Rockin' the Kasbah

But the meat still remains......

2009-12-12T05:10:00.000-08:00

So the week of eating that follows Eid Kbir (the big feast) has finally ended. Eid is the holiday where each family slaughters a sheep (or goat if you can't afford a sheep) in honor of the Prophet Mohammed. It can be kind of an intense eating experience but fortunately my stomach stomached the stomach and I'm feeling proud about my digestive system. Somehow I managed to avoid the sheep testical this year. If I ever share to much information let me know?

It's actually a holiday I enjoy and, once again, the generosity and kindness of the people here continue to humble me. Not only do I go to a lot of people's houses to eat meat but people also show up at my door with copious amounts of food. I think they're taken pity on the skinny orphan boy. Today while leaving my house to go eat lunch with my host family, I was met at the door by a neighbor boy with a lamb/almond tagine and my former tutor with ribs.

I'm a little nervous that I will turn into one of those wild animals that you're not supposed to feed. Because they lose the ability to fend for themselves and no ones around to feed them during the winter. What if people stop bringing food to my door and I lose the ability to feed myself and starve this winter? I just hope I don't bite anyone:)

Winter is definitely here as I sit in front of my heater wearing many many layers. I fought it for awhile but finally pulled out the long underwear bottoms this morning. I won't take them off till April:)

Thanksgiving was good and a low key affair shared with a couple other volunteers. I'm happy to say that it will, hopefully, be my last for awhile shared away from friends and family.

Hope this finds you all happy, healthy, warm, and enjoying the holidays!

Happy Black Friday!

2009-11-27T08:47:00.000-08:00

So I guess its about time for another blog entry. The fall has been really nice. In late Sept it seemed like Autumn was about a week long and the long cold winter had begun. But then Fall came back! The hedgehog must have seen his shadow. So yeah the weathers been great. Nice sunny cool days and then pretty chilly evenings. I’ve had to break out the sleeping bag but not the long underwear yet.

So in early October I started helping out with English classes at this small private elementary school near my house. I go there every day and spend between one and 3 hours with the kids. They all get about one hour of English a week so its pretty basic stuff. Sometimes I work with the English teacher and sometimes I’m on my own. The kids are great and they help me with my Arabic. I also sit in on the beginning French class once a week. Its pretty humbling since the kids in their are about 5 years old yet know far more French than I. So far I can count to 20, know the seasons, and know all the names of my school supplies. Well......now that I’ve said that I’ve probably forgotten most of it.

So my plan was to start with the English stuff and then at some point slip in some Environmental Education. Then, the principal approached me and asked if I would be interested in doing a year long Envr Ed program focusing on trees. He said I could have every Friday afternoon from 2-5 to do lessons. Not really sure how much I can talk about trees but I think I can expand.

My first lesson was for the 6th grade class and was about the parts of a tree and their functions. We also did a short hike and an activity and it went really well. Then, since I’d heard more and more talk about H1N1 I did a lesson on prevention for the whole school. Me and two other volunteers put glitter on our hands to demonstrate how germs spread by shaking hands and how important it is to wash our hands. We also talked about not drinking out of communal water bottles and sneezing into your sleeve. All in all I think it was a success and we were able to reach around 250 kids. The only hick-up was when i was trying to open the glitter bottle with my teeth, it exploded, and I ended up with a mouth/face full of glitter. I’ve always considered myself to have a sparkly personality.

Then yesterday, I repeated the first tree lesson to the 5th grade class. They were a rowdier less focused group. I got pretty frustrated when I said that trees make sugar and was just met with a roomful of blank stares. I further dug my hole by saying its like sugar but not. “Ummmm.........forget it. We need trees because they give us oxygen.” I think they grasped that important point.

We celebrated Halloween in Tafaghalt at a friend and volunteers house. It was an International gathering as we had Americans, Spanish, Italians, and Dutch represented. For the Europeans it was there first experience and I think they had fun. Anthony certainly won the prize for best costume with his Captain Planet outfit but there was also a batman (me), a Morton salt girl, zombie Captain Kirk, a road construction worker, a hammam goer, and other various consumes.

I’ve been in discussion lately with a few associations regarding repairing a basketball court and holding a tournament and also maybe doing something with Safron and bees at a community garden. Also Operation Smile is in Nador next week and I think I’ll help out with that. Sometimes I really stress myself out since I’m down to my last six months and still have a lot to do. I

On a really sad note.......a volunteer (So-Youn) died here on Monday (Nov 16th). She had an undisclosed illness and died really suddenly in the hospital in Marrakech. She was only 23. Unfortunately, I had only met her once and really briefly but its super sad and it hit hard with the Peace Corps community here. I’ll try and post more information when I get some.

If you are reading this then you are probably either family or friend. I just want to thank you for your support and encouragement through this experience. Happy Thanksgiving!

Yearly update

2009-10-12T04:57:00.000-07:00

Ok.....so I know that I haven’t been to good with this blog thing lately. I got lost in Spain:) I’ll just skim over the stuff that’s happened in the last 10 months or so.

I believe I left you in Spain? After Christmas there I came home and celebrated New Years in Jerada with a couple of the volunteers who live near me.

I’d been training (more or less) for a half Marathon so in late January I headed to Marrakech to do that. There were a handful of other volunteers who were running either the half or the full or playing the role of cheerleader. Everything started out well with things seeming to go fairly smoothly. There was a good mix of Moroccans and tourists running and even women in headscarfs. The spectators were an interesting mix though. There were some there who were enthusiastically cheering us on, the majority just kind of stared confused like and seemed to be wondering, “Those people paid money to run?,” and then there were some kids who were actively heckling, telling you how slow you were, and asking for money. One kid asked for my hat as I ran by.

At the beginning there were water stations and people telling you were to go. At some point however Hanneke and I came to an intersection and nobody was there to direct us. I don’t if he went off for a tea/prayer break or what but we somehow ended up off course. When we found ourself near the bus station choking on diesel fumes we decided that something was not right. At this point we started walking and actually thought about taking a cab back to the hotel when we saw little Ishmael. There were a group of Moroccan kids (Ishmael being one) who we’d been running with and talking to earlier in the race. Ishmael had also taken a wrong turn (at least there was someone else) and was so sad and disappointed that he wouldn’t be finishing. So we grabbed him and said we would find the course together. We were wandering around for a bit and then were saved when we saw some folks up ahead in running atire. Ishmael spoke good English and serenaded us with James Brown (“I feel good”) all the way to the finish line. I then traveled further south to Ziznit for some rest and sun.

