This weekend I finally visited a volunteer whose town I have been wanting to see for over a year now, before I even knew where I would be posted for my two years of service. I have been (relatively) busy and the opportunity hadn’t really presented itself before, but the real reason I didn’t go was that I was scared. I had heard so much about his site, a small town up in the High Atlas, bursting with Berber (Amazight) pride and within easy walking distance of a beautiful reservoir. I was scared I would fall in love with his site [View Full Entry]

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When my parents announced to me that they had bought plane tickets for Morocco and really would be visiting me here I asked them what they wanted to see while they were here. I had grand ideas about trips up to Fez and Sefrou or across the Atlas to the Sahara so they could see Ait Ben Haddou or ride camels across the dunes to spend the night in nomadic Berber tents. When pressed as to whether they would prefer camping in the dunes or hiking in the Atlas my parents replied they really just wanted to see me. Given how [View Full Entry]

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Those of you who aren’t Muslim, or who don’t live in an Islamic community, may have forgotten that it’s Ramadan. There’s no forgetting in Morocco. Ramadan is the most holy month of the Islamic calendar. This year it began on October 24th and it’s not over yet. Since the Islamic calendar is about ten days shorter than the Gregorian one, Ramadan comes about ten days earlier every year and moves through the seasons accordingly. I am lucky to be living in Morocco when Ramadan is in the fall, though it is still hot enough that I haven’t brought out the blanket [View Full Entry]

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Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes time. Vision with action can change the world." ----Joel A. Barker This workshop and subsequent trip up to Fez was a great excuse to go visit my host family from training in Sefrou. I took the train up to Fez on Friday and ran into a couple other volunteers in the train station. Bart, who was in training with me, happened to be in Fez with his parents also, so we all met up in the old medina. Begin used to Marrakech, Fez seems so clean and calm. I [View Full Entry]

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365 days ago I arrived on the plane from New York in Casablanca. I didn't speak a word of Arabic and had no idea where I would be posted for the coming two years. Everybody says that the Peace Corps experience is a series of highs and lows. Incredible sights and once-in-a-lifetime experiences, followed by boredom and despair. Training was hard, and homestay was so full of new experiences and cultural learning I didn’t have much time to be homesick. Moving into my own house was exhilarating, and I soon started to feel I belonged in my community. I had a [View Full Entry]

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Today was the second day of the VSN training, which I hosted at my house. I was dreading the end of camp and having to return to the molten interior of the Shergie (the wind from the south that is painfully hot and carries sand from the Sahara into your eyes and makes food gritty and everything constantly covered with dust). I knew I had gotten spoiled going to the beach every day and living with other volunteers. The close quarters got on my nerves at times, but after the loneliness I had experiences in June and July, I knew I [View Full Entry]

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At this camp I switched from English teacher to Librarian. I get enough teaching in my work site and wanted to try something different at camp. The librarian works a slightly different schedule from the other volunteers since I don’t work during class or club time. But I am on duty during all the breaks. Out library is amazing and was stocked by the US Embassy in Rabat (THANK YOU!!!) with over 1,800 books of all levels. We have everything from simple picture books to Huckleberry Finn. We have three different kinds of dictionaries. And what the kids love most is [View Full Entry]

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The best possible escape from hot sandstorms of the Marrakech region is the breezy Atlantic coast. I got to spend the two weeks with fourteen other PCVs and four JICAs (Japanese International Co-operation Agency) in a camp close to downtown El Jedida, and only a five minute walk from the beach. There are lots of camps sponsored by the Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports, but four are billed as English speaking camps, of which this camp was Session 3. English Language camps are partly staffed by PCVs from the Youth Development sector; there are also professional Moroccan staff and some [View Full Entry]

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This weekend I took my cat back to his mother. She promptly attacked him and he beat her up. It wasn’t a good beginning, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I will be working at the Moroccan Ministry of Youth & Sports summer camps all of August and into the first week of September. There was nobody in my town who would agree to take care of him, no matter how hard I pleaded. Cats are street creatures and even my downstairs neighbors were afraid of the kitten I brought home in April. So, back to the volunteer in [View Full Entry]

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It has been too hot and I have been too lethargic to do much of anything when I’m in Kelaa, especially drag myself to the internet café and post a blog. One a month seems like being an over-achiever at this point. Anyway, I have managed to escape town a few times this month. For my Sunday/Monday weekend before the 4th of July I went with fellow volunteer Rebecca up and over the Atlas to celebrate with a group at Nada and Michael’s house in Ouarzazate. I knew it would be more than the typical PCV get together. Nada and Michael [View Full Entry]

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