27monthswithoutbaseball

2008-12-01T06:41:00.001-08:00

Now that I am an RPCV, the additional story can be told! When we were in Saadia, the Zegzel Gorge and Ras el Ma, we also broke policy and went to the Spanish enclave of Melilla. See August 5 for the entire story – I think it fits in more there. A phrase that stuck from that trip was, “leaving our clothes on the line.” We talked about leaving our stuff and just staying in Spain, not returning to Morocco. Not really, but it was nice to dream about the possibility for a moment. So when I left Azrou last week I left some clothes on the line – most of the giveaway pile had been given away (and most of what I put in the swap box was gone by Wednesday afternoon) but there were just a few items left, and it was nice to leave them on the line.

I did get and give some “cadeaux” before I left, too – Abdou and his father gave me a beautiful pillow that I had my eye on (and that wasn’t for sale). His mother gave me a scarf, as did the downstairs neighbor, and Youssef’s family gave me a cake to travel with. I gave the downstairs neighbor all of my foodstuffs – oil, vinegar, tomato paste – that had been opened. I gave my landlord and his wife the still-partially-filled butagas and left the kitchen shelves and mosquito netting up; she asked me for laundry buckets and soap and I left them for her. I gave Kathy all of my baking needs. Colin starts off with a jar of peanut butter, some laughing cow cheese and some tea in addition to the big pieces of furniture and kitchen utensils, bowls and food storage containers. I had given calendars to many people and sweaters to Youssef’s family and my host family; I gave things to Abdou, the rock carver, the Ain Leuh and Azrou weavers, my counterpart and the seamstress (not to mention CDs of pictures and brochures to everyone I worked with).

Wednesday afternoon after lunch, Jong, Rose and I went back to the Peace Corps office – Jong had to get her check so we went with her to use the Volunteer Lounge. As of a recent ruling, RPCVs can now to go any Volunteer Lounge in any Peace Corps country (old ruling was current PCVs only). My money, by the way, is also coming in the form of a check, after several attempts at supplying an account number and a bank routing number failed. We had the option of a plane ticket to our home of record or the cash equivalent (I took the latter, about $1100), and we have a resettlement allowance of $6000 (at some point I will also get Savings Bonds, for which I have had money deducted periodically). I don’t know what my upcoming trip will ultimately cost, but it would be nice not to spend all of the money I am about to get! Jong and I also offered to help the librarian restock the shelves (every COSing group returns and/or donates stacks of books) but since it was raining he asked us to cut red ribbons to be used on World Aids Day, December 1. It was nice to be able to help him!

We then went to the American Club – they changed the menu and no longer had the same offerings as before, but other people had talked about meeting there and even though we don’t always go with the crowd, it seemed the thing to do. We got there first and had what turned out to be their last three bowls of chili (with onions, cheese and cornbread – not bad!) and played some cards. We talked with others as they arrived and then walked back when it got too smoky. Already people had been trickling out – Bob and Linda left Tuesday when it turned out their flight to Egypt had been moved up a day. Margaret left before tea on Wednesday to go back to her site and pick up her cat. Sherwin COSed early for personal reasons. But Wednesday was the first of the people leaving after all the ceremony and flying overnight and getting home in time for Thanksgiving – Ina, Connie and Jessica.

I’ve been all right saying goodbye, but maybe the finality of it still hasn’t hit me, and maybe it won’t until I’m actually the one to leave. Most of the people in my stage are traveling – to the Middle East or to Europe – for a brief time and most are getting home by Christmas. I think I have the longest travel plan, but I knew two years ago that I would want to travel for and through my birthday, I just didn’t know where. I realized, too, that this is the first time since business school that I started something and knew when the ending would be. I have had jobs knowing they would end but not knowing exactly when, but I have known from the day I was invited that this would end in November 2008. Who knows how we will keep in touch or what kind of reunion(s) we will have….

About half of us were still going to be around for Thanksgiving, and when our COS date was moved up, I polled to see who was going to be around. I was talking with the Administrative Officer about where to go and she invited one and all to her house – she grew up in a family that had eleven kids and her husband was one of nine siblings, so they were used to having big Thanksgivings. Rose and I took a medina walk in the morning – I bought a nice leather pocketbook (still can’t handle the knockoffs, and I have had enough of Moroccan purses with straps that break) to replace the two beat-up ones with the zippers that broke last week. We went to help set up the buffet table and I baked a double batch of brownies.

It was a great Thanksgiving (Peace Corps staff can get all of the trimmings from the Embassy commissary!). There was a big, perfect turkey and a smaller, also delicious smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, and miscellaneous other things that I didn’t have so I could have more room for the things I named plus brownies and pumpkin pie. There were over a dozen newly-minted RPCVs and some other friends of Megan and her family. Armed Forces Network had NFL football on and I watched that for a little while. And then we played a game – PCV Pictionary/Charades – with words and phrases that we have lived with for the past two years. It was really fun, and there was just a warm feeling in general. Two years ago we had a big group Thanksgiving dinner in Immouzer the day before we swore in, and this was a nice way to end our time together.

Friday those who were still in town and not on early flights had breakfast together and then everyone took off except for Rose, Jong and me. We walked towards the ocean – at one point unintentionally tracing the route we had taken on our first walk in Rabat; Rose had been on that walk too. We walked along the ocean and into the Casbah des Oudayas – Jong had never really explored it and neither Jong nor Rose had been to the Andalusian Garden before. We walked along Rue des Consuls and each found suede bags to buy – due to regional differences, mine was a pocketbook, Rose’s a purse, and Jong’s a handbag. We had to think before buying, so we had a couscous lunch at a place frequented by locals – it was about as good as non-homemade couscous could be, and not expensive. Back to the room to rest while we waited for the shops to reopen, and then we all got our bags – we had to all get them, somehow. Rose and Jong bought some holiday presents for people back home and we had a final rummy game.

Saturday we said goodbye to Jong and in the pouring rain made our way to the train station. I hadn’t lifted my big bag since I’d mailed the post-office box earlier in the week; fortunately I found it manageable and even though Rose helped me by taking the rolling carry-on, I think I can make it from here on my own (with the help of porters and taxi drivers). We made the train with moments to spare (hadn’t intended to cut it that close, but somehow we never got our heart rates up – we just walked right on). I usually read on transport but for most of this ride I looked out the window, enjoying the view – this part of the country is usually green, but maybe all the rain made it greener than usual, with fields and mountains and grazing cows and sheep (enjoy it, I thought – l-Eid is less than two weeks away). Rob had mentioned deleting people from his cell phone one by one as they left, and I deleted a bunch of people while on the train; a few final texts used up all of my credit. We pulled into Asilah in the rain and took a taxi into town – and it stopped raining by the time we got there.

When we went to Asilah for New Year’s we had a marvelous dinner, and I stated that somehow I didn’t think that would be my last time to Asilah. I thought it would be nice to go in the fall but Rose suggested after COS and that seemed like a great idea. We took a little walk in the medina and then went to Casa Garcia, the site of the marvelous dinner, for yet another one. We splurged on a bottle of wine and appetizers, entrees and dessert (for me, manchego cheese from Spain and sole, and then we shared an order of natillas, and then had another order of natillas!). We took another medina walk Sunday morning – Rose had been talking for months about going to Asilah for a special pair of shoes, and she got what she was looking for, plus she got some Fes pottery that she was waiting until the end to buy (she realized it would be no fun to go to Fes and shop by herself and I was more than willing to look with her in Asilah, where one shop has some quality pieces). At dinner we talked about a potential itinerary for a theoretical trip if we were returning to show Morocco to someone – Asilah, Chefchouan, Fes, Azrou (Sefrou for her), Merzouga. Maybe a second trip or second week for me would include a gorge, Marrakesh, Tafraoute and Sidi Ifni, and maybe Essaouaria, or Rabat if you flew in there. I had a dream this week that people from our stage were ETing with just a few weeks to go – I was sad in that dream - and some non-sad dreams about some of the people who COSed this week after they left. For the most part I’ve been okay though, wishing people well and giving them hugs.

November 30 was our original COS date so I had it in my head that I wouldn’t leave before then. We’d had good luck with the train on Saturday and the travel luck continued yesterday, filling the last two spots in a lunchtime-lull-time taxi to Tangier and then right away filling a taxi to the border. The ride to Tangier was beautiful, along the Atlantic coast with its stormy waves. The ride from Tangier around to the border was one I had read about as being especially beautiful, and it was nice to end with something I had not done before – green mountains on one side and the blue Mediterranean on the other, and across the way mainland Spain so close we had to ask to make sure that was what we were looking at. Gibraltar, where I am now, stood out in the distance, a towering rock with a city below. The taxi was actually bound for Fnideq, the closest town to the border, but we asked the taxi driver to detour to the border, and he did. We got out of the taxi and walked across the border into Ceuta – I am really glad I chose that way to depart. I had a little moment when I had my passport stamped, but then walked on, to Spain. No more dirhams – euros instead. No more shukran – it’s gracias. We walked along the peninsula for a while – had a view of the town and the straits with Africa on one side and Europe on the other, heard what might be my final call to prayer for a while – and ate a quick dinner and called it a night. And a 27 months.

P.S. – I am still doing new things, even right at the end. I’ve been wearing the same outfit since Tuesday, having sent other cold-weather options home in Monday’s mail; that might be a record for most days in a row in the same clothes. I’m in Gibraltar now – using an English keyboard and saying thank you instead of gracias! Took the cable car up to the Upper Rock – saw Barbary Apes (did not have a chance to see them one last time in Azrou; they look pretty much the same here) and had a Magnum bar (anniversary of the one in Oualidia). I’ll take a walk down Main Street, have a more substantial meal, and then get back to Algeciras – from there I’ll take the train to Madrid tomorrow. But Gibraltar is one of those places you never think you will get to and it’s fun to be here!

2008-11-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

My mattress - after being left in the sun to minimize the mildewy smell, after getting a featherbed to make it softer than a concrete slab and a down comforter since the sleeping bag kept moving around inside the duvet cover and I ended up being under only two thin layers of sheet and feeling cold, after getting a hot water bottle for my bottom half in addition to the one I had brought with me for my top half - ended up being a cozy bed, and I slept well my last night in it. Woke up and stripped the linens, went to the hammam, disconnected the phone and internet. Kathy and Anna came over and ate most of the brownies and no-bake cookies I still had - I had made them just to use up the ingredients and didn't see how they'd all get eaten, but the hikers and Sunday visitors ate a lot, I brought some to my farewell lunches, and I stashed some to bring to Rabat. Brian came over, Colin came over - everything moved out smoothly. Kathy and I went to Bilal for coffee and watched the world go by, and then went to Abdou's and had (not tuna, not chicken) some bisara. I had shed tears at farewells all week (only with Moroccans - I feel I'll be able to keep in touch with other PCVs, though of course I will miss them) and still had a few on Sunday, but was mostly composed. Colin met us back at my house and he and Kathy walked me to the taxi stand. Not long ago, or so it seems, I walked Lee to the bus station. And wasn't it just yesterday that we had coffee with Katie before she got on the CTM? Two taxis refused me - my stuff was going to fill the trunk - but the third would take me to Meknes provided I paid double. Through town we went, along the big street that I walked up and down so many times from the very beginning, and then we climbed up - the curve around to Meknes allows for a panoramic view of the valley with its fields, the sprawl of Azrou and the mountains behind it, and then it climbs up and leaves Azrou behind.

The road then levels out and goes through rocky grazing land (some is cleared for fields but it's mostly rocky) with some replanted trees. A vista opens up to the left, for Paysage Ito (where a local Berber woman came through in protest of the French protectorate) and then the road goes through the provincial capital of El Hajeb, with its clean streets and big government buildings giving way to an older, more medina-like part of town. The road then drops into the vineyards - I always smile as I pass them, thinking of my past - and then goes through the town of Boufekrane, where there are huge slabs of meat hanging - passersby can have it grilled on the spot.

For good measure, the road to Timhadite - it also climbs up out of Azrou, into the cedar forest, and sometimes you can see monkeys along the side of the road. Then it too levels out into a deforested area - meadows of grazing sheep and some volcanic cones, including the little mountain with a few trees on it that Rose thought was so sad. The plateau above Timhadite, with its crown on top, comes into view, and the town lines both sides of the road, which then goes on to Errachidia and the desert. The road to Fes climbs up past some fields, houses, and auberges and then goes through the forest. It levels off into yet another rocky plateau and then Ifrane comes into view, followed by more rocky plains and then Immouzer, with a town center always milling with people - a reminder of those three days of consolidation. Ifrane and Immouzer have tree-lined streets, unlike most of the rest of Morocco. The terraced-hillside view from the top at Immouzer always reminds me of Tuscany, and then the road drops into the valley, with a long, flat stretch to Fes in the distance. From Azrou to Ain Leuh the road is flat - past fields and small towns, with the mountains in the background, and then it turns and climbs up one of the mountains to the town itself. All of these routes I know so well....

My suitcase closed fine, but was really heavy, and I started to fret about how I am going to manage everything. Maybe it would have been easier to just go home. Or go to Europe and rent a car and put all of the stuff in it and drive. Or go on a cruise and keep the steamer-trunk-sized bag in one place. I managed the transfer from the Meknes taxi to the Rabat taxi without too much difficulty, and paid for two seats to Rabat (I was prepared for double after the Azrou taxi, but they wanted only 10 dh more for the big bag, so I paid double and got the whole front seat). The walk from the taxi stand to the Velleda was tough though, and when I arrived I just sat there (Janeila was in the room and she was great, leaving me be but providing support), wondering what to do. I already knew the answer - jettison more stuff - but I was not ready to do it. I had a quick bite to eat and played some rummy with Rose and Jong, not quite believing that we're not just here for some conference or medicals, going back to our sites in a couple of days, and will be back in Rabat again in another six months or so.

Monday morning we got to the Peace Corps early and had our TB tests - we have to come back Wednesday morning to have them read, have other medical checkout (insurance signup, vouchers for any procedures in the states) and turn in all of the paperwork, and then there's a little tea for us Wednesday morning, and we're done. Lots of signatures are required - program staff to say we turned in our DOS, filled out the on-line COS survey and don't owe anything to our landlord, utilities or counterpart, library to say we returned all books, training manager to say we returned all training materials, GSO to say we returned bike and space heater, Safety and Security officer to say we have our carte de sejour so we can leave the country, Country Director to say we had exit interviews, grant coordinators to say we completed our grants (in my case N/A) and more. I got some signatures yesterday morning but there was a pileup of people and a range of emotions - it seemed disorganized and somehow Peace Corps seemed unprepared (or maybe the PCVs seemed unprepared - we didn't get exact instructions, and we're so used to being told exactly what to do). Plus, there was a staff meeting so many of the people we needed were unavailable, so when Janeila suggested we go to the lab, I went with her - we dropped off our Mif kits and had blood drawn. Then back to the room - she wrote some postcards while I went through the suitcase, and I found another post-office-box-worth of stuff to send to the states and a bag of stuff to leave in the Peace Corps swap box. On the fence is the white noise machine - I sleep better with it, but it's heavy. Janeila came with me to the post office and a literal and figurative weight came off. We had lunch, and then Jong, Rose and I played more rummy. Everything checked out at the eye doctor (still need an operation and new glasses when I get home) and I had dinner at the French Institute with Bob and Linda.

My computer crashed last night - add this to the living room light, hot water heater, broken zippers on my bags, oven handle falling off; I'm convinced djinns are sad that I'm leaving or helping me leave. I was counting on traveling with the computer, to blog, compose emails and save photos, but was surprisingly unpanicked - maybe a sign I should further lighten my load and send it home too? Nothing - blank screen when I booted it up, followed by a question mark. No recognition of any hard drive or applications. I brought it to the IT person at Peace Corps this morning to see if there was a way to revive it and when he booted it up, it was as good as new. So maybe it was just a reminder that I can let go of anything and it's all right. At this point I still think it would be nice to travel with it, but part of me wants to shed the weight and send it. It's expensive to send though, and I think I'll be happy I have it. Still thinking about it though.

I never made it back to the Peace Corps office yesterday, but it was quiet this morning - I was able to get all of the signatures I could get (final medical and admin have to wait until tomorrow) and have nice chats with the the signers, so going to the lab early yesterday was a good move. Everyone - myself included - seemed more loose and happy. I am in the Peace Corps lounge now, but it seems late even though it's not, so I think I will head back and see if there's rummy to be played. It's cold and rainy here in Rabat (I hope it doesn't get colder than this, because I sent yet more cold-weather stuff home and am down to one sweater and a raincoat). I'd like a medina walk this week (I may need one, so that I can leave here with a pocketbook that does not have a broken zipper) but other than that, I think playing cards and spending time with stagemates or even staying in and reading might be nice (I might be almost ready to read the travel books for my trip!) - after a busy agenda and filled days for what seems such a long time now, I feel I might finally be able to relax!

Wednesday morning Postscript - I am an RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer)! No TB, no parasites, insurance signed up for, all signatures and paperwork turned in, and I removed the thumbtack with my face on it from Azrou on the map in the program staff office. Now in the Volunteer Lounge awaiting farewell tea with staff, and then - ?
Another Postscript - I noticed that the Bangkok airport was closed due to protests. This trip may require even more flexibility than I imagined - and the only planned part was the flight to Bangkok! I hope the unrest is quelled by next week, but we'll see....
And another - the farewell tea had a "Stamping Out" ceremony - a book in which you printed and signed your name and then stamped (like a passport stamp - so I took an extra on a piece of paper for my National Parks Passport book!). It was nice. Chicken caesar salad at Ty Potes and chocolate mousse at the French Institute. How do I feel? Not sad, not relieved - maybe satisfied is a good word. And - as many people have said to me and it always somehow surprises me when they do, but now I feel it too - proud.

2008-11-22T16:12:00.001-08:00

This week was a happy ending, if a little busier than I thought it might be – but why did I think it might not be? On Monday I went out to Ain Leuh to mail the last of the boxes – the ones I mailed early have all arrived, which is quite a relief. Visited with the women of the cooperative – it’s just a joy to be with them – and while riding in the taxi back to Azrou, I got a text saying that they were moving someone to Ain Leuh! Her original site wasn’t going to work out. I am glad that Ain Leuh will get its own volunteer and glad for her as well! Back in Azrou, I went to the tuna sandwich place with Kathy and another volunteer, and then to the Volunteer Advisory Council (VAC) meeting.

VAC is like the “student council” of Peace Corps – one representative from each sector from each stage brings issues to staff, and staff conveys to them issues that they bring back to their stages. Anyone can attend VAC meetings as long as they attend the pre-meeting the night before. Since it was being held in my site (so that the PCTs could get an introduction and elect their reps), I thought why not? It was interesting, but not what I expected. It was mostly reports, with very little discussion. I guess that, as with many committees, most of the work gets done outside the meetings. I am all the more glad for being on the GAD committee – our meetings have included some great discussions and lots of group work (though most of the work is done outside the meetings with GAD too). I could have done a lot of other things with the last Monday afternoon in my site, but I’m not sorry I went – it gave me some insight. Not only that, but I don’t see that much of most of the staff, and it was nice to see them; I don’t know what meetings were like with the old Country Director but the more I see of the new Country Director the more I think that Peace Corps Morocco is headed in a good direction! I also had an opportunity to invite myself (or muscle my way on…) to the Diversity Panel the next day.

I then visited my host family for what I thought was a final farewell but they wouldn’t have it – I ended up going back yesterday for another farewell and then again today. No complaints about that – they have done a lot for me. They use email and my host mother’s English is great, so chances of keeping in touch are better than they are with some of the other people I care about here. Throughout the week I stopped in shops and other places to say goodbye and to snap portraits of my favorite people (I also made sure to tell the police I was leaving and to thank them).

I don’t usually go out at night but I did on Monday – at my suggestion, a bunch of PCTs (now that they know their sites and know that they might be working with weavers) went to Abdou’s for a carpet seminar – learning about different regions, what to look for to determine quality, relative pricing, things to think about when helping artisans. This was an abbreviated version of the seminar he gave at the Natural Dye/Weaving Workshop in February – shortened because of PCT dinner and curfew times. It was a good introduction though, and anyone nearby can come back to learn more!

Tuesday morning was the Diversity Panel. I found the panel so impactful back in 2006 that I wanted to participate – it really gave me new ways to think about myself and others and how we can support each other. One of my strategies is not to refer directly to my own diversity (including in this forum), but I do some cultural exchange by telling Moroccans about diverse types of Americans, including those of other religions, and another strategy has been taking the opportunity to learn more, especially about other religions, in Morocco as well. The session was a little different from the one I attended. All of the panel members spoke (we had two blacks and one “brown”/gay, an older person, a married couple and me – the one I attended also had a Pakistani-American, an Asian-American, a gay Hispanic-American and a gay female as well, a black, an older volunteer, a married woman and a Jew, so was more of a rainbow – but I heard that last spring’s panel had much less diversity than the one I was on). We talked about barriers, assumptions, frustrations, how we dealt with things, and any assets, and then the big group (SBD/YD consolidated) was split into small groups by region for discussions on how to support each other. Good idea to start building that regional support network even before people get to their sites. We then reconvened for Q&A and once again the panel could have been hours longer, but I heard several side discussions during the ensuing break, so I know it gave people something to think about.

Tuesday was a holiday – on November 16, 1956, Mohammed V came back from exile in Madagascar to reclaim the throne (so many streets are named November 16) and on November 18 the French and Spanish left, so it is an Independence Day. I was happy to give up part of my holiday for the Diversity Panel, but happy to have time for a short day trip too – to Ifrane, where Elizabeth and I took a walk to the supermarche (I didn’t need more oats or peanut butter but she did) and had lunch (spaghetti bolognese, for old times’ sake). In previous autumns, one day the leaves were green, one day they were brown, and the next day they fell off the trees – or so it seemed – but this fall there has been some color, maybe because of the rain, and Ifrane has more trees than perhaps anywhere else in Morocco, so it was especially beautiful.

I had to cut the holiday short on the back end too, because the weavers in Ain Leuh threw a farewell party for me (my counterpart asked them to – with the unspoken understanding that the artisans of Azrou wouldn’t do one). We sat and talked and laughed and had tea and pastries and some of the women (but mostly the little girls) danced to Berber music, and then everyone took turns dressing in wedding capes and having their pictures taken with me. It was really sweet. They walked me out, as well – usually I have to figure out how to gracefully exit a gathering, but they ended it at the end of their workday (and in time for me to get home before dark). That night, I met with Randy, the new Ain Leuh volunteer (as of Thursday’s swearing-in!). I had a long list of projects that are active or that I did not get to - she will have a lot of work and a lot of fun! I wish we could have spent more time together but it’s her site now; she’ll be fine.

Because of early mornings Monday and Tuesday, I didn’t go do a daily hammam as planned (the hot water heater having broken the week before). I have gone for days without bathing on several occasions, but not for a while. It has been good to go to the hammam every day since; Wednesday was the last long one though, with ghassoul (Moroccan clay) face and hair masks, an herbal hair mask from Amanda’s medicinal plant cooperative, and argan oil. I had one last piece of business – disconnecting my internet – which gave me a reminder of how difficult it was to set up my home in the beginning. Multiple people told me different things (I didn’t mind the wait – Maroc Telecom is the warmest public place in Azrou) and the upshot was that I could not just pay out the balance of my contract – someone has to go to the office and pay every month for the next three. Probably many volunteers just abandon their contracts, but I don’t want to create issues for the next volunteers, so I don’t mind – and Kathy will do it for me in return for getting my featherbed.

I then had lunch with (four of) the six-pack of environment volunteers – they will be the next to leave, in six months; hard to believe! We had planned on the tuna place but the medina was out of electricity, so we went for rotisserie chicken instead. I had wanted to go there too (I will probably leave for Rabat after lunch tomorrow – will it be tuna or chicken?). I had nothing scheduled for the afternoon, so they came back to my house and we talked for a while and played some Piffle – I had expected to eat and part, and it was nice not to feel rushed. I went to Abdou’s for a while – bringing him the poufs that Youssef made for me – and came home to watch sunset from my roof.

Kathy and I had planned to go on a hike on Thursday but it was cold and windy – not hiking weather. She came over anyway and we played some rummy and cooked lunch – I haven’t spent a day like that in a while. Linda then came over with friends and family visiting from the states and took my oven, printer and other miscellaneous items (I had done a fair amount of baking the day before – and a little printing!). We all went to Abdou’s for tea and then I did the final packing. I had a couple of small piles to weed through, which was easy enough, but I also had to go back through my suitcase. It’s not that it wouldn’t have closed, but it would have been completely full, and I don’t want to travel that way – so I took out most of the winter clothes and put them in yet another box, to be sent by Kathy to Martha, thereby ensuring that I will travel to only warm-weather places until I get to California. I didn’t want to abandon the winter clothes entirely – I don’t want to be forced to shop for new things right away – so I will be reunited with them and then have something to wear until I do get a chance to shop. It was a long night, but it was good to be finished and not to be still scrambling or thinking about it. I’m still not going to be traveling light, unfortunately (big suitcase, carry-on, daypack, pocketbook) but I am prepared to jettison if it becomes cumbersome – I just couldn’t weed any more while I’m here.

Friday morning I went to the Artisana (I had gone briefly on Thursday to say farewell to the showroom staff but other than that had not been all week – maybe the longest I’ve gone without visiting while in my site?) to say goodbye to my counterpart – I have enjoyed our talks and enjoyed working with him - and to the woodcarvers. The metal worker and the president of the weaving cooperative weren’t there; in a way I want to say farewell to them tomorrow but then I would see the woodcarvers and showroom people again, and I feel I have already said my goodbyes; I told my counterpart to give them my best. Went to Youssef’s family’s for couscous lunch – they too wanted to see me again today, and I am glad I did – the couscous was great, but it was also nice to just visit with them today. I brought them my (fixed, inshallah) hot water heater as a gift. On to the next party – tea (and a cake I had baked) at Abdou’s with some first-year SBD volunteers (all of whom were probably out of site legally but names not included just in case). I didn’t want a big party – separate little gatherings are more my thing, and this has been a nice way to go out.

Today was a farewell hike – Kathy, Elizabeth, Briana and Anna came along (they were late, which gave me a welcome chance to read on my ponge in the morning sun). Up the mountain to the meadow with the view of Azrou, perhaps my favorite hike. At one point we passed through and then were passed by a herd of sheep and goats – that doesn’t happen often on hikes in the States. It was worth the wait – a warm and sunny day. Then we all went to a couscous lunch at Abdou’s family’s – they seemed so distressed that I couldn’t join them for couscous Friday that they made couscous on Saturday. Briana’s sitemate joined, as did Colin. We came back to my house, where we taught Colin rummy (so now he is really all set!) and went up to the roof for sunset, with the call to prayer sounding from multiple mosques. I went back to Dar Neghrassi one more time for tea and to write in his guest book and then did final dismantling of the kitchen (that is, once I fill the hot water bottles). Minush hasn’t had her kittens yet, but Abdou will send pictures.

Tomorrow morning Colin comes for the ponges, ponge frames, ponge pillows, mattress, bed platforms, dresser, refrigerator, the space heater Peace Corps brought out for me, most of the linens and many of the kitchen items. Brian comes for the plastic table and chairs, one of my acrylic mink blankets and the foam pads that I bought for guests to sleep on. Kathy comes for the featherbed and the plates and bowls (which she’ll use to host Thanksgiving and then pass along to Elizabeth and Colin). I think I may have time for one last little walk and one last lunch, and then I’ll head for Rabat.

2008-11-16T15:10:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday I went to Timahdite (or, if you will, TimHdit or Timhadite!) to say farewell. Snow patches on the ground! I knew it would be colder there but didn’t dress for that. I’m grateful to Elizabeth, the current volunteer there, for keeping me up to date on life there. We went to see a couple of the weavers – unfortunately, the president, who I admire for her determination to succeed despite the odds, was out of town, and the weaver in whose house we spent most of our CBT time had moved, but the ones we did see were always present and welcomed us graciously (tea and cookies). We talked a bit and watched them weave. Timhadite itself has undergone some changes – the garbage-strewn empty space that I dubbed “the public garden” is now under construction as a town center, there’s a new post office, there’s a new caid’s office – but it has still retained its village character. We went to my host family’s for lunch – my host mother is so sweet! I felt warmly welcomed and I feel I will always be welcomed there. Maybe the biggest change was in Muzun – the cute puppy that I brought water to and took for exercise walks in the yard is now a huge dog! As TimHdit turns…. Between Tuesday and today my host brother (who I didn’t see) got married, and so did the Sheikh’s brother (for the fourth time).

I am still having Morocco firsts, even with so little time left – on the way back, our taxi broke down. I’ve always wondered why more taxis don’t break down. Everyone was remarkably calm and matter-of-fact about it. We weren’t on the side of the road for too long, though – a bus came by and stopped and we got on it, just like that. I got back to my house about the same time as Janeila (who had just finished doing a training for PST) and Kareem (who was coming in to do a training). I asked them if they would go to Tuesday souk with me – I don’t think I’d been there since the beginning of the summer! After that it was too hot and then it was Ramadan and then it was rainy. I had never been to souk in the afternoon and was surprised at how busy it still was – the rugs were being packed up, but the rest was in full swing. I may or may not go this week so I am glad they were up for it. Kareem and I talked a little bit about our presentation, and Janeila was my last overnight guest (barring the unforeseen). I made stuffed eggplant, we played some rummy, and she helped me go through my closet to decide what went in the suitcase, what went home, and what went in the giveaway pile. She is both practical (she gave the color seminar in February and quickly dismissed some of the colors – and then I had to dismiss them too) and sentimental (she talked me into sending home an acrylic mink blanket after I had talked myself out of it) and it was a big relief to get that done.

Bright and early Wednesday morning, Kareem and I presented “The Role of the Volunteer as Facilitator.” The audience was pretty quiet for the definitions (as they had been for the GAD theory) but once we broke them into small groups they seemed engaged and interested. Two years ago in our training, we broke into small groups for a role play – someone had to be a difficult group member, someone had to be interjecting non-sequiturs, someone had to be domineering, etc. and someone had to try to facilitate – it might even have been me – and of course, with everyone doing such a good job of sticking to their roles, it was hard for the facilitator to make any progress. Kareem and I scrapped that role play and had each CBT group come up with a list of issues and opportunities that they saw in CBT, and then we gave each list to a different group and asked them to come up with potential workshops or trainings that they could facilitate. Then we had a game called “pin the tail on the unsuspecting community group.” Someone would be blindfolded and target two items (say, artisana and youth center or hospital and cultural center) and the group would come up with potential ways to partner the two – with prizes Janeila and I had culled from the giveaway pile the night before. It went well!

I visited my host family briefly, telling my host mother I couldn’t stay long because I really wanted to go to the hammam. She mentioned that there was a new one in my neighborhood – I didn’t know about it, but sure enough, I walked home and I saw it! I just never noticed it. It’s a nice one – bright, colorfully tiled, not too crowded, women-only. I found about it just in time, too, because on Thursday my hot water heater stopped working (so did my living room light – I think it’s djinns that are sad that I’m leaving). The neighborhood hammam is just around the corner and a block down the hill, so as of yesterday I am going for daily quick morning hammams! I was going to have the plumber come to fix the hot water heater and then come again to remove it so I can give it to Youssef’s family, but after he failed to come on Friday I decided I’ll just have him come once, to fix it and remove it. It was nice washing dishes in hot water (which I had started only after it got cold outside and the water got really cold – don’t think too much about the fact that I’ve been using only cold water for most of my time here, because I try not to) but I’ll manage. Washing my face is tougher but darori (a must).

I met back up with Kareem and we had a delightful afternoon (meaning in this case that he went along with what I wanted/needed to do and he bought stuff from my artisans). We went to the Artisana and to Abdou’s and passed by the rock carver – I call Kareem Mr. Cultural Exchange and it is amazing how everyone loves him – hugs and kisses (of course, men can do that to other men here but not to me – but still, people remember Kareem and lavish more attention on him than on anyone else I bring around – even the taxi driver from our trip to the monkeys – last summer – remembered him and called to him from the souk). One of the things that had been on my list was buying some Moroccan music, and Abdou took us to a music hanut and picked out some top selections of different styles – Berber, Arab, traditional instrumental, Rai (music of the east, near Kareem’s site), modern, and Andalusian. In music hanuts here, they open the CD for you and play a selection or two to see if you like it – and sell you the unwrapped CD. When it came to that last CD, Abdou told me it was like the music they play on television during lftur at Ramadan – and sure enough, I wanted to go get some shebekia! I had wanted a piece or two before I left anyway, and that triggered the Pavlovian response.

Thursday I went out to Ain Leuh to mail some boxes and to bring photographs and CDs to the women of the cooperative. I love them. My counterpart asked them to throw a little party for me (he didn’t ask the Azrou ones…) and that’ll be on Tuesday. I couldn’t stay long though – Aziz (tutor #3) has been helping me with the box mailing, and due to his work schedule I had to finish packing everything that day. I was almost done anyway, but thinking I would do some on Thursday and some on Friday. Doing it all on Thursday meant hours of sorting, and the hard stuff, too – the miscellaneous odds and ends. I did go out again briefly, to the Artisana and to Abdou’s, but I spent most of the afternoon and late into the evening packing. I still have to weed out toiletries, remedies and papers to go in the suitcase, the giveaway pile and the trash, but that won’t take long (then again, I haven’t done any sorting or packing since the Thursday’s marathon day, so I am starting to get a little anxious and will feel better when it is entirely done – though that may not happen until the day I leave Azrou).

I went back to Ain Leuh on Friday to mail more boxes - not in my original plan for the week but necessitated by Aziz’s work schedule and by the fact that one of the two men who works in the post office was out, leaving only the director, and he didn’t want to take too many at a time. If only we could have mailed them all! But I have to go back one more time – that too is making me anxious and I will feel better when it is entirely done (tomorrow, inshallah). I got back in time for couscous at Youssef’s family’s house – I love them too! – and, instead of doing more packing, relaxed just a little, walking around town, reading in my living room (during the day), and making some backup CDs.

Saturday I went to Meknes – it felt weird to be there by myself, but I am about to travel for a while by myself. I traveled by myself in August, of course, so maybe what made this different was that I wasn’t really by myself – I was with my memories of past trips there and people I had been with. I went to the medersa – the workmanship is still impressive (and I met a couple of men from Philadelphia! Interesting discussion – they are here for http://www.wfl-wellsforlife.org - check it out. I just did and didn’t realize they had a project in Ain Leuh! One of them took this picture). Walked through the medina and to the Damascene (silver inlay on metal) artisan I had met before – he gave me a little “cadeau.” Went into the old imperial city as far as the tomb of Moulay Ismail and realized that I had time to make it to Volubilis. Why not – when’s the next time I’ll have such easy access to Roman ruins? I bought out a taxi, but negotiated a good price to have him wait while I spent an hour there. I walked briskly, more or less from one end (the wonderful mosaic of the House of Orpheus) to the other (the not-before-seen-by-me-but-looked-for-on-other-occasions House of Venus – both are marked by cypress trees, for future reference), passing the main government/market structures along the way. Even though I covered a lot of ground, I made time to take it in and to appreciate some little things, too, such as a random column fragment. I think I felt more at ease than I have for a while.

Today I went to Sefrou and Fes with Rose. After getting all of the post office boxes packed I felt I could take two day trips this weekend, and when I suggested the idea to Rose she enthusiastically accepted. I am glad I made it back to Sefrou – I didn’t think I would. It’s beautiful – similar to but different from Azrou – she and I both feel we hit the jackpot with our sites. We walked to the Jewish cemetery and the caretaker showed us around – the old section, a newer section with men and women separated, a separate section for children who died in a typhus (or was it typhoid?) epidemic. At one point there were about 14,000 people buried there; now there are about 8,000, with more and more leaving for Israel (not on their own of course). We had coffee at a kiosk with a view of the entrance to the old medina, with its crown on top, and on we went to Fes.

Without thinking about it – it just made sense – we went to the Place R’Cif (where we’d been dropped off just about a year ago, with Helen) and made our way (with a couple of detours, but it wouldn’t be a Fes trip without them) to the Henna Souk (where there is more pottery than henna) – in other words, we went from the other direction to just about the point to which Kathy and I had walked down the Talaa Kbira ten days ago, more or less condensing all previous trips into two. It was neat to pass the Karaouine Mosque – that had been under UNESCO repair every time I had come before, and it was open at last. We couldn’t go in, not being Muslims, but with the doors open we could see the impressive courtyard and fountains. We felt rushed, which was unfortunate, but also comfortably at home in Fes. It was still a great day and a wonderful farewell with a special friend.

2008-11-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

I had a quiet weekend after a busy week – I thought about a day trip or even two but was happy to be here in Azrou. Saturday morning the Country Director called; he was in Azrou and invited me out for coffee. The former Country Director would never have done that! I had a chance to hear more about his background – he was a PCV in Morocco 20 years ago and has done crisis and relief work in several countries for many years. I like him – he’s listening to volunteers. If only our new Program Manager were better at that! She and I had an email exchange on Friday that upset me – though I think I was more upset at getting upset with less than three weeks to go than I was at anything that actually happened. Anyway, Kathy joined us for coffee, and we had a good conversation about a range of things, and then I took him to meet Youssef the rock-carver and for tea at Abdou’s (I don’t usually have tea so soon after coffee but it was surprisingly doable).

Kathy and I then went for an exercise walk up the hill where the French administrative buildings are – the street is lined with trees, the buildings are fancy, and if you walk far enough (beyond my usual exercise walk loop, which is just to the Panorama hotel, for the panorama of the cemetery and the medina), you see the fields, always with the mountains in the background. Nice walk – had the tuna sandwich place been open after tea, we might have had tuna and a hike, but we did the walk so that we could get back for a tuna sandwich late lunch. The owner had gone to Mecca for Ramadan (I think it is equivalent to doing the Hajj, but the true Hajj is for l-Eid Kbir) and had just reopened the shop this week. Tuna withdrawal! Tuna mixed with tomato, from a can, with laughing cow cheese, on a baguette (sounds as though I can make it myself but when he does there’s magic in it) and apple/orange juice – yum! Unfortunately the grilled-vegetable-sandwich place near the Timhadite taxi stand has yet to reopen post-Ramadan. Then we went down the hill – we ran into the Country Director again, who said some of the SBD PCTs were at the pizza place, so we decided to say hello. They were just back from site visit; one was Colin, who of course didn’t go very far, but it was still nice to see him and some of the others, all full of stories of host families, transport, potential work, and excitement about what lies ahead. It wasn’t so long ago that I was there myself – though it seems as though it’s been a long time since I said goodbye to Katie’s stage and welcomed Kathy and her group to the area.

We were in search of big boxes, big enough for a folding wood table that was one of my first purchases from the Artisana and for two more rugs. We went to several shops up and down the street – memory lane – and were successful. All of the big stuff is now packed. I have papers to sort through (I didn’t accumulate a lot, but sorting through it is taking more time than I anticipated) and I have to decide which clothes I am taking with me for the next couple of months (in which I will experience quite a range of climates), which might get sent home in a box, and which are being left behind. I am glad I started packing when I did (back in September) – for the last move I had to sort through nineteen years’ worth of stuff, and even though this is less than two years’ worth (after three months of PST and two months of homestay, I moved here in February 2007), it’s still a big move.

A good portion of the rest of the weekend was spent on that sorting and tossing. I also did laundry – what a difference the sun makes! I’m not going to wash my floors again though – I’ll sweep when I leave, but I think I can let things go a bit and spend that two hours (or four, were I to wash the floors more than once) in other ways. I did go out yesterday, after thinking about staying in all day - had lunch with some PCTs who wanted to ask what volunteers have done with weavers. We have an SBD yahoo group and have at times had a newsletter to collect best practices, but we don’t do a good job of sharing information. I know that for GAD it was tough to find out what people were working on. A lot of us are doing the same things – talking about product quality and fair trade pricing, going to craft fairs or finding new customers, advocating natural dye, making marketing materials or web sites, but how much are we really helping the businesses? Tough question to answer – and too deep, considering that two weeks from today I will be in Rabat for 72-hour checkout. I said gathering the information would be a good project for them to work on and suggested we all go to Abdou’s for a seminar on what sells and what he looks for when he buys.

