden training. Basically wardens are a Peace Corps Volunteer that would act as the voice of reason in the case of an Emergency. They know the Emergency Action plan and until a Peace Corps staff member arrived at a consolidation point they would be checking and double checking that [...]

I’ve started drinking coffee irresponsibly ( like 4 cups at a time). I can’t seem to only drink one cup (like I should). I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker (save for the year where I worked at an elementary school. But I mostly blame that on Pam!)  I usually save coffee for emergency [...]

I especially thought of the Dehn Family when I saw this. I know you’ll love it!

After uploading all these photos I realize that this is basically a post of ridiculousness and inside jokes. Sorry for that. But I’m posting it anyway.   In Morocco, I am excellent with animals.     My Peace Corps friends and I are very fashionable. Morocco has cures for all your ills. But the reason [...]

Here are my entries (worldwide and Morocco specific) with captions!   While still in training, PCV Rachel Rubinski was taken to 3 weddings in her small community based training site. At these weddings volunteers have the opportunity to interact with a large number of community members, learn about traditional dances and foods, and work on [...]

Coming back from America was not the easiest transition. Knowing I’m not going to see my family, friends or country for another 14 months is a tough pill to swallow. I’m trying not to focus on that but to rather find positive things to focus on here in Morocco.   When I first returned, all [...]

I am updating from Casablanca, we are traveling towards another city on the coast for Summer Camp! Whooo Hooo! We’ll be at camp for about 12 days, then I’ll be heading back down south to spend a week working at an orphanage near Marrakech. Anything to get out of the intense heat of the desert. [...]

I arrived back into country and within the first hour had received 3 marriage proposals (not uncommon), and went to the coast because by all accounts my site was 120 degrees farenheite, it was the weekend and I needed to ease myself in. I was in Essouaira, which is a windy, artsy beach town and [...]

I have a few photos from my last days in America and my first few days back in Morocco. This is fruit in America courtesy of Momma. Celebratory beverages my brother and I had on 4th of July. I missed this one. It tasted like home. This is Tuffy asking me not to come back [...]

I’m sort of having writers block.. I have been in America for about 3 weeks and have pictures of so much of the stuff that I’ve done.  I think I’ll just revert to photos and some brief explanations.     Some shoes I rescued from the harsh unpaved roads of Morocco. I think they will [...]

Right before I headed to America we had one of our final trainings that Peace Corps will offer myself and the other PCVs who came this September. Known as In Service Training or IST, we focused on successes that we have all had at our Dar Chebabs and other larger projects with various clubs, cross [...]

In Morocco for weddings, births or special occasions (especially travel), the women will get henna on their hands and feet. I got henna twice while I was living near Fes, once for my birthday and once when I was preparing to leave and travel to my permanent site in the Christmas Village.  The henna in [...]

As many of you know, right now I am vacationing in America! I have been here already since mid June and I have about another week and a half to enjoy the mother land! I did want to take the time to give some photo evidence of what I did prior to my arrival and [...]

Lots has been going on since my last post!  I returned to site after Special Olympics, to get packed and ready to visit America! I picked up necessary (and unnecessary) souveniers, got traditional Saraha henna, and headed up to a beach town near Rabat for a week long training (IST). We hung out near the [...]

In America I am very involved with volunteering with handicapped populations. I have worked with them as an assistant teacher, as a volunteer (all ages), and with Special Olympics Florida. When I came to Peace Corps I really hoped to find my niche in a great association or school geared towards Moroccans with disabilities. This [...]

I was in Rabat in…. I think April for a VSN meeting. But while we were there we had a chance to see the sites a little bit. These are the pictures I”m FINALLY able to post This is a sign in the Peace Corps office. Its in English, Arabic Script and the other writing [...]

I have been at the cyber here in the capital city of my province for like 2 hrs trying to give this update. Lord. Anyway… here it is! First of all a general update. I have been sick for the last three days… I think its just a passing things not a parasite. Hamdullilah!! This [...]

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100387799568402&comments I’ve been so crazy busy lately I feel pretty out of touch with everyone in America. Don’t forget about me guys! A few things have been going on lately, lots of working here in my site, camel trek, and some traveling coming up. I hope you all enjoy this video! It was sort of [...]

A common sighting here in Morocco, these are died out sheep skins tied to the top of this car. Im not really all that sure what they use them for at this point, they are all over the place but I rarely see them in use. Mystery! This was taken at the Nomad Festival here [...]

After spring camp you can imagine that a lot of volunteers felt the need to unwind and hang out with each other without being surrounded by children bzzf. A few of my friends came on down to The Christmas Village and we ventured out into the old version of the Christmas Village with some of [...]

  3-31/4-9 Spring camp comes but once a year, and its a glorious occasion for Moroccan Youth and PCV’s a like. Spring camps are held all over Morocco and are in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Peace Corps. PCVs are assigned to camps with Moroccan staff and we host English language camps. English [...]

3-24/3-30  I have been running around Morocco like a crazy person this last month or so. Let me sit down and update you as concisely and as entertainingly as possible.   My month began with the bi annual VSN meeting in Rabat at the Peace Corps office there. VSN is the Volunteer Support Network and [...]

This is a facewash that I purchased in Errachidia. It was only 50DH. Look closely at the writing on the front… Ahhhhh Hahaha! Inappropriate I know, but this is hilarious!

This is a photo of some of the women in my host family working in the palmerie. The palmerie is where people in the rurual parts of Zagora Province grow their own food, food for animals and socialize. These women cleared an entire field in just a few hours! It was impressive! This is a [...]

Last week we returned from “Post Pre Service Training” or PPST (peace corps loves their acronyms or PCLTA) We learned about many important things at our training including grant writing, summer and spring camps, and about many activities being sponsored my various committes within Peace Corps. We also took another language exam and I went [...]

Ridiculously beautiful sunset in Ouarzazate. Olives in the medina in Errachidia. They have all types! These always remind me of my brother Michael. Leaving for my super long trek in Morocco earlier this week. We had a training about 15 hours from my site. Me and Courtney (another PCV) losing our minds over bunnies! Right [...]