It is official...

So this blog is going to written through pictures. I have some pictures from the souk (market) that is every Sunday.  It is where you go to buy your vegetables, clothes, house appliances and as you can see goats! It is Morocco's Walmart!  The best of this picture is that only one goat is on a leash being dragged...I am assuming he is scaring the rest with this tactic so they follow.

Also, you can buy sheep.  And actually sheep is very good...alot of time it is cooked in a pressure cooker and it taste like beef stew.  It is usually topped with vegetables, that are steamed to death, dates, olives, prunes.  There are many variations but it is always very full of flavor...not too mention the extreme amount of spices that are always added.

So here is a typical vendor at souk...he seems to have nuts and garlic and I think I see some small apples and peppers down there.  They all are hollering out their prices trying to get your attention.

Here is a man selling garlic and lemons...but notice how they wheigh the product.  Everything is sold in kilos which converts to 2.2 pounds.  Which is ideal for people buying for their families as they are naturally feeding many in one home here.  However, I anticipate buying quarter kilos and smaller when I get on my own.

There we are practicing our language buying our food for the school.  School is where we eat the best because we eat more vegetables and to mention they are usually raw rather than steamed to the point of having no more nutrients.  That is our cook all the way to the right, she is the expert selector.

Check out those FRESH bananas...they are picked the morning of or day before and driven miles to the various souks.  Check out the bunch leaning on the van they are still on the branch. Talk about fresh, delicious, completely natural and organic.

So this is the souk bus.  It brings all the people from the surrounding villages to souk.  My family and I stand out and wait...we could wait for 10 minutes or an hour it just depends on timing.  We usually get a taxi back as the ones in the pictures, my mom does not want to wait for the bus back with all her food.  Also notice that this huge bus manuevers in a very small area and turns around. To the right of the picture there are many people as well as many more taxis.  This is the taxi stand.  In my new site I am 16 Kilos away from Souk...mashi mushkil (no problem/no worries) I am excited!

This should be a crime...look at these hidious shoes I found at souk with the symbol of Lebron James' shoe line!

There we are after souk taking a break for tea at the cafe.  Those are 2 fellow trainees in my CBT site, AnneMarie and Jeff, and the one in the white hat is a local from our village that we saw at souk.  It is not a norm for women to sit at a cafe but our souk town is bigger and being foreigners makes is more acceptable.  But you will never see local woman sitting at cafes unless it is huge cities like Rabat, Casablance, Fes and Marrakesh.  However, the current King has been been changing the gender roles for women and their have been movements.  One simple example of this is people are creating cafes only for women.

There is my family again!! Wow I am going to miss them when I say goodbye.  I will be 12 hours away from them in my permanent site. However, I will get back to visit, I hope...nshallah (G willing). When I get back form my site visit I only have 2 more weeks with them.

I just love this picture...Adam and Sabah! As you may have noticed Adam in the last pic reaching for the camera, it is hard to get a good pic of him because he always wants the camera.

So there we are on the roof having class. It is awesome and it feels much better than in the house.  However, by the time lunch comes around you have to get shade because that sun gets hot!

So this is my dad and his mom, and once again Adam trying to get the camera.  So a few weeks back I walked with my dad and my sister to her house for dinner. It was 9 o'clock and we walked through fields to get to her house about 20 minutes later. But on the way we had a scare by a dog, well I should say I had a scare because it didn't faze them.  This dog must have been a guard dog because it was bigger then the street dogs and it let us pass and then came charging from behind and I was a step behind so I screamed. But is was just trying to scare us, it definitely followed and growled until we were far enough away.  However, its growl was very intimidating!  I was watching my back the rest of the way even though it was pitch black.  Actually it was an awesome walk because it was so dark and all you could see was all the stars in the sky and the shadow of the mountains.  One more thing about my visit there. We had dinner and let me tell you what Moroccans love their sugar.  After dinner their was a bowl of sugar set in front of me and I thought what am I supposed to do with this.  Next, out came a plate full of noodles with crushed peanuts atop and then you top your section with as much sugar as you want. That was a shocker for me to see just bowls of sugar at first, but then out came the communal plate of dessert.

So that is my other host sister Hakima that I finally got to meet.  She got married about a year ago to a man in the military and she lives in Rabat. So it was nice to meet her and she gave me and Sabah Henna.  It was a great night, alot of family was over and we had cous cous for dinner. 

So we are at Hub to find out our permanent sites which I am leaving soon for our visit. Last night we had a mock wedding and out of no where we hear drums and many other instruments.  This is traditional how the men perform outside while the bride prepares.  This looks different from my other wedding pictures because we are in a different region.  Each region has different music traditons.  In my training village they only use drums.

