Friday, November 26, 2010

Almost home...

I finally got to see Marrakesh. I got here just after sundown so I did not get the full affect of Marrakesh but it is quite a busy city and full of tourist.  I would say 50/50.  English may even be considered its first language.  But boy I got to wow them which my Tamazight language and the vendors loved me.  It is one thing to know the local Moroccan Arabic but to know the Berber language puts you on another level! You get quite a reaction from the locals and it makes me feel good.  But anyways I will finally be in my site tomorrow, Saturday, and I am ready to get there.  No more showers for a while but that is the least of my worries. In fact my body was used to the once a week bucket bath and having four showers this past week has been quite a shock to my skin, it is so dry!  My experience down here from Rabat was quite a challenge, but it could have been worse and what would Peace Corps be without challenges.  Basically I have 2 large, heavy suitcases, a backpack and an armbag and the train from Rabat was the older model without much if any luggage accomodation so I was stuck standing in the aisle for the first hour with people pissed at me because I was in there way but I had no choice.  However, it could have been worse...and I am only half way...it is a 2 day trip usually from my site to the north, unless I travel after dark, which is not allowed by Peace Corps. I was in Rabat for an extra day after swearing in so I got invited to an American's house for Thanksgiving dinner and I even took pictures.  It was definitely reverse culture shock going in to her house...I didn't even feel like I was in Morocco...I was in suburbia southern Cal.  She was in the Peace Corps in Togo and she now works for the Embassy so she was more than honored to have me over and made me feel welcome as well as completely understood how awkward I felt at first.  I honestly felt so out of place, wearing flipflops, underdressed, just a typical volunteer.  I met some students that are studying Arabic here in Rabat for a year right out of highschool.  It is through the state department...anyone reading and interested let me know.  The oppurtunity is awesome, it is definitely something I wish I had known of leaving hichschool.  But anyway I just wanted to say hi and post some pics of my Thanksgiving dinner that I did not expect to have.  I even had the "Brown n' Serve" rolls and the cranberry sauce from the can with the ridges in it.  Ya the little things...and Stovetop stuffing with a Butterball turkey.  Yes, these came from the commissary which came from America.
Wow am I in Morocco? Multiple plates and glasses, silverware, long table with chairs. 

Wow...melted cheddar cheese!

Oh my my...do you see it all? The cranberry sauce off in the background, pineapple topped with chopped pecans baked over ham, which is extremely rare to come accross in a Muslim country, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes...and the list goes on!

Ok ya I had pumpkin pie...yes you heard me, Pumpkin Pie...she even brought out Breyer's ice cream and Cool Whip...I didn't know how to act, you would have thought I had never seen food before.  Also, a note on those other pies in the back...homemade pear, cherry, strawberry and rasperry all in one and the one was covered in crushed pecans!

Well now that you all think I am absolutely crazy...I am not...just a dose of the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer and I love it!  I am going to bed now because I am getting up early to finish my travels and I hear this ride from Marrakesh to Ouarzazate is intense winding through the High-Atlas mountains so I need to be well rested!  Bslama!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

 So hello all...I am back and the pics are here.  I am still in Rabat because of a dental appointment so I still have internet.  I am now an official volunteer and I feel great!  The ceremony was awesome there were many important, "official" people there. Also, yesterday we had a nice catered lunch that did involve turkey and it was soooo good, they even had ranch dressing! So reality has struck and I am ready to get to site and begin my service.  Next week I am already going to a craft fair to see what the markets are like here in Morocco and the different qualities and designs of products.  My artisans weave and they produce rose water but they are not going to this craft fair. But I still need to go to have a better understanding of the market I will be working in. I am going to run now but I hope to be back soon, hope you enjoy the pics! Also, to my family enjoy some turkey and pumpkin pie for me! Wish I was there with you...Love you all! Also, Congratulations to Maddox on earning his yellow belt and to Leila for moving up a level in gymnastics!


