The Sheep Distribution

I continue on my animal postings, but this time with a slightly more serious topic. This is also my first touchy subject that I have dealt with in my writings and keeping people informed. As I have stated before, this blog is my own opinion, and not the opinion of Peace Corps in any way. I do not believe I will offend people, nor do I want to give a one sided opinion. So I will try as always to show the whole picture (Wow I sound like a news agency or something).

So recently in my village, there have been sheep being distributed for local residents. This sheep distribution has been backed by an agency which may be governmental or may be non-governmental. Basically the agency deals with farming, and farm animals. So, this agency has been given funding to purchase sheep, and give them to local people. Each family is supposed to receive three sheep. Altogether, after talking with the person in charge, there were 5000 sheep given out to the families. If I do the quick math, my village has 8000 men, women and children. So basically 5000 sheep means 1667 families were receiving three sheep. So who knows if each and every family received sheep, that is debatable, especially with the reactions that I witnessed. More on this later…

So you wonder about the purpose of this distribution. I believe that is fairly simple to figure out. A man here told me that having sheep is like a bank investment. When you need money, you sell a sheep to get that money. If you do not need money, you keep the sheep, raise it, potentially have more sheep, and then sell if, potentially making profit. So receiving three sheep really helps a family out. In fact, on the surface, this is a great thing. Basically it is akin to getting money passed out, or getting a government surplus check right into your pocket. This year is also a good year for sheep, due to ample grass and weeds to eat, and sheep are more expensive. So if families will sell these sheep, they would make more money in a drought year where sheep are inexpensive. However, I repeat and emphasize the words “on the surface.”

I am an environment volunteer, this is true. One of the goals of Peace Corps is to provide technical assistance to the people with whom I work. Environmentally the area I live suffers from a number of environmental problems. Two of these problems, deforestation and overgrazing, go hand in hand, and basically walk down the street holding hands (which is a “Schuma” or shame in this culture to do).

Deforestation is an issue for many reasons, and also a touchy issue. Wood is used as fuel for heat in the winters, and cooking as well. So cutting down trees needs to occur, and even I purchase fuel wood for the harsh winters that apparently occur in my village. The key word here is sustainable use of wood. Currently, the rate at which the local wood is being used is not equal to the rate at which the wood is being replenished. Even now some villages run out of wood in the winter. Also illegal cutting of protected wood still occurs, and is difficult if impossible to really enforce. Altogether, wood prices go through the roof in the winter… so buy your wood now kids.

Overgrazing is also a problem. One reason is that Morocco is public lands, so grazing occurs anywhere that food is available. Sheep really enjoy eating grasses and weeds, and also tree limbs, when they get cut down. In addition, saplings (baby trees) make an incredible food source. But, when all the public land saplings get eaten, no trees become replenished, and you add to the problem of deforestation. This is already occurring in portions of the area.

The short-sightedness of this sheep distribution is what bothers me. There are many implications of this distribution. Five years or ten years down the line, there may be very little wood, and it will be very expensive. So what looks to be a great investment by having free sheep given to you (basically money in the pocket), will come back and take all of your profits away in the long term, and may even make you poorer, and certainly will not help to replenish the environment. Sadly, in the discussions I have had with locals, they do not totally understand this, and are confused as to why I would ever be against a free sheep distribution. In fact, people jokingly asked me why I did not get free sheep, and my reply was that I did not want them, because they eat all of the weeds and trees. Faces were funny to see. (Oh and an aside, the reason I was at this distribution is that I was helping my host family get their sheep. So I was carrying a few sheep, and making sure they did not get away.)

Sure the agency was an agricultural agency. That may not mean much to you, so let me explain. In Morocco, the government has ministries, basically departments. One of these is The Ministry of Agriculture. There is no ministry of environment, just an agency that does not have the same power as the Ministry of Agriculture and certainly these two bodies do not work much with each other, as Agriculture is about the money, not protecting the environment. So I am assuming this agency did not have any sort of foresight into potential harm of giving sheep out. But hey, what the issue in giving only 5000 sheep out to further degrade the land… people here already complain enough about lack of wood, and blowing dust (due to no plants holding the soil). Sorry, this was my sarcasm creeping into my writing.

While 5000 sheep can be pretty rough, I think the worst part about the distribution was the “Free-for-all” mentality that occurred. Moroccans have a very difficult time standing in lines and waiting their turn (this is an extreme understatement.) In fact, when sheep distributions were occurring earlier this week for other parts of the village, people felt slighted, and wondered why those people got their sheep first. So when it was time to get the sheep, I saw the bad side of human nature. There was arguing, shoving, fighting, people climbing on the trucks and helping themselves, and maybe other occurrences that I will not name here. It would have been so orderly and faster to wait. In fact the local police came to make sure things were sorted out right. It was hot, and tempers were firing. I could not believe it, and really you would think that this was a water truck going to a community that did not have clean water. But it was sheep. It was money. People do crazy things for a few bucks (even if in the end it makes them poorer.)

During the moment I had some conversations with local people that I know well enough. At one point, a man came up to me and asked, “What do you say?” In my reply I said, “I don’t know.” He them changed to English, which he knows very little, and stated “This is Morocco.” It is a cliché statement, but so profound. It makes me realize that helping people with environmental issues will be a large battle. I knew that it would be, but this was kind of a wake up call, and a show that people can be downright nasty in situations such as this.

I suppose that is all I have on this. I hope this was informative, and not too dry. Word.

Album of the Moment – Radiohead - “Kid A”
Book of the moment – John Steinbeck - “East of Eden

Much Love,
Me!

PS. If you want to send me mail, ask me or my parents for my address. And if you have more topics for me to cover, let me know. Also you can email me by taking part of this web address (my name) @hotmail.com . Sorry for being cryptic about it, but spam happens, and this is a way not to get spam so people cannot copy and paste.

The Running of the Cows

For some strange reason, this is my favorite part of the day. That is, when I am able to witness the occurrence.

The first time I witnessed these shenanigans was while I was sitting outside my host-brothers shop. I was about to walk home, and along the main street plodded two large heifers (sorry if that is an incorrect usage of the word). I was kind of dumbfounded that would just go along there merry way, not bothering anyone, and with no owner in sight. I figured that they had to be loose (as I have seen animals get here) and were just going to find greener pastures. I continue watching as the cow proceeds to turn down MY row, and continue on its confident way. All the while she is mooing as she goes. This cow has horns, and could easily take out a child or two along the way, maybe knock a guy off a bike, or dent a few cars. But nothing happens, no problems. I mean, the cars tend to slow down to stay out of the way, but generally the cow could care less.

Another day I was walking home from a hike with some fellow volunteers, and there were about seven of them in front of us, just wandering down the street. Some were turning off at random other streets, as if they knew the exact way home (I am not sure though). Some cows decided to get distracted by some tugwa (weeds/wildflowers) that had been gathered for other barn animals to eat, and stopped off for a snack. I knew this was wrong, so I stepped in and scared the cow away. While I am glad that the cow did not realize she was quite capable of charging me and mini-goring me (these cows have small horns), she just nonchalantly went on her way, and realized that she could not eat it.

I am utterly (Wow that is bad) amazed that the saying “Until the cows come home” actually exists in real life. It is my favorite part of the day, and it usually occurs between 5-7pm, when the sun is starting to go down. I am not of the farming background, but even though I have spend a bit of time of cattle farms, I have never seen cows parading everyday down a main street, and people just going about their business. I can now tell people (other Americans) here that I cannot meet “until the cows come home.”

I just had to share this will all of you folks and I only wish that you could see this occurring on the main street in the town where you live. Maybe for some of you country raised folks (my parents,) you can shed some light on this saying for me, and tell me if you have experienced it yourself.

Album of Choice: Karate- “Some Boots”
Book Currently Reading – “On the Road” –Jack Kerouac

Much Love,
Me!

Rain

I had no idea what to title this post. Really, I tried to come up with something creative, but not too-cheesy. But I couldn’t, so I kept it simple.

Today was a prime example of a rainy day. Sometimes (today for instance), I cherish the rainy days. During my time here thus far, I have seen a few rainy days (think literal, however there have been some figurative ones as well). While they have been few, I believe that I will never view rain the same way. Here is my rationale:

In the states, I have grown up in the Midwest, and even the few times I have lived away from Ohio, I have lived I Europe (Luxembourg, Belgium), I have lived in spots that are blessed with an abundance of rain. I have come to take rain for granted, and at times (mainly in cold rainy Belgium winters) I have loathed it. There was always enough rain in the Midwest. Sometimes there was not enough rain; sometimes there was too much rain. But from what I understand, in my view of things, there was enough rain to meet my needs.

I have never lived out west, and I have never lived anywhere where shortage of water was an issue due to lack of rain (I have lived in places where overuse of water would eventually lead to problems.)

I now live in a semi-arid climate, where there is a rainy season from October-March. This rain/snow provides the ground, irrigation, and the drinking water for the summer dry season. While this past winter was exceptionally wet, there was a fairly severe drought up until this year (technically there is a drought still). While the rains and snow were severe and mud houses collapsed and there were floods (both of which sadly killed people), generally the rain was still a much appreciated and wanted gift. *Note, I will live in a mud house, and this is why I should and will shovel my roof in the event of show, which will occur in my winter.