I also had coffee with another couple of PCTs – again, most of the ones I’ve run into are happy with their sites – and took another walk with Kathy and bought some spices to bring or send back as souvenirs. I also took a break to read a little bit – why did I think I would have more downtime towards the end? I have less! I don’t know why – maybe because I had no specific agenda and was in Azrou – but it was a strange weekend. Today I feel much more on track. I went to the Artisana and talked with my counterpart – first time I’d seen him since the election, and he was happy to talk about that. Every Moroccan I have talked to, with the exception of my host father (who admired McCain’s Vietnam experience and cited experience in general – of course, my host father is a politician), wanted Obama and is happy about the outcome. I went to see my host family on Friday evening – I had not seen them in way too long! Where does the time go?

Went to Monday souk today – still muddy, but passable. On the way back, I stopped by the cilantro man whose picture is in the RPCV calendar and gave him one – he seemed pleased. Gave Kathy a little freewebs lesson so she can continue the Dar Neghrassi web site; I also gave CDs of all the photos to Abdou and wrote up a tip sheet for him. A couple of the first-years were coming into town to stay with Kathy on the way to their mid-service medicals (didn’t I just have those?) and they came over for tea. I also worked on an outline for “The Role of the Volunteer as Facilitator,” which Kareem and I are going to present on Wednesday. Tonight I’m making CDs for Colin, my counterpart and the artisans, and while they’re burning I’ll sort through more things.

I have more energy so far this week – last week was exhausting! Spending all day Monday and Tuesday with Colin took a lot out of me – introducing him to everyone and at the same time making them aware that I’m leaving was bittersweet, but I think it was the non-stop talking and escorting that was tiring. Not a lot of sleep on Tuesday night, and though it was a quiet morning on Wednesday it was still a busy day. The red, white and blue cake ended up being breakfast and lunch, and then I went to the hammam – I had been wanting to go since Ramadan, especially when it was so cold and rainy, but didn’t have the window of time. It was great! I hope to go both this week and next. Now I understand why Amanda wanted her farewell to be a trip to the hammam; I didn’t at the time. Colin came over Wednesday afternoon, and we started to talk, but then Linda and her cousin came over, and then my former LCF Mina came over (she returned later with the space heater – hooray!) along with Brian, a first-year SBD who is also on the harassment working group, in town to present an IST session on harassment. Colin had asked me what a typical day is – I told him this might have been it – you get some things done for yourself, you get some things done for work, and random volunteers come over! I also told him that if he didn’t want that he might be able to set boundaries, but it could be that it just comes with the location.

Brian made dinner – a Spanish tortilla. My sister and I had tortilla tapas every time we could while on the See the World trip to Spain; I looked up recipes but they looked complicated. Brian’s was simple – all stovetop, and delicious hot or cold.
Spanish Tortillas
A little olive oil in the skillet – cook spices first
Brian’s secret spice mix – coriander, hot pepper, black pepper, cumin, salt and garlic
(the secret is that you have to heat up the coriander to release the flavor)
Dice and sauté an onion.
Add several potatoes, thinly sliced. Green pepper optional. Ricotta or another cheese optional.
Cover and cook until potatoes are done – 15 minutes, maybe?
Add four beaten eggs, salt and pepper.
Cover and cook until eggs are solid.
Flip if possible for crusty top and bottom.

Thursday was the day the sun came out. It’s been clear so far since – last week it looked as though it was going to rain until I left, and now I hope it will be sunny until then! Kathy and I had planned to meet Rose in Sefrou and then go on to Fes. I wanted to go via Sefrou to see the Jewish cemetery – I have seen many here but not the one in Sefrou, which had one of the biggest Jewish communities in the country – but Rose wasn’t feeling well, so I decided to hope for another opportunity. There might be one – and if not, there’s something else to come back for. Kathy had transit issues getting out of her site, so we might not have been able to go anyway. We decided to walk from the taxi stand to the old medina – via a McDonald’s sundae and the potato chip guy in Fes El-Jdid (I will probably have neither on a regular basis when I get back, though of course at least one of those would be pretty easy to find). I have walked once, maybe twice at the most; it wasn’t as obvious how to get from Fes El-Jdid to Bab Boujeloud as I thought it was and somehow we ended up way above the medina, near the Borj Nord Armaments Museum where Rose, Jong and I had gone to cool off this past summer, and near the Merinides Hotel where we had swearing-in – just about two years ago for me and just about a year ago for Kathy (not sure, but I think this stage will be swearing in there too – training is a week shorter, so they won’t have the Thanksgiving dinner we had just before, but at least the hotel reception for all the CBT families appears to still be in the budget). Maybe we were meant to go out of the way so we would end up there, with its memories of long ago and its view of the medina below?

We took a taxi back and met Rose (who felt better), Linda and her cousin for lunch on the roof of the Clock Café. Both Rose and Linda were interviewed by a reporter who keeps a Fes blog – look for them on http://riadzany.blogspot.com/. We then went down the Talaa Kbira – at the tile place, the shop owner was unpleasantly persistent. Then some punk harassed me – he patted my rear end! We had gotten low-level harassment all day (my response was, “Obama,” under my breath – I found it strangely empowering); I’ve been touched before but not patted there. Ugh. We made it to as the herbalist – glad I had a chance to tell him I was leaving soon. And then it was time to go home! I had a splitting headache all day – still not enough sleep from the election, maybe.

Friday Colin and I had coffee with Barry (so he met three of the six-pack during his site visit) and then we came back for look at the web sites and a lesson on freewebs – he doesn’t have to continue work on the sites but if he wants to that would be great! So much more could be done with them, especially the Ain Leuh one. We then had couscous with Abdou and his family – a change from the usual, it had onions, raisins, chick peas and a milk-based sauce. Yum! We went to the artisana and then strolled around town for a final time and that was the end of site visit. I will see Colin again before I leave and he arrives (that is, he’s still here, but at the Auberge, finishing up training – other COSing PCVs most likely won’t see their replacements again because they’ll be on the way to Rabat when the new PCVs will be on the way to their sites) but even if we don’t spend much time together, I think it was a good week of transition. He met everyone, saw various parts of town that I frequent, got project status and ideas, and asked good questions. I am very glad I was replaced! And of course he can always contact me if he needs anything. I still remember so much that Lee said to me during that week, and it has been nice to remain in touch with him. Colin will have two sites’ worth of work - I wish him the best!

2008-11-05T04:01:00.000-08:00

Election night in Morocco – any Moroccan who brought it up was for Obama. There was no sense in trying to say my vote was a secret – and not much in explaining that my vote wouldn’t even be counted since I’m registered in Illinois. Easier to just agree! Kathy and Elizabeth came over to watch the returns on the internet – we each picked a couple of web sites to constantly refresh. I had a chance to feed early results to Martha, still at work in California, and to ichat and email people I might have called had I been in the states – so I didn’t feel as though I was missing out. The toughest part was the time difference – I finally went to bed around 3:00 am, 10:00 pm eastern time, with Ohio and Pennsylvania called. And the second-toughest part may have been reading about how warm Grant Park was – we’re sitting here wearing many layers, shivering under blankets! We made pumpkin soup and cheese-herb breadsticks last night. Elizabeth brought a family tradition, red velvet cake with white icing and red, white and blue sprinkles – we were full last night so didn’t make it but were all happy to have cake for breakfast!

I emailed Peace Corps headquarters yesterday morning asking if there was anyone from staff coming out for training and if so, could they bring out my space heater? I thought I could tough it out but it is just too cold! I realized I should take advantage of the fact that staff is coming back and forth from Rabat. It will heat the room, but more, I can put my clothes and towels on it to warm them up – that makes a big difference – and maybe I can dry some of my laundry. It’s no longer constantly raining, but it’s still ominously cloudy, though the sun occasionally seems to be trying to peek through. My counterpart said that this is the first time in – fifteen years? I’ll have to double-check – the reservoirs have been full.

Rose came on Saturday for a weekend of rummy and rug shopping. Rose has a good eye for rugs but to date had gotten her rugs at the souk; she was ready to invest in a piece of art. We went to a couple of places and she bought a rug from Abdou’s upstairs collection. The next day we went to another place, a storefront on the main street where the man has always been very friendly to me. This little storefront has an amazing variety of nice rugs. Jackie started collecting black-and-white Middle Atlas rugs and had scoped some out last year but thought she had a year and a half to buy them. She has printed all of my brochures, so when she asked me to go back there and look for those rugs I was happy to do so – I bought a couple for her and Rose bought another rug and I bought a small one too! I have so many rugs now – but I too think I have an eye for them. More, it was nice having Rose come to visit. As she was leaving, we ran into another volunteer at the taxi stand. He was having trouble getting home and he ended up just staying over at my place. I told him I had to pack some boxes or I’d be too stressed, and that was fine with him.

I bought my airline ticket Sunday night and burst into tears. I’m really leaving! I am going from Madrid to Bangkok on December 5. Not exactly sure about the logistics of getting to Madrid – ferry, Gibraltar, train, but not sure of the days; I want to see the Prado. And I have no plans yet once I get to Bangkok. But buying the plane ticket was much more emotional than I expected. The saving grace is that I am not the only one experiencing this – where at COS conference, in the middle of the hot summer, most of the people in my stage seemed ready to get on a plane then and there, now news from the field is that while some still feel that way, others are realizing they will miss Morocco.

I spent most of Monday and Tuesday with Colin, and I like him. We went to Escalade for pastry and Bilal for coffee – the natural place to start – and then to the Artisana, where we met with my counterpart and all of the artisans there. We went to Monday souk – way too muddy, so we skipped Tuesday souk. We took a walk down the hill, where I pointed out shops, restaurants and cafes of interest. We went out to Ain Leuh – the women were disappointed not to get their own volunteer but happy to have Colin. There’s a lot that he can start on right away there that I just didn’t get to finish; here, he can take more time to integrate and figure out with whom he wants to work and what he wants to do. I introduced him to Rajaa and Youssef the rock-carver, probably the most motivated artisans here, and pointed out the showroom products of local artisans I didn’t ever meet. We went to Maroc Telecom (it’s heated!) and the post office (I recommended that he get a box in Ain Leuh if he can – that way his mail might arrive and get sent) and to the park near the Panorama. We had tea at Abdou’s and went to my fleece jellaba tailor and met some of the other people who I always say hello to and will miss. I’ll walk around again to say goodbye; it was good to introduce him and to prepare people for the fact that I am leaving in three weeks. Uh oh, welling up with tears as I write this! I think I mentioned that returning here in five years seems like it’s something I can shoot for. Who knows – depends on what kind of job I get, and there are so many other places in the world to see. If something brings me back sooner, all the better, I think. I can’t imagine never coming back, but I know it will never be the same.

Colin is going to buy most of my furniture, which is a relief. He would like my apartment, too, but his rent allowance is much lower than mine, and my landlord won’t go that low at this point. The landlord is having the stairs up to my apartment finished this week! I used to tell guests that having the staircase unfinished made me feel more Peace Corps, since other than that my digs are pretty luxurious (well, that and the fact that it’s colder than outside in the winter and hotter than outside in the summer). Kind of ironic, but in a way a nice way to end.

I’ll spend more time with Colin this week, and I have to make photo CDs for him (they take so long to make), but I have already handed over documents and my site journal and just about all the information and knowledge and suggestions I have. I’ve introduced him to some of the other volunteers in the area and made sure he learned Piffle. Tomorrow is Green March Day – commemorating the day that King Hassan II marched 350,000 into the Western Sahara. I hear that in the south they have marches and reenactments – but here, just banners and flags. If the weather is all right, I will take a day trip to Fes!

Another thing I have to do before I leave – next week I have to start collecting samples of my “number two,” one marble every three days, and put them in a preservative solution so I can bring them to Rabat (in something called a MIF kit). At mid-service medicals we had to rush a stool sample to the lab – not sure why we’re doing it differently this time, but I guess it’s good to make absolutely sure we don’t have any parasites!

Before too much more time passes, here are the ingredients for the banana-tomato curry that Alia made – again, cook to taste:
2 baby onions
a tsp of sugar
salt
olive oil to caramelize
garlic just before done
zucchini
hot peppers – add to the garlic and onions
add water before it starts to burn
salt
bay leaves
red pepper
curry
black pepper
banana
brown sugar (or more sugar)
add tomato at the end
milk
simmer so it’s not liquid, but watch or the milk will curdle
serve over rice. This was spicy!

And a zucchini/tomato/peanut sauce dish that she made with rice noodles:
3 little onions
sugar
bay leaves
salt
8 cloves of garlic
a little oil and also sesame oil
zucchini
cumin
black pepper
salt
soak the zucchini in a little oil with those spices – drizzle, massage, let set before adding to skillet
2 ½ tsp peanut butter
soy sauce
water to thin it down (or tahini if you have)
lemon juice
for the rice noodles:
ginger
cumin
salt
sugar
soy
lemon
sesame oil
2 tomatoes – at the end

2008-10-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

I’m cold! I can see my breath inside my apartment. Multiple layers help, multiple blankets help, multiple hot water bottles help, hot showers help. I gave back my space heater knowing it would get tough towards the end, and it’s tough. It doesn’t help that it has been so stormy this fall – it’s nice to see green grass and to think that the water is filling reservoirs; there have been catastrophic floods in the south and east though. Here it’s just colder – my apartment would be cold in any case, but without sun to warm the days, it’s colder (and my laundry is still wet…I took it off the line though because heavy storms are in the forecast for this weekend). I hope for some sunny days next month – for hikes, for photography, and for the memories.

I found out who my replacement is going to be! Colin is one of the people in the Ain Leuh CBT, so one with whom I have talked more than most. I like him! Next week is site visit and I’ll spend more time with him then, but based on impressions, I am happy he will be here, and I think he is too. They didn’t place a volunteer in Ain Leuh – I think that is distressing for the cooperative, who could use someone there full-time, for a new cooperative that is just forming, and for any volunteer whose site is not as rewarding as Ain Leuh could be – but Colin will cover it, as I have, so at least they are not being abandoned. I did try to make a case for it if someone needs to be moved and/or for getting someone full-time next year, and I learned something about the inner workings behind the decision; I’m glad about that, because some of the feedback I have given is that if we knew the reasons why decisions were made – not that we have to know everything – then things would make more sense.

Anyway – after most GAD meetings (or all?) I think I have gone on to Marrakesh – leaving from Rabat I am just that much closer, and it gives me several extra hours there. I had put in for the weekend with the thought that as it drew closer, I might cancel – I haven’t had a lot of time to myself this month – but then at medicals I found out that I needed a yellow fever shot for my post-COS travels. They are given only in Casablanca. I could make it from Azrou to Casablanca and back in a very long day, but during the window before I’d have to turn around the clinic is closed for lunch, so it made sense to stay in Marrakesh for most of Sunday, travel to Casablanca and stay there, get the shot first thing in the morning and then get home. At least it made sense to me!

I forgot to mention that at the GAD meeting we were given a sneak peek at the reporting system that volunteers will use starting in 2009. It looks complicated – again, perhaps just as well that I am leaving. More, it contained a new bunch of acronyms – I don’t even remember them, but they were something like VRS (Volunteer Reporting System) and VDB (Volunteer Data Base). This won’t affect me, but it was funny to see them just after I thought there wouldn’t be any more new ones!

John McPhee in hand, the train ride to Marrakesh seemed short. I arrived at the fancy new train station – the ones in Fes and Rabat won’t be finished before I leave but if they are anything like the new Marrakesh one, there will be some impressive gateways for train travel (now to get all of the trains climate-controlled?). On to the Café du Livre – I didn’t need another lemon tart, but it was Rob’s suggestion that we meet there, and Connie, Dominique and a YD I hadn’t met yet were there too – a nice lunch. We went to a nearby bookstore and I found the carpet books I had looked for without success in Rabat. Perhaps finding them justified the trip! There are two books I have long admired. One was moderately-priced and the other was the price of a rug, so I decided that one was enough! Of course, there were other beautiful books as well, but again, one was enough. I do look forward to going to bookstores when I return though!

Then I went to the herbalist near the Bahia palace, where I had gone with my sister. I had gotten a mystery oil there for a mystery ailment (that is, I’d just as soon leave it a mystery to the public at large, but if you really want to know, email me) and wanted to get some more before I left – the herbalist in Fes couldn’t identify it, so I had to go back to the source. Turns out it’s orange oil, and now I have more (and know what to look for when I run out). Again, perhaps that justified the trip. I decided that after being with so many people in the room in Rabat that I would splurge on a room with its own bathroom, and I also decided to do my hair – Marrakesh had perfect weather, and I thought it would be easier if I did it without shivering, and given how cold I am now, maybe that also justified the trip! Probably the biggest difference in how I look before/after is that my hair is darker. I look at pictures early in my service and it just seems too light! Though in other pictures, when just done, it seems too dark. I wonder where it will end up when I return. I think it will also be hard to get back to wearing skirts higher than mid-calf! I’m so used to being relatively covered. When you spend a little more money on a hotel you might also get things such as breakfast on the roof, and I lingered in the sun, with juice and coffee and pain au chocolat and a hard-boiled egg.

One thing that has been on my Marrakesh list is bicycling in the palmerie - I did this with Sabrina when my family was here, for a short while, and then with Bob and Linda in Figuig, but thought it would be nice to go one more time. Had a taxi take me out there and even though it is close to the medina, it felt far, and I had a fear I that wouldn’t be able to get back. The taxi had trouble finding the rental place. And the paths didn’t seem smooth, and I was afraid I could get lost. So I decided I could let it go, and had the taxi just take me back – but not before I snapped some camel pictures. My last camel sightings? You can take camel rides in the palmerie too (the camels I saw go for the moral equivalent of around the block, but one outfitter in my guide book offers substantial palmerie rides) as well as horseback rides – more left on the table. Always good to leave things for another trip….

And always fun to ride along a route on which I have run – I am glad I did the half-marathon and I look forward to running again (not that I won’t run more here before I leave – I do have gear for running in the cold – but I don’t want to run in the rain; it’s not raining now but it’s windy). I had the taxi driver drop me off at the north end of the souks, where I never seem to have enough time, and while I did discover a few things I hadn’t seen before, for the most part I had been everywhere – yes, I have the Marrakesh souks covered! And I had taken care of my shopping needs last time – but it was still an enjoyable walk. And then – since I didn’t have to leave until the 3:00 train – I went to a gourmet restaurant for lunch! I had tried to go to Al-Fassia before but it had always been booked. It is an all-women operation, and I had delicious briouates (fried dough filled with rice, meat, or fish) and a tagine of chicken and sweetened pumpkin. All delicately spiced and elegantly served.

On to Casablanca, where I found a hotel and (having had a big enough lunch) didn’t leave until it was time to go for the shot the next morning. I know, I had said I had my last Peace Corps shot, and that was true – this one was on my own dime. It felt pretty cool to go to a place called the Institut Pasteur for it. I had been told it opened at 8:30 – it opened at 9:00, but at 8:30 there was a bit of a free-for-all. Somehow, though, the crowd sorted itself into lines, someone helped me figure out which lines I should be in, and shots were administered in a timely manner. I didn’t have time for a walk, but I was happy to see some of the Art Deco buildings again from the taxis, and I made the 10:15 train to Meknes.

I’d been wanting a Marjane trip for a while – no real needs, but I didn’t feel that my last time there was my final time there. They had moved some things around, so it was a little disconcerting, but I had a nice journey up and down the aisles – got some CDs, brie and goat cheese, and a few other non-essentials. I was more stressed about going away than I was while away – it was good to be in Rabat, Marrakesh, Casablanca, Meknes and Fes, and to have the guests before and in between trips, and now that I have had a couple of days at home, I feel fine. Well, sort of – not sleeping well, though I couldn’t wait to get back to my own bed. I don’t know whether it’s the temperature (shivering for a good portion of the night) or getting used to the new night guard – but, as is the case most of the time when I have had sleep issues here, I don’t feel unrested.

Back in the saddle in Azrou – have spent some time at Café Bilal with various other volunteers, have spent some time at Abdou’s having tea, have stocked up on food (pomegranates and clementines!), have written up my GAD meeting notes and sent them to my stage, have given my input as to a harassment working group status report and an IST presentation (Environment and Health IST is next week in Azrou while the PCTs are away for site visit – it does keep moving! Hard to believe that the second-year Environment and Health volunteers, who came in six months after I did, are so close to their end too). Went to couscous at Youssef’s family’s house today – two Fridays without seemed long; three more couscous Fridays to go (when I asked Lee what he would miss the most, that was his answer). I need to see my host family now – haven’t seen them in a while! I went to the farewell party for the Ain Leuh CBT group – the one we gave at the end of Timhadite CBT does seem long ago. I was glad to be invited – it was fun to see everyone having fun, and I even did a little dancing along with the women. The group did some great projects – they had a beautiful new sign made for the cooperative, did a workshop on budgeting, showed them how to use the digital camera that the Al Akhawayn group left them, researched grant ideas, put brochures in the Ain Leuh auberges, and did a training on product mix for profitability – all things that Colin can build upon, not to mention continuing the things that I had started!

Now to pack some more boxes – glad I started when I did; there’s not much more that I’m not using, but it’s almost time to start packing those things too. Want to buy some spices and some slippers and maybe one or two more things. Need to buy my airline ticket. Want to finish the Dar Neghrassi brochure and make more progress on the Dar Neghrassi web site – and train Abdou so that he can work on it (Kathy also agreed to continue working on it after I leave, but I still want to get a little more done). I need to back up my computer and make CDs for Colin, Abdou, the artisans, the Artisana, Ain Leuh and program staff – I have made some as I went along, but still, that will take some time. Have to figure out what I will do with the things I am not taking or sending – I have given away some and I am trying to sell some and I hope to give away or sell the rest – this week I set up a little flea market/giveaway aisle in the Zen room. Rose is coming this weekend for last-gasp carpet shopping and rummy – made pumpkin bread and a quiche today. I will have Kathy and Elizabeth over on Election Night for a possible all-nighter, though since I have been so sleep-challenged I will have to see how long I stay up – time change this weekend in the U.S. means being up that much later, and at the moment I feel somewhat confident about the outcome (though state races are interesting too). I do love staying up for election returns, but I also love staying up for the baseball post-season, and I couldn’t manage that. I don’t even know if I can manage to stay up in the future should I end up living in the Eastern time zone!

Happy Halloween! And congratulations to the Phillies!

2008-10-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

I got home yesterday before it started thinking about getting dark – hooray! – and apparently had the first window of time in days in which to do my laundry – hooray! – which is now undergoing nature’s extra rinse cycle out on the clothesline. That’s okay – I’m never convinced I get all of the soap out anyway, and I will finally be home for a while so I don’t have to worry about going away again with wet things still on the line (not that it would be a problem; I just don’t feel I should do it). Unfortunately, there’s more soaking now – went to a café today and since it was chilly we sat inside, where it was too smoky – and no place to hang it when I rinse it out.

I thought it would be nice to get to Fes early today and walk from the taxi stand to the Palais Jamai. I have done that once – through the Ville Nouvelle and Fes El-Jdid and part of the old medina – and I had the time today. It wasn’t raining this morning, and when we pulled closer to Fes there was actually some sun. But by the time I got there, it was raining. I thought I would walk anyway – I like walking in the rain – but by the time I got to the Royal Palace (the main door of which is under scaffolding – glad I have seen it before!) I was soaked, so I got into a petit taxi. I had a great massage. And then I had some time before my dentist appointment. It was still raining – and my clothes were still wet – so I just sat in the Palais Jamai lobby, reading and looking at the view of the swimming pool and the old medina. Time well spent. The petit taxi from there to the dentist had to stop on the other side of the medina to drop other people off first, so I had a panoramic drive. The dentist took me ahead of a waiting room full of people (he had not done so the week before last) and I got my new mouth guard and once again made it home in (rainy) broad daylight. While I was away, one of Abdou’s cats died – not Minush, the friendliest cat in the world, but her first son. I heard how upset Abdou was about it and found myself perhaps somewhat irrationally wishing it hadn’t happened while I was still here (though it was nice to be able to express condolences in person). Minush, in the meantime, is visibly larger than she was last week. Is she going to give birth again before I leave? She has been busy this year!

I always seem to see changes when I have been away for a few days. Lately, there has been construction around town – in the overlook by the big rock and in the big square across from Bilal, though none has started yet at the Artisana (or maybe it started while I was away! I will go tomorrow). How did they manage to make any progress with all the rain? The overlook was last re-sidewalked (a word?) before the King’s visit – in other words, recently. So why rip up the one thing that was recently redone? Because when the King came to visit he signed off on this project! I wonder how many changes there will be between now and the next time I come, whenever that is. I have to take some more pictures before I leave!

I left last Wednesday well in time to make the train – actually I should back up and say that while I got ready on Tuesday night, my guest made a banana-tomato curry – yum! I wrote down the ingredients (she is one of those cook-to-taste cooks so we’ll have to experiment with quantities when we try it for ourselves) and will post them soon. When I leave for the train I allow time for the taxi to stop for gas or at the police station or both – but I did not allow enough for the pickup of a trunkful of luggage (i.e. plaid bags) and the subsequent drop-off in a maze-like neighborhood on the way to the taxi stand in Meknes (if we had gone to the taxi stand first I would have been fine), so rather than push it (though it turned out the train was late) I took a taxi to Rabat. It wasn’t as twisty as I remembered it (though maybe the ride was slower than usual due to the rain), which bodes well. Maybe I will take a taxi rather than the train on my final trip to Rabat – four weeks from this past Sunday! – with all of my luggage.

It was drizzly but not rainy in Rabat on Wednesday afternoon, and I had a nice medina walk. I love walking on the quiet side streets; the picture is a typical view. I had pent-up medina demand, and this satisfied it. Then I went for sushi with the Administrative Officer – I love talking with her. I had put my stuff in the hotel room at the Velleda not knowing who else was in there – but just glad that they had honored the reservation I made last week – and when I got back there were maybe six empty bottles of wine and at least that many empty cans of beer in there. What happened to the GAD committee? Who made our room party central? Other volunteers were in town for the end of YD COS medicals and the beginning of people coming in to take the GREs, plus there seem to always be random PCVs in town, for medical (or to ET). I just wanted to read! The partiers had gone for dinner so I did have some quiet time, and when they got back (turned out it was mostly people I had not met before – and will probably not meet again…) they were tired, so there was some quiet conversation but no wildness. Still, there were too many people (six total) sleeping in the room – I took a Benadryl to make sure I could sleep, since I hadn’t slept well the week before, but I am not sad that this aspect of Peace Corps is coming to an end (the next night there were only five, and the next night just four, in the four beds that were in the room – I can’t say it was ever a problem, but I can’t say I had fun, either).

The GAD meeting itself was a good one. The resource guide is almost finished and will be available for next week’s Health and Environment IST (to be held in Azrou, not Agadir – budget cuts), for the PCTs before they swear in, for the soon-to-be second-year SBD and YD at their mid-service medicals, and for second-year Health and Environment on request. That was a big accomplishment; we finished editing it during project time. Another big thing was agreeing on written a mission and goals statement – we needed to clarify things not only for staff and for the volunteer community, but for ourselves as well. Based on these, we were able to discuss future initiatives. We also met with the new Country Director and gave him an overview. I am really glad that I have been on this committee during my service. It has given me a reason to keep in touch with my stage, it has given me extra work to do (one of the reasons I ran was to have some meaningful work in case the work at my site wasn’t – turned out I didn’t need that but was glad to be involved in Peace Corps life in this way), and it has made me think about gender and development, perhaps even as a future career path.

While at the office I talked to the Safety and Security Officer (my old LCF, Mina) about the whereabouts policy and being a warden – I feel I’ve given a bunch of feedback on this already, but that’s all right. She asked the harassment working group for thoughts on the upcoming IST, so that’s a new project for this week. I also talked to the SBD Program Manager about several things; she gave me a hint as to who might be placed in Azrou and Ain Leuh. Site announcements are this Thursday! I like all of the people that she mentioned as possibilities but know that nothing is set, so I’ll wait and see. It was a good discussion. I also met someone from Women in Technology - check http://witmena.org - a non-profit expanding to Morocco this year. Among (not many) other sites, they are opening up training centers in Azrou, Ain Leuh and Timhadite (!) to train women on Microsoft Office and the internet and also on basic business skills, sustainability, conflict resolution…. Wow! I can tell the cooperatives about it and get everything started for my successor(s), but I won’t be here to see it. Maybe the best thing that happened was that I decided to look in the Peace Corps library one last time for the John McPhee book – and I found it! I have already finished it – even re-read the parts that I had already read in the New Yorker. Now I think I need Annals of the Former World (even though I have a copy in storage) – it’s about his trips across I-80 and the geology he found along the way, and since I’m thinking about driving across I-80 myself… (that is, I don’t need it now – it’s big! – but want to get it when I land in California and read as I go).

We all went to TGIFriday’s for lunch on Thursday – not that I won’t be able to go very soon if I want to – and the portion size was so big that I didn’t want to go out for dinner. Not looking forward to American portion size! I was happy to have quiet time in the room – all the more so when the room became the gathering place again that evening. I am not sure whether I was so indifferent towards the crowd because I am leaving or because I felt like reading. Or maybe it just wasn’t my crowd - I did participate in the conversation every once in a while, but not a lot. On Friday we had a nice al fresco lunch – it stopped raining! And after the meeting I had a chance to do a little of goal #3, sharing my experience with other Americans. Morocco Exchange – check http://moroccoexchange.org - is a non-profit that brings American university students studying in Spain to Morocco for intense cultural exchange for anywhere from four days to three weeks. They always try to have some PCVs speak about their experiences during the Rabat portion of the program (as I said, there are always random PCVs in Rabat); I have been asked before but had never been available, and it was nice to be able to speak with the group. Three of us from GAD went – all from Chicago, all women, but from three different sectors and at three different points in our service, so the students had a range of perspectives, as well as some good questions! The talk was preceded by a quick ocean-view walk and followed by a delicious al fresco chicken Caesar salad - sure, I can get more of those soon enough, but they’re a favorite of mine anyway. There was no party in the room on Friday night – it was the night before the GREs so there was reading and studying, and we retired on the early side. I may never take the GREs but observing the cramming has made me interested in augmenting my vocabulary – not only to obviate redundancy, but also for my own edification.

To be continued…. But in the meantime I’ll note that tonight I am breaking out the hot water bottles (one for the upper half of my body and one for the lower half). It didn’t seem so cold when I got back yesterday – until I got into my apartment, that is - and doing laundry in cold water outside in the cool air didn’t help, though a hot shower did. I thought about getting them out last night but thought that maybe it wasn’t that cold. Still, I did wear fleece to bed. And then got up in the middle of the night to put my stocking cap on and add an “acrylic mink blanket” on top of the duvet (and thought something was wrong with my mlb.com feed, because the World Series game had seemed to stop in the middle of the sixth inning). And wished I had put on some socks – I’ll put some on tonight. It still doesn’t seem that cold, but considering the number of layers I’m wearing now and the fact that I’m shivering, I guess it is!

2008-10-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

As I write this I am listening to the rain pouring outside. It has rained a lot here lately! There have been severe floods in several areas but not in mine. Entire ksars fell in the south, a few people died, more are homeless or have damage. Some of the Peace Corps Volunteers were temporarily stranded but all are accounted for. Here I have been treated to “nature’s fireworks,” watching lightning from the roof, and the grass is green again – it’s amazing how the rain makes everything grow. Recent travels have brought bucolic views of grazing sheep (when they graze on green it seems bucolic – on brown you worry about overgrazing), nomads, the forest (with a few monkeys!) and meadows. I went to Timhadite only four times for CBT and only a few times since, but that stretch of road seems so familiar to me, as do the stretches between here and Meknes and here and Fes.

After I got back from the eye doctor things seemed different – most of my stagemates had left, and somehow I felt that. Of course, that is just a taste of what is to come – we officially finish up at 5:00 pm on November 26 – people can leave earlier if their TB test checks out and they have all of their signatures – and three people are on flights that night. Several more people are leaving the next day (they can still get home for Thanksgiving dinner if home is where they’re headed, or they are off on other adventures). I am staying in the country until at least November 30 – our original COS date – and have to leave by December 2, when my carte de sejour expires. Thanksgiving plans are still in the works. But there is still the rest of COS medicals to discuss…. Went to lunch with Jong and Rachel – I felt the need for a treat, and the last place I wanted to go was the falafel place across the street from the Velleda; I always feel sick after I go there. But they had already ordered so I decided to stay. Not a good idea – I felt sick afterwards – and then we walked to the office.

It was time for my exit interview with the new Country Director. I didn’t have an agenda per se, or even a list of things I felt I had to say. He directed the conversation, and we could have talked for hours; as it was we went over the hour time slot since I was the last person of the day. He started by asking me (more or less) how it felt to be old enough to be the parent of most of the other volunteers. I wasn’t prepared for that question! We talked also about the SBD program, the whereabouts policy and other things. I did bring up that I had inquired about being a third-year volunteer leader and he said it’s not in the budget so it’s too late for my stage but it is something he would consider for the next group. He asked if I would recommend Peace Corps Morocco to my friends and I said I would, provided they come in without many expectations. I was already drained from the eye experience and the interview was draining as well – not cathartic, just draining.

Jong, Rachel and I walked to the medina and ocean – no shopping, just walking; we did happen upon an art opening at a gallery and felt culture shock from experiencing culture. And then we went to the place I had been in the mood to go to for lunch – a French bistro. I may have to get back there this week – yes, I am leaving tomorrow again, for my last GAD meeting. I could have used a little more time between Rabat trips, but it didn’t work out that way! Friday didn’t work out as planned either. I came back to the room on Thursday night to discover that my night guard had a chunk missing and had a jagged edge. Any correlation with my teeth being shaved? And what happened to the missing piece – had I swallowed it the night before? Can’t think too much about that one!

My original plan was to leave early and go to Meknes, stopping at Marjane on the way home. I ended up taking the next train and therefore traveling with other PCVs, and going to Fes so I could then go to the dentist who made the night guard. That appointment took a while, so I didn’t get home until the end of the day. It was great to be back home! I could shower – sleep in my own bed – get some laundry going – and start to use the eye medicine – all of which made me feel like a new woman!

On Saturday I went back to Fes. Rose had curated an exhibit of art made by PCVs – there are so many SBD PCVs with art backgrounds – and I went to see it. Very impressive – there was a range of media and expression, all at a high talent level. Kathy came along too – we looked at the art, had lunch, and took a little stroll on the Talaa Kbira. The day seemed too short – another Fes day in order! Not counting the Fes day to pick up the new night guard next week – I think I may schedule a massage for that day. I need one.

I feel so stressed, but can’t say it’s the pressure of finishing things up. I know everything will get done but it seems there just aren’t enough hours in the day! I actually don’t feel any more pressure now than I have for a while now – either my clock started ticking a while ago or I did gain some ability to relax and go with the flow here, or both. I think I just get this way when I don’t have enough time to myself, and that has been the case. I did have a great time in Fes though, so I wouldn’t have given that up just to catch up on things at home!

When I got home a couple of stagemates were waiting for me – we weren’t asked for travel plans so they weren’t exactly illegal, but I’ll not name them, just in case. We made lasagna and played rummy. The next day more stagemates came through, on their way home from medicals, and one who wasn’t in a rush stayed Sunday night. Yesterday we went to the Artisana and to Abdou’s (always good when guests do what I would have done anyway, and when they buy!). We were joined by Alia, the export contact who was here in January. She managed to arrange her schedule to be here the two days I was here, which is good, but it means still not enough time to myself (though now she is napping and later she will go to cyber, so I have time to write and later to pack – plus last night she made dinner while I folded laundry and cleared my bookshelves. Two of the shelves went to Ain Leuh for the display room, two to Kathy – but it’s the first item I have disposed of that I was still using.... I had to take advantage of Alia’s having a car though!). When she was here before she was looking at the feasibility of starting a rug importing business – when she got the grant I posted a link to her web site, www.kantaracrafts.com (Ain Leuh women on the home page!) – and this trip is to buy! She has visited other PCV sites too and will go to Timhadite next; yesterday she bought three Ain Leuh rugs! We also met with my counterpart and with the women to understand costing and pricing – she really wants to offer fair trade merchandise and transparent pricing.

When we were there yesterday we learned that there was to be a ceremony today – the regional head of ODECO, the government ministry in charge of cooperatives, was coming to give them a certificate. So we decided to go back for that. I was distressed that I understood so little of what was said until I was told that the delegue was speaking in Classical Arabic – so now I have an idea of how different Darija is from Classical (well, I guess I have that idea from television too). It was nice to be there – I could contribute by taking photographs (it is expensive to get prints of everything, but since I am not there often, I make a lot of prints for them!). And then we stayed for tea and cookies! So what if I thought I was going to get other things done today or was stressed already – had to have tea and cookies. Alia and I also had lunch with the CBT group – I thought it was a good opportunity for them to listen to a business customer and what she looks for; they don’t know where they will be or if they will work with weavers but I think I would have appreciated meeting someone like her when I was in training. They find out next week where their sites will be! And then they have site visit the first week in November. Lee didn’t spend much time with me on my site visit – he had his own things to do – but he spent enough time with me so that I felt oriented and introduced. I want to be able to do the same for the new volunteers in Azrou (if there is one – nothing is certain) and Ain Leuh. I also want to make CDs of all my files and photos for them (and for the artisans) – that might wait until after site visit, since I know I can see them before (or even after) they swear in. I’m also pulling out some of my photos to submit to a Peace Corps photo contest – winning photos will be blown up and placed on the walls in the Peace Corps office. I have some good ones – mostly of other volunteers with artisans or other Moroccans, not of me – but that is fine!

The ceremony today was part of International Rural Women’s Day. I didn’t know there was such a day! And here I am on the Gender and Development Committee. I will bring that up at the meeting this week – that is an opportunity for some events and activities (even if it’s only tea and cookies!). Here GAD put together a hundred-page resource guide and before it is even printed I have additions! We drove back along the mountain route – along the ridge road Kathy, Elizabeth and I hiked on l-Eid – and saw snow and hail on the ground! Now we’re off to meet Briana and Kathy for coffee and to stop at Abdou’s and maybe the Artisana.

I’m downloading the presidential debates – had watched the vice-presidential one but not the presidential ones. I did read the analyses of those in the Times – plus I voted weeks ago – but they’re interesting to watch. I have also had a chance to watch all of the Tina Fey spoofs – those are great! I haven’t had as much luck with baseball – I was able to listen to only one of the games last week and now am going to be away. Maybe I will listen to some of the archived games when I get back – they’re nice background. Go Phillies.

After most of the GAD meetings I have gone to Marrakesh, since leaving from Rabat means I’m three hours closer – I put in for the weekend a while ago but thought I might cancel since I feel the need to be at home. But I learned last week that for post-COS travel I need a yellow fever shot and they are given only in Casablanca. I can’t get there and back in a day – that is, I can, the clinic isn’t open during the window in which I’d be there. So it’s convenient for me to stop on the way back from Marrakesh – I can then stay in Marrakesh longer and have a four-hour afternoon ride to Casablanca rather than an eight-hour all-day ride to Meknes. And I can get the shot first thing in the morning, get on a train, and maybe stop at Marjane on the way home! So – to recap – tomorrow through Friday, Rabat for GAD – Saturday and Sunday, Marrakesh – Monday Casablanca (but then home!) and Tuesday Fes! Then I hope to stay put for a while….

2008-10-19T11:56:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday morning I went to Ifrane to see the final presentation of the Worcester Polytechnic/Al Akhawayn students who have been working on the Ain Leuh web site. It’s not finished, but it’s off to a good start, and it was nice to be able to attend the presentation. I think this has been a good partnership and I hope that the collaboration of this program with PCVs in Ifrane Province will continue. More, I hope that they can come back next year and do more with the artisans here!

I felt in a rush to get to Rabat, but I decided to stay for the presentation of the group working with one of the Environment PCVs in the area – they examined the water issues in his village and proposed some solutions. After reading that article about water in Morocco and a couple of books on environmental issues recently, I think I found their presentation more interesting than the one I had a part in! Now I’m reading a New Yorker article about tunnels that I find fascinating. But I digress…. As I got to campus I remembered that the daughter of a Princeton classmate is a student there this fall. I didn’t think to contact her in advance, but I thought as long as I was there I might try to find her. An American student asked if she could help me – I asked her where Building Four was (and realized that I take it for granted that university buildings are named after donors) and asked her if she knew this student’s number – and she did, and I called her, and I had coffee with her and some of her friends. I still hope she can get to Azrou too, but at least I had a chance to see her while we were both in Morocco!

