Teaching English and computer is turning out to be both frustrating and a lot of fun. We have an old computer at the neddie, and all the Microsoft info is in French. No printer. So I have one girl/woman on each side of me, explain a few things, and then they take turns keyboarding. Some are catching on quite quickly and that's so cool. Word is there is a good chance we will have internet in town, perhaps as early as March (Hurray!!) so I am sure that will increase the interest/demand for learning computer. I understand there are 2-3 computers at the high school, and that it is. Rural Morocco, what can I say? So I do six hours of computer, and now 3 hours of English. Then I have abourt 3 hours a week of learning Arabic. Trying to work in a couple hours a week for aerobics. Then in between, we are doing community mapping, which is having all the girls/women at the neddie identify the three most important places to them in town, then later, the three places they go the most often, then I'll talk to them about a seasonal calendar (what happens when, other than religious holidays) and their daily activities (so I have a good feel of who is available when to work on a potential project). THEN comes the needs assessment, to use a matrix and determine what they believe is their priority of needs. I'm sure that will prove to be very interesting. Hope to have that completed by first of April, then choose a project, do the S. W. O. T. analysis on that (see previous blog) and by my in-service training the first part of June, be ready to report on it, come back, and start working on it. All things move very slowly, and a lot because of my language incapability.

A friend asked about religion, and Sundays. Sunday is just another day of the week. Since the country is 99% Muslim, they don't do church. They pray 5 days a week, seven days a week. But most of the professional type businesses (banks, govt, etc.) work a five day week. In my town, there is no bank, but there are city government offices, post office, and they are closed on the weekend. The neddie is closed on the weekend so I am not expected to work. There are, however, training sessions in my current cyber town on weekends which I might attend occassionally, and am considering doing an aerobics class once in awhile on Saturday mornings.

I do not use the local post office, as I receive my monthly living allowance from Peace Corp there. It's called a mandat, and it's like a check that you cash there at the post office. Everyone in town would know how much money I had, which is not a good idea, as although I don't get a huge amount, it is still quite a bit compared to what the locals yet. I wandered off the subject a bit there, but did want to mention that in my community based training town the first two months here, I stayed with a family who were very respectful of my religion and didn't try to push Islam on me at all. When I first arrived in my present town, there was same subtle and not too subtle pressure, but by know they pretty much know I'm firm in my own beliefs.

I am not yet totally accustomed to the "unwanted attention" but understand and accept it. I grew up in an environment that had little/no cultural diversity, and so when I saw a black person, of course I stared. So it is with people here. Very few whites, and most of them French. So the American in town is quite something to look at and talk about. I dress differently (although modestly. modest is not just making sure you don't show cleavage, it's making sure you don't show your sternum!)my hair is not only showing, it's light colored and short. I walk for exercise. (Getting thumbs up from truck and taxi drivers...which means the same here as it does at home...but they sometimes narrowly miss hitting me!) People here are various shades of black/brown; when I ask which Fatima someone might be referring to, sometimes they'll clarify by saying the black one, which means one who is really dark.

I'm in Marrakesh tonight, enroute to Rabat for my Volunteer Advisory Council meeting, as well as a dental (cleaning) appointment. It's an hour taxi/bus ride from my town to Kesh, then a 4-hour train ride to Rabat. But it will be fun to get together and air our gripes about things.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE! Spring has sprung here. Practically overnight the weather has moderated. Days are 75-80 (I think) and no need to layer up at all inside the house, day or night. And also some signs of a few household "pets" as well...a fly here, miller there. Hills are green, huge amounts of snow on mountains from the two weeks of rainy weather we had. I think it will be not very long until I'll gripe about how hot it is!

For those of you interested in visiting Morocco, if you want want to be fairly comfy with weather, then best come betweeen Nov. 1 and June 1. That is, if you want to get around ALL of Morocco and stay in some non-touristy places. There are real extremes of temperature, summer and winter, and of course that varies from year to year, as it does everywhere plus it varies widely on what part of the country you visit. But those months would be playing it on the safe side. And after this summer, I will have time to take a day here or there to spend with visitors. So let me know if you are considering coming here. I'd love it!

From "The Alchemist"..."There was a language in the world that everyone understood. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired. You must always know what you want. When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it."

Here are some photos of my kitchen, which shows my sink/counter area (all of my counter), my inferno, which is the stove, and the frran, which is the oven next to it, which both connect to the butane tank under the stove, and my frig, which is on a wood base with wheels, to protect from water from washing the floors. And the picture my grandsons are dying to see, and that is of my toilet.

