Here I am at the Cyber at 5:00 after a long week of studying and observing and "visiting" other families other than my host family. It's a good thing everyone has a good sense of humor! The other night I was trying to explain to my family why I wanted to drink a lot of milk (usually with my coffee) and so I pantomined a curved back and strong bones and they sure enough understood the whole osteoporosis deal. So we had a lot of good laughs over it...even my mma (the mother) who is 77. The father is 79, and the resident daughter is 38. Another daughter is here on vacation from some other town where she works in a factory. I'm not clear on what income they live on, but judging from some of the other homes the others PCVs (Peace Corps volunteers) are living in, I'd guess this family is middle class.
The other night we went over to one of their cousin's house after supper (which is their breakfast). He is the French and Arabic teacher and speaks some English. We had an engaging conversation about the state of affairs in Morocco and the town I am currently living in. He indicated the big problems were education, health, and politics. We agreed that if people were healthy and educated that would help take care of politics. He walked my two "sisters" and me back to our house and asked if I'd like to see some of the area, so tomorrow morning we are walking to a dam/reservoir that is about 7 kilometers away. Hurray! A real walk at last. Then in the evening my sisters and I will go the the hammam. It will feel good to really scrub down and steam as opposed to the bucket baths I've been doing every few days in the bathroom at home. The hostel and its sparse accomodations is looking pretty fancy to us at this point! We leave to go back to Azrou Monday morning and will come back to this town on Friday.
Went to the weekly souk again this noon. The hay trucks are something to behold. I'll try to get a picture of one next week. They are carrying about twice the load they should be, seems to me. I bought two pair of dark socks for about $2.20. He wanted $3.00 but my bartering skills are getting better. The white anklet socks I've been wearing w/sandals and clogs are not a good idea. It's very dusty and dirty and they're impossible to get looking clean. Most everyone wears slip on shoes as they have to take them off so often during the day whenever they go into a building where there is a rug/carpet. Also bought some plums and a soap dish. Doesn't seem like a big deal but numbers and money are difficult to learn/hear the amount and it's very important to get this part of life down right since I'll be doing my own shopping in just a couple of months. It's scary to think that we'll be put in a town on our own in a couple of months! Even though we'll be with a host family for awhile, we'll have no one to rely on in the same town. But when I think what I've learned in the past few weeks it's pretty amazing.
My host family is very cool. My sister was getting up to fix my breakfast (even though she doesn't eat from about 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. I finally convinced her I could get it myself, so she leaves everything set out for me. A little cast iron coffee percolator, the powdered milk to make up, the bread or cake or whatever, and there is usually some sort of fruit. So I turn on the buta (stove using butane gas) and put my breakfast on a tray and take it to my room. They have usually been in bed when I leave the house about 8:30 to go to the school. School is about a ten minute walk, and is just a house on the edge of town. Someone lives next door and upstairs. We have most of the main floor. Our instructor has a room there, there is a kitchen, bathroom, a couple of empty rooms that would be bedrooms, and the "classroom" which just has the low sofas and pillows for the back, and a circular table that we sometimes write on. Not the type of training accomodations I'm accustomed to, for sure! But when in Rome...
Oh, by the way, the cost of using the Internet at the Cyber (not a cafe, but a room with just a lot of computers in it and currently there is me and about 12 school kids) is inexpensive. Costs about $1 for an hour and a half.
A bit more about the weavers and what we learned/saw this week. They are trying to get back to using natural dyes, which means yellow from pomegranate peels, green and light red from plants down by the river, the natural white and black from the sheep, of course. The light brown used to come from bark from the trees in the forests in the Atlas mountains, but the forestry dept or it's like has guards there so they can't do that many more. Deforestation is a big problem in Morocco, and I'm sure it is not an exaggeration at all. It gets quite cold at night and people rely on firewood to heat their homes, and am sure demand overshadows supply. Did I say that the old weaver's house we visited was 200 years old? I think her loom was likely close to that age, as was a tool she used for kind of combing down the threads to be tight.
August is the big vacation month in Europe, so when I get a chance to go anywhere, especially if it's on the continent, like Spain, that is a good month to avoid. I'd imagine villas are very expensive (if available) at that time. I'll think more about travelling once I get the language down here and get accustomed to moving around. Public transportation here can be an exciting experience. There is one bus line that is quite dependable, but others may or may not be running at all, or be running several hours late.