It did mean getting to Rabat later than I’d had in mind, but forces went my way – it hadn’t taken long for the Azrou to Ifrane taxi to fill, the Ifrane to Meknes one filled even more quickly, and I was right in front of the train’s open car – I prefer the open car to cars with compartments, but not all trains have them, and often there are no seats. Jong had secured a room at the Velleda for us to share, which eliminated a lot of stress. It’s always most convenient to stay there, and there wasn’t room for everyone in the group – kudos to Jong for taking care of it. Then I went to the radiology lab for my dental x-rays and mammogram, having arranged in advance to meet Bob and Linda in the waiting room so we could chat while we waited. It was warm in Rabat – warmer than it had been in Azrou for a while. I knew this intellectually but couldn’t bring myself to pack for it when it was so much cooler where I was coming from. Why is that?

Unlike all of the other PCV group activities, COS medicals are staggered – about half of the people come on the first day, about half on the second day, and a few come on the third day. I was scheduled for the middle day, so I was able to see most of the people who came both early and late, but not all. Both mid-service and COS medicals are done by sector – meaning only SBDs were there for them; YD’s are a week later. PST, IST, COS conference and 72-hour checkout have both sectors at the same time (though for the most part apart; part of the reason COS conference was so strange is that we spent so much of it together). Rose was one of the people on the first day, and she was also one of the people who had their exit interview on the same day as their medical day (there are two doctors and only one Country Director, so many, me included, had to stay an extra day for that – I thought I was the only one eager to get back to my site but it turned out I was not). So after the x-rays I sought out Rose – we had not emailed or IM'ed much since my trip to Sefrou at the beginning of Ramadan, so we had a lot to catch up on! Went with a group to the Goethe Institute for dinner – I wasn’t really in the mood for my usual pasta, but I should have ordered it anyway – was disappointed in my salad. We had some time to play rummy but were so tired that we called it an early night – and Rose went off to her hotel (she wasn’t lucky enough to get a room at the Velleda) and then left early the next morning.

Breakfast was a good time to see and talk to a lot of stagemates. We all go to the same place and almost always order the same thing – Toast (which is what we call the restaurant, though that is not its name), which is two slices of bread, cheese on that, eggs over easy on top of that, juice and coffee. I wasn’t in a rush, so I stayed there for several shifts of breakfasting stagemates. Then Jong and I took a walk in the Ville Nouvelle. Abdou has some beautiful coffee-table books of Moroccan carpets. I had decided that I can’t have every rug I’m in love with, but maybe I can get the books. I saw them in Rabat a while ago – but not this time. I have a couple of other chances – or maybe it’s not meant to be. Then – on to the dentist; let the appointments begin!

I had asked for an appointment in August because my tooth felt funny; at the time, he said we would just watch it. The x-ray indicated no cavities (I was waiting for them after Jen’s text from COS medicals last year – “three cavities - &*%!@ cultural integration!”). So what was it? Tell me if this is the latest trend in the States. He tested my bite and it turned out that only one set of teeth on each side is doing all of the work – so it felt funny because there was too much pressure on those teeth. So he shaved down the teeth and retested them (with a piece of paper with dye on it – if my teeth turned blue that meant they were touching and therefore working during chewing). The shaved-down teeth felt weird for a couple of days, but he had said it would take a couple of days to adjust, and now I think I have acclimated to it and no longer feel off. The funny feeling from before is gone. So - no cavities, and a cleaning and polishing.

And Bob and Linda had agreed to wait until after my appointment for lunch at the French Institute – we had eaten there together at mid-service meds, and now so much more time has passed. I had a nice, soft lunch – salmon and then chocolate mousse. Relaxing al fresco with interesting conversation led right into the next appointment – on to the Peace Corps office! I had time for a couple of quick hellos, and I left some RPCV Madison Calendars in the in-boxes of some of the staff people who have been most helpful to me, and I looked in the Peace Corps library for a John McPhee book (I had seen it in Peace Works on the list of new arrivals back in June, just before the GAD meeting – but by the time I was there for GAD it had been checked out (or shelved in a really good place) and it has not been available since – no luck there). And then on to the physical – relatively uneventful. I asked for but then forgot to follow up on my arrival weight so I could gauge that against my departure weight (which is less than I came with but more than my low, which I think was after PST and home stay). My head has been itchy, so I am on baby shampoo and argan oil for the time being. I got the flu shot - my final Peace Corps shot. And I secured an eye appointment for the next day. Then Connie, Jong and I walked back from the office; a healthy walk.

Frank had suggested going back to Le Grand Comptoir, but I couldn’t follow a fancy French lunch with a fancy French dinner, and I had a taste for the American Club’s Santa Fe Chicken Wrap, so I persuaded him and a bunch of others to go there. In a bunch, you really only get to talk to the people nearest you, but given all the meals, I had a chance to talk to almost everyone. Where people seemed so negative at COS Conference – burnt out, checked out – now people were in a good mood, looking forward to what’s next. Most of the people in my stage don’t have definite plans – in fact, most have no idea – but nobody seems worried about it. Some are applying to graduate school in the fall and want to get a job to fill the nine months, some will go back and look for jobs, a couple (only a couple!) have jobs, but most seem to be taking some sort of time off. Everyone seems to have a place to base themselves but some have no idea of where they’ll live – so I feel right in step! Before I left last week I made it a point to have an exit plan – I think I will go to Asilah for the weekend after Thanksgiving with Rose, and then take the ferry to Spain, visit Gibraltar again, take the train to Madrid and see the Prado, and then fly to Bangkok. But I couldn’t plan any farther than that; I am glad to have that much done, and I’ll make more plans as I go along. I priced out tickets but didn’t buy one yet; most people seem to have their initial tickets but I’m not the only one in my position. I’ll try to buy that ticket this week. Janeila had arrived – she was staggered to the final day – and had no place to stay; the hotel found an extra mattress and she shared our room; it was nice to have that chance to talk and to play more cards. I hadn’t seen much of her at COS Conference.

Toast for breakfast on Thursday; I was in the early shift, because I had an 8:30 eye appointment. This was a different doctor and different location from the ones I'd had in the past. Somehow taxi number one dropped me off at the Algerian Embassy (not sure how he got that out of what I said and showed him) and taxi number two took me on a long tour of Rabat before dropping me off. I used to say nothing here is easy and I guess I needed a reminder! I spent all morning in the waiting room – so much for my idea of medina shopping – but I used the time productively, writing to my World-Wise Schools class. And it was worth the wait - I felt that I had finally been acknowledged, diagnosed, resolved, taken care of. Mind you, I hadn’t felt that I wasn’t before, but after the appointment I felt an emotional release – I guess I had some pent-up fears and concerns that I wasn’t conscious of. I have complained of irritation since IST and have had eye drops and off-and-on gels – now I have thirteen boxes of three kinds of eye drops (some single-use, all multiple times a day, hence the quantity) for dry eye (or maybe I should call it Dry Eye – need to find out if that is something here or something I will always have) and allergies – and already after just two days I feel so much better. My eyes have felt so sore for so long…. In addition, sometimes I feel I see a blur. Turns out I have secondary cataracts, which is not uncommon. From a google search:

During cataract surgery, the surgeon removes the cloudy, pulp-like material from the lens of the eye. The outer layer of the lens, called the capsule, is left in place to hold the artificial lens. Following cataract surgery, many patients experience clouding of this tissue. This condition is called a secondary cataract. It is quite common and results in the same symptoms of reduced vision as were caused by the original cataract. The onset of a secondary cataract may occur months or even years after the original surgery. If it happens in one eye, it will likely occur in the other. Secondary cataracts can be easily treated with a laser. It is a brief and painless outpatient procedure that is performed without the need for anesthesia or a surgical incision. The laser makes a small opening in the clouded capsule behind the artificial lens. This allows light to reach the retina without distortion. The result is improved vision. Your activities are not limited following the laser treatment. In most cases, improvement in vision is noticed within minutes after the procedure.

The doctor likened it to a windshield wiper cleaning the lens – one quick swish. I can’t do this before I leave because of the follow-up required, but I can wait until I get back; the blur sometimes bothers me but it's nowhere near as bad as it had gotten before my surgery. In addition, I need a new prescription. I didn’t think this was possible given that the lenses now in my eyes are made of plastic, but I spoke with my eye doctor at home last year when I was in a bit of a panic (oh yeah, I was worried about it and called him up – but once he said it was possible I put it out of my mind - so maybe that's why I wasn't consciously concerned and pushing more here); I had already decided I would wait until I get back for that change, but the PCMO may want to do it now – doesn’t make sense to me given that it will change again once I have the surgery, but she has to call Washington to check with them.

To be continued….

2008-10-13T16:51:00.001-07:00

One of the items on the packing list I received in 2006 was duct tape. There was a parenthetical comment along with it – something like “you’ll never believe how useful it may be!” Still, I wasn’t going to get it; when Martha came to help me pack, I reviewed the list and showed her what I had packed and she insisted we get some duct tape (also sticky tack for putting stuff on walls and a couple of other hardware items – which left incense as the thing on the list that I most felt I could live without, but I ended up getting some as a gift before I left, and I have used it. I was determined out of principle not to use the duct tape, but tonight I did – the bottom of my rolling carry-on is torn and worn, and I taped it up. Sigh.

SWOT and questionnaire design went all right last week. We had people SWOT an aspect of Moroccan or volunteer life to date (I remember my group doing the Turkish toilet, and if it was that memorable, then it must have been impactful). I enjoyed doing SWOT in CBT – I think it gave the women a new way to think about their business – but I never formally (or even informally, actually) did it here, so I had to gloss over that. As for questionnaire design, I knew that the objective was not to get too technical about it – the questionnaires that the CBT groups are doing are interviews, not really questionnaires; I did do the artisana questionnaire so I could talk about that, but I didn’t feel it was all that relevant, so I didn’t feel that I wowed them. The good news is that the harassment training, later in the week, did – I didn’t participate in giving it but I did participate in its design, so I feel good. There’s more for the Harassment Working Group to do, but PST training might have been the biggest priority.

Wednesday afternoon I had a date with Abdou and Kathy for another look at the collection, the unique and antique rugs upstairs. I was photographing, but also looking to see if there was one more rug I had to have. We didn’t get very far – another trip or two or three might be in order! It’s always fun to look at rugs. When we got back downstairs I did see a rug I liked! At a non-collection price, too – it isn’t mine yet but it soon may be. Thursday I cleared the schedule and stayed in almost all day (it was rainy and cold so a good day for it) to finish the Artisana web site. That is, I loaded all of the photos I had taken and not loaded yet (see the Showroom page) – I don’t feel I have time to start a new round of photos at the Artisana (Abdou’s is enough to keep me busy), so I hereby declare it finished. It had been hanging over my head a bit…so I am glad.

Thursday evening I donned the fleece jellaba (didn’t expect it to be THAT cold on October 9 – thankfully it has warmed up since) and went to the Auberge to chat with the Ain Leuh CBT group and another CBT group that is living in one site to practice language and then working with the Azrou cooperative to practice technical. I told them each the background and what I have done with them – and it reinforced that the Ain Leuh cooperative vs. the Azrou one is like night and day – I am glad I have had the chance to work with the Ain Leuh women, even if it took so much more time than I thought it would (of course, maybe one of the reasons is that there is so much one could do with them, which has not been the case for me with the Azrou weavers).

While working on the web site I also whipped up a brochure for the wood carvers – having already made brochures for the Artisana as a whole, the weavers and the metal worker (Lee had made one for the rock carver) and I brought that and a printout of the showroom part of the web site to show my counterpart. Jackie (former Ain Leuh volunteer) has been printing and sending the brochures to me out of the goodness of her heart. Then to Abdou’s, where a first-year SBD friend of Kathy’s had family visiting and was looking at rugs – more photo ops! And then couscous at Youssef’s family’s – it was delicious, perhaps more so than usual because I hadn’t had any since before Ramadan. Then Kristina came to visit! She had come to Azrou last December for the workshop with the rock-carver and then bought him a tool when she went home for Christmas – this was the first time since then that we could work out her coming back!

I was in the mood to make something new and found a recipe for stuffed eggplant that might become a regular part of my repertoire – I modified it quite a bit; what we made for two people was:
Ingredients:
2 medium eggplants
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic
spices as you like – we used salt, oregano, basil, pepper, cayenne
1 cup soft bread crumbs – we used 3 tsp nutritional yeast instead
Preparation:
Wash eggplant and cut in half. Scoop out pulp to about 1/2 inch of the skin. Dice pulp. In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté for 2 minutes; add eggplant pulp, tomatoes, bread crumbs, and spices. Mix well; fill eggplant shells. Bake at 375° until browned, about 30 minutes.

And we watched “Ratatouille,” the only movie I have bought while here (I have mixed feelings about piracy – and there haven’t been that many movies I felt I had to see – but please tell me if there are other musts). It was great! On Saturday night we watched “Cars,” which someone had put in my giveaway pile. Also Pixar, also great. We made lasagna on Saturday night – again, I felt inspired to do something different – not as successful as the stuffed eggplant, but I may try again.

Kristina came to meet with the rock-carver but also to shop – fine with me! We went to the Artisana and then spent a good part of the day at Abdou’s – she looked through all the pillows but some other PCVs who came and went over the course of Saturday bought some rugs. More photo ops, too – quite a week! I went over there again today, but we just talked and had tea – I felt I hadn’t had an afternoon like that in a long time.

Yesterday afternoon, Kathy and I went to Ifrane – the tree-lined streets, grassy park areas, Swiss-style houses and working fountains still amaze me. The supermarche there has peanut butter and oatmeal on a regular basis, which is why we go (it’s closer than Marjane) – and this time it had Cheetos. We bought all they had (two bags each) and then sat by the fountain devouring a bag before returning to Azrou. Today I went to Monday souk! Have not been there since before Ramadan either – I missed it.

I have mentioned in passing the idea of staying for another year – the idea may have started this spring when I learned about the re-do of the Artisana. My counterpart asked me if I wouldn’t like to stay to see it through – and I would. But given that the museum next door to it has been a shell, looking pretty much the way it did when I got here, who is to say construction would finish next year? The showroom was supposed to close in July – will it close before November? The web site is the kind of project I could work on for another year – there are always more enhancements to add – more photos, more languages, more artisans – and I don’t feel I will be able to do as much to it as I had wanted to, but I feel it is in good shape. If I get replaced and my replacement wants to work on it, there could be two years’ worth of work to do, and if he or she doesn’t, it can stand on its own. Kathy will work on the Dar Neghrassi web site after I leave, and we can train Abdou to work on it as well, I think.

Other countries have third-year volunteer leaders, and since I at times function in that sort of role for this region anyway, I thought it would be interesting to do that on an official basis. I knew that the former Country Director was against the idea, so I waited to approach it with program staff until it was close to the end of his tenure and the beginning of the new one’s. A fellow PCV also wrote an email on my behalf, which was very nice of her. But I think the new Country Director would have had to come in knowing he wanted to have them and knowing what their roles would be for it to be in place before I leave – and how could he know that without gauging the situation here? Even if he knew he wanted third-year volunteer leaders, my feelings are still mixed – the new SBD Program Manager still feeling her way – I am not sure I could be well-utilized. Neither I nor the friend who wrote on my behalf has received an answer – so while the door is not closed, I think there is only the tiniest of cracks. I also have always thought there’s a reason that the Peace Corps is a two-year program and that there’s a value in finishing with the people I started with. There’s one PCV in YD who extended for an extra year because she had a project she wanted to see through, and she said the third year was the hardest. I am glad I asked, but I think it’s not going any farther.

COS Conference did a good job of starting the closure process (if not the reflection process), writing up the documents helped me summarize things, making to-do lists has given me an idea of how much more I want to try to do work-wise before I go, packing and mailing things home (i.e. to Edie so far, with a couple of other locations on reserve) has been a relief (though I still need some boxes – now Timhadite and Ain Leuh have been depleted of their large-size mailing boxes and both post offices in Azrou still don’t have any, and I need a couple of bigger ones for bigger items – I am glad I started early, since so far I am not stressed about it). I’ve made a list of things I still want to buy (it’s short, and it’s mostly things for other people or for Third Goal show-and-tell talks) and a list of places I want to visit (most of which I can give up if I feel I want to spend more time in Azrou). Training has taken more time than I anticipated, but I am happy to help out and to think I can make a difference in someone’s service.

Tomorrow I am on the way to COS medicals – the milestone between COS conference and 72-hour checkout. I am leaving early tomorrow because I will stop in Ifrane on the way to see the presentation by the students who have been working with the Ain Leuh weavers. They set it in the morning to accommodate my schedule, but it didn’t have to be so early! When I get to Rabat I would like to get my dental X-rays and mammogram (the one at mid-service was the most painful of my life so I use the phrase “would like” loosely) done, and I want to shop for a coffee table book or two (after two years of looking at the books on rugs at Abdou’s I decided that it would be good to get one myself – for show and tell, but also to remind me of the beautiful rugs I have seen and the wonderful afternoons at Dar Neghrassi). My dental appointment is at noon on Wednesday and then my physical is the last of the day, at four o’clock. I was originally scheduled to leave Thursday morning – meaning not much time for any needed follow-ups – but my exit interview with the Country Director was scheduled for four o’clock on Thursday – I might be the only person in the group who doesn’t want an extra day in Rabat! Last year Katie and Jen both said that towards the end they didn’t want to travel anymore; they just wanted to stay in their sites (have I said this already?) – I didn’t think that would happen to me too but it has (trips to places I want to go to one more time notwithstanding…),

The picture is of a Hamza (Hand of Fatima but also a symbol of good fortune in Judaism; hamza means five, for the five fingers) given to me by Linda. She was drawing one every day during Ramadan as a meditation, and when she came to visit she drew the design of my floor tile as a doodle – and then she came back with the gift for me. Very special.

2008-10-07T14:58:00.001-07:00

On Friday I had a meltdown – I know my emotions are heightened but I still wasn’t prepared for it. I had gone to the Artisana and then decided why not go to Escalade for pastry and Bilal for coffee – I don’t usually go by myself but I have been waiting all month to go. There’s a man who shines shoes and always offers to do mine; shoes get pretty beat up here – I can’t leave my house without walking across some dirt. Usually I say no, and all summer I wore Chacos so he just asked friends who were wearing leather, but that day I was wearing my Merrells. I said no, and then looked at my shoes and realized they really did need it. So I said yes. He tries so hard, and he works so hard – and I started thinking about all of the people here who have no hope and no jobs and I just started to cry. Sadaka, or charity, is one of the pillars of Islam and it is customary to give charity on the night before l-Eid – I am not converting, but I do like being charitable, so this is a tradition I have participated in, and I realized I had forgotten to give any (partially because I was more focused on whether it was actually the night before or not). Of course, any day is a day to be charitable, but it added to the meltdown. Azrou is a relatively prosperous town (in a relatively prosperous country), but there are still a lot of beggars here and a number of crazy people and others who are clearly poor or hurting. I realized a long time ago that that’s not why I’m here – Peace Corps isn’t about the poorest, it’s about helping people with technical needs - and I don’t know exactly why it got to me. But I think I am going to have my shoes shined more often between now and when I leave, just because.

After the meltdown, I went to Abdou’s to review the draft of the brochure I had made for him. It felt good to be able to do something for him after all he’s done for me, and he and his father both liked it; I want to do more work to it and do a French-language version (maybe with different pictures, since narrowing them down was hard), but I was still emotional, so I went home to compose myself. Kathy came into town later and we did errands. As we went into one hanut there was a woman and a little girl; the little girl looked at us and asked the woman if we spoke English. I don’t know if we had said anything yet but the woman said that we did, and we talked to the little girl for a while. There are two orphanages around here – I think I have mentioned them before. I went to the Fourth of July barbecue of people who work in the one in Ain Leuh; the people we met in the hanut were from the other one, in Ougmes. The little girl asked if we would visit and we said we would try. She said, “can you come today?” and we said we couldn’t, but it really tugged at our heartstrings, and we are going to try to go one day soon. Then we took a walk along the souk road (my running route) and we saw two small kittens – how are they going to make it? What an emotional day!

And – coincidence? – on the emotional day, I was asked to do a training on Sunday (YD) and Monday (SBD) nights on VSN. The trainees were coming back from their first CBT on Sunday, and the PTO (Programming and Training Officer – the person in charge of all the programs – I think he is also APCD – Assistant P-something Country Director) wanted to introduce the Volunteer Support Network, reinforce that Peace Corps cares about people’s mental as well as physical well-being, and to have trained VSNers available during the week for trainees who may need to talk.

I went to Erfoud for the weekend – a change of scene helped clear my mind. The way down was smooth – the taxi in Azrou took a while to fill but the ones in Midelt and Errachidia filled quickly – and I got to Erfoud at lunchtime. There was a first-year SBD volunteer I hadn’t met yet, visiting with her mother and a friend of her mother’s, and Frank and I had lunch with them. I had kalia, a specialty of the area – basically a meat tagine with a lot of minced vegetables and an egg on top. Hmad, the tour operator who had taken Steve, Elisa, Youssef and me to the desert last November, came to pick them up. And both Hmad and the guests asked if we would like to come along. Yes! I had thought we might walk or bike in the palmerie, but Frank didn’t jump at either of those, so it was an easy choice. We went to two places to look at fossils – I picked up some nice ones. There are so many there for the taking – it really is amazing. Then we had tea with nomads in their tent and saw their way of life – sure, they get paid for hosting visitors, but it’s still amazing to see the way they live. They live in the Berber tents just like the ones tourists stay in, sleeping on rag rugs that they make, with a separate kitchen area and in this case a small animal pen. Then they pack up and go if the water runs out. We then went to the dunes and took a walk – so wonderful to be on the soft red sand of the Sahara and to see the vast expanse of dunes.

The volunteer and her visitors stayed over and did a sunrise camel ride; Frank and I went back to Erfoud where I had to lie down – after saying for months that I had finally mastered the art of traveling without getting dehydrated, I was dehydrated and had a terrible headache and dizziness. Oral rehydration salts, water and sleep helped, and on Sunday I felt fine. Frank and I went to a café – as happy as I might have been to get back to a café after Ramadan, it is nothing compared to how happy Frank was to get back to one. Then we went to the date souk – so many types and qualities for sale. I am not sure I ever ate a date before I came here, but now I love ‘em! As we were walking, someone said, "Azrou" to me - he lives in my town; I don't think I have ever noticed him, but it was a reminder that we are celebrities of a sort. And then we went to Frank's workplace, Manar Marble (manarmarble.com is the web site he built - you can see all of the fossil products they have!), where I got a plate for Martha and Susan to replace the one that never got to them, and I picked up a trilobite for myself!

All too soon it was time to go back – and I was a little sad. It was too short a trip! I may go back for another farewell to the desert (I went back to Tiger Stadium twice after I thought I had seen my final game there), or that may have been my farewell (for now…). But if I do go back, I don’t know that I’d see Frank – he has farewells of his own to do – and I wonder if/how we’ll keep in touch. The other day I reviewed Rose’s resume and wondered how often she and I will see each other too. I am grateful for this time we have had and for the other friends I’ve made, and I’ve been through enough other partings that I know that some people keep in touch and others don’t, and it’s okay, but it was another case of the finality setting in. It was nice that Erfoud/Merzouga was one of my first trips, in January 2007, and one of my last. I love the desert – I found peace there.

The way back was stressful – no taxis from Erfoud, and when finally there was one, they charged one-and-a-half times the normal fare (I also saw a taxi driver who knew me, and whom I knew from Azrou - he was going back there, but not until night). The taxi from Errachidia to Azrou was about double the price – I suppose it was because people took a long l-Eid weekend and it was just supply and demand, but for our money it was not smooth - the taxi stopped once to drop off a bag, once to pick up a bag, once for gas, once because an Allen wrench inexplicably fell out of the car, in Zaida for a “fifteen-minute” stop that was in reality about triple that, and then finally got to Azrou just at dusk – I did have time to shower before the VSN presentation but not to relax.

It was a good idea to introduce VSN early in PST – we had been introduced to it at the end so we would know what support was available to us as volunteers. But trainees need support too – someone to listen, someone to vent to. There are group dynamics issues, frustrations with staff, lack of privacy, culture shock, homesickness, overprogramming, expectations unmet, and all sorts of other issues. We had nine people at the YD after-dinner session and 20 the next day for SBD. We introduced VSN and its history and rationale, and talked about the opportunity for new people to get trained. And then we did a little debriefing where we broke people into small groups and had them process what has happened so far. Two people asked to VSN with me separately as well.

Yesterday was also the GAD presentation for SBD. The first-year SBD on GAD and I did it together, which made it more interesting and fun. We started with a gender continuum – dividing the group into people who had to pretend they were Moroccan men, Moroccan women, American men, and American women, and then move along a spectrum in the room, one wall being strongly agree and one strongly disagree, in response to statements such as “boys should get more education than girls” or “women with pre-school-age children should not work outside the home.” It was a fun exercise. We had them talk about their gender observations in CBT, and then did a short powerpoint about theory. My fellow GAD member has done a lot of reading on gender and Islam, and she pulled relevant quotes to illustrate different points. We discussed GAD and SBD, using real examples of SBD GAD projects (something we had not had before this summer when we worked on it for the Resource Guide). Then we had scenarios of situations that might occur (such as counterpart suggesting separate meetings for men and women) and broke the group into small groups to discuss (so much better than just lecturing them – with the continuum, the quotes and examples as handouts, and the activity, it kept things moving). Then we talked briefly about the committee and held elections. Other stages have expressed a desire to hear from all the committees and then vote at the end, but we didn’t give them the chance – we just held the election!

Between GAD and VSN I sat in on another session, but more important, I had time during the breaks to talk informally to people (also sat with some at dinner), and played cards with Connie, who was in town for the other session – she and I had been talking about getting together to play since PST and this was the first time we’d managed it!

I was asked to present SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats) and Questionnaire Design tomorrow, so I’ve been working on that presentation this evening. Today was busy- laundry, then a little birthday celebration for Abdou (his birthday was during Ramadan, so we wanted to wait until a time we could eat cake – note, most people fast for six days during the month after Ramadan; we had to make sure he wasn’t fasting today, so it couldn’t be a surprise). Then I went out to Ain Leuh to meet with the professor and students and the cooperative. Then Linda, Gavin and Brian, some of the PCVs who are also helping with training, wanted to meet up – I suggested Abdou’s, and we had birthday celebration #2!

I won’t say anything about the Cubs or White Sox.

2008-10-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

Mbruk l-Eid! That is, happy holiday! Yesterday was the first day of l-Eid Sgir, the little holiday, marking the end of Ramadan. Two years ago in CBT in Timhadite (seems like yesterday and seems like long ago), the day started with breakfast of rice and milk (actually some round pasta – or barley?). And then there was lots of visiting and tea and cookies everywhere – we went from host family to host family and to most of the artisans. Last year Youssef and I were on the way to the airport to pick up Martha and Susan for the first of our three adventures in tourism. I felt sad to tear him away from his family but he found new family members in us! This year Kathy and Elizabeth were going to come in to Azrou and we were going to go on an all-day hike (transport is spotty on l-Eid without a rental car and Youssef as your driver, or we might have considered a day trip) but they both had to do the rounds in their communities. Their sites are smaller, so as they walked out the door they saw people and once they started they had to visit others. I missed out on that by living in a larger town rather than a village, but that’s fine with me.

By the time they texted to say they couldn’t hike, it was too late for me to join Youssef’s family in their visits, so I decided to spend the day reading – first on the balcony in the sun and then, when the sun moved away and the balcony got chilly, on the ponge. I had pent-up reading demand! It was hard to really give myself the day off and not spend time on the computer – I was on a roll, after spending most of Tuesday working on the GAD presentation for next Monday and on a brochure for Dar Neghrassi – but I decided to force myself to stay away! I couldn’t last though – an evening email check included one from Aid to Artisans; they want to interview me tomorrow about my business background and my thoughts on how Aid to Artisans and Peace Corps could work together. The Ain Leuh women received a grant from Aid to Artisans and I worked on follow-up on it but I haven’t been that involved with them, so I did some research; check out www.aidtoartisans.org to see all of the things that they do!

Then, at 11:30 pm, as I was caught up in the reverie that comes with listening to Vin Scully on the radio, my alternate warden called on the land line (in-country land line to land line is free after eight pm, but usually the only people who call on that line are wrong numbers, and I’m usually in bed or on the way by then, so in two ways it was a shock) to brainstorm ideas for funding a girls’ basketball camp in the area. Hey, there’s a game going on! I have always thought that the first two days of the baseball playoffs, which since the wild card was introduced have three games per day, should be days off from work, and this year in Morocco they are! Back in the day, I wouldn’t go out on the first weekend of the playoffs, with a potential for eight games in two days (though I am not sure that ever happened), but this weekend I am going to Erfoud. I was on my way there when I was snowed in the first weekend in January and now I am finally getting there!

It’s also just as well I didn’t hike yesterday because I didn’t get a lot of sleep on Tuesday night. After staying up late on Monday to listen to the White Sox, I decided to treat Tuesday’s one-game playoff like the late-night West Coast games of my youth – have the radio on but go to bed. I drifted in and out of sleep and was awake for Jim Thome’s home run; that completely woke me up and I stayed up through the end of the 1-0 Sox victory – and then I was still wide awake, so I took a Benadryl. The PCMO recommends them to those having trouble sleeping - I don’t feel good the morning after I take one, and I don’t like to take them on principle, but I took them for a while this summer when I felt stressed and again last week when I kept tossing and turning. Reading was a good way to relax yesterday while my head cleared. In the late afternoon, Kathy came into town; she had had about seven glasses of tea and the cookies to go with it, and I had been reading all day, so we both wanted an exercise walk. We stopped by Youssef’s family – everyone was asleep! So I left them a note along with some cake I had baked and we proceeded on with our walk – up to the Panorama and then down to the Auberge, where we wished Mbruk l–Eid to Malika, the PCT SBD homestay coordinator and the then-LCF who I had my first week of language with. Everyone loves Malika! She was on the phone when we got there, so we played ping-pong – there was no ping-pong table when I was in training. Ping-pong! We also bought some potato chips and ate them while walking – just to celebrate being able to eat in public again.

I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night either, staying up for as much of the Cubs-Dodgers game as I could (though I decided I really needed some sleep so I skipped Red Sox-Angels). The White Sox game just ended (and so far it hasn’t gone well for either Chicago team….) and the Phillies-Brewers game is on. Tonight’s Cubs-Dodgers game is the late game (1:30 am start here) so I think I am going to attempt to go to sleep soon and wake up early and listen to it with a news blackout. Plus I want to download the vice-presidential debate! Today we did go on the hike – many stores in Azrou were still closed for the holiday, as was the case in Rabat was last year, so a day trip was still out – but the hike was great! We went up the mountain and then along the ridge and then further up and then around and down. Mountains and trees and meadows and some stops to sit and contemplate the view. With no rain in the past couple of days, it warmed up slightly and was perfect hiking weather. And when we came down we played some cards. What a great holiday!

And before Ramadan is too distant a memory, I thought I’d put down the zmeta ingredients, even though I didn’t participate in or observe the making of any. It is time-consuming but tasty! And one big batch lasts an entire month and then some. I have no idea of the quantities but if I get a better idea I shall edit this entry…
Sesame seeds – toasted in the oven.
Peanuts – roasted in the oven, smashed
Almonds and walnuts, crushed, optional
Anise
Cinnamon
Flaxseed
Nutmeg
Flour (wheat or barley flour – wheat was used in the zmeta for Ramadan and barley for the zmeta for the baby)
Sugar
A little oil and/or butter
Mix it all together (the sesame seeds and peanuts are a lot, the spices and oil/butter a little, and the flour and sugar - ????)! It should kind of stick together yet also be crumbly. Usually it is eaten with a small spoon; serving size a couple of spoonfuls.

I also wanted to take note of the words of Youssef’s middle nephew, who is just learning to talk. What are the first words a child learns in different languages/cultures? That would be an interesting study! He knows Danone, banana, milk, water, egg. Cats say meow here – dogs say how-how. On Tuesday night he was imitating the prayer, saying Allah Akbar (God is great) and touching his head to the ground – with the family both laughing and encouraging him. Though it wasn’t official on Tuesday afternoon that Wednesday would be l-Eid (the imams have to look at the moon), there was an air of anticipation as I walked around town. The countries that had started Ramadan a day earlier were celebrating on Tuesday. I went to buy some shebekia to bring to lftur and the shebekia place on the way to their house was selling cookies instead (meaning I have to get some more shekebia sometime before I leave, since I was ready for one or two more pieces – luckily, there are places that do sell it all the time, though in Ramadan there are several more places selling it and not much else), so that was my clue. Patisserie and café and rotisserie chicken and tuna sandwich place and tea at Abdou’s, here I come! In other words, back to normal life! As a treat, Youssef’s youngest sister henna-ed my hands – a first for me!

And before the DOS and Final Site Report fade away, some comments there too. The Final Site Report was tough in a way because it asked us to talk about our project, and I don’t feel I have had one big project but rather as a series of things that all constitute helping the artisans, the Artisana and the community. As I put together the list of things I had done, I put several things under the umbrella of marketing – the web sites, tourist questionnaire, brochures and business cards. In part this was what was requested of me, but it also came out of the background and mindset I came in with. Is that good, bad or neither? I guess it is good that I was put in a site that could use my expertise. But were those the priorities for the artisans and the site or did I just do what I could? Maybe it doesn’t matter – and maybe the next person will look at things though a different lens and take a different approach. I did other things too – such as the Natural Dye/Weaving Training-of-Trainers and fund-raising for the GLOW camp – that didn’t fall under that umbrella but that used some of my other talents. And all of the “extracurricular” things weren’t part of the project for my site but have contributed to the Peace Corps community. I feel good about the list of things I have done – there were a lot when I wrote them all up for the DOS, and when I detailed only the marketing part for the Final Site Report it also looked substantial. Even the separate report for Ain Leuh, where I have been only part-time for only six months, made for an impressive writeup.

So did I learn anything and increase my skill set? Obviously, learning language and living in another culture were the most significant things (and I still maintain that Goals #2 and 3 are as important as Goal #1, the technical, if not more so). I can make a web site using freewebs but haven’t learned other web design skills. I think my photography techniques have improved, having picked up some tips from the photographers in the group. The active listening/VSN training was good for me. As I think about potentially positioning myself for future employment, though, I think that learning about development at the grassroots level and applying the knowledge that I came with in this new setting might be more important than any technical skills I might have picked up. The Gender and Development involvement may be a selling point as well. Again, more reflection to come.

2008-09-29T16:20:00.001-07:00

Is this the longest I have gone without leaving Azrou? I remember Katie and Jen both saying last year that towards the end they didn’t want to travel anymore; they just wanted to stay in their sites. I find myself feeling kind of the same way, although I do have a list of weekend and day trips that I want to make before I leave. But between Ramadan and two weekends with some involvement with the new trainees and having a gathering this weekend, I had both motive and opportunity to stay at home.

And work to do as well. On Monday I decided that I would write a COS Site Survey and a Final Site Report for Ain Leuh. They’re not complete – after all, I have been there only once or twice a week for only six months, and have never lived there, but I have done a lot of work, and I thought it would be good to update staff and the (likely) new volunteer on everything I’ve done since the previous volunteer med-sepped, and I thought why not use the same formats, and I had something to write to fill in almost every blank. I also went out to Ain Leuh, where I met with the artisans and the Al Akhawayn exchange students. The web site they are building is going to be nice!

I then went to Youssef’s family’s for lftur. I felt I hit the jackpot – for the second night in a row (the previous one was at my host family’s) we watched Tom and Jerry! I thought I had seen them all in homestay but these seemed to be ones I have not seen (I saw Tom and Jerry again today at Abdou’s; was feeling a little frazzled and after a few cartoons felt refreshed). But the real jackpot was that two of Youssef’s brothers were there and it was nice to see them. I somehow failed to properly count to seven – I thought the baby party would be Monday, but it was Sunday, so I missed it. One of the brothers is the father of the baby (who is in the military and is almost always away) – he is an interesting conversationalist (I understand most of what he says in Arabic, though he switches to English when he is talking to me), and so sweet with his children that it is a joy to watch. The other brother I hadn’t met before, but his smile and demeanor reminded me of Youssef’s, and it was delightful to spend time with him and his new bride. I was so happy that I went back there for lftur the next day too!

I spent most of Tuesday at home, though I did go out three separate times. With the block of time that eluded me for what seemed to be a week and a half, I reviewed all of my monthly and quarterly reports to make sure that I didn’t leave anything out of my DOS (Description of Service). It was very interesting to read all of the reports – they clearly document the confusion and frustration I had early on, as I had conflicting signals from my counterpart and program staff and not enough direction from either, language limitations and tutoring woes, the challenges of finding a place, furnishing it and getting DSL, and finally getting some direction but still having issues with staff. It isn’t in the reports but I remember well the feeling of being unproductive last summer through Ramadan (and remembering that helped me manage it so much better this year). Everyone had said the second year would go quickly and it has – worked picked up, as did my mood, and it has been a great year. Even in the early months though, I had some successes, and though I remember having one moment – just one - where I wondered what I was doing here, I never really had any doubts or long periods of being down. And I always have had a lot to do. I did find a few things to add to my DOS (for example, somehow I had blocked out the sewing cooperative that ceased to exist, but not before I had done some work with them), but even if I hadn’t, it was good to go through the reports and reflect.

Wednesday I was home most of the day, working on the reports but also on price/size information to give to the students for the Ain Leuh web site and on the GAD presentation that the first-year SBD GAD member (and poster of the chick pea tagine recipe) and I will give next week. I also went to lftur at the home of my first tutor. I haven’t seen him much and it was nice of him to invite me, but he said a couple of things (such as asking for my furniture) that reminded me why I was uncomfortable with him (and I had already been reminded by the monthly reports, so that was unfortunate). On the other hand, he lives up a hill and we dined outside and had a beautiful view of the sunset and the city below and mountains beyond (Middle Atlas sunsets are wonderful - I try to see as many as I can), he has a lovely wife and adorable baby, and he told me some history of Azrou. The neighborhood where Youssef’s family lives is the oldest part of Azrou, an old Berber community. The nearby old medina was settled by a tribe of Arabs from the south (between Errachidia and Tinjdad), and the homes in the medina resemble homes there and have secret passages through to other entrances. I thought the Berbers in this area were all Beni MGuild (known for weaving) but they are just in the mountains, and the valley area is settled by a different tribe. The lower flat area of town, where my host family lives, was full of almond trees.

Thursday morning, Kathy and I went for a hike, and just when Ramadan seemed as though it would never end, all of a sudden there was a light at the end of the tunnel. The hike was such a treat – I have wanted to hike so much more but time and temperature and travel and – well, at least I have hiked some, and now that it is fall-like, I think we will hike more (no fall foliage though – the trees are evergreens). Fall-like? I know that when it was so hot this summer it was hard to remember how cold it could get. And with amazing lightning and thunder and torrential downpours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, fall arrived and it is downright chilly. I had told the trainees to bring something warm to wear to their CBT sites and I am sure they found it hard to believe me, and now I am sure they are wishing they had packed more warm stuff. In one short week I have gone from sleeping over the covers to sleeping under the covers to wearing socks and extra layers to slightly shivering when I’m in my house. Remember I gave back my space heater (at COS conference I learned I didn’t have to, but I did it early, not wanting to figure out how to get it to Rabat. But I purposely didn’t turn it on until after last year’s volunteers COSed, just to make sure I could tolerate it). I am looking forward to hammaming – after Ramadan, when I can stay hydrated as I steam up. Ditto running.

After the hike I did a bunch of things – visit the Artisana, wish Abdou a happy birthday, bake for the weekend, have lftur with my host family, pack the rest of the ceramics that I’m sending home. I had brought out the Safi bowls and plates only for special occasions, but I had used the Fes mugs almost every day, and I miss them. Most of the things I’ve packed I’m not using, so it’s not traumatic. Or maybe it is – I’m not sleeping well. Last week I learned of the death of a classmate – we’re still too young – and also noted that it was the 20th anniversary of my father’s death. Twenty years doesn’t keep me from welling up at times when I think about him (or my mother, who passed away even longer ago, at Thanksgiving). I also ordered birthday presents for my sister and niece and felt a little disconnected. They tell you in the books that the reverse culture shock when you return can be worse than the culture shock, and I have known to anticipate it, but knowing it doesn’t mean it won’t be difficult, and while ordering the presents (I usually have an inspiration on what to get my nieces but nothing came to me – she had a desire though so it worked out; I always get the same thing for my sister) I thought about how much of my family and friends’ lives I’ve missed – as they say in the book, they will have gone on with two years of their lives while I’ve been in the Peace Corps! It’s remarkable how much I’ve kept in touch – email, having visitors, going back to the states twice, etc. have made that easier (I even had a long ichat with Elisa in the afternoon after the hike), but I’ve still been away and I’m a little anxious about returning.

