A Memory Book was among the things I brought with me to work on...one of those that have pages of different aspects of your life to share with your kids when you're too old to remember (which is now) or gone, I guess. So anyway, I was thumbing through the pages on Christmas eve, and the saying for the month of June was "Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself." Ralph Waldo Emerson. Considering it was Christmas Eve, very appropriate. I spent the evening trying to sing Christmas carols in my little room, but then, and the next day, couldn't do it without crying, so stopped my attempt at that. Must have been my first Christmas without going to church.

Christmas Day I had coffee and a great little granola bar I got as a gift from Marci. Dressed in my red V. S. things, I felt a little bit festive. I was "home alone" which in this instance means a happier day, just having some privacy and doing what I wanted. I did some laundry, and spent a good part of the beautiful, sunny day on the rooftop reading and looking at the gorgeous scenery. It really is very beautiful country. One direction is barren hills, and the other, snowcapped mountains.

Today I walked to my cyber town, which I think is about 12-13 miles. I got here in a little over three hours. It is hilly along the way, but primary downhill. Wasn't too exhausted after the long walk. I've been walking an hour every day. Look forward to when I get my own place to have a little workout area with my core training ball and bands to do muscle work and get ready for some serious hiking this summer. I am looking at a couple of places for rent this week and have hopes that one will be a keeper. I have come to realize that a private roof area is more a priority than an American toilet.

I'll finish today's blog by reiterating what the Peace Corps is all about, then next time I'll go into my work more.

First, the mission of Peace Corps is to promote world peace and friendship. The three primary goals of P. C. are the help people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women; to help promote better understanding of American people on the part of the peoples served; and to help promote better understanding of other peoples on the part of American people. So just being here, living among the people, sharing cultures is really the most important thing, and if we can help their economic status improve, that's a bonus. Morocco has four areas of work: Youth Development, Environment, Health, and Small Business Development. The latter is my assignment. I look forward to getting started with it mid-January, and sharing with you my challenges and successes with work and culturally.

May your New Year be blessed.

CHRISTMAS EVE DAY and my little group has pretty much disbanded after a nice time of visiting and having dinner at a very nice Indian restaurant last night in Marrakesh. Six of us got together, three staying at a more upscale place that had heat and in-room bathroom, with towels provided even! and the other three at the regular cheap (but very clean) place near the main tourist market. I will be at the cyber for a couple of hours before going to a photo shop to get some prints made and then getting a taxi home.

I must admit that I have not missed the commercialization of Chrismas back home, and that the buying frenzy/stress that so many in the States go through seems silly when you compare what meager toys/things/stuff people have here. Really makes me even more aware that the best gifts are ones that create wonderful memories, and that pretty much means spending time together, laughing and loving each other. It will be interesting when I return to see how much materialism plays a part of my life. Sure isn't much here at this time...although I do have certain "things" I want in my own house.

My gift to those of you who read is the name of an excellent book, "Eddie's Bastard" by William Kolwolski. One of the best I've read for a long time. Many passages are keepers...the ones that make you want to write it down...like on page 46 and 51. I read a couple of books a week...likely when I have my own place and really start "working" that will be cut down to one a week. Thanks heavens for the Peace Corp library. I also get the Newsweek, complimentary. Read the review of new movie "Dreamgirls" and look forward to seeing it someday.

Next blog I'll talk more about my work and what I'll be doing the next few months. I really am here to accomplish something!!

Tis the season for...plowing fields...with donkeys...

Well, somewhat like the Christmas...donkeys and all. Not sure what they will plant. That is more to be discovered, but sure is a lot of plowing going on these days. My town has a good olive industry, and noticed some almond trees the other day as well, but not certain if that's a business or just a side line. There's just so much to notice/see as I walk every morning. I always see many tourists vans/buses and wonder how much of the "real" Morocco they experience. So for those of you who may be visiting me, we can sure do the touristy thing and ride a camel for a couple of hours in the desert (yes, I do intend to try that!) but you'll also have a chance to see rural life here.

I read in a magazine the other day that the irrigationn systems here about 2000 years ago were so state of the art and so good they are still used in some areas today, after being copied by many countries. Water of course is such a primary concern everywhere, and they do a decent job here. One good thing about this country, compared to many others one might visit, like Mexico...is that you can drink water from the tap in hotels, restaurants without worrying about it.

Found a great teacher for Darija (Moroccan Arabic). She is a new English teacher at the high school here. Newly married, but her husband is a farmer between Rabat and Casa Blanca, so she is pretty lonely...has an aunt keeping her company recently. She was in N.Y. on a Fulbright, so is aware of American customs, etc., and is not of the mind set of the wife staying in the house all the day, nor of watching soaps a lot on TV, etc. So I really enjoy her company and look forward to our lessons and visits every week. But I am sure I am quite frustrating to her, as I learn one thing one week and have forgotten it the next. This older learner business really applies to me, sorry to say...I'm just not an exception to the fact that the learning process is slower and more difficult, esp. with language!

I'll be meeting friends in Marrakesh Saturday for an overnight, and hopefully find the Presbyterian church so can attend church Sunday morning. Have to be back home before dark on Sunday, then will open my gifts. Christmas Day I may look for a house to rent, which will make me very happy if I am so lucky to find something nice, reasonable, and available the end of January!

