Here are some harvest pictures. The first is just a photo of a field, very rocky, as you can see. Wheat is planted in every imaginable, and unimaginable, little spot of ground; hence the hand planting and harvesting. The photo with the trees shows, on closer view, a team of sorts of harvesters. Then there is one I was able to take of a closer up shot of one woman working by herself.


They make little stacks, then load the straw into baskets that the donkeys carry, as shown in the last picture, which was taken from the bottom of my stairs of my apartment.

Here is a typical scene at a bus stop. Men/boys line up with their wheeled carts to carry your luggage for you to where you need to go, usually for just a few dirhams. There are several kinds of buses. One is CTM, on which you can make reservations (with assigned seats) in advance, and they give you a receipt for your luggage. Another is Supratours, which is owned and located by train stations, and is similar. Both of these make very few stops enroute to your main destination. Then there are the "souq" busses, and it's first come, first served, with MANY stops
along the way, and no guarantee of a seat, nor that your
luggage underneath is secure. Prices for rides vary
accordingly. .


Another picture of a fine rock wall, of which I
viewed many during my trip to Essaouira.
Next is a beach scene in Ess. The beach is covered with many boys/men playing soccer. The few people in the water were generally of the same sex, with a few tourists being the exception. Soccer is everywhere and anywhere there is a raggedy old ball and a vacant area. Always and only played by males, of course.


The last is taken from the pier looking towards the medina, or center of town.

This is the port at Essaouira, a lovely town about a three hour bus ride from Marrakech. I am here by myself, celebrating my 64th birthday. Staying at apartment that some people from England own...they have extra bedrooms they rent out(not a bath in my room, but since tonight I am the only guest on that floor, it is all mind, with an American toilet and HOT shower...HEAVEN!) and they give a little discount to PCVs. Had lunch with the landlady. We went to the fish market, picked out some shark, they cooked it, added in a little salad, some olives, and of course, bread...plus bottled water, and my total of the bill was 22 Dhs...about $2.50. Then later went for the obligatory on vacation afternoon ice cream,and ran into some other volunteers here with parents/grandparents. Weather is perfect! Here's a picture of the
port, and then a picture of the men working hard, bailing fish out with buckets, to take to the fish market.
Now, for the picture of the trees. My last couple of blogs have been pretty depressing, I think, so have a good story to tell about these trees. You'll need to click on them to see that there are goats in them! Yes, they climbed there. And to make the story even better, they goats eat the argan nuts from the trees, and then people go pick out the nuts from their poop, and harvest a sliver of the inner part of the nut which is pressed in to an oil, which is sold both for cooking, and for cosmetics, at a rather expensive price. As the columnist Dave Barry says,"I am not making this up!" So the challenge is to find the place to buy it where it is pure, that is not diluted with other vegetable oils, or whatever. Apparently the oil is quite wonderful for the skin. I plan to buy a liter, (probably for about $11.00) and use it every day, and am sure I will return to America looking 20 years younger!! Just "google" argan nuts/oil if you want more of the story. It's also in the Lonely Planet book.

COLD! This weather sure changes on a daily basis, but then that is the case the world around, yes? Had a huge rain again two nights ago and had to keep wrapped up in blanket to stay warm in house, but sun out again today and likely will be hot soon. It's especially bothersome if doing any travelling, to know what to take. Layers seem to always be the rule here. Rain not good for current wheat harvest, but wonderful for melon crops...watermelons all of a sudden everywhere in the souks.

A note about my work. Recently discovered that some of the girls speak only Berber language, not Moroccan Arabic nor French. So as I have been sitting around trying to pick up language by listening, the fact of the matter is in a 15-minute conversation among 5-6 girls/women, there will be Arabic, Berber, and French spoken.