Friday I worked on my last quarterly report – again, to make sure I included everything in my DOS, but also because my counterpart sends it to his boss. I think everyone in my stage stopped doing quarterly reports when the Program Manager left if not before - her replacement never asked for them – but, counterpart aside, I find them useful for myself. That took most of the day! Then I continued the tradition of Friday lftur at my own house with some falafel and shopped, baked and prepped for the weekend.

Several PCVs came for the second annual Ramadan Games Weekend. Last year I invented it because I had always told the six-pack of nearby environment volunteers they were welcome but had never actually invited them over. They seemed so new at the time, just out of homestay, and a year has flown by for them too. I also invited the first-year SBDs in the area and welcomed anyone who could come for the day – some of the first-year environment volunteers came too, and a good time was had by all. Different sets of people came each day, though some came for both. Scrabble, Boggle, Piffle and Rummy were among the games; we also talked a lot too, and it was relaxing and fun. Went to lftur at Youssef’s family – his brothers were gone but his sister was there; she and her family moved to Meknes but come back for weekends, and it is fun to watch the cousins play.

Relaxing and fun until last night, when I clicked onto itunes and found it empty – I don’t know what happened (other people used my computer; could they have wiped out my itunes library? Did I?) but it was a reminder of how fragile emotions are here – you can feel positive and happy and then all of a sudden stressed and troubled, without the support system we have at home. I guess computer problems make me feel vulnerable anyway; I was able to find my music and re-download all of my podcasts, but once again I didn’t sleep well, and I feel a little frazzled today (or did until I saw Abdou and Tom and Jerry). Went out to Ain Leuh this morning feeling unprepared, since I lost yesterday evening. Turned out I WAS unprepared – for the post office (I had forgotten my customs forms, but they had some there) - but was prepared for the artisans, so it all worked out. Abdou’s father had invited me for lftur one day last week and I had plans at the time but suggested today. He reminded me of that, and though I mentioned my computer problems and told them I might skip lftur to spend some time organizing myself, I realized that sounded un-Moroccan and went anyway, and I’m glad I did.

Another reason I thought I might skip lftur is that the White Sox game was scheduled to start at six pm my time – game #162, and if they win, they force a one-game playoff. When I got back from lftur, it turned out that the game hadn’t started – rain delay! So I am all the more glad that I went. I’m listening to the game now. It might be a late night. It really isn’t 27 months without baseball…though it is still hard to believe that yesterday was the last game ever at Shea. I’ve also been wondering what must-see movies I have missed while away.

I just found a great map - http://www.maplandia.com/morocco/centre-sud/ifrane/ - I wish I had found this when I first got here! See the area, with its mountains, forests, meadows, villages, watercourses and more!

2008-09-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

Fat bread is called that because fat is a major ingredient – I like to think of it as filled bread, and in fact you can make it without the fat (Abdou’s family does). I’m trying to think of what you would use if you made it in the states – Crisco? Maybe Crisco is one of those things you don’t want to think too much about either. My host mother in Timhadite made great fat bread, and I remember Katie saying, “if you knew how it was made...” Then I watched my Azrou host mother make it, and she used sheets and globs of fat – I guess wool isn’t the only thing that keeps a sheep warm – and then I couldn’t eat it for a while. But I’m embracing my last Ramadan here, and Youssef’s family makes great fat bread, so I asked them to show me how to make it.

I followed as closely as I could, but of course they do things so easily that they don’t measure, and in such bulk that it’s hard to translate into an amount that I might actually make, but I do think I want to try to make it (perhaps without the fat). I think I can do it, too – it just may require some experimentation. And since you might want to make it as well, here’s a summary of my notes:

FAT (or FILLED) BREAD

Filling proportions for one:
One carrot, grated
One onion, diced
Parsley – hm, let’s say a tablespoon – or more – they use a lot here
Spices – hm, how does 1/4 tsp of each of these sound? – salt, pepper, paprika; can put in cayenne pepper, cumin if you like, a little turmeric for color
Fat: Youssef’s family used pellets, which seemed innocuous compared to the sheets/globs – maybe the same amount as the carrot and the onion by volume – or maybe twice as much; hard to tell
A little oil to mix everything up
Set aside while you make bread.

Bread (unfilled, it is called millwi when fried in a skillet. You can also use the same dough to make Moroccan bread in the oven):
Flour – they use a yellowish, more coarse flour here for bread, as opposed to the white flour I use here for whatever I make – I will try to find out the difference!
Yeast – a little bit (there was just no way to gauge the measurement here so find a bread recipe somewhere – I should also point out that I don’t even think about it anymore, but I am at high altitude – I used to look at the high-altitude directions on packages and wonder what it was like…now I wonder what kind of adjustments I may have to make when I get back!).
Hot water – enough to make the dough. Again, there must be a basic recipe somewhere.
Knead, knead, knead. You don’t have to wait for it to rise. Add more water while kneading to keep it to your desired consistency – that is, pliable. After a lot of kneading, add a little salt.

Make the bread into snowball-sized balls and cover with a little oil (what, you say they come in different sizes? All right, Hostess Sno Ball-sized balls then). I should add that the terra cotta bread-and-couscous-mixing bowls – basically the shape of a tagine bottom but bigger – make a lot of sense; things stay confined within the bowl as you mix and knead. I may have to get one.

Take a ball of dough and flatten it. Fold the top third down, add a little oil, fold the bottom third up, add a little oil, put the filling on top of what you have 2/3 of the way, fold the left third in and pinch the sides so filling doesn’t come out, fold the rest over and pinch so filling doesn’t come out (it will now look like a square), flatten the whole thing again (it will be almost the same size as the original flattened ball but will be square and filled), and put it onto a hot oiled skillet over medium heat, flipping after a few minutes until it is browned on both sides.

I watched Youssef’s mother make a stack of pieces, mesmerized by the assembly-line ease with which she does it, so maybe that’s why it seems simple. It’s really good though, so it’s worth the experimentation it might take. And now I’m tempted to ask for a harira cooking lesson – it’s tasty soup; Joy wanted to learn when she was here, and some of the other volunteers want to learn it, so maybe I should too. I was in Ain Leuh Thursday morning, mailing packages and photographing the women weaving, and then went straight to the cooking lesson; I then had a bit of downtime at home and went back for lftur. Just as I was getting up to leave, another wave of food came – a huge dish of zmeta and a big plate of cookies and another round of tea, to celebrate the new baby. I thought that the seventh day was the only day to celebrate – turns out that visitors come all week and have zmeta and cookies prior to the big celebration (I had forgotten that zmeta is for baby celebrations as well as being a lftur staple).

I had been asked to come to YD on Friday to offer a PCV perspective to homestay orientation – but when I got there, they had already done it! There were some other PCVs there for training, including the person who had been my “name tag” in Philadelphia (we were given someone else’s name so that we would mingle and meet – he arrived very late, so I sat for most of the day without making that connection! He was coming from Chicago, too, which made me glad I had left there several days prior), so I hung out with them for a bit, feeling kind of decadent. I was asked to talk about CBT orientation for SBD on Saturday morning but that too had been covered early! That’s okay; I’m flexible. On the way back from the YD training site, I stopped by Abdou’s – good timing, because it then started to rain, and I waited out the storm while sitting with him. I asked about the Hajj and if he wants to go. He said you have to if you can afford it, but that first his father would go. He estimated that maybe three million people from Morocco (out of a population of 30 million) have gone, and that it costs maybe 30,000 dirhams to go for two weeks.

The new Country Director was in Azrou to check on training, and I invited him to see the Artisana. He took me up on it, and on Saturday morning he and his wife and baby and I went there. I talked about my work and introduced them to the artisans – it was raining, so we never got to the rock-carver/Abdou part of the medina; I had told them we would try to stop by but it was early for both of them to be up anyway. I like him – he seems interested in meeting volunteers and in finding ways to support them. Here’s a picture of us with the baby and one of my artisans – contrast that with the November 26, 2007 entry – a different occasion, obviously – the former Country Director is on the far right. Then I spent almost all day at the Auberge, where I offered a PCV perspective on cultural faux pas and on homestay orientation. The group has been divided into two Tamazight and three Darija groups (so I already know that some of the people I took a shine to will not be in Azrou or in Ain Leuh – but there are enough others that I liked in the Darija groups). I think it was helpful to have me there, though I am sure the PCTs are already eager to meet other PCVs and hear other perspectives – I know I was. I think the conversations I’ve had with them outside the formal sessions have been as or more meaningful to them than the ones in them – they want to know what it’s really like, and they have been asking good questions. I found out that our COS flip charts were not on the walls when they were at the Chellah those first few days – so they didn’t get to see them. PST has been shortened by a week due to budget cuts, so they are not going to get that night-before-swearing-in Thanksgiving dinner that was such a nice experience for us. They’re also not having a mock wedding – I didn’t make the most of ours because it was the day before language tests and I was worried, but it was still one of the more memorable parts of our training. I asked the Administrative Officer about the budget cuts and she said that this year’s group size was not cut (though it is smaller than last year’s) but that next year’s will be (though since this is a ten percent overfill post they may end up with the same number of volunteers – or as she called it, Training Inputs), and PST will be shortened by yet another week – meaning that the Training Design and Evaluation process really has to help streamline things.

One of the CBT groups is learning Tamazight but is in a site where there aren’t really any artisans. So they’re going to come into Azrou twice a week to work with the weaving cooperative at the Artisana. Some of those women speak Tamazight, so it should be a good if somewhat inconvenient experience for them. I prepared Tariq for the fact that the women will probably say I don’t know anything and haven’t done anything for them, and detailed my history with them and the pros and cons of working with them. I suggested the rock-carver as an alternative since he is more motivated, but everyone else is working with a group of women weavers and this way they can compare and contrast their different experiences, so I think it will be okay. I’m going to meet with Tariq and my counterpart and maybe the women in the morning. I also offered to be available for the Ain Leuh group or to stay out of the way! I’ll be going out there tomorrow afternoon to meet with the WPI/Al Akhawayn students – normally I would say when it rains it pours, but I then have to mention that not only was there that thunderstorm on Friday but it also poured last night (after a spectacular lightning show) and tonight!

Today I had volunteers come and go – six in all. It was fun to have them over, but I also felt the need to get some things done for myself, since I’d spent more time with the trainees this week than I’d mentally budgeted for, and while I went out a couple of times, I spent too much time inside. I packed another box – I really hope that wrapping the ceramics in ponge foam will get them home intact! – and went through my clothes to decide what to send home (most of the Moroccan clothes) and what to give away – I’ve given clothes away periodically and am not quite ready to put/give away the summer clothes and definitely not ready to say I won’t wear the winter clothes before I leave, so I’ll go through them again at least one more time. I brought some things because I liked them and knew I wouldn’t mind wearing them often for over two years, and others knowing they would last two years and not come home with me – so far the ones I liked I still like and they may go in my suitcase to be worn until I get settled somewhere and either pull my stuff out of storage or shop for more, and the ones I thought I would give away when I left are all in the giveaway pile! It is going to take time to adjust to anything higher than a mid-calf skirt length again (if I ever do). And are you going to tell me that in the U.S. they don’t regularly wear pants under skirts?

2008-09-18T01:40:00.001-07:00

The Cubs had a no-hitter Sunday night; the White Sox one last April. In the case of the case of the Sox, it was a pitcher who had the stuff and a good time of year for it. For the Cubs, again it was again pitcher who you knew was capable and a scenario in which I might have attended – an Astros game relocated to Miller Park in Milwaukee because of the hurricane. I went to a Marlins-Expos (yes, Virginia, there used to be a team called the Expos – some day I will tell my nieces I saw them play the Mets, but I digress) game that was relocated to Chicago for the same reason, so I like those things. It would have involved renting a car (or going with the person with whom I went to the Marlins-Expos game) but let’s say I might have gone. I’ve always dreamed of seeing a no-hitter. It was a night game, so I wasn’t listening to my mlb.com feed. In my almost-27 months without baseball I have been able to follow more than I thought, but less than I would have, and I have felt ready to put it in a different perspective and maybe not have it be such a central part of my life when I got back. But seeing the news of the no-hitter has caused a swirl of emotion (processing and reflection in order!). Not only that, but it’s the middle of September and the Cubs, White Sox and Mets are all in first place. In a former life I’d have started to turn down other social activities to go to or watch more games. Will I in a future life?

Part of the swirl of emotions can be attributed to seeing the news that Merrill Lynch was sold (and Lehman going into bankruptcy, but my assets are all with Merrill, so it’s more personal there). And every day when I look at the headlines there’s more – now AIG. What is going on with the economy? The news in general just gets worse – switching my internet home page to nytimes.com has been a good thing in that I feel more informed, but a bad thing in that I feel more distressed (never mind that fact that I have to come home and look for a job in this economy – just reading the news is alarming). I voted last week – not that Illinois is a battleground state, but I feel it’s still important to vote – but the more I read or hear about the campaign the more upset I feel there too. What is going on with the American electorate? I’ll know before I come back who the next president and vice president are going to be but am I so sure I want to come back? Honestly, there are days when I feel that if I didn’t have so many friends at home whose lives I feel a part of (not to mention my family, although they are planning the next See the World trips without me; I feel really sad about that…more processing to do), I think I would be pursuing international opportunities much more aggressively. And then there was that no-hitter….

Remember when I said I had wanted to go to lfutr every day? Last Tuesday I visited my host family, Wednesday I went to the rock-carver’s, and Thursday it was back to my host family – with the extended family (his mother and brother and her sister, brother-in-law and nephews, plus Lalla, who lives there but was elsewhere when I was there before). I made a msukta – with chocolate powder in half the batter – and my host mother turned it what I would consider upside-down, but she considered the way I had it (flipped-over from bundt pan) upside-down. Only four-year-old Mouad ate it – the more traditional food went instead (pictured here are shebekia, the honey-coated curly strips of fried dough, dates, fat bread, smoothies, hard-boiled eggs, zmeta, the sesame-seed concoction that I thought I wanted to learn to make until I heard how time-consuming it was, and the upside-down two-toned mskuta). Add the harira (the chick-pea soup) and coffee or tea and even if you eat a little you feel very full. That’s the point, of course, but I started to wonder how I could do it every day – this was only ten days in! Kathy came to the rescue, suggesting that we take a break and make pizza for lftur, which we did on Friday and Saturday. Normally I feel full from that, but I was not as full as lftur full! I was back at it on Sunday, going to Youssef’s family; his sister-in-law was in the hospital, so in seven days there will a sbu3, the baby party!

I’ve been working on the COS documents while at home – there’s a COS Site Survey, which is basically everything the next volunteer will need to know about Azrou (mine’s ten pages long) – last week we were asked to add some pictures to it, so I spent some time selecting those; one day I want to do another photography walk so I can make sure to capture more memories. The DOS is the Description of Service, the only document that Peace Corps keeps on file – there’s a set template for it and everything has to be written in third person. I have most of it written but keep thinking of other things that I’ve done, so am not ready to hand it in just yet. Last week we got the format for the Final Site Report, which is focused more on solely the technical aspect of the work here; I had to let the format sit for a couple of days but now have about a third of it done.

But I haven’t been home much! On Friday I went down to the Auberge to give an orientation to Azrou to the new trainees. They seem to have impressive backgrounds and great attitudes and asked some good questions. Were we like that? So long ago! And I was invited to do more trainings – spent almost all day yesterday for Gender and PACA (I had wanted to do those last year – timing may not be everything; proximity helps as well) and an introduction to the CBT sites on Saturday morning at 9 am (which brings to mind Katie’s adage, “be careful what you wish for;” that’s early for me to be up and out and all the way down the hill!). Kathy and I were planning a Sunday morning hike anyway and were asked to take some trainees; about a dozen joined us for a great hike up into the forest above the town. I had already volunteered to take a group to the artisana and through the medina on Sunday afternoon – so Sunday ended up being full, but I felt in my element. Monday (after reading about the no-hitter and the economy) I brought packages to the Ain Leuh post office to mail but their scale was broken so they couldn’t weigh anything – a visit with the cooperative women calmed me down. And just when I thought I was calm my day was thrown off again by a call from the YD program chair, asking me to sit in on their Gender and PACA presentation and talk a little about the GAD committee (did I mention that both SBD and YD were training in Azrou? Probably. Twenty-nine PCTs each…). I was happy to do it but it was a reminder that while I have become more flexible thanks to being here, I still like some advance notice. They asked me to come back on Friday and contribute PCV perspective to the homestay orientation talk. The trainees leave for CBT on Sunday, and maybe next week will be quieter. I hope so – sent in the COS Site Survey but the other reports are due on October 1, plus I want to do a quarterly report for my counterpart!

Tuesday was a day the likes of which I haven’t had in a while. First I went to the post office – I’d been waiting for a package from the Peace Corps office for weeks, and there had never been a slip in my box. Last week I asked the clerks if there was anything for me and they said no. So I asked Peace Corps if they had sent it, and they tracked it and said that it had been waiting there since the beginning of September. So I went with the tracking number and they gave me the package, just like that. Kathy had two packages of medical supplies sent back to Rabat because she didn’t pick them up within fifteen days – because she never had a slip in her box. I have had postal problems almost from the beginning – several packages that I know were sent that didn’t get to me and I feel broken-hearted when I think about all the cards and letters I wrote that didn’t get to you. But it took me a while to realize that it’s this post office, not the whole system, which is at fault. It makes me feel better now that I have found Ain Leuh, but there will always be an emptiness for the packages and mail that never got to their intended destinations.

Then I saw Elizabeth, who came into town with some postal boxes for me to pack (oh yeah, my post office has been out of boxes, too). Went with her to the Artisana, where one of the current YDs who had been at the Gender and PACA presentation wanted a tour, so I showed her around. I brought her to Abdou’s, where I met Kathy, and we talked for a while – and then Linda came into town, on her way back from doing VSN training (it wasn’t so long ago that she was being trained, at my house! Or maybe it was long ago…it was cold then). Then Elizabeth wanted to talk to me some more, and then Ned, who was going to do PACA with me, came into town so I met him at the bus station and pointed him to the Auberge. All of this visiting without the cafes being open! Then I had lftur at Abdou’s.

Yesterday I was at the Auberge most of the day, planning the presentation with Ned, giving it, and staying for lftur. One of the victories of the GAD committee is that for both SBD and YD, the gender approach to development was presented along with PACA – in our training it was in the middle of PST, not connected to other things, but to present it from the beginning and have people take gender into account throughout makes sense. PACA, you may recall (you don’t recall?) is Participatory Analysis for Community Action, and the four tools we use in Morocco are community mapping, daily activities, seasonal calendar and needs assessment/priority matrix. We did a sample of each and then divided the trainees into five small groups – 22/23-year-old women, late 20s women, over-30 women, 22-year-old men, and older men (all of whom were in their 20s…). They practiced each tool and then presented – you could see how their maps of Azrou and daily and seasonal activities were different by gender and age. We were running out of time so we did the needs assessment as a group, using the Auberge as our example. Katie’s group asked for wi-fi – which the owner then put in – and I remember our group asking for comfortable chairs and more clothespins – which again were put in – so maybe this group will have some of its needs met too (though probably not the swimming pool). I still feel the scars from the over-40 group two years ago, when some personality conflict came out. This group seemed to be having fun with it (something different from just a lecture!) and in general seems really positive and enthusiastic. After lftur they played charades, YD vs. SBD, and it was fun to watch (and to participate in a bit too).

I read that Peace Corps evacuated from Bolivia this week – unrest there seems to have escalated in a hurry. That makes at least the third country this year to be evacuated (but they also opened some new ones). And a couple of people pointed me to a Chicago Tribune/Los Angeles Times article about budget cutbacks in the Peace Corps – over 400 positions cut; that is, volunteers who were nominated are finding their invitations delayed until next year or their programs full. My response was that it’s not so much a budget cutback as a weak dollar and the same budget – we’ve had cutbacks in Morocco as well (though not in the number of volunteers – or did we?). Still, both of these make me feel lucky once again about my timing and my placement.

2008-09-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

QUARTERLY REPORT

Wow – 24 down and three to go – amazing. Actually, two and a half – but I don’t want to count weeks or days. The new trainees arrived in Azrou today (two years to the day from when I arrived in-country! The first-years are also marveling at being at the year mark) and I gave an orientation talk. I remember well parts of Lee’s talk – he was the first actual volunteer we met! – and I hope I made as much of an impression on someone as he did on me. The quarter began with my participation in a Training Design and Evaulation workshop, and it will end with the beginning of the training that the workshop was meant to impact!

Last summer I felt relatively unproductive – until the end of it, when I realized that summer in Morocco is unproductive, and that hanging out with my artisans and other people around town, though it may not seem productive, was actually important work that I was doing. Armed with that knowledge, this summer I was prepared. And I felt it was productive! Was that actually because I did more, or was it because I had managed my expectations? Maybe a little bit of both.

The second half of June was busy – a weekend trip to see a stage-mate who lives in a site one would probably only visit if one knew someone (though she is working to find artisan workspace for the few tourists that pass through, bless her heart); we made spring rolls, which have now become a regular if not frequent part of my repertoire. I spent a lot of time catching up and organizing myself after all of my June trips and then held a warden group brunch for the new (and current) people in the area. My work quarterly report was due, I wrote GAD and other columns for Peace Works, I worked on the follow-up to the harassment survey (the creation of a Harassment Working Group).

Then it was on the road again, with weekends away attached to work-related things – went to Oualidia, a quiet beach/lagoon town on the Atlantic, prior to the warden conference in Rabat, and Safi, where I bought more of their colorful ceramics, prior to the Foreign Service Officer Test in Casablanca (also spent some time in Casablanca, touring the Art Deco district and the Quartier Habous, a fancy shopping area with an old pasha building worth seeing). I passed that written test, by the way – so now my qualifications will be reviewed and then if they like what they see I would be invited for an oral test in Washington in January.

An era began on the way back from Casablanca, where I met up with Jong, who was coming up from Marrakesh (she had saved me a seat; I stood most of the way home on the same train from Rabat the week before). She had saved up vacation time to avoid being in her site in the over-100-degree part of the summer, and she spent the better part of it in Azrou! She fell right into my rhythm, meeting Al Akhawayn students and going to Abdou’s and my host family and out to Ain Leuh and spending a couple of days in Fes with Rose (one just sitting by the pool!), but we also had our own rhythm, cooking and baking a lot more than I do on my own (highlights – eggplant red ball, three Mexican nights, zucchini bread, and some reprises of last summer’s favorite, hash browns), taking exercise walks in the evening and playing cards, cards, cards (more rummy than piffle; the wild two’s in rummy ETed when Shawn did…. I also learned to play euchre). Jong was here for work-related leave as well, and while she built a web site for her potters I made a big dent in the Azrou artisana web site and designed some brochures – productivity! We also visited one of the local seamstresses and ordered some custom-made clothes. Here we are enjoying face and hair masks.

Jong, Rose and I went away for a long weekend at the end of July – out to the northeast end of the country, with a picturesque gorge and days spent along and in the Mediterranean. I didn’t go to the beach a lot last summer, figuring that a beach is a beach and I can go to the beach when I get home, but I like the beach, and Morocco has some nice ones; between the pool day and the beach days I was extremely content. So much so, in fact, that I decided one good Mediterranean trip deserves another, and the following weekend my friend Linda and I went up to Mdiq, a resort town near Tetouan. The Mediterranean is warm and inviting; the Atlantic chilly even in August. Mdiq was a relaxing way to transition into my transition....

COS (now I think that both Close of Service and Completion of Service are used interchangeably) Conference was held in mid-August in Rabat. It's held three months before the end of service because there are a lot of things one must do before one leaves - and it also helps you start the process of letting go and saying goodbye. The reflection part was disappointing to me – people just weren’t feeling it, the group chemistry was strained, the group was too big, the questions somehow weren't the right ones – or something. I’ve since done some reflection on my own and with others, so I am processing (there are times when I burst into tears, and I can think of a lot I am not looking forward to returning to, but I am getting myself ready). The balance of the conference was spent on administrative things – there are a lot of documents to complete and a checklist of other things to do – and on possibilities for the future. Those parts were good, as were dinners and walks with friends in Rabat, and we closed with wishes for each other, which was quite touching.

And then I was off on another adventure – with accrued vacation that I had to take before the end of August (two days’ of which I could not take before the beginning of August) and three holidays (an independence commemoration and the king’s birthday) I had time to travel to the part of Morocco I hadn’t been to yet that I most wanted to see, in the southeast. Taroudant is a typical city of the south, with intact walls and interesting tanneries and souks. I detoured to a place that I had been, Sidi Ifni, and was once again charmed – and even though the Atlantic was too cool for swimming, it was nice and cool for walking and sleeping. Tafraoute had Painted Rocks, a valley with charming mountainside villages to walk to and a wonderful auberge – the person who had told me I had to go did not oversell. Wending by way back, I stayed in the saffron capital of Morocco and the valley of a thousand kasbahs. It was a wonderful trip, but it was also great to get home! I think that combining the conference and the travel before and after made it seem like a really long time away.

I had a couple of days to catch my breath (i.e. wash laundry and floors and start to write about my adventures) and then met Rose, Janeila and Jong in Fes for a day (they were using up vacation too) and then Jong came back to Azrou – more cards, more cooking and baking but this time she wouldn't leave the house while I went about my routine and we had no exercise walks. Except for that last weekend! I had wanted to go back to the Todra Gorge and she came too, meeting two PCVs for a palmerie walk and two others finishing their vacation too (on my recommendation they had gone to Sidi Ifni, Tafraoute and Taroudant, but they had more time than I did so they were always a couple of days behind me!). A Sunday walk in the gorge marked what Jong called the end of an era – she went back to her site and I to mine. Will we play cards again? I prefer to think of it as when will we play cards again!

Another era began anyway with the beginning of Ramadan. It’s a big change in the routine – spending time at cafes, buying pastry at the patisserie, having couscous on Fridays, drinking tea at Abdou’s, tuna sandwiches and rotisserie chicken all are suspended for a month. It carries its own traditions – I am trying to have lftur (the breaking of the fast) with families as often as possible (last year two or three times a week was plenty). Where last year I hung around with the artisans because they were all hanging around – that’s what people do – this year I am saying hello, but spending more time at home, working on the COS paperwork (I had heard there’s a lot, and there’s a lot!) and on the web sites (I do want to get more done before I leave – not ready to mentally check out just yet).

As for what’s next – I’m starting to think about that too. I’ve always had it in mind that I would travel after my service, potentially through my birthday (can’t quite come to grips with which birthday it will be), and while I haven’t yet costed it out, plans are taking shape in my mind. Right now I’d like to go to Thailand and Indonesia, and as my sister said, why not stop in Hawaii on the way back, and then land in California and rent a car and drive across the country (yes, I know, four dollars a gallon) and see friends before hunkering down in New York for the job search. I did revise my resume recently and I want to lay some groundwork before I leave, but I think most of the figuring out of what’s next will happen when I get back. I still think a non-profit/NGO direction makes sense, and this experience has made me more interested in (and qualified for) pursuing something in international development, so that’s in the mix. I have said for a while that I wouldn’t mind working for Peace Corps when I am done. It was an easy way to answer the question when people asked, but I actually mean it – I believe in the mission and I think I have something to offer!

For now, though, my focus is on finishing up. In Azrou I am still working on the web site and on brochures for the artisans, and I finally started a web site for Abdou that I want to give to him as a gift. In Ain Leuh I am advising some students who are building a web site and training the artisans; the cooperative asked me to write a catalog for them but I don’t know if I’ll get to it, and I’m trying not to take anything else on work-wise. I’ve started to pack and send stuff back – all of my treasures! – and may have just a little more shopping to do. I will do a few more sessions with the trainees and be available as a resource. I want to spend as much time as possible with my favorite families – lftur now, couscous and visits later – and start saying goodbye to the people around town who have helped me - hanut owners, cafe waiters, vegetable guy and the like. Did I mention that there’s a lot of COS paperwork too? Maybe do a little more reflection as well! I have some plans to spend weekends or day trips in select locations, but it will be nice to spend most of the time in my favorite city in Morocco, Azrou.

I want to thank all of the people who have supported me – I don’t know how you found time to read this (whether you read it occasionally or all the time) but I always think of my friends when I write here – even though I am writing to the world, I am writing to YOU.

2008-09-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

As I walk to lftur, I look at the moon – it grows a little bit each day – and at the sun (today I saw a huge rainbow!). The sunset call to prayer (that is, the time when a black thread and a white thread held up together become indistinguishable, though I don’t think it’s really done that way – each mosque’s call is at a slightly different time, so that there’s a cascade of call) is the signal to say, “bismillah” (in the name of God – what you do when you start anything – most often I hear it at meals and in taxi rides) and pick up that date (I didn’t know until last year that you started the breaking of the fast with a date – somehow I missed that in training). Lots of parenthetical statements there, but I wanted to note that while watching the moon grow and the sun set I feel some admiration for those who are still connected to the moon and the sun.

And I should mention the 3:00 am drumming – the first couple of days I heard this loud drumming and wondered why it would be so loud as to wake me up – and then I remembered that the purpose is to wake people up so that they can eat before the sunrise call to prayer. It must have been only for the first week – certainly I’m not sleeping through it. In Timhadite and at the Auberge it was a drum and a horn. In Sefrou over the weekend there was a siren from the medina mosque at sunset – maybe with a wider range than the call itself.

Yep, I went to Sefrou over the weekend! Rose is working on a proposal and she wanted me to meet some of the people involved and offer my opinion. I hadn’t accounted for the fact that people sleep late during Ramadan, so getting to the taxi stand early meant waiting a long time for the taxi to fill. I arrived in the middle of the meeting but could catch on to what was going on; the debriefings later were more of a chance to contribute. Some other volunteers were there too; we took a walk and went shopping for dinner (heard the siren and had to rush around to get some eggs and yogurt) and then took a walk the next morning. Then we played some rummy and listened to music – I never actually took a look at the proposal, so we’ll have to get together again! Still want to go to the Jewish cemetery in Sefrou, too, inshallah.

As I have lftur I have been thinking more about religion. I tried to remember what knowledge and impressions I had of Islam before I came here. As I was growing up I thought of Moslems (because that’s what they were then) as different, with their own dress and customs. I knew about the Crusades but in those they were the bad guys. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking or learning about much else. September 11 made me read a little bit more, but I still feel I heard about unrest among immigrant populations in Europe more than anything else. When I was in Cape Town I visited the Muslim area and learned yet more – but I guess most of what I know about Islam I learned here. So I do feel an obligation to learn even more (we had talks about it in training and I talk with my host mother, counterpart and others but I haven’t read much, I’ll admit) and share with people both now and when I return to the U.S.

My friend Linda once said she was impressed with the homogeneity here and how tied the religion is to the culture – really, you can’t separate it. I had just come back from Spain, so my response was, “you mean like in 1492 when the Catholics expelled everyone else and Spain became a homogeneous culture?” I wonder what it was like here when it was more multi-cultural. There is something to be admired in the shared culture and religion here, I agree with Linda, but I wonder if something was lost.

And then I started thinking about the U.S. and the increasing influence of the Christian right. It’s not a new trend, and it has disturbed me for years, but watching the presidential race from afar and how important it is for the candidates to publicly declare their religion makes me wonder what happened to separation of church and state and the principle of religious freedom on which the country was founded. There are more than a few extremely Christian Peace Corps Volunteers here – is that reflective of the country as a whole, and I just didn’t run in that kind of crowd, or did they self-select for service and for wanting to experience a Muslim country?

Linda (of Bob and Linda, not of the culture discussion) gave me a great recipe for Mskuta, easy Moroccan tea cake. I brought it to lftur at Youssef’s family on Friday night. Moroccans don’t always like the things I bake (they couldn’t get the concept of banana bread, for example – bread and sweet don’t mix) but they like their own things! I tried to double the recipe on Sunday night before going to Abdou’s but I didn’t have double the time, and it wasn’t ready. I flipped the bundt pan onto a plate just to prove that to myself, therefore ruining any chances it would ever be presentable. Time and lftur wait for no man! I did stick it in the oven when I got home and I cut a big (presentable) arc for him, so all was not lost (I have had to eat the rest by myself…).

Mskuta (easy Moroccan tea cake)
1 Danone vanilla (which then becomes the measuring cup – note, yogurt here is about half a cup…)
3 eggs
½ cup melted butter or vegetable oil
1 package baking powder – I should measure this, but it’s a lot more than I put in mst recipes – maybe a tablespoon
3 cups flour
¾-1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Options: add raisins or choc chips or lemon juice (recipe says you can substitute lemon yogurt, but I have never seen it here)
Blend dry ingredients
Blend wet ingredients
Blend everything.
Bake in oiled (and floured) tube pan. Bake for 20 minutes or as long as needed according to your baking appliance. Serve with tea.
(With the lemon option, you can top with lemon glaze (lemon juice and powdered sugar blend). Linda has also seen with chocolate drizzled as frosting. Usually it’s just served plain. My notes – my host mother puts half the batter in the pan, mixes a couple of tablespoons of chocolate powder into the other half, and pours that in – I will try that next time! I am going to her house tomorrow and said I would bring it).

Another thing I keep meaning to talk about is water – there was an interesting article about it in the last Peace Works (reminds me that I liked engineering – but you can’t go through the desert or over dry watercourses without thinking about it). There are 116 major dams here, which supply households with plenty of water; right now there is enough, but as each year brings less and less rain and a growing population, it could be a problem. Sixty-eight percent of collected surface water gets lost in the system, either through evaporation or leakage or not being fully captured, it goes out to sea (note – I am glad some makes it out to sea – wildlife needs it too – but that wasn’t mentioned in the article). Leaks in the distribution system mean that only 70 percent of what is pumped into the system reaches the taps. There is a big discrepancy between north and south – 79 percent of water is in 27 percent of the territory (the south has about a third of the population and I am not sure what portion of the territory). Agriculture uses 88 percent of the water in the dam/reservoir system, leaving only 12 percent for households. There is a movement towards drip irrigation but that will take a while, and there is a movement towards using recycled wastewater in agriculture, but it is expensive. Another major problem is bureaucracy – there is a World Bank loan on the table for additional dam construction, but the condition is that Morocco streamline its water management institutions and simplify decision-making. Here’s another statement – in rural areas, 70 percent of the households have running water, compared with 14 percent in 1994. I’ll bet that is about the same for electricity. In short, I found a lot that was interesting in this article! http://www.north-africa.com/news/csNews.cgi?database=aa.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=151&rnd=74.08575381679611

This is another busy week – but again, staying home more during Ramadan means feeling more productive (just when everyone else is NOT productive!). I haven’t even napped so far this week – though I have had afternoon headaches. On Monday I went out to Ain Leuh with the Al Akhawayn students – I think they are going to do a great job of building a web site and training the artisans to maintain it. On Tuesday I went to Abdou’s and went through most of my pictures of his rugs, categorizing them by tribe, which is how he wants his web site organized, and started uploading those (www.freewebs.com/darneghrassiazrou). I’ll upload what I have and take more and teach Abdou – and Kathy said she would help as well. I’ve been working on my COS Site Survey, the form that will go to the next volunteer – ten pages’ worth of information and counting – and I started to pack some boxes (I’m trying not to pack things I’m still using, so while my apartment looks lighter it doesn’t look as though I am moving – yet. I feel I still have some shopping to do, too). There are more COS documents to do and lots of other things I want to work on (such as writing to my partner school), and I am going to review the metal worker’s revised web site with him; maybe the rock-carver’s too. It’s been thundering a lot and raining a little every day, and it’s been cool enough to sleep under the covers the last two nights. I’m embarrassed to think that I used to keep the air conditioning on so that I could sleep under the covers in Chicago – from now on I think I can sleep over the covers.

On Friday the new trainees arrive in Azrou, and I am going down to the Auberge to give an orientation talk. I still remember a lot of what Lee said in his talk – he drew a community map (a PACA tool!), he talked about his work, he talked about Ramadan, he talked about life in Morocco – he was the first actual volunteer we heard from. I hope I can leave as much of an impression on at least some of the trainees as he did on me. I am doing that and GAD and haven’t been asked to do other trainings – that’s all right.

The picture is of the labyrinth near the painted rocks. I had wanted to make a labyrinth for the zen room – sometimes I walk around on the rug in there and contemplate, but walking this reminded me that it’s not the same. Ren is doing some art in the states and I asked her to make me a “personal labyrinth” that I can put on the floor and walk on (and the rest of the time maybe it can double as a tablecloth!).

2008-09-05T03:41:00.001-07:00

A week ago Sunday I met Jong and Janeila in Fes. I had forgotten my map and Fes Encounter book, but who needs those? They wanted to go to the Andalusian quarter, and I took them there, and we walked around – had to ask someone, but found the medersa with the pool - and then walked back up the Talaa Kbira to Café Clock, where Rose met up with us, and we went back out for more Kbira and then Talaa Sgira. A good Fes day, though it seemed a bit melancholy; the number of times we will see each other again are few, and that seemed to hang in the air. Janeila declared at COS conference that she’s not big on keeping in touch, and I know from past discussions that she’s not big on goodbyes; I wonder who I will end up keeping in touch with. If we were all in our 20s just out of school, we might all be traveling similar paths and keeping in touch might be more likely. At least now there’s the internet – well, we’ll see.

Jong came back with me – she had been at Rose’s all week while I was Battouta-ing - and we played more cards. We went out for bisara and while we were there, some little kids came over and gave Jong money. They giggled and then ran away and came back and gave her more money. And did it again. Kids usually (often!) ask us for a dirham – it was a first to be getting money FROM kids! I said if we stayed long enough she might earn enough to pay for the entire dinner. Hey, she made a dirham out of all of her small change! She made the rounds of Azrou with me the next morning, but then she stayed behind while I went to Ain Leuh, where I prepared the artisans for the exchange students and CBT group to come. Then we played more cards – I couldn’t get Jong out for an exercise walk, or out at all for the next two days. There was one night where we both slept terribly – in another first, rather than stay in bed using my parents’ advice to rest anyway, I just got up and started my day. I slept all right after that, but she didn’t (I did until this past weekend, that is – under what should have been ideal conditions in the gorge – cool temperature, extreme darkness, the sound of rushing water from the river just outside the window - I slept well for a few hours and that was all).

I went out without her, for vegetables and to the artisana and on other miscellaneous errands. And we played more cards. Kathy came over and made some pizza (in exchange for my making a lemon tart) and we played some cards. I did do some other things – my blog entries, some GAD and Harassment Working Group work – while she read and wrote some things as well. She had ordered a dress from Rajaa, the seamstress, based on a photograph – it looked great, so I am having Rajaa make one for me as well (Jong didn’t mind – we just can’t both wear them at the same time). She had to leave the house for a final fitting, and we went to visit my host mother. We had Mexican Night 3 – this one so spicy we had a hard time with it; I diced a chili pepper that was so hot that my fingertips felt as though they were burning for the rest of the evening (somehow that improved my piffle game though, and I had some hot rummy hands) – I had to put aloe on them and take ibuprofen, and when I ran water over them they felt burned. That was one hot pepper! We went to Youssef’s family for couscous as well – they had been away all month and it was wonderful to see them again.

It feels weird not to have Jong around – I am hoping to go down to her site for work-related leave to help with next steps on her web site (Program Staff approved but Jong seems reluctant – I know it’s far and I know it’s hot and I know I’ve been there, albeit briefly, but none of those things has deterred me so far). I did crave alone time some of the time when she was here, and now I can get back to some of the things I hadn’t worked on much this summer (such as my resume), and she may be back this way after COS medicals, but an era has ended.

Ramadan is the beginning of a new era anyway though. I had a tough first day on Tuesday – a long meeting in the afternoon left me dehydrated and light-headed. I went to lftur with Youssef’s family, which was wonderful – they invited me to come every day and I am tempted to take them up on it! I won’t – will go to Abdou’s and to my host family and maybe the rock carver’s and accept other invites – but where last year two to three lfturs a week was enough, now I do want to go every day! Youssef’s sisters, nieces, sister-in-law and nephews walked me home afterwards – they wanted to go for a walk – and filled me with warmth and love (actually, I feel that way whenever I go there, but this walk was so sweet). But I still felt dizzy – now I’m wondering if it really was not eating and drinking enough or if I had a little bug. I felt all achey too – more than just being in those taxis on Sunday and computer muscle strain might account for. I took a nap before lftur and went to bed shortly after I got home – but then again, it could be all dehydration. I’ll have to try to manage things better as the days go on – they say you get used to it – and I don’t want to wish the month away because there is so much to do!

