WEATHER REPORT. Who would have ever thought that Montana weather would be preferable to Morocco in October?! It is 50 degrees in my apartment this morning, and another cloudy day with very muddy roads from the unusual and heavy rains we continue to receive. There have been at least 30 people who have died in Morocco this month due to flooding. Their infrastructure is just not made to accomodate the rains, and there has been a devasting amount of physical damage to buildings, as well, primarily in northern Morocco.

Four weeks from today I will be flying home! I was advised yesterday who my replacement is, and will go to Kech Saturday to meet her, stay overnight, and then show her the ropes on how to get from the cheap P. C. (Peace Corps, not politically correct...although in our case I guess is one and the same regarding hotels?!) hotel to my place. It will likely be a busy and therefore good week!

Two of the new door handles/locks that were recently installed are not working now; not sure if it is the fault of the carpenter who installed or the devices themselves. Getting that problem corrected will likely take a month. Still trying to get the guy to paint the other side of the sign that shows where to turn off to the boutique. BUT! my tutor got the French teacher to look at the brochure, and he had to nearly rewrite it to make it totally correct, so that is good; I'll be able to print some next week. That will be so helpful to the tourists and should help increase sales.

I photographed some of the items that one of our members makes at home. If anyone is interested, let me know; can send more photos, and I'd certainly bring some back with me. Napkin holders are in a variety of colors; lots of bracelets, necklaces, but no earrings.

S.O.P. to some likely means Standard Operating Procedure...or to others, Same Old Problems (aka S.O.S) and often times they might be synonymous! This past week:

• lost my ability to blog from my home computer
• no electricity at the neddy so can't teach/use computer and girls can't sew on machines to make product for boutique so desperately needed
• water at my house off for hours every day
• another HUGE rain like the one recently blogged; lots of cloudy days
• down to 52 degrees in my house one morning
• did a Windows Update yesterday and lost the connection to my ISP so have no internet

BUT, am healthy and now in Kech, dressed much too warmly for the bright sunny day we're having at last! Can always take off layers, of course. Am meeting friends for lunch and getting some photos printed for various people in my community. A few more tourists (all French) stopped by,(hurray!) and we learned/validated some things I already thought: we need to get the little road sign right by the turnoff lettered so tourists know exactly where we are, and need a little information piece about the Berber symbol. Supposedly the man is going to paint the sign this weekend, and I will have the accuracy of the French on the brochure checked next week by a French teacher and print some out so the women who are at the Boutique can hand them out.

Next weekend the new volunteer comes for her week-long site visit; I am so looking forward to that!

GET A LIFE. Before I came here, I was making a pretty good living. No big bucks now, so this quote (a tag on another PCV's emails) really resonates with me, and wanted to share with you...

"From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life." --Arthur Ashe

TALK THE WALK. Decided that it was time to do my 20K walk again this morning. Tried something different...listened to my Ipod for the first couple of hours. First up was "Three 'Mo Tenors", which are three black guys who sing opera, jazz, spirituals, and most anything else. It's a great CD, and really helped me walk a brisk pace. One of the songs was "America, the Beautiful." The first time through they sang the 2nd verse in a contemporary arrangement, then they sang the lst verse like they learned it in grade school, so I was just a'singin' along with them, with a couple of tears in my eyes, I might add. "Crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea," and all that, you know. I'll bet the shepherds abiding in the fields (just love to say that, since it's true!) thought that American woman is getting crazier by the month!

My enjoyment of the cool day was hampered a bit by an awful stench...a big pile of garbage was burning somewhere nearby. Oh the trash. How I will NOT miss that aspect of life here! I stopped briefly at a cafe for a little coffee along the way. Then after about 2 1/2 hours, the old lower body started feeling the exertion (I was walking a 4-mile hour) big time. Strength training really does make a difference! I did have some Aleve with me, so stopped by a hanoot and asked them for a drink of water so I could take my pills. That is a common courtesy here. Of course, 10 other people likely have drunk from the same plastic cup.

I generally walk facing the oncoming traffic, although it really doesn't make a lot of difference which side one walks on. The danger of that side is when one vehicle is passing another, so often they don't honk to alert you and sometimes they nearly wipe me out. Happened twice today, once with a city bus passing another city bus, which takes up the entire (narrow) road.

