This was the biggest trip I have yet to take around Morocco. My dear friend Jesselyn brought Liz, another Peace Corps Volunteer, with her from Togo. The arrived in Casablanca and took the train down to Ben Guerir and from there came to see my town, Kelaat Sraghna. After a few days in Kelaa and several giant meals with Maryam and my various hospitable neighbors, we went on to Marrakech. I knew they would love Marrakech and we had a blast. By now I know the city well enough to be able to touch on the highlights and find my way [View Full Entry]

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After my uncles and cousin left on Saturday to go back to their respective homes, I got back on the train again and rushed up to Rabat to play a softball game. Unfortunately the game was cancelled due to tightened security at the American School. As far as I know the Rabat American School has the only baseball diamond in Morocco. Anyway, people were understandably nervous about the bombings that have been happening in Casablanca and shut the school for the weekend. This was the first game I have ever heard of being called on account of terrorism. But the upshot [View Full Entry]

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The day after spring camp ended, and I got more than five hours of sleep for the first time in over a week, two of my uncles and a cousin arrived in Marrakech. I had just enough time to catch the train down from Rabat and arrived at the hotel less than a half hour before they did. My mother’s brother Charlie and her younger sister’s husband David had brought with them Isaac, David’s son. [I’ve gotten used to explaining familial relations since there is no word in Arabic for “cousin”. It’s too generic. All relations have specific words. I can’t [View Full Entry]

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I had never spent any time in Khemisset before - just been rushed through on the accidental road trip with Maryam in January, 2006. There are a couple other volunteers in the area and one who works with artisans in Khemisset itself. I hadn’t heard very glowing reports of the town, but when I first got there I was so happy to see green fields and tall trees that I didn’t care what other problems there might be. Camp has always been a fun time for me and though camp in Morocco is almost the polar opposite of the camps I [View Full Entry]

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I recently was lucky to recieve a phone call from a classroom I have been corresponding with in Wisconsin. Peace Corps' World Wise Schools program matched me with Mrs. Burge's 2nd grade class in Holmen and we have been corresponding for several months. Last month in celebration of Peace Corps Week and the 46th anniversay of Kennedy's creation, Peace Corps paid for an hour long call between me, some of my English speaking students, and the students at Viking Elementary in Holmen. I promised during the call that I would put my friend Maryam's recipe for couscous on my blog [View Full Entry]

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Mostly photos today. Not much to say except that it was wonderful to have Michèle visit me, show her around Marrakech and host her at my home for a couple days. She was a guest speaker in one of my English classes and played interview with them, asking and answering questions. When I had my back tuned at one point she asked the kids what they had learned about American culture from me and one girl said that she learned that women can live alone and be happy with their career. It was an influence I hadn't thought about and I [View Full Entry]

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This hasn’t been the best year for snow, but last week we the rain the farmers have been praying for and I decided I couldn’t wait any longer to go find the ski area called Oukaimden. I hadn’t heard much about it, though one woman from my gym said she had been there. It’s on the map and with that knowledge I figured it had to exist. Skiing isn’t a very popular sport in Morocco. Most of the people I asked about Oukaimden enthusiastically told me it is beautiful and there is snow, though when pressed about chairlifts and ski rental [View Full Entry]

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For the New Year (by the Islamic calendar) I went to visit another volunteer who lives in the Marrakech region. She had planned a hike with some of her students and we left town, headed for the Atlas foothills. Her town is right at the base of the mountains, though at low enough elevation that it was still warm in the afternoon sun. We didn't have to worry about the new snow they got up at higher elevations. We had a good dozen kids when we started out, though some dropped off and others joined on as we walked along. It [View Full Entry]

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While many of my fellow volunteers here in Morocco when home to the US for Christmas I had lunch in Marrakech with the other volunteer in my region who stayed behind. It was a sunny day and we ate on the upstairs terrace at Kozy Bar, one of my favorite places in Marrakech. The next day the real adventure began. I went to Casablanca and took a plane to Lomé, Togo. My friend Jesselyn, who I went to high school with in Boise, is a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo and has been there as long as I have been in [View Full Entry]

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Hello Ms. Burge’s class and all of Holden, Wisconsin! Salamu alaykum! I have recently begun corresponding with a second grade classroom at Viking Elementary School in Holden. It’s a lot of fun for me and I like having a new audience to tell all my stories to. Writing is fun for me and a good way for me to reflect on the experiences I am having here. Peace Corps organizes a correspondence exchange through their Coverdell World Wise Schools Program. I put my name in to be matched with a teacher in the States and after a long wait (all last [View Full Entry]

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