Lftur is more or less the same anywhere – a date to start with, and then shebekia, the honey-coated cookies. Hard-boiled eggs, fat bread (which is like an inside-out pizza – delicious, unless you stop to think that the reason why it’s delicious is the reason why it’s called fat bread – i.e. lots of fat) and then harira, the tomato-based chick pea soup that is a little different in each house (as is the fat bread). Coffee or tea (hard for me - all I want is water, and it’s less appealing in the community glass, if it even comes in my direction). In Timhadite my host family had smoothies – I’ve been making my own when I come home. This is meant to be a light meal, just to break the fast, but it has always been enough food for me for the night. Moroccans eat a heavier meal around 11 pm – or midnight – or 1 am – and the more people I talk to, the fewer seem to get up at 3:30 am for a light something before doing back to sleep, but people do it. My counterpart said the Prophet ate all night and slept all day – I would imagine Ramadan is a lot easier if you can do that. I have napped every day so far – but then again, I thought Jong and I were going to do that all summer.

The long meeting that I referred to above was good – it was with some Worcester Polytechnic students who are here on an exchange at Al Akhawayn in Ifrane. Last year’s group worked on an e-commerce proposal (which ended up being more of a report on why Morocco is not ready for e-commerce) for Azrou. This time they are going to build a web site for Ain Leuh and train the artisans on computer use! In thinking about what I wanted to finish before I leave, this was on my list, and I was afraid I wouldn’t get to it, so it’s great that they are going to do it – good project for them, too. The professor, who is the same as last year, complimented me on my Arabic – so maybe it has improved. I still don’t understand most of what is said on the Ramadan TV shows. I did request a COS LPI (Language Proficiency …. Index?) test, so we’ll see.

On Wednesday it rained – it’s funny, I woke up that day wishing for rain, and even though the sky was clear maybe I sensed it. It has been nice to live in a place that is so sunny so much of the time – I don’t know that I will do that again – but I do like rain! And we sure need it here. I worked on the metal worker’s section of the web site, adding more pictures and making a brochure for him. And I filled out the COS on-line survey (you can’t get cleared to leave the country unless you do that) – my first COS paperwork. Yesterday I went out to Ain Leuh for a brief visit – had ordered a blanket and a shawl, but they weren’t ready. I decided to order a rug too – they’re expensive, but exquisite, and I think I will regret not having one if I don’t. And I have to order it now so it will be ready before I leave! And then I worked on the rock carver’s section of the web site – now I have to meet with both artisans to see if they have any changes or additions. I was hoping that since Ramadan would keep me inside more I would have a burst of productivity and so far I have!

And another new era is beginning – this weekend, approximately 60 SBD and YD PCTs will have staging in Philadelphia. Monday they leave for Rabat, and next Friday they will all be in Azrou – SBD at the Auberge and YD on the other side of town near the Panorama. I sent those on the pcvmorocco yahoo group a little welcome note, and then I did something I’ve had in mind to do for a while – went to my favorite hanut on each side of town with an empty peanut butter jar and told them to stock up. It was only recently that I discovered that the hanut next to the supermarche occasionally stocks it – that could have saved me a trip or two to Ifrane or Marjane – and the other one may or may not be able to get some in, but explaining that 60 Americans will come and need peanut butter and candy and the like was good.

When I was in Rabat, I had a dentist appointment; it was time for a cleaning. I requested a cleaning for my night guard as well, and he said he would give me a prescription for a product I could use. I finally picked up the product this week – turns out that it’s Polident. Boy, do I hope I never need that for another reason. One of my teeth still feels funny – it’s possible that I need a filling replaced – so I asked for another appointment. I’m glad I haven’t had anything major here – probably the most serious thing I’ve had is the scratch on my cornea (which still bothers me over a year later – it’s so dusty and dry here). Yes, more digestive issues than back in the states, but nothing major or long-lasting – and fewer headaches than I had back home.

Some distressing news – before I left for Peace Corps, I had taken courses towards a Certificate in Non-Profit Management at the University of Chicago. I enjoyed the courses - I like the idea of a degree but a certificate fits more into a mid-career lifestyle – and I found that having that on my resume was starting to open some doors for me – although by the time I started getting other interviews, my heart was with the Peace Corps (actually, the interviews helped reinforce that). I still think the certificate will be helpful, and I like to finish what I start – well, this week I got an email saying that the program is being discontinued! I need three fall courses in order to finish, and this is the last fall that they will be given. Oh no! I wrote to ask about my options. Maybe wherever I end up will have a similar program – or maybe I’ll go in another direction and take courses towards that – or maybe I’ll just take fun adult education classes.

And more immediate distressing news – both post offices in Azrou are out of boxes for mailing things to the states and don’t expect any in. I thought I would start packing little by little and I am glad I am starting now, because getting boxes may prove to be more of an ordeal than I thought. People keep their appliance boxes and hanuts don’t seem to ever have extra boxes around – they are precious, be it for wood stoves or storage. I am going to have to make a concerted effort to get boxes. I didn’t want to keep mine around for two years (which I thought was a healthy sign) but maybe that was not smart!

Wanted to direct you to an interesting article that came my way for the GAD section of Peace Works – “Behind the veil lives a thriving Muslim sexuality,” by Naomi Wolf - http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/08/29/1219516734637.html.

The picture is of the Ameln Valley near Tafraoute, with the lion’s head at the top of the mountain. It was so beautiful there!

2008-09-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

So, Ramadan didn’t begin today after all, at least not in Morocco. It doesn’t really make sense to me – after all, scientists can predict moon phases with complete accuracy from now until the end of time – but they have to wait until the imams say it’s Ramadan. I guess it makes more sense knowing that in every country it’s different – Ramadan started yesterday in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, today in Egypt and most of the Arab world, and will start tomorrow in Morocco, Mauritania and Iran. Who knows, maybe the moon does look a little different in every country. Science doesn’t always have all the answers. We did change the time last night though – back to old time! (four hours ahead of EDT).

Anyway, that gave me an extra day to be at the café – and another volunteer who I hadn’t seen in a while happened to come through, so she and Kathy and I sat in a café for most of the morning; then I went out for rotisserie chicken at lunchtime. I’ll miss the rotisserie chicken places with fresh, delicious chicken just waiting to be eaten. But that’s when I leave. For the next month, I’ll miss cafes, but what I’ll miss most is carrying around a water bottle and drinking when I’m thirsty! I do tell people it’s hard for me not to drink water, and that I’m trying to fast; I won’t drink or eat in public - wouldn’t dream of it.

I had wanted to go back to the Todra Gorge before leaving Morocco, and a combination of factors led me to go this past weekend – Bob and Linda were going to be there for their last vacation days, the move-up of the time change meant that later on there wouldn’t be as much daylight when I got there, Ramadan means no travel eating or drinking, Jong had to start her way south anyway to get back to her site and was willing to come along, other friends in the area were around and ready to hike up to the gorge on Saturday afternoon (though one had to drop out). So Jong and I left early Saturday morning and she persuaded the other three people going to Midelt to split an extra spot in the taxi so we could get moving. All five of us were going on to Errachidia, so in Midelt we just picked up one more passenger and again were speeding along. And then one person bought an extra spot to Tinghir and so did I, so again, we were on our way. With my extra spot, we stopped in Tinjdad and picked up Jessica, and then we went on to meet Ned, the first-year SBD volunteer in Tinghir. We had a Berber omelette – no place makes them as well as that one in Tinghir – and then we set out for the palmerie. Jessica and some of my stage-mates had done the hike through the palmerie up to the gorge in April, and ever since I’d heard about that I wanted to go back and do it as well.

On the way down to Tinghir, things looked different. The Ziz river seemed to have more water in it, and there seemed to be other watercourses that were dry last week when I was going through that had water in them – even some sand that had spilled out into the road. Turns out it had been raining for three days, which had cooled things off quite a bit. Linda had texted on Friday night that it was raining a lot and she was watching the gorge flood and that as of that moment they were stranded in their hotel – she texted Saturday that the water had subsided and that they were able to hike – though I don’t think that would have stopped me; I think I would have looked for a place to stay on the high side of the flood.

The palmerie walk was just beautiful – really lush, with some overhanging olive trees, corn, alfalfa, palms of course, and lots of other greenery. The villages up above the palmerie on either side were picturesque, and we saw tourists stopping to photograph the valley that we were walking through. We didn’t get very far, relatively speaking – it turned out that to get all the way to the gorge the hike is much longer than the three hours mentioned in the book. We’d been walking for about an hour and a half when Linda and Bob texted to say it was raining again in the gorge and that if we got into transport now, we would be able to make it across the river and get to their hotel. It would have been nice to hike more and to see more of Ned and Jessica but I completely enjoyed what we did and felt that that alone was worth the trip.

The road in the gorge was washed out – we forded it and then had to cross it again to get to the hotel, which was on the other side of the river. There was a little rock bridge with a plank to get to the other side – that too had been washed out the night before but rebuilt during the day. Todra Gorge was one of the first places I went to, back in April 2007, and I wondered if it would look as special and spectacular on the return, now that I have seen so much more of Morocco. Yes. That time, I took a bus that was delayed and that kept stopping and I remember being so dehydrated that I felt sick when I got there – I know so much more about traveling here now, so returning and having more time and more energy was a triumph as well. It turned out that it was not just a flood, it was a flash flood the night before, with a big boom – wiping out not only the part of the road that we forded but also another major portion of the road past the hotels, the little bridge to our hotel and to the one next door, and all of the souvenirs in most of the stands, which are just past the hotels. The beautiful, clear stream that I saw almost a year and a half ago was a muddy, fast-moving river. Bob said that in the morning, a road crew came and quickly rebuilt and resurfaced the part of the road past the hotels (the part we forded was maybe a foot deep, so cars could drive through it, though not happily) – he was amazed at the efficiency (Morocco continues to surprise) - and that after the road was rebuilt, vehicle after vehicle carrying dolled-up Berbers back from the Imilchil wedding festival (something that had been on my list of things to do before I left but that had to go into the “can’t do everything” category) came through (the friend I saw this morning loved the phrase “Berber back-up” – we saw some additional vehicles going through on Sunday morning, packed vans with people in the cargo space on top and hanging off of the back, but no longer dolled-up in their fancy garb). It was raining when we got to the gorge – and chilly! I had read that the gorge could be cool, and of course I could have decided for myself to bring something long-sleeved just in case, but Jong refused to believe it could possibly be cold in Morocco in August so I let her talk me out of it; luckily Linda and Bob had things we could borrow and we all took a little walk after it cleared up, and it didn’t rain (or flood) anymore.

We were the only guests in the hotel (they had a huge bus crowd at lunch though) and had tea and then a tagine and then the staff came out and did some drumming and singing for us (that happened to us in April 2007, at a different hotel – must be a Todra thing) and then we played some Boggle. I heard about Bob and Linda’s vacation – on my recommendation they stayed at the Suerte Loca in Sidi Ifni, decided to go to Tafraoute and stayed in Chez Amaliya, and stopped in Taroudant, saw Matt and stayed in the same hotel I used! Too bad we couldn’t do more of it together – but I had a week and they had more time, so they stayed in Rabat after the conference and went to Essaouaira before following in my footsteps. I’m just glad they liked my recommendations as much as I did, and it was nice to compare notes. We went up to our rooms and not too much later, the generator went off for the night. We showered by candlelight (luckily Jong and I had asked for a candle and lighter after Linda mentioned that their room had one), and it cleared up enough to see a sky full of stars.

Bob and Linda were up for some of the reflection we didn’t have a chance for at COS Conference (and that Jong wasn’t up for at all) – favorite foods that we’ll miss, how we want to change our lives after being here, favorite city, etc. – but after breakfast they had to take off so they could get back to Figuig. Jong and I took a walk a little ways up the gorge – it was gorgeous (ha ha). I hadn’t done that last time; then, we went a little ways up the path that can take you to the top of the gorge – that is again left for if I ever have a time to spend two nights and a full day there. We forded the river again, waited a bit for a taxi, split one more Berber omelette, and then she started on her trip south back to her site. The better part of the summer – lots of good cooking and a fair amount of baking and a ton of rummy and piffle and conversation and companionship – over. Farewell and fare well, Jong!

And then the taxi luck I had during my vacation ran out. I waited about an hour for a taxi to Errachidia, and while I didn’t wait at all there for a taxi that took me all the way to Azrou, I had two of the most uncomfortable rides I have had in a long while, squeezed in and aching. Last week when the taxi stopped at Zaida for a dinner break, I felt the air had gone out of a balloon – the unexpected stop made me late to get home (I did call the duty officer) and I missed seeing the Middle Atlas in daylight. This time I was hoping for a Zaida break because I needed to get up and stretch – several body parts had fallen asleep. I even found a little stand with grilled peppers and potato cakes, tucked in among the many stands of meat (or as I like to say, MEAT) with carcasses hanging and brochettes grilling – I don’t need to ever stop there again, but now I have embraced Zaida. And it was early enough in the day that I was able to see the Middle Atlas, with its trees and lots of sheep grazing and a fair number of nomad tents (I guess for the shepherds!). I got home well before dark and decided to treat myself to a Magnum bar!

Two years ago yesterday I left the apartment where I had lived for nineteen years. I had a few teary moments, but it wasn’t all that traumatic. I was ready to go. I expect it will be the same now – I tossed and turned before I went to Reunions, trying to figure out what to bring home in my one suitcase and what to send back this fall in the hope, but not complete confidence, that everything makes it back to the states. And I had a sleepless night last week, thinking about the daunting task of packing and mailing everything (well, also finishing and leaving – when you can’t sleep, you just keep thinking). But I know that once I get started, again it won’t be so bad. And I did have the epiphany here that stuff is ephemeral. I came back last June realizing that I didn’t miss a lot of what’s in storage and thinking that had I had an extra week I could have gone through my stuff and gotten rid of half of what’s in there. I have bought a lot of rugs and other artisanal items here – I hope they all make it back and I hope there’s a place for them wherever I live next, but if they don’t and they don’t, it’s just stuff.

I also want to put in a plug for the 2009 RPCV Calendar – a fundraiser for the RPCV group of Madison, Wisconsin (they then use the money to give small project grants to current volunteers). I knew about it because they had some for sale in Chicago when I was leaving – 2007 calendars, that is – and I submitted photos last year and they chose one of mine! You can order from www.rpcvmadison.org/Calendar.htm. I don’t think they have any 2009 images up yet on the web site, so if you want to see before you buy, check back. Or just search through past blog entries for the picture of mine that’s in it – October 7, 2007.

2008-08-29T01:30:00.000-07:00

Back in training one of the language sessions we had was on travel safety – we learned the words for “cracked windshield” and “bald tire” and were told that if we were sent to a taxi that looked unsafe that we should ask for another taxi. The reality is that you go into the taxi they tell you to go to – sometimes it takes long enough for the six people you need to fill the taxi; if you waited for another taxi you might never get anywhere. I used to text Rose whenever I got into a taxi with a cracked windshield, because I was thinking of her and those days in CBT, but on this trip – and I would say also near me recently – there were more taxis with cracked windshields than without. I don’t remember the words in darija anyway. It’s enough for me to ask for the window handle (“key to the window” – and the word for window sounds like the word for chicken so as I ask I always think “key to the chicken”) should I be lucky enough to be sitting next to the window and have control. On some parts of this journey, I bought two seats – rare in terms of the lifestyle I am supposed to emulate, but not unheard of – since most of the legs of my trip involved more than one taxi and I wanted to make sure I was in a taxi and not waiting for one during the lunchtime lull.

At one of the transfers, in Tiznit, I put my luggage in the back of the taxi and told someone I was going off to the bank…then I came back and told him I was getting a snack…then I came back and told him I was going to buy water. Each time I left my luggage in the back of the taxi, I thought, “what am I doing?” Maybe I felt okay with it because it was a station wagon and I could see it, but if someone wanted to run off with it while I was away, they could have. Shawn had his bag taken from a taxi in Marrakesh, but in general what goes in the trunk stays in the trunk. Still, usually when I am waiting for a taxi and I hear the trunk open and close I make them open it and make sure my stuff is still there before we take off. This may be too much detail, but I think it paints the picture of travel here. They remove the window handles in the passenger and back seats and you have to ask for them. Remember, there are four people squeezed into the back and two in the front, one next to the door and one next to the gear shift.

The time changed on June 1, but many of the taxis in the south (also in the east, I noticed) still had their clocks set to “old time.” They won’t have to worry about it much longer – instead of the planned fall-back date of September 27, we found out this week that the time will change back on Monday, September 1, which is also the first day of Ramadan. That’s good; those who do have to work by the clock – the people in the artisana, for example – will be able to break their fast that much earlier. Well, not really – it goes by the light and the call to prayer – but they can leave work earlier.

Back to Tafraoute…the Berber language there is Tashelhit, and the second language most people spoke was French or even English, not Arabic. So my darija was of little use, thought I did try to use it, but I did pick up a few words of Tashelhit. It is similar to the Tamazight that is spoken in the Middle Atlas – that is, someone who speaks one could understand what the other is saying – but many words are different. Tarifit, the language of the Rif Berbers, is the most different from the others. In Tafraoute, the women wear long black wrap-around pieces of fabric that have beaded or sequined edges, sometimes with white headscarves but usually they are in all-black, with exposed faces. When I walked through town I looked for and eventually found one that had orange trim – something about that color combination – but I decided I probably couldn’t pull it off….

After breakfast by the pool, I set off for a walk among the villages of the Ameln Valley – there are 26, along the mountainside, with a network of springs and irrigation and therefore palm trees and agriculture. I have thought it would be cool to walk the Cinque Terre in Italy, and I imagine this to be similar (now I have to move it up on my list so I can confirm yea or nay!). No young men, so it occurred to me that there was no harassment, and no dogs (which can be a problem on country walks near Azrou); actually, I didn’t see many people or animals at all, though I did talk to a couple of old men, a couple of children, and a woman with big silver Berber jewelry (someone really wears it!) to try to figure out which village was which. My plan for the morning was to just walk through some of the villages, and I had a chance to contemplate this – if you have no real aim in mind, but you’re not where you think you’re going, are you lost? I saw four or five villages, all picturesque. The closest village to the auberge has the Traditional House, which is decorated as it was back in the day, and I thought I would walk from there to the former PCV’s village, but I overshot the first one and then it would have taken too long to get to the second one. Four of the villages also have Jewish cemeteries – I did see a couple of cemeteries but there was no reason to think they were Jewish ones so I probably didn’t see any of those either. So was I lost? I still had a nice time, and just when it was getting hot I got back to the auberge for lunch and an afternoon by the pool. And I have something to go back for – more villages, maybe a bike ride – and a day trip to a gorge with some waterfalls that sounds really nice.

I thought I would go into town in the evening. Liese had a cow thermometer – I suspected and confirmed that it was from Holland – and I walked over to it every so often. 41 C/104 F at 3 pm – in the shade. 43/100 at 4:30. I wrote some postcards, and I was running low on reading material with several days to go, so even though it was still hot I walked the 4K into Tafraoute. Inspired by the 3000m steeplechase the night before, I ran the last part of the way. Just kidding! There’s a way to hike there, but since I hadn’t found the “right” villages that morning, I stuck to the road. In a nearby village there’s a prehistoric rock engraving – which I walked to but didn’t find (of course not!). The current first-year SBD volunteer lives in town, and it would have been great to see her, but she was on vacation herself. I walked through the medina – it’s another haven for traditional shoes, and here I found some I fancied – and then ended up in a taxi with fourteen other passengers. Granted it was a station wagon, but it was still packed. Three people in the front (if you ask me they could have fit one more – for example, me, the only other woman, in there), five in my row (at least I was by the window), four in the back seat, and three in the trunk with the hatchback open. Liese invited me to join her for dinner (and the Olympics weren’t on in the bar, so it was an easy decision) on the terrace under the stars, and I had perhaps the best vegetable soup I have ever had. Plus my first pomegranate of the season! They’re not up north yet, and not sweet yet in the south, but it was good!

Tuesday morning, Liese drove me towards the Traditional House – the way was marked by plenty of signs so I can see why she was surprised that I missed the way; hey, I was hiking off the beaten track. The owner is an old blind man who showed me all of the tools and implements of simple village life - I am glad I saw it. I walked back, and once again it was time to move on. When I designed the trip originally I thought I could keep moving east, but when I reviewed it with a map I realized that to get east I would have to backtrack west, which meant spending most of the day in taxis. There’s a bus that goes along the hypotenuse straight to Agadir, but it wasn’t at a good time for me, so I went on the sides of the right triangle. To Tiznit, where this time I took my bags with me when I went to find a snack (and where the artisana, with its silver jewelry, was open, but I resisted), then Agadir (not Inezgane), then Taroudant (where I thought I had seen a Magnum bar the week earlier, but there weren’t any near the taxi stand, so I went without) and on to Talioline, the saffron capital of Morocco and the largest saffron-growing area in the world.

Saffron is, of course, the world’s most expensive spice. It comes from the stamens of the crocus sativas and over 1000 flowers have to be hand-handled to get one gram of saffron. The flowers bloom in the fall, and it would have been nice to see a sea of purple in the brown, but learning about the process (and buying some saffron) had to suffice. I stayed in a place called the Auberge du Safran and had a saffron dinner – Moroccan salad (diced tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers) with argan oil and saffron dressing and a Berber omelette made with saffron. Yum! And now I have some cooking ideas for my saffron; it also has many medicinal properties.

Talioline has a Glaoui Kasbah, partly in ruins and partly still occupied, and I walked there the next morning. I wanted to see the big saffron cooperative, and was told they opened at 9; when I went there at 9:40 they told me 20 minutes – in other words, they were on old time! The cooperative exhibit wasn’t as informative as the one at the auberge where I’d stayed – or maybe it just wasn’t as interesting as it would have been if it had been open an hour earlier – and I decided it was time to leave. I had wandered into a shop the evening before and had a long talk with the owner (again, with his Tashelhit and my Darija, we spoke mostly in English) and I went to say goodbye to him- I feel I made a friend.

Tazenacht is a small town but is known for being a rug center. It has a couple of cooperatives and several rug stores. It is said that bargains can be found there compared to the rug stores in the big cities. Several of the rug styles I seem most attracted to are from the Tazenacht region; I really liked the rug that Bob and Linda bought there on one of their trips, so I stopped there with a mindset to potentially purchase one and at the very least to have lunch. Tazenacht turned out to be hot and quiet. I wandered into a few stores and didn’t see anything I immediately fell in love with. I had a couple of people pull some rugs out for me but I just wasn’t feeling it – to properly rug shop you can’t be in a rush; you have to look, you have to have tea – and when I asked one person for a price, just to get an idea, he gave me a really high price. Bottom line – nothing I couldn’t find at Abdou’s for much less, not to mention from Abdou. So maybe I will do that. I also didn’t see a place where I absolutely had to eat lunch – so, as with Mirleft, I moved on. Wednesday and Thursday were holidays for the King’s birthday, but there was no decoration for the occasion – when I got back to Azrou there were flags flying, but nothing in the south.

I wasn’t planning to stop in Ouarzazate other than to switch taxis, but there was a Greek restaurant there that Helen, Youssef and I had tried to go to that was closed by the time we got there and we ended up at the pizza place next door. Déjà vu – it was closed, so I had pizza next door. And then went on to Skoura, in the Valley of a Thousand Casbahs. I stayed in a restored casbah, Ait Ben Moro. This is another stop that might not be on a typical tourist trip, but another PCV had mentioned it to me – and it turns out that Susan Schaefer Davis stops here on her cultural tours. I thought it had a pool, but it did not, so I stayed in the room for the afternoon, which was quite comfortable – mostly playing solitaire, because of my running low on reading material. I then went for an evening walk among the casbahs – including the one on the 50 dirham bill! I then took a walk into town to get a disposable camera – two batteries ran out while I was away. It’s all right – otherwise I might not have walked into town, so it was nice to have a sense of purpose.

I was the only guest in the hotel that night, which was a little strange. The caretaker said I was the queen of the casbah – and I felt like it, with a delicious dinner and a wonderful night’s sleep and a good breakfast and some time in the garden, playing solitaire. I took another morning casbah walk and was ready to go. I already had a ticket for the 12:40 CTM, because I thought it would be the most comfortable ride, but I probably could have taken taxis earlier and been all right and arrived at home earlier. Oh well – I did some knitting on the bus, which I wouldn’t have been able to do squished into a taxi, and since I didn’t have reading material (all in all I read three magazines, a mystery novel, and everything from COS conference – I probably should have stuck one more book in the suitcase) it was nice to have something to do. And nice to enjoy the desert scenery – more casbahs, large open spaces, camels, women washing laundry in the rivers. I’ve been on that route enough times that it seems familiar, and that felt good. In Errachidia there was a taxi ready to leave when I got there, and I was reminded of how beautiful the Ziz Valley is. All in all it was a wonderful adventure, - I was really glad I went and I would recommend it to others - but I am glad to be home.

2008-08-27T00:27:00.000-07:00

After the close of COS Conference, several of us took a walk to the Chellah, the Roman/Phoenecian/Carthaginian/Almohad/Merinid necropolis/ruins/garden near the hotel. I had been there with Martha, Susan and Youssef (and then again for the Jazz Festival, but I didn’t walk around then) and had been wanting to go back. It meant not getting to the medina at all, a Rabat first for me, but the Chellah is special. Three of the seven of us had been together for our first walk outside of the hotel in September 2006, and while we still weren’t into processing, we had nice conversations. The Chellah has a spiritual quality to it – there are dozens of storks’ nests and cats that travel in a herd (really) and strange-looking trees and all sorts of interesting architectural fragments from the different eras. A final dinner at the Goethe Institute included, among other people, the entire TimHdit CBT group (those who lasted past Phase I, that is) – we are rarely all together, and that was a nice footnote. There was a big crowd that went out dancing afterwards, but I wasn’t part of it – too loud, too smoky, too late – I had to get up early the next morning (though it didn’t stop me from talking with Rose for about an hour once she came back).

Thursday was a holiday – one of the celebrations of Moroccan independence. The following week there were two days off for the king’s birthday – so with three holidays and a weekend, I could stretch my last three vacation days into a week-long vacation, long enough to go farther than I had gone before (we’re not allowed to take vacation in the last three months, nor could we in the first three months – then it was for community integration, now it’s for closing things out). I had a first-class ticket for the 7:45 train to Marrakesh. A couple of weeks ago, I had suggested we get first-class tickets to Oujda, remembering how hot and crowded the trains were last August. Rose and Jong didn’t want to buy tickets in advance, and when we got to the train station, first-class was sold out – but that’s when I bought my Marrakesh ticket. It costs 50 dirham more, and it’s not traveling in the style of the people we’re working and living with, but it is traveling in style. Six to a compartment instead of eight. Comfortable plush seats. Working air conditioning. Quiet. I napped for most of the ride. Once in Marrakesh I went to the Café du Livre and had a light lunch and a lemon tart (since I hadn’t had one in May), and then it was off to the taxi stand.

I had assumed that taxis to Taroudant would go through the Tizi n Test, a pass that is supposed to be more dramatic than Tizi n Tichka, the famed pass between Marrakesh and Ouarzazate, but they don’t – they go east of the High Atlas. Just before I left, I got an email from Anny, the first-year SBD GAD rep, who lives in that area, telling me about a three-taxi route that did go through the pass – so of course I wanted to do that! I think Tichka was more amazing because of the range of plant life and the various villages, but I am glad I went through Test, especially since I barely had to wait for any of the taxis – that was true for my entire trip. Buses and trains may be crowded and hot and slow, but taxis fill quickly and are bearable as long as people agree to open the windows (some don’t, because of djinns), so maybe that’s the way to do Morocco summer travel.

The long days helped too – I got to Taroudant well before dark. It may be the best-preserved walled city in Morocco, and I had a chance to walk a lot of it on the way to the hotel Anny had recommended. Matt, the volunteer who lives there, came to pick me up for dinner. He had been to my house for VSN training and it was nice to see him again. He, Anny and Megan, a first-year SBD I hadn’t met yet, were leaving early the next morning to climb Mt. Toubkal, and we had a fun conversation and a delicious chick pea tagine that Anny made (find it on www.annyinmorocco.blogspot.com). Nice PCVs down there in the south!

The next morning I set off to explore Taroudant – one of the books likens it to Marrakesh but much more manageable, and it has a history as a staging point for conquering dynasties. I agree about the manageable part. I went to the tanneries, where I bought a pocketbook (the strap of the emergency one I had bought in Tetouan just before COS Conference, to replace the one whose zipper broke the day I left for this journey, had broken on the way to the train). Then I went to the Souk Arabe, which is known for traditional sandals and slippers (I keep saying I should get some, but I am just not a shoe person…I can get some here) and silver jewelry (since I was planning to go through Tiznit but not stop there, I thought I might just take a look…) and stone carvings. And then – I couldn’t talk anyone into joining me for the trip because people thought it would be too hot – I spent the afternoon by (and in) the hotel pool! Yes, the trip covered a lot of kilometers, but I designed a reasonable pace for myself. In the late afternoon, I went back out – to the Souk Berbere, which had spices and fruits and vegetables. Taroudant is in the area where argan trees grow – the southwest of Morocco is the only place in the world that they grow, and I was hoping to see some with goats in them – no luck, but I did see camels grazing along the road, and that will never get old. I walked to the mellah, the old Jewish quarter, and then the kasbah, the oldest part of town and a walled city within the walled city, and saw the Palais Salam, the hotel that hosts visiting heads of state; I sat in its garden for a while. Then I did the de rigeur caleche ride around the ramparts, had a tagine dinner at a rooftop restaurant, and slept well after a full day.

After breakfast by the pool I took a taxi to Agadir (avoiding Inezgane, the out-of-control huge taxi/bus transfer point outside it, where the head-kisser was – Agadir was a little out of the way but worth it) and then one to Tiznit – which took longer than I remembered – and then one to Mirleft. I had debated going to Mirleft, an oceanfront hippie kind of place, rather than Sidi Ifni, just to see something new, but I so loved Sidi Ifni that I felt drawn back there. So I stopped in Mirleft for lunch – the town wasn’t really near the beautiful beaches that we had seen from the taxi, and the restaurants were full of people waiting for food but nobody eating, and I decided that that was enough of Mirleft – I had a Magnum bar and headed for the taxi stand. It was not a great stop, but that was a good call – I was not to see another Magnum bar for the rest of the trip, which was quite a disappointment.

Sidi Ifni was as wonderful as I remembered it – the art deco blue and white Spanish buildings and the long beach, leading to the magical red rocks. Now that I have been to Ceuta, I have more appreciation for the fact that this was a Spanish enclave until 1969. Ceuta and Melilla, the two extant enclaves, are on the Mediterranean, facing Spain, and you can take a ferry from either to Spain. Sidi Ifni is way down south on the Atlantic coast, and when Morocco cut off the land access, it wasn’t as if the people there could hop on a ferry to Spain – so Spain ceded it to Morocco. I took a long walk along the shore (water cold even in the middle of August – hooray for Mdiq last weekend) and then sat on the roof of the spirit-filled Hotel Suerte Loca. The moon was full that night, adding to the mood – and reminding me that when the moon disappears it means Ramadan will begin. It was nice to see the Summer Triangle – my rooftop faces the other way so I usually don’t see it – and other constellations in a sky darker than the one above my site. I had paella and talked with a man who works at the hotel – when we were there last year, he gave a hotel business card to Rose and one to me – and on mine he wrote his name. I used that to my advantage when I called to make the reservation – he said they were full, but once I told him that I was the American from Azrou, he said to call when it got closer and they would find a room for me. And they did! I walked along the beach in the morning, and all too soon it was time to go – but I had the strangest feeling that I will be back. Note to anyone thinking that they might want to come to Morocco with me some day – Sidi Ifni and Azrou are nowhere near each other – but we might have to go to both.

It was weird to think that I was at the halfway point of my travels but still on the front end of the vacation; it really felt as though I was away for a long time, maybe especially since I was by myself at that point, and because I didn’t go to a cyber at all. Back to Tiznit, and then on to Tafraoute. It was the site of one of the then-second-year PCVs who was at IST last year, and she invited Rose and me to come for a day after our planned trip to Tiznit. At the time we had been planning to go to Marrakesh and then home, and we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to Sidi Ifni. We both meditated by the red rocks and found energy and peace in being by the ocean, so it was the right decision, but the idea of going to Tafraoute stayed in my head, and as I was thinking of a plan for the balance of my vacation days, I felt it was the part of Morocco that I had not seen yet that I most wanted to see. Tafraoute is in the Anti-Atlas Mountains, the southernmost range in Morocco (if only the Rif, the northernmost, were called the Pro-Atlas). Paul Bowles said that it was like the Badlands of South Dakota, only on a larger scale, and while there were rocks of various marvelous and interesting shapes, having been to the Badlands I would have to disagree.

Both last year’s volunteer and the current one, who I met at the Warden conference, recommended an auberge in the Ameln Valley, about four kilometers from town, called Chez Amaliya. It’s owned by a Dutch woman, Liese, and since my father said the Dutch were the nicest people in the world (I used to take his word for it until I realized that maybe he just said that because he was Dutch – but I am predisposed to agree) I was happy to stay there. Amaliya is the name of the four-year-old future queen of the Netherlands; she had just been born when Liese had the idea to stay in Morocco and build the hotel, and her picture is proudly displayed near the ever-present one of Morocco’s king.

Chez Amaliya had air conditioning (which we also had in the Chellah but not elsewhere on the trip) and a wonderful pool, where I spent the afternoon, gazing at the formation of a lion’s head in the mountains straight ahead. In the Ameln Valley, most of the young men emigrate to work and send back money or build retirement houses there – they are successful, so the Valley is prosperous, but it is also populated almost entirely by old men, women and children, and it is said that the lion watches over the women (Liese told me that the women were unhappy, because there’s nobody to marry).

In the evening, Liese took me past Tafraoute to the Painted Rocks – a giant art installation painted by a Belgian in the mid-80s (the Dutch think the Belgians are a little crazy anyway….we all have neighbors to make fun of). The rocks are painted in various shades of blue; it is way cool. I could have stayed there for hours, walking around, but I was conscious of her time. I did walk down closer to the rocks and several times through a graffiti-rock labyrinth that someone had assembled near the blue rocks. Liese also took me to a spring in the village next to the former PCV’s site. What customer service! I went to the bar to order dinner and saw that the Olympics were on the big TV – so I decided to eat at the bar; that was the most coverage I saw (we did have a few minutes each day at the Chellah as we dressed). I did see a variety of events, more or less commercial- and feature-free, but I did feel I was missing out; oh well, I knew I would be away during a Summer Olympics.

2008-08-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Rabat for COS Conference, back in the Chellah Hotel, and thought, hm, whom shall I text to see where they are? And then I thought, why is nobody texting me? Just then I got a text from Linda and Bob, inviting me to join them for coffee. Along the way I ran into several other stagemates at a café and I was stunned by their negativity. Many of them are just waiting to go home. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me – I’ve been around Jong’s Peace Corps negativity for a month already, and (to name just two people) Rob and Connie have always been somewhat negative, but to feel it en masse was a bit of a stunner. People really have checked out. Bob and Linda are enthusiastic (see www.figuigartisanat.com, the great site they and Frank developed), so it was nice to move on to see them. But the negative energy continued back at the hotel for dinner – most of the people I sat with say they have already checked out. It was also weird to be with the YDs again, as we were those first few days in Rabat, the last few days before swearing-in, and at IST – I just haven’t kept up with most of them and they have a totally different vibe, perhaps aided by the fact that most of them had been at summer camp at El Jadida or on vacation, but perhaps also because in general the YD program is more solid and well-defined than the SBD program.

The conference started on Monday morning with remarks from the Country Director. He seems to have checked out as well – his replacement arrives September 1 for a two-week transition period and then he leaves. He appears to be having separation anxiety – anyway, his remarks were short and far from inspiring, and perhaps they set the tone for the day. We’re the largest group to get to COS Conference since the program re-started after the 2003 evacuation – 43 people (out of I think 56 who swore in and 60 who left Philadelphia) – and maybe it was too big a group for meaningful reflection (again, that plus the chemistry of mixing SBD and YD). That said, Megan, the Administrative Officer, did a great job of facilitating the conference – she is positive and energetic and that almost balanced out the apathy of the majority of the SBDs. She congratulated us and told us to be proud.

That said, Monday was reflection day. We started with a little self-assessment of positive changes we see in ourselves and a funny story; before the beginning of each session, someone would read a funny story and we’d have to guess whose story it was (I used the one about the man going down the bus aisle kissing people on the head and asking for money). Then we had an ice-breaker called “Have You Ever?” We had to sit in a circle, and if we had ever, we had to move over and sit in the lap of the person to the left. Have you ever climbed Mt. Toubkal? About ten people moved. Have you been to Merzouga? Most of the group moved. Have you ever stayed in Sharon Keld’s house? I was surprised to hear that one, but I talk to Megan a lot and she knows. About half the group moved – actually, I calculated one day during a long bus ride that all but four members of my stage who are still here have been to my house, and at least that many people in other sectors – over 50 in all. Not that many YDs though! I don’t remember too many of the other statements from the game – breaking policy was one, I know (almost everyone moved – yes, including me).

We then broke into small groups to for a session on Assessing Your Peace Corps Experience. We wrote down memories of the application process, Philadelphia, Rabat, PST, first few months, IST, those who left early, and other important events, and then shared them with the big group. It was interesting to see some common things and to be reminded of others. Next we did a self-assessment of our experience, completing sentences and filling in blanks several thoughts such as When I Think About My last Two Years I…, Something I Might See, Hear, Taste or Smell in the Future That Will Always Remind Me of My Two Years in Morocco, Something From My Experience That Will Always Bring a Smile to My Face, Something That I Will Really Miss and Will Make Me Sad to Think About. We then put these on flip charts and went around the room as a group reading what each other wrote. I remember vividly being in Rabat at the beginning of PST, in the same room, reading the flip chart pages of the volunteers in Lee’s stage who had just been to COS Conference – on September 9 the new trainees will arrive and they will see what we wrote. The cycle continues.

We then did a group picture – I had dug up the PST picture that was taken of all of us by a professional photographer, and (after seeing this from Amanda’s stage and the two after that) suggested that we set ourselves up in the same spots, leaving empty spaces for the people who have left. This was not taken by a professional photographer (after all, they’re pushing us out), so the lighting left something to be desired, but it is still a nice memory (I wore the same clothes for the occasion!).

More reflection followed – another small group discussion of what are you taking, what are you leaving. This was supposed to be conceptual and metaphoric, a way to discuss skills to present to future employers, and here was where we were supposed to discuss how we have changed and how we have remained the same. For me this was the low point of the day – our group was dominated by one person who effectively cut off discussion (and in doing so brought up memories of PST), and people either took things literally in terms of what they were taking or leaving or talked about harassment and other negative things they were leaving behind, as opposed to good things they were leaving with their communities.

At least the day ended for me on a good note, with a group discussion about moving on – thoughts of going home, how friends and family will react, and career ideas. I was a bit of a downer in the group, with my not looking forward to job-hunting or being in an office, but at least the group dynamics were positive. We then reviewed a list of questions that people in the U.S. might ask when we got back – and Megan repeatedly reminded us that nobody will be interested in what we have to say for more than 30 seconds, so we should keep in touch with each other – and talked about the culture shock of returning.

The day was emotional – for me, disappointment because of the lack of emotion and energy on the part of my stagemates or maybe because I felt that the questions asked weren’t allowing me to express what needed to get out, and for them, I’m not sure what they were going through, because nobody wanted to process - and a walk was in order. A random group of us in front of the hotel just started on a walk, and I mentioned that we were near the American Club, so we ended up eating dinner there, joined by several others in our stage. If someone had suggested we all go there it probably wouldn’t have happened, but it came together spontaneously, which was nice.

Days Two and Three were more administrative than reflective, and had more energy – which says more about the lack of enthusiasm of the first day than about any pep of the following days. We had a session on medical – part of my shellshock just before leaving for the conference was seeing in black and white the days of COS Medicals and 72-hour Checkout – seeing actual end dates in sight – but seeing them again in the medical session was fine. And we learned about Corps Care, the Peace Corps version of COBRA – a reminder that we have been really taken care of for two years and that soon we’re on our own.

We then had panel of RPCVs talking about their careers after Peace Corps. This was interesting, but I’m not sure how typical their experiences are. They didn’t all serve in Morocco, but they all chose an international or development career and are in Morocco now – one was at the consulate, one worked for Homeland Security, one for USAID, one for a consulting firm that does a lot of USAID work, and two who are more or less trailing spouses (both men, including Megan’s). It was relevant – many PCVs do continue in international careers – but skewed by availability and proximity. Perhaps the most important thing that I got out of the panel was that everyone said that it all works out in the end. What a good lesson – maybe Peace Corps experience helps you to realize that and maintain that attitude. Later in the day we had a more nuts-and-bolts presentation on USAID and how to apply – USAID is ramping up for the first time in years, including, for the first time, hiring mid-career people instead of just entry-level people, and I think over half of USAID officers have Peace Corps experience (Lee is there now). I think I will apply – can’t hurt (which reminds me, when I got home I opened an email saying I had passed the Foreign Service written test and am being moved along in the process – yay me).

And we started to talk about paperwork. There’s an on-line COS Survey we must take – we must get confirmation that we took it in order to be checked out at the end of November – and we have to write a DOS (Description of Service) – the only official document that Peace Corps will keep on record for us. There’s a strict format to follow, and the first draft is due at the end of September. There’s a Site Survey form too – something for us to fill out to help the next PCV. Lee’s was very helpful to me; the format has been expanded by an intervening group of volunteers, but it’s in one of my favorite fonts, Comic Sans MS, so it has the appearance of being fun to fill out.

The next day – after a dinner at Le Grand Comptoir, the French restaurant where I had promised myself I would go before I left Morocco – we reviewed our COS Handbooks, full of procedures and even more forms. Our counterpart has to sign off that we are finished, our landlord that we are debt-free, we have to return all of our books and manuals and get a signature confirming that we did so, our Program Manager signs off on a number of items, we have to agree to use an American carrier if possible when making our plane reservations – and more.

Saoussane, the new SBD Program Manager, then had us for two time slots. I was not looking forward to this one, knowing how negative people in my stage are, but I think it ended up being a good discussion – she was able to elicit some meaningful feedback on site selection, program specifics and more, and she got most of the people to weigh in. What happens with the feedback is anyone’s guess, but I thought she did a good job and I was impressed that my stagemates spoke their minds objectively – maybe it helped that people have checked out, because they had no emotion left and it didn’t sound like a bunch of complaining. Interestingly, when asked if they would do Peace Corps again, almost everyone in the room raised a hand.

There was an open slot, for which I had offered to facilitate a discussion of the job search process (since I spent so much of my time before Peace Corps on a job search). I didn’t do much talking, which was great – some of the people in the group who had looked for jobs and some who had hired lots of people talked more than I did, which is what I was hoping would happen. Most of the participants stayed for the optional session, which was also rewarding.

In the early afternoon, we were each given a slip of paper with someone’s picture on it – an individual shot, taken by that professional photographer in September 2006. We had to write a wish for the person whose picture we were given, and at the end we all stood in a big circle, reading our wishes to each other. There – at last – was the emotion, happiness, sadness, camaraderie, sense of shared experience, sense of a mixture of feelings – the realization that we made it and are finishing and all that that means that I had expected to feel throughout the conference. There was some karma in who got whom, and some genuine caring and heartfelt emotion went into many of the wishes. It was a wonderful way to close.

2008-08-23T05:57:00.001-07:00

Ibn Battouta was an Islamic scholar in the 1300s, but he is best known for his travels. When he did the pilgrimage to Mecca, he walked – from Tangier. Then he continued to walk, covering North and East Africa and the Middle East and eventually getting to China – over 75,000 miles in 30 years. When I told Abdou where I was going, he said I was like Ibn Battouta – so I decided to call myself Shereen Battouta.

Linda came from Khenifra on Friday night – in an unpublicized change to the out-of-site policy, if you can get to a destination on Friday night between the end of the workday (however that is defined) and sundown, you may leave your site early. Had I known about this I might have suggested we go to Fes, so we wouldn’t have to wake up at 5:30 to take a taxi to get to the 8:00 am CTM, but I didn’t know – and as it was, I had planned a use-up-the-vegetables rice dinner and use-up-the-fruit smoothies. I may have an opportunity to take advantage of that rule between now and the end of Daylight Savings Time, but I may not. So we woke up early and made our way to the bus. CTM is a good way to go – assigned seats, air conditioning (most of the time), comfortable. I read more of “Where there is no Doctor” and we crocheted – turns out I had been doing it wrong with Jessica and Jong, and now it is more fun, so maybe I will crochet more. Going past the border between formerly-French Morocco and formerly-Spanish Morocco, through Chefchouan and to Tetouan, I felt wistful - I realized that I didn’t necessarily think I would be back this way. We made a quick trip to the Tetouan artisana, which fortunately was open – my pocketbook zipper had given way, as all zippers in Morocco seem to do, and I bought a new one from the leather cooperative there.

It was a short taxi ride to Mdiq, a combination fishing port and (relatively) swanky resort on the Mediterranean. I hadn’t reserved a hotel room – there had been plenty of rooms in Saadia, and the place I had reserved there didn’t have our reservation – but in Mdiq there were fewer options and most of the hotels were full. We lugged our bags around, not saying anything – I give Linda a lot of credit for that – and finally found a nice room with a sea view. Off to the beach! Warm water, calm enough for a swim – with ropes and buoys to keep the pleasure boats (yes, there were some here) away from the swimmers. Linda’s done triathlons too, and we swam out to the rope and then took a long seashell-filled walk. At night we did the promenade – or maybe I should say paseo – along with everyone else, had a seafood dinner with a view and a shared glass of wine, and we watched the line of fishing boats go out to sea at sunset. We watched some of the Olympics Opening Ceremonies – with Spanish commentary – but could stay awake no longer. A lovely, relaxing afternoon and evening! Yes, a beach is just a beach, and that’s why I didn’t go much last summer, but I love the beach – it’s a nice place to go. In the morning, we went for an early swim, had breakfast with a view, and parted ways, she going back to Fes and eventually home and I on to Rabat. I had such a nice time that while I was there I started to wonder whether I could go back yet again – but the ride to Rabat was long and hot (so much for CTM being mostly air-conditioned and comfortable – at least they run more or less on time) and I concluded that that was that. There may be another pool day in Fes in my near future, and I may still try for Oualidia again, but I think that was my Mediterranean farewell. I did start thinking, though, about return trips to Morocco in the future – there are so many places to go in the world, and even though Morocco is relatively easy to get to and not too expensive once you get here, it’s not exactly next door. Still, I have to believe I will be back. I can’t imagine not returning – but I also know that it won’t be the same, and that time has a way of flying by.

COS conference warrants its own post – or two – and then I have my post-conference trip to discuss – so here I’ll talk about before and after.

I went out to Ain Leuh on the afternoon of my last blog post – and it was as though I was speaking another language (and it’s not just because I was speaking another language; I had Jackie’s tutor join us so I could write down exactly what they said). I had a series of questions from Aid to Artisans about how things have changed as a result of their grant. How have sales improved? They could not give me numbers. They told me what else they needed – eye exams and glasses. Part of the grant money went to the new space with the horizontal looms, so more women could work at the cooperative; they told me how hard it was to control the quality of the weavers who work out of their homes. I was able to write positive answers to Aid to Artisans, but not because of anything said in our interview. And these women are so nice – I wasn’t expecting complaining. I guess they took this as an opportunity to say what they would do with more money as opposed to the chance to say how much their lives have improved because of the money they have already received. I usually enjoy my trips to Ain Leuh, and everyone who goes out there with me feels depressed that they don’t have the great work situation that the Ain Leuh volunteers have, but this was deflating.

Brian came from Midelt on Wednesday to scope out the space for the Azrou weaving cooperative’s sign. I am glad we got approval to go ahead with this. It shouldn’t have been a big deal – I wonder what the Moroccan equivalent of “making a federal case out of something” is. We went to the tuna sandwich place for lunch – I feel the need to get more tuna and go to cafes as often as I can next week, since Ramadan begins right after that – and then, declaring work done for the day, we played some cards and reprised Mexican night for dinner. Brian recently had a visit from his predecessor, who had ETed last year before site visit, so they had not yet met, and he had some stories to tell – a reminder that when I think about visiting I also have to think about my successor and/or any future PCVs here. I still hear a lot about Lee!

Jong left on Thursday – leaving me alone for the first time since July 20, but only because Janeila was supposed to come and cancelled at the last minute (she had started weaving something and really got into it). I did some work on harassment – I had delegated the compilation of coping and prevention strategies for the new Safety and Security handbook to Kathy; she finished it up and I sent it off to staff and to the Harassment Working Group – and did some other catching up and reorganizing. I have said for a while that COS conference would mark the beginning of finishing up, and I tried to work on developing that mindset.

Friday was jarring, making the mindset shift either easier or harder. I was told there would be a craft fair in Azrou – exactly the week that I would be away! What a missed opportunity – not that I would have changed my plans had I had any notice. And the weavers moved back into their old showroom – right after we had scoped out the space for the sign! Not that we can’t still do it. My counterpart thinks the new construction (which was supposed to start in July) will start in September. The main showroom now closes on Fridays. All of these changes! Too much! So I went home and picked out some holiday photo candidates and waited for Linda.

Being back yesterday was like night and day, though – the stress I was feeling just before the trip was gone (ah, the value of vacation!). There’s a new building being constructed near the sunset view by the rock, and everything was torn up while I was away – meanwhile, the parks building that has been almost finished for months is not open, and the museum near the artisana is still a building shell. The craft fair ended Thursday; oh well. Ran into the rock carver and asked how it went. He never says anything but, “shwiya,” a little, either because that’s how he always does or because he doesn’t want to tempt the evil eye by saying he did well. Talked to my counterpart and now the artisana construction may start in October. So I feel I didn’t miss anything. And I feel more relaxed and somehow more confident about my ability to finish what I can and leave things in good shape. Maybe COS conference did give me some closure. I squeegeed my floors and hand-washed my laundry (a rare day of doing both – usually I save those for separate days) and went to the post office – good to get back to a routine. I had been thinking about having a Magnum bar all week (much to my surprise, most of my trip was spent in Magnum-less towns) but I rarely have them at my site (I think of them as travel treats) and I didn’t even think about having one yesterday – instead, on my mind was the Lemon Tang waiting in my refrigerator (I might have the ice cream today though now that I am thinking about it). I did some work-related emails and sent off a few quick contributions to Peace Works and then went back out for a walk and a visit to Abdou’s. It was so nice to see him! We had some rayb (a kind of pre-yogurt – I would like to learn to make that!) and watched some of the Olympics. When I was there two weeks ago I thought I had seen the kittens for the last time, but they were still there. It was a nice visit.

Today I’m alone again! I will see Janeila and Jong in Fes tomorrow and then Jong will come back with me, perhaps for the rest of the week. I’m catching up on my calendar and writing about my trip and organizing photos; I’ll go out for vegetables and fruits (and maybe a Magnum?) and possibly see Kathy and probably visit Abdou and do an exercise walk. I needed a sheet over me last night – it seemed as hot during the day as it did in the south, but was good sleeping weather. I also want to point out Kantara Crafts, http://www.kantaracrafts.com/Kantara.html. The founder, Alia, stayed with me this past winter. She’s one of the few strangers I have put up - I had told her to stay in a hotel but after I met her I thought she was really nice and decided to invite her to stay with me. I’m glad she did – she was a good guest, with DVDs of “Planet Earth” to watch every night and several leads and ideas. She had applied for an entrepreneurship grant from Oberlin so that she could start a Moroccan rug importing business – she got the grant, started the business and will be back this fall. Several of the photographs are from Ain Leuh. One of my sister’s suggestions is that I start an importing business – I’m not sure I would want to, but seeing both Alia and Susan Schaefer Davis does make me think it’s possible (and would provide a reason to return). Maybe on the side? I like another idea of my sister’s better – being a tour guide. These are both good out-of-the-box ideas… I guess I have trouble picturing myself doing anything but clocking in and out of an office. If I allow myself to dream, I can go as far as being a consultant and setting my own hours.... A nudge further and I can fantasize about being a writer…. I thought it was possible that I would have an epiphany here and figure out what to do when I grow up – that hasn’t quite happened, but I do think this has been a good career move, and definitely a good lifestyle move!

P.S. We walked all over the medina and down the hill - many of the hanuts have retired their freezers for the season! At least wait until the end of August or the beginning of Ramadan (which this year are the same)! Finally, as I was about to despair, I found what might be the one place in Azrou that still has Magnum bars!

2008-08-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

I'm back! It feels as though I've been away for a long time. Well, I have! First, Mdiq, on the Mediterranean. Then to Rabat for COS conference - as I'd heard, lots of reflection and lots of paperwork to do. Plus some time for evening walks, and dinners out - the picture is from the Chellah; I had been there with Martha, Susan and Youssef and was happy when some of my PCV friends wanted to walk there on our last evening together. Then, a combination of my last vacation days and three holidays gave me the opportunity to go far south - Taroudant, Sidi Ifni, Tafraoute, Taliouine, Tazenacht and Skoura. I'll write about all of those as I catch up, but in the meantime, here is some haiku - a non-comprehensive list of some of the things I will miss...

The call to prayer
Dates, pomegranates and figs
Labas? Hamdullah!

My patisserie
Spending hours at cafes
Ns-ns, a3fak, thanks

The artisana
The weavers of Ain Leuh, too
Abdou’s carpet shop

Filling a taxi
Asking for window handles
Yalla, bismillah

Vegetable stand guy
Hanut guy, carosa guy
Teleboutique guy

Squeegeeing the floor
The joy of a hot shower
Clothes line-dry outside

Creative cooking
Fresh ingredients – and time
Vache qui rit, red ball

Shuffling, dealing cards
More PCVs coming through
Marhababikum

Couscous on Fridays
Double chocolate Magnum bars
My host families

Travel far and wide
Coast, desert, city, gorges
Shopping, eating, walks

Phrases I will use
Inshallah, masi mushkil
This does feel like home

Things, people I’ll miss
Getting sentimental now….
Safi, baraka

I should also mention that since last wrote there was a coup in Mauritania - the volunteers were put on standfast, which is one of the steps in the Emergency Action Plan we reviewed at the Warden Conference. It basically means you stay at your site and await further news - and they have since been given the all-clear and are back at work. More seriously, the volunteers in Georgia have been temporarily relocated to Armenia, awaiting further word on the situation there. There were no PCVs serving in South Ossetia.

And a P.S. - Debbie wrote that as she was catching up, she read perhaps the most shocking thing I have written yet - that there were people at the warden conference who had never heard of Barbra Streisand. Yes, sometimes I am reminded that I am not of the same generation as most of the PCVs here and that cultural exchange is not just between the Americans and the Moroccans. As we were watching the concert, some of the women admired Streisand's son, who is probably in his mid-20s by now. Meanwhile, I was looking at her son's father, Elliott Gould, who I always thought was kinda cute....

2008-08-05T04:22:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was Throne Day, which celebrates the ascension of the current King. Flags and a festive atmosphere all over the country and a day off from work. Perhaps more important, it was also Rose’s birthday, so therefore we had two reasons to make a long weekend out of it and get away. We went east – to a part of the country that I didn’t think I would get back to, so this felt like a lagniappe.

We got up early on Wednesday to have a big breakfast so we wouldn’t be so hungry on the train – even though it was earlier than I normally get up and I’m not usually hungry first thing, it was a good idea on Jong’s part. Our taxi filled quickly; we even had time to walk from the taxi stand in Fes to the train station. Rose joined us (or maybe I should say Jong joined Rose and me – I think it was good for all three of us. I realized that I was getting a little cranky, even though Jong is a great guest – I am just not used to being with someone non-stop; it can’t be easy for her either, away from her home and her stuff for so long. This was refreshing). The train ride to Oujda was long – made longer by an hour’s delay before leaving – but it went by with rummy, reading, brownies and snoozing. We then caught a taxi to Saidia and an hour later were along the coast of the Mediterranean!

We searched for a hotel and then for dinner and then checked out the craft fair that was set up along the beach. There was more souk stuff than artisan items – sunglasses, Moroccan clothes and the like – but we amused ourselves, and then we walked back along the beach at night, dipping our toes in the warm water. The next day, we went to Berkane where Kareem joined us for an excursion to the Zegzel Gorge. Bob and Linda had told me about it and it sounded worth seeing. We hired a taxi to take us – the driver, Brahim, was a lot of fun, and became part of our group. It was a beautiful drive – and noticeably cooler in the mountains. We stopped at a cave and then were dropped off at Taforalt, a town along the Zegzel in the Beni Snassen mountains, an extension of the Rif. There’s a new environment volunteer there, Jonathan, and he was thrilled to have his first PCV visitors. We had lunch, went to another cave where there’s an archaeological dig (they’ve found artifacts over 10,000 years old) and hiked back to town over the mountain. Who was waiting for us there (or who had gone to Berkane and back) but Brahim, which was a nice finishing touch.

The way from Berkane (or Oujda) to Saidia passes very close to the Algerian border – a river that even I could probably throw a stone across is all that separates the countries. At one point where there’s a crossing, there are Moroccan flags on one side and Algerian flags on the other. We waved at Algerians and they waved back at us. The border has been closed since 1975 and it’s weird to think about. The people waving seemed nice enough. The impact on the economy has been felt in the east – what about the impact on families and friends? I know it’s that way with every border – think of Germany before the wall fell, or Korea – but it hits you when you see it. When we got back, Jong and Rose rested and I took a walk as far along the beach as I could towards the border. There’s a fence, and then flags, and then the river, and then more flags. There were people on the beach and in the water on that side, just as on this side. Hi, Algeria! The embassy person I met here is married to the Ambassador to Algeria – she has to go through Europe in order to see him. When I got back, Rose and Jong were rarin’ to play rummy but I was ready for bed. I played, but my heart wasn’t in it – it takes a lot for me to get to that state. They then wanted to go for a walk – there was a loud concert on the beach and our room was hot so it would have been hard to sleep – but when we finally got back, I was more than ready! I have another story to tell, but it's not for public consumption, so email me separately.

Saturday we left Saidia – it was a good place to stay, with the beach and restaurants and stores – but the beach was crowded and not tempting. Our final breakfast included an omelette – notable because we had had fried eggs the two days before after ordering omelettes (in two different places). Jonathan (and the Lonely Planet) knew of a smaller beach about 20K away, less crowded and more peaceful, so we went there, joined for the day by Jonathan, Kareem, and Kareem’s sitemate Phil. We played rummy and ate paella before the men arrived and while they hunted for a place for us to stay (and later, while they hunted for some dinner, we played rummy and our first piffle of the weekend). We donned our swimming costumes (as it says in Lonely Planet) and headed for the beach. Warm water and perfect waves for jumping – it’s been a long time since I spent that much time in the ocean, and I loved it. I’d been thinking about going somewhere this coming Saturday on the way to COS conference – at first I thought about Oualidia, since I loved it there so much, but then I thought maybe I should go somewhere along the Mediterranean – first, because chances are I’ll be in the Atlantic again sooner than in the Mediterranean, and second, to go somewhere I hadn’t been yet – and being in the warm water at this beach (called Ras el Ma, but lest it get confused with the Ras el Ma near Azrou that Jong, Jessica and I hiked to, this is also called Cap de l’Eau) convinced me (though I still hope to get back to Oualidia) – so I’m headed for Mdiq on Saturday. It was great to be in the water – and also to have a day of really relaxing and not running around.

Sunday I woke up early and had time for a walk on the beach and a dip while everyone else was still sleeping. We had an easy trip back to Berkane and then back to Oujda – and then a long, rummy-filled train ride back to Fes. The past two day trips to Fes have been stressful because there weren’t taxis waiting to go back to Azrou at the end of the day and I had to bum-rush – this time not only was there a taxi, but it had two spots left, so we left right away and got home in almost no time (if leaving the beach at ten in the morning and being home by nine at night counts as almost no time). It was a fun weekend. Mdiq Saturday and then on to Rabat, COS conference Monday through Wednesday, a holiday on Thursday and the following Wednesday and Thursday combined with my remaining three vacation days means one last trip – this one to Taroudant and Tafraroute in the Anti-Atlas, far south and west – to the part of Morocco I haven’t seen yet that I most want to see. I may not write again this week; I’ll be back on the 21st. Long time to be away – I miss being here already and I haven’t even packed.

Life before and after the getaway weekend has been busy as well. Jessica, Kathy and I went out to Ain Leuh last Monday to watch some of the training that the weavers were getting on their new horizontal looms. They made several blankets, shawls and jellaba fabrics during their week – it takes months to weave one rug on their vertical loom, and the price range is totally different, so this really does present a new business opportunity for them. Jessica and I then went to the Artisana, and Linda came up to meet with the sales staff there; she stayed through dinner. Tuesday morning before Jessica left, she and Jong and I did a little crocheting – I don’t know why, but I just prefer knitting, though crocheting would be easier to take along while traveling. Jong and I then went to visit Rajaa, the seamstress who produces all of the clothing for Amana (www.amana-collection.com) - a fair trade connection that my predecessor set up. Jong and I both ended up ordering things and I may order a suit or something else nice before I leave; I also want to add her to the web site. I am going back to Rajaa today and then out to Ain Leuh this afternoon; tomorrow Brian is coming up to paint a sign for the cooperative here in Azrou. You may recall that the mixed messages I got about that sign led me to a meltdown that resulted in a mental health day in Marrakesh in May. Well, when Tariq came back here I asked again, and he said if it was all right with my counterpart it was all right with him; my counterpart came back from vacation last week and it is all right with him. Jong may leave on Wednesday – she published her web site last night and I helped wordsmith and offered other suggestions this morning (I hope I can get back to her site for further collaboration). Jong and I also had Mexican night last night – instead of my usual vegetables with pasta or vegetables with rice we had vegetables (spiced differently) with tortillas, and grated red ball cheese, guacamole and plain yogurt as toppings – delicious! Janeila is supposed to come on Thursday, on the way to visit her CBT family before COS conference. Linda is coming on Friday evening – she’s coming with me to Mdiq, and we’ll need an early start.

Yesterday Jong and I went to the post office and souk and the artisana and the fruit stand down the hill and the supermarche and the hanut next to it. Jong has been eager to play euchre, and Kathy and Anna, euchre players as well, were in town, so they all taught me. I can see how one could play for hours – we did, and were about to get back to work when one of the hardest rain/hailstorms I have ever experienced started. We watched the storm for a while. My landlady knocked on the door to show us a river that was flowing down the staircase; the roof drain was clogged and the roof was filled with inches of water that had flowed down and into her apartment, which is below mine, and the one on the ground floor, where the occupants are on vacation and will come back to an unfortunate surprise (because the staircase is unfinished on my level, I have a lip, and the water didn’t get into my apartment; my laundry roof, which is sometimes clogged, was draining). I went up to the roof to help her, plunging the drain as rain continued to fall. We noticed that the people across the street were knee-deep in water and bailing – so Kathy, Jong and I took buckets and went over to help them. They have a rooftop garden (I have noticed it while walking or running on the souk road) and must not have any drains – their roof and house were full of muddy water). We bailed furiously, throwing bucket after bucket over the wall (and getting mud over our clothes and bodies, too, because of the height of the wall and its railing – I had thought about switching to my quick-dri before going, but didn’t). One of the men hammered a drain hole into the brick wall and we bailed both over the wall and through the hole. I said to Kathy, “now do you feel you’re helping people here in the Peace Corps?” It wasn’t Katrina or the Midwest floods – both of which I had tried to help with but couldn’t work out the logistics for – but it was quite a scene. It was a cold rain, too – when we first got into the water it was a shock – and when it started to rain again we deemed the water to be low enough and left - but not before they invited us for tea (we told them we’d come back another time).

P.S. POSTED DECEMBER 1 -

One of the rules of Peace Corps Morocco is that when you go on a trip outside the country, you have to start counting vacation days from the moment you leave your site. This has been a big issue for volunteers – especially for those for whom it takes more than a day to get to the airport. It’s also problematic if you are on vacation in the north and you want to take a ferry over to Spain for a day or so – because if you’re in-country, your holidays and weekends don’t count as vacation days, and if you’re out of the country you have to count those, meaning fewer total vacation days.

I have suggested to our “Student Council” rep that trips to the Spanish enclaves be exceptions to that rule – after all, you’re not leaving the continent, and you can still get cell phone coverage, so Peace Corps can contact you if there’s an emergency. I didn’t see it on the agenda for the next meeting, but even if it were, any change would come too late to affect me. Bottom line – we decided to go to Melilla, the Spanish enclave in the east, and I didn’t have enough vacation days to do it legally, so we broke a rule.

Only a few of the people in my stage have not left the country – most have gone home or gone on vacation in countries nearby. I don’t know if it would have felt strange for me not to leave the country at all because I knew I was planning to go to Reunions both years and we had the family trip to Spain and Portugal. Rose is one of those who had not left, and it was part of her birthday wish to do so.

We took a taxi to Nador, where the harassment hit us almost immediately (Saadia and Berkane weren’t bad). Nador is a seaside town and also has a lot of industry as well as a black market for smuggled goods, so the book says it is prosperous, but it just looked crowded to us. On the way back we saw a nicer part of town, with a palm-tree-lined main street, but we didn’t spend much time there and I think we didn’t miss anything. We quickly made our way for the taxi stand to the border – and I think the driver sensed our excitement; he told us to have a good time, which is not something they usually say.

Sometime before or on our way, Rose told the story of friends of hers who had contracted to teach in China for a year. They hated it and one day, even though their contract was not up, they decided they had to go. They left their clothes on the line and stole away in the middle of the night, sweating anxiously until they crossed a border, and they can never go to China again. We joked all day about leaving our own clothes on the line, taking the ferry from Melilla to mainland Europe and leaving Morocco behind, never to be seen here again....

The passport station was unpleasant, with pushy people and long lines (supposed to be separate lines for men and women but people were not honoring that), but we focused on what awaited (and not on the fact that there would be the same kind of line to get back in). Then there’s a DMZ-like “long walk to freedom” as I called it (since I still have Mandela’s book to read) – kind of sad after cheerily waving at the Algerians the day before. And then we were in Spain!

We just missed a bus to the center and decided to walk, but knew that the neighborhood near the border wasn’t the best of what Melilla had to offer, so we hopped on the next bus. I had a few euros with me from the last trip and was able to conjure up enough Spanish to get us around. Once at the center, we really did feel transported to another country. The city is known for its modernist architecture, much of it designed by a Gaudi disciple, and I just kept snapping away at block after block of interesting buildings.

We made our way down a main shopping street of the new town – the stores looked very appealing, but – perhaps fortunately for us – most were closed due to siesta time and we decided to forego the others in order to get lunch. We found a tapas place – air-conditioned, with both Spanish tiles and a Gaudi-like mosaic bench. Rose, feeling free from the oppression of Morocco, had a little meltdown. Frank, another person who had not been out of the country, had been to Melilla a couple of weeks ago, and he texted, “My god, Melilla is paradise. Evidently I’ve been suffering false consciousness for nearly two years. This may render the next five months difficult.” Rose seemed to be experiencing the same thing – though by the time we left the restaurant she felt that being in Spain also made it easier to think about letting go of Morocco and getting ready for the future that awaits. It was good that Jong came too – she almost stayed behind because she thought it might cost a lot of money but that would have been much less fun for all of us.

We had two orders of croquetas, some Iberian ham and manchego cheese, and calamari. We shared a glass of wine – good Spanish rioja. A table next to us was doing shots, and I went over to the bar to look at the bottle (it was some sort of blackberry liqueur that I had not seen before), and the waitress poured three shots for us on the house. When I went to settle up, it seemed as though they charged us for only half of what we ate. Did we look so pathetic that they took pity on us? If so, it was a kind gesture and something that we really must have needed.

We then made our way to Melilla Vieja (Old Melilla), the fortress that juts out on a promontory overlooking clear Mediterranean waters (the water at Saadia just wasn’t that pretty). We walked around the walled town and then went to its small archaeological museum – Romans, Phoenicians, maybe Carthaginians had all been there before the Spanish (one of the exhibits mentioned the prehistoric cave near Taforalt, too, which was nice). One of the employees then took us through to the cisterns, which he opened for us – water still pouring in – and to the chapels of St. Anne and St. James (Santa Ana and Santiago). From there we could see a pristine cove where there were some bathers, and we had to go down there. We missed some (apparently) spectacular caves carved into the hillside by the Phoenicians and expanded by everyone who followed, and a church with an interesting collection – next time, inshallah (and shopping too!). We had to go to the cove.

The water was clear, with greens and blues, and the cove walled in by the fortress on one side and a hill into the main part of town on the other side. We had a chance to dip our feet and take it in and then the lifeguard told us it was closing for the evening….but it was time to go back to Morocco anyway. It would have been nice to stay for the night, but then it might have gotten expensive, plus I might have gotten anxious about the rule-breaking. Just as well.

We took a taxi to the border – the ride was too short – and then pushed and shoved on the immigration line (sigh, welcome back). As we walked to the taxi stand in the border town of Beni Enzar, I noticed that the name of a seedy-looking hotel was Quatre Saisons – a far cry from the Four Seasons Lisbon. The taxi back to Nador was a new Mercedes – smaller than the standard grand taxis here, but still squishing four people into the back. And we got a new, small Mercedes taxi back to Saidia. Sigh, sigh, sigh. At least we had a wonderful day and seem to have gone undetected. And we could have left our clothes on the line!

2008-07-28T00:51:00.000-07:00

Someone who COSed in May told me that COS conference is all about being pushed out of Peace Corps. If you don’t feel ready to leave – and I don’t – it gets you ready. Less than four months to go now. Someone who COSed in November felt that COS conference provided some closure that she needed. COS conference is still (or only) a couple of weeks away, and I guess my main emotion is disbelief (though I wouldn’t call it denial). I hear there’s a lot of paperwork.

Early last week we received an email asking us to bring certain books with us so that they could be handed out to the next stage – PACA (Participatory Analysis for Community Action), The Role of the Volunteer in Development (which I sometimes call RVID), both of which I read while in training, Culture Matters (which I printed out from the Peace Corps web site before I left since it looked interesting and have at home in storage; I skimmed it at the time but never read more here – when I get home, at this point) and Where There is No Doctor – that one was my recruiter’s favorite book. Many of the volunteers have mentioned enjoying the book in their moments of boredom, saying that it has nice pictures but can also cause you not to feel so well. I’ve been looking it over while taking some breaks – I didn’t realize we’d have to give it back so soon!

We then received an email asking for our interests and needs at the conference. There are certain things that I know the conference will cover – reflection exercises and administrative details – and certain parts that can be tailored to our issues. It asked for our top three concerns. I listed four: how am I going to get my stuff home, how am I going to look for a job and work in an office and wake up to an alarm clock, how am I going to keep the (relatively) simple life I have here and not have all of the obligations, social activities and too-many-things-taken-on that I have had in the past, and how am I going to finish things up here, ensure sustainability, and leave things in good shape for Azrou and for the next volunteer? The next question was about my post-Peace Corps plans and how sure I am about them on a scale of 1 (not) to 5 (absolutely). I said with certainty that I fall into not sure. I’m still thinking travel, and then ????? It asked for specific topics that we want addressed and I mentioned government opportunities (COSed PCVs have a one-year non-compete for federal eligibility), the RPCV network, opportunities for mid-career (not just entry level) people, some administrative details (my current “home of record” is my sister’s address, but I want the cash equivalent of a plane ticket back to where my stuff is) and getting an “after” picture (referring to the one taken of the group the first week in Rabat as “before.”). Last, it asked if we would be willing to share knowledge and expertise – I put something on resumes into Peace Works last fall after talking to many of the COSing volunteers then, but I don’t know about giving a talk on them; instead, I offered to lead a discussion on job-hunting in general, using tips from my outplacement and other experience. Another email came along with forms to fill out and email, fax or bring to the conference – asking for bank info if we want an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT – an acronym, but not unique to Peace Corps) and asking how we want to be paid our readjustment allowance and ticket home vs. cash equivalent.

When I’ve thought about job-hunting and next steps in the past, I’ve gotten somewhat depressed and have not wanted to think about it. Now I feel somewhat calmer about it – I guess that means I’m getting ready. I carried my resume to the warden conference and the FSOT weekend and didn’t look at it at all – but I’m thinking about it. I had in my head that I would work as hard as I could on work for Azrou until the conference (once I realized that Reunions wasn’t serving as the transition point), and then start to job-hunt while finishing things up. Much to my – well, perhaps surprise but more pleasure – we had a week of lots of work, with Jong building a web site and me adding quite a bit to mine. She tried to load a new version of Internet Explorer the week before she came and ended up losing the one she had; not the best thing to have happen just before building a web site but we’ve made it work – she’s been writing or choosing pictures while I’ve been loading things onto the Azrou Artisana web site, and I wrote my COS needs and interests, a document Tariq asked for with thoughts on what type of person the next volunteer in Azrou (threw in Ain Leuh at no extra charge) should be and what projects they could work on (mine, if they want to continue, or new things I may or may not get to), and some other things. Last summer when she was here for camp for two weeks, we played a lot of Piffle and I felt somewhat conflicted about what I felt I wasn’t getting done. This time the amount of work we are getting done is probably exceeding my expectations, and I feel really good about it. We’ve taken a few card-playing breaks (rummy and coconut in addition to Piffle) but have really managed to keep them limited.

We’ve spent more time in my apartment on the computer than I usually spend when I’m by myself – I always feel I should be out, but with companionship and with mutual motivation, it’s been easier to be inside. We haven’t been hermits – we’ve gone out for errands and food shopping, taken cooking/baking/eating breaks, visited the kittens, browsed at some of the stores in Azrou. We’ve taken evening walks – and on Wednesday stood in the doorway of Abdou’s shop watching the downpour we’ve been waiting for before making a mad dash to the bisara place for dinner. The rain cooled things off for an evening, but now it’s hot again. Elizabeth came over one day for a web lesson and is starting a Timhadite web site that is going to link to the Azrou one. Kathy came over another day – she gave me a plum crumble recipe, and said if I made it she would bring over ice cream and we could eat it a la mode hot out of the oven – which we did. We had a nice visit with my host family. I wanted to take Jong to Youssef’s family’s home for couscous, but they’re away this week; I had a feeling they might be going away but was hoping they wouldn’t leave until August. I don’t know if they’re away for the rest of the summer – if that’s the case, with Ramadan beginning September 1, it’ll be way too long before I have couscous with them again! We went to Abdou’s shop and invited ourselves to lunch with his family – and then ran into the rock-carver and his daughter, who just got her first haircut, and they invited us! Oh well, another time, inshallah. We’ve even worked through the evenings, rather than kick back and play cards or watch a movie – on my own I’d probably do email and maybe read or write. I was ready to put the pedal to the metal and make some progress, and I actually have!

I still have a lot to do on the Azrou web site, but while I was working on portions of it, I also developed some brochures – so far, I have one for the weaving cooperative and one for the hiking guide (a.k.a. Tutor #3). Since I feel on a roll, I think I’ll make one for the rock-carver, one for the wood-carvers and one for the metal worker as I enhance their pages. I would like to get all of these printed, so if you were thinking you wanted to contribute to a project while I was here and the last post made you think it might be GLOW, also think about helping to get a starter amount of brochures printed. I’ve already had some Azrou brochures printed (in the U.S. and then mailed here) thanks to a generous birthday present from friends and some Ain Leuh brochures printed (in the U.S. and then I carried them back from Reunions) out of my pocket. I realize it’s not sustainable to pay for or have friends pay for getting these things printed, but I’m hoping that if we make a few of them it will show the artisans that it’s worth paying their own money to get more printed – or that we can convince the Ministry that it’s worth it to allocate funds to do so. Jong’s site is coming along nicely – it’s not up yet, but maybe it will be this week – www.freewebs.com/tamegroutepottery. The pottery is a distinctive green (shown here), glazed with manganese and copper, and has a randomness about it that at first looks like poor quality but has grown on me, especially after seeing her pictures. It’s definitely distinctive. I have one piece, and also a couple of pieces of pottery painted with henna by a creative artisan with whom she works – but now I find myself wondering if I can get back down there. I rushed through on the visit with Helen. I think some reciprocal work-related leave where I help with the web site by seeing it again in person might be in order!

Friday was a busy day as some environment volunteers passed through on their way to a multi-day hike and then one who COSed last year, traveling with a friend, came for a visit. But there was work progress, as Jong helped me reduce the size of the files on the Ain Leuh brochure, and now it is capable of being emailed. Then on Saturday, Jong and I went back up to Fes to do something I had talked about all last summer – sit by a pool. We met Rose and Jessica and sauntered over to one of the nice hotels and sat there (when they asked for our room number and we didn’t have one, they told us it was fine to stay there – conscience therefore at ease). I felt amazingly relaxed. We read, talked, went in the water, and snacked. There was something of a bum rush on the way back, but even that didn’t break the mood. I hope I can do it again before the end of summer. I came back early because the Peace Corps Administrative Officer and her family decided to take a little trip to Azrou for the weekend and I wanted to see them. We went to Abdou’s for tea and kittens and rugs – the rock-carver’s daughter was around as well and she is the same age as the Administrative Officer’s daughter, and they were adorable together (as was her son). Elizabeth was hanging around there and we all went out to dinner. Meanwhile, Jong and Jessica came back from the pool later and made their own dinner and amused themselves while I was out.

Yesterday Jong, Jessica and I went for a hike. On the way to Fes, one passes a sign pointing to Ras el Ma; I had heard it is a place of shade and water and has nice hiking trails, so we took a taxi to the turnoff and walked 5K in. We stopped at a fish hatchery, which was interesting (now we should probably go out for trout one day this week), and walked past fields and wildflowers and grazing animals and trees. Ras el Ma is a big campsite and it was full of campers, but devoid of lma (water). We started to hike to where the water would be if there were any, but heard it was another 2K, whereas Ifrane was 5K away, and there were chicken lunches in Ifrane, so we hiked in that direction instead, ate, and taxied home. Is a walk mostly along a road still a hike? It was pleasant – though I learned that the cooperative in Jessica’s site for which we did the workshops in April has stopped working. Sad, but that’s what happens here. We did face masks and hair masks and feel ready for a busy week ahead!

2008-07-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

I need a haircut. I haven’t had one in months. I thought about getting one before Reunions, but I decided that if I scrunched my hair it would look okay. I can’t convey the concept of “trim,” which is really all I want, to make it look neat. I’ve been putting it back (or up) most of the time, since it’s so hot (though it does seem a little cooler this week than it has been for the past couple – I’ve been breathing more easily, and even sleeping a little better). So I really don’t want it any shorter. But when I don’t have it up, I feel it isn’t as neat as I would like it to be. There’s a name for this condition – Peace Corps Hair! At least I have a chance to wash and condition it regularly….

I went to Fes on Saturday to get together with Rose and Jong. We met at McDonald’s – convenient to their taxi stand and also air-conditioned, so a good place to meet, and all right, I’ll admit it, we had a snack – a sundae for me. And while there, one of the YDs in our stage passed through. I bet on any given weekend you can see a PCV at that McDonald’s.

We went to a gallery that’s sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, but it was closed – between exhibits maybe? I had read in my new book, Fes Encounter, that there were people living in caves between the Merenid tombs and the medina; I had wanted to see the tombs one day anyway so we took a cab up there. Bhalil, near Rose’s site, also has caves that people live in and just about every time I visit I suggest going. She asked a local, who said she went once and didn’t feel safe, so I may have to satisfy myself with the caves in Grenada, because I didn’t really see any in Fes either. The view of the medina from the tombs was impressive, and the tombs themselves are interesting ruins. On the way down we passed Borj Nord, a fortification from the Saadian era (Merenids in the early 1400s, Saadians right after that) that is now an Armaments Museum. I told Rose my theory that arms and armor are what you have to walk through to get to the more interesting parts of other museums (Art Institute of Chicago, the Met) so they force you to look at them (once when I told this theory to my friend Pasquale she said she and her dad used to love seeing the arms and armor…). Nevertheless, Rose said she had always been kind of curious to see the building – you can see it from the medina below – and today was the day.

There was a fountain outside, with water, and we walked in and cooled our feet off for a while. There was also a sprinkler watering the grass (both of these are notable) and we cooled off there too. The inside of the building was cool as well, and we sat on benches just inside for quite a while before seeing the museum itself. The ancient weapons were somewhat interesting, the swords beautifully decorated, guns are guns (but many were American-made) and then there were some cannons. There was video footage of a fantasia (men shooting rifles on galloping horses in traditional garb – both the men and the horses, that is); I had seen one of these from behind a crowd while in a taxi on the way to Essaouaira but haven’t had a good view of one, so I watched the video a couple of times. There were stairs up to what looked like a hot roof – we didn’t go – and down to a cistern – we did go, and were struck with the now-rare sensation of cool (it really is one or the other here…). And we dipped our feet in the fountain again. All in all, a success.

