Ksar El Kebir... Ready or not... HERE WE ARE!!!

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3/30/2013

TITLE: Ksar El Kebir begins

In less than 24 hours in Ksar, we have a new host home, we have walked around town, met many people, set a meeting with an association and come to terms with our new environment. It was exciting to wake up and think about what might happen on the first full day, but not exciting to think about our toilet or shower situation. “It is what is” is a mantra we seem to start many days with. However, this morning, we ignored those aforementioned unfortunate issues and went down for breakfast at 9:30 a.m., the time we were told breakfast was regularly served. It was the typical and yummy bread, laughing cow cheese, olive oil, olives and hard-boiled eggs breakfast. Ann was so happy to see the coffee and hot milk pitchers that she ALMOST forgot about some of the unpleasantness, almost. We had to explain to “mom,” that we do not drink sugar, which she could NOT believe. After breakfast, we had a session of her talking to us about all kinds of things and us shaking our heads up and down. The problem is, she keeps saying “fhmti?” at the end of each thought, which means “do you understand?” Sometimes we just have to say that we do, even if we really don’t. We call it, “rolling with the punches.”

After dealing with the toilet situation, which is a story in itself and not appropriate for mixed company or a blog, we were off to the bus terminal (CTM) to see if our bags had arrived from Rabat. Our host brother was kind enough to walk with us. He is very patient with our Darija and although he speaks no English, he seems to understand our signals pretty well. We were so glad to have him along to translate for us at the bus station. Everything went very smoothly and we gathered our bags (our big bags were stuff into the baggage person’s tiny office, behind his chair) and our host brother summoned a taxi. Getting them to the room was a feat (Clay’s is over 100 lbs.). Our room became an even bigger and much more crowded mess but there was little to be done for it.

After dropping off our bags, we walked around town and found the police station, the post office, the ATM, and got some cash so that we could pay our host family. Everything is within walking distance from our present home. We learned that there are no city buses (only from city to city) and that people walk or take taxis. The taxis here are red and small, but only cost 6 dirhams per ride (about 50 cents). We walked around many neighborhoods, but one in particular had the most charming houses and streets. The streets here are mostly very nice. There is very little litter and it appears that there may be a garbage pick-up of some sort at various sites around town.

After enjoying a beautiful sunny day and exploration of our new surroundings, we went to our association meeting that we had scheduled the day before. The association had commandeered a high school English teacher, Zineb, to speak to us in English. There were 7 teenaged kids there and they were excited to see us, though cautious about our true motives. After all… who would leave America to move to Morocco to teach people English… for free. See, it sounds pretty crazy when you put it like that. So we have to work through some justified skepticism. We had a nice meeting and explained the Peace Corps mission and goals. Teenage faces glowed and lips widened into big smiles. More than a few pointed questions were given to us to judge our credibility. In the end, we felt like we had made some new “friends” and garnered some excitement. Sadly, we still had not moved forward with our mission at the dar chebbab, nor have we met the mudir, but we now met people who could foster the overall mission and goals. Also importantly, we hoped that our new network would help us locate a house! We did plant the seed at our first meeting, which we hoped to cultivate well at the next meeting, which we set for the following day, for the purpose of meeting interested people and determining needs and schedules. WOW! That’s a mouth full!

We left the meeting feeling pretty darn good and decided to walk around town some more and ended up purchasing a sandwich, some sweets, some peanuts and some oranges. The sandwich was amazing roasted meat (chwarma) with “salad” and some sauce on French bread, pressed with a Panini press. These sandwiches cost 10 DH apiece (about $1.20 US). We also got 10 DH worth of the peanuts. These are freshly roasted on the street and nothing like the jarred peanuts in the States! We tried to purchase two oranges, but the man acted huffy and said he only sold kilos. Seriously dude… you gotta chill! We ended up buying half a kilo.

We skipped dinner, which wasn’t easy. Ann told “mom,” “gadi nEs bkri” meaning “I am going to sleep early.” “Mom” said “akul dbba?” which means “eat now?” Ann told her that we were not going to eat that night, but “mom” kept arguing with her about not eating, as the culture is that you must eat a lot or something is very terribly wrong with you. We were so tired, so the foot had to be put down. Putting one’s foot down is very difficult with little language skill, but it finally worked. So, we retired, ate our food (which we smuggled into the house), and discussed the next day’s goals. As we talked, the rain began to fall. Weather.com did not have good news. Walking across the roof to the main house to use the toilet was not a thought we ever relished, not even on the best of days, but it would be far worse in the rain.

The night passed with rain, roosters, calls to prayer and other sounds. Sleep did not come easily, even though we were exhausted. In the morning, we knew that the rain (shtah) would keep us from exploring so we decided to do some room organizing and studying. After making our room neater and setting out a plate of fresh oranges, along with a special picture Ann brought with her of her Mom, sister and self when she was little, things seemed a little brighter. Unfortunately, there are no windows to be opened or light coming into the room. Studying began in earnest, Ann did some laundry (now you all know that Clay HATES doing laundry and here in Morocco, it would be shooma (shameful) if he did, so he gets a pass) and before we knew it, lunch was served (2:30). We will definitely need to permanently change our stomach clocks.

The second association meeting was a 4. Another English teacher arrived, this time from a smaller mountain town down the road. Some of the same kids and some others attended. The meeting was just as boisterous and wonderful as the first! We loved it!!!

On the way back home, we stopped at a hanut (Ha-noot) to get Clay a Coke. Sometimes, you just need a drink to settle down. LOL! The shop owner, the mul-hanut, spoke a little English and we, with our little Darija, explained why we are in Ksar. The man was so friendly it warmed our hearts and when we parted, he ended up giving us some Jebli (it is sort of like a soft cheese and very high class here) and some milk as a welcome gift. We were pretty excited about everything thus far. We took our gifts home and gave them to host “mom.” However, she insisted that we take them to our room. What? Um… it’s milk and cheese and our room is kinda like Betty Crocker oven… so, against all protests, we left them downstairs. We ate dinner at 10:30 against our will, but with little choice to avoid hurt feelings, especially after the Great Milk and Cheese Incident of 2013. LOL! Oh how we learn every day!

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Comments

[Sharon Johnson]

RE: WOW!
So good to hear from you two again, with photos! My admiration (and amazement) for what you are doing is huge!! How? How? How? I look around and feel like the biggest ingrate/ungrateful alive. We are so spoiled. I knew it but, brother, do you drive it home!! Lots of love, Sharon