Made it though, and had a little lunch with my PCV friend Rebecca who was just finishing up working with her club at the youth center. Grabbed some fruit and a taxi and got home just shortly before a HUGE rainstorm, accompanied for awhile by some small hail. Biggest rain we've had since I arrived. I heard the last country-wide rain storm was so severe (about ten days ago) that some flash flooding took a few lives. These rains are not the norm. No drought this year! Looks like the storm has passed over us here without losing power this time. This photo was taken from my front door. Usually in a heavy rain, there is runoff over a little spillway on the highway over the river. Here you can see it is just running off everywhere.

WORLD TRAVELER. Here's another worthwhile read; just finished the book, "Tales of a Female Nomad, Living at Large in the World" by Rita Golden Gelman. She comments that she always tries to "participate in the culture, not judge it" but sometimes finds that hard to do. I really can identify with that! Some things she participates in that are not "good" (like throwing trash to the wind like the natives) I can't agree with, but she certainly has had a taste of real life in the countries where she has lived. What a journey she has, and continues, to take! Must admit that it causes me to question some of my future plans a bit...

PROGRESS...Here are a couple of photos of the newly
opened train station in Marrakech. It's quite a contrast from the old one! It has the ticket line railings, numerous Western toilets in the bathroom, several shops...it's so modern it has a McDonalds AND on the upper level on the inside, a KFC. They are expensive, by Moroccan standards, anyway. The tree is an imported date palm that they put in for decor along boulevards and official buildings, and it is still wrapped at the top. The station in Rabat has been undergoing renovation for some time as well; perhaps it will be done and opened when we go in the last time the end of November.

I had a great trip; handed in my final report for the PCPP grant, a medical exam, several great meals with friends, good conversation with friends, an exit interview with the new Country Director, who had served in Morocco as a PCV himself. Also sold about 10 items from the boutique to PC staff and fellow PCVs. The shwia mica ("less plastic") bags are a hit; I'm going to buy a bundle and resell them at home for the neddy boutique.

Came home to discover a few more tourists have stopped by the boutique, a jewelry rack we asked the welder to make is done and awaits my fine hand at being painted a black gloss.

Next week will resume computer training and working on the brochure. Picked up color toner and paper on my trip as well for that project. Quite expensive here, but wrapped up spending project funds on those important items.

I TOLD YOU SO! It's working! Saturday afternoon while finishing up the accounting for my final report on my Peace Corps Partnership grant, there was a knock on the door. It was Iyub, my counterpart's son, telling me there were people in a car I needed to talk to. I went out, and there were four French people who apparently saw the big road signs, stopped on the highway and asked where the place was, as they were interested in seeing products. Iyub doesn't know much French, I don't know any, so my landlord (who has the hardware store below me) stepped in and helped translate a bit.

We proceeded to the neddy, Iyub and I walking and talking and laughing about the whole language scenario and he was so excited that people were coming to shop! I thought the young woman was working today, but she probably stayed home due to the very blustery weather.I opened up and they started browsing, then my landlord appears, then Malika, my counterpart shows up. She speaks and understands French pretty well, so I told her to explain to them more about the neddy and the products, etc. They left after spendng about 300 Dhs, which was wonderful! If we could have sales of 3000 Dhs a month, that would be huge! One little problem, however. There isn't enough product at this time to support those kinds of sales.

I am hopeful that the story of this incident will get repeated time again, so the women come to understand that tourists WILL stop and buy things, and if they buy things, the women will get money for what they have made, AFTER the sale is made. This is all such a new concept to many of the women who live in the douars, so it all takes time. Oh, by the way, one of the most popular items the French tourists bought was the shwia mica sacs, after they were told what it was about. Sana and I have talked about this marketing technique, and she will do fine. The other woman who works with her is learning. I am more keenly aware of the need for a brochure so am hustling to finish something they can hand out

Oh gosh, how exciting is this, to see it actually starting to work! We were barely able to pay Sana 200 Dhs (mostly from my friends and my purchases) the end of September for her month of working, which basically meant sitting in the neddy hoping for customers. The road signs really make the difference. I just know the new volunteer will do a great job of helping them sustain this little business. (Ensha'llah...)

Once again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you who contributed to the PCPP grant that was posted on the website nearly a year ago. I know that many of you did not realize you needed to indicate it was OK for them to tell me your identity, so I was unable to thank you personally. I hope by reading my blog you have been able to realize how important you donation was.