Another volunteer (Logan) and I had been trying to arrange a meeting with the Center for the Development of Energy Renewables (CDER) in Marrakech. Logan had heard that they had developed a more efficient boiler system for use in hammams (like a public bathhouse). We finally got the meeting set up and so after Tiznit I headed back to Marrakech. The Center was pretty impressive and they showed us the new boiler which had been developed in Germany. Hammams go through a lot of wood and Morocco is currently using their forest products at over 3 times the rate they can regenerate. The traditional hammam boiler operates at between 20-30% efficiency while the new technology boosts that efficiency up to 50% thereby cutting the amount of wood you burn in half while increasing profits.

I was all excited about the potential of this new project and traveled back to Jerada ready to share this new technology with the hammam owners. Unfortunately the owners were not nearly as excited about it as I was. Most of the owners felt they what they had worked fine. Even when I explained that they will make more money they weren’t interested. It seems like the mentality is to worry about today and tomorrow not 5, 10, 20 years down the road when there are no trees left. The technology is somewhat expensive, even after a Peace Corps grant but I tried to explain to the owners that if you make the investment, “this will pay for itself in 7 months in increased profits,” but I think that’s kind of a difficult concept for me to explain and for them to understand. Also I think people don’t completely trust me when I say that I have absolutely no monetary incentive in this project.

Logan seemed to be having more success in his site (Itzer) so we decided to focus there. He organized a workshop where the hammam owners could meet with the CDER representatives. He also got an American development NGO involved and even some engineering students who happened to be in Morocco and were focusing on renewable energy. The workshop went well and there seemed to be a lot of interest but still no hammams were sold on the new technology idea. Another workshop happened at another larger site in Midelt and maybe from that one a hammam might switch. We’ll see?

In February and March I did a few trips to Rabat and went to Essouairra for the first time. Essa is a beautiful old medieval city right on the beach and is definitely one of my favorite places in Morocco. Plus there’s a Mexican restaurant there run by a super nice British couple where you can get delicious carrot cake and scones.

I spent the end of March/beginning of April in Zagora helping out with an English camp. Along with English I also did some Environmental Education. Despite some logistical/scheduling glitches, it went really well and the kids were great.

On the way to and from Zagora, Hanneke and I stopped off in Ouarzazete where we first studied our target languages for two months after arriving in Morocco. It was great to return and actually be able to communicate somewhat with people.

On the way home I detoured to Rich to see my best Moroccan buddy Hassan, who is an English teacher there. I’d been hearing rumors of a transit strike for weeks but when I was in Rich all transportation in the country ground to a halt. Morocco suffers from terrible traffic accident statistics so the government increased the fines and penalties on violations. It makes sense to me but the bus and taxi drivers didn’t like it. You could not move anywhere in the country. In Rich I ran into another volunteer so we talked two teenagers with their mom’s minivan to drive us to the next big town. I tried to find a ride but drivers were charging ridiculous prices. I finally had to approach two German tourists at a cafe and asked where they were going and if I could have a ride. They were a bit apprehensive (understandably) at first but they agreed to take me up the road to Logan’s site. I rode for two hours on top of all of their stuff in a packed Landcruiser and then waited in Itzer for over a week before the strike finally ended.

I finally arrived home to find my pregnant kitty had given birth to two kittens.

I celebrated one year in country in early May and then jumped on the ferry to Spain to meet my family. My dad, sister (Alison), Alison’s future husband Matt, my cousin Justin, and Justin’s girlfriend all came over and we had great fun. Really enjoyed Spain and the relaxing beach time. Justin and Chelsea had to leave after a few days and then my dad, Alison, Matt and I took the ferry over to Tangier Morocco. I’d heard notorious stories about the Port of Tangier and the hustlers there but it really wasn’t that bad and I actually enjoyed Tangier. My dad was a good sport and did one night there before he headed home but Matt, Alison, and I toured around Morocco for a week. We went to Chefchouen, Fez, and then Casablanca. Fez is my favorite city in Morocco and Chefchouen is this Berber village up in the Rif Mountains. Other than one particularly difficult Casa taxi driver it was a great trip.

Since I wasn’t having a lot of success with the hammam project I started to look at solar/thermal water heating to use in a small hammam or individual households. I built one pretty cheaply using a big tin reservoir and a bunch of black irrigation tubing. It worked great during the summer and still works now (early Oct) but I’m not really sure how effective it will be come winter. Some of my neighbors were a little concerned about it and even asked me if it was a rocket. Of course it is:)

My big picture vision was to combine thermal water heating during the summer and then use the new boiler technology for heating during the winter. The small village (Louenet) that my host family lives in has no hammam so it seemed the ideal place to do this project. I asked around Louenet and everyone there seemed excited and supportive. I then took my proposal up to the local government office who directed me to the Water and Forest Office who directed me to the Nedi (women’s cooperative) who directed me back to the local government office. After a completing my circle I was pretty frustrated and discouraged. I still haven’t given up on the project but currently the discussion is on whether or not there’s a place for a hammam and where that will be.

In July I traveled to Rabat for mid-service medicals. Parasite free! I hadn’t seen many of the other volunteers since November so it was fun to catch up. Also my good friend Adam and his wife Michelle flew in and we met up in Rabat. After hanging out in the capital we headed down to Marrakech and then up to Imlil which is the jumping off village for Jbel Toubkal (highest mountain in north Africa). The plan was to summit but unfortunately we were literally run off the mountain by torrential downpours and massive flooding. When we left Marrakech it was probably 110 degrees and then went to Toubkal and dealt with mild hypothermia. Ahhh.....the extremes of Morocco!

After drying out Adam, Michelle, and I worked our way north stopping in Fez and Tafaghalt. They then had the pleasure of spending a week in Jerada. It was fun to show off my town and my friends in it. They really got a true taste of the incredible hospitality of the people here. Even though we went to a lot of the popular tourist spots Adam and Michelle said that Jerada was the best part of their Morocco experience. After Jerada we went north to Ras El Ma where we celebrated The 4th of July with 18 other Americans.

