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.

Finally, pictures of my house. I think they are fairly self explanitory but I'll give a quick run down. The first picture is of my garden. Also known as the place I spend the most time in because the sun is nice and warm during the day... and my house of cement is freezing all the time. I have two peach trees and a couple lovely grape vines, I'm hoping to add some more things like basil and tomatoes pretty soon.


This of course is my lovely trukish toilet and my showering room. Having both is a privledge and although it is still cold here I try to bath at least once every 3 or 4 days. The buckets in my toilet room store water since I only have running water for an hour a day.

My bedroom, it's great. I decided to sew the lovely curtain, not too bad considering I did it by hand. It's a small cozy room and I have come to enjoy it very much... having a real bed is sooo nice.

This is a big open hallway really, we decided to move one of Peter's rugs he wasn't using and call it an additional lounge area.

My kitchen area is great. I have more counter space than most Moroccan kitchens, in the process of trying to find tiles to finish it though. And yes that's the garden which connects to the kitchen.

The hall way from my front door to the kitchen. On the right is a door to the room pictured below, to the left is my open hallway and bedroom.

The entertainment room which has gotten very little use yet, but hopefully soon. It's hard to show how big my place really is in pictures. The rooms are all pretty open and there are a considerable amount of windows which means my place has a nice amount of natural light through the day, yet another rarity in most Moroccan homes. I have pretty high ceilings which I just think makes the place look even bigger too. Among the things I didnt photograph, a second bedroom I use for storage, an indoor cement courtyard, and a second entrance. Oh how nice it is to finally settle into my own place. A place I'm loving more and more as I make it my own.

This probably isn't the best picture to put with this blog entry but I'll do it anyway. Just an image of the land of rocks that i live in, and yes that is the literal translation of my town's name.

There are times here when all I want to do is run away… times when all I want to do is leave and return to everything that I used to know. There are days when I wake up and I really can’t figure out what I’m doing in a small town in the middle of the mountains in Morocco. Sometimes I feel like my life is more consumed with frustration than boredom. I get tired of being absolutely freezing cold every day, of wearing so many layers I can hardly move, of shivering to death when I try to take a bucket bath. I get tired of the language and knowing that I should know more than I do (I mean I’ve been here for over 5 months!). I get tired of only having running water for an hour a day. Washing clothes here can be unbelievably challenging with ice cold water- and for whatever reason my clothes have taken more wear and tear here in 5 months than most clothes would in 5 years. Haggling over prices to buy anything in this country is enough to exhaust anyone (not to mention prices are quoted in terms of ryals, a form of currency that has not been used for decades- the current form of currency is dirham, there are 20 ryals to 1 dirham, so the math and numbers get ridiculously confusing). Oh, and I think I have spiders attacking me in my new house; I have icky red bites all over me. Sometimes it’s all just too much; it’s just a different conception of life that can be so frustrating at times.
But then I look outside and I see this beautiful little community with people walking around in jellabas and women draped with the traditional black sheet around them. I look at the little kids playing marbles in the dirt streets, the older kids walking to and from school, and the men sitting at the cafes drinking tea. And when I walk just outside of town the hills are covered with sheep and goats grazing. I guess that’s when I realize that I do love it here. Sometimes the frustrations become so overwhelming that I forget the beauty of it all. I suppose if it wasn’t a challenge I wouldn’t have wanted to do it. Sure I miss the conveniences of life in the US… but I’m not there now, and those conveniences will still be there when I return. Right now I’m learning to get into my life here; to start making a habit of being here and getting to know the people better. I’m settling into my house quite nicely even if it is really cold inside. I love having my own space again after being a nomad for 5 months- my suitcases have moved into my storage room so I no longer have to look at them daily. I must say that I do miss living with my host family, their routine became my routine and it was a nice way to live.
So, here I am for another internet session in Rich, something I’ve only been doing about once every two weeks. Mainly that’s just because it’s exhausting to come to town every weekend. Regardless, it’s always good to check in with the rest of the world especially since we’ve been losing cell phone reception on and off for the past 3 weeks.
Work has been pretty consistent lately. I’ve been going to the women’s cooperative at least four times a week (when it’s open) and trying to bring some new ideas to the women for how they can make some extra money. Right now I’m trying to get them to make cookies on a weekly basis just to bring in a little extra money to buy supplies for larger projects like weavings, etc. The women seem interested but who knows how long it will take for things to actually start happening. I’m also trying to get things set up to start trying to make cheese here. It seems like it could be a rather time-intensive project and I guess if anyone who’s reading this has experience, any information would be great! I’m currently trying to figure out how I can get Rennet and Starter Cultures for making cow and goat cheeses; I’m not sure where I can find them in this country so I might need to order them from the US. There are other volunteers here who might know about cheese-making so I’ll be giving that a try too.
Well, my new house is great despite my previously mentioned frustrations. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to take pics before I came here. So, you’ll all have to wait for a couple more weeks to see the inside of my lovely cement house. It still needs some decorating as there is nothing on the walls currently, so it’s probably better that I haven’t taken pics yet. I’ve also recently become a pretty good cook; most nights of week I make dinner for me and my site mate Peter. Sometimes cooking here can be challenging given the resources but things seem to be getting easier as I adjust my methods and patience.
So, I guess that’s what I need to work on currently; delving deeper into my ability to have patience. I feel like I’ve been through the hardest part already, or have I? Is the hardest part being a nomad for 5 months, or learning how to be still for 22 months?

