SHWIA MICA (less/little plastic)
Gee, it actually came together! There was a total of 44 females and 12 males attending. Chris spoke in the Berber language, and the other men in Moroccan Arabic. Then Sana (the woman who I am training to run the boutique) and I did a role play in which she owned the store and I was a customer who had my own cloth bag as well as clear plastic sacks in which to put the produce. It was a diverse offering of the same simple message, (use fewer plastic bags) and I think it went over very well. The main concern was not so much about the manufacture of bags, but the use/disposal of them. Used bags are everywhere...very ugly, of course, as well as
harmful to the environment. Tea and cake completed the session!
The girls and women who attended can come back in two weeks and will be provided with material and thread to make one cloth bag for their family. Two volunteers from "down south" who having sewing talents will come and help me out with that project. A great event!

I got good news yesterday when I learned that a package I sent about six weeks ago containing hand-made goods from women here finally arrived at the Global Village store in Billings. This afternoon I was treated to beans and bread lunch followed by a chocolate ice cream bar from my volunteer friend who lives in my post office town; got birthday greetings and letter in the mail, and am going to live it up tonight with buttered popcorn, diet coke and a movie! It is so good to have days like this!

DONKEY CENTRAL. 8:00 A. M. on Tuesday. It's souq day in my post office town 20k away, and many rural men ride their donkeys into my village from their douars (settlements). They leave the donkeys here, many to be shod, and take a transit (the white panel wagon on the right of the photo) or taxi (the old white Mercedes) to the souq. This is the view from my roof. The small pink building in the foreground is the public W. C. Most men use the outside, as evidenced by the dark stain on the bottom of the building. I know, more information than you want, but thought I'd share what is a part of life here!

SIX MONTHS TO GO! But who's counting? :) Had a huge downpour of rain last night after week of cool, cloudy weather.

Tomorrow we will have a special talk at the neddy about how plastic bags harm the environment and that it would be good to use fewer bags. This photo is of an area adjacent to the parking lot by my neddy. (The background shows the construction of the new building for gendarmes; there is no local law enforcement at the present time).

There is a local environment association; not sure what they do, actually, but the president will speak, as well as a guy from the city, and the Brit who is here working on water wells. But we'll see what tomorrow brings. One never knows for sure, but it will bring my 65th birthday, enshallah!

IT WAS A DARK AND CLOUDY DAY...and a great day to just hang out in my apartment and read and watch movies (not that those activities are anything new!) and work on my journal. I'm trying to create a life history for my daughters and my stay here seems to be a good time to do that. I wish I had made more notes of my mother's life while she was alive. Amazing how much this extra "free" time here allows me to reflect on many things. Whenever I get "down" because of inconveniences, frustrations, confusion, loneliness, I seem to get an "up" from a friend's email or snail mail, or by reading a daily devotional. It's good. As much as I look forward to being home in six months, I am ever so glad I had the opportunity to experience all this.

This was my post on May 13: SOMEDAYS...It is so weird. This morning I decided to try to blog; lo and behold I can not only blog but I am able to view uploaded photos! When I went to the cyber Sunday I had difficulty there blogging. The things we take for granted in the U. S. Not just everyday conveniences of flush toilets and hot showers, but the technology, as well...

Now it is the 21st; I'm in Marrakech to go to the dentist. Not able to get on to blogger since the 13th. So it goes...sigh...

Did another post on my hiker's visit, dated May 11.

WE'RE OFF TO SEE THE...NO, NOT WIZARD...THE KING!

Here is the street lined with people

awaiting the king's arrival. There were several little "bands" of men who play drums and sort of sing-chant. White jellabas are primarily worn by men for special occasions such as this, and sometimes women wear them (white ones) to weddings. And here is my fine photo of the King, sitting up front next to the driver... perhaps.

Here's my story: Wanting to look my best for royalty, I took my counterpart up on her offer to hammam at her place last evening (there is no public hammam in Touama, and I don’t have a hot water heater).We went to the rear of her house and after scrubbing up for about 30 minutes she took after my back and now I am sure I do not have a mole or any other surface blemish remaining. This morning I actually dug out a dress, put on jewelry, kind of styled my hair, applied mascara. Result? Many comments of “zwin bzzef” and the hand flicking motion from the girls and women at the neddy. That was nice! They seldom see me after any of my normal attempt at American beauty.

I asked several of the women who we were going to be seeing on our journey, and there appeared to be a bit of uncertainty. We just learned about the trip to Tahenoute, the provincial capital, late last Friday afternoon. The advisory was to meet at the neddy at 7:30 and depart at 8:00 Monday morning. For some reason (ask me not!) I actually left my house at 7:30 for the five-minute walk to the neddy, where I saw the trainer leaving to go to the dar taliba (high school kid’s boarding house) next door. She told me that the front of the neddy was full of men; she was getting away from there. In the course of thirty minutes, several other girls and women showed up; my counterpart arrived about 8:30. She being, of course, the one who told me to be there at 7:30. Taxis and transits are filling the large parking lot. Rajls everywhere! We all stayed inside the neddy, I guess so no men could see us. Finally, shortly after 9:00 the 20 females get into taxis, and all the men (probably over 200) start filling the other vehicles, and the caravan is underway about 9:30. I’m told we don’t have to pay for the taxis. My guess is that the national government gives the province transport costs, which in turn filters it down to the villages like Touama so all people can see the king and/or so the king will have sizable crowds when he passes through.