The women at the neddy want a boutique, and tell me there is no problem finding lots of help to work at the store. Well, methinks they really don't understand what that entails. Like, you don't shut down every day from 11:30-2, and you need to be open on weekends. So that is an issue yet to be addressed, but first is the problem of an inventory of quality product that tourists will buy. Right now, girls come primarily to learn embroidery stitching and knitting. When they put in so many hours and have so many samples that meet standards, they receive a diploma, which is their goal. Likely during that time they are also in waiting for a marriage proposal. I doubt if any of them think about actually making things to sell and getting money for it. Ah, the problem not only of language and clear communication, but a culture so different from ours. Then, am told by French people that what the French tourists want to buy (they being the majority of tourists in Morocco) is hand-woven things, not embroidered/knitted items. Weaving is not done at the neddy, but in the homes of women who live in the many villages surrounding my town, and they all speak Berber, not Moroccan Arabic.

It is a long and arduous process, this small business development, and some days I just can't quite figure out how to proceed, so try to just live from day to day and don't even think about lots of plans and goals. Quite a difference from my old life!

The drop-out rate worldwide for PC is about 33% (those who don't complete the 2 years of service plus the 3 months training). It is a higher percentage in Morocco. People leave for a variety of reasons...to go to grad school, medical problems, combination of many things. It is very challenging to be by yourself, struggling daily to communicate with others, all the physical discomforts that come with the territory, having to report to numerous people your whereabouts at all times, the cultural differences, etc.

Am going to treat myself to a trip to Essaouira next weekend; I understand it is a great little city, on the ocean, with lots of kite surfing to watch, so should have some great photos for my next blog.

My last quote from the "Alchemist" (believe me, I need to, and do, re-read these often!) "There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."

From the "Alchemist". People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them.

HOT! and only May. I'm guessing it was close to 100 yesterday, w/hot winds besides. Just a preview of coming attractions. I will be happy to have a new computer w/DVD so I can lay in my sweat and watch movies this summer! Other volunteers indicate that's what they do...soak w/water, lay on their bed with a fan blowing on them. Not much gets done with work for a couple of months. My trip home will be timed well (and will include picking up my new computer)!

SHOES. No question they think mine are ugly, am sure they are too polite to say so, but bet my feet are more comfortable than theirs! I have a pair of tennis shoes, an old pair of Nevado sandals purchased at Costco about 6 years ago, and a black pair of lightweight black rubber blogs, called "dawgs", which are something like crocs. I do need a pair a bit dressier so will invest in a pair of Moroccan slip-ons. It seems a little weird to see these women in slip-on bedroom slippers walking along rocky paths. Of course, shoes always come off when you enter a room that has a carpet in it. No vacuum cleaners, so care is taken to avoid dirt on it.

Harvesting of wheat is beginning. Where I live is pretty rocky/hilly/mountainous, so it is done by hand. Many of the farmers have a kind of mortar/pestle deal in their house to grind the grain into flour; others take it to town where they pay the miller to do it. Very important activity, of course, since bread is the primary staple in their diet. Along with tea.

Whatever I had that was ailing me is gone and I'm feeling pretty fine. A little infection and bit of iron deficiency was found, so will get on some pills to get that taken care of.

Am in Kech on my way to a Volunteer Advisory Council meeting in the town where I did my initial training. I was going out to see my first host family, but decided to wait until my language was better so we could really visit. However, when I stopped at the gendarmes today to let them know of my travel plans, the chief commented that my Arabic was "muzeeyen", which means good. So I guess I am making some progress. My test will be the week of June 11th when we have our big in-service training...the toughest part is still understanding the native speaker. Little by little!

Have had lots of visitors the past week or so. Rebecca and two of her friends from America dropped by briefly, bringing me a large supply of boxed skim milk from the Marjane in Marrakech. Then Judy and her two friends came for a couple of nights, when I was sick. She's a good enough friend that they just cooked their own meals, did their dishes. We'll reunite in WY in a couple of years. Then an environment volunteer, two friends and his parents stopped in for breakfast the other day. They'll all stay with me Monday night on their return from the desert. This is about as late as one would want to do that little trip. I'm betting it was close to 90 degrees (F) yesterday in my town, so desert had to be much hotter. Need to get a temperature gauge so I know for real how hot is hot and how cold is cold!