We walked down to the medina – too hot for a shopping walk, so at least one is in order in the fall. Fes Encounter describes all sorts of hidden gems, too – riads not yet bought and converted, but available for touring and viewing, and shops on side streets. I asked for and received Marrakesh Encounter too; I feel I have hit most of the highlights of both but that there is more hidden in Fes than in Marrakesh. Always good to have something to go back for. We had some street food near the Bab Boujeloud – there is now a wooden canopy over some of the restaurants there, which provides nice shade – and then went to the Batha Museum. I had been there before, but Rose and Jong had not. It was nice to go back - you see different things, or see things differently, when you go with different people – and we sat on the steps in the garden for a while.

From sitting in McDonald’s to sitting in the armament museum to sitting at lunch to sitting at the Batha Museum garden – going from place to place was enough activity on the hot day – we then went to sit in Café Clock, the expat haven, and had a lemon tart and a piece of cheesecake. Two other volunteers joined us, and I stayed for only a little while – I’d been told taxis back to Azrou are hard to get after six, and even though I had plenty of time before dark, this was definitely the case. There were no taxis at the stand – but there were several people also waiting. Two taxis came and were bum-rushed; I had experienced this once before in Ifrane so I was ready to claw my way in, but even so, I was shoved aside by more aggressive Moroccans. Finally there was a taxi going to Ifrane and I shoved my way into that one and then into one going from Ifrane to Azrou. The latter then was stopped for maybe half an hour while they were clearing the remains of an accident off the road (it’s amazing that that doesn’t happen more often – one of the reasons we were given for not being able to rent cars or travel at night is that Morocco has the second-highest auto accident rate in the world – or is it fatalities? I don’t remember the details – but anyway, I have actually witnessed very few, and I feel I have traveled a lot). So it took a long while to get home, but it was still a wonderful Fes day with friends.

On Sunday, Rose and Jong came down to Azrou. I had made gazpacho and pumpkin-zucchini bread, and together we made spring rolls. Great warm-weather healthy food (all right, maybe not the pumpkin-zucchini bread). Kathy joined us, and we played cards during the heat of the day, went to Abdou’s, and took a walk. I felt one step behind in piffle, though – maybe I should wait and join the Seniors Tour. It was still a day well-spent! And in the morning while I waited for them, I did some GAD work too.

This morning we went to the Monday souk – and for whatever reason had to come home and rest after that. In the afternoon, it was out to Ain Leuh, where they had new rugs to photograph and other cooperative business to discuss. Also, the weavers suggested some girls for the GLOW camp (this year’s target - age 16-20, dropped out of school) – GLOW, you may recall, is Girls (and Guys if it’s GGLOW) Leading Our World. I haven’t talked much about the camp this year because I haven’t worked on it much – it’s almost entirely self-sustaining now (which is how it’s supposed to work!). The Peace Corps volunteers are still doing some fund-raising (if you want to contribute let me know) and are finding the participants. Another twist to this year’s camp is that most of the PCVs who will be helpi - ng out at the actual camp are from other regions, there to learn about GLOW so that they can organize camps in their areas next year.

Our goal for the rest of the week is to work on web sites – I am training Jong to work on one for her potters and Elizabeth to work on one for Timhadite. My proposal for the Al Alhawayn/WPI students who are coming next month was accepted, so they’ll be working on one for the Ain Leuh weavers (both that and Timhadite’s will be linked to the Azrou one). While I’m training everyone else, I’m also going to work on the Azrou and Dar Neghrassi web sites – inshallah. Since Jong is here for work-related leave (WRL) and I had arranged to spend the time with her, Kathy is going to spend a few days this week photographing the Ain Leuh cooperative as they receive additional training on the new looms – win-win for everyone.

I did want to note that in my visits to coastal towns I haven’t seen many sailboats. There are a lot of small fishing boats and also some ocean-going merchant ships, but no sailboats. I wonder if, as development continues and coastal properties are snapped up by Europeans, there will be more pleasure craft. Or maybe the winds and currents are tricky (the coast used to be plied by Barbary pirates, after all). I haven’t sailed regularly in a long time, but even watching sailboats is something I unexpectedly miss.

I heard that there may be a New Year’s Day hockey game between the Blackhawks and the Red Wings, outdoors in Wrigley Field. That sounds appealing – my thought is that I would be traveling then but that might almost be worth coming back for. Sounds as though Billy Joel’s last concerts at Shea would have been too (not that I would have been able to get a ticket). And on the subject of things being missed, I got a “save the date” for Harvard weekend, when there will be an alumni leadership assembly. I have attended many of these and found them very rewarding – and many’s the time when that feeling was a contrast to how I felt at work at the time. It’s nice to feel rewarded by my work now. Even so, I can’t go – we can’t take vacation days in our last three months – and even if I could, I wouldn’t (had to draw the line at Reunions). But the “save the date” card was a visual reminder of how different my life has been for the past almost-two years compared to what it was like before. Up until I left in 2006, I hadn’t missed the home Harvard or Yale weekend – since 1976 (I’m fairly certain). I also got a letter noting that my 25th Wharton Reunion is next May. In theory, I will be back in the States and able to attend that one. Will I?

2008-07-17T15:11:00.001-07:00

After visiting Safi last year, I felt I had enough Safi pottery, but as time wore on, I realized I wanted more. Specifically, I wanted some small square plates in various colors. You can get Safi bowls all over the country – but the more you narrow down something that you are looking for, the harder it is to find. I found some plates in Marrakesh in May but when I got home I wasn’t happy with some of them – not flat enough. So when it turned out that I had to be in Casablanca on a Sunday night to be there for the Foreign Service Officer Test the next morning, I felt I could make the long trek to Safi, since I didn’t have to make it all the way back home by Sunday evening.

On Friday night, I went to the taxi stand and told them I wanted an entire taxi for six o’clock the next morning, though if there were other people who wanted to go to Meknes at that time they were welcome. I also got up a little earlier – no cutting it close for me. And I paid the extra up front to go directly to the train station. We didn’t stop for gas or oil checks and I got to the station half an hour early! Too early – but better than too late. Dawn over the Middle Atlas was spectacular (as are many of the sunsets); the fields are now shades of dried green and yellow and brown – gone is the lush green of the spring. We need rain! It rained a little bit today, but not much. Still, sheep and goats are grazing here all summer. What will happen to this country if there isn’t more rain? The desert will creep north…and the forests will disappear….and then we went into a fog bank. I found myself thinking, “Mediterranean climate – great for grapes” and almost at the line where the fog began, so did the vineyards.

When I went to the CTM office here in Azrou, they told me that the CTM to Safi was sold out. But when I was at the CTM in Casablanca last week on the way to Oualidia, I thought I might just ask if they had tickets – and sure enough, they did. After patting myself on the back for that, I treated myself to spaghetti bolognese during my train-to-bus layover. I had the seat in the front of a bus with a big picture window – which functioned much the way a magnifying glass does in cartoons – it focused the sun right on me. Still, I read the U.S. Constitution and also read a pocket atlas cover to cover. At one point, the bus was directed to pull over. It couldn’t be the King, could it? Not enough flags lining the road. Turned out it was a bicycle race coming through – that was neat to see!

Once I got to Safi, I felt the cool ocean breeze and decided to go right out for a walk. First, to the new part of the medina, where I got a Magnum bar and looked at the Moroccan clothes. The fixed-price pottery shop where we had had good luck in December was closed; I went on to the pottery souk. Lots of pottery, but not a lot of square plates. I went to the ocean for the sunset and then back to the room for a shower and a bath, deciding that sleep the night before the night before the test was of the essence.

Sunday morning I had a chance to do some of the things we hadn’t had time for in our half a day in December. I went to the administrative center and took a picture of the world’s largest tagine. And then to the former palace, now the home of the National Ceramics Museum. It contained mostly things I have seen before – representative samples from Fes, Meknes and Safi - but I did photograph some 19th century Tamegroute pottery for Jong to use in the web site we’re going to build next week. And I saw some Safi pottery with traditional Middle Atlas Berber carpet designs – why don’t they make more of those!

On the street under the pottery hill there are more pottery shops – I probably looked in every one of those, and then I went to the hill, but not many potters were working on Sunday, and the store where we had had good luck in December was closed. I didn’t realize this would be such a quest! I actually started running low on time. I bought a bowl with a small Berber design (not as dramatic as the one in the museum, but still nice) and went back to the pottery souk for some plates – found a few I was satisfied with, but none in blue, which I think is my favorite Safi color. The quest continues.

I took a CTM back to Casablanca – CTM as it was meant to be – air conditioned, with few stops – although I wouldn’t have minded a longer ride had it meant going by the wild and scenic coast that we drove past in December. Kareem met me at the terminal and we went out for a fresh fish dinner at the port and talked about how the test the next day could be life-changing (he said it, and then I told him I had been thinking about life-changing things lately. Speaking of which – Elisa’s experience so far in Uganda has included a lot of rain. Send some here!). I had agreed to share a room with Kareem but was a little anxious about it after getting little sleep with my roommate at the warden meeting coughing all night – but it worked out; we had a budget hotel with a spacious room and shower and I slept well.

The Foreign Service Officer Test the next day went – well, I guess I can cautiously say it went well. It was computer-based, and somehow I didn’t know that – if I had, I’d have brought my computer glasses. I knew the majority of the general knowledge questions and was able to make educated guesses on most of the others. Personality is what it is...and I feel confident enough in the style manual section that I didn’t go over my answers. The essay was on a topic of interest to me, but half an hour wasn’t a lot of time to put it together. The test was held at Dar America – an arm of the consulate, with a library and public programs, and also, as Kareem pointed out, the site of the April 2007 bombings. Kareem, Clark, another PCV who took the test (my alternate warden, who is from the Chicago area and whose mother was told about my blog before he left – we have yet to figure out by whom!) and I went out for Chinese food after the test – yum! It’s not as good as the Chinese food you can get in New York, but it was tasty. Kareem and Clark left, but I had planned to spend the night there so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting back to the room before checkout and getting home before nightfall.

This was a chance to explore Casablanca. Conventional wisdom says that other than the Hassan II mosque, it’s not worth it, but the tour books have information on things to see and do, and I was never one for conventional wisdom while traveling anyway. First I went to the Quartier Habous, a new medina (as opposed to Ville Nouvelle) built by the French – kind of sanitized, with lots of shops – a pleasant place to walk around. Saw the King’s palace there (couldn’t get very close to it) and the Pasha’s residence, now a court, yet another example of beautiful Islamic architecture. Then I did an Art Deco walk in the downtown district with information culled from three of my tour books. I love Art Deco architecture and it was a pleasure to walk around and be a tourist, looking at and photographing buildings, unharassed and feeling (though it probably wasn’t true) unnoticed. There are some impressive buildings, and it was also nice to just walk for hours. The picture is unrepresentative (most of the buildings are white – Casa Blanca, after all) but I had to include it because when I saw this theatre I thought I could be in any rundown town in the Midwest.

I went out to a restaurant on the Corniche, the strand of beach outside of town with fancy eateries, clubs and resorts. Another great ocean sunset, and a treat of steak au poivre. I went back to the room and a few minutes later heard an explosion. I jumped – and then I heard another and another and realized that it was fireworks for Bastille Day! I had even walked by the place where they were setting them up, thought they looked like explosives, and failed to put two and two together. I went up to the roof and saw most of the show – I miss seeing fireworks from the roof, which I used to do all summer in Chicago.

The next morning, I went to a church that I hadn’t gotten to on my Art Deco walk. They say that the stained glass, by an artisan from Chartres, is based on Berber rug motifs, but I didn’t really think so. Still, it was pretty. And then I walked to the Hassan II Mosque. I toured it last March with my family and might have toured it again had I been able to time it right, but I felt more like walking anyway; now that I have seen more I see how massive and impressive it is. It’s the third-largest (or second- depending on the tour book) mosque in the world, and larger than almost every church and cathedral. The workmanship is exquisite; it was enough this time to appreciate it from the outside. I then went to three different addresses that three different books referred to as artisanas – one was a non-descript building and the other two were stores, not government-run. Walked through the old medina for a few minutes, and then it was time for the train.

Jong is on vacation or work-related leave until the end of August (avoiding the hottest part of the summer in perhaps the hottest PCV site) and she had saved a seat for me on the full train (the 12:15 from Casablanca is the 1:15 from Rabat – same as last week). I had invited Kathy, Elizabeth and Briana over to play Piffle with the person who had brought it to me – almost a year ago to the day.

Yesterday I welcomed four Al Akhawayn summer students to town – the daughter of a Princeton classmate (who is also a Princeton student) and three friends of hers. We went to the pizza place and then to Abdou’s (I brought them for the tea and the kittens, but since it was their second-to-last week in the country, they were ready to buy rugs and also wood products at the artisana). Their big paper is due next week, so they may come back after that for more! The daughter of another classmate of mine is going to be a student at Al Akhawayn in the fall – I may see both her and her parents. Jong had a chance to see what my life is like – people coming through all the time – very different from life in her isolated site.

Jong left today for Sefrou and I thought it would be a good time to back up my computer – that turned out to be more of an ordeal, frustration, even panic than I thought, but I think it’s under control. Went out to Ain Leuh – turns out the weavers were away; I had a cup of coffee and made a long-distance call and felt much better. De-taxied (similar to de-planing) at Ait Yahia Oualla and had a refreshing walk into Azrou with Kathy. Seeing Abdou and the kittens (in that order) was uplifting as well. Jong’s coming back next week and I’m looking forward to it, but it’s been nice having the evening to myself.

By the way, I found out what the mystery herb in the beans and lentils recipe is – cilantro! It was hard to tell when it was mixed with parsley and taken out of the freezer...

2008-07-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

I followed last week’s meltdown with a minor triumph – an on-the-spot darija haiku, to explain haiku to Abdou. It was hard to do without knowing the word for syllable, but we take our triumphs as we can – and then Linda, who came up from Khenifra, and I went to lunch with Abdou and his family. I had made a use-up-the-zucchini bread, and I don’t know whether they liked it or not, but they graciously served it after the fruit dessert, and we left half for them to enjoy at a time when they’re more inclined to eat sweets. Linda had come up to show her jellaba jewelry to Madeleine’s family – her mother, two sisters, two cousins and a friend – and we met them back at Abdou’s and escorted them to the artisana and to some of the other shops in town, and they shopped up a storm (guests who buy are more than welcome!).

I also meant to mention a minor triumph of travel last week – taking some oral rehydration salts with me. I have generally used these only when hit with Big D, though I also took some last year when I told the doctor I felt I was always dehydrated. Traveling with them was a blessing – I never got a headache last weekend, even though the travel was long and sometimes hot. I wish I had been doing this all along – all too often I’ve arrived somewhere feeling not just dehydrated but depleted.

So – last Sunday I arrived in Rabat in time for dinner, and then after dinner took a walk to the ocean (even though I had just been to the ocean!) with some people I knew and some people I had heard of but was seeing for the first time. Wardens in the past have been a second-year SBD or YD, with a first-year SBD or YD as alternate; this year there are some people from other sectors, but still more SBD than anything else, and it was nice to get to know some first-years I hadn’t met yet. When I got home from the walk, I discovered a sleeping roommate (who had not arrived before I left) – turns out it was a first-year SBD who had found my blog before she came here. We exchanged a lot of emails and when I found out how far away her site was and after not going to training, I thought we would never meet. It was nice to be her roommate and to have a chance to talk with her, except for the fact that she had a cough, and by the third night I felt not only a sleep deficit but a cold of my own coming on.

I think last year’s conference was just one day but this year it was two days. Wardens – an unfortunate name, I think – are part of the Emergency Action Plan – our main duty would be to assist in the event of an emergency. This is not just terrorism but civil unrest and natural disasters – there have been two major earthquakes in Morocco in the past 50 years, one that destroyed the city of Agadir in 1960 and one that rocked Al Hoceima in 2004, and also significant floods. Our main non-emergency function is to be notified by the people in our group if they go away from their site for the day on a non-workday – but few people in my group contact me, and that goes for everyone else. I didn’t see how a day’s worth of material could come out of this last year – or two days this year – but both times I was surprised by not only how much material there was but also by how relevant it was. It really reinforced that safety and security is a priority. Perhaps most important, though, was meeting the other wardens and establishing a network.

We started with a discussion of roles and responsibilities. There are different things to do for each of the stages of the Emergency Action Plan. We then had a presentation/Q&A about the new whereabouts policy (I may not have discussed this much because it hasn’t meant much of a change for me – but it’s basically notify rather than ask permission. The truth is that they can still question your reasons for going somewhere during the work week. Also, we are no longer restricted to just two Saturday nights per month out of site, but since the new policy came into effect I haven’t taken more than that! Or less). There’s been a lot of confusion about the policy, so now wardens can be “experts” if people have questions. We then played a game to reinforce the Emergency Action Plan – that was fun and got us moving. And then did case studies with scenarios such as terrorism, natural disaster and avian flu and role plays such as not writing down the information and therefore transmitting wrong information to the people in the group.

It was strange to be back at the Hotel Chellah – I remember those first few days in Rabat, standing on the roof terrace and looking out at the city, walking to the beach with people I had just met (one of them was Rose, and I liked her from the start), watching people play card games and wondering if I would have friends, getting used to the food and water. It was a step down from the Sheraton University City but now it’s a big step up from where we usually stay – Western toilets and towels en-suite – and a bathtub, which I took advantage of – and air conditioning (which my roommate turned off because of her cough). Last year both PST and COS seemed so far away – I was just about at the halfway point. Now I will go back to the Chellah next month for COS conference – where did the time go? I had thought that I would return from Reunions and start working on What’s Next – but June went by and I am still in the present. Now I think that I will spend the next month doing as much as I can on the web site and will use COS conference as the marker for working on the future.

There was an auditor in town – every Peace Corps post must be audited every five years – and though his primary purpose was to check the books, he also wanted to interview some volunteers. Ever interested in providing feedback, I started talking with him at lunchtime and continued after the sessions were over. Some of the questions were financial – did I fill out the living allowance survey and the settling-in allowance survey and did I get enough money each month (I told them that I did buy souvenirs but more, that DSL is not considered a necessity – I said I’d spend just as much at a cyber and am more efficient at home, and that Peace Corps is doing more and more electronic communication – and he said he hears that a lot). It was also a chance to air some of the disappointments that I have experienced in my interactions with Peace Corps staff – he was very receptive, and it was nice to feel that someone cared. At the end he shook my hand and thanked me for my service and I said how rare it was to hear that here!

There was time both at lunch and between the sessions and dinner for a walk, and since the weather was mild thanks to the coastal breeze (I don’t know if it’s hotter back in Azrou now than it was before I left, or whether it just feels that way) it was great to be outside. I went to the aforementioned beauty-products pharmacie and the other store and also to Label Vie, a supermarket, where I bought spring-roll wrappers and other things I can’t get in my site. We also played some cards every night up on the roof terrace.

On Monday night, we all went to the Country Director’s house. This time I knew what to expect – museum-quality artisanal decorations in every room, Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza and Breyer’s and Edy’s ice cream, and Barbra Streisand on the flat-screen TV, but it was fun watching the new wardens and alternates marvel the way we all marveled last year. He is retiring and a new CD (another acronym!) is starting in September, so this was his last reception. I had a great time.

Tuesday’s sessions started with a briefing from the Deputy Regional Safety Officer at the US Embassy. He talked about his duties in protecting Americans in the country and about the current situation in Morocco. We then had a surprise test – not a quiz, but an exercise in which we had to call all of the people in our warden group and confirm contact. Most of them were easily reachable, but when others were hard to get, my competitive nature flared as I saw other wardens having better luck. It wasn’t really a competition but making it one made it more fun. One of the people I called had her headphones on so had to be called several times, one was in a meeting, and two were traveling – with Peace Corps knowledge – in places without cell phone reception. Still, it was a relief that night when the last person called back and we had reached 100 percent.

In the afternoon, we had a mini-VSN training session – I had suggested it, thinking that the wardens could be an additional source of support to their groups, but also that in a time of crisis some people might just need to talk and be listened to. I then led a session on the harassment survey, briefly talking about the results and then breaking up into small groups to come up with prevention strategies, which weren’t asked for on the survey but were asked for by the CD – we’ll add those and the coping strategies from the survey and an IST session to the next Safety and Security Manual.

Going with the flow led most of the people in the group to TGIFriday’s for dinner – we walked there and back, too. I have always thought it would be nice to walk to or from the Peace Corps office one day, and if I never do, this was the moral equivalent, since the restaurant is nearby. Now I have a better sense of Rabat, too. I had a Caesar salad and shared appetizers of buffalo wings and potato skins – again, it was more fun to watch people who hadn’t had this kind of food in a while enjoy it than it was for me to actually eat it (though it was tasty). The football player wasn’t there, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to him again. Among the vintage records on the wall was one from Barbra Streisand, and I pointed it out to those who had heard of her only the day before (feel old now?).

On Wednesday morning I went to the medina, first enjoying the Andalusian Garden and the Casbah des Oudayas with its ocean view, and then purchasing “the most beautiful rug in the world” TM (not really trademarked that’s how I refer to it). It's all hand-knotted and is probably finer than anything else I have. I felt rushed though in order to make the 1:15 train – glad I will be going to Rabat a few more times!

I’m up late writing this because I’m going away again tomorrow (or even though) – to Safi, where I will either get more pottery or forever hold my peace. It’ll be another long travel day, starting early again; it’s about an hour south of Oualidia. I felt I had plenty of time there last week and hope to feel the same this week. I’m only going as far back as Casablanca, which is what makes the trip somewhat reasonable – the Foreign Service Officer Test is Monday. I’m staying in Casablanca until Tuesday, and when I return, Jong is going to spend a couple of vacation days here. I told her it’s not vacation for me and that I still have to work, but it may mean that I don’t write again until later in the week.

2008-07-11T08:12:00.001-07:00

It’s always tough to wake up early in order to travel, but in my experience almost always worth it to have more time at your destination. And this past weekend was one of those times! The hardest and most stressful part is the taxi to Meknes – I almost always have to pay for the whole thing, and often the driver doesn’t share my sense of urgency. I’ve learned to allow time for the driver to stop for gas, but in this case he woke up from dozing, cleaned up the taxi a bit, checked his oil twice, stopped for gas, checked the oil again (better than to run out of oil though, right?) and I had to give him extra money to take us right to the train station – but once we got to the train I relaxed. I say we because between oil checks another person arrived who also had to make the train. I had already paid for six spots and he paid me for one of them. The extra I paid to get us to the train was more than the spot he paid for. He wanted to sit with me on the train and then exchange phone numbers and see me again. I wouldn’t have been inclined to do it ayway (I don’t give out my phone number to strangers but I do let people give me theirs, to be gracious and/or to end the conversation) but I certainly don’t appreciate the fact that he basically got a free ride when he needed to get to the train as much as I did.

He got off the train at Rabat and I went on to Casablanca. My plan was to have a quick lunch at the garden café where Rob and I dined back in March – but they were serving only breakfast. I had made zucchini bread on Friday night and had eaten some on the train – didn’t need more bread. So I had a juice and just have to hope for a chance to go eat there again, after noon. The CTM bus to Oualidia was pleasant enough, though I had a chance to ponder which part of a baby I would most like to have touching me while it is on the lap of the mother sitting next to me. Shoes? They’re probably not dirty because the baby has been carried, but they’re still shoes. Head? No – turns out babies’ heads are hot. Hands? Light touch, but stickiness potential. I went with hands – and considered myself lucky that the baby didn’t cry during the trip.

And then I arrived in Oualidia. It was my new favorite city in Morocco because on December 1 it had Magnum bars, and it might be my new favorite city again (Azrou excepted, of course!). There’s an upper part of town, with a couple of hotels and a couple of restaurants, but I quickly made it down to the lower part of town, next to the beach. I had reserved a hotel room there with an ocean-view balcony. There was a cool ocean breeze. Cool – had I really forgotten what that felt like? I put my stuff down and went out to the beach and looked at the crashing surf. Oualidia is known for its lagoon, where the swimming is supposed to be safer, and that was certainly more crowded, but there were a fair number of people in the ocean as well. I took the short promenade (which reminded me of the long one in Cape Town) to the lagoon, saw some boats for hire, and asked the closest one for a ride. The mul-boat asked for my phone number and gave me his and told me I could stay with him next time – I didn’t even give him an inshallah in acknowledgement. Traveling alone does make you more of a target. I wouldn’t call this harassment, but it gets tiresome. I asked about birds and he said to come back in the morning, so we made the afternoon’s boat ride a short one and I took a walk along the edge of the lagoon.

I’ve been to several beaches in Morocco by now and never felt compelled to go in the water - maybe it’s a combination of beach not that inviting, water a little chilly, lots of men staring, and women wearing jellabas in the water. Oualidia felt much more comfortable – there were more families and not just large groups of men, and while there were women in jellabas, there were also women in less conservative dress, and teens in bikini tops (though not bottoms). Still, the water was a little chilly for my tastes (not that I haven’t been in colder water in Lake Michigan), and for whatever reason, I didn’t feel the need to take off my quick-dri capri pants, though I had on a conservative bathing suit (boy shorts and wide-strapped tank top) underneath. That said, I had a lovely walk, and then walked by the ocean, with waves crashing into rocks on one side and beached pink-and-green fishing boats on the other. It was so peaceful – can it be that I haven’t relaxed in a while?

It started to cloud over and get cooler and the families left and I had the beach to myself. It looked as though it would be too cloudy to have a good sunset, which saved me the choice of whether to go to dinner sooner or wait until the sun set. Good thing – I was hungry! I had delicious fresh fish and called it an early night. Oh, I had a Magnum bar too, for Youssef. Well, one for me on Saturday and one for him on Sunday, per his suggestion. Oualidia is known for its oysters but I wasn’t adventurous enough to try any! The next morning I was out at eight to meet the boat – but there were no boats. I asked a lifeguard and he said to come back at nine or ten. Moroccan time! The lagoon looked very different at low tide; I headed for the Atlantic side and took a long walk. Not far from the shore there are some vegetated dunes with dune-buggy tracks – reminded me of Michigan and Indiana. In Oualidia you can rent a bike or a dune buggy or a sea kayak or go horse- or camel-riding on the beach – I wouldn’t do the dune buggy but any of the others would be fun.

When I got back to the lagoon there were a few boats there. I was kind of hoping for someone other than the same person I was with the day before but it didn’t work out that way. I did keep the conversation to a minimum though. We went out much farther than we had in our ride the day before – past all of the development and the King’s palace (Mohammed V, not the current one) on shore and the old Casbah on the hill. Here were oyster beds and people working them, fields with cows grazing, and birds. I saw three baby flamingoes and a number of other birds but not nearly the variety I saw in Moulay Bousselham. So if I had to choose, which would I return to? Maybe Oualidia because of the restaurant options and the general feel. I did take a final walk, thinking of how and when I could get back to Oualidia before I leave. Decided to have lunch - more fresh fish - and then head for Rabat – if I had left before lunch I might have been able to catch a train in El Jadida, but I kind of wanted to see how taxi-hopping would be. The taxi from Oualidia to El Jadida didn’t take long to fill, and it was a short trip. The taxi from El Jadida to Casablanca took even less time to fill, but it was a longer ride and I don’t enjoy being squished in one position for too long. In Casablanca they told me to take a train to Rabat – I’d just missed one, but they run every half an hour; it was nice to have a seat and not be squished for that last leg.

At the Fourth of July barbecue, I spent a lot of time talking with a couple of women who had grown up in the orphanage. They were back to celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the people who works there. One had not been back to Morocco since she left twelve years ago; she said she kept meaning to but things kept getting in the way. I told her that I felt that way about St. Maarten – when we buried my father there I thought I would try to go back every eighteen months or so. It’s been much longer than that since I have been there – I came close to going the year I had my cataract operations, but going before, when I could barely see in the sun, didn’t make any sense, and going after, when I couldn’t go in the water, also didn’t make sense. So I could relate when she said things kept getting in the way. As I was walking along the beach in Oualidia I thought about the beach (and the water!) in St. Maarten and about my father – he passed away 20 years ago this year and I still miss him every day. A friend of his wrote to me to say he would be proud of me for doing what I am doing, and as I write this I write to him too.

I also wanted to write more about the face cream – it is something of a luxury here and I am lucky that it’s available in Azrou; it certainly wouldn’t be in a more rural site. I could get it at Marjane or in Rabat if I couldn’t get it here, and I have had people bring me face cream for night use. I was afraid that the sun would age me here so I have prioritized skin care. I know I am not exactly roughing it here (other than the temperature extremes both outside and inside my apartment) but I didn’t want you to think luxuries were easy to find. And since I was musing about writing more on that, I then went to town when I was in Rabat, getting not only face soap that I can’t get here, but also a soothing gel for tired feet and an energizing gel for tired legs.

I’ll save describing the warden conference for another time and will just say now that the group was a good one, and it was fun to spend time with them and get to know some people I had not met. The trip back was tough – three of us took the 1:15 train and could not find seats. There might have been singles, but none of us were going to take a seat if we couldn’t all get them, so we stood at the end of the car for most of the time (finally got seats at the stop before Meknes, about 40 minutes away). Summer travel last year was tough too, but I didn’t think I’d have any problems in the middle of the day in the middle of the week before August. I do have a couple of trips planned, and I want to buy my tickets in advance and reserve spots in nicer (maybe even air-conditioned) hotels, after the lessons learned from last summer. One of the first-year SBDs came back via Azrou, and Kathy and Elizabeth came over for homemade pizza. I either caught the cold my roommate had or found one on my own, so I was not feeling well, but a good night’s sleep after they all left did wonders, as did cold remedies and vitamin C.

Yesterday we met at Café Bilal and played some rummy, had lunch with another first-year SBD also on her way back from the warden conference, and then waited with them for the bus – and waited, and waited. Another warning about summer travel! I abandoned them, telling them I had to take a nap. When I woke up, I had enough energy to go for a walk, and then Kathy and I stopped by Abdou’s. We had tea with Abdou and his father, and got into a discussion about proverbs. Abdou told me one last week and this week found someone to translate it – basically it’s something like climb up the tree to get a fig, and when you come down, someone will say, “who said you could go up the tree for a fig?” I finally got what he was trying to tell me, but I don’t know if the proverb makes sense to me. Then his father told another one, and I had a little meltdown – I do wish I understood more. They were both so apologetic – and they are always so helpful with pronunciation and conjugation and vocabulary – that I felt even worse for melting down. But I didn’t feel well and I was hot and tired! I do wish I understood more. Well, I still have time and I haven’t given up yet. And proverbs are tricky. The second one is more or less “the person who does not have anything he wants has to want what he has.” Or as Kathy put it, if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.

I was quoted again on Global Voices On-Line - http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/07/01/morocco-catching-up-with-peace-corps-bloggers/. The author mentioned my thoughts about all of the things I want to take home and whether they will fit. The column itself was about reflection, and I have been reflecting on THAT lately. I hear that COS conference helps to give you perspective and closure, so leading up to it and afterwards I’ll have more to say about that. The column also talked about young Peace Corps Volunteers – more than once – so I added the comment that while we may all be young at heart, I am mid-career and Connie, also quoted, closer to retirement!

2008-07-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

It finally rained a little bit on Monday (with all due apologies to those who have seen way too much of it lately) – but it didn’t cool things off at all. I did adjust my schedule this week, spending more time indoors in the heat of the day and then going back out. I felt I wasn’t getting enough exercise, and in my evening walks I have run into some people I haven’t seen for a while! There’s been some sort of celebration (or some other reason for loud music) across the street from me every night this week, into the wee hours, so I’ve been allowing myself to sleep later than usual, even though morning walks would be an option too. Barking dogs this week too….but no construction (though the house is not finished).

Brunch on Sunday went well. This was for the warden group, the people I would lead in the unlikely event of an evacuation. I had a similar brunch about six months ago when the then-new people were still in home stay and it was a good getaway for them, so I decided to do it again while the newest people are in home stay; for both that one and this one I invited not just my warden group but anyone who could get to my site and back in a day (since the warden groups are somewhat arbitrarily split geographically to make the numbers even). I had about 20 people – potluck was definitely the way to go (though early on the need for a second batch of brownies became clear, so I quickly made more – good thing I did it early, because I have an electric oven and the electricity went off for a good portion of the afternoon). I had a good time, and I think everyone else did, though I feel I didn’t really get a chance to talk to most of the guests!

Frank (in the area on vacation) stayed over, and we went to a café to watch the Euro Cup final. Cafes are the domain of men in Morocco, but in Azrou there are a couple of women-friendly cafes; I frequent a few, so they know me and I feel comfortable. Soccer is also the domain of men – especially soccer in cafes – but I felt all right in one of my women-friendly cafes (there was one other woman there), though I would not have gone without Frank. It was nice to participate in the group spectating – though I could not wait to get home and wash the cigarette smoke out of my hair and clothes! The Moroccan crowd was partial to Spain, so everyone was happy with the outcome.

On Monday I met another set of parents (Elizabeth’s) – it’s nice to meet friends and family members of other volunteers, as it was nice for me to have my friends meet other PCVs. Went to see the kittens (now there are five – the one that was born after I left on Saturday looks just like Minush!). And went out to Ain Leuh – I got downstairs and realized I was in the wrong meeting, this one of a bee cooperative, but they invited me to stay and I didn’t see a good way to excuse myself (Jackie was going to work with them….they need marketing help…but I feel stretched thin already). So I spent only a few minutes with the weavers – nevertheless kept some things moving.

Tuesday I spent most of the day working on my quarterly report. I have the feeling that I am the only person (sucker?) in my stage who is actually still doing quarterly reports, but I haven’t wanted to ask anyone else if they did theirs. Actually, even though it took a lot out of me, it’s good to do – it helps me summarize what I’ve been working on, which will be helpful for the DOS (new acronym! Description of Service – part of the paperwork we have to do in the last three months; I hear there’s a lot of that) and my resume. It was good to go for a walk after working on it all afternoon – I wouldn’t say it was cool, but it was cooler. And I visited the kittens.

On Wednesday, I relabeled the tables at the artisana. Over the months, some had gotten misplaced or lost, and I thought it was time. It’s merely a coincidence that the new program manager will be in the area next week and the program assistant the week after that, setting things up for training and developing potential new sites. And I visited the kittens – but more, Abdou was watching Wimbledon, so I watched some with him; that was fun! I may watch some of the Olympics with him too (last year I remember World and European track championships being on TV, and while I never parked myself to watch it, I did catch quite a bit). I also prepared a talk on the harassment survey for the upcoming warden meeting – I’m going to talk about the results briefly and then ask small groups to brainstorm prevention strategies (the country director asked for that, saying that if they came from fellow PCVs they might not sound so parental) and also what we as wardens can do to support fellow volunteers who might be experiencing harassment.

I noticed an article in The New York Times (inspired by Frank, I changed my home page to nytimes.com a couple of months ago and wish I had done it sooner!) called “the eleven best foods you aren’t eating.” On the list are beets (which last week I ate more of than ever before in my life put together), cinnamon and turmeric (which are commonly used in Moroccan dishes), prunes (also common here – just had some in that beet salad, but since it is plum season have been having fresh, not dried), pomegranate juice (I am looking forward to that season!) and canned pumpkin (I have fresh when I have on couscous on Fridays).

I had another cooking lesson from my host mother yesterday, this one on beans (same recipe for lentils – just shorter cooking time). I love her beans and lentils! You have to soak them overnight, and the beans took almost two hours in a pressure cooker. I don’t have a pressure cooker, and I’m not sure I would get one, but it would shorten the cooking time – so I don’t know how often I might make these beans for myself. Anyway, since they are delicious, I’ll provide the recipe, though she measures by eye so I would say maybe 2 tsp for all the spices, and then adjust to taste. I don’t know what the type of beans here are, but they are white.

For six people – ½ kilo beans
Soak overnight, drain, rinse, put in pot and fill with water about 1” above the beans.
One chopped onion
3 bay leaves
6 garlic cloves (whole – at the end they float and you smoosh them and stir)
½ cup oil
2 tsp tomato paste
Spices: salt, ginger, turmeric, pepper
Handful of parsley (mixed with another herb I could not identify…)
Wait for it to boil, and then cover and cook on medium flame until done.

As I said, they were delicious! My host mother asked about the Fourth of July (time for cultural exchange!) and was surprised that the United States was ever a colony (I said that’s why we speak English). I did remind her and others that Morocco was the first country to recognize the new U.S.! Friends ever since. After lunch, I went out to Ain Leuh – in reviewing my notes for the quarterly report I realized that an update was due to Aid to Artisans in June, and oops – now it’s July. Also took more pictures and did another artisan interview.

This morning I went to the artisana and did some errands (pharmacie, post office). I felt like going to Bilal for a juice, even though I don’t usually go alone, and while I was there, an American who works at one of the orphanages nearby (those are a mystery – missionaries are not allowed here, but the children are quietly brought up Christian, I think) invited me to a Fourth of July barbecue! It clouded over and thundered a little bit in the afternoon (probably because I was invited to a barbecue…) but never did more than sprinkle. I listened to the Wimbledon radio feed on the internet (tennis is – er, interesting on the radio) and worked on the web site a little. On my evening stroll, I explored a new neighborhood, lingered over a shampoo and crème rinse purchase in what might be Azrou’s only air-conditioned store, and bought Anthelios – sunblock facial cream that costs $29 in the U.S. and is hard to find, and is readily available here and less expensive (I might have to stock up before I return). The barbecue was fun, but I didn’t stay long, because I am leaving early tomorrow. I’m going to Oualidia for the Saturday overnight; it’s far, but the ride back won’t be too bad because on Sunday I am going only as far as Rabat. Oualidia was my new favorite city for having Magnum bars on December 1 – Steve, Elisa, Youssef and I saw it for less than an hour; it will be interesting to see what this beach/lagoon resort will be like in the summer! In Rabat I have the warden meeting – two days this year, instead of one. I’ll be back home on Wednesday.

I’ve had it in my head for a while that my trip back to the states last month would mark a turning point after which I would get started on What’s Next. I did a little bit before I left – filling out the Foreign Service application forced me to think about my Peace Corps service in resume terms, and I took a stab at redoing my resume, only to realize it needs a lot of work (if not the dreaded multiple resumes). I hear from the people who just COSed and are either traveling or just got home how much they miss Morocco and how hard it is to adjust. I hear from the people who COSed in November how tough the job market is and how hard it is to work in an office. That said, there are things I can do – get myself into the Peace Corps staff application system, fill out USAID and other federal government on-line applications, start looking at non-profit, development and other web sites more frequently – some of these things take months to process, so best to start soon. I’m bringing my resume with me to work on this weekend…

The picture is of Zaouiat d’Ifrane. I had good pictures of the pink oleanders, good ones of the cliff and the lush growth there, good ones of the view of the village beneath the cliffs and the mountains beyond, but nothing that really captured all of it or the fun of the hiking path. At least this is a taste!

2008-06-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

Of all of the places Elisa, Steve, Youssef and I went on our Azrou environs exploration/hiking day, the place I most wanted to get back to was Zaouiat d’Ifrane. It’s a small village, situated under cliffs with waterfalls and a nice hiking path. It’s possible to get there with public transportation – especially if you buy out a taxi and have the driver wait for the return trip – and several of us have talked about it, but it isn’t easy, so we hadn’t done it. Well, Briana’s mother was visiting and she rented a car, so Briana, Kathy and I piled in and off we went. Along the way, pink oleanders were in bloom along the watercourses, and they also lined part of our hiking path. First we went to a new (for me) part of the path and found a picnic spot by the stream. Then we did the path up to just under the cliffs, where it was cool in the shade, and looked at the view of the town and the Middle Atlas beyond; there was one spring that ran over the cliffs, and we stood under it to have a cool sunshower after more hiking. It was a wonderful day!

Briana’s mother is training to be a workshop leader for a company that runs relationship seminars, and she tested out this week’s mini-lecture on us over some homemade pizza. I feel I have new insights into men, women and relationships! If you contact me in person I can tell you more, but I don’t feel I should reveal the secrets here – instead I can direct you to her company at understandmen.com. As with many self-help things, it’s probably nothing we haven’t heard before, but it’s phrased differently. There will always be a market for self-help and for relationship books and workshops – and reasons to keep reading and attending. I enjoyed this way of thinking, though – I will admit I haven’t given romantic relationships much thought in a while (other than to declare my intention to give up entirely). Maybe this too was part of the transition back to the real world, where there won’t be volunteers dropping by to take a shower or available more often than not for coffee or a card game…. Briana’s mother is going to send her a book and some CDs, and maybe we will gather to listen/read them together.

