11 days away from Assoul was definitely my longest departure in 6 months. It was a busy week and a half of travelling and site seeing in places that made me feel like I had almost left Morocco. The majority of my trip was spent in Agadir, a well known beach town that is quite modern. We stayed in one of the nicest hotels in Agadir, and this was our lovely beach front view from our balcony.

Regardless of the fact that we basically had to spend every day indoors for meetings, we did take advantage of exploring the city in the evening. It was a lot of good food, good people, and good drinks, but nothing too crazy. Below is a picture of Bri and me eating what we believed to be the most hilarious thing… a very phallic way to get two scoops of ice cream, and yes we were laughing uncontrollably about it.

That’s what being here does to you; it makes you crack up over ridiculous things that really shouldn’t be that funny.
After Agadir, Bri, Mia and me went to another beach town for a slight extension on work related vacation. We went to a town called Essaouira, a town which will forever more be considered my favorite place in Morocco. It’s hard to say what it is about Essa, maybe it’s that the Moroccans are more relaxed, or the lovely breeze off the ocean, but it’s truly a wonderful place. In our 24 hours there we found a great cheap hotel, ate amazing food, and shopped… we shopped like there was no tomorrow. After 9 months of not shopping even a person who doesn’t like shopping (like me) will embrace the wonderful feeling of finally scoring good deals on presents for family, friends, and of course me.

From Essa we travelled to Marrakech. It was my first time there also; a group of us volunteers spent one night there before departing on our different paths to return to our sites. Marrakech was about like I expected (even though I saw very little of the actual city). We stayed in the Medina there and had a great time bargaining our hearts out… I got a coral necklace down from 700DH to 150DH! That’s huge! Marakech was a spectacle all its own, it was hot, and the Medina was crowded with thousands of people.

This picture was of an alley just off the Medina, and it stayed packed with people roaming around well into the late hour of the night. Of course the pitfall of Marrakech is the obscene amount of harassment, I can’t really even remember how many times my ass was grabbed. Sometimes I just want to wear a sign around my neck that says, “I am not a tourist, I live here!” Ahh, but it was all a great experience… all except for the 14hour bus ride I did the following day to get to Rich and then the next day a couple more hour to Assoul. I think I’ve said it before but travelling in this country is exhausting and as it gets warmer the busses just get harder to travel on.
So, I’m back to Assoul now and taking a little respite from everything. I’ve had a nagging little cold since I got back and have started reading a lot again. I go to babysit my site mate’s cat and kittens for the past couple days, so of course I have to include a couple pictures of the adorable little monsters.

At 5 weeks old now, I’ll only need to wait another week to claim my kitten. His name is BuPastis ,which means the owner of Pastis (Pastis is a caramel colored liquor that turns white when you drink it with water… it seemed perfect for his coloring but also because I had never had it before Morocco). He is the larger of the two kittens and although they’re both cute I’m totally bias to him. He is so social, has so much personality and is a little plump… just like I like my kitties.
I guess it’s worth mentioning that apparently Assoul has invisible mosquitoes. I have yet to see any mosquitoes but they sure do like me. I have taken to hiding under my mosquito net which I just hung up a couple days ago. Hard to tell if it’s working yet but sure hope so since my body is already basically covered in bites and it’s only the beginning of summer (and yes it is quite warm, probably mid 90s most days and I’m fully covered with long sleeved shirts and pants). Eek. If nothing else, the mosquito net keeps the flies off me… and that is always a welcome relief.

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.

Here we have the new bio dome in Assoul, a space invader and a newly tiled kitchen. In other words, the first image is of the new bee keeping cooperative which my former host father has started. It’s pretty exciting to watch this group of people actually working on a small business project to make honey. Then there is Peter, dressed in the lovely space suit as he walked near the boxes or bees. I of course neglected to “suit up” and moments after taking this image I was stung by 2 bees fighting in my hair. My head is a little swollen and sore, but oh well. And last but not least is the picture of me in my newly tiled kitchen, before the counters were rough cement. So, I tiled them… the guys in my town thought it was a little crazy that this American girl was tiling her kitchen by herself. It was 4 days of labor intensive work, and I loved almost every minute of it.
So, that’s what’s been going on around here. The women’s cooperative has been open very rarely, if at all in the past month. This of course is a good and a bad thing- good because I have free time to tile my kitchen- bad because I am bored out of my mind and the women aren’t going to be able to produce any more products to sell.
I did have my first official visitor in Assoul this past week. My good friend Bri from stage came all the way to my town… far off the beaten path. We had a great time hanging out and enjoying some lovely pesto pasta and salad. Of course the pesto came from a package my mother sent me… and let me tell you, those packages are the best (I love you mom!). Anyway, in the midst of Bri’s visit we also had the arrival of spring storm madness. Basically all week it has been so windy you can barely walk outside. Seriously, gale force winds here in the mountains which have been followed by rain and rather cold temperatures in the past two days. Oh Morocco- can’t wait to see what next week will bring.

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.