Things I bought yesterday

I felt inspired to do some finishing purchases yesterday. I bought a nice little plastic table, a cutting board (finally) and a knife that the kitchenware-guy assured me would easily cut bone. I’m eating a lot more meat these days, so it should come in handy. Plus, if these kids keep bugging me, wearing the knife might be enough to scare them away... who knows… some volunteers I know apparently walk around their tiny villages with a hunting knife tied to a long stick, and the kids don’t mess with them anymore. This is probably not feasible in a mid-sized town like Midelt, unfortunately.

Sarah F. had a much better idea: take the kids to the police office.

Familiar
So there are lots of tea additives in Morocco. The most famous are, of course, mint and copious amounts of sugar. But there are others. Lots of people in my region like to put something called Sheba in their tea. This has a really weird taste, which is vaguely familiar. Like something I had long ago, and even then only a couple times, but can’t forget. Well, I thought this would be just another Moroccan mystery that would go unsolved. But another volunteer and I were talking about medicinal plants in Morocco. He had just gotten new kittens, so he said he was going to give them wormwood to help de-worm them. I asked what wormwood is called here. He said Sheba, and it suddenly all clicked into place. Sheba tea reminded me of Absinthe (which is made out of wormwood). Crazy.

election results.

Meknes Adventure

This is the story of a weekend that started out pretty badly, but got really good in a hurry. I went to Meknes, but on the bus there, I realized I had brought about 100 dirhams less than I should have. And I forgot my ATM card, so no way to get more cash. Oops. So, I did what anyone would have done, I went to Marjane and bought fancy food that I couldn’t afford. Not smart. But when else can I get canned hummos (Moroccans don’t like hummos… which puzzles me. But folks just don’t make it here and I’m much to lazy to make it myself) So I’m out of money, essentially. Then I take a taxi to meet with a Moroccan friend to talk with her about her monograph (the purpose of the whole visit). But instead of talking me to University Moulay Ismail, the dirtbag cab driver takes me to Moulay Ismail High School, which is on the other side of town, and then wants to keep the meter running as he fixes his mistake. Flush another 50 dirham down the toilet. Then, I get to my friend’s neighborhood, and it turns out the guy I was supposed to stay with (staying with a Moroccan girl would be ultra-hashooma) is traveling, so I’ve got to get a hotel. More money I don’t have.
So at this point I’m feeling really down. i am one who budgets and saves scrupulously in order to make sure I always have enough money, and being broke is a horrible feeling for me. I know I should be able to live with it, and maybe it’s a character flaw, but not having money induces pretty serious panic. At this point I have a serious desire to leave, not just Meknes, but Morocco. But I don’t really want to be anyplace else, I just want to be done, but not start anything else. Lowpoint. But then I get to the hotel, and it’s cheaper than I expected. And it has a shower. Mind you, it’s been months since I’ve taken a shower. I warm up water on the stove and pour it on me every now and again, but to just stand under a shower head that is spewing moderately warm water is closer to heaven than I can tell you. And then i went to my room, which had two beds (I switched halfway through the night, because I could). I ate the expensive food I bough from Marjane for dinner, and it was delicious. When I woke up in the morning, I saw that there was an orange tree right outside my room that smelled amazing. Things are getting a lot better at this point.
I left the hotel early, explored the city, and got lost (the good kind of lost) in the medina. I saw all the tourist sites, and got invited into some homes for tea, because my Arabic is pretty good, and I’m not from france, which means big-time points in Morocco. Then I went to a meeting with my friend about Amazigh culture. Right… I don’t speak very much Tamazigh, but they were really happy with what I did speak. They asked me about my business in Morocco, and what I’m doing in Midelt. I responded in mixed Arabic and Tamazigh. It was messy, but it was hard not to be impressed with myself. Then they all switched to french, and I was lost. I ate a lot of free cookies, drank sweet Moroccan tea and then left with a more than adequate sugar buzz.
Then I helped my friend with her Monograph a bit, left to eat lunch with the homeless people at the garbage dump outside the city (no way I could afford a real lunch at this point). But I had enough money for several oranges for everyone and some bread for all. It was actually a pretty good time. Then I caught the bus back to Midelt. I talked to some guys from Midelt for most of the way home, and they were really cool. I broke even in money, but came out way ahead in good times.

scales

the good:

• it is warm enough that i don't have to worry about dying because of cold in the night
• lots of summer tourists=lots of business for artisans

the bad:

• HCN's forget easily that i spent all winter here and keep thinking i'm a tourist to whom they can sell rocks

i'll expand on this later.

i'm lucky

i could have housing like another volunteer in my province

None of the doors in this apt close properly, frames askew, rooms
are not 90º and floors not level. Like being in German expressionist film.

but i don't.

