http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Peace-Corps-Rich/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Peace Corps Rich en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:36:34 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:36:34 +0000 NOTE FROM RICH The following blog entry comes from an article I recently wrote for an upcoming issue of Peaceworks a volunteer produced Peace Corps periodical. EnjoyHigh Atlas Training of Trainers Hike September 2006 or Four City Volunteers Take on the Great Moroccan OutdoorsBy Rich LandriganYD Ouaouizerht MoroccoNestled up in the Azilal region of the High Atlas Mountains therersquo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Tadla-Azilal/Azilal/blog-127034.html NOTE FROM RICH Hi everyone This blog entry comes from an RPCV Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who was one of the earliest to sign up way back when the Peace Corps was only a few years old. I've been writing too much lately so I'll just be quiet after asking you to please welcome my dad Richard F. Landrigan Chile '66'68.Richard invited me to submit a piece to add to his blog perhaps bec http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/blog-127023.html Just like in America Moroccan kids get a nice long summer vacation. Also like in America many Moroccan kids go away to summer camp for various activities such as sports music art and language. Just like in the springtime Peace Corps participates in these ministry sponsored camps by sending volunteers from the Youth Development sector to run language classes and clubs. The extra bonus atta http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Doukkala-Abda/El-Jadida/blog-127011.html Essaouira I have found one of the most beautiful cities on Earth. If you come to Morocco you MUST go to Essaouira With its white washed city walls its sprawling beaches its bustling medina packed with some of the most inspired examples of Moroccan craftsmanship and a history so long and tangible that you can see it and feel it all around you it is one of the true gems of a country already http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Marrakech-Tensift-El-Haouz/Essaouira/blog-127001.html One of Peace Corpsrsquo most important philosophies is that volunteers are happiest when their support network is primarily made up of Host Country Nationals HCNrsquos. I have certainly found this to be true. If I didnrsquot have a lot of friends and great people to work with in my town where I spend the majority of my time then I doubt Irsquod being enjoying my service nearly as muc http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-103289.html Every year in the middle of May one of the most beautiful months here in Ouaouizerht Jamayat Tawasul holds their biggest fund raiser of the year a community boat trip across the lake to a peninsula named Ait Imazere for a picnic and games. They sell tickets for 20 dirhams a pieces first come first serve to about 200 lucky people and on the appointed day everyone grabs their tagines blan http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-99905.html Each year the Moroccan Ministry of Youth Sports is responsible for providing camps for kids during the spring and summer school vacations. Because of our special relationship with the Ministry as volunteers in the Dar Chebabs Youth Development Volunteers are invited to participate in some of these camps as English teachers. The kids that come to our camps are specifically there for the langu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Chaouia-Ouardigha/Bouznika/blog-99890.html Hi everyone Not a lot to report today but I thought I'd let you all know about a fun little adventure I recently had.Last Sunday my young adult class from Jamayat Tawasul decided to take me on the first of their spring picnics Apparently they do this fairly regularly so this is probably just the first of many such outings. At 530 in the morning I dragged myself out of bed had a quick bite http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-49198.html Unbelievable Yesterday was the 6 month anniversary of our arrival in Morocco. I've now been out of the US for a full halfyear and it feels like somewhere inbetween an eternity and a splitsecond. On the one hand each day can seem to take forever but on the other hand looking back on everything that's happened since our arrival I can't believe that we've already come this far. The most st http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-46523.html Hi everyone It's been a really long time since I posted here over a month. I've been in touch with many of you by email and telephone but most of you have probably been wondering what I've been doing or maybe you've just forgotten about me Frankly I can't remember every detail of the past month so I'm just going to hit you with the highlights and there have been manyWhen our story lef http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-41909.html Thanksgiving...Moroccan style.This Wednesday was l3id kbir in the Muslim world and what a l3id it was. The streets of Ouaouizarht and every other town ran red with blood as each and every family celebrated by slaughtering its own sheep. The tradition comes from the story in the Koran and in the Bible and Torah of when God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Issac and seeing that Abraha http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-35701.html Most experiences have their ups and downs. Morocco especially Ouaouizarth has mountains and valleys. My last two blogs were kind of depressing because frankly I was a little down. As I've probably told many of you most of my favorite albums are the ones I hated the first time I listened to them. The more you listen though the more you hear and sometimes you have to listen to something http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-34138.html Dear Friends and FamilyIt came to my attention just before Christmas that Michael Cleary a member of my graduating class at Hamilton 2003 was killed in action in Iraq last week. Michael was a First Lt. in the Army with a pending promotion to the rank of Captain. In addition to many friends and admirers in the Hamilton community he also had a fiance whom he was planning to marry this coming http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-33043.html Welcome new people If you don't know what this blog is all about please check my previous entries for a full explaination.Well it's official. I've been here a long time but I still have a loooooong way to go.The first 3 12 weeks in site have been incredible in every sense of the word. It's been fun sad interesting depressing educational frustrating satisfying and most of all exhaust http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Souss-Massa-Dra-/Ouarzazate/blog-32385.html I'm back Community based training is officially over and we're moving onto the next phase of training. Before I get ahead of myself though let me tell you about all that has happened recently.Just before we last left Immouzzer we were treated to a royal visit of sorts. The king of Morocco with his whole motorcade which includes about 40 cars motorcycles and helicopters passed through Im http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Imouzzer-Kandar/blog-24016.html Wow It's been a long time since I wrote anything substantial here. Before I go into details about what I've been doing there's just a little more business that I have to take care of.First the Peace Corps is extremely wary of sensitive material and particularly since Morocco is a conservative Muslim country with many proud and beautiful traditions concerning religious and family values the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Imouzzer-Kandar/blog-23680.html Hi everybody I've been in the small village of Sekhinat near the medicinal springs of Sidi Harzem for the last week with no internet access so that's why you have't heard from me. From all the emails I've been getting it sounds like everyone back home is doing well and thanks for the email addresses you keep sending me. This list grows a little bit each time I send out a message and hopefu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Sidi-Harazem/blog-23544.html Took my language test this morning. Haven't gotten the final results yet but I feel like it went well. All I had to do was sit in a room and talk to the tester for about 15 mintues in Moroccan Arabic and he seemed pretty happy with my ability so I think they're going to let me stay We've all been studying pretty hard in the last week to get ready for the test but more importantly in less t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Imouzzer-Kandar/blog-28019.html Kif Darkum That's Darija Moroccan Arabic for How are you all For those of you who are new to this mailing list salamu alaykum Someone else on this list gave me your email address either because I was looking for it or because they thought you would be interested. Just so that everybody is on the same page I'm currently in Morocco training for two years of service in the Peace Corps http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-23542.html Sbah lxir I hope this email finds you all well Some of you I've been in good contact with recently while some probably haven't heard from me for quite some time but I wanted to let you all know that I am over in Morocco serving two years in the Peace Corps and if possible I'd like to stay in touch with you all. So far I've been to Casablanca Rabatthe capital and now Fes where I am receiv http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-23539.html