Water is a precious resource. The abundance (or lack of) influences the way that the people operate. Some villages have had years of bad crops, no substantial water for drinking/bathing/washing clothes. In years of country wide droughts (see above) food prices increase due to economic principles of supply and demand. The people who are at the very core, the local farmers, having bad crops, cannot sell, and thus have no money to buy. It influences the amount of sheep that herders can purchase, because if there is no rain, there is no grass for your little sheep. So once again economics take over and the price of sheep increases because demand is up.

So think that in June, we have had an entire day of rain. In fact, we have had two days of at least some rain. While the temperature is cold today (think near the cloud base), and people still complain about the cold or the heat (everyone here is never the perfect temperature hehe,) people do not complain about the rain that comes with it. I hope in fact that this allows the harvests to go well, and for the fall crops of fruits and vegetables to be abundant, cheap, and of good quality. Really they already are cheap; they just will stay that way. It is good for everyone around.

Oh yeah, and here is a tidbit of information for you. Morocco, due to its unique location near Europe, and the varying climates it contains, is considered Europe’s “Bread Basket.” It produces 1/3 of the fruits/vegs that go to market throughout Europe. That is like saying that the country the size of the state of California produces 1/3 of the fruits/vegs for the rest of the US. So this increases the importance of the rain.

**While Morocco is that size, that includes the area known as Western Sahara, which for all intent and purpose is a desert, and produces very little. That is all I will say about Western Sahara region of Morocco**

Album of Choice: Phoenix -“Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”

Cheers,
Me!

The Mountain Climb

Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to climb one of the nearby mountains. I really wish I could just give you the name, but I cannot. The mountain is just south of my village. The peak is 3265 meters, and what that translates to into feet, I have no idea. Basically I think it is roughly 10500, though I may be off in either direction. My village sits about 1950 meters, or roughly 6000 feet. So I am going to describe the climb, and try to break it down into sections. I am not sure how long or far I hiked, but basically I started at 5am and got back at 12:30 in the afternoon.

Section 1 – The Road
Leaving at 5am in the morning, it was still dark. As dark as it can be with streetlights still on, and a pseudo full-moon hovering above like a parent hovering over a baby. There were people out on the streets, much more than I had expected, and some of them were noticeably intoxicated. I was still extremely groggy and so speaking and thinking in another language was difficult. However, I only had to exchange a few greetings with people, and I continued onwards. I had my doubts about leaving so early, as we have many pseudo wild-dogs that come out at night, hoping to find food. They tend to stay away from people, but then again, they are wild, and some may be sick. So dog bites are no uncommon. But luckily, no run in with dogs today, but I was loaded with a rock in hand just in case. I left the main section of town and all was quiet, no people, no dogs barking, just me. In fact it was eerily quiet. As I left town, there was a hint of dawn peeking around the horizon, just the type of light that makes it a lighter blue. The road continued onward for a little while, and I passed fields or wheat, and crossed over irrigation streams. Having only been this way once before in the daylight, I had difficulty finding the trail that I needed to take. I looked around, and for about 5 minutes thought I was following the road too long. I tip-toed across the stream and finally found the trail.

Section 2 – The Trail to the Cave
Happy that I had not wasted too much time trying to find the trail, I continued onward. The trail, like the road, was mainly flat; however it was uphill, but in a most gradual sort of way. The substrate was mainly a slate like gravel, as most of the land around is exposed and there is little topsoil. There were no large trees around, just shrubs and bushes and thorns. The trail winded along the path of a stream-bed, the stream having gone somewhere else to spend the summer. By now the sun light was creeping over the small mountain to the east, and things were a bit easier to see, and the light to the east was an orange-yellow. There were no clouds in the sky, and the stars were all but gone, having spent the night illuminating the sky and dancing with each other. About this time, I came into the flat lands; a valley of sorts between the mountains, and the trail met a road, and they continued together for a while. Along the path, fields of wheat were waving in the morning wind, and interspersed were pockets of yellow wildflowers and the occasional red poppy flower. I stopped for a few pictures of the sunrise, as it was quite nice, and continued along the way. I reached a small house, a family that I know from my town, and the man was outside in the fields doing some irrigation work. I stopped briefly and greeted him. Naturally he asked me if I wanted to have tea, and I told him that I would return later for tea (and of course I did!). It was at this point the road ended, and the trail began to go uphill. At this point you are at the edge of the foothills, and the mountain is breathing the wind of the morning from around. I followed the trail over a small series of cascades, until I reached the cave, and the pass and gateway to the mountain. On my left side the cave, a nice opening in the side of a cliff. While it is not very deep, it provides sleeping grounds to some shepherds, and the rare hiker. However, most local people believe spirits live in these caves, so they stay away. It is a good place to relax, see a good view, and take it all in.

Section 3 – The Ascent Part 1
At this point things have been relatively flat, gradual, and happy. That quickly changes though. At the point of the cave you are at about 7200 feet, so you do the math and quickly realize it is extremely uphill. While the tree line is probably 8500 feet, there are very few trees here, just small shrubs. The substrate changes from a fine slate rocky topsoil to bigger rocks of slate. I started to walk up, and quickly realized I need to follow the shrubs as much as possibly, because as I would step on barren places, I would be slipping on all of the slate rocks, and every step meant sliding back a little bit. I would see the occasional lizard wandering around as well, as the sun was fully on my back. It is a hot sun here in Morocco, and even though the breeze kept me cool, my head was baking due to my thick bunch of hair. I continued on this line, until I came to a point where the shrubs stopped, and there was just slate pieces blanketing the side of the mountain. At this point I was even with the little bit of snow left on portions of the mountain, and above the tree line. I found myself getting super-tired, and trying to catch my breath. I could tell the elevation was not allowing my body to get the oxygen it needed. So I took more breaks. I reached a cliff, and took a break, finishing this portion, and readied myself for the final ascent. I was at 9200 feet at this point.

Section 4 – Final Ascent
So from this point I had two choices, I could go straight up the bare face of the mountain, and struggle to keep my footing, sliding back down with each step, or I could go up the side, with the very small shrubs, and more stable rocks. I chose the latter. While this made each step more productive and conserved energy, the slope was a bit steeper for a while, and generally at that point you are at least at a 45 degree angle. I would take more frequent breaks, and play little games in my head as my legs (calves especially) were starting to rebel against me due to lacking normal oxygen. I would take 100 steps, and then stop to catch my breath. I kept looking back, and I was blessed with an amazing view. I could see for miles to the north, across the plateau and see the middle atlas range. I could see all the nearby villages, including my own, and it was crystal clear. The only this that was around me at this point were ravens, as they nested on some of the cliffs around. I was now into the shade again, and out of the wind. It was quite comfortable. I reached the ridge, and the slope decreased slightly, a hint that I was close to the top. I couldn’t see the other side, but the every so often the wind would whip around me. I made a last push to the top, and all of the sudden everything changed.

Section 5 – The Top
It was morning still, about 10am, and I believe this is what accounted for the wind being so fierce. I don’t think I have ever been in a wind that was so sustained. It was cold at the top, and the wind made it even colder. I quickly put on my gloves and fleece shirt. While I was at the top, I was not at the highest point yet. I would have to follow the ridge to the next peak, and the stack of rocks that every climber knows means “This is it: the very top”. I could see the extreme mountains to the south, and the even bigger peak to the east. I could see little towns to the south nestled in valleys between mammoth mountains. I climbed to the stack of rocks, and sat down behind it for a few minutes just eating some peanuts and drinking some water. I felt content with having accomplished my goal (after failing due to cold temps and no gloves before. I have bad circulation, so at high elevation there is greater effect, and I could not feel to climb, so it was unsafe I thought). It was so gorgeous at the top, and I could see sheep grazing near the cave, and the shepherds were shouting to them. At night shepherds sleep on the mountains, and you can see their fires alit in the dead of the night. I sat for about half an hour at the top before getting too cold to stay, but the feeling of serenity and peacefulness was great. Even though I had just climbed a large mountain, you feel so small when you see the world or a portion of the world from so high up. Descending was a bit tricky, as you kind of had to ski down the slate. It was also incredibly fun.

Adaptation

As humans, we are incredibly complex. Everyone knows this, but I still must point this out. We have a very unique gift. While the word “gift” is not the word that my science and logical mind wants to use, I will still use it…but I will explain. Humans have evolved over time, as all species have, and naturally have adaptability to the various environments we choose to inhabit, to a point. The reason I use the word “gift” is because I feel privileged to be a human, and feel that this evolution has given us the gift of adaptability. Some people may say there is a higher power that has “blessed” us with that gift. That is perfectly alright if you wish to have that belief. I am just talking through my science and logical mind.

For example, I came to Morocco having no language except a small, mostly unusable piece of French. Almost immediately, I was placed into surroundings that were completely new: A new way of eating and drinking communal style, and new bathroom type and style, and a different climate. These are in addition of course to the language, religion, gestures, and everything else that goes into making a culture unique, which some could argue everything.