Ok, so this is the morning of Leid Amqran, Kbir, Axtar...it can be called many different things depending on the dialect...but I say Amqran first because that is the dialect they use in my training site.  So that is my dad walking the sheep from the neighbors to our house to prepare for the slaughtering.  In the morning everyone walks around to eachothers houses to wish them happy, "mbruck," Leid. So all morning people were walking around in their new outfits or jellabas, in there best dressed.  Jellabes are the long gown things that men and women wear here. They are expensive and the good ones are "tailor" made. I chose to sit outside and watch all the people passing.  Some other volunteers stayed in their homes and saw how the people literally stop by for a glass of tea and cookie and go on to the next one.  By 10:30am everyone is back to their homes to do the slaughtering.  They all wait for the king to do his slaughter, which is broadcasted on TV, and that is the cue for everyone to do theirs, then the feast is on...
That is my dad on the left holding down the sheep while a "certified" person cutting the throat.  I have heard different takes on this, but only certain people are able to do the actual slitting of the throat and I think it has to do with the religion and if the man is "holy." Also, they can only take 1 slit, 2 if necessary, because the sheep is not to feel any pain. The man next to my father is wearing a jellaba as I mentioned in the previous caption.
As I said, once the King does his slit...it is a cue for the rest and every direction I turned there were sheep and blood.  Yes the village was a river of blood.  Even days later you had to watch where you stepped because many did not clean up their messes.
One of the first steps is skinning them and the tradition is to slit a hole and blow into the sheep to make it easier to skin.  Really sanitary huh? My sanitation basically has no existence at this point...it started to vanish when I arrived in Morocco but I think it is gone now. 
There is my dad's mom helping him with the skinning.  Ya that is the bucket I wash my clothes in! There were times they could have used my help holding a leg but I just couldn't touch raw meat knowing I would only be able to rinse my hands after!
Ok so after the skinning the first thing they do is cut it open and take out the insides and they eat everything!! That is my grandma cleaning out the intestines...yes pushing the poop through.  Not to mention she is using the skewers to do so that you will see in the next pics.
So those are piles of fat you see there preparing to be wrapped around liver.  The liver has just got done being boiled so the house smells pleasant at this point.  They were eating the liver as they wrapped it in the fat on the skewers I pointed out in the past pic. So of course I was offered a piece of the liver, only boiled, and as I started to chew it was so bad I couldn't get it to go down, couldn't chew...needless to say it was stuck in my mouth until I could take a breathe, without puking, and swallow.
That is my sister with the finished product, liver wrapped in fat, ready to be put in the inferno over the fire. The inferno is what is used to heat the room. Also, this was lunch so I tried the liver again thinking the fat would give it a different flavor...no!  So we realized at this point I would only eat meat.  Mind you I was open to try this stuff but I just don't like it.  So they made 3 skewers of "meat" for me...which was really good but I knew it tasted a little off but they promised me it was meat, as my sister sat and chuckled quietly.  Sure enough later I found out it was heart! But it was good and they weren't lying saying it was meat because they consider it as that.
This is the salon room which has not been used since I lived there, besides when my married sister was in town with her mother-in-law and they slept there.  But now it is where the sheep is being stored until it is devoured. Again that is the bucket I do my laundry in!
So they can't always eat all the meat quick enough so they wrap in in fat, soak it in salt and sun-dry it....yummy! This preserves it for the future.  Also, that is not all meat, I think some insides are included!

They also preserve fat...it is yellow from the seasoning, the same seasoning that colors my meals every night and doesn't provide much flavor.  Also that is the clothesline my clothes hung dry on...as you see some in the background.
Anyone hungry for dinner?  That was my dinner the night of leid.  They have to eat the insides first because they don't last long.  Doesn't this look like an illustration out of "Goosebumps", the scary storybooks we read as a kid? So I dipped my bread into the sauce to give it a try but that was the end of that.  But also, pay attention to the illustration, that is the bowl I eat dinner out of every nite and that is how I grab my food, with bread!! (That is not my hand, it is my sisters) They tease me because I would always use small pieces of bread each time a go for food.  But if I didn't I would eat half a circle of bread at each meal, which is a custom here in Morocco.
Ok so this is called Bujlud...it is where the boys and men of the village dress up in freshly slaughtered sheep skin, as is. They go around scaring/entertaining the children.  Not all parts of Morocco are familar with this so we're lucky to see it. As you see, the kids all run when the bujlud comes.  But there actually is a pupose.  They go around asking for meat, sugar, money,etc...and with what they earn they have a feast for the village they are representing and any left over money goes to the mosque. 
So here is the bujlud up close...more come out at night but one guy decided to start early.  As I said the skin is put on as it was taken off the sheep.  Also, he walked up and shook my hand with a hello and many "how are you's" which is common, side note...greetings in Morocco last for a minute, it is not just a simple hello, how are you.  But the reason I commented that he shook my hand was because he definitely had blood all over his hands from putting on the sheep skin...as I said before my level of cleaniness and disinfectation has basically vanished.
Look closely at his his hands...

So this is over in a village where my moms brother lives and after our time with the family there we walked to see their bujlud.  Well they were a little "aggressive" with me becuase they didn't know me and they say money written all over me. In fact he is telling me not to take the picture in this pic unless I give him money.  They made my mom mad...you can see her watching...that is her in the black and white.

This is all the children taunting the bujlud.  The girls stay back but the boys are up there taunting until the bujlud comes out and they run...then they bujlud hides and the boys taunt some more.

This is at night back in my village and you can see the boy running from the bujlud.

So there is the train of Bujlud at night walking around the village performing in there drum line, dancing, dressed up, in front of houses hoping to get some donations.  That is a camel you see on the right where they used the blue tarp.