So now they are inside and the bride is soon to enter.

Wow there they are.  These are fellow trainees. As you see the women wear elaborate white wedding dresses as we do. My site mate for training and I were going to be the bride and groom because they say we act like a married couple...but I am glad because had I been the bride I would not have been able to leave the hotel and get my Snickers bar...boy I have been craving one for weeks and I can't get them near my training site.  Actually me and my fellow site trainee, Sam, are only 16K away in our permanent sites so that is great because we have alot of fun.  His site is actually where I have to travel for an ATM, Souk or Internet! 

I just wanted you all to see those long instruments they are awesome.  A mix of all these instruments sound amazing, not to mention that the men also sing.  It kind of sounds like a yodel but much better because you can tell what they are saying, if you understand Darija, Moroccan Arabic.

So there the bride is getting Henna which is traditional.  Also, notice she has on a different dress, which is normal especially in larger villages or in families with more money.

So a few notes... I found out my home will be in the Ouarzazate region of Morocco...that is the most I can say on here!! Also, dad I spelled it wrong for you...it is an O rather than a Q.  I am so excited...it is in the middle of mountains, there is a river that runs by my village which is created from springs at the top of mountains, mud houses, and I hear there are nomads living in caves nearby.  Wow it is awesome and I am so excited...I wanted to be in a small village in the south and I am.  I will be working with a weaving association and and they also make rose water and hope to start making rose soap.  I am ready and the trip there has to be split up in two days because we are not to travel after dark.  I am really excited...I can't wait to let you all know next weekend about my site.  Also, another note about my last few weeks...we visited a naming ceremony which is common in Morocco...it is as important as a wedding.  This occurs on the 7th day after birth and the name of the baby is announced.  And of course they feed you.... by slaughtering a sheep, which goes along with the religion.  They do not name the baby until the slaughtering of the sheep on the 7th day.  OK I think this is enough for now...I have so much going on I can't wait to let you all know about my new home...I will be back at Hub next weekend! Bslama!

Quick note

Hello all I am stopping in for a quick minute.  As some may know I got sick with a fever lasting longer than I am accustomed to and I had to get some dental work. So I am now waiting to leave Rabat and head back home to see my family and fellow trainees.  I have been gone since Monday and I miss everyone.  I must commend Peace Corps because they have taken exceptional care of me and I feel like Marisa again, there was a point where I forgot how that felt.  But all is well, next weekend I will be back at hub to find out where my official site will be and I am really excited.  Right after the last time I talked you all it got really cold for a few days...sleet, rain, wind and cold...but then it is back to comfortable fall weather. Just like Ohio. However, if you are out in the sun it can be very warm because the sun is hot!  Our house where we have class every day is usually colder on the inside so we take our lessons to the roof and boy that sun feels good! It actually feels too good you have to be careful or you will get burnt, it happened to a fellow trainee earlier in the week.  Well I am going to run...I am excited to see my home again.  Plus, I have these awesome pastries from this fancy French pastry shop here in Rabat that I am going to spoil my family and fellow trainees with.  Yes I got to have ice cream this week and I even had McDonalds which had real meat, I could slightly see pink in the burger, and their McFlurry was made with real chocolate chunks!! Ok until next time...Bslama!

So it has officially been a month on Monday!

So we shared our American birthday game with the locals and they were loving it...a few even took a chance...the donkey was so good, he didn't even budge.  The man guiding the donkey is Ali, Stacey (Sana)'s host dad...she is actually there in the right hand corner slightly.

There I am riding the donkey and as you may notice my feet are touching the ground, almost.  Grandma don't worry, these donkeys are bread for this...they usually carry more weight!

So this is my host brother Adam, he is 19 months. He is so fun...every night when I come home, he comes running to me and he loves to play with my books and draw with my pens!

So this is while we were waiting for dinner at the wedding.  All the guests are split into different rooms (salons) and the men and women are separated. At this wedding there were many guests so there were many separate salons. But as you see we had entertainment...the woman got to singing and beating on the drums while the young girls danced and boy they can move...there traditional dance is like a belly dance, it isn't quite Hawaiian belly dancing though.

That is my host dad in the center not dressed liked the rest.  They must have had an extra drum so he joined in...his name is MoHa...many men are named Mohammed in Morocco, due to the faith, but the Berbers traditionally shorten and go by MoHa.

This is our soccer game with the locals.  I scored a goal and I got really excited.  It was great for integration into the community and the exercise...we are hoping to make it every Thursday!  If you look closely in the background you can see the shepherd and his sheep.  He was bringing the sheep in for the night but he stopped to watch...we also had an audience of the local school children.