P.T.B.T.E.

Possibly the best thing ever.

revenge

As i was walking to the post office this morning, two donkey cart guys were exchanging what i thought was some lively banter. they were speaking shilha, of course, and i still don't understand more than a few words of that stuff. anyway, so as i'm about to walk by, one of the guys rears back his donkey whip and hiots the other guy! this is no friendly banter. so the other guy returns the blow with his donkey beat-em stick. people start running up to stop the fight. i just laugh at the donkey guys hitting each other instead of their donkeys, for once.

weekend

This weekend I went down south to hang out with Annie. I can’t name names of towns, because of safety and security concerns. But I can tell you that she’s in the real desert and not the pretend desert, like I am. It was warm and nice and great to see her. Side note 1: a lot of my photos didn’t turn out because cameras don’t like sandstorms. Her site is really gorgeous, though. Side note 2: untrained Moroccans really aren’t that good at snapping photos. Here’s the best one I’ve got of Annie and me.
I followed her around on some business as we went out to meet some of her artisans.
Later we stopped by the building she nominally works in. but seriously, we’re peace corps. That means a lot more time with artisans than with bureaucrats; on good days, anyway.
We had some good ‘ole fashioned Berber breakfast on the roof.
Then we hit the souq to see how many free (sugar) dates we could get.

Great weekend.

Worst cab ride ever
How many clowns… err, people can you fit in a grand taxi? Usually 7, right? Well, on my last cab ride, I had 9. yes, nine people. In a Mercedes 2 series. With close to a million kilometers on the odometer. And it didn’t help that the one lady was breast feeding her kid and everyone else in the car was very interested in the proceedings and squirming to get a better view. Thank heavens for a new book to read and shoulders that can dislocate on-command. This is why I prefer to travel by bus.

yipee

Hurricane Tariq came through yesterday. it was really good to get his insights and help. The next step is formalize the plan for the next several months, translate it into french and then send it to my delegate to get his approval. that'll be fun.

i relaize i haven't put many pictures up for a while and that most of you would rather see pictures than listen to me blather on forever... so i'll get on that soon.

i had three people in the past 24 hours tell me that my arabic is really good. that's nice to hear, but it also meanbs that 3 people in the next 24 hours will tell me they can't understand what i'm saying. such is life. oh well, go peace corps!

B-day

Today is Baba's first birthday. he told me about a month ago that he has never celebrated a irthday because nobody knew the exact day he was born. i told him that we would have a party on the 15th of march. he doesn't know too much about julius caesar, and it was an open day that i knew he wouldn't be doing anything, so i told him i'd have a hflah (party). i bought a little piece of cake and put a candle in it. he was pretty pleased, and surprised that i actually did what i said i was going to do (this doesn't always happen in Morocco). he said a prayer, blew out the candle and had exactly half a bite of cake. he's diabetic, so probably not the best idea on my part. Badr and i split the rest.

but anyway, happy birthday Baba Moha Bedooz.

School
I teach at a local high school. that sounds crazy, right? well, it is crazy. i teach 1st, 2nd and 3rd year english classes. they alternate nights, and i usually teach about 2 hours a day. these students are really great. don't get me wrong, i still hate kids... but there are some smart cookies in the group. a few of them are even well behaved! plus, apparently they've been telling their friends that i'm okay because the level of harassment from the kids on the street has markedly decreased in the last week. so hooray for school, and hooray for me.

6 months

Tired of the same old blog entries? Try poetry. 4 haikus and 2 limericks

September 13th
I landed in Morocco
I’ve been here 6 months

I’m a little scared
6 month review is coming
Please be nice, Tariq

The weather is warm
3 pairs of socks no longer
Now I wear flip-flops

On my bed there are:
Way too many covers now
I can’t see my breath

Midelt’s now feeling spring time
The weather is warm and quite fine
Winter was bad
And it made me sad
The temp’ture right now? 59!

