Some images of the women that i work with... in the process of weaving and dying wool for yarn. Yay! They are working!
Ok, another month down here in Morocco… 22 more months to go. The first weekend of the month I went to Rabat for a couple days. I found myself in the middle of a very busy metropolitan area for the first time in a long time. While Rabat is still a very Moroccan city it is also a world apart from the small town I live in. It took me exactly 12 hours to travel there on transit vans and buses. It’s amazing that as you head north in this country, at least from where I’m at, everything changes- the roads have 2 lanes, there are paved sidewalks, people wear less jellabas and more jeans, and women walk the streets without their hair covered by a scarf. It still amazes me how diverse this country is between the rural villages and the urban cities. Needless to say I had a great time in Rabat even if my real reason there was to meet with the Peace Corps medical office. There were a few other volunteers there and they were kind enough to show me to the American Club where I was free to sit and drink a Guinness and eat an amazing salad. Did I need to mention that both of those things are rare here? I even lived it up and went to McDonald’s, trust me… after eating bread and tajine for 5 months you’d kill for McDonald’s too. The last night in Rabat I went out to the Tapas bar across from the hotel and drank Sangria; at that point I really did think I had left Morocco. It was a night respite.
The following weekend we had free vacation days here for the Moroccan New Year which also happened to fall on the weekend of my birthday. Me and three of my friends decided to head up north to Meknes. It was sort of a whirlwind of big cities one weekend after the other and of course we had a great time. Meknes is the nearest metropolitan area to me, although it takes about 7 hours for me to get there. It’s a great city, there are a lot of college age students there and it’s pretty infrequently travelled by tourists so you can really just go there and hang out. There are scads of bars and pizzerias, and of course a Marjan… the amazing Walmart-like store that you can buy anything at. I took the opportunity to begin buying spices and whatnot for my new house. On the way back to my site we stayed in Azrou for a night which I must say is an adorable town. It’s a ridiculously high town, situated in the mountains with forests and hills all around it. They have vineyards near there too, all of which looked strikingly similar to Southern Oregon.
And then on my birthday I returned to my town. I made some pasta and enjoyed the night quietly and my site mate’s house. Another volunteer near here made me a cake so we had a nice little celebration. It was actually a great birthday, quiet and no fuss, just pleasant. After my two weekends of travel I’ve been at my site which is of course the reason for no blog entries in a long while. I’ve been quite busy here. The women’s Coop has been open almost every day of the week now which means every afternoon I’m there. In addition to that I’ve been tutoring in Tamazight (the Berber dialect here) and trying to find my own house to move into on February 1st. The good news is that I found the most amazing house, it’s a pretty large house since they don’t really make houses for single people here (for the most part everyone lives with their family). It has 3 rooms, a garden, a courtyard, a large kitchen, a bathroom and shower room. Needless to say I have plenty of room for anyone who wants to come visit me.
Currently, I’m just trying to figure out what I need for my house. I’m pretty lucky because the volunteer I replaced left me a lot of stuff which means I might be able to use my money to buy luxury items… like a small fridge. It’s all just really exciting right now to think that in a couple more days I’ll have my own place.
The following weekend we had free vacation days here for the Moroccan New Year which also happened to fall on the weekend of my birthday. Me and three of my friends decided to head up north to Meknes. It was sort of a whirlwind of big cities one weekend after the other and of course we had a great time. Meknes is the nearest metropolitan area to me, although it takes about 7 hours for me to get there. It’s a great city, there are a lot of college age students there and it’s pretty infrequently travelled by tourists so you can really just go there and hang out. There are scads of bars and pizzerias, and of course a Marjan… the amazing Walmart-like store that you can buy anything at. I took the opportunity to begin buying spices and whatnot for my new house. On the way back to my site we stayed in Azrou for a night which I must say is an adorable town. It’s a ridiculously high town, situated in the mountains with forests and hills all around it. They have vineyards near there too, all of which looked strikingly similar to Southern Oregon.
And then on my birthday I returned to my town. I made some pasta and enjoyed the night quietly and my site mate’s house. Another volunteer near here made me a cake so we had a nice little celebration. It was actually a great birthday, quiet and no fuss, just pleasant. After my two weekends of travel I’ve been at my site which is of course the reason for no blog entries in a long while. I’ve been quite busy here. The women’s Coop has been open almost every day of the week now which means every afternoon I’m there. In addition to that I’ve been tutoring in Tamazight (the Berber dialect here) and trying to find my own house to move into on February 1st. The good news is that I found the most amazing house, it’s a pretty large house since they don’t really make houses for single people here (for the most part everyone lives with their family). It has 3 rooms, a garden, a courtyard, a large kitchen, a bathroom and shower room. Needless to say I have plenty of room for anyone who wants to come visit me.
Currently, I’m just trying to figure out what I need for my house. I’m pretty lucky because the volunteer I replaced left me a lot of stuff which means I might be able to use my money to buy luxury items… like a small fridge. It’s all just really exciting right now to think that in a couple more days I’ll have my own place.