While I consider myself more adaptable than average, this may not accurately be the case. I feel that there is a direct correlation between the experiences I have had previously, and my ability to adapt. In short, I am saying that I believe I am more adaptable than the average due to these learned adaptability moments. So the flaw in the logic and accuracy of the statement is that I have had experiences to learn from and use as background knowledge for these adaptability moments, and probably more than the average person. (I also apologize if I just completely confused anyone, hope it made sense.)

You may wonder where exactly I am going with this. I can’t say I totally know where it is heading myself. It all stems from a movie I was watching.

I sat down for breakfast this morning after watching a portion of “Into the Wild.” If you have not seen this movie, watch it. It has everything to do with adaptation to environment (yes I know the end is lack of adaptation). It is based on a true story, and that is all I will say without giving it away. The music is quite fantastic, and Eddie Vedder could not have done a better job in creating the pieces to go along with the movie… But back to what I was I was saying.

So I sat down for breakfast with the movie going in my head, music and all. I began to think about my current situation, and adaptability. I was using my new acquired language to speak, and I was eating in a manner that is only a few months new to me. But, I felt entirely comfortable with my surroundings. There was a natural sort of feeling about it that struck me, and thinking about the movie it just clicked. I am adaptable. I am adaptable enough to learn entirely new things in a matter of a few months. True, I have had the help of those around me, my fellow humans around me who can teach me and know the basic essentials of humanity. Even though the people around share almost zero common history, and there are few common experiences, my fellow human beings have aided me in learning how to live the way that they live, because they are humans as well.

Sure, that is deep, or something. But it is true. The adaptive nature of humans has allowed us to dominate portions of the world. This is not a new and revolutionary thought. We have learned, and we have helped each other learn.

Think about it. Think about other animals you know. Think about teaching in every aspect, and think about domestic dogs and cats. Why dogs and cats???

Well, domestic dogs and cats look very different on the surface. You have various breeds, and those breeds are large, small, brown, black, yellow, spotted etc. All of these traits are different. Yet deep down, they have the same set of genetic DNA that allows them to intermingle and breed, creating new offspring. Stay with me here.

Humans are similar in that aspect. On the surface, we look very different, but we have the same genetic make-up that allows us to breed with someone who is quite different from us on the surface as far as traits go.

But compare dogs and cats and humans. As humans, we are the only species that can teach the others around us from entirely different languages, places, and experiences. This enables me to be taught everything in order to survive here in Morocco.

Yes, I understand that in many animal species, offspring are taught how to do various tasks by family members. But think of the scale difference going on here, and the fact that a group of people I have never met before has taught me the things I know. Dogs do not do this, birds do not do this. I am completely fascinated by this, if you couldn’t tell.

So the main point of this is that humans are incredibly adaptable to the environments in which they choose to inhabit. This has allowed us to live everywhere in the world, and to become the most abundant animal (size wise) on the planet. Of course there are some habitats that humans cannot even live for very long in without extreme adaptability (think Everest here.)

I apologize for the stream-of-consciousness style of writing I sometimes use, and if I have confused anyone, or bored anyone in the process of this entry.

With that said, if you followed me to this point, thanks. I have been extremely busy the past few days, having had to go to the big city of Meknes for a meeting, and then helping the current PCVs get moved out of their place. I have also been meeting and discussing work and potential projects, and all of this is going as well as I think it can go.

I recently made a playlist for the PCVs that are leaving, as a sort of parting gift. They have done incredible work here, and I can only hope to build off of that. Once again, they have taught me the things they know about life and work here, and allowed me to adapt more easily than I would on my own. While I have only known them a short time period, I certainly will not forget everything they have given me here, and I hope for them the best as they re-adapt back into America.

So here is the playlist:
Homesick - Kings of Convenience
Car Song - Woody Guthrie
Last Year’s Man - Leonard Cohen
#41 (Live at Luther College) - Dave Matthews/ Tim Reynolds
Do You Remember Walter? - The Kinks
Livin Thing - Electric Light Orchestra
Jogging Gorgeous Summer - Islands
Goby - Kaki King
Neighborhood - David Byrne
Lisboa A Noite - Theivery Corporation
Les Champs-Elysees – Darjeering Limited Soundtrack
Knoxville Girl – Charlie Louvin
Tianchi Lake – The Mountain Goats
Winners – K’s Choice

I have also been reading more. Here is a good quote that hit me in a good way the other day.

“That’s the way the mind works: the human brain is genetically disposed towards organization, yet if not tightly controlled, will link one imperial fragment to another on the flimsiest pretense and in the most freewheeling manner, as if it takes a kind of organic pleasure in creative association, without regard for logic or chronological sequence.”
- Tom Robbins “Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates”

This is my exact sort of thoughts on thinking (maybe you could tell that in the above writing). Much Love.

Word.

Houses and Chicken Shop Cats

So I ordered a cat the other day at the chicken shop. It sounds strange I know, but literally that is what I did. The story goes like this: At the local chicken shops here, there are animals that hang out around these shops hoping for some tasty treats. My city has many cats, and only a few dogs. The cats keep away mice, and get a little chicken. At one place in particular, there is gorgeous calico cat. It just so happens that the cat is pregnant with a kitten or more. So after seeing this pregnant cat, I asked if it would be possible if there is a kitten like the mother if I could have it when it is time to be weaned. Of course he said yes. So hopefully this means that in a few months time I will have a calico kitten, and of course this means pictures will be up.

This brings me into my next topic, which is house hunting. Right now, in my village it is difficult to find a place to stay. This is because outside of town about 20km there is a large dam that is being built. So workers need to have a place to stay, and my town is the biggest town in the area. I finish my home-stay with my family in just over a month, and so the past few days have been spent going out and looking at potential places to rent. Yesterday alone I looked at about eight places. This is much more than I anticipated, and gave me a good feel for what I wanted or should expect in a place.

I saw a variety of places, some close to the center of town, some really far away from the center. I saw some places that were too small, and a place that was so nice and extremely too large for me. I saw some places that were super dirty and needed a lot of work, and I saw places that were in very good shape.

So after a long day of searching, I think that I may have found my new home for the next 22 months. It is a nice house, with a large communal room and 2 bedrooms, and a kitchen and Turkish toilet. There is also a shed for storing my fuel-wood for the winter, and if I want I can get some farm animals.

OH, and the last thing is this... My address has changed slightly. So those of you that had my address, the postal code has changed. The last digit changed from a zero to a two... so 0 changes to 2.

Promise there will be more posts soon.
Cheers!
Me!

Music Of Choice: Radiohead - "Kid A" album

The Long Road Ahead...and the Bled

First, The Bled.

This past week, some volunteers and I went hiking and camping. While it surely was fun, it was also for work. I am replacing two volunteers (a couple), and they needed to show me the route to take when I will be working in the large park in my site.

We spent three days in total hiking and two nights camping. The first day and the last day we hiked 25 km to/from the place we camped. The middle day we spent exploring, and showing me the correct routes to follow when I do this on my own. So here are some more details, and I will try to be succinct and organized.

The hike we took is not super technical, on the way there it tends to be more downhill than uphill, but there are three large uphill portions. There are a couple of roads (think hard dirt) that we followed as well. Along the way we passed through two small villages, and by a couple of random houses. To me, these villages and houses represent a style of isolation that is very unimaginable to me. While the two villages are accessible via cameo ride when the weather is good (dump truck ride with 20 or so people and goods in the bed), many of the individual houses are only accessible via mule or donkey or horse. I know that back in the states, some people have cabins in the wilderness only accessible (by car) for part of the year. I suppose this is the same… but the people here are there all year round.

In Morocco, there is a specific term for the country. This phrase is called “The Bled”, and basically stands for the country, the middle of nowhere… you get the point. Mud houses are the only structures in these villages, and from afar, it blends in somewhat with the landscape around, and looked very serene and natural. It is this isolation that I had envisioned when I first came to Morocco.

The middle day of hiking was, as I said, very much exploring, but also showing me some of the technical portions of the trail. The campsite we chose is near a natural spring, and the water is cold and fantastic. No need to treat it. The site also is at the mouth of a gorge. The gorge consists of cliffs on either side around 1000 feet at least, maybe more. I am a bad judge at heights. In some portions the gorge is wide, like a quarter mile. Other portions are only as wide as the length of a car, or the width of a normal bedroom. In periods of heavy rain, naturally there are flooding issues. The weather we had was gorgeous and clear, so the stream was at a normal level.

Some of the exploring we did consisted of free-climbing, as the rock faces were perfect for it. There was also a small pool of water that was good for cooling off and swimming. The end of the gorge opened up to a valley (this gorge is THE pass through the mountains) and there were some more houses and trees. Once again, it was absolutely gorgeous.

The volunteers pointed out the way from there over another pass (A pass is a route through/between the mountains) and into the park. From my town, the park is two days hiking away, just to get there. Basically that is roughly 50km or so of hiking in two days. This is in fact the bled.

Naturally, there were a number of people we met along the way. Most of them are curious, yet friendly. There were some shy characters who gave us odd looks, others who talked with us and were happy we knew their language. There were also people along the way who asked us for things. The main things were medicine and candy.

Apparently, whatever foreigner had visited these places in the past must have been a doctor or a candy dealer, or both. There were some adults who would come up to us and ask if we had medicine to give them, or if we had pills to help various ailments. I suppose it is odd for a person to be backpacking through their town, and naturally they may have thought we were all doctors, coming to help the sick and give medicine.