I'm off to Rabat for close-of-service medical examinations. They must make sure we leave with a clean bill of health. I enjoy Rabat, and as always, seeing/dining with the other volunteers I came and soon will be leaving with.

SCENES. Azrou
trip, final. Along the way,
I couldn't help but think
of Ft. Peck as I looked at
this lake created by a dam.
The image here was taken
through the bus window,so
isn't very clear, but one
might see the resemblance.



Quite noticeable as well was the difference in the animals. The northern part of Morocco doesn't get as hot, gets more moisture, and there is more grass so the animals are much fatter, and herds also seem to be larger. Here is another scene from the bus window. There has been an unusual amount of rain this fall all over Morocco, so it is greener than usual for this time of year. There is so much beauty in this country. I do hope one day they (the government and then the people) will figure out garbage systems so the trash doesn't continue to not only mar the beauty, but damage the environment as it now does.

PST TRAINING. Azrou Part 3. Lots of memories of the hostel/conference center where I began two years ago. The man who owns it saw me and immediately remembered me as the one who came to breakfast with a big (thermal) mug and drank a lot of coffee. (They provide small glasses from which tea and coffee is always drunk.) When I went to the kitchen I saw his wife and she commented on how I came in in the evenings for hot water (for my own herbal tea). So one cannot escape a reputation on habits unusual to them!

There were numerous other PCVs there for the training, and we stayed in an empty house behind the training center. It was a typical PCV/hiker type of setting...men and women together, take your pick of cot/bed. Younger people, later nights...even played some ping-pong! It was fun.

The new group will be good; a varied lot, as usual, from just out of college to a senior volunteer who has her doctorate and just finished another PC tour in 2006! I am eager to meet the person who will be replacing me here; she will come for a week-long visit the first of November, go back to finish training and swearing-in, then come here right after I leave. I was on a panel that talked about working with counterparts and in a totally different culture from which we are accustomed. Later in the evening a group of women came over to our house and we had a more informal sharing that seemed to be very beneficial for them.

ENGLISH SPEAKING MEN. Azrou Part 2. On the bus from Marrakech to Azrou (nearly a nine-hour ride) I was struggling to put my daypack up in the narrow overhead, and the man in the seat next to me assisted, and spoke to me in good English.
He was tall, big, shaved bald-head, about 30 something with great teeth. He looked more like one of my nephews, as all his physical traits are opposite of the majority of male Moroccans I encounter. I quickly (and accurately) identified him as a city dweller. He had just moved to Kech with his wife and two children from the U.K., where he had a coffee shop for 7 years. They had to move because of an asthmatic condition of his seven year old son. His English wasn't flawless, but it was very good. He and his wife speak French in their home. We talked about the many languages in Morocco and the difficulties it poses to have so many. He said he had never been inside a mud house in a douar (settlement). The lifestyle of some of my Moroccan friends here is as foreign to him as it would be to most of my blog readers. Buses have no toilets on board, so there is a squat toilet W. C. for the passengers at the bus stations like this along the way. The man with his goats is just taking a short cut through the area.

A day later when I was in a taxi out to my CBT site to see my "first family" I was seated next to another man, this time a short, full head of (short) hair guy who also had good teeth (he was educated) who spoke very good English. He headed up a materials crew for a road construction company. As he explained to me what type of work he did, he was somewhat surprised I would understand, but I quickly realized his job sounded very similar to a friend of mine from Montana. He was enthusiastic about talking politics and was very aware of the background and philosophies of the candidates. Need I say that about 99.9% (probably 100) of people here are Obama supporters. I always just tell locals that I don't talk politics or religion, so that gets me off the hook for talking, but doesn't keep them from it!

An aside about travels. When I got in the taxi, two other women were going to get in the back, and rather than sit next to him, he needed to scoot over so he was next to the door, I was next to him, and the women next to me. It's not culturally comfortable for them to sit crammed next to a male stranger. Also, often on a bus, if there is a vacant seat next to me, people will only sit next to me as a last resort. Would that sound familiar as what was the case years ago in the U. S. if I was a black person on an all-white bus? Well, no, I guess not. I would have been sitting in the back by myself...

Oh, on that note, one more thing. Today I saw on the street my landlord and his friend the welder (who made our road signs). We greeted and shook hands. There was a bearded man (signifying a higher level of religious pursuit, to put it simply) with them; I extended my hand but he would not shake it. Can't win 'em all!