It was sad to see Adam and Michelle go but it was also great to have them here. Its been 3 months since they were here but people in Jerada regularly ask how they are and when they are coming back. When are you coming back?

Another volunteer and I share the same birthday so in late July a small group of us decided to do a 3-day backpacking trip through the Eastern Atlas Mountains to celebrate. We were halfway through, out in the middle of nowhere, hiking through grazing lands. It was hot so we’d stopped for a water break. Off in the distance you could see a herder’s temporary settlement. We had put the packs back on and were about to start hiking again when we saw a man running toward us in the 80+ temps. The discussion in our group was, “well he’s either going to yell at us for being on his property or invite us for tea.” We waited and when he got closer I threw him a wave and he flashed us a huge grin and exclaimed, “Peace be upon you! Come drink tea!” We spent the next couple of hours with him and his family drinking endless cups of tea while his mother made us fresh bread. Then, when it was time to go he refused any sort of payment. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore but I am still humbled by the kindness of these people that have very little material possessions yet are so quick to give.

The first two weeks of August I was busy helping out with an Environment Camp in Azrou. Again, there were some logistical/scheduling snafu’s but overall I think the kids learned some stuff and had fun. So did I:)

After Azrou I immediately headed south again for another try at Jbel Toubkal. Met up with some good friends and this time we were fortunate to have great weather and managed to make it to the top. On the summit (at over 14,000ft) we were very surprised to see a small puppy resting there. No idea how he got up there. He seemed to be in pretty sad shape so we gave him some tuna and water and he immediately perked up. He followed us all the way to the refuge, down to Imlil, and then slept outside our hotel room. He probably pulls that scam with every tourist group:)

I was back in Jerada for a little over a week and then hopped on a plane for this mysterious land called America! After a short detour in Germany I flew into Seattle for Labor day Weekend. It had been almost 18 months exactly since I’d been home. I was able to catch up with some good friends there and then I headed to Utah for my sister’s wedding. The wedding was great and so much fun. Got to see a lot of my relatives, some old friends, and met Matt’s family. All in all a truly wonderful day with great people.

After short 10 days I returned home to Morocco. I arrived just in time for the end of Ramadan and Eid Sgir (the small feast) which involves going to everyone’s house who fed you during Ramadan and thanking them by eating more of their food:)

School has started back up and since then I’ve been teaching an English class at a primary school near my house. I go there almost every day for an hour or two. The kids are young (6-10) so its pretty basic stuff. So far we’ve covered numbers, greetings, days of the week, and months. It keeps me busy and the kids are fun. The long-term goal is to incorporate some environmental and maybe health education (ie: teeth brushing) into the curriculum.

Other projects on the horizon include a possible camp in November and bee and/or tree planting in the spring. I still haven’t given up on the hammam project but I need some more community support in order for that to proceed. I’ve also been involved in discussions with a local association about a possible chicken/egg cooperative in Louenet. We’ll see?

Well...I think that about sums up the last 10 months. Good work and thank you if you have found your way to the end of this. I really didn’t plan in it being this long. Well.....I hope you are having a wonderful fall! See you soonish!

Feliz Navidad!

2009-01-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

Well….looking back on 2008 it’s crazy to think that most of that year was spent here in Morocco. The majority of the time it really does seem to be flying by.

So I spent Christmas in Madrid, Spain with Hanneke (my girlfriend) which was wonderful. While we maybe suffered a bit of culture shock arriving back in the developed world, we were mostly just giddy about the comforts of home that were available there (i.e. Ben & Jerry’s) and how clean, efficient, and easy everything was. We were also pretty excited about the pork product offerings (not readily available in Morocco.) We spent the week wandering around Madrid and enjoying cosmopolitan life. We easily entertained ourselves with the restaurants, parks, and museums there. Unbeknownst to me, a tradition in Madrid is to dress up in funny hats and colorful wigs for Christmas? I guess it beats Christmas sweaters? Leading up to the holiday, it really didn’t feel much like Christmas in Morocco so it was nice to see some Espanol Christmas festivities. Incidentally, since Christmas Eve in Spain is spent at home with family, and there are no restaurants open, it was kind of funny to be eating Christmas Dinner at Indian Aroma. The dal replaced fruit cake this year.

I write this now back in my house in Jerada. Kind of a challenging transition back but I’m really gonna buckle down and focus on my work here. I’ve been working with an Agriculture Cooperative and have a bee keeping/honey production project that will hopefully be gaining momentum. I’m starting on a grant for that. Who wants honey?

My plan was to run the Marrakech Marathon in 3 weeks but do to inclement weather and being kinda sick I think that’s been downgraded to running a ½ Marathon. We’ll see?

Hope everyone had very Happy Holidays and I wish you all a wonderful 2009. I’ll be home next year!

Mbruk Eidkum! Snu hada?

2008-12-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

Well Eid Kbir(the big feast) has come and gone but the massive amounts of meat still remain. Eid started on Tues morning with every family expected to slaughter a sheep to honor the Prophet Mohammed.
I was awoken at 8:15 Tues morning with a phone call from my host brother asking me where I was. Not realizing the significance of the slaughter, I’d accidentally committed myself to attend the execution of 3 different families’ sheep that morning. It was going to be a busy day.
Thinking it was a very important religious holiday I cleaned myself up and wore my best clothes. Then when I arrived at my first house, and looked at everyone else’s attire, I quickly realized I was there to help slaughter a sheep and maybe nice clothes were a bad idea? The Imam (religious leader) came over and did the initial cut and then everyone helped in the butchering. I managed to stay mostly blood free (mainly by taking the roll of photographer) through the execution, organ removal and skinning but while helping to hang the dead sheep he unfortunately emptied his bowels onto my shoe. Karma? Other than that little incident the whole process seemed pretty clean and sanitary.
While the organs were still warm we made a fire and I began to prepare brochettes of liver and heart wrapped in stomach lining. The organ meat was surprisingly tasty and the stomach lining kind of reminded me of bacon fat. Yum! While eating it, I realized I have probably never eaten meat so fresh. After a few brochettes it was on to the next house.
I arrived at my buddy Hassan’s house in order to do more brochettes this time involving kidney as well. I didn’t make it to my host families’ house until afternoon just in time to sit down to a lunch of "mystery organ" stew including piecees of intestine. I don’t think I’ve ever consumed so much meat in one day. In a pre-Eid email my father (thanks dad) had told not to eat any meat not off the bone. Ironically I don’t think I ate any meat that was on the bone. Needless to say, I was a little concerned about how my stomach would react to the foreign invader sheep stomach but so far no problems (knock on wood).
The rest of this week has been a flurry of going over to people’s houses for more meals of sheep meat. Fortunately, nothing to scary (i.e. sheep head) has been placed in front of me yet though I did have a bite of sheep testical. Tasted nothing like chicken.
The other day I went over to my house families house only to find my host father. He asked if I would like to cook him lunch. Thinking he was kidding I said "ok!." He led me into the kitchen and hacked off some ribs from the hanging sheep carcass. He handed me the ribs, salt, bread, and tea, pointed to the fire and then left. All in all I think I did a pretty good job and prepared a tasty lunch. Then, while eating my ego was quickly deflated when I asked him if I was a good cook. His response "swiya." A little! Maybe medium rare next time? Tonight I think I'm gonna have some pasta.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