Just pictures to see the different costumes...and that is the camel again...

...more

Ya they let me get a pic with them...they all hide their faces and change their voices so no one knows who they are.


This is my sis on the way out to my grandmas house on one of our last afternoons together.  I love this picture...but check out the background...this is a land of few people and it is surreal.  My dad's mom lives out in the middle of nowhere!!

That is my grandma and my dad's brother's children and Sabah.

So this was at a gathering of all of our host families...that is my fam!! Mom, Rabha, dad, MoHa, sister, Sabah, brother, Adam.

There is my sister dancing along with my LCF...you can see my mom in the background and my bro looking around her to see what is going on.

That is my home that I lived in until now! Ya that is Sabah...she was always on my hip...I was so lucky to have her!

And here is my LCF, basically my crutch since I have been in Morocco...I said goodbye to her yesterday! Her name is Malika...her hometown is only 4 hours from me so I will hopefully see her often!

Just wanted to add this in...these were found at Souk on the second hand tables by my LCF and I swear they came from my hometown...lol.  But honestly it is a small world...those where my school colors and the leopard paw we used!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

So tomorrow I will spread my wings and fly...

In about 12 hours I will be sworn in as a volunteer!  By the weekend I will be on my own, fending for myself, losing every comfort I have had since I have arrived here...english speaking people! But I am ready to roll. Well I thought I was...I did not get to the level I wanted on my language test but I am competent and I can speak the language comfortably.  Again much has happened since I have been here last. On Sunday morning I said goodbye to a family that took me in with no language and made me apart of their own so to say the least it was a very sad goodbye...my host dad already called me today to check on me.  Tomorrow, I will swear in and my LCF, language and culture facilitator...aka tutor, will swear out.  She has been the reason for my success and she is the reason for this post title.  In her words, she is letting her birdies out of the nest to fly on their own...and it is so true!  Our last week in CBT we got to experience Leid Amqran with our families' which is the most celebrated holiday in their religion besides Ramadan.  This was quite an experience...and to add a warning...THESE PICTURES ARE GRAPHIC! But before, here is a little background on this holiday...it is like Christmas through religion, Thanksgiving because of the big feast (which is what Leid Amqran translates to in English) and it is like Halloween because men/boys in the village dress up in the sheep wool from the slaughtering and scare the children as well as go "trick or treating" for meat or money.  I will explain in more details within the upcoming pics...again these pics are graphic...beware...

Ok well my computer died in the middle of posting the pics and all that saved was this text so bear with me and I will get you some pics to explain more of what I experienced the past two weeks.  Not to mention by the time I post the pics I may be an official volunteer, because it is 12:30 and I have to be up at 6 and to redownload it would be atleast an hour with the speed of this internet.  This blog thing is time consuming...so I hope you all are enjoying it...Bslama! To end on the same note I started this entry with...it is now only 10 hours until I "swear in"...

Saturday, November 6, 2010

My new home

So this post is going to be quick I am running out of time on the internet...but I need to let you all know about my new home!  To say the least I am extremely happy I honestly did not imagine to be living amongst such incredible people and geographical beauty!!
On my way south to my new home...

Again...just wanted to show you all the wonders of the sunset...so many amazing colors!

Again...this is a random lake we passed which was really random being that we are traveling into the desert.

Ok so this is my home!!! I have walked through the fields of olive,pomegranate,almond and walnut trees out to see the river and the vast rolling, red mountains. These pictures do no justice to how breathtaking my site is...I honestly was overwhelmed when my host mom and I emerged from the trees to this!!

This is me moving the camera to the right...look up on the right mountain and you can see some uninhabited caves.

Now I zoomed in so you can really see them.  The volunteer I am replacing said she went up there but no one lives in there.  However, there is proof that people lived up there...she also said it is steep to get up there.  I will be working with people that live in caves but I have not met them yet! 

On to the right again...that is a village with no road to it so I hear they are living in the "past", I can't wait to find out for myself.
On to the right...

And here is my village!! I am up a hill looking over...the association I am working for is behind me and I forgot to take a pic of it!

To the right...my host family's home is in the center but you cant see it...it is behind the grey building...in fact that is there new home being built, which will probably go to the sons and there families.

This is the "old city" of my village.  Some ruins of what my village used to be.



So I forgot I had this video...just so you can see hear some traditional Berber music and see us Americans trying to do their dance.

Ok so I don't have any time but I just want to express that I am sooooo happy with my site.  I have a lot of challenges ahead and I can explain more next time! Peace Corps matched me perfectly!  My site is far beyond my expectations and I am ready to get in integrate and start working. I am going back to my CBT for 2 final weeks of training than I will spend a week in Rabat for "swearing in" where I officially become a volunteer and my 2 year term begins.  I will be back then and explain alot more...time is short!!  I don't even have time to do edits so I hope this all makes sense!!