Souk (market)
In our town we have two weekly souks or markets. One very small vegetable souk and a larger souk on Fridays with pretty much anything we might need. It’s similar to a flea market with stalls set up and rented out. During the week the area is completely closed and dead but on Fridays people from all around come and it’s packed with people and donkeys (haven’t seen anyone come in on camels yet, although in other areas they do.) There are areas for different goods such as shoes, vegetables, rugs, meat and even a row of barbers…Right now the produce area is thriving with van and truck loads pouring in stuffed full of watermelons. Other fruits such as grapes, melons, oranges, apples, bananas and prunes are available too. Vegetables are onions, squash, carrots, potatoes, beets and turnips. We can find plenty of peanuts, rice and spices there as well along with odds and ends such as gloves, thread, candy, toothpaste… In general, men do the shopping, but women can be seen in souk as well.

Well we were beginning to think that it would be a slow summer but suddenly we have 3 projects to get started and keep us busy. There is a very small school (30 students) that the previous volunteer found funds to build toilets and a cistern. We will be here to see the project through and hopefully do some health/environment lessons with kids after it’s complete. Our main school of about 400 kids is also asking for help putting in running water and toilets. It will be a much larger project and will take a while but it looks promising. There’s an association here that is very excited about working with us and the school on the project. Third, the health clinic is in need of a way to dispose of medical waste (mainly used needles.) I am looking in to medical waste incinerators and other options.
No big plans for the weekend. Just resting and maybe watching a movies. Next weekend is the Ganoua music festival in Essaouira which we’re looking forward to. We got to check out our future apartment so we’re getting excited about that. It’s a really nice place (bigger than our apt. in DC). It has running water and electricity a nice large kitchen, a bedroom and sitting room with lots of windows. It also has a roof for washing clothes and watching sunsets.

The Peace Corps mission is to spread peace and friendship throughout the world. Under that mission are three goals. The first goal is to help people of interested countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained men and women. The second goal is to promote a better understanding of the American people to the rest of the world. The third of those goals is to educate Americans about other cultures. In order to better facilitate the third goal we will occasionally be posting a cultural tidbit section to the blog which will give you a glimpse into Moroccan culture.

Cultural Tidbit
Bread=Agroum (Tashleheet)= Khobs (Darija)
Bread is right up there with mint tea as staples of the Moroccan diet. Bread is part of every meal except for couscous and is used as an edible eating utensil. Bread is usually made in round loaves but you can also find baguettes. Different families get bread in different ways. We have seen families that start from scratch by growing wheat and making flour, other families buy flour then make bread in wood burning ovens. In our town there are several public bread ovens where you can take your dough to be baked or by already made bread. Some families in larger towns by bread from local bakeries or stores. We are lucky to have fresh warm bread every day and there are few better smells than fresh bread baking. There are other types of bread that are eaten fairly often as well including harsha (cornbread) and minsmin (fried bread) among others. Bread is generally eaten dipped into olive oil or as a spoon for tagines but can have other condiments as well including honey, amlu (like peanut butter) and several types of butter and jam.

Another interesting fact: donkeys eat PAPER!

Back from a heavenly weekend. We went to a small surfy town called Imsounne. We stayed in a nice little hotel complete with pool table, peacocks and spaghetti. The transportation there and back was a bit of a headache but ended up being worth it. We got there yesterday around lunch time and had a fried calamari/egg sandwich, sounds funky but it was awesome. Then we strolled on the beach, found some really nice sea shells and hung out at the hotel.

A FEW OF OUR RECENT CRITTER FINDS.

http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/

this is the festival we're going to in a few weeks...check it out!

What have we been up to this week???
Today we took a trip in to Essaouirra to pick up a package which we were very excited about. It was like opening a Christmas present only in the post office with the post inspector. We shopped a little- got some boots, a snickers and a BED (which I’m very excited about!) We met with other volunteers for pizza and headed back to our site. Overall, it was a really relaxing day.

Yesterday we traveled to another environment volunteers site (AMY) to see the women’s cooperative there. They have a really nice aromatic garden from which they make soaps. She also taught an English class while we were there and we stayed for lunch. Lunch was another adventure… I thought the chicken seemed a little chewy until I found out that it was actually rabbit. It was tasty, the family raises their own rabbits, goats and chickens for food and also have a camel and a donkey for riding/hauling things.

We went for a walk with some of the neighborhood kids yesterday and found our first highly poisoness scorpion hiding under a rock. We saz anther less dangerous and smaller scorpion today. Ben saw an (as yet) unidentified snake last week and I saw a tortoise. We usually find something new everytime we go out. Ben also found a huge beetle a few days ago which sprayed him with some kind of defensive spray that stained his hands red. Our family thought that was quite funny.

Tomorrow the association in our town is hosting a trash clean up which we’re helping with, work is going slowly but surely.

Pictures here are of Essaouirra (in case you needed another reason to come visit us!), products from the local thuya trees, and Amy and her English class.

Just a glimpse into our lives…

My average week looks a little something like this…
Monday- health clinic in the morning, study, nap, walk in the afternoon
Tuesday- study, nap, walk in the morning, tutoring in the afternoon
Wednesday –health clinic in the morning, study in afternoon
Thursday- study in the morning, tutoring in the afternoon
Friday- shopping day and laundry
Weekends- hike, travel…

This morning at the health clinic, I shadowed the nurse. We saw about 45 patients from 9 until noon. Most health problems fell into two types: diabetes and skin/eye infections. Which leads to the most common health problems here and part of what my work will consist of: diet and basic hygiene. Some days at the health clinic I work with the midwife. On those days we see babies for vaccinations and women for pregnancy checks. Once I start to get a better grip on the language, I will begin to give health lessons while patients wait to see the nurse/doctor/midwife. Our health clinic has a doctor, however the nearby clinics do not so we share our doctor. Our clinic is very lucky to have a midwife as well, many clinics only have one nurse working there.

Yesterday was a big party for the new baby in our family. People started showing up about 11 am and there were still people around when I went to bed at 10:30. It was a long day full of meeting new people. The men and women stayed separate for the most part, the women being the majority of guests. The women had dancing and singing, the men were a little more reserved and just talked over tea. We had lunch, dinner and several snacks during the party. The family slaughtered a goat for the occasion which is fairly common for special occasions if the family can afford it. It’s been a little interesting to try different types of meat than we’ve had in the past. We started with liver, then had heart, muscle meat and stomach. The head and hooves are still in the fridge and may be lunch tomorrow??? Ben has enjoyed trying new meats.

Since the baby has been born, friends of the mom have come over to help with house work-cooking, cleaning, laundry everyday and her mother is staying with us to help out as well. I’m not sure if that’s the norm but it’s nice that she gets to rest a bit.

Next week, cross my fingers, we’re headed to the beach!!!