2008-11-30T06:33:00.000-08:00

Once again sorry for the lack of posts lately (i see this being a common theme). Here's a little something.

Highlights of the last few months
In Service Training in Azrou where all the volunteers who came over together got to meet up.
A fun couple fun days in Fes after IST.
Hanneke came and visited my site for a week.
My language does seem to be improving.
We have a great new Country Director.
I (hopefully) have a bee/honey production project in the works.
Thanksgiving at my house was great.
The other volunteers I have near me.
I bought a heater.
I have a kitty cat. (I went out the other day to buy a coke and came home with a 3 legged cat....I really should make shopping lists)

Frustrations
Language is not improving rapidly.
My field trip project fell through due to lack of transporation.
My computer broke
Long cold dark lonely nights with no computer
Saying goodbye to Kareem (former business volunteer who completed service)
Saying goodbye to Hassan (my best Moroccan buddy who went back to teaching in Rich)
Did I mention its really cold and wet?

All in all though things are good and I had much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Hanneke and I are headed to Spain (Madrid and Granada) for Christmas which I'm super excited about. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I wish you Happy Holidays!

La Shukran!

2008-09-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Sorry for the lack of correspondence these last couple months.

The big news is that I’ve moved out of my host families house. I have a little place now and I’m loving it. My host family was great but I’m really appreciating my own space and privacy. My house isn’t big (three rooms and a kitchen) but it has a nice outdoor private courtyard. I’ve been busy getting furniture and things and its now starting to feel like home. I have water and electricity 24hrs a day and have cell phone service and even have the option of internet at my house. I didn’t expect all of these luxuries but definitely appreciate them. My neighbors are great and the gendarmes station (federal police) is just down the road so its pretty safe. Its about 2km to both Jerada and Louenet (where the Water and Forest Office is) so its a nice walk or bike ride.

It is now a little over one week into Ramadan. Ramadan is the month long religious holiday where Muslims fast (Siam) during the daylight hours. This means that the breaking of the fast (aka lftur or “breakfast”) takes place when the sun sets between 6:30 and 7:00pm. Lunch takes place at midnight or 1:00am and then dinner happens at around 3:30 in the morning before the first morning prayer around 4:00am. I’ve been doing sort of a modified fast. I usually sleep in and eat a big meal around 9:00 and then I won’t eat again until I break fast at 6:30. Technically you’re also not supposed to drink anything during daylight hours but I sneak water at home and every once in a while have a little snack. Shhh.....don’t tell. The other afternoon I’d received a care package with some licorice in it (Thanks Dad!) and didn’t have the willpower to refrain from sampling one or two. When someone knocked on the door I had to frantically try and clean the red chunks out of my teeth before I could answer. People constantly ask if I’m fasting and then invite me over for Lftur in the evenings. Its a pretty fun time and and good way to meet people. Food usually consists of Harira (a yummy bean soup), dates, fruit, bread, and the customary tea. The gendarmes even bring me Harira over in a thermos in the evening.

One of the downsides of Ramadan though is that the entire schedule changes. Obviously there are no restaurants open during the day. Cafe's had become a big part of my afternoon routine so I kind of miss that. During Ramadan it can also be more difficult to find transportation, especially in the morning. Since people have to wake up at 3am in order to eat, oftentimes they will sleep in until 10am or so. And since people are hungry, at times folks can be a bit crabby. And because people are pretty tired during the day it seems that many work projects have been put on the backburner, until after Ramadan.

Before Ramadan I managed to squeeze in a little vacation. I met up with my sweetie (Hanneke) in Rabat for a few days. Rabat is a very modern, almost European city with many of the comforts of home. It was great to spend some time with Hanneke and also experience city life. We ate a lot of good food (some bad food), checked out the zoo (pretty pathetic), and got in a lot of cafe/coffee time. After Rabat I went to Ifrane National Park (in the Middle Atlas) and helped out at an Environmental Education camp that was happening there. I haven’t dealt with kids much lately so 150 was a bit overwhelming at first. Because of the heat, and not drinking water, many of the kids were dealing with dehydration issues. I ended up teaching a lesson on the importance of hydrating and also washing hands. This was the first camp of its kind here so there were various logistical issues to deal with. But the kids had fun and the same kids who early in the week were crying and wanting to go home, by the end of the camp they were crying and didn’t want to leave. I had a great time but was exhausted by the end of the week.

I was gone from site for almost 2 weeks and it was nice to come home. It was a great break and also helped me appreciate where I live and the people here. I really like the other volunteers who are near me and I’m starting to develop a good community of Moroccan friends. My buddy Hassan has been absolutely invaluable to me. His family is some of the most kind and generous people I have ever met. I continue to be humbled by the friendliness of the people here. For every taxi driver in Fes that has tried to rip me off, there are many others in my site that refuse payment. For every merchant that tries to shortchange me, there are two that will chase me down the street when I’ve forgotten my change. Good folks here.

Oh.....so the other night I went over to my host families house for lftur (breaking fast). After the traditional meal (soup, bread, dates, olives, etc) I assumed that we were done. But then.......thats when the goat intestines came out! Images of Anthony Bourdain came to mind and thought “I can do this.” I really do think I could of gagged down a piece if they’d been cooked but they were just boiled in water and still looked kinda raw. When my little (4yrs old) host sister began blowing up a chunk of intestine like a balloon, I politely declined.