A SPECIAL "I LOVE YOU!" Azrou revisited, Part 1. I traveled to my training site to assist with a training session for the new volunteers, and went a day early to see my community-based training family of two years ago. I have had no contact with them since then, and tried to phone the day before I traveled to their home, but the number wasn't working. So I just showed up; I knocked on their door, and there was much laughter and joy in seeing each other again. The father even gave me a kiss and hug, which is highly unusual for Moroccan males with non-family members, but then, this was an unusual family. Three of the daughters were there, as well as the parents. We had tea and visited; they were so pleased with my language skills, limited as it is. A bit later we had tajine and their very good homemade bread. I was there about four hours. When I left, the old man again embraced and told me I was like his daughter, which started the tears, then I kissed the mother goodbye, and hugged all the daughters, (and I mean hug!)and just looked at them and told them I loved them, and asked if they understood. They said yes, and told me in English that they loved me, too.

You see, this is the neat thing: No false promises of, "We'll come to America and see you," or "I'll come back to Morocco and see you again." I know that we all felt that we had simply created a special bond between two very different peoples and countries, but that we are just God's children who were meant to care about one another. Pretty awesome.

MBROOK LAYEED! That's the phonetic spelling of what is the equivalent of our Happy Holiday. Today is a very special day in the life of a Muslim, and became a special day to me, as well. This is my third Ramadan here, and each Layeed has been a bit different. I think this one was the most special, as I felt a true sense of community.

My day started with awakening at 5:30 a.m. after actually sleeping the entire night. My guess that I've been having sleepness nights primarily due to the various calls from the mosque during the night must have been accurate. After a light breakfast, I prepared to go for a walk, when the doorbell rang about 7:30, and it was one of my landlords with a tray of food for me, the traditional flat square fried bread, (L-msemn) and a rice-pearl barley type of dish. No sooner did I have a few bites of that, put it in the frig to eat later, then again there's a knock on the door, this time the youngest son of my counterpart,
telling me to
come to break-
fast at their
house. Here is
Malika pouring
the traditional
mint tea,and the same foods on her table that my landlord brought me.

The day so reminds me of our holidays when all the family comes home, and who cannot, call or are called. So it is here.
Her daughter-in-law was there with her
little girl, and
many phone calls(notice
cell phone)were made
to missing family
members delivering
holiday greetings.

I then went to the home of my sassy little friend who works at the neddy; I call her my Moroccan daughter. She is the one second on the right. Big family gathering. After the various breads, they brought out the sweets: cookies and cakes. At this house, as well as the previous one, they know
I prefer
unsugared
tea,so they
thoughtfully
make me a
separate little pot. I had three "breakfasts" in as many hours!

I inquired as to the age of this old woman who I had not met before, and no one seemed to know for sure, not even her daughter. That is a fairly common thing here; years ago birthdates were not recorded, and even women my age may only know their year of birth, not the month or day. Things have changed now; everyone must have a national identity card which shows their birthdate. However, these women have lived a very hard life, so often times a women who is 70 may look 90.

Numerous houses here have sort of a courtyard in the middle with rooms around in a square.
These boys were having
a little soccer game there,
and made me so wistful to
be with my grandkids. I
relayedthis to the people,
which then started a conversation with the men (the women were clearing up) about where I lived in America; that segued into a discussion regarding geography so they could understand how big Montana is and how few people, and how Morocco is so similar to California,etc. They asked me if I would be returning to Morocco, and I mentioned how that isn't likely as it costs so much to travel, and I wanted to see other parts of the world, which led to a discussion about the U. S. economy, of which they were aware, having seen newscasts of our current problems. As many are, were also quite amazed to know that I have been driving a car for 50 years(ohmygawd, can that be true?!)and that I actually drove 50,000 kilometers in one year before I came here. So it was quite a cultural exchange!

They wanted me to stay for the main meal, but I needed to make one more stop at another friends, so Fatima came with me and we visited another home, where I drank one glass of sugared tea and ate a couple more cookies and listened to everyone else visit. Again was invited to stay for their meal, which smelled great, but I was tea'd and carbed out and still feeling the effects of my cold, so begged off and returned
home. Now glad to be here as we're having yet
another afternoon rainshower.

This view is on the walk to the last home
visited. I must admit that as much as I am so happy to be soon returning to family and friends, I know that when it is time to leave, it will be with much sadness, as these people have truly touched my heart. And I think, just maybe, this non-Muslim, American, woman has touched theirs as well.