SISTER VISITS!

Here are my sister June and friend Wayne in the lovely Jardin Majorelle which Yves St. Laurent helped fund in Marrakech. A wonderful, quiet place and escape from the very noisy hustle and bustle of the medina, Jma Fna. There are cactus here from all over the world, as well as other flora. Most of the other tourists visiting the Gardens were French.

On the left is the exterior of the Hassan II Mosque which was built between 1986 and 1993 for the 60th birthday of former Moroccan king Hassan II. The Hassan II Mosque has space for 25,000 worshippers inside and another 80,000 outside. The right photo shows part of the expansive (and expensive!) interior. 10,000 traditional Moroccan artisans worked for six years to turn these raw materials into mosaics, stone and marble floors and columns, sculpted plaster moldings, and carved and painted wood ceilings. The mosque also includes a number of modern touches: it was built to withstand earthquakes and has a heated floor, electric doors, a sliding roof, and lasers which shine at night from the top of the minaret toward Mecca. Many Casablancans have mixed feelings about Hassan II Mosque. On one hand, they are proud that this beautiful monument dominates their city. On the other, they are aware that the expense (estimates range from $500 to 800 million) could have been put to other uses. To build the mosque, it was necessary to destroy a large, impovershed section of Casablanca. The residents did not receive any compensation.


This is a photo of Volubulis, which are Roman ruins near Meknes. Beautiful mosaics still exist after all this time! We had a great guide who has a degree in history and explained much to us in a 1 1/2 hour tour. It is believed that this spectacular city was constructed around 40 AD and that it was built on an old settlement which dated back to the third century. The extremely fertile lands that surrounded the city produced olive oils and grains that were exported to Rome.

BUT BABY it's cold...inside! I think the transition is about done from summer to fall. Last week in travel, we encountered some hot days, rainy days, cool evenings. Now in my house at noon it's 59 degrees F inside and 64 outside (in the shade). Warmer outside than inside will generally be the case until late spring next year. I didn't have a thermometer last year, so it will be interesting to know the actual temps this winter.

Another note about traveling here. One gets accustomed to daily habits/routines, and must say it's good to be "home" and be able to have large cups of coffee in the morning, instead the small cup/glass of espresso served in cafes, as well as the availability of a nice big cup of hot herbal tea in the evening. I guess the older we get, the more we tend to "nest" and like our creature comforts. On the other hand, it was nice to get away from squat toilets and bucket baths! Oh, but wait! Forgot to mention that when my guests were here, we had no running water in the house. Something broke at the city well and they apparently couldn't get the part or whatever (who knows?!) to get it fixed. My landlords were kind enough to get some private well water that we could use for washing up and flushing the toilet.

Hello! FINALLY am able to blog now from my own computer in my own house! For some reason, after I got internet in my house, the ISP modem would not let me access this website and even threw out emails that referred to it. So hopefully now I am set and you can continue to keep up with my trials and tribulations here in M'grib.

Just finished a week-long vacation with my sister June and Wayne Hoffman. They got a good glimpse of my life, and we also did some touring together. I had a chance to see some sites that I had not yet seen, primarily the big mosque in CasaBlanca and the Roman ruins (3rd century) up by Meknes. We stayed in PCV types of hotels, and a swanky place(at least for me in this country...it cost me about about $30 for the night!)that even had bedside lamps and satellite tv! I will post some pictures soon.

A lot going on right now. Am trying to finish up the shipment of product to Global Village. It's terribly expensive by mail, and I understand that the Ministry here has a new special arrangement for associations like mine for shipping, so I need to learn about that pronto. Also need to finalize the estimates from two different craftsmen for the neddy boutique project so I can get it submitted for approval.

That, plus I am going to Ouarzazate again this week to do another session for the new volunteers, this time working with the PC doctors on their alcohol and drugs presentation.

More to come soon!

OUARZAZATE. Here I am in lovely downtown Ouarzazate. It's claim to fame is that there is a move studio just outside of town, and numerous movies, including American ones, are filmed here. (I think one right now). I am here to do a training session tomorrow on "Teaching Beginning Computer" to 38 new volunteers. How can a small business development without these business skills? Yet, there are little/no places to learn the computer in our small village; oftentimes the cyber is the only place where there are computers. Speaking of which, for some reason I cannot access this blog website via my internet at home. I can get to all other websites but this one, so there is something up with my ISP and my computer, I guess! Frustrating. But such is daily life here, if you let it be!

Let me tell you about my trip here this morning. I was told I could get on a bus at 6:30 A.M. across from the taxi stand 1/2 block from my house, and it would likely cost 40-50 Dhs. If I were to take a taxi it probably be 80 Dhs. The thing about the trip is the entire 155K is in and out of the mountains on VERY windey roads., and both the taxi and bus tend to be quite crowded with little leg room and/or seat space. (There is usually someone who throws up on the bus) I think once I mentioned there are not a lot of overweight people here. I take it back. There are quite a few hefty women and some men, but you don't see grossly obese people. Anyway, lately it seems like the 4th person in the back seat of the taxi is a large woman who takes up more than her 1/4 space, or else she's in front w/me, and I get to squish in on the console area and keep my left cheek lifted so the driver can shift gears. ANYWAY! This morning an empty taxi pulls up and I actually get to ride for 50 Dhs, and have the front seat to myself for more than an hour of the 3-hour trip. The taxi does fill up as we continue on down the road. But expecting a dreadful trip, I actually had a pretty pleasant one. The landscape is outstanding; my hiker/other friends will see it when they come next April. Similar to Copper Canyon in Mexico, but on a better road (but much more traffic).

It is fun to be here and see some of the other volunteers and some of the Moroccan trainers I knew from a year ago. And oh, the innocence of the trainees.

FRUSTRATION level is pretty high. I got a fixed wireless phone three weeks ago in order to have internet, and STILL no connection. And, the few times I have been to the cyber, I have had difficulty in getting my pictures uploaded to this blog. So when I finally get it all put together, you will have lots of reading and looking to do to catch up with me!

The neddy is still not open, and likely there won't be much going on until after Ramadan, which will be on or about October 13 (depending on the position of the moon). The week after I will be going to Ouarzazate to do a training for the new volunteer group, then will be spending a week with family visiting here from the States, (Hooray!) back down south to train again, so will finally be pretty busy!

Am in the process of working with a couple of women to get their product design improved to sell and ship to U. S. Nothing here is simple. How to get product shipped, how to receive money, how to disperse payment...all takes some figuring out! Am also getting close to getting my partnership proposal finished and to the Peace Corps for approval; hope to have it on the website by mid-November so you who wish to help financially can read about it and know where to send your contributions.

I sure have learned a lot about myself the past month or so. Can't recall when I have ever been so homesick. People relationships have taken on a new dynamic for me, and that change has been good. Someone said it's a sign of maturity when you can live alone in serenity. I think there's some truth to that, all right, but in my case, I think needing people is a new growth thing for me. Enough philosophizing!

Hopefully will get my mountain hike pictures posted soon. There is now much snow where I just hiked two weeks ago!