There were also the children. Many of the kids would ask us for candy. They would say hello (after we said hello to them) and then ask for candy. The word for candy in Tam is “l’Hlwa” (basically pronounced Hull-uh-wah). In one particular village, things got crazy. Kids were coming from all around the village, not even saying hello, and just saying as fast as they could “Hlwa Hlwa Hlwa!” They did this in a very high pitched sort of sound. It was both hilarious, and also sad. At some point these kids have been trained in some manner to react this way to foreigners. Maybe some candy fairy foreigner (or doctor) gave them candy, but even so, it was crazy. So we decided that the name of the village should change to “Ait Hlwa.” The word “Ait” means tribe. So Ait Hlwa means “tribe of candy.” It was fitting.

“The Long Road Ahead”
Being at my final site, I have seen some amazing things. I have also seen things that make me sad, and wonder how people can just dump trash and deforest without replanting, and how the environment is not taken care of in any sense.

I had a conversation with my host mom the other day about if I was lonely, or missed my family back home. I told her that of course I missed my family and friends, but at the same time I did choose to come here and do this work.

It is a long road, and definitely an uphill battle in many ways. It has been a great time, but there have also been times since I have been here that have been difficult. Sometimes it gets quite lonely, and due to the fact my language is not yet strong, I cannot just go out and talk to people about intellectually stimulating things. I have to stick to the basics. It is still difficult to describe exactly how I feel to people. There are really good days with language, and then days where talking just is not happening, and the frustration is beyond belief.

As a disclaimer, please do not read this and think that I am having trouble, or am having a hard time. With anything, it is natural to have ups and downs, especially when you are singled out and stick out everywhere you go. This is just a bit of the realistic side of it all.

Of course I want to be at the point where language is perfectly understandable and easy, and the environmental work is going well. But, I definitely have to keep telling myself that while this point will come… and I know that it will… that the whole process should not be forgotten in the meantime, and that the process is maybe more important than the product.

I know that experiencing the ups and downs on my own (yes, I know that people support me), will help me in the end to become a stronger person, and be able to deal with hard issues and events. No matter how ready I ever thought I could be, or how strong I thought I was before coming here, I know that when my time here is up, I will have grown so much more and will see the world in a different way. Sometimes, I just realize that it definitely will be a long road, at times awesome, at times difficult, but it will be rewarding. (That all sounds really cheesy when I re-read it.)

Once again… give me topics to write about if you have questions. Thanks for the already suggestions!

Here are some future topics (I came up with these):
- Biggest problems of my Village (that townspeople tell me)
- Funny Language translations, and the way people talk (including my nickname)
- Moroccan Hospitality
- One Plate, One Cup (Communal dinner at its finest)

That’s all I have for now. I love you all, and if you want to send me things, I have an address. I want to mention that you should be smart about shipping in many ways. But the first thing is this… THE US POST OFFICE SELLS BOXES AT A FLAT RATE TO GO OVERSEAS. YOU CAN PUT UP TO A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF WEIGHT IN THE BOX. THIS IS THE CHEAPEST WAY TO GO PROBABLY, BECAUSE IF YOU SEND ME PACKAGES, YOU MIGHT AS WELL SEND FULL PACKAGES.

Some hints for packages again:
- Label the box “Educational Materials”
- Sending money or electronics = bad idea… things get opened and taken here, this is not the USPS usually good system
- Sending religious materials = see above. I do not want to be viewed as a missionary by anyone in the government here, because it is illegal, and probably would not be helpful for work purposes.
- I like surprises.

Im not saying I expect everyone to send packages… but don’t you like mail too?! If you want to send me packages, and do not have my address, e-mail me or my parents. If you want a list of things to send, I can give make a list up, and post it here on my blog.

I love you, happy summer, and Oh yeah, I saw my first scorpion the other day out hiking. It was cute.

Loves,
Me!

Some thoughts I have had...

I hope that everything is going well for you back at home. I wrote this a few days ago, and I decided to post it. I probably will post more threads like this, along with other cultural points. PLEASE give me suggestions of topics to write about, or any questions that you have for me. I need suggestions too, because I sometimes don't know what to post about!! :-)

Alright, so here it goes...

I am looking out the door of my cyber. It is open about halfway, and I can hear the sound of a large cameo (think dump truck) purring out the door. I am next door to my brother's Hanut (think small small small store), and the cameo is picking up the empty butagas (propane tanks) containers and delivering a fresh load of new ones, that way families can cook their foods and have cous-cous today... because in fact every friday tends to me a cous-cous friday for some reason.

I see a little girl about 7, cute as a button, walking and talking to a boy down the row. I know this little girl by her face, and the fact she stops at the Hanut a few times a day, in order to pick up some sort of candy items, maybe a gummi treat, or flavored marshmellows (LHlwa n Lponj... which translates literally into candy of the sofa). She sometimes giggles when I talk to her, or just looks at me in silence and a bit of awe.

The sun is shining now somewhere through the newly formed clouds. It is probably a bit hot in the sunlight, but when the shade returns it is a bit chilly. This morning it was all sun, but the weather report last night said we would be getting 34 degrees today but also rain and thunderstorms possibly. So at the day goes on, the mountains in the distance uplift the air pockets and cools them, forming the clouds I am currently seeing. It probably will rain this afternoon, I hope it is thunderstorms.

I see the north face of the mountains (Jebel Masker) in the distance topped by pockets of snow. They will probably be there until June or so, and it looks like it may be raining on the mountain top. It is a great site, and I feel lucky to be here... all the while donkeys and horses with carts come by, along with cars or trucks. It is mix of old and new.

I see the mosque, it's tower painted a light yellow, and trimmed with sea green. It is this very mosque that sometimes wakes me up at 5 in the morning, as the call to prayer is being said, or a portion of the Koran is read. The five times a day of loudspeakers blaring is a constant reminder of where I am, and the beliefs of the people and or the country.

I see people walking by wearing Jellabas, and headwraps, and women carrying weeds for their animals. Little boys are playing some sort of card game, maybe dealing with soccer type cards that my Hanut sells. The humorous part is that like many things at the Hanut, they are old, and in fact these cards are from EURO CUP 1996. Many of the children with them were not even born at the time let alone remember any of the players. I remember watching the Euro Cup and rooting for the Netherlands, in the comfort of my own home for 18 years, sitting in front of a large TV wasting my summer away. There were probably dreams of playing soccer in Europe, of traveling to Europe, at least I hope that is what was being thought.

A few girls walk by, on their way to school I presume, and stare at me. This is common, and I still don't know what sort of way to feel about girls who are of marrying age (15 or so) here staring at me in this sort of way. Sometimes they will talk to me, say Bonjour, and I will speak in Tam to them back. Sometimes they are surprised, sometimes they just laugh and say nothing else. The reaction that I get kind of reminds me of some of the Korean ESL students, and the sorts of giggles and looks that they gave me.

The Little girl is back again, with her hooded red shirt and her blue jeans and little light blue plaid type shoes. She dashes off, and seems very happy with the world around her. Innocence like this is seen everywhere here, and sometimes this lack of world knowledge, this ignorance is what makes people content and happy. Sometimes, I envy for this feeling, as I know that there are better ways of living than the way some live here.

FINISHED

Hope you enjoy.

Much Love,
ME!

Welcome to the Mountains

So as I said before, I am near the mountains. I have arrived at my final site, and been spending the past few days trying to take care of some business like residency card and also a PO box. Both of which I have, and if you would like my address to send me a letter, card, package, surprise, just e-mail me and ask and I will probably give it to you.

The town I live in and the area around me is very contradictory. The town is quite large, and a center of local commerce. It is around 8000 people, and I really have most everything here that I need like stores, souks, and cyber-cafes. The town itself is quite windy at times, and there is a lot of dust that gets blown around. Also, one of the huge environmental problems of the area is the trash issue. I will talk more about this later, but basically people dump their trash in the river beds, and on the street. So littering is prevalent. In the people’s defense, there is no trash collection system in place, so the trash that can be burned sometimes is burned for heat. But, the biggest problems are the plastic bags. Every little store gives them out with a purchase, even the smallest items. The bags end up like modern-day tumbleweed, and it is not surprising to see them blowing by you in the street, or in a plastic bag whirlwind, or hung up on some tree somewhere. It is quite depressing to see, but really, this is part of the reason I am here. Even I have trouble disposing of trash, as I said there is no adequate collection system. SO, if you send anything to me, please make it something I can burn that is not plastic or Styrofoam, so I do not have trouble disposing.

So in general, this is my town. It is not unique, but the area around it is unique and also breathtaking. I have two large peaks nearby, one at 11000 ft, and the other at 12500. The latter is the third highest peak in North Africa. I hope to climb both of these once the snow is gone in June. There are a number of other peaks around as well. Generally, there are very few trees, partly due to the semi-arid conditions, and party due to the overharvesting and not replanting trees. This allows for great hiking (minus the wind) and I plan to get out and do a lot of hiking. It is actually part of my job, and the park I will work in is a two day hike away (2 days of 8 hours hiking) and camping in the middle.