I'm doing fine physically and emotionally. My diet is pretty nutricious, although I am really missing fresh garden salads. No lettuce here at all, or broccoli. I miss everyone but am so mentally fatigued at the end of the day I sleep pretty well. I do have a no-brainer mystery book that I read for about 30 minutes every day, and play a few games of electronic yahtzee (thanks, Marci!) to relax. Am reserving the card instruction to the nationals when I can explain how to play!
That's it for now. Will try to borrow a PCVs laptop in Azrou for the next installment.
The other night we went over to one of their cousin's house after supper (which is their breakfast). He is the French and Arabic teacher and speaks some English. We had an engaging conversation about the state of affairs in Morocco and the town I am currently living in. He indicated the big problems were education, health, and politics. We agreed that if people were healthy and educated that would help take care of politics. He walked my two "sisters" and me back to our house and asked if I'd like to see some of the area, so tomorrow morning we are walking to a dam/reservoir that is about 7 kilometers away. Hurray! A real walk at last. Then in the evening my sisters and I will go the the hammam. It will feel good to really scrub down and steam as opposed to the bucket baths I've been doing every few days in the bathroom at home. The hostel and its sparse accomodations is looking pretty fancy to us at this point! We leave to go back to Azrou Monday morning and will come back to this town on Friday.
Went to the weekly souk again this noon. The hay trucks are something to behold. I'll try to get a picture of one next week. They are carrying about twice the load they should be, seems to me. I bought two pair of dark socks for about $2.20. He wanted $3.00 but my bartering skills are getting better. The white anklet socks I've been wearing w/sandals and clogs are not a good idea. It's very dusty and dirty and they're impossible to get looking clean. Most everyone wears slip on shoes as they have to take them off so often during the day whenever they go into a building where there is a rug/carpet. Also bought some plums and a soap dish. Doesn't seem like a big deal but numbers and money are difficult to learn/hear the amount and it's very important to get this part of life down right since I'll be doing my own shopping in just a couple of months. It's scary to think that we'll be put in a town on our own in a couple of months! Even though we'll be with a host family for awhile, we'll have no one to rely on in the same town. But when I think what I've learned in the past few weeks it's pretty amazing.
My host family is very cool. My sister was getting up to fix my breakfast (even though she doesn't eat from about 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. I finally convinced her I could get it myself, so she leaves everything set out for me. A little cast iron coffee percolator, the powdered milk to make up, the bread or cake or whatever, and there is usually some sort of fruit. So I turn on the buta (stove using butane gas) and put my breakfast on a tray and take it to my room. They have usually been in bed when I leave the house about 8:30 to go to the school. School is about a ten minute walk, and is just a house on the edge of town. Someone lives next door and upstairs. We have most of the main floor. Our instructor has a room there, there is a kitchen, bathroom, a couple of empty rooms that would be bedrooms, and the "classroom" which just has the low sofas and pillows for the back, and a circular table that we sometimes write on. Not the type of training accomodations I'm accustomed to, for sure! But when in Rome...
Oh, by the way, the cost of using the Internet at the Cyber (not a cafe, but a room with just a lot of computers in it and currently there is me and about 12 school kids) is inexpensive. Costs about $1 for an hour and a half.
A bit more about the weavers and what we learned/saw this week. They are trying to get back to using natural dyes, which means yellow from pomegranate peels, green and light red from plants down by the river, the natural white and black from the sheep, of course. The light brown used to come from bark from the trees in the forests in the Atlas mountains, but the forestry dept or it's like has guards there so they can't do that many more. Deforestation is a big problem in Morocco, and I'm sure it is not an exaggeration at all. It gets quite cold at night and people rely on firewood to heat their homes, and am sure demand overshadows supply. Did I say that the old weaver's house we visited was 200 years old? I think her loom was likely close to that age, as was a tool she used for kind of combing down the threads to be tight.
August is the big vacation month in Europe, so when I get a chance to go anywhere, especially if it's on the continent, like Spain, that is a good month to avoid. I'd imagine villas are very expensive (if available) at that time. I'll think more about travelling once I get the language down here and get accustomed to moving around. Public transportation here can be an exciting experience. There is one bus line that is quite dependable, but others may or may not be running at all, or be running several hours late.
I'm doing fine physically and emotionally. My diet is pretty nutricious, although I am really missing fresh garden salads. No lettuce here at all, or broccoli. I miss everyone but am so mentally fatigued at the end of the day I sleep pretty well. I do have a no-brainer mystery book that I read for about 30 minutes every day, and play a few games of electronic yahtzee (thanks, Marci!) to relax. Am reserving the card instruction to the nationals when I can explain how to play!
That's it for now. Will try to borrow a PCVs laptop in Azrou for the next installment.
posted by Connie Genger | 10:30 AM
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