Upon arrival about 10:30, we hear (please, it can’t be true!) that the king’s arrival time is to be 2:00. We wend our way down to the main street which is barricaded off, in order to get a good viewing spot. After standing around for about an hour, it becomes necessary to “use the facilities” but the problem is, there are none. So two of the young women in our group take me by the hand and off we go to the olive grove, where we (out of the corner of our eyes) observe numerous men hither and yon relieving themselves. We continue on up the path to where there are houses, and knock on a door and ask to use their toilet. They are more than happy to accommodate but a bit offended when we don’t stay for tea. Likely should have, but I was feeling a bit nervous as I left my bag containing money, camera, carte de sijour with another woman and wanted my hands back on it.

I think I was the only non-Moroccan there among thousands, and I certainly was keenly aware of that fact. Usually don’t get much notice but all these men had to do for hours was to people watch and I got my share.

Someone in our little group brings out a large bag of bread, eggs, and fruit so we make our way under a tree (yes, one of the nearby olive trees) and have a little picnic. Finally it is 1:30 and there is excitement in the air! People start getting serious about getting a place by the barricade in order to see the king. I am there, too, with camera in hand. Out of thousands of people, I appear to be the only one taking photos. Here he comes!! Snap, snap.

It’s over! Who saw him? No one in our ensemble was sure if they did or not. Seeing the king was a bit like going through Touama. One blink and you miss it. But I waved my free paper flag, and likely was the only one there quietly declaring in English, “Long live the King!”

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY. Walked the 12 miles to the cyber this morning as it was time for some good exercise and get out of my dumpy mood. Have been pretty down the last few days. Am sure some of it is an aftermath of friends' leaving and all the "busy-ness" that entailed, along with frustrations trying to take care of neddy and personal business. But, a positive side of being here is that I do have lots of time to reflect, and don't know that if I wasn't having this experience, I would feel so strongly the gratitude I have for my mother, and my daughters towards their mother. I have often taken paths that have not made it easy for others in my life, yet their love has been there for me always. What a gift!

I'll be posting more blogs under this one about the adventure with my visiting friends. Then in the not too distant future, more blogs with photos about the progress of my project with the women's association!

WE LIKE TO EAT! The day after my friends arrived, we started walking to a breakfast spot, and decided to stop at a typical Moroccan cafe for breakfast where they offered l-msmn, a flat square bread made with lots of oil, and served with honey upon request. They also experienced nsns for the first time: half coffee, half milk served in a small glass; as well as the famed mint tea. At a later time we had another common menu item: salad nicoise shown here. A day later
we were in Essouaria, a seaside town, and ate at the local fish market restaurant. The catches were all fresh from that morning. One can get the same meal for 3-4 times the price out on the pier where most of the tourists eat. In the photo is Connie, Carolyn, Claudia, and Gary.

SCARVES are an important part of life here in Morocco. Scarves are used in the desert by all in order to protect the head and face from blasting winds and scorching sun. Here I am in a little store in Essouaria getting a demonstration on how to put on the traditional blue desert scarf. The young man was very accomodating but after I rejected his price that was about 5 times too high, his kindness reversed, to say the least!

Scarves are worn by most women in the countryside, and that is true of nearly all women who live in my village. After another terrific lunch this time prepared by Fatima, (my friend on the left)my counterpart Malika and she showed Carolyn (in pink) and Colleen (in black) the proper way to tie the scarves.

That night we went to another friend's house, who did henna on
the three women, each receiving different designs.

SHADOWS IN THE SAND. Is there a song by that name? If not, should be! The desert trip near Merzouga was a great experience. Weather cooperated; looked like we might end up in a bad sandstorm like they had the previous few days, but we were spared that as well as high temps. I'm the last one on the left; can you recognize me?!







Here's our camp at the bottom of the larget dune, and Deane taking a photo of others on their camel.

Stopped in Erfoud to visit another PCV and a fossil factory where they
make tons (literally!) of gorgeous product. Here is one of the
finished pieces. Lingered a bit too long, so missed getting to the top of the big dune in time to see sunset, and there was cloud cover the next morning so didn't see the sunrise. But it was still a once in a lifetime deal, riding a camel in the desert. Slept outside the tent under the stars. It was neat.

MONTANANS IN MOROCCO. Here are my visiting friends (one formerly of MT now living in WA) their second day in Morocco, seated in my tutor's parent's home near Casa.
Here are her mother and aunt in the kitchen putting together the serving platters of couscous on the bottom, then beef, then lots of (well-cooked)vegetables; one each for the men and women, who eat at separate tables. Wonderful meal and great fellowship among all. I'll be posting a few more photos like I did my trip to Paris, as we did "the" desert trip with camel riding and dune viewing!