There is not a lot in the way of big wildlife. Most of the large mammals were gone a while ago. This leaves hares, boars, wild dogs, and some grazing animals as the mammals. There are a few snakes present, and also a number of skinks and lizards. There are also a number of small birds, and some large birds or prey present. The trees around are pine, oak, and cedar. Cedar is the most native here, and is also the most threatened by overharvesting. People here are not replacing the trees much at all, and this is the problem. People here need the wood to stay warm in the bitter cold winters, as electricity is way too expensive. So once again, this will be part of my work.

Since being here, my schedule has changed immensely from being super busy to now having not a whole lot to do. I am trying to integrate into my community, and I continue studying language, talk to community members, and learn about the community from the volunteers that are leaving. I try to make myself present and visible, so that people become accustomed to seeing me.
Even still, I have a lot of down time, and so I study languages, and also read books and play a few games or watch a quick bit of BBC news. Things tend to get accomplished at a slower pace here; it is just a fact of life.

I will try to keep a list of books I read in one of the side columns. I am definitely open to suggestions as well. Peace Corps here has a decent library in Rabat, and I can have books sent to me.

Also, if you have any questions, please e-mail me, and if they are topics I can write about here on this blog, then I will definitely do so. I have access to cyber-cafes all the time, and I go a couple times a week. Eventually, after I move into my own place, I will look into getting internet (not sure if it is possible). It will be much easier to get work done (a lot of work forms for Peace Corps are done via computer) and also condense my time staying in contact with people for the two times a week I plan on doing so. I also am already thinking about the cold winter, and how I do not want to have to leave my place to a cold cyber-café.

I hope that this post finds everyone safe and sound, and enjoying spring wherever you may be living.

Much Love!
Me!

Bidding Farewell

This post may be somewhat long. It has been a little bit, and so much has happened since I last posted. In short, I have received my site placement, had my LPI, and also will be sworn in as a PCV in just a short 2 days in the big city as a large group.

So as I said, I have received my final site placement. Its funny how things kind of go. I remember telling a number of people that finding out your site is like Christmas. So whatever site I got would make me happy, but you always have preferences. Well, I received a site that was not really on my preference list. But like I said, there are really good things about it and then some not so good things about it.

Of course I cannot disclose my location exactly, but I can give generalities. I will be living in a town near Eastern High Atlas National Park. This town is in the Khenifera province, and I am just about in the middle between the actual city of Khenifera and the city of Midelt. While the town I am living in is quite large, approximately 8000 people, my actual site encompasses a large area, and most of the work I will be doing will be well outside my town.

My town sits at about 6500 feet (2100ish meters) above sea level. So being over a mile in elevation instantly should make you think cold. In fact, the town has very cold winters, and a fair bit of snow. Just to the south of my town lies a peak of 11,000 feet. The summers make up for it by being mild (Here in Morocco mild means 100-105F). So the negative aspect is the severe cold.

On the positive end of things, my site area is large. The reason is that during winter many of the villages I will be doing work in will be snowed in for periods of time (think weeks), and so if I were to live there I would also be stranded. So I am staying in the plateau valley below. When I am able to do work, I will be doing a lot of hiking. When reading about my site, some of the villages are a 2 days hike away!

I will be replacing not just one volunteer, but two. They are a husband/wife duo, and they have been doing some really great work. In fact, I already have proposals for projects waiting for me when I get there. One project dealing with tree planting (750 apples,walnuts), the other dealing with oversight in an installation of a grain mill. In addition, I will be trying to integrate myself into the school system, and work with teachers to provide environmental education training to them and work with students also. These all excite me, but they are a little overwhelming as I have not even seen the area yet. I am excited that I have the challenge of filling the role of two people however, and hope to pick up where they are leaving off.

Another challenge my site will contain has to do with language. Here in Morocco, each environment volunteer is matched with a counterpart from the Dept. of Water and Forest resources. Together you do work and any idea you have needs to fit with the Department’s plan of action for the area. It just so happens that my counterpart will not be speaking the language I have been learning for the past two months (Tamazight). Instead, he speaks a very small bit of English, but also Darija and French. So mainly the work I do with my counterpart will be in French. However, the area I am living is highly Berber, and therefore Tamazight is widely and regularly spoken. So I will be using both French and Tamazight on a daily basis, whether is it dissecting French documents, or translating between Forester and villager.

So as I said back at the beginning, I recently had my LPI (Language Proficiency Interview). The LPI is an oral test, and you can receive a rating of Novice, Intermediate, or Advanced. Within these three ratings are levels, for example Novice Low, Novice Medium, Novice High. The Peace Corps in Morocco states that you need to pass your LPI with a level of Novice High in order to be sworn in as a volunteer.

So the good news is I passed my LPI, and therefore can be sworn in as a volunteer. The disappointing news is that I only received a level of Intermediate Low. I was close to the Intermediate Mid, but no dice. The reason I am disappointed, is that I thought for sure I would be intermediate mid. Language went quite well, and I thought it was a realistic level to set a goal for at the end. I felt like I busted my tail with study and learning language, and wanted to have shown more for it all. So with all that said, I have to keep telling myself that I went from having no language, to a level somewhere near the middle of being proficient in a language in the span of just 7 weeks. It makes me happy to think that within the next two years, I will have a great chance to become fully proficient, not only in Tamazight, but also in French. I will be getting a tutor that can teach both of these languages.

The last thing I wanted to write about is leaving my CBT village. I am leaving the place that I have called home for the past two months. As like most partings, it is a bittersweet one. I feel as if I have become slightly immune to the all the goodbyes, and the people I part from. I have moved around a lot in the past year or so, from Oxford to Europe, Europe to Cincinnati, and now Cincinnati to Morocco. I probably have just accepted that people need to part ways, and it is a simple fact of life. It doesn’t mean that parting is easy… its not. But I have parted with so many people recently that I care so much about that sometimes parting from people is just okay. I usually do not forget people that mean something to me, so I will always have the memories.

While I will be leaving, I will forever be grateful to my family here in O-Ville as well as all of the other people around me here. I wish them all the best, for they are all good people, caring for me, teaching me, and accepting me as one of their own (My host mom here has now called me her son, and shed tears about me leaving… So to my parents at home in Ohio, I have been taken care of incredibly here by a wonderful family that I now call my own Moroccan family.) While I have said this before to people, I feel like I am a teen again, parting ways with my family so I can go off and do my work.

I have had an incredible time here, learning about the language, struggling at times. I have learned about the culture here, and seen a communal way of life that amazes me (at some point I will talk about culture and various things I have seen and done). It has been a pleasure for me to be the first Peace Corps group here in O-Ville. I am able to see pure reactions, and all of my reactions are pure as well. There is a “learning about each other” phase, where my family has no idea what to do with me, and likewise from my end. At the beginning I knew no language, and they did not know mine. We just met in the middle and learned from each other.

I hope that in leaving, the people of the community have learned as much from us as we have learned from them, even if they are small things. The way of life here is simple, but it is filled with incredible culture and wonderfully nice people.

Much Love!
Me.

PS. I probably will have more regular internet access in my final site. More on this later.

Tree Planting, and Breaking Bread

So two weeks have gone by since I last had internet. Naturally, a fair bit has happened here in my village and with me as well. Language is coming along just fine, and little by little (“imiq s imiq” in Tamazight) things are coming together. I just recently passed the one month mark with the language, and I feel like it has been so long with learning the language.

Being an environmental volunteer, we naturally do activities geared toward the environment. The other day we conducted a program and tree planting with students in the local school. It was in the local language, so having a script was good to do. Students were from the ages 6-12. Our group made a simple presentation about how you need to plant trees when you remove them. Since wood is harvested here for heating, it was important. Basically we had some of the kids stand as trees and animals in a forest. The PCT’s were harvesting the wood for various reasons, and not replanting. When the last person came to get wood, there was no wood, and we asked where all the homes of the animals went, and naturally they were gone, and the animals died. It was simple, but straightforward. We also had people littering, and we “schuma”ed them. Basically this means to give them shame until they picked up their litter and put it in a trash bin. We then planted 12 trees, 7 olives, 3 walnuts, 2 apples.

The kids got super involved, picking up trash, and helping to plant the trees. The ground here is really rocky, so digging was crazy difficult. But in the end, we planted the trees, made some friends, and when we talked to the kids after to see what they had learned, our point had gotten across. I can only hope that they spread the word and do their part, and we left a lasting impression. Overall, I think that this was a great starting point for the work I will be doing on my own. It also gives me a presentation that I can use elsewhere in Morocco. One of the most important things I learned while teaching is not to re-create the wheel, you just have to refine ideas to fit your goals and purposes.

I have also been baking bread, and cooking a little bit. It has been difficult to get into the kitchen. The reason is that in Morocco, it is a women’s place. So for me to break the norm and learn to cook is kind of an off the wall idea in the conservative village. I also believe that my father does not like me interacting with women around my age (sister is 22). But that is just the way it goes.