Allright.....thats all for now. Sorry for the lengthy rambling. I’ll try and be better about posting regularly. Hope this finds you doing well. Happy Ramadan!

Fat and Happy!

2008-07-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Well....its been almost two month since I swore is as a Peace Corps Volunteer and all continues to go well. I have two more weeks (INshallah) of staying at my host families house. While being wonderful, generous people; I’m also very ready to get into my own place.

I had a nice little “vacation” when I was able to go to Rabat for the Warden Conference. A warden a volunteer who is kind of responsible for the region safety and security and helps to coordinate the movement of volunteers in the unlikely event of a consolidation (everyone meeting at a pre-determined location) or an evacuation from the country. Anyway, the conference was good and it was great to spend a few days in the big city. Rabat is the capital and is a lovely, mellow, modern city with some of the comforts of home. We stayed at a fairly fancy hotel where I got to sleep in a real bed, take a hot shower, and sit down on a toilet (its the little things you come to really appreciate). Also fun to meet some of the other volunteers in different sectors and regions. Morocco is one of the world’s largest (maybe the largest?) PC countries with over 200 volunteers serving in the fields of Health, Environment, Small Business Development, and Youth Development. Because of this, its hard to meet everyone.

One evening all the warden’s were invited to the PC director’s house for dinner and upon walking in the door I was greeted to a massive table overflowing with take-out McDonalds and Pizza Hut. Normally I might cringe at such a sight (no....thats a lie) but when I then opened up a cooler full of A&W root beer I may have quietly thanked Allah. After gorging myself on fast food and playing ping pong for a few hours, the evening was completed by a viewing of the 1993 Barbara Streisand Las Vegas concert? Not really sure what “Babs” was all about but I walked out of that house feeling fat and happy and with some minor indigestion. After treating ourselves to TGIFridays the next evening my week of gluttony came to a close and it was time to return home.

I arrived back in site with the idea that I had already secured a place to live. But it quickly became apparent that there were some issues associated with the house that I was previously unaware of. Apparently the family of 6 brothers and sisters is fighting over what to do with the house and I found myself in the thick of a family feud. After consulting with my Chief Gendarmes (similar to a county sheriff) he told me that there’s to many problems with the house and not to live there. Unfortunately, Alouenet is a fairly small place and there’s not a lot of rental options. I have two weeks to find a place but am looking at some today (inshallah). Pretty sure that something will work.

Oh yeah.......I saw the king last week and waved at him!

Lafia, Lafia!

2008-06-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

So I went to my first fire here in Morocco the other day. Pretty fun and highly entertaining. I’d just returned home from town (Jerada), when my older host brother bursts into the room yelling lafia, lafia, yella, yella (fire, fire, lets go, lets go). Thinking this may be my chance to prove that I may actually be of some use here, I quickly change clothes and throw a bag of water, food, extra clothes, etc together. My brother and I then had off to the road where we are to wait for our ride up to the fire. At this point you could begin to see brown smoke accumulating on the ridge above the village.

After sitting next to the road for awhile (10-15 minutes) and watching the smoke continue to build, and with no ride in site, we head back to the house. My brother then instructs me to look through the collection of rusted, broken shovels and pick out my tool. I select the least pathetic of the bunch. At this point more men are gathering and the decision is made to have tea. “Well of course we should have tea!” After shot-gunning the obligatory two glasses of scalding hot, super sugary tea and shoving some bread in my mouth, we all load up in the Mitsubishi Galloper II and head up the hill. After about 5 minutes of driving 90 mph up the steep slope the Galloper II begins to overheat and slows to a trot and then dies altogether.

Sitting in the middle of the road, an argument breaks out that I don’t understand but then we are saved when the city fire department shows up and we all load up into their structure engine. I know a few of the structure guys from the cafe that I frequent and one of them looks at me and jokes that, unlike America, there will be no helicopters today and this fire will be fought with all muscle. “Good deal.” After much argument as to the best way to get to the fire, we finally arrive.

Pulling into the “staging area” I may have laughed out loud a bit. It seems that all the men of all ages in my village were there. First thing I see is a fairly overweight man in a black 3-piece suit running around in the 90 degree temps. Arguments have broken out everywhere around me as to (I assume with my rudimentary language skills) what are the best tactics to fight this fire. A pissing match has ensued between the city and forest firefighters and nobody really seems to be in charge. Actually......now that I think about it.......not that much different from fire in the states? Haha.....

Quickly assessing my tool options between my broken shovel with homemade handle and a flapper, I grab the flapper and proceed to go to work. Flapping away I look to the fellow on my left who is wearing a polyester adidas warm-up/leisure suit while the gentleman to my right is sporting a dapper-looking sweater vest. Then I look down and realize I’m fighting a fire in running shoes and carharts and chuckle to myself. At one point I came across a group of teenagers with bladder bags who were all wearing shorts and soccer jerseys. Communication solely consisted of cell phones and a whole lot of yelling. I wish I could have taken some pictures.

With the exception of the choice of attire, at times it really didn’t seem that much different. Almost felt like I was back on the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. Hot, steep, and dry. Even had similar fuel types.

After an hour or so, the wind calms down, evening set in and fire behavior decreased significantly. It also helped that the area is horribly overgrazed by sheep and goat herders so fires here seem to be short-lived. A decision is made to abandon the perimeter tactics and focus on hotspots. Shortly thereafter everyone begins to just walk around the perimeter not really doing much of anything. Kind of like being back on the Fire Use Module (just kidding FUM kids:).

So I don’t know if I exactly wowed the Moroccans with my firefighting skills. A few times I tried to make some suggestions but then thought better of it as my language skills are that of a 5 year old. I don’t quite know how to translate “Anchor, Flank er’, spank er” into Moroccan Arabic. So instead I just decided to shut-up and go to work (a change from my modus operandi I know). All in all though I think they were impressed by the fact that the “Merikan” had shown up and worked alongside them. It was fun to get dirty again and all the more satisfying when I realized that for my day of hard work and sweat I’d made the equivalent of $10.

