Well, it seems like it’s been quite a while since I’ve done this whole blogging thing. Sometimes I wish I actually had something profound or interesting to write but when the majority of your days are spent in solitary confinement it’s difficult to say the least.

Actually I have been rather busy the past couple of weeks. I spent the earlier part of the month attending a GGLOW Camp, aka, guys and girls lead our world. It’s a camp that a bunch of volunteers in my area coordinated to bring up issues of gender development with kids between the age of 12 and 18. While I was not actually apart of the coordinating of the events I was there to offer a helping hand. So, about 11 of us volunteers from around here went up north to a town called Imilchil. The camp was great and the Moroccan staff that were there to help us were amazing. I think the kids had a great time doing both outside activities (like a hike to a nearby Lake Tislit), along with classroom discussion and games.

As for me, it was a great opportunity to work with the kids in their school environment- it made me realize how severe their living conditions are. It was also nice just to see another volunteer’s site, even if it was unexpectedly freezing the week we were there.

So I returned from the camp in Imilchil to then rush off a couple days later to get my carte sejour, or in other words my residency card. It’s a very momentous event to get this laminated piece of paper- it means I am finally legal to live in Morocco and that I can come and go in and out of this country anytime I want for the next year. It generally takes volunteers anywhere from a couple months to a full 2 years to get this document and I got mine in about 4 months- probably a record for my province and gendarmerie (quasi police officials).

Oh, and I also had my site visit- my program manager came out to my village for a couple hours to check on my living conditions and to see how well I am integrating into my community. I was slightly worried about this event since I have struggled a lot with being happy here, but to my surprise everything went swimmingly. We met with the women’s cooperative and they basically reiterated everything that I had already told my Manager in terms of what they needed. First thing on the list: materials, sewing machines, and new metal looms. I began the process of filling out the paperwork for assistance from a Moroccan organization this week, it’ll be sent off next week and then we’ll just have to wait- who knows how long : ) Long term goal: new working space for the cooperative, ideally we can get funding for actually building a new place.

In other news, not related to work- I recently acquired an old refrigerator from one the volunteers that is leaving. It’s getting pretty warm pretty quickly here and a fridge seems like a dream come true already. On the down side, it’s sucking the life out of the my electricity- generally it takes me about 3 to 4 months to go through 100DH of electricity (that’s about $15), now were going through 100DH in about a month, eek. Also, Peter’s cat, Han Shush finally had her babies.

I was so excited that I’d finally get to see a cat give birth but of course she decided to do it while Peter and I were both gone at the camp in Imilchil. Luckily my former host father, Sid, arrived to help her out as she successfully delivered 2 adorable kittens. The two kittens have basically identical markings; all white with a couple orange spots, the only difference is that one of them is about twice the size of the other. So we of course end up calling them the little one and the big one, not so creative. They’re about 2 weeks old now and they just opened their eyes, both appear to have blue eyes who knows if those will change. 4 more weeks to go and then I’ll finally get to claim my little kitty!

Anyway, next up on the agenda is IST (In-Service Training) in Agadir. I’ll be leaving next week to spend a week at this lovely beach town in a 4 star hotel with the other 60+ volunteers that I started my service with. Needless to say it’s a big landmark for all of us; it’s our official celebration for lasting 6 months in our sites, 9 months in country. And aside from the daily presentations we will have to sit through, we will be having a lot of fun doing “other” activities in the evening time.

So, with all that said, it’s also the week that I have to say goodbye to some wonderful people who have definitely colored my life for the past 6 months. Yup, some of my favorite volunteers are finishing their service this week. Of course I applaud them for lasting this long here (since I’m still questioning how much longer I can take it), but it will be sad not to have them around. And as I say hello to their new replacements in the coming weeks, I know that I will miss these volunteers very much.

Dancing women, camels, and cats, oh my. Actually, nothing really new to write about, just wanted to put something up though. The first image is of some women dancing at a party I attended last week. It was basically a harvest party, the women went out to the mountains at 6 am and came back around noon with large bundles of wood. Later we ate and the women danced and sang, it was a rather typical Berber party.
The next image of lovely camels walking relatively near where I live. The nomads generally don't bring them this far north but there is no water in the Sahara (go figure) this year.
And last but not least the adorable and very pregnant Han Shush (Peter's cat) She looks like she'll have the kittens any day now, trust me if you could see that belly in real life you'd understand. In her pregnancy days she has slowed down immensely and basically sleeps all day and night now. Can't wait to claim one of her kittens.