BUT, when I have gotten into the kitchen, I have been able to make bread from scratch, and help cook a few meals. For some reason baking bread is extremely relaxing. It is strenuous don’t get me wrong, but I suppose it is a stress relief in a way. The most entertaining part of baking bread was after I had the dough all ready, and I have to spread it out in a circle. Having worked at a pizza place for around a year, I know what need to be done. So I proceeded to spread the dough out a little, and then spin it up into the air like a small pizza. Having not seen this before, my family thought this was hilarious, and maybe impressive (not sure). But it worked, and breaking a gender role norm here was something I have wanted to do since being here. I could only accomplish this after having established myself with the men of the community, something which has been no problem. I jump into doing tasks outside, grazing our sheep, building the shed, and other laborious acts. The other day I even rode our donkey to get water, but this time rather with a family member, I was all by myself. My family was initially worried, but after all went well they were fine. I do enjoy riding the donkey, and hope that in my final site, I can be in a situation where I can have a donkey or camel to get work done. Not for recreation.

So I find out my final site in the coming days… by the time this is posted it will be two days away. I am really excited, and it kind of feels like Christmas. I have had interviews and stated various preferences, and I know all of the possible sites. So I have preferred sites naturally, and it feels like I know what I might be getting, but never 100% until the day of finding out.

I really enjoy this site here (O-Ville is gorgeous), but I will be ready for a fresh start, and a site of my own, where I can get to know and integrate into a community. Class everyday is never fun, and I feel that I will have the language I need to go on my own, as long as I keep studying and using the language.

I hope to post some pictures, and those of you who are on facebook have seen a few. But I hope more specific pictures come, and I can post a couple of them here.

I wish everyone the best, wherever you are, and hope to talk to you soon. I will probably have a mailing address in the next few weeks, and will let you know when that is taken care of completely. I cannot post the address, but you can e-mail me for it.

Much Love!
Me

Great Weather Again!!!

I hope that everyone is doing well wherever you are. I am doing pretty well here in O-ville, and other than the sinus infection I seem to constantly be fighting off, I am in good health and spirit.

Culture is a wonderful thing. I may have already said this, and certainly will say it much more in my two plus years here as a volunteer, but it truly is special. I have been placed in a very rural conservative setting. This of course has its ups (and downs). One of these ups is the maintenance of what I like to call “purity of culture.” I didn’t really notice until the other day how incredibly “pure” my village is compared to larger towns and cities.

My example is this: I have a souk (market) town approx. 7km from my village, walking of course. So this is about 1-ish hour from me. I recently met a current volunteer from that town, and he explained to me that he has had a difficult time learning the language. It may well be possible that he just is not great at learning languages, or did not put forth a good effort, I don’t know for sure. BUT, he told me that in his town 60 percent of people speak Darija (Moroccan Arabic), and the rest speak a mix of the local dialect of Tamazight. Contrast this with my village, where around 95 percent of the people speak in the local Tamazight dialect.

The reason in difference is that the souk town is the biggest town around for about 15km, and sits on paved roads that go from the big city (60 km) to smaller cities (30km from here). This allows a penetration of Darija from travelers and sellers. This particular region sits at the crossroads of the three main languages of Morocco (Tam, Tash, Darija), and since Darija is the national language, every person is taught this in school, and Tashalheet and Tamazight are not written languages.

In addition to the above, 95% of television programming in Morocco is in Darija, and roughly only 1 hour is given per day to the other Berber languages (15 minutes or so a piece). Most every family here in my village has satellite TV (the town received electricity in 2002), and therefore they see Darija whenever watching the TV.

As I said, I live in a conservative place. It is rural, and going out at night almost never occurs. This is partly because it is dangerous (dogs and wild pigs), but more-so because there is no reason to go out past dark here. Women here are covered except their faces and hands/feet. Men and women should not be alone together unless family, or if a large age gap exists. The language reflects this incredibly. The word for my friend here is “amdakal”. This is for male friends. I make it feminine by adding “T’s” to both ends creating “Tamadakalt.” If I tell people that I am talking to a female friend, it automatically turns into a girlfriend with romantic implications. So when I try to say I was talking to a female friend who is a PCV here in Morocco, it can be difficult to explain that “yes in fact I have female friends” and “No, they are not my girlfriend.”

So as I said satellite TV is ultra prevalent. I can turn on the TV, watch CNN international, Travel channel, discovery, BBC, Al Jazeera international. Every country in the NAME region (North Africa Middle East) has a channel, and I can see channels from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia to Morocco. I watch a morning show/soap opera (well my family does) that is out of Mexico (dubbed). There are also music channels with pop music from Europe and the NAME region (MTV arabiya). Needless to say, the onslaught of outside cultures and pressures exists. Sometimes I see things on the TV that are completely risqué for the culture norms here, and I wonder what my family thinks about all of this pressure. Generally, refer to the movie “Footloose” to see this is action.
So as I said, the purity of this culture, and the culture in general (language, norms) is slowly dying. I can’t help but feel sad to know that the culture is changing, but at the same time I know I cannot act innocent as if I am not a part of that change due to any sort of influence I have here or wherever my final site is located. As I said in the beginning, I feel kind of fortunate to be able to see a place that is more pure, and less influenced by the outside world. I am sure I will talk more about this in the future, because it is quite important to me.

So the weather has finally broken, and we got our first nasty spell of rain, hail, and cold weather. (Cold being about 50ish degrees during the day.) But I did wake up to see a rainbow today, and seeing pea-sized hail falling for 10 straight minutes was pretty nifty as well.

The language learning continues, and is going well I feel. I feel like I have gone from being a newborn to being about 5 or 6 now. Hopefully the rate of growth continues, and by the time I leave I can be on my way to becoming mostly fluent. As many of you know, I am hardest on myself, and constantly am asking myself what else I can be doing.

My family is adorable. They treat me so well, the food is great, and they try to make me feel at home. Sometimes they try to help too much, and really kind of smother me, for example when turning the light on for the toilet outside or getting the water kettle to wash my face/ brush my teeth. I have come to learn that Moroccans have little, if any, private time, and for an American who has their own bubble and personal space and distance it can be difficult at times. Sometimes I really do feel like I am 5 all over again and cannot go places on my own without a battle and most certainly an escort. So as I said my family is adorable, and my host sister and mother seem to always be happy and chipper. This is always good to see. My brothers are at school during the week 30 km away, and so it is just my father, mother, and sister. My father is ill so much of the typical work done by males is done by my mother. I try to help out where I can by getting water from the spring, or helping to graze the sheep/goat, or feed the hens/rooster.

Overall, it is still funny to think that less than a month ago I was back in Ohio doing the complete opposite of what I do here.

Oh yeah, on April 15th I find out my final site placement. It is determined by the following:
- Interview about technical skills
- Adaptability in training
- Language Learning
- Technical Background

I am quite excited. While I am open and receptive to wherever I might be placed, I certainly enjoy the seclusion and experience I have had here in O-ville. So hopefully the match my program manager makes is a good one, and I look forward to that day. I like training and all, but am ready to be out on my own.

I leave this post with a quote from the autobiography of David Attenbourough, which I am currently reading (Thanks Danielle for this book!). For those that do not know D.A. by name, he is a famous British naturalist, and pioneer of television nature shows (like going to places and filming). He narrates many a nature show, including the famous BBC version of “Planet Earth” (the American version has Sigourney Weaver narrating… same video though). This man is probably one of my heroes, and this quote just says a lot for me (specifically the final portion):

“I did not make them (videos) because I had some premonition of an eco-disaster. I did so because I know no pleasure deeper than that which comes from contemplating the natural world and trying to understand it.”

Much Love!
Me!

Olives, Almonds, Donkeys... Gorgeous!

Here is the first sunset I saw clearly... sweetness. I love my camera and the sunset.

Hopefully this makes up for the lack of posts!

So you thought I disappeared yeah? Well I did kind of, but for completely good reason. I have entered into the Community Based Training (CBT for short) phase of my training here in Morocco. This 8 week phase consists of me living with a host family in a town somewhere in Morocco. During this time there are 5 other PCVT’s (peace corps volunteer trainees) that are in the town with me, and we meet almost everyday to do a number of things.

The most important thing we focus on is language. I am somewhere in the region of Morocco where Tamizight Berber dialect is spoken. Generally this is in the mountainous area in the central portion of the country. The region of language goes from central to east and northeast. As I mentioned before, there is another Berber dialect some are learning that is also in the central region and goes west and southwest. But… back to the point. Language is the thing we focus on, and we have a language teacher, and go over the language for 4 hours a day. Also we live with a host family, so we practice and hear the language daily.

If you ever want to know what it feels like to be 3 again, this is it. Learning language is crazy, I will tell you that. Especially a language that is only spoken, not written, and you have to use a special phonetic sounds and English letters to get words written. So the language I am learning has many sounds, some like French and Spanish and others like German. This helps me, as I have had German and French previously. But still, the sounds are sounds you do not use everyday and words that sound like all consonants are in fact words. So you have to completely change your mind set about language for a bit while beginning.

So for me, it is day 6 as I write this, and I cannot believe how much language I have been exposed to. I live with a host family, and have two upper teenage brothers and a 20-ish year old sister. They are, along with my host father and mother, great to me, and are a home away from home.