Some interesting thoughts to share from my "Grapevine" magazine.
"If only" means you're not facing reality. "I should" means you're trying to live up to someone else's expectations and you'll end up feeling guilty or resentful. "I have to"...you want to or you don't. "Have to" makes work out of everything, and that's a lie.

Here is a photo of Safi, where I went with Judy a couple of weeks ago. They ship phosphate from here, and also the seaport town is known for its sardines, and pottery. So we had fish for lunch, then went tromping around (literally) the clay where they make pots.
Big old clay kilns, and guys tromp around in their bare feet mixing the clay. (that's Judy watching)There was one pot that had some grey stuff in it and lo and behold, I recognized it as...bentonite!
Shades of Wyo-Ben in northern Wyoming. .
It was a very enjoyable day.
Some places use the chards of broken pots to make
very attractive walls around their business

It's getting hotter, and I can already see that the snow is starting to melt on the distant mountains. But the weather right now is just how I love it, except can't wear the kind of clothes I'd prefer to wear.

Have been a bit under the weather the past week. Not sure what it was, likely a virus running around through my body. Didn't study or work...did go see the Dr. in Rabat and left behind some body fluids and they'll let me know next week if there's anything. At any rate, I feel much better and should be up and running 100% in a couple of days. Just not accustomed to being sick for more than a day or two so it kind of throws one for a loop!

Happy Mother's Day to you who are! I guess I am surprised at how much I am missing my kids and grandkids. Sure look forward to holidays, including this one, with them in the future. Hopefully I'll be back into my cyber town Sunday to hike a little w/my friend and her friends visiting from America. And blog some more, too.

From "The Alchemist" There is only one way to learn. It's through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.

The phone. Don't know if I've mentioned that I have a cell phone, but it is primarily used to text other volunteers, which is a cheap way to communicate. You buy the phone, then separately buy phone cards, which look like credit cards, and put in a code for the amount of dirhams you have purchased, and can use the phone until the credit runs out. About once a month they have double time, so I usually buy 100 Dhs and then get 200 Dhs credit. Using the phone in-country is more expensive on a cell phone than it is from a pay phone, so most locals go to the teleboutique (pay phone place) to make phone calls, especially long distance. In my little town, no one has a landline...everyone uses cell phones and texts. The rate for me to call the U. S. is about $1.35 a minute. Someone told me it was like $.15, but they were a bit wrong. That's why it's so attractive to Skype...which is computer calling computer. I am buying credit now, though, on Skype which allows me to call from the cyber computer to cell and landlines in America for about $.03 minute. They have a security system that made it hard for me to charge the credit but finally have it figured out.

Greetings. Saying hello to someone here is a lot different in America where we just say "hi" or "hello" or sometimes, "how are you?" There is much greeting back and forth and kissing of cheeks etc etc...just from woman to woman or man to man, primarily. A woman does NOT kiss a man's cheek or hug, unless you are related. But as I walk in the mornings, I do greet most all people, usually without stopping. Once in awhile I encounter an old shepherd and will make an effort to greet and shake hands. Because of my age as an American woman, I not only get by with it, but they seem to like the attention.

Coffee, tea or milk? I have a French expresso type of coffee pot that I put on the butane stove and make very strong coffee for my mornings. Milk comes from the milk guy fresh, or from the store in powder, or little plastic bags, or sealed pur-pak boxes. I usually buy the boxes in my cyber town, as I can get skim milk instead of whole milk. I find I don't miss lattes a lot, as I have become accustomed to drinking strong coffee with milk all the time. When reading about Morocco before I came, I got the impression that everyone drank sugary mint tea all the time. Not true. Mint is now back in season, so I'm seeing it again in tea, but at least where I live, just black tea is usually served. Unless they know you don't want sugar, it is served with a potload of sugar, as is coffee. I have loved drinking herbal teas in the cold evenings my friends have sent me from America. A little herbal tea is available here, but not very flavorful and little variety.

Weather is still in transition to spring. A few pretty warm days, but many still overcast and cool; however, no need to wear multiple layers in the house.