2008-06-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

Just returned home from a trip to the hanut. The hanuts here are like small corner/country stores that seem to stock everything. Well....most everything. Thereص actually 3 hanuts in tiny Al Aouinat and my favorite one is Omarصs which is only about a 5 minute walk. This particular hanut is also a cafe/coffee shop and seems to be the favorite gathering spot for the men of the community. On this visit I noticed that there on the hanut counter was an espresso machine, the remnants of a butchered chicken, and parts from a motorcycle carburetor sitting out. The best was that nobody but me thought this odd nor humorous. I guess you can add motorcycle repair shop to that previous list?
So I recently discovered these little sour apple candies that you can buy 10 for a dirham (about 1.5 cents). I thought it would be the ridiculously sweet tea (forced upon me 10 times a day) that would be the source of my tooth decay but I guess itصs gonna be the sour apple sweets. Note: Add toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss to that wish list.
Just spent the last weekend on Fes. Amazing! Other than the taxi driver who tried to rip me off (Oh-Ho!) I love that city. The old Medina (old part of the city) is incredible. Thereصs supposedly 9,000 different alleys and passageways there. Some are so narrow that I felt like I was in a slot canyon in Utah. All matter of humanity is navigating these passageways. From donkeys, to tourists, to Moroccans just going about there everyday business. Really, really cool and like a 1,000 years old. Many of the buildings have these braces between them keeping them from falling into each other. Not the place Iصd want to be in an earthquake but a great place to wander and get lost. Picked up a pretty sweet leather briefcase (aka man purse) there.
The highlight though may have been the Sushi. Donصt get me wrong, tagine and couscous are great but everyday gets a little repetitive. At the hotel we met 4 current Peace Corps volunteers from Gambia who are in Morocco on vacation and decided to treat ourselves. I probably blew a week of my PC stipend but it was well worth it. At one point one of the Gambia volunteers was just giggling uncontrollably. زAnother dragon roll, Afek.س

2008-06-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

So today I went on my first run here at my site. There's a dirt road that heads out from
my backyard that accesses the Sibe Chekar (the protected area I'll be working with). Its
a bit of a steep slog to the top but once you're there it seems that you can run as far as
you like. Up near the top of the ridge there's a spring so I asked a young goat herder
who was tending his flock nearby if the water was good to drink. He said it was and
then we engaged in a conversation that involved using Darija (Moroccan Arabic), a little
Spanish, some English, and a few words in French for good measure. Of course it also
included a healthy amount of dramatic arm motions and gestures. It was great! Talk
about a cross-cultural exchange!

So I really need to stop saying yes to things that I don't understand. This has proven to
be a consistent problem as its happened in travels in the past. Because of this
tendency to agree to things when I have no idea what I'm agreeing to, I oftentimes find
myself with food that I don't want, places that I don't want to be at, or in awkward
situations that i don't want to be in. Yesterday I accidentally said yes when somebody
asked me if I was my host sisters husband. Needless to say that it caused some
embarrassment. Mostly for her I think.

Speaking of awkward situations, the other day I was walking back to my host
families house from Jerada (a fairly pleasant 4km stroll) when a car pulled over in front
of me and a man I didn.t recognize began yelling “Mustapha, Mustapha” and gesturing
me towards the car. I should note that I have taken the Moroccan name Mustapha as
my own because its easier for people here to pronounce and I like it because it sounds
like Mufasa. Unfortunately, it also happens to be a fairly common name here probably
2nd only among males to Mohammed. I think it may be required that every Moroccan
family have at least one son named Mohammed? Anyway.........now a situation like this
may be alarming in the US but here it.s fairly common. I was hot and tired of walking so
I began jogging towards the car excited about the lift. The fact that I didn't recognize
the fellow didn.t cause much concern as I've met a whole lot of new people here who I
didn.t recognize later on. So while jogging along the roadside it wasn.t until another
man passed me who was also on his way to the car. That.s when it dawned on me that
his name was probably also Mustapha and thats who the man in the car was offering
the ride to. Oh? So I gave the man a shrug as he ran by and continued my walk home
while giggling to myself. I wonder what he would have done if I'd just climbed into the
car?

Here We Go!

2008-05-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

Am now officially at site and where I will be living and working for the next two years.
Well kinda....I will be with a host family for the next two months mostly continuing to
focus on the language but I will also be looking for a house to rent. I've already found a
place thats pretty sweet. Found a house with a few acres thats out in the bled (country)
a bit about 10km from Jerada and 6km from the Office of Environment where I will be
mostly working out of. Come visit!

While it was sad to say goodbye to all the volunteers and friends I've made in the last 3
months, I'm also excited to be out on my own and am welcoming the opportunity to be
settled for a change. Looking back on my recent life, I've never been in one place for
longer than 6 months since college so to be stable (so to speak) for two years will be a
little different. Am looking forward to settling in.

The swearing in ceremony went really well. The Ambassador couldn't make it so the
deputy Ambassador was there instead. It was held at a really nice fancy hotel (kind of a
tease) and there was quite a large buffet table. The idea of a line (especially when it
comes to food) hasn't really caught on here in Morocco so you really had to be assertive
in order to get any of the good food. After 20 minutes of patiently waiting in line, I
realized that all the Moroccans plates were overflowing with food while I was still waiting
in line and my plate contained a few meager pieces of bread and fruit. Thats when I
said “screw it” and knocked grandma out of the way and rushed the buffet line with
elbows swinging. Just kidding of course......well kinda:)

That was a good lesson for a few days later when we were trying to get off of a packed
train in Rabat while carrying a huge backpack and another large bag. At one point I
really didn't think we would make it off. But I just put my head down and charged blindly
ahead towards the exit while apologizing profusely and ignoring the curses that trailed
behind me that I couldn't understand anyway. After a few minutes of climbing over and
stepping on people's luggage and smashing a few faces against the window I finally
found myself stepping off the train just as it began to pull away. In that particular
instance I don't think I was very successful in the goal of improving Moroccans image of
Americans. What could I do?

Looking back on CBT (community based training) I think the highlight was the
impromptu lesson I gave on chainsaw maintenance/repair. My host family runs the
hammam (community bathhouse) so my uncle's job is to cut firewood. One day I was
looking at my uncle's chainsaw and realized it was quite dirty. I began taking it apart
and cleaning and oiling it and then when I started it I realized that the idle was up all the
way and the chain was constantly spinning. Needless to say, it was quite dangerous
and If my uncle happened to fall on the chainsaw he would cut himself in half. Anyway,
I was able to adjust the idle so that it didn't do that. At one point during all of this I
became quite nervous when I looked up at the 7 grown Moroccan men who were all
crowded around staring at me with a look of confused shock. I think they were amazed
that I was actually able to accomplish something other than wander around their village
with a notebook while speaking like a child.