Let me tell you about my town. I cannot disclose location for security’s sake, so I will just call my town “O-Ville”. The “O” stands for olives, because that is what is here. My towns of about 200… mostly the same tribe/family, are nestled in a super-rural mountain top. There is only the gravel road that goes near the town, and it is a 2 km walk to the nearest paved road. And you might say, oh yeah that sounds good and all the houses are close. BUT, that is not the case, and the town is spread out over a good 2-3km, a small waterfall, and fields of olives, almonds, wheat etc. Please do not take the word field to literally mean rows. The setting is completely natural looking, and just houses here and there among the trees, that is until you get to the hill slope, where just olive trees exist.

One of the coolest things I have seen here is the irrigation. The French, former colonialists, set up concrete above ground irrigation tracks complete with drains and plugs. These go along the hillside, and with the use of gravity provide the water for all the trees. It’s just incredible. Oh yeah, the water comes from natural springs in the hillside. I was afraid to drink it at first when I was shown, but decided why not. It was wise to, and the water is just awesome.

As I said, O-Ville is all about the olives. Not the kind you eat, but the kind you make into oil. There are four olive-presses for the town. Each olive press is old school, with a huge stone wheel in a ring of sorts where the olives are placed. There is a wood piece out of the center to outside the ring, where a donkey goes round and round. Impressive. The oil is incredible once it is completely fixed up. I am sure that once I learn enough language I will be able to see a lot of the process.

Another thing we are here for is to learn about the culture of Morocco. Its awesome to be able to be here doing that. I have learned so many things, from manners, to Turkish toilets to bucket showers, to just the way that Moroccan people live. I have both running water and electricity, however sometimes the water running is broken. Have no fear, because we take the donkey down to the springs to get fresh water.

I have never had much exposure to farm life, but essentially I live on a farm. We have a calico cat/cats that go in and out at times, a donkey for getting things, a goat, a handful of sheep, some chickens, and of course the crops… olives. There is wheat grown here as well, but it is for the animals.

I am in fact isolated, but still have had the odd occurrence of being on a donkey and getting a phone call, and picking it up. I am sure this is unsafe, just as talking on a cell phone while driving is, but meh, it’s alright.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, and we are fully in spring, which means virtually zero rain, and almost always sun. It is also a mountain, and I step out of my house on the hillside and have a view many people would pay gobs for.

My absolute favorite thing is that the community here is so tight knit, everyone knows each other, they are all friendly, and so hospitable, a Moroccan specialty regardless. They are so in touch with nature, they know every plant, tree and flower, and animal, and know all the trails that dash the hillsides (there are so so many of them!) Essentially, O-ville has nature running through their blood. It inspires me to be in touch, and here it is so easy to do that. Back home is not as conducive.

As far as the culture here, it is rural, and very conservative. As per the norm, all women wear scarfs, and there really is no gender role bending here. Women do the traditional women things, and Men do theirs. It has taken a little getting used to not watching how to cook (yet) or doing my laundry (yet), or just being served in general. Those times will come, but for now, it definitely is a change. I will say that I have my own personal opinions, but I think it is wrong for me to state them here, and I would never want to try to change the culture of this community that I live in right now.

BUT… don’t take that to mean that I don’t try to help out around the place. We have farm animals consisting of sheep, one goat, and chickens, and a donkey. So I try to help feed the animals, and I have been able to go get water from the springs via donkey. I am pleased to ride the donkey, and never really having been exposed to farm life, it’s a nice thing. I also help try to herd the sheep/goat, but I cant do that yet, as I don’t totally know what I am doing. Also something odd happened the other day. I was riding the donkey to get water, and my cell phone rings. So I pick it up, and continue my ride. I just found it odd that it was a super clash of old vs. new. I tried to be careful as I was talking/riding, as to not hurt myself/donkey.

We are the first group of PCV’s in this village, so we have a lot going here. We are sharing our American culture for the first time here, and whatever impressions we make will last. All seems to be well so far, and there have been no outrageous stories to tell.

So that is my overview of training, and it continues here for a 7 weeks roughly, until swearing in happens April 29^th. I will forever be grateful to the people here in the village, of O-Ville, and hope to give back to them as well (Many of the upper teenage boys are learning English, so this is a good way to help them, and us as well!)

I will probably talk more about my personal change soon, but it is still early on. I must say I do miss personal time the most. There is not a lot of it, as the concept here in Morocco is not really existent. They say the closest word to solitude in Arabic is loneliness. Basically that means that it is expected to always be social. I miss my music as well, and I have in fact listened to music twice in one week, for about an hour each time.

Oh yeah, I got the flu as well, and got better. But is was no fun at all, and it was an all encompassing flu, starting gastro-intestinal style, and ending in body shivers and fevers and aches. It may have been food poisoning from a dish I ate in the city, but maybe just a virus. Some others got it as well, a day or two after we ate at a restaurant in the Hub city (we go there twice a week for shots and trainings)

I also ate lung of some sort. It was good. Simple as that. First different food down, many more to go.

I have had a few songs in my head recently. I have no idea why, because I haven’t listened to them, until today.

So here they are:

The Arcade Fire- Rebellions (Lies)

Coldplay – Panic

LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great

Much Love to you guys, I miss you, and if you have questions please don’t be shy about them. If they are too personal or I feel like I can’t answer them on here, then I will e-mail you.

Kiss,

Eric

I Dig this place!!!

They say that Morocco is “The cold land with the hot sun.” Today was a prime example of that. I saw the sun and clear skies for the first time since being here in Morocco. It was amazing how when you are in the sun’s rays, you stay very warm, and it is a great source to warm up from the cold. When out of the sun, and especially in the cement buildings (most of the buildings are cement), it can be quite chilly, and you need to dress in layers.

Training here in the foothills of the High Atlas mountains, it has created a number of good photography to test out the new camera. You will be seeing pictures eventually, but not right now. I was able to get great shots of the sunset, mountains, and city where we are training. It was quite stunning.

As far as training goes, it is nice to be getting questions answered and learning things all at the same time. Everyday lessons are about language, culture, and what our specific plans are here in Morocco. We are still somewhat in a bubble here at the training center, as we are all in one place, speaking English, and not really having the time to go out and see the city and interact with the people. At the same time, most of us do not know the language enough to really interact. But learning about culture firsthand is much better than from a book.

Language is interesting. That little sentence means so much. I have never thought of myself as a language person, but I feel like the language is coming to me. Maybe this has to do with knowing some German and French, and teaching ESL and American culture back home. We haven’t learned much of the language yet, just numbers and greeting and a little bit of shopping vocab. But I feel good because we are all in this here together, trying to learn the language, some better than others. For those of you curious, the main languages of Morocco are Darija (Moroccan Arabic), and French. So right now we are learning survival Darija. There are also two dialects of the Berber languages, which we call Tam and Tash (they have much longer names than this).The survival Darija will only be for the next two days, as we are going to our community based training site (CBT). This training will consist of five volunteers in the same sector as me going and living in a village outside the “Hub” city. We all live in separate host families, and meet daily as a group along with a language and culture training person to learn well… language and culture. Being in the environmental sector, we have groups in all three languages (Darija, Tash, Tam), and so there is a chance that I might be learning any of them. BUT… the language that I learn at the CBT will be the language that my final site placement will be. So tomorrow I find out which language group I will be placed into, and this somewhat narrows down possibilities for the final site placement. I am very excited to dive more into the language, because I know that it is my ticket to a good 2+ years here in Morocco. I am also surprisingly confident in myself for learning a new language. (I always always did poorly in language classes). But immersion is the best technique, and living with a host family who does not know my language (and likewise) is the best way. Naturally this will produce what are to be awkward, humorous, and crazy moments. I am sure I will have a few interesting stories to tell.

Some of you may want to know about my “sitash,” or training group. We are 61 strong, 34 from the Health sector, and 27 from my sector, Environmental. The average age is probably 25ish. We come from all over, the northwest (7 from Wash/Oregon), south (3 from NC), and most everywhere else. There are folks that are fresh out of college, a few with the some work experience, one returning peace corps volunteer (3rd time in PC!!), and two lovely older ladies, one in her 70’s and the other (get this!!) in her 80’s. To me this is somewhat inspiring, and I can only hope this is possible when I get to be that age. When I see them learning language, asking questions, and doing their best, I just get a good feeling inside in the inspired sort of way. We also have two married couples, both in their late 20’s. Its pretty rad, and being isolated with all of these people, you get to know each other and of course bond with everyone.

We had interviews for final site placements, and there is the possibility that I could be placed in either the mountains or a valley, or in the south or middle. Really it is kind of up in the air. The only preference I made was that I was somewhere where the winter wasn’t super harsh. I can deal with days of snow for about a week. But those who know me understand that I love the warmth and can stand the heat, but cold just shuts my body down and makes my feet and hands cold!! But, all at the same time, I am open to whatever, and I actually said I didn’t mind being somewhere without running water or electricity. When I think about it, the thought of isolation in that since kind of makes me feel like I would be more in tune with the community where I live, and also be able to focus on the language and actual reason why I am here!

So training site here ends on Monday, and after that I am sure the e-mail and blog postings will be spotty. Sunday is kind of an off day, and some fellow PCT’s (Peace Corps Trainees) with go to a nice garden, casbah (I will rock it), and waterfalls. It will be a nice break, and I am sure after we will go to the market and walk around the city we are staying. I will try to stay in good touch with you all, but I once again will be really busy.