Moroccans eat lamb, but not swine
They enjoy tea, and not wine
When the goat’s dead
They’ll eat it’s head
But first they’ll soak it in brine

i hate ryals

So the base currency of Morocco is the Dirham. in usuage, but not in value, it's the equivilent of the dollar in America. but here, all the prices for pretty much everything are quoted in ryal. there are 20 ryals in a dirham. that'd be like the price for everything in America being quoted in nickels. which seems silly to me, but i don't set the rules.

but here's where it gets tricky. there are about 10 Moroccan dirhams in an American dollar. so essentially, one ryal is worth a half penny (take some time to work that out if you don't believe me). the fridge i'm probably going to buy, Insha Allah, costs 2000 Dirhams. that's about 200 dollars, which is a great price for a full size fridge. but i was terrified when i asked the guy at the store how much the fridge cost and he said 40,000... but then, i have to remember that's 40,000 ryals. so the price of a good, new fridge in Morocco is forty thousand half-pennies.

United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace

I believe
that women are equal in ability to men.
I believe
that just because my mother accepted a subservient role, it does not mean that I must too.
I believe
that if I do not fight for the rights of my sister,
then she will always be oppressed.
I believe
that limitless horizons lie before my daughter,
not just a few traditional choices.
I believe
that I have much to contribute to the world,
and I alone possess my particular talents and abilities.
I believe
that each woman is an individual, not a stereotype.

garage doors and tatoos

Kevin called last night and asked if there was anything i had forgotten about in the states since i have lived here. he cited garage door openers as an example. well, there are cars here, and some people have garages. but there aren't any electric, overhead garage door openers, that i have found. generally, things are simpler in Morocco. not necessarily easier, just simpler.

i told him i wouldn't know what to do when i got baack to the states all the ladies over 50 didn't have sweet facial tatoos. Grandma Driver might look pretty cool with face tats...

Sinus-gate
feeling about a million times better today. not back to normal, but light-years closer.

complete

so the ladies just finished their biggest order to date on friday. here's Aicha displaying one of her baby blankets.
and then here's the whole group with their products.

Sinus-Gate
So i was pretty much incapacitated this weekend, too dizzy to stand up. Moha brought me food and fixed my door while i watched "the sum of all fears" over and over on my labtop (thanks Kevin). i got some drugs too.

I swear i'll write more when i'm better.

keep guessing...

So on the way to the post office yesterday afternoon, i got 2 "bonjour"s, one "hola", a "hello" and three "asalam alekum"s. people just don't know, but gotta try. the other day i got a "gutentag". sorry for the miserable spelling. it's always stupid little kids that try another language and then giggle like it's the funniest thing in the world that they would say some french to me. most times they get an "asalam" back, but sometimes, i just turn around and laugh at them laughing at me. which leaves them satisfactorily puzzled.

tourists
i was walking to one of my artists' houses yesterday, minding my own business, when out of the blue, i passed by... three blonde girls? they had blue eyes, cute noses and were speaking a language that i don't know (Swedes...?). i saw no less than 13 foreigners yesterday. tourist season is picking up.

danger
so, i was wondering why the mooalen guy was asking me why i was interested in the pressure cooker. maybe this is why. i knew those things were bad news.

living the Marhaba life

Morocco is all about hospitality. witness yesterday. i had planned to make some rice and assorted other things for dinner. but i was invited to a house for cascrout. then another, then another, then still another. i had snack time 4 times yesterday so i was so stuffed, i couldn't even think about dinner. and what is for snack time? well, tea, of course. plain tea 1 time, sheba tea twice, and mint tea once. but then there was all kinds of bread and wonderful toppings. simply delicious.

sinus-gate 2006.
in our continuing coverage of the ongoing illness of cory driver a.k.a. zaki bedouz, we bring you up to the minute live news: cory stupidly thought he'd try out decongestants yesterday. not a smart idea when the day involves meeting another volunteer passing through Midelt (i got two real hugs. no stupid cheek kisses. mark it on your calenders!!!), visitng artisans and stopping by the home of a recent heart-attack victim to wish her well. honestly, i would have rather been congested.

the numbers

• i've lived in Midelt for more than 3 months
• 1 of those three months has been spent in my own house
• Nam tells me i've lived in Morocco for 170 days now
• i just paid my second months rent this morning (800 Dirhams, if you're curious)
• not counting March, i have 20 months left.