2008-05-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

So Jerada is where I will be spending the next two years of my life. Jerada is a medium sized city located 65km south of Oujda in the far reaches of NE Morocco. Its only a few hours from the Mediterranean and just a hop, skip, and a jump from Algeria. Unfortunately Algeria and Morocco haven’t been getting along lately and the border is currently closed. Oujda is a large city (around 1 million people) and has all the comforts that go along with a large population center. Jerada has around 50,000 people and I should be able to get most of what I need there without traveling to Oujda. Jerada seems to be a focus of the Moroccan Government for development. Recently construction includes an environmental education center, an artisana (small crafts center), and a new central plaza. Supposedly the King will be in town in June to bless all of these things. I’m pretty sure he’ll also be blessing me.

The area closely resembles the American Southwest or the high desert of Central Oregon. Pine forests abound and there is lots of beautiful places to bike/hike and explore. The Department of Forest and Environment that I will be working with actively manages a pine forest where both logging and goat herding take place. There is a problem of wildfires starting from the herders cooking fires so I may be involved in helping with fire management. There is a pretty sweet yellow Landrover fire truck.

Swearing in takes place on Monday. While I’m definitely looking forward to heading out on my own, being settled and starting work, it will also be a bit sad to say goodbye to folks. Fortunately In Jerada there are two current Peace Corps volunteers. One is a Youth Development volunteer and one is Small Business Development. They will both be great to collaborate with on future projects. Another volunteer will be placed in a town about about 20km that is famous for these cafes where the tables are set up in the river water. Supposed to be pretty good swimming. Hmmm.......may be spending a bit of time there?

Just finished up my final language test. While I’m good enough to be sworn in as a volunteer, I will be the first to admit that there’s room for improvement. The other day I thought I was asking a gentleman in my community if he would like a cookie. Instead what I really asked him was, “would you like to party?” He seemed genuinely surprised, confused, and maybe a little intrigued? Fortunately that was the day we left town. When I arrive in Jerada, I will spend the first 2 months living with a host family where I can really focus on becoming a fluent Darija speaker.

Site Placement

2008-04-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

04-24-08

Just finished up my 3rd CBT week an all is well. My group was able to organize and implement a stellar Earth Day presentation for our community (Magraman.) We worked with a local primary school and with the help of very supportive teachers and some language translation provided by Peace Corps staff, the day was amazing. We were given a 2 hour block of time and were successful in teaching environmental education lessons and activities to over 120 students (ranging from age 5-13). Since the main issue affecting our community (and also much of Morocco) is a lack of water we focused on water conservation and protection issues. Magraman is reliant on subsistence farming for its livelihood security and as water becomes more scarce many farmers are forced out of agriculture and, as a result, out of the community.

We started out by doing a skit that we’d translated into Darija, that focused on what Earth Day was and the importance of it. I played the role of the wise old tree. We played a few games and then I taught a lesson on the water cycle (that was translated into Darija) and was surprised at the level of knowledge that the students already had.

So tomorrow is a very significant day in my Peace Corps life. Tomorrow I learn where I will be spending my life for the next two years and get a basic idea of what I may be working on. Pretty exciting.

04-25-08

Oujda bound! Found out where I will be living for the next two years. Oujda is a fairly large city (600,000-800,000 people) that is located in the far NE part of Morocco close to the Algerian border and the Mediterranean. I will be living 65km south of there is a smaller village and working with the Department of Environment and Forestry. Apparently, my host dad who I will be living with for the first two months also happens to be the regional forester. Networking already. Potential projects include working on protected areas for gazelle’s, a nursery, environmental education, and there’s also talk of a museum that focuses on the mining history in the area. I’m headed up there tomorrow so I’ll let you know when I know. All for now!

The "not-so-grand" taxis

2008-04-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well.......one over month in and all is well. I was able to go and visit one of the current environment volunteers who’s working in the Middle Atlas Mountains in Ifrane National Park last week. While an incredibly beautiful place, national parks here are of name only and have grazing, logging, people living, and even large cities inside their boundaries. The volunteer I visited was working on documenting medicinal plants in the area. We were also able to meet with some of the other Ifrane Environment volunteers and hear about some of their projects. I still don’t know exactly where I’ll be or working but its exciting to see some of the possibilities.

On that trip we had many opportunities to experience the “grand taxis.” They are almost always old Mercedes from the 80’s and carry 6 passengers plus the driver. Now keep in mind that this is a 5 passenger car. 4 people cram in the back and then there’s usually 3 people up front with the driver. Though I’ve yet to see this personally, apparently sometimes a 7 passenger rides up front on the left side of the driver. The advice I got from a current volunteer is to just let your body go limp and allow the other passengers bodies form around you.

CBT (community based training) continues to go well and I think I’m making some progress towards Darija mastery. Returning for my 2nd week it was pretty cool to actually be able to engage in some type of limited conversation with my host family. It still requires a great deal of time, patience, and exaggerated hand motions to get my point across but I can usually get the job done. I can now accomplish a few very basic daily actions without receiving a confused, quizzical look. One of the more entertaining conversations I’ve had yet was when my host uncle asked if when I was done with Peace Corps if I would put him in my backpack and smuggle him back to America. He also has the idea that my father (in the US) is a very powerful man who can get him a visa. I tried to explain that I didn’t have those kind of connections but I think i was unsuccessful. Better start working on that visa Dad.

Well........all for now. Miss you guys!

Are you my dad?

2008-03-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

So I’ve been making friends with one of the shopowners here in town who speaks decent English. He’s been a huge help with my pathetic attempts at Arabic and today he invited me into his shop to share a tagine (meat and vegetable stew slow-cooked) with him and his friend which was delicious. I don’t know if people around here are just used to dealing with Peace Corps volunteers or if all Moroccans really are this nice and patient? The kids here are also super fun and always eager to get involved in the frisbee, football, soccer game that we’re playing. If the sport of frisbee takes Morocco by storm I will happily take credit:)

In exciting news, I found out today the area that I may be working. Probably near the central area of the country in the High Atlas (around Fes) or up in some of the parks in the Northeastern part of the country. We’ll see?