I leave you with the following. 73% of Peace Corps Volunteers in Morocco who serve at least one year get diarrhea. This is both humorous and not.

I also leave you with this quote by Lao Tzu, which I think describes my thoughts perfectly about getting things accomplished here in Morocco and what is important:

“Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and he can eat for a lifetime.”

Much Love,
Eric

Bienvenue au Maroc

Hello from Maroc!

I made it here quite alright, other than exhausted. I have been in training, been busy, and so, this post will be short.

I have eaten awesome food, seen some sweet things, and most of all, started on my adventure into the peace corps. I have so so much to say. We are currently training in a nice place, a mid-major type city, and its great getting my first bit of culture. So much has happened in terms of sight placement etc... but I really will get into this more later.

We are semi still in our bubble with training being inside all day, and when we walk around in the eve during free time, you can't help but get that feeling of "oh yeah, we are in Morocco".

I think so far the most exciting thing is the taste of spring. It has rained the most in 30 years here, and therefore we have immense green everywhere, it was such a contrast from the winter brown and nastiness I left only a few days ago.

About the Flora: Cacti, bushes, orange and lemon trees, olive trees as big as oaks and maples back home, and so many weeds (wildflowers!!!). It is so lush, but i do know that spring is early for a reason... uber hot summers and cacti mean semi-arid landscape.

About the Fauna: No real wild animal encounters yet. There are livestock: Sheep, Goats, Cattle, Chickens, Roosters, Donkeys, Mules, Horses. All of which are very important in the life of many Moroccans. I loved the bus ride for being able to see the country and some cities as well!

I am also glad that I am not overwhelmed by anything, and actually feel fairly safe (although always on alert) and ready for action. Learning some Darija (moroccan arabic) has been good, it will be a challenge, but we are altogether 60 people learning, so we kind of inspire each other... or at least they all inspire me.

I am off now, but have so much more later, I hope that anyone reading this is doing well, and i miss all of you dearly!

insha'ullah (peace be with you!)
Ciao! and Much Love!
Eric

6 Days to Go til the unknown...

As I sit here in my rural Marietta homestead, I realize that I have only 6 days left before I leave everything I have ever known, and travel to the place that is unknown. I am sure that sounds fairly dramatic. Maybe it is... I don't know.

About Leaving: I have my fears. I am scared that something will happen to those I love, and I will be unable to do anything about it, and potentially will not even hear about it for a while. I know this can happen anytime, anywhere, so I try to stay logical and rational about it.
I am also nervous about the change I will undergo while I am in Morocco. I am sure there are things that will change me for the better, probably this will be most things. But, I am nervous that when I return I will not be the same person you all used to know. At the same time, I know you all will change, and I hope rather than growing apart from friends and loved ones, I will be able to grow with them, even with distance. I know I will miss you all. BUT... with that said...
Mostly I am excited. I cannot really describe the excitement. I am going to the unknown. I am sure that the adventurer in me loves the thrill of going somewhere new, knowing no one. Having to deal with stresses and difficult times will be exhilarating. For some this isn't their cup of tea. This is my cup of tea, and I am trying to dive right into it and submerse myself with it all.
I am excited to help and assist other people in my expertise, all the while learning and being taught about a way of life I have no clue about and yearn to learn everything about. In a way, I am newborn, and I hope that in the same way babies take in and learn their surroundings I can do the same. Maybe that is a shotty analogy. Hehe.

To my friends/readers: Thank you for everything over the past few months. Its been great, and I certainly cherish those times. I know you support me in what I do and I know your thoughts are with me. It was nice to get to see so so many of you before coming to secluded Marietta so I could spend time with my parentals. I will miss you folks, because you are all good people.

So I wanted to tell you a little about training, what my tentative schedule will be like from the time I fly to training in Philly next Monday March 2nd. Here it is, and I am sure during the process I will elaborate more:

Mon Mar. 2nd - Training in Philly
Tues Mar. 3rd - Bus to NYC, Fly out of JFK in the Eve to Casablanca, Morocco
Weds. Mar. 4th - Arrive in Morocco, immediately board a bus from Casablanca to Beni Mellal
Mar. 4th-8th - Training in a hotel in Beni Mellal, Morocco (foothills of Middle Atlas Mtns); it is a town of about 200,000 people.
Mar. 9th - Leave Training site for CBT (community based training) with 5 other Trainees, and go to a nearby village and live with a host family (on our own).

I am sure I will elaborate more on what happens each step of the way as it goes on. I just wanted to point out I hope to have access to internet about once a week after March 8th.

In addition to internet, I plan to keep a journal, and write letters. I would love if people wrote me letters as well. I have an address for the first three months, and here it is:

Eric O'Bryant, Trainee
s/c Corps de la Paix
2, rue Abou Marouane Essaadi Agdal,
Rabat 10100, MOROCCO

Allow like 2 weeks roughly for the letter to reach me, maybe 3 if you include the time for me to actually get it. I will surely reply. You letters would give me a smile. Please note: don't send packages to me during this time, as they will just sit, and I may be charged for them, or have them taken since I don't have access. So keep the boxes til later (I really hope you consider sending me a box of fun stuff, I would dig that, and would probably send you back something).

So I only have 6 days left, and I have been trying to fill myself up with various foods and drinks I will not have in Morocco. I even had fast food, something that is rare for me. I spend a fair bit of time watching TV as well, way way more than I have in a very very long time. But I am getting somewhat bored with spending my days doing the same sorts of things. Hehe, maybe in two weeks time I will be saying the opposite.

I will probably write again while I am in the midst of packing this weekend.

So in closing, I leave you with a snippit of lyrics. This comes from the song "Baby, We'll be Fine" by The National, off their album Alligator.

" Baby, we'll be fine
All we've gotta do is be brave and be kind"

Much Love

One Month Seems Both Short... and Long...

About One Month...

When I think about the fact that in (less than actually) one month I leave for Morocco, I get the "still don't know what to think" thought in my head. I honestly do not believe I will know what to think until it actually happens. The anticipations build, it is a semi-constant thought on my mind. How can I not think about it??? I mean, today, I was in Cleveland, and before that, Chicago. All in the name of seeing the people I care about another time. Sadly I did not have a chance to see everyone due to time constraints and the snowstorm.

But these thoughts are ever-present in my life. I get confronted with questions on a daily basis, and when I meet people it becomes an instant conversation piece. I am so familiar with the discussions, that I could write you a 99% verbatim script of how it would go. I will spare you of that, as more than likely, I have had that very conversation with you!

Overall, I am ready to go. I have been transitioning in my mind since before I left Europe, and other than seeing people still left to see, I am ready to hop on a plane and start this up. I was told by previous PCV (peace corps volunteers) that the waiting game was very long, and it is a true test of patience. They were right, and I have told many people about this test of endurance.

One Month... 30 days. I still have received no word from The Peace Corps as to how to make travel arrangements for training etc. Another test of endurance!

ABOUT THE PURPOSE OF THIS BLOG

I wanted to lay out what I think the purpose of this blog should be:

1. Keeping in Touch - I want to be able to keep in touch with many of you who are curious about my time with the PC in Morocco. What I am doing, where I am going, how I am feeling etc. This is the best way to do that, and get your feedback all at the same time. I WANT YOU to ask questions, I WANT YOU to give me feedback. I will miss you all dearly. I know this.

2. Sharing my Thoughts and Feelings - While I will keep the super personal stuff for the Journaling, I want to use this forum to share my thoughts and feelings about my work, the culture, and my experiences. I know that in living in a culture where I do not speak the main languages will lead to frustrations and lack of being able to express myself. Sometimes it will lead to hilariously funny moments. I want to share these with you. The good and the bad. The old and the new. When I say that this blog does not reflect the Peace Corps in any way, I mean that. But I have to share with someone not Peace Corps, and that is you all!

3. Comparing Cultures - I have a unique opportunity to share with you the comparison of the culture that I know and you know, and the culture I will come to know. I feel like kind of a bridge of cultures for you and for the people of Morocco (I prefer to be a suspension bridge). I want to share.

So, with that all said, If you think there should be other topics as well, then let me know. Of course I will probably cover music, food, sport, religion etc... as these are all parts of culture.

Things YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE ONCE IN A WHILE:

1. Poetry - I will try to use poetry for expression sometimes. Maybe original, maybe something I find suiting

2. Music - You know me. I love most things music (eff you alt-country). I will maybe discuss a certain band I have been digging. Maybe give you a short playlist for the time. Maybe tell you about how I am trying to learn a Moroccan instrument and what it is like.

3. Pictures - If you didn't expect pictures... then too bad.

4. Probably other things as well. I just haven't thought of them yet.

So I leave you with this:
A poem by one of my all time favorites, Robert (Bob as I know him) Frost. With the snow outside, and the driving I had to do today, this poem popped into my head. I think of it, and realize that over the next two years, I will have so much to do, and while I might come to really cool places and do really cool things both now and in Morocco, I know that there is a task to be done, and know that ultimately, this task is what I am in Morocco to accomplish. I may grow weary, and I may want to stop at a nice resting place, but persistance is key.

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

MUCH LOVE!
ERIC