Blogs from Imouzzer Kandar, Fès-Boulemane, Morocco, Africa

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Imouzzer Kandar July 31st 2008

Coucou tout le monde !! Nous avons quitté le chantier hier matin (c'était un peu triste...). Nous sommes maintenant à Immouzzer, un petit village dans la montagne près de Fès. Le climat est plus supportable qu'à Fès et les paysages sont magnifiques. Nous sommes hébergés par un des volontaires, Ali, et ce soir il nous emmène visiter Fès ! Ce matin, nous étions à Ain Sultan, petite rivière sous les platanes et saules pleureurs. On y a pris le petit déjeuner. C'est la source d'une eau minérale, cet endroit est magnifique et très calme!! Le 4 août : Ali nous a fait visiter les alentours d'Imouzzer. On a été à Ifrane, puis dans une forêt nommée "Cèdre Gouraud". Là nous avons sympathisé avec les singes et les chevaux !!! Nous nous sommes baladées dans la médina ... read more

I can speak Darija!

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Imouzzer Kandar November 20th 2005

On the Marrakesh Express

Peace Corps Rich

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 than a week we depart for our respective sites to begin work! Crazy! Last week I got to see my town for the first time, and I have to tell you all that if you don't come visit me sometime in the next 2 years you will have sorely missed out. Ouaouizeight is squarely placed in ... read more

Starting to forget what pizza tastes like

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Imouzzer Kandar November 8th 2005

Moroccan stylz

Peace Corps Rich

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 Immozzer and drove right past our compound. We got word of it about 10 minutes before he came through so we were all out on the sidewalk with a big Peace Corps sign waving as he went by. The king drives his own huge black land rover with red and green Moroccan flags on the side, and he waved back as he passed us at 80 miles an hour. ... read more

Immouzzer Kandar

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Imouzzer Kandar October 19th 2005

YD PST 2005, baby!

Peace Corps Rich

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 PC doesn't want to risk any offense to our host country national counterparts and/or their communities. As a result, any deragotory or culturally insensative remarks, pictures, etc. that can be connected to any volunteer are considered to be a danger to the success of our mission of promoting world peace and friendship. Please, please, PLEASE do not do anything that would connect me with any material of this nature because ... read more

An Apricot of Topics

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Imouzzer Kandar October 19th 2005

At the Park in Immouzzer

Ezeur

Today's blog is a mishmash of topics, but mishmash means'apricot' in Darija. "We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time; add up to big differences that we often cannot forsee." - Marian Wright Edelman I am back in Immouzzer for a week of training with the rest of the Youth Development trainees, and this quote really sums up a lot of what we're told in training. Our trainers are the LCFs, Moroccans who work for Peace Corps and are our "Language and Culture Facilitators." Beurocratic lingo is very Peace Corps since it technically is part of the US government. There are also quite a few current Volunteers who help with the training. While in Immouzzer we attend meetings about ... read more

First Entry

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Imouzzer Kandar October 16th 2005

Moroccan Flags

Peace Corps Rich

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog! Hope everyone found it easily enough. From now on I will be posting messages here so I won't clog up your e-mail inboxes anymore, so if you want to know what's going on with me feel free to check here anytime. I will still be checking my e-mail regularly so if you want to send me a message that you don't want everyone else to read, please do so. Otherwise, I believe, everything you post here will be availble to be read by anyone who checks this blog. I'm going to add my previous e-mails to the blog so that my diary is complete and then I'll add a post about what's been going on lately. ... read more

First day in Immouzzer

Africa » Morocco » Fès-Boulemane » Imouzzer Kandar October 4th 2005

Amina

Ezeur

This town feels more like southern Europe than Africa and our seminar site is practically a resort. Except for the paperwork, meeting and tight schedules, this doesn’t feel much like Peace Corps. It is nice to see everybody again and hear about their experiences in their homestays. There is a very wide range of families who have taken us in. Some are very modern and have washing machines and toilet paper like mine, some have over ten people in the house and only one spigot for water. Some have to boil their tap water. After talking to everybody though, it’s obvious that all the families are very nice, though can sometimes be almost too accommodating. A big topic of discussion was Moroccan hospitality and how it can get to the point of being overwhelming. Guests and ... read more

Brief history of Morocco

In 788, about a century after the Arab conquest of North Africa, successive Moorish dynasties began to rule in Morocco. In the 16th century, the Sa'adi monarchy, particularly under Ahmad AL-MANSUR (1578-1603), repelled foreign invaders and inaugurate...more history

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