Each day sure brings something new and unexpected. I have been enjoying life day in and day out. I possibly found my new home and it is perfect!! There is plenty of room for visitors so if anyone feels adventurous come on over. My days are not very productive workwise, however they are rather eventful. I took a walk up the road to see what is up the mountains and I got invited in for tea by a sweet young girl. At first I told her when I return but of course she insisted, the moroccan way, they do not know what no is. Anyways I don’t know what I was thinking I need to take advantage of such oppurtinities, so I did. I met a nice family and they were very proud to show me around their “compound.” It is much different here then the village where I trained. Here they live in what I would call compounds. There are several rooms and “salons/shambrays”, which would be like our living rooms, but to get to each you may walk outside. I have pictures to give you an idea. They also showed me there livestock which they are very proud of, this being a sign of wealth. But anyways, they knew I was exploring and wanted to go up the road further so they sent the little girl to accompany me. Here name is Hessna and she is9. Unbeknownst to me, I am sure she told me but I still don’t always understand, we were going to see the family that lives in the caves. As we are walking off the main road she tells me to pick up rocks, the dogs are shqan(difficult). At that point I had an idea we were heading to the caves. I had heard before about their dogs and to not go close without a family member. Sure enough we got to the top of a ridge and she started yelling for the mother and she came to us. Actually first the grandmother came and she did not take me very well. She then went to get the mother and she came to bring us up to the caves. The previous volunteer from my site had worked with her so I was not the first foreigner they had seen. She kept telling me I knew the language but as soon as I didn’t understand what she was saying she reminded me that I did not know the language. Mind you she talked a little different than the people of my village. But no worries, I keep getting told I don’t know the language, it can be frustrating but at the same time it is motivation! It is usually simple differences I don’t understand just as foreigners learning english wouldn’t understand. For example, I am going to school, we might say I’m gonna go to school and someone learning the language may be confused. I just have to understand their abbreviations/slang which is coming day by day! Anyways, back to the caves. They were actually rather nice, not living much different than the people of my village, I even saw a light bulb hanging from an electric cord, I am curious to know how that works. We only spent enough time there to have tea, again, so I didn’t get to talk to her about her weaving but I hear she is a good weaver. Yesterday, the family of my host sister’s soon to be husband came by for lunch and the afternoon so that was quite an event. I guess they won’t get married until the summer. Also, my host dad’s parents are in France so they would need to arrange to get here. So that is something to look forward to, meeting them and being close to the person getting married. I have attended plenty of weddings and many more to come but I have never been close to either the bride or groom. I will really get an “inside look” on how they prepare for such events. Weddings and births are looked upon higher than work in this culture. I have met more women of the association. I have not been as productive as I would like with that yet, but it is expected. Integration is very important along with building relationships and trust. However, I already asked my counterpart, the president of the association, to attend a workshop on product quality and she wants to go so I am looking forward to that next month. Also, the women don’t work in the association no, they say it is cold because the building is made of cement, not mud! The little things. My main concern is motivating these wome, figuring out what they expect of me and what they want to improve on for themselves. Day by day, little by little (imik s imik). All is well here…I have met with my tutor again today! Hope all is well there, have a Merry Christmas! I may be back Christmas day for a post because I have a skype date with the fam! I want to end with a nice quote out of this book my sister, Mollie, sent me over here with. I suggest this book to many, it is full of simple pleasures and insights. It is called Life’s Little Instruction Book. “Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.” –H. Jackson Brown Jr.
The girl on the left is Hessna, who invited me in for tea...I forget the other girls name. And that is there prized new calf.
This is part of the compound that they keep the livestock.
A view of my village.
If you look closely that is one compound on the edge of that ridge there.
More of my village.
And there is my girl Hessna!
No comments:
Post a Comment