A big development is the cell phone that I purchased today. I’m still working figuring out voicemail but if you want to give me a shout-out please do. You’ll probably need to dial 011 to call outside the United States and the country code for Morocco is 212. My number is then 059154291. Morocco is 4 hours ahead of Eastern time. Calling via Skype should be pretty easy and incoming calls are free for me (lucky me!).

Another important purchase was the knock-off adidas pants that I bought at the souk (market). Apparently its somewhat socially questionable for anyone (even males) to wear shorts so I guess I was being a bit scandalous by running in shorts and showing off my calves. The warm-up pants are a nice blue velvet-like material and will be great to run in once temps get to 100. I guess I’ll just run at 4 in the morning?

On Sun I head of to my community based training site. Since I pretty much exhaust my Dariya vocabulary in about 5 minutes, I can imagine some awkward silence. I guess thats the best way to learn though? I’ll be there for a week and then back to Ouarzazate which is starting to feel more and more comfortable.

So I’ve been teaching my Darija teacher some American slang and when I asked how she was doing she just told me that she’s been “busy as a beaver.” My response, “No its busy as a bee but beavers are also very busy.”

03-24-08

Well......its been an interesting week. We just returned from our CBT (community based training) sites. 5 of us from my Darija (Moroccan Arabic) were at Magraman which is a tiny little village about an hour from Ourzazate. There we lived with a host family and focused mostly on language.

I don’t know if there is anything quite as awkward as living with a family with whom you cannot speak to. All in all though a great experience. There was some confusion at first. Mostly due to which toilet I would be using. The confusion was mainly do to the fact that there are certain specific times for men and women to use the bathroom. After an entertaining discussion which involved my father drawing stick figures of men and women in the dirt on the ground I finally decided that I would just use the toilet at the school. It wasn’t until the next day that it all became clear. My toilet is also the community hamman (bathhouse) and I just wouldn’t be allowed to use the toilet from 8am till 6pm because thats when its reserved for women. Well....Ok?

Getting used to the turkish (squat) toilets has been a bit of an.....ummm..... well......adjustment? I’ll spare you those intimate details.

It was during the aforementioned ridiculous conversation that I was laughing hysterically in my head and decided that I must on one of those hidden camera TV shows and at any moment the camera crew would pop out. However, no such camera crew appeared.

My family has 6 children ranging from age age 1 to 12. They’re super fun and all seem to enjoy climbing on me. From the moment I come home from class till the moment I go to bed, I become a walking talking jungle gym. I also think I am a great source of comedy relief as my brothers and sisters erupt into hysterical laughter whenever I butcher a Darija pronunciation. There’s 3 adult brothers who live in the house and it wasn’t until day 4 there that I realized who my official host dad is. Fortunately, Lahcen (my host dad) speaks a little English and has taken it upon himself to make sure that I am the best student in the class. I’m afraid he may be sadly disappointed. Because of those high expectations Lahcen has taken it upon himself to quiz me in the evenings on what I learned in class that day. Just what I want after 8 hours of language classes.

While I knew it was going to be different........the gender separation is astonishing. The women here do everything and receive very little if any credit. I have never shared a meal with my host mom and haven’t really even had a conversation with her. It is also somewhat questionable for a man to even enter the kitchen. Interesting?

The food has been incredible if a little overwhelming. There were times eating with my family where I thought if I heard kul, kul, kuI! (eat, eat, eat) I may vomit on someone. At one point I was quite happy with myself for finishing my meal and my host dad ripped a piece of bread out of my little brothers hand and put it on my plate kul kul kul!. Mostly the food has been either tagine (a veggie and meat slow-cooked stew) or couscous along with copious amounts of delicious homemade bread. One of the members of my group was treated to a dish of sheep brains but unfortunately I haven’t had the privilege.

1st Week

2008-03-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

Well, its now been 1 week since I’ve been in the country and all is going well. Currently in Ouarzazate which is a mellow, medium-sized city on the Eastern side of the High Atlas in Southern Morocco. The hotel we’re staying at will be home for the next 2 months. All the training takes place here and in our Community Development Training sites where we will be staying with host families. The hotel sits right on the town square so its easy to get a game of soccer going with the locals.

The group of 60 that gathered in Philadelphia has been split up between the health and the environment volunteers. The group is good, though much younger than I’d expected. I’d say the average age is 23-25 with most folks having graduated college within the last year. I guess I’d expected more folks to be my age in the mid to late 20’s crowd. But there’s a lot of positive strong energy from this group

We’ve done a few days of Arabic (darija dialect) and I expected to switch today to one of the three Berber dialects since that is what is spoken in the Atlas Mountains, where most of us will be placed. Much to my surprise though, I found out today that I will be one of the few who will continue to study Arabic. I can only assume that the trainers had recognized how quickly I was mastering the language (ha, ha) and wanted me to continue my progress. No....in all seriousness learning Arabic is incredibly challenging and is going to be an ongoing struggle. Yet, I’ve started forcing myself out into the community and its amazing how friendly and patient people are in helping me with my pathetic attempts at speaking their language. Sweya b’ Sweya (slowly, slowly) I’m learning.

So far I’ve yet to find an internet place that has decent speed. Trying to send an email is ridiculously frustrating between the Arabic keyboard and the computer freezing up. In the next few days I hope to purchase a cell phone so I’ll let you know when that happens.

Well.....thats all for now and Inshallah (God willing) I’ll be able to post this soon.

About that time.........

2008-02-29T00:58:00.001-08:00

Well......it's the night before i leave and I feel...............ready? I don't know if you can really prepare yourself for an experience like this but I feel pretty good about things. The house is cleaned out and rented, my bags are packed, I've said goodbye to all the incredible people in my life. To those people thank you so much for the kind words and encouragement. This has been such a long time coming that it still seems very surreal and almost calming. I also feel somewhat emotionally detached. In a funny way its relaxing to think that now all I have to do is get on a plane. Yet, I've spent so much time and energy into doing what I need to do in order to get on that plane, I've given very little thought to what it will be like to step off of that plane. Maybe sitting on the plane is when the gravity of what I'm doing will sink in? We'll see? I find myself saying those two words alot lately because so much is unknown. But thats when good adventures happen. Right?