Just on my way to class one morning...what a refreshing view.  That is one of the 2 mosque in the small village of 300, which is not common, there is usually one.

So that is what is on the other side of the mountain.  I hear there is a remote village on the other side of that other mountain but we didn't have time to go and get back before dark.  If you stay out after dark you have to worry about the stray/wild dogs rather than people.  Also, you can see that some sheperds are ambitious and take there sheep deep into the mountains for their daily herding.

So that is at the complete top of the mountain...you can see my village faintly.

That is me taking a pic down from that rock...it is quite steep...we had to take a certain route to make it to the top.  Wow it was intense looking down from the rock, breathtaking!

That is a pic from the top of my village.  You may notice small villages scattered but mine is the one amongst the trees.

So I am discovering that it is not feasible to flip pictures once there uploaded.  Anyways, that is my host mother Rabha, on the left in the red, and Hydisha, who is our cook at the Lmdrasa.  We are doing a project at the weaving co-op...my mom is the president of the co-op, uhoh.

So these are the women of the co-op and the three tall people plus the two on the right end are us, the trainees. Our teacher is down front in the tan top with the cook to her left in the white.

And that is my sister Sabah! She is awesome... I have learned so much from her!! We have become so close...saying goodbye is not going to be easy!

So much has happened in the last three weeks I hope I can cover it all!  But most importantly I must say GO BROWNIES...way to beat the bungles!! Ya one of the first things I checked was Cincinnati and cleveland.com and saw the news.  Also, I am going to share some other good news, Maddox got an A in reading, which is quite an accomplishment for him.  Hard work truly pays off.  And to Leila who learned how to tie her shoes!! Keep it up guys.  Ok so I am doing awesome.  The language barrier is diminishing daily.  I feel so confident in the progress and the intensity is really not that bad.  I mean honestly I have no major worries or stress in my life right now, as my daily life in America brought. My life consist of going to school and enjoying life after it. Each day brings something new.  I mean I am actually spoiled, each morning my host mother wakes me up, unless the sun comes through my sky hole in the ceiling of my room shines bright enough first, then I am running a little late.  But she says Maria with a roll of the r and it is off to another day full of surprises and lessons.  I don't ever have to cook...I have a 2 hour lunch break.  They do cook here with a lot of spices but luckily none of them are spicy.  I eat chicken that was alive the day before or even the morning of.  I drink milk so fresh that it needs to be boiled!!  I have attended another wedding but got to experience the entire thing.  It is much like an American wedding in the aspect that it last forever, however it does not start until the evening...everything here seems to be a little later and longer, no rush, just living life moment by moment.  I haven't eaten dinner before nine unless we are at a hotel or training, and by then I am mentally exhausted so there is nothing like going to bed on a full stomach!!  Back to the wedding.  Men sing, dance, and drum outside the brides house while she spends hours preparing in her gown and her family makes her all up, including Henna.  She does wear a beautiful white dress and a vail, just as Americans.  Not to mention the men in her family gather her belongings because she is then taken to the grooms house where she will now live and have her new home.  The grooms still may live with his mother but that is now her home.  Once she is loaded into the decorated car, usually an old school Mercedes, the procession goes to the grooms house, which is now officially hers.  Once their new room is assembled and filled with her belongings she is escorted from the car to the room where they consumate the marriage. Then we all our served dinner and after is much more dancing and music.  Dinner can last a long time, especially for the woman because we have to wait until after the men are served.  This is the traditional process of a wedding especially in the Berber culture, although of course there are some variations. A fellow trainee had a birthday so we shared some American culture with them by playing pin the tail on the donkey with a real donkey.  The locals loved it and a few even took a try.  We all also got to ride a donkey.  They are so small I basically just lifted my leg over it and my feet were still touching the ground, almost.  Our LCF arranged a soccer game with some locals.  That was awesome! A great physical activity and I scored a goal...I have been learning from watching Maddox and his skills!!  I have some pics tagged on facebook of the game (and our hike)...the pics look like I wasn't doing much but I was rather productive for never playing before!  As far as the hike...it was amazing!!  It was so beautiful to get to the top and look down on our village and to see what was on the other side.  Curiousity had me wondering and I came to find out there are more vast mountains and some dewars, small villages, that are very remote!  Ok well I am getting the cue that we are heading back to site soon so I must say farewell.  It may be 3 weeks until I am back.  We come back to hub to find out our permanent sites and I am excited to see.  Also, I want to say thanks to all of you for your support and encouraging comments it provides much motivation!! Llay Hnnik.