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.

Pictures galore. I'm not exactly sure what order these will post as so here's a general recap. The first image is of my site mate Peter with his adorable and slightly crazy cat HanShush, a very Merry Christmas picture complete with the teddy bear my mom sent to me. The next image is of my other site mate Alex putting a cigarette bud out on Peter's heal because it's so calloused. Needless to say it was hilarious. Then there's the image of me taking off the top of my apple off because it caught on fire in the stupid Moroccan oven. Hmm, i'm going to have to rethink my hopes of becoming an excellent baker here.

And then there was L3id. Here are a few of the many gorey pictures I have. Alex and Peter decided to buy a sheep and slaughter it in honor of the holiday, yummy. And L3id wouldn't have been complete without a lovely group picture by the freshly slaughtered sheep (as it's still getting skinned).

But really it was all pretty fun. I ate lots of strange sheep organs which included heart, liver, intestines, lungs, stomach and balls (yup the balls). My stomach however did not agree with most of this, let's just say a week later I am still sort of in recovery.

Christmas was better than I expected I got to hang out at Peter's house and cook and watch "A Christmas Story" (thank you mom!) I got my Christmas package from my mother exactly on Christmas day which was quite possibly one of the nicest surprises ever. Other than all that all I have to say is it's been cold, very cold. It snowed last week, the day before L3id which was beautiful but it only lasted until the afternoon... and even though the sun comes out everyday here it doesn't get very warm. Ok, well I'm off to Rabat for some Peace Corps stuff on Thursday and on Saturday I get to hang out with my bestest friend from stage in Azrou! Yay!

Happy New Year everyone!

Currently, I am learning how to waste a lot of time. No, I mean it… the women I’m working with are meeting twice a week which means I have a lot of time to fill. I spend a lot of time at my family’s house reading and trying to learn more of the language, and in the mornings I generally go on 2 to 3 hour walks. I currently have blisters on my feet from walking too much, which should mean that I’m walking less but I’m not. I just try to tough it out and hope that eventually I’ll get tough skin like the Moroccan womenJ Anyway, I’m pretty much just settling into a simple life here. I’m trying to figure out ways to use my time and be productive but there’s a lot of time and space to fill out here. I mean the town is beautiful but there’s only so much exploring of bare land you can do each day. And general conversation with the locals is still difficult at best, I have a lot of work to do on the language and I’m not really sure how to do it. I guess something will just come in time.
Well, not really much to report simply because there isn’t a lot going on. Just adjusting to my new life and trying to imagine the next 2 years. Also imagining what it will be like to live in my own place here in 2 months. I mean I really enjoy the family I’m staying with but it will be nice to be at my own place too come February 1st. Anyway, I don’t think I’ll have internet again until after Christmas, so Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it. It should be an interesting day for me, not only will I be apart from my family for the first time but I guess I won’t be celebrating the holiday at all this year. Instead I’ll be celebrating L3id Akbar, and slaughtering a sheep around the 23rd of December. Let’s hope I can stomach it in more than one way.