Well, we are all now settled down from the site announcement last night. There were those estatic and those sad but today everyone seems pretty adjusted to where they will be situated for the next two years.

I am very pleased with my location. Due to safety and security issues (mine!), I cannot reveal the location on this blog site, but can advise it is near Marrakesh, which is a large city, about 900,000, and very popular with tourists. I am also near the highest mountain in Morocco which I plan to hike this summer. It is 14,000 feet high. I believe I am kind of between the High Atlas mountains and the desert, and in a fairly moderate climate, although I think the summers get pretty hot. The town is also near the "hollywood of Morocco" where "The Gladiator", "Lawrence of Arabia" and other films were made. I think I'm also only about 3-4 hours from the ocean.

My town is about 3,500 people, and 12,000 in the area. Indications are that there is no cyber in the town at this time, and so I may have to bike 8 miles to reach it. We are receiving new bikes from America...mountain bikes, I think. So my outdoor activity will be not only walking but bicyling as well! My work will be with a group of about 80 women who do embroidery, make sofa covers, some knotted carpet weaving, etc. They only formed a group two years ago and have no knowledgeof product development, or who to sell to. So it will be very exciting to work with them in these areas. No Peace Corps volunteer has ever lived there so I will be a real oddity, I'm sure.

I leave Monday morning, first by grand taxi to Meknes, then by train to Rabat and down to Marrakesh, then by taxi from there to my town. It will be an all day trip, likely about 12 hours. My host family is a young couple with a 4 year old son. So that could be fun! There is a PCV nearby who is finishing her service in December and has a cell phone and all her "S....tuff" to get rid of so I may have lucked out on furnishing a house nicely and cheaply. We do get a good allowance to set up and I think adequate for all one needs. The most expensive thing is a refrigerator.

I'm very excited, although a bit nervous, about spending this next week there. It will be a bit intimidating to not have anyone to speak English with all day long, but certainly will force me to learn the darn conjugation of verbs!

Have tried unsuccessfully to upload more pix to my blog. Will try again tomorrow as my friend wants his computer back, and it's time for dinner. We're having a Halloween party tonight and I'm making pumpking bars after dinner for the party. That will be an interesting experiment. We're also having popcorn and coke. Hurray! First popcorn since America! Maybe I'll even find ice cream in Marrakesh...