Wishing all my friends and family a blessed Christmas. Love to all...

Thar's snow in them thar hills! I guess the joke is on me! I asked for a post where it wouldn't be cold a lot. Well, I understand it gets up to 120 or so in the summer (and of course no air conditioning) and it snowed a LOT in the nearby hills/mountains last night and of course no heat in the houses. Thank heavens I have my mummy sleeping bag with me, as I put it to good use last night in order to be warm enough to sleep. It is a bit warmer today as the sun is out...that is, warmer outside. Back to Ait Ourir again today...still working on getting my work card paper work finalized. I did add some photos to previous posts, and for those of you new to reading my blog, it does go all the way back to September, but you need to click on those months on the side, as only ten days or so show on the website.

Another language mix-up. Thought I was going to A. O. with Latifa, but ended up way out in the country again where her grandmother lives. Had planned to meet Rebecca at 2 and spend the night. So Samir took me back into A. O. where I did go w/Rebecca to her English class at the dar shibab, made pizza for supper, skyped with Marci

Went to Kech, met Rob and Dominique and met delegue. Had a fiasco of taxi rides due to some wrong directions. Walked to Aswaq, a large grocery/department store near Bab Doukalla, then 45 minutes more walking to my taxi stand. Next day had language for two hours.

A lot has occurred since my last post. I am now settled in my new homestay at my permanent site. I am 18K from a cyber so can only to get to email and blog about once a week. There is a youth development volunteer in that town who is a 35 year old lawyer from Chicago. I am very lucky to have her nearby and look forward to spending some time on weekends with her.

My new town is very conservative. Some women, including my homestay "daughter" cannot go anywhere by themselves, including the weekly market (souq) which is like a farmer's market. So that is a bit different. Here's a photo of Latifa in the kitchen making bread, a daily activity.


One thing I continue to learn on a daily basis is that one simply cannot generalize about what Morocco is like. It can vary so much from region to region, and even within a town. For example, on my morning walks I see a regular type of tractor harrowing the land, and on the other side of town a man is plowing the field using a mule and old-fashioned plow. Same goes with housing. My house is above the mechanic's garage, and with the exception of one room, is unpainted cement, with about 10' high walls. My room is about 8' square with no windows.

There is no heat and the inside room temperature is very cold...I'm guessing around 50 or so. On the other hand, my new Arabic teacher (who is a new English teacher at the high school) has a place that is light and airy and has ceramic tile walls and floors. But, her place is cold at night as well. Warm, lovely days...probably around 70 or so. I guess February is the coldest month. I will be in my own place then.

I arranged to store the furniture I received from a departing PCV in my Arabic teacher's place, as she has little furniture. I have nearly everything I need to set up house, looks like. I believe I indicated that my new town has running water all day; not sure if I indicated that it is generally cold. Some places have hot water heaters; they are square boxes that are attached to the wall.

I am enjoying my morning walks...go out for at least an hour about 7:45 when the sun is starting to come up over the mountains. It is beautiful country in this area, with many hills and mountains, so I get a good workout.

A bit more on transportation and I'll add more about my work etc next time. I indicated that taxi drivers are a bit crazy. The roads are generally very narrow with not much shoulder, so drivers tend to go right down the middle. Horns are honked a lot to alert pedestrians, motorbikes, bicyclists, etc that they better move over. Lots of tour busses and vans in this area as well, as it is the primary road between two larger towns. In larger towns, there are petit taxis that can legally, and realistically, only carry three people, and the fare is the same no matter how many people are in the taxi. To go from town to town, there are grand taxis, which are old Mercedes (and I mean OLD!) and they require 6 people in the taxi, 2 in front with the driver and 4 in the back. You can buy and extra seat if you want more space for yourself, but I generally just squeeze in with everyone else. It costs 7 DH to go from my town to my cyber town 18K away, which is about $.80. If anyone were to come to Morocco, I would definitely advise against renting a car and driving yourself around. Traffic accident rates here are pretty phenomenal, I understand. The Peace Corps has a policy against travelling at night, with good reason. It is funny, though, to see "scarved" women wearing jellabas on motorbikes in the bigger cities. I've been wanting to see a man on a donkey talking on the cell phone and get a picture, but haven't happened upon that yet!!

Sunday. Big communication mix-up. Thought Latifa understood that I was meeting w/Zhour at 2:00 when she said we were going to hammam in A. O. at 8 or 9 a.m. We left at 10:30. I only took a little money with me, and nothing else. As usual, we were at the hammam a very long time (I think 3 hours) and it became clear we would make it home by 2. Finaly got home at 10:15 p.m.. All I did was sit all day at her parent's house, thinking/hoping we'd be going back to T soon.

Iyub and I went to Tazert at 11:00 to get Cybele's furniture; got everything in/on transit and back to T by 2:00. Paid 250 Dh to driver, 30 to Iyub and 20 to other helper to unload. Put everything in Zhour's extra room.

Walked, bucket bathed, lunched, went to souk, bought two ugly sweaters for 65 Dhs. Saw Zhour, new tutor, can store stuff in her place.

Confirmed w/Samir I have a transit driver for picking up furniture in Tazert. Went to neddy in afternoon...beseiged by kids from the boarding houses next door.