Perhaps I just need to get out more. After almost 3 weeks straight in Assoul, I was going crazy. We had a Moroccan holiday which meant a 4 day weekend without taking actual vacation time. So, my friend Bri and I decided to get out of our towns. Only one problem, I could not get out of town on the actual holiday which was a Thursday… no transits running on the holiday. Of course I didn’t know this until the night before I was supposed to leave. I was irate to say the least and in protest of not being able to get out of town I stayed in bed all day and watched movies. So, the following day I was sure to be on the 6am transit out of town, except that when I opened my front door I realized it had been snowing all night. I waited for a while in the snow and sure enough my transit showed up… it was a scary ride into rich through a blizzard. Take in mind that it had been quite warm here up until then, and sure enough on the first day of spring we’re covered in snow. Bri and I met up along the way and went straight to Rabat.
Rabat is one of those places in Morocco where you feel like you’ve left the country, or at least the country that Bri and I live in (aka rural Morocco). Life is so very different between the urban and rural areas; it’s more extreme than anything I’ve ever seen. We ate amazing food, drank “good” beverages, did a little shopping, and spent some time at the beach (even if it was chilly). The last night we were there, granted we were only there for two nights, we went to the German Institute. A tip from another volunteer, as it has a great atmosphere and great food. Indeed the atmosphere and food were amazing. Bri and I finally found the perfect four cheese pizza (comparable to my favorite in Italy and LA), and an ambiance that magically transported us to Europe. Towards the end of our evening there the people sitting as the table next to us asked if we could join tables as their group kept getting larger. It turned out these were incredibly funny and cool people. Most of them spoke English fluently… we found ourselves in the middle of a social scene unlike anything we had experienced in months. Our new friends were from everywhere, Spain, Chad, Belgium, Mexico, and Morocco, all living and working in Rabat. And although Bri and I were quite tired we decided to join the group to another bar and then to a nightclub. It was quite the experience in Rabat; we had an amazing time and met some great people. It reminded me how fun going out can be… and how much I miss it.
Coming back from Rabat was hard… I couldn’t help but think about how great it would be to be living there instead of all the way out here in the middle of nowhere. But being back in Assoul has its own comforts, most of which are my own house, but it’s been a little lonely here lately. Peter, my site mate was gone for the week and a half before I left for Rabat (to travel with his parents), and now he’s gone again for another week for a youth camp that volunteers are putting on. So, I’ve done what anyone would do… stolen his cat Han Shush and claimed her as my own because I’m lonely. I think she’s rather happy living with auntie linsey. And along the lines of cat’s, I’ve been planning on getting my own for a while but it’s just now kitten season here and I’ve been looking with little luck. I was at my friend, Najat’s house today and told her that I needed a kitten and she says they have one. Seriously this kitten was maybe 4 days old… so tiny and cute with its eyes still closed and all. I told them if it was a boy I’d take it, it’s a little too small for us to determine gender yet. We shall see… I might have a kitten within the next month!

Main Street in Assoul, also known as "the only paved road in town".

The past week has been about as eventful as you can get here. I went to a training in a town about two hours away from my site last weekend, at another volunteer’s house. Although the training was interesting the excitement revolved around the rain. It rained last week, and in even though I’m out in the mountains, rain is very rare. It rained on and off all last week, which was absolutely beautiful… something about dark grey clouds really helps to soften the harsh terrain of Morocco. The only problem is that houses and bridges in Morocco aren’t really designed to handle the rain. The first problem was trying to get out of the town I had the training in. The nearby river flooded and no one could cross the river to get out of town. Transit vans, and trucks all stood by as the water gushed over the bridge. By the second day the water level had gone down slightly so we decided to hop in a transit van and get out of town. We drove through probably three feet of moving water on a bridge. It was a little scary but I was laughing the whole way across the river. Later that day I got back to my town to find a very wet ceiling. Although there was no water damage in my house it was quite evident that had there been any more rain it would have been a problem. My site mate’s house on the other hand was far worse… water leaking in from everywhere.
The rain has stopped now. My ceiling is almost dry, and we’ve been enjoying several days of a much warmer sun. It is still quite cool, but sitting out in the sun in the afternoon is almost perfect (I only have to wear two or three shirts). So, that’s the big excitement here… the weather. Haha. The two little peach trees in my garden have started to bloom, proving that spring is right around the corner after a very long and cold winter. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to be warm without wearing five layers of clothes.