Around Town

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I got to explore the town a bit and went to see the Dar Shebab with Daniele, the PCV who will be ending her service in Morocco the day after I get back to Kelaâ. I’m only here to visit for a few days now and have to be back in Immouzzer on the 15th for the last bit of training and to swear in as a real Volunteer.
I introduced myself to most of the people in town as the “new Daniele” or “Daniele’s replacement”. She is much older than I am, so some people actually called me the younger or little Daniele. She speaks French as her first language, so people were delighted to learn that I also speak French. I still plan on communicating mostly in Darija, but I know the French will come in handy.
A new development for me is that I am also now introducing myself as “Huda.” I got tired of people never being able to remember my name or even pronounce it. The pronunciation didn’t bother me so much however, I got used to being Ezeur when I lived in France. I have noticed that people here always remember Huda and it is much easier for kids to say also. It is a fairly common Arabic name and means “the forgiver.” I knew somebody back home in Boise named Huda and figured it was close enough to Heather. They have been calling me Hay-dar, and Huda is very close to that. After a few days of trying it out I’m already used to it and always answer to it.
The Dar Shebab is practically brand new, it was remodeled over the summer and even has new bathroom facilities. The mudir, or director, was in Fès for the film festival, so I didn’t get to meet him, but Daniele had arranged for some of her top students to meet me there and I got the grand tour of the building. It’s going to be a great work place and is very active with over a dozen associations that meet there. One challenge is that there are so many associations that some people have told me there will not be anywhere for me to teach English. I think the mudir will be able to help me with that and I’m not worried.
The rest of the town is nice, there are banks and two post offices and even a computer store. There are two large high schools and one of the junior highs even has an English teacher, which is very rare. Daniele took me around to the hospital and the Centre de Santé which is basically a family planning clinic that women can take their kids to and get prenatal care. Everybody I met was very welcoming and offered to help me with anything I need.
The Peace Corps strategy in Morocco is to place three consecutive volunteers in one site, because nobody can make do all the development work we are trying to do in only two years. I will be continuing some of the projects that Daniele has been working on, but I think most of the things I will do will be my own projects, we’ll see.

Couscous - in detail:
On Fridays Moroccan families traditionally eat couscous, called sksu. Friday is the Islamic day of prayer, though Morocco was a colony for so long it has adapted to the European week schedule and we have the same weekend of Saturday and Sunday here. On Friday most families get together and eat a large couscous meal together. I’ve had couscous many times in France, and in the US, but this is different, and so good. There is a special pot for cooking it in, which has a big part on the bottom to boil water in - or a separate sauce if you’re making one. The top part had holes in the bottom so the steam can come up through to cook the semolina (couscous) grains. You take it out several times to add oil or spices to the grain and to fluff it up with your hands and break up the chunks. It’s incredibly hot and I think burning your hands is just a part of making sksu. There is also a pressure cooker filled with meat and vegetables. This is the best part, since there is always a variety of vegetables; common ones are zucchini, bell and spicy peppers, potatoes, carrots, rutabagas, pumpkin and parsley and cilantro. The sauce often has garbonzo beans and rasins in it - I could eat it every day. The couscous grains are spread out in a big clay dish and the meat is placed in the middle and the vegetables around it. You have to be careful to evenly distribute the vegetables, since everybody eats from this one big dish and you can only eat what is directly in front of you. Imagine a pie shape in your portion of the dish and that is fair game, though you can ask other people for something in their portion if you really want it, and equally you can give away something in your part if you know somebody else likes it. The meat is buried under the vegetables and eaten last, the head of the household will usually divide it up and put pieces into each person’s part, with the best bits going to guests. I always eat at least one bite, even if I really don’t want any meat, then I give bits away or try to discretely push them into somebody else’s pie shape.

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