Perhaps more impactful (especially if I do decide to give up) is a new solitaire game that Briana’s mother taught us – I have been playing it often since she taught us and might take a break from typing to play some more! You can play it in your lap, so it’s good for a plane or train trip. It didn’t have a name, but I’ve been calling it Laptop Solitaire. You have the deck face down and then deal from the bottom, putting one card at a time face up, and you always look at the last four cards. If the top card and the fourth one down are of the same suit, you remove the two in between (and put them in another pile, assuming you have that much room in your lap). If they are the same card (e.g. both eights), you remove all four cards. So if you have removed the middle two, you have a new four to look at, and you might be able to remove more. She said that if at the end you have eight or fewer cards, you do well – it is possible to win and get rid of all of your cards, but that has not happened to me yet. It’s a fun, easy and fast game and I think it will come in handy!

It’s hot, by the way. I think I mentioned that when I came back from Reunions it was summer. Well, it didn’t take long for it to get very hot (though the people in the south are even hotter). My apartment is hot. It’s hot outside. I think it’s been hotter for longer than it was last summer – and it’s only the beginning. I’d say 90s-100s F. I did get the fan out and as I go from room to room I unplug it and replug it in, and it helps a lot. But it’s still hard to sleep, and I have to adjust my schedule to avoid being out in the hottest part of the day. Moroccans do! I have been reluctant to do it, because I don’t always have the momentum to go back out for the evening stroll, but it’s better than going out in the heat and then coming home and having to lie down since I feel so drained. I got into the rhythm last summer, but it helped to have Amanda and Youssef around. I spoke to them recently, by the way – they’re doing well! They aren’t coming back in August, though – I didn’t know until they told that to me just how much I had been counting on it. They may come for l-Eid Kbir; that’s after I COS, so I suggested they come early, and maybe I can stay a little late. Heard from Lee recently too – he is going to work for USAID in Cairo! He encouraged me to apply there.

But first – the Foreign Service Officer test. I had a chance to review the study guide on my trip to Oued Zem. The test has four parts. First, there’s an essay – say, on the limits of free speech – in which you get graded on your ability to make an argument and use support points, not on the opinion you express. I haven’t written an essay like that in quite some time, so I have been thinking about it, but I don’t know how much I can do to prepare. The next part is multiple-choice general knowledge – US History, World History, geography, popular culture, management techniques, math and statistics – a real hodgepodge. I correctly answered most of the questions on the practice test but again, this is hard to prepare for (though I did buy an atlas when I was back in the states, and Rob recommended I download a copy of the Constitution). The next part is style manual – a reading with some underlined passages and then multiple choice options for grammar and spelling of the underlined passages. I feel completely confident about this (even though my own style is perhaps a little wordier and more conversational than a style manual would recommend). The last part is a personality profile – I know better than to answer anything other than how I see myself, even if it’s not the answer I think they want – they ask the same question in enough ways to get to the truth. The hardest part of the test might be going into the room with only a piece of paper and a pen – no lipstick, no tissues, no mints, no eye drops, no pocketbook…though somehow I must be able to carry in taxi fare. I’ll find out about a month later whether I pass, and then there’s a review of my application, including calling references and I think at some point a background check, and then I’d find out several months hence about the oral interview, which would be in January (I was about to say I’d describe that if I get invited, but that’s after the 27 months – in fact, I am now at less than five more months - wow – so I direct you to careers.state.gov, where I think it can be found).

And again on the subject (a couple of paragraphs ago) of Youssef – I saw Frank in Rabat last week; we had a late-night gabfest (the price that the person who I shared the room with had to pay) and breakfast on Saturday. We came up with a theory that I will explore as I talk further to other PCVs – I call it the One Good Friend theory. The PCVs who seem happiest here have at least one good Moroccan friend – someone who completely gives them faith not just in Moroccans but in people. Frank has someone like that (Hmad, who leads the desert tours) and I had Youssef and have Abdou. Margaret told me about a friend in her site, though I didn’t have the chance to meet him. We talked about other people who aren’t as happy and who therefore shall go nameless, and they don’t seem to have someone like that in their lives. I remember back at Lee’s party wondering if I was going to have any friends – and now not only do I feel I do but I feel that having them has perhaps made all the difference.

It’s been nice to be in Azrou this week. I went to the Monday souk – those latkes were so good that I got some potatoes so I could make my own, but that’s a habit I don’t want to get into! Sat at the iced coffee café for a while with Kathy. I went out to Ain Leuh with no real agenda (though I did have labels to give them and pictures to take) and had a nice time just talking with the weavers. Had lunch with the six-pack of environment volunteers (I hardly ever see all six together; it was the birthday of one of them) at the tuna sandwich place (this is canned tuna-with-tomato, put inside a baguette where they’ve taken out the soft inside – I could do this for myself but never do!). Went to visit my host family at a perfect time – they were finishing lunch and just getting out the fruit. Fresh watermelon (sold here only whole, not in pieces as they do for pumpkin – so I don’t know if I will ever buy one for myself!) and fresh cherries from trees on their farm – I actually have never had cherries before, and now I realize I was missing out! Another new discovery thanks to Morocco. I have to get more before the season ends – which I think will be soon! Stopped by Abdou’s a couple of times – Minush gave birth to four kittens today, and I stopped by minutes later, to see them mewing and feeding and being cleaned! Last time it was almost a year (last March to this March) – is it all right for her to be having another litter so quickly? I did enjoy seeing the kittens last year and this year though, so this is a nice bonus before I leave.

Linda came on Friday with her jellaba jewelry (a hit at Princeton as well as here!) and consigned some to the artisana – a feather in both her cap and mine. Her clock has a thermometer; I remember Jong’s did too and when she was here last year she would check the temperature every few minutes. Well, Linda left the clock with me for the weekend and it is tempting to keep checking. Any cooler now? What about now? How much hotter is it in the sun? What if I moved to another room? What about the middle of the night? I don’t think I mentioned this, but the Mets game that I went to a few weeks ago was handheld fan night! That fan has already come in handy, and when I travel this summer I am going to take it with me! Interesting that Jong and Linda both brought clocks like that with them and both ended up in hot sites. I want one or both to come back in late fall and tell me how cold my apartment is! Linda and I also went to have couscous with Youssef’s family; the five-year-old cousins were in a school performance so when the moms and aunts went out after lunch to watch, we went too. Adorable!

I should also mention the big beetles, since they were a problem last year. I was glad for the cool May, thinking that maybe they wouldn’t come back this year at all. Well, they did, but not to the extent they did last year. Then, I felt that there were one or two per room per day, and was extremely relieved when it turned out that the season lasted only a couple of weeks. This year, I saw only a few, and though they still made me not only jump but lie awake, they seem to be gone already. Whew. I have a few bug bites, but not many, and it’s not a regular occurrence here in my site.

More cultural exchange – this morning I had coffee with my neighbors, Rebha downstairs and Rebha two flights below, and the latter’s two little girls. Those little girls always run up to me and give me kisses – I’ll miss that when I get back! Almost two decades in the same apartment in Chicago and I never really knew my neighbors. Since it felt like a real-life tea party, this is a good time to include the picture of the painted tea table I found in Rabat. This evening I went to a folkloric festival in Kathy’s site, the Azrou “suburb” of which my host father is the president – saw the end of a bicycle race, some traditional bands and what I think was a Berber stand-up comic, though nobody was laughing.

Most of the rest of the week was spent catching up, though – especially on GAD and on the Harassment Working Group staff agreed to form, but also on project status and next steps for my work. I felt I needed to catch up and organize myself before I could move ahead. I also spent some time straightening (the nice thing about not having a lot of stuff is that it doesn’t take long to straighten – a lesson for the future), shopping and baking for a brunch I’m holding tomorrow – I invited the warden group (the people I’d lead in an evacuation) and anyone else who can get to my place and back to his/her site before nightfall. I had one last winter around the same time (the new people are still in home stay so it’s a good getaway for them) and am looking forward to this one!

2008-06-26T01:34:00.000-07:00

So there I was, enjoying my little Azrou routine (or lack thereof), and at 5:30 the SBD Program Manager called and asked me to come to Rabat for a Training Design and Evaluation (TDE – another acronym for you!) workshop scheduled to start in Rabat the next morning. I think they had known about the workshop for a while but only on Tuesday did they decide to include volunteers. I had to adjust to the change in plans (I didn’t have any plans that couldn’t be changed, so maybe it was more a change in mindset/expectations – not always easy for me but I think I am getting better at it here in the Peace Corps and in Morocco!) and after that was excited about it – I do like the opportunity to give input, and, having worked on KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes) last year, I was able to jump right in.

I couldn’t get there for the plenary session in the morning – couldn’t travel at night, after all – and because I still had final packing to do, I was in between train times, so I took a grand taxi to Meknes and another to Rabat – and then didn’t have time for lunch, but I made it to the office in time for the afternoon session. In the past, PST (pre-service training) was considered a success based on trainee feedback – i.e. did the volunteers like it. Now Peace Corps Washington has decided on a higher standard – did the volunteers learn what the training was designed to teach them. To accomplish this, the Learning Objectives had to be restated. They include the performer (each PCT, each CBT group), the performance (action verb such as demonstrate or list, not a vague verb such as understand), the condition (e.g., given a lecture and handout) and a standard (e.g. at least five strategies). The learning objectives (LO) came out of the KSA exercise, but there was a lot of duplication, so much streamlining was required. For each LO, we then listed corresponding KSA, delivery method (e.g. lecture), deliverer, evaluation method (quiz, presentation), evaluator, and the week or phase of training.

We split into small groups for the afternoon and then the entire next day, working on core competencies, things that each volunteer in every sector needs to know. There were three broad competencies – I don’t remember the action verbs that restated them but one had to do with policies, safety/security and medical, one was capacity-building (and included such things as PACA, organizational dynamics and conflict resolution) and the one we worked on was community entry, which had a lot of cross-cultural. Each small group had three or four staff members and a volunteer – to type things into the computer and to come up with the exact language (since we were the native English speakers). It was laborious, but at the end of it we came up with a clear and concise set of LOs.

On Friday morning, we worked on the sector-specific objectives for Small Business Development. Once we eliminated the duplication from the LOs that every volunteer should know (most were covered under capacity-building) – and that involved looking at the over 30 pages of KSAs from last year – it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it might be. We distilled it down to two – the basic knowledge of the ministry, Moroccan economy and artisan sector, forming cooperatives etc. (the trainer didn’t like this competency because it had too much that was just knowledge, but we didn’t know what else to do with it) and the basic business skills needed (since I was there I labeled one broad set of things marketing, and then there was another set that included things such as record-keeping and costing/pricing, and I think one more set). I also insisted on adding an art component so that the business-background trainees could understand basic art principles while the art-background people gain basic business principles, but everyone else had trouble with this concept so we didn’t quite finish the wording.

We were supposed to have finished the core and sector competencies (SBD and YD only – since Health and Environment have their PST in the spring, the program staff continued to work on core while we moved on) by the middle of the workshop and then move on to sequencing – i.e. fitting each of these into the eleven-week training schedule – and then distilling it one more level to COTE (Calendar of Training Events), but because we spent extra time on the competencies, we left that for staff to finish. We were also supposed to decide on an evaluation method, but all we had time for was looking at how some of the other countries have decided to evaluate (what made sense to everyone was pass/fail for each LO, including opportunities to try again, but what remains to be discussed is what it means – is there a certain level which you must attain in order to be able to swear in?). In other words, there was a lot left for staff to do! The Program Manager asked us to come back on Monday and keep working on it, since the trainer who led the workshop is still in Morocco, but it was generally agreed that the volunteers were dismissed and may be called back at some other point.

This was interesting to do and I am glad I worked on it, but there’s still a lot to be done. Either the Program Manager or the Program Assistant will be out of the office on site development or site visits just about every other week between now and the arrival of the new PCTs – September 8, so soon! – so I wonder if they will really have time to re-design the trainings to reflect the new system, or whether the temptation to repeat what has been done in the past and somehow say that it fits into the new system will be too great. At any rate I got my wish (from last year) to be involved in training, and since training will be in Azrou, I may get even more involved. The homestay manager asked me to ask my host family if they would host another volunteer – so that was a good indication that I will indeed be replaced, which makes me happy (I told him that they would take only a female, and that she would have a hard time living up to me – luckily he saw that second one with the humor with which I meant it).

The Environment now-second-years were in Rabat for Mid-Service Medicals (wow – I feel as though I was just there for those...). Health had been there last week so when I came in for GAD I met some new people and saw some people I had met long ago. This time I knew more in the group, because they had trained in Azrou (not to mention that six of them are in the area and others come through to see them). I mentioned to one of them that I didn’t have a room yet, and he mentioned that someone was leaving, meaning that there was a vacant bed for the night in our usual hotel; this turned out to be quite lucky, because the other invited volunteers spent hours looking for a hotel after all the usual PCV places turned out to be full. I also walked to the American Club (now I know I can get there on my own!) to meet some of them, but I left the Peace Corps office late and they had been there a while, so I ended up dining alone; that gave me time to read the TDE workshop notes that I had missed from the morning.

On Thursday night, I had sushi with the Administrative Officer and with the trainer (who I had already informational-interviewed about the career path that led to her job as a Regional Training Officer). The sushi was delicious and the conversation interesting. There’s a French restaurant I have always wanted to try (it was closed when Martha and Susan were visiting, or I would have) and I thought I might be alone on Friday, but some other volunteers were in town for medical so we ended up together. One of them needed a place to stay, and the hotel was full, so she stayed in the vacated bed in my room – least I could do, since two days earlier someone had done that for me! I didn’t sleep well the night I had the room to myself anyway.

So we ended up going to Rabat’s new TGIFriday’s; not my choice, but it wasn’t bad to have a quesadilla. The host there is an ex-NFL player and Sherwin spotted him (not that he was hard to spot – he was as wide as the table and as tall as the oversized doorways). Turns out he was an Eagle in the mid-80s, when I was in Philadelphia. I could tell you what the Sixers did then and what the Phillies did then and what the Flyers did then, but could do little but come up with QB Ron Jaworski’s name – however, that was enough to get him to sit and talk with us for a while! He was traded to the Raiders after that and also played in Europe and in Arena Football. We talked about his college and pro career and then his post-NFL work as a bodyguard (lots of celebrity names mentioned) and what ultimately led him to Rabat and TGIFriday’s – that is, he talked, I asked a few questions, and the other people at the table seemed bored, but I found him interesting, and it was a nice change from typical Peace Corps conversation.

If I had known I’d be going to Rabat for three days, I might not have made plans to go away for the weekend, but I didn’t want to renege on a stagemate, especially with time going so quickly – I might not have been able to reschedule! And I am glad I went. First it was Oued Zem, which is on the map but has no comments about it in any of my tour books; it’s Margaret’s site. It’s in a part of the country I hadn’t been to – the plain between Casablanca and the Middle Atlas – a big phosphate and agricultural region. We talked, took a walk around the town (it has a central park with a pond and a hotel, and a medina with goods only for locals, nothing touristy – the artisana is more for training than for working artisans, and she does some teaching there). First-year SBD Olga, her closest volunteer, came over and we made rice-noodle salad and spring rolls – another thing I might be able to add to my repertoire and impress people! I need to get some rice wrappers next time I go to Marjane: you simply fill them with the chopped fresh vegetables of your choice (chicken optional, cilantro essential) – yum!

The next morning, we went out to Boujaad, Olga’s site. She had been to my home for VSN training, so I didn’t feel awkward inviting myself. Her town is in the tour books – it has a lot of koubbas (tombs) and shrines – of a whole family of descendants of the prophet (in most places they are stand-alone, for the founder a town, but these were clustered) and we walked to those and then in the medina. Both Oued Zem and Boujaad were no-frills towns – the real Morocco, not the tourist one. Olga spent her early years in the Ukraine, and over dinner the night before, we asked about Ukranian specialties – for lunch she made a beet salad (beets, prunes, walnuts, garlic and mayonnaise) and (we helped with) latkes. I ate well over the weekend! The bus from Boujaad stopped in Khenifra – Linda met me there and after they told us the next bus was delayed, she walked with me to the taxi stand and waited with me there, so we had a nice chance to chat. However, it was good to get home!

When I was in Marrakesh with Rose last month, while sitting in the café our last morning, I saw a cart pulled by a horse and a donkey. Rose had gone back to the room, but when she returned, the cart came back and I pointed it out to her, but for whatever reason (maybe I was too relaxed?) I didn’t take a picture. Throughout that day we talked about what an odd couple they were and what a shame it was that we didn’t capture it photographically. Well, we left Margaret’s apartment to head for Boujaad and there was a cart pulled by a horse and a donkey! Margaret had never thought anything of it – she reasoned that they just figured out how to accommodate each other. If only it were that simple with humans!

2008-06-25T04:55:00.001-07:00

The GAD committee met in Rabat a couple of weeks ago - seems like a long time ago already, and I am still processing the meeting, figuring out my next steps. Usually we have updates on our projects on the morning of the first day, afternoon time to work on projects together, more updating and any new business the next day, and then project time or time to meet with any staff members we need to see, and then a final recap. This time the agenda was packed, with not only more projects in progress, but also no downtime for small group or individual project work.

Perhaps the focal point of the meeting was a meeting with staff; we had lunch with the Administrative Officer one or two meetings ago and realized that staff has very little idea of what we do; it was also an opportunity to hear from them how the various sectors incorporate the gender and development approach. In preparing for the meeting we discussed all of our initiatives – Peace Works and other communications, PST and IST trainings, conferences/workshops/GLOW Camps, the harassment survey, the resource guide, and Women-to-Women, where we are gathering information on what women do in various cultures that can be used in tea talks or other gatherings. We do split the work up, but in thinking of what follow-up I have to do, I am the point person on Peace Works and on the harassment survey, will be involved in the next SBD PST, and may or may not be through with my portion of the resource guide. We also have events such as International Women’s Day and Take Your Daughter to Work Day for which we may be creating toolkits for PCV use.

We discussed the committee’s mission and goals – GAD is an approach to development that states that men, women, girls and boys all have to be taken into account. This makes sense as a theory but is hard to convey; for example, people in my stage say they are not doing anything GAD when by definition they probably are. So, given our mission, is the harassment survey something GAD should be doing? Probably not – it might fall under the purview of the Volunteer Advisory Council (which regularly meets with staff about any volunteer issues) or Volunteer Support Network. But because GAD conducted this survey in the past, we sponsored it this time. We realized that the other committees have a role in implementing the results, though, so staff agreed to create a Harassment Working Group, with members from each committee and a staff liaison, each orchestrating a response within its purview. Since we have the survey data, we are compiling a list of ways in which volunteers are commonly harassed and the reactions and coping mechanisms, along with advice that PCVs said they would give to other PCVs when asked that open-ended question, and we will be helping with the trainings; you want to give people a clear picture of what to expect without scaring them off.

This all sounds good, but as an aside (though it probably should not be an aside), through the rumor mill we’re heard of a person who was assaulted (not sexually), a person who is ETing because his site is anti-American, and a person who ET’ed due to religious harassment; the rumor mill has these volunteers being told that they would not be relocated. This is very distressing; I have tossed and turned thinking about how we can respond to the survey and show volunteers that their answers were listened to and are being acted upon. It was somewhat heartening to read the Peace Corps history books and see that harassment has been an issue from the beginning – in many places it goes with traveling to another culture – and to have the regional safety and security director at our meeting (coincidence) so that we could get a perspective of not just Morocco.

We also had a presentation from the head of the Global Rights, an NGO that works in many countries. This woman read Susan Schaefer Davis’s books when she was 18 years old and that helped shape her career – I can see why they both speak so highly of each other. Global Rights created a poster and other educational materials about Morocco’s recent women’s rights initiative; those materials are used by many PCVs in spreading the word. Now they have created a poster to create awareness and advocacy for legislation prohibiting violence against women. As she put it, Morocco may be behind in creating this kind of legislation but so are many other countries – as an example, Spain did it just in 2004. We discussed ways in which Peace Corps and specifically GAD could get involved.

It was good to be in Rabat; I arrived there the day before the meeting and had some time to walk around. In the Andalusian Garden I experienced henna harassment (not one of the categories listed in the survey) – a woman grabbed my arm and started drawing on it and told me it was free; I told her I didn’t want it and when I finally wrestled myself free she asked for money. I didn’t feel threatened, but what if I were a tourist who just arrived in the country? I might get a bad impression of Morocco. I scoped out a rug (similar to the ones shown to my sister and brother-in-law in Fes way back when; those intricate-patterned, hand-knotted, multi-colored carpets were way out of my price range but a smaller one with a Rabat pedigree was affordable…maybe next trip I will buy one) and visited the ocean. I had a light lunch (and a heavy chocolate mousse; I’d been thinking about that since Mid-Service Medicals in December) at the French Institute. As I was wandering, I was thinking about what it would be like to work in the Foreign Service. I have said every time I visit Rabat that I could live there, but this time I tried to imagine myself actually living there or another world capital. I think it would be a great experience, but it would also be sad to be away from friends and family and life in America. There’s probably an expat community everywhere, so I might not feel isolated, but one thing that’s nice about the Peace Corps is that you integrate into the culture, and I think many people in Foreign Service don’t do that, so the experience is very different.

On Friday night I attended the Rabat Jazz Festival, held in the Chellah – the high pise walls were a great backdrop for the stage, and the dusk concert time added to the ambience. I love night baseball games, because when they start, it’s still daylight, and as the innings pass, the sky darkens and the lights take effect and suddenly the world shrinks to just the action in the stadium and the darkness outside. That’s how it felt at this concert; since there aren’t many cultural things to do here and I rarely go out at night in general, it was all the more of a treat. I did leave early though because I had an early train to take the next day.

In the movie “Casablanca,” Rick states that he moved to Casablanca for the waters. When told that he is in the desert, he says, “I was misinformed.” Well, last year when my family was here, we spent a day trip in what we were told was the Ourika Valley – to Imlil for a donkey ride and short hike up to lunch at Kasbah du Toubkal. We were misinformed – we were actually in the next valley over – and I wanted to do the day trip to the Ourika Valley that I had read about in my tour book (though had we gone to the Ourika Valley that day, I would have set this day for the next valley over!). Since I was coming from Rabat and not Azrou, I could get there early enough to squeeze in a day trip to the High Atlas. I had mentioned this to my pals in the area and to others who were going to be in Marrakesh, but when all was said and done I didn’t have someone to go with – not that this is the first trip I have taken by myself here, but it was a sneak preview of the solo travel I will likely be doing after I COS and it reminded me of how lucky I have been to have travel companions much of the time here!

Since my final potential companion backed out at the last minute, I hadn’t really prepared myself to be alone, and when the man at the taxi stand tried to talk me into buying out a taxi which would then wait for me, my resistance was low. I negotiated, but in the end I probably spent more money than I should have. On the other hand, it was nice to feel taken care of, and it wasn’t all that much money when you come down to it. We drove through little villages along the river and when we got to the end of the road in Setti Fatma, a guide offered his services and again my resistance was low, but the path was somewhat tricky so it was good to be with someone. I had lunch at one of the many cafes by the river and then we set off for a rock scramble to a waterfall. There are seven in the area but one was all I had time for, since I had agreed to see my pals in Marrakesh that evening. It was a good day trip – cool in the mountains and by the water, with a fun hike – and it was time for some natural beauty.

Upon my morning arrival in Marrakesh, before leaving for the mountains, I went to the Café du Livre for a lemon tart – I had been thinking about that one too (even to the point of looking for a recipe and making my own); when I returned from the mountains I went back to get the jacket I had left there and almost had another piece of tart, but just then heard from Frank that he, Jong, Connie, Rob and first-year SBD Kate were converging on our hotel. We sat in the room for a while waiting for the weather to cool off (a common activity in the south – they were so hot and tired that I couldn’t even talk them into playing cards! If only they had come to the cool mountain valley with me!). We went to a nice dinner and then came back to the hotel for yet more talking.

On Sunday morning I woke up early (again unable to entice a companion) to go to the Jardin Majorelle – earlier this month, Yves Saint Laurent passed away – his ashes were scattered there and a simple, tasteful (of course) monument was placed there, so I wanted to see that. It was wonderful to be in the garden at opening time – cool and uncrowded and peaceful. Then I had a power-walk/shop through the souks, picking up the next few things on the list after what I had picked up last time (an orange fringe necklace/belt to go with the black one I bought last time, for example) and met Rob for a pastry and coffee (for him) and Magnum bar and orange juice (for me). And then it was time for the long trip back to Azrou. I enjoy the days in Azrou – going to Ain Leuh, going to souk and/or doing other errands, visiting Abdou or my host family or Youssef’s family, checking in at the artisana and chatting with the artisans, making progress on the web site or writing this or emailing, exercising or reading or cleaning - and was looking forward to being in that routine for a while before the next trip, and the next trip came up a lot faster than I expected! That is for the next post….

2008-06-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

QUARTERLY REPORT

Everyone told me that the second year goes faster than the first and indeed, the time is flying by. This quarter featured lots of travel in and outside of Morocco, visits and visitors, a rewarding workshop and a major new project. It was not without drama, but overall it may have been my happiest three-month period here yet!

I took the plane from Casablanca to Lisbon (and as in the movie, it was a small propeller plane!), where I was joined by my sister, brother-in-law and nieces. Lisbon was rainy but beautiful and two days there were just not enough. We went to the ’98 World’s Fair site and the Oceanarium there, saw some of Old Lisbon, and went to coastal Cascais, hilltop Sintra and historic Belem. Then it was on to Evora, a medieval walled city in the Alantejo region – we toured the city, spent a day in the region going to towns known for various handicrafts (busman’s holiday?) and also visited a Neolithic Stone Circle. We stopped in the Algarve on the way to Spain and saw why that’s such an attractive travel destination (sun and sand!).

In Spain, we hit the major cities of Andalusia - Seville, Cordoba and Grenada - each with its own charm. Seeing the Islamic architecture and influence on Andalusia was a nice complement to all of the Islamic architecture with Andalusian influence that I have visited in Morocco! We were in Seville for the end of Semana Santa, or Holy Week, with several parades of Easter penitents. We saw the Royal Palace, the Giralda Mosque (akin to the Koutoubia in Marrakesh – and the Tour Hassan in Rabat, which was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, so it all ties together), the Jewish Quarter, the park and other structures built for the 1929 Pan-American exposition, and a flamenco show. And we had tapas every chance we could get (plus, I went to Starbucks!). We took a day trip to Ronda, site of a picturesque bridge (maybe other people would say the ravine it crosses is picturesque, but as I once said to my favorite professor, the bridge really makes the view – and he agreed) and a bullfighting museum. In Cordoba we saw the Mesquita (mosque, now a cathedral – as was the one in Seville) and again the Jewish Quarter. In Grenada it was the Muslim Quarter and also the Gypsy Quarter, with its caves, a Science Park (which impressed both the kids and the adults) and the Alhambra, where Valerie had perhaps the line of the year, “we’ve been here.” The Generalife gardens and the hill climbs and views did make it different, but I guess if you’ve seen one exquisite example of Islamic architecture you’ve seen them all! The picture, taken from the Muslim Quarter, shows the Alhambra and the snow-capped Sierra Nevada in the background.

On my own, I visited Gibraltar (a little part of Great Britain in Spain) and Ceuta (a little part of Spain in Morocco) on the way back. I didn’t particularly feel the need to leave the country, but it seems that some of my fellow volunteers who haven’t done so feel the need to. It was good to see family – the stretch from last June until this March was the longest I had gone without seeing my nieces, and I am glad the next span will be shorter. They are growing so fast!

In April, I went to Tinjdad to lead some workshops that had been taking shape for months. Whenever I spend a long time working on something, just seeing the date arrive is an accomplishment. In this case, the workshops were rewarding too – Rob and I worked with Jessica’s cooperative on organizational development and on their vision of the future, and we also brainstormed marketing ideas for a friend of hers who makes pomegranate jelly and can already sell all that he makes. It was nice to spend four days in one place in the south, with walks through the palmerie and exploration of ksars, some ruined and one continuously occupied (and also a wind/sand storm, so now I know what it’s like!).

I also took on some new work following the medical separation (med-sep – i.e. getting sent home for medical reasons, with, in this case, no recourse for return) of the first-year SBD volunteer in Ain Leuh, who was just getting into the swing of things. Ain Leuh is a small mountain town about half an hour from Azrou; the weavers there produce finely-woven, intricately-patterned rugs – motivated artisans with a product different from the rest, who are extremely nice women – a great assignment! I revised a brochure and business cards for them and have started working on other marketing materials. I hosted a former PCV/renowned anthropologist who has a non-profit business on the side, Women Weavers On-Line; she expressed interest in adding the Ain Leuh weavers to her product offerings so I have been doing photography and individual interviews of each artisan. I continue working on the Azrou web site too, but Ain Leuh has meant a lot of time and work, which I didn’t anticipate when I offered to help out. GAD (Gender and Development) has taken some time as well, what with working on the harassment survey writeup, the resource guide, and the Peace Works column. In May we learned that the Azrou artisana will undergo new construction to become perhaps the nicest in the country; I tallied the final round of the tourist questionnaire and wrote up some suggestions for improvements, and we’ll see what happens there. There were also a bunch of Peace Corps reports to work on – quarterly report, living allowance survey, biennial world-wide volunteer survey.

Several Morocco trips this quarter too; some for tourism, some just for seeing friends, some for a combination. Went to Khenifra to visit a new PCV friend there (we went to the same high school, though not at the same time – she was ahead of me), to Ougmes for a birthday party of Piffle and a hike, to Ouarzazate on the way to Tinjdad, mostly to see friends but also to see the kasbah and the artisana, to Kelaa M’Gouna to play rummy with a stage-mate before he ET’ed (early termination) but also to see a beautiful ksar and the famous roses, to Ifrane for a meeting and some peanut butter, and to Fes (it’s 1200 years old this year – so it warrants more exploration), Sefrou (exploration here too – the synagogue and mellah) and Meknes (for an agricultural fair, the parts of the imperial city I hadn’t seen, a museum and a souk walk). And I have been doing more hiking in the Azrou area, since it was finally warming up (though May was quite cold and rainy!). I hosted several PCVs too – on their way to or from medicals, researching spices, on vacation, or otherwise passing through (not to mention spending time with the many volunteers in the area) – and also someone from the Embassy here; I had been thinking about registering for the Foreign Service Officer Test and after talking with her I decided to do it. The King came back to Azrou as well, though I didn’t get as good a look at him this year as I had last year.

A lowlight – being told no by program staff to what seemed to be a reasonable request (especially after seeing others told yes to similar requests) – led to a meltdown which led to a “mental health day” (that is, officially listed as medical in the system) which became part of a long weekend in Marrakesh with my friend Rose. It was very good for the soul – visiting a beautiful palace museum, shopping in the souks, dining out, sitting in cafés, seeing other PCV friends. Mental health was important, as was physical – this quarter I seemed to have more issues than usual, with feverish days, Big D, a shift from an often-runny nose to an often-stuffy one, and trouble sleeping. I even looked at the two-year culture shock adjustment cycle to see if this was a normal phase – I guess I feel the end coming and the pressure to accomplish more before I leave, in addition to the looming presence of the future. Six more months to go! I did work on my resume – it needs more work – and I started thinking about post-Peace Corps travel (for me, the journey of a thousand miles begins not with one step but with a travel book).

I had wanted an assignment that started in the fall so that I could have vacation time accrued for the two things I didn’t want to miss – the March vacation with the family, and Reunions. Some would think it crazy to fly back to the States on Thursday and be back in my site on Tuesday evening, but I didn’t question the wisdom (or expense) of it, and Reunions held up its end of the bargain. It is always great to see so many friends, though of course there’s never enough time. This time there was the additional stress of taking some of the treasures I’ve bought here back with me to store at a friend’s house (which I know led to some of the sleeplessness) and the additional joy of a panel discussion on the nation’s infrastructure (yes, to me that is joy) and of seeing the new Indiana Jones movie (in a theatre!). Had some quality time with a few friends, visited several Reunions tents, saw spectacular fireworks. A schedule change meant no Annual Card Game (that weekend, anyway – the 2008 game may have to be in 2009) and no Mets game with my nieces (though I did go to the game without them); in New York on Sunday and Monday I had time with family and friends and several well-being appointments (after which I have felt better and have been sleeping better…).

Last week I went to Rabat for a GAD meeting, which was jam-packed (and requires a lot of follow-up, both with my stage on GAD activities and on harassment; we created a Harassment Working Group and I’m one of four PCVs on it). I followed that with a weekend in Marrakesh – a day trip to the Ourika Valley in the High Atlas and then a morning in the city. I was about to write all of this up for you when I was asked to go to Rabat for the rest of this week, to be on a committee of staff and volunteers working on Training Design and Evaluation. So that’s how the next quarter will begin….

2008-06-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

I’m just back from a run – perhaps inspired by learning that the winner of this year’s Boulder Bolder, one of the premier 10Ks in the U.S., hails from Azrou – and I continue to revel in the beauty of the Middle Atlas mountains. I have a friend from the Salt Lake area who once said that the mountains make up for the ocean – I am such a water person that I don’t know if that’s true in my case, but I do know that as I never took for granted the fact that I lived right next to Lake Michigan, I also never take for granted the natural beauty of my site.

Now that I am back in Azrou and my precious things traveled safely to Howie’s guest closet, I can elaborate. I wonder if, after not seeing them for the next six-plus months, I won’t miss them? I don’t miss a lot of what’s in storage in Chicago. Will I be able to let more go and live more clutter-free? I hope so! In the meantime, though, I keep buying Moroccan things for my imaginary next home. As I buy things, I do try to picture how they will fit in the imaginary home. Or at least fit into this home… Joy said that when she was in Tunisia doing research she knew a lot of Peace Corps Volunteers and when they got their things home they didn’t fit. I’ll be starting more or less from scratch, so I can build around things. And what doesn’t fit will make a lovely gift!

Carpets: I was able to take three home. As I mentioned before (without elaborating), the ones I first bought were the ones I was most attracted to in the first place, so they came home. Check out the April 8, 2007 entry for the bedroom double-sized wedding cape that I was using as a bedspread, and for the rug with Berber symbols. Note that the poufs would have made the cut, except I am still using them! The third rug that fit in the suitcase is in an even earlier entry, the one with the living room (now Marrakesh room) furniture, but the picture doesn’t show its more interesting summer side of black and white traditional stripes. There are lots of black and white rugs around here, but none of them have the wooly white winter side that mine does – it was an impulse purchase on the Fes “girls’ day” with Amanda, and I am glad it fit in the suitcase.

Ceramics – I thought I would take a little bit of everything; the ponge foam protected everything well, but that was in a carry-on. I hope that everything else makes it home intact in the mail, but if not, at least I have a little bit of everything, and I’ll get more when I come back in the future! From Fes I packed a calligraphy bowl and a square plate with the traditional blue and white, along with a couple of tiny tagines that people here use for salt and cumin (if they put a third spice on the table it is pepper but if there are only two they are salt and cumin). From Tamegroute I wrapped a third small tagine, in the traditional green, and a spice jar decorated with henna designs and not re-fired. From Safi I wrapped my big blue bowl and two of the smaller bowls – the white and blue and the white and multi-colored. The more colorful ones had to stay behind, as did (just by a hair) the Fes coffee mugs. I brought one tadelakt plate back from a set of three that I bought in Tangier, and next weekend in Marrakesh I might get a piece or two more.

I packed a couple of fossil platters from Erfoud (I am not sure I ever put a picture of one in here – so here’s one from the artisana showroom - though the background looks too wrinkled, so I should probably reshoot it!). They’re quite remarkable. Also a damascene Hand of Fatima from Meknes – damascene is a process where fine silver thread is inlaid onto black metal. I packed a Hand of Fatima door knocker, too – the “King’s Knocker” (see the Fes Royal Palace from around May 2007 – mine is not quite as nice but that’s what I kept saying I wanted and that’s what the faux guide in Fes brought me to based on calling it that) didn’t fit. I wore some orange and black clothes to Reunions and brought them back here – Rose told me I had enough orange and black clothes but after last week I think she’s wrong (those I know can be gifts!) so I will renew the search for more. In the meantime, the orange and black flowered jellaba that I wore to Amanda’s wedding made it back, as did an orange and black Sahara wrap, called a MeHlfa, from Zagora, and an orange and black Fes embroidery table runner.

The brass tray from the artisan in Marrakesh is back in the States, as is a little wooden heart that I bought from Rose’s artisan and a set of wooden dominoes that I bought from one of the artisans here (that might have been a strategic error – now I can’t play with them! Unless I get another set…). Almost all of the jewelry that I have picked up along the way - in Tiznit, Fes, Ouarzazate, Rabat, and elsewhere (I’ll know where everything’s from when I see it again) went in the carry-on, along with an antique purple silk fringe Berber belt. And a couple of leather pocketbooks from Asilah and Chefchouan – I have a number of nice bags that I have bought here (including an orange one that got many compliments last week, so maybe I should get a couple more of those too – everything adds up, but they would cost so much more in the States...). And the process of going through this made me realize what’s most precious that’s still here – i.e. the first things I would have packed had there been room – my sheepskin (but it’s just as well I didn’t bring that – I will need it to keep under my feet this fall, especially since I gave back the space heater!) and a painted wood tea tray that I got in Rabat (I should take a picture of that one for illustrative purposes too). Well, maybe one of my other rugs might be next precious too, but once I put three in I knew that’s all I could take, and then there are the poufs.

As long as I’m in a listy mood tonight, I thought I would list what’s in the Peace Corps Morocco first aid kit. For Elisa’s upcoming life-changing experience (filming a documentary in Uganda about her school’s partner school) she needed to put together a kit, and when I told her what was in mine, I thought it might be of interest to others. We’re given a kit in training and can then replenish as needed. Other items – such as eye drops and vitamins and Vaseline and Lubriderm – were not in the medical kit but can be ordered more or less on demand (actually, Lubriderm and sun block are rationed). Also, it should be noted that if you have any prescriptions, you were to come here with a three-month supply and a written prescription for two years, and Peace Corps would fill it. And I should mention that since I developed sensitive teeth while here (overbrushing after all that sugary tea?) they gave me a prescription for Sensodyne toothpaste, which I buy in a pharmacie and for which I am reimbursed.

In some cases I’ll list generic name, and for some, brand name. I thought for fun I’d asterisk the things I have not had occasion to use. I’ll leave one item out because this is a family blog, but suffice it to say that they told us in training that 90 percent of PCVs have sex while they are here, and the PCMO wants to make sure those PCVs use quality items for birth control (no rationing on those).

Acetominophen
Ibuprofen
Aspirin (not in the original kit, but I requested some because it is more effective for me than the other two – and Debbie also sent me Excedrin Migrane….even though I get many fewer and less intense headaches than I did in the past, it’s still an issue)
Sudafed
Benadryl
Pepto-Bismol *
Tums *
Eye drops (hm, it says they were in the kit but I thought I had to request them)
Eye wash *
Antifungal cream *
Anti-itch cream
Antibiotic ointment
Skin cleanser for wounds *
Sepasoothe *
Cough drops (I almost want to asterisk this because I haven’t ever used mine – just some from the LCF kit in CBT)
Oral rehydration salts (these are great! Do they even have them in the U.S.?)
Water purification salts *
Insect repellent *
Tamiflu (this came in a special session and we can take it only if there’s an outbreak of bird flu here - they will let us know)
Sunscreen
Carmex *
Adhesive tape *
Ace bandage * (though Jong used mine while she was here so I did have to replenish it; some of my other items, such as Pepto-Bismol, have also needed replenishment due to guest use)
Gauze pads *
Band-Aids
Thermometer AND Tempa-Dot disposable thermometers
Tweezers *
Latex gloves *
Scissors *
Dental floss
Whistle *
Compact First Aid Guide (we were also given the book Where there is No Doctor and a handbook put together by the PCMO – I’ve looked at the handbook but not the other two, though I hear the book is very entertaining).*

What I wish they had here and I have had sent from the U.S. – Q-Tips. The swabs here just don’t measure up.

The last time I saw the first-year SBDs in the region and my counterpart, it was at the Timhadite weaving cooperative’s Annual Meeting, the day before I left for New Jersey. They’ve all been at IST since then; I’ll get together with them this week and will go out to Ain Leuh to do more artisan interviews for the marrakeshexpress.org web site (among other uses). On Wednesday I go to Rabat for a GAD meeting Thursday and Friday; I’ll go to Marrakesh for the weekend since I’ll be starting from Rabat on Saturday morning!