The house is made of 6" thick concrete, but it is soft, not real hard. All the floors in my house are of concrete (the nicer homes have ceramic tiles on the walls, and the floors.) It is amazing though how the floors in each room are slanted ever so slightly, in order to splash a bucket of water, it runs to one end, which then you use a windshield wiper type of blade on a broomstick to swab it to whereever the nearest drainhole is. Works pretty slick, actually. Considering no good brooms, mops, and certainly, no vacuum cleaners! I'll send pix of my living room when I get it all done up in the next few weeks! I mentioned before I have room to sleep four. That means on mattresses. I can certainly house more people, esp. in warm months, on padding of blankets..(hiking club, take note!)\

To my blog readers. Here is something different! (Fairly recent)pictures of some of my American family. My daughter Heide in CA, her husband Ed and daughter Jasmine. My sisters June, Patsy, and Nadine. Marci and her husband Paul, Hayden and Keaton who live near Chicago; and Cinda, Nathan and Noah in Miles City, MT. Just thought those of you who don't know them might get a kick out of seeing those I miss so darn much! By the way, you can left click on the photos to get a close up, if you didn't know that.

From "The Alchemist." Query: "Why don't you follow your dream?" Response: "It's the thought of the dream that keeps me alive, it's what helps me face these days that are all the same. I'm afraid if my dream is realized, I'll have no reason to go on living."

A few have asked more about my diet, etc. Most people here drink coffee in the morning, and it's strong, so they drink it with milk, and that's whole milk. So there's some added calories. And I've mentioned how bread is used as a fork for the meals. Actually, the noon meal is the biggest, and often the evening meal is just bread and served with butter (real) or olive oil and jam sometimes. Inspite of all that, I have lost a bit of weight, but not much. I have found a place in Ait Ourir that sells skim milk (by the box) and sugar free, fat free yogurt. So that is good, and combined with the weekly farmer's market called "souk" with fresh vegetables and fruits it will be easier to get back to my usual healthier eating habits. I continue to walk about an hour 5-6 days a week, and it is always uphill one way. Oh, a man who lives along the road where I walk has asked me to tea. He's actually pretty good looking, often wears a flashy peach colored jogging suit, and has all his teeth (although I suspect they may not be his own). His invitation may be one step away from a marriage proposal. I'm not kidding. This country is kind of like that. Of course, I would never go with him to his house. I am not that naive.

One of my friends asked me if so much sugar (they put a ton of sugar in their coffee and tea) and white bread is so bad for you, why are so many American women obese and very few Moroccan women are. Good question! Moroccan women, at least those in rural areas, work in the home like women did 50-100 years ago in America. No dishwashers,vacuum cleaners, washing machines or dryers, etc. etc. Not that all are thin...many are plump, but I haven't seen a real obese woman yet.

The money system here is difficult. It is based on the dirham, and right now 9 dirham is about equal to $1. But, when shopping, they often give the price in ryals, which is 1/20. Nearly everything is sold by the kilo, not by how many, and if you try to buy 4 apples, they act like you're nuts! You buy 1/4 or 1/2 kilo, not so many. Then they tell you it's 200 ryals, which means it's 10 DH a kilo. But since I'm white, they often give the number in French, not Arabic. So you can see it makes the purchase quite interesting. And this all is on top of the mandatory bargaining in most places. So much to learn ande get accustomed to!

From "The Alchemist", A shepherd may like to travel, but he should never forget about his sheep."

Had a delightful day Friday at a home of a woman who makes great whole wheat bread. It is, of course, Moroccan, which is flat and round. There is a great deal of kneading, but the process differs a bit from how we knead bread, and lots more water is used. It turned out good, with their help, but can imagine it will take a few failure with my own attempts in my own kitchen before I get it right. No measuring was done, of course, so that makes it a bit more challenging! So now I will share it with my friend in my cyber town, with peanut butter and huckleberry jam and herbal tea, compliments of friends from home! It will be a feast!

My house, I've discovered is truly an apartment...that is, I can hear sounds from the neighbors next door, and quite a bit of noise from the nearby highway. And that's with windows and doors closed, so will likely be pretty noisy this summer. The windows and doors really don't provide much barrier from sound, nor from cold or heat. I've also learned how much more homier a place is with rugs/carpets, and table lamps, of which I have none at this point. Just concrete floors painted rust red, with other paint splatterings here and there, from when they painted the walls (a light green) recently. But that will all come in the next few months. I have room to sleep four people, so that is good for when company comes! One unique feature of my place is that the two largest rooms have two light bulbs hanging from the ceiling! Wow, how great! Doesn't take much to make me happy! I loaded many CDs onto my Ipod and found some little speakers for it over here, so enjoy listening to everything from Bach to Barbra!

We have had a great deal of rainy days the past weekm which of course means grey days. Validates my previous notion that I would never make a good Seattle-ite! Am looking forward to blue skies and sunshine, but know just like everywhere where the economy is largely agriculture-based, that the rain is truly a blessing.

Had a visit last week from two men who work for a French NGO (non profit)out of Casablanca whose mission is to help women's associations such as the one I am with. Since one spoke English pretty well, had a great conversation and he reinforced some ideas/conclusions I had come to about the town, area, the neddie, the products they make, etc. So that definitely was helpful and a high point of my week.

I'm going to end with a quote from another little book I read called "The Alchemist". I thought it was a wonderful gem and will share some of it with you each time.

"What's the world's greatest lie? It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate."