It seems that spring is here. The weather has been warmer the past week and with plenty of sun. Our house is a good temp now and we don’t have to stay huddled in our sleeping bags to stay warm. Flowers are blooming and beetles are running around everywhere. This weekend we rode our bikes to the nearest volunteer’s house (about 30 km, a lot of which is downhill.) The way down is through lots of thuya forest. We took a bus back up and stowed our bikes under it instead of climbing the 30 km back up. This week we’re waiting to hear any news about our grant proposal and Ben is sending in another proposal for a school garden. We are also getting ready for our town’s big festival in the middle of March. I am planning an AIDS info booth and game and Ben is doing an environment mural contest. There is a big race in Rabat in a few weeks for ages 14-16. We are hoping to send, all expenses paid, a runner from our town who has already won some nearby races. It will be really cool to help give him an opportunity to compete nationally.
On a different note, we saw a funny scene a few weeks ago on a bus from Agadir to Essaouira. This type of bus is called a souk bus. It stops at numerous towns along the way and it is much older and cheaper than the regular buses. During this particular trip, we were driving through heavy rain the entire time. Oddly, it was also raining inside the bus (but only on the right side: we were on the left). The people that had umbrellas had them open but everyone else was using plastic bags or whatever they could find to try and cover themselves. I still don’t understand how the water could come in so many places. One particularly unlucky lady had a stream pour on her every time we would go around a curve. When her husband noticed the stream he would hold a plastic bag over her head, but by that time, it was too late. He would hold it there a few seconds, realize that it was too late, and would then lower it back down just in time for another curve at which point the process would begin again. Ahh the joys of public transportation.

It’s been raining for about a week. We hear that Morocco hasn’t seen rain like this since early 90’s. No one is prepared for so much rain. Roads are washing away and every house is leaking. Including ours… just in one room and it’s a slow leak so just wetness but no puddles. We loose electricity every day for a least a few hours, sometimes the whole day so we’re all around ready for spring and the rain to go. Everyone here is really excited about the rain since it means a good harvest season so we have to at least act pleased that we’re getting drenched. We are dog sitting for another volunteer this week. It’s a young doxen that has entirely too much energy. She wants to play all day long and then at night she sleeps inside my sleeping bag with me. It’s interesting to see everyone’s reactions in town when we go out with a dog on a leash. Most people laugh but then they’re scared that she might bite them (even though she’s tiny) and then some people want to pet her. I actually feel like it’s a good tool to use to teach people about treating animals humanely since throwing rocks at dogs is the usual interaction. We are making progress on the toilet project now. We gave them a deadline and it seems to be working. We plan to submit the paperwork early next week and then the funds should come through in the next 6 weeks. I’ve been baking lots lately since we’ve mostly stuck in the house. My new favorite is cinnamon rolls from scratch. We can clean a pan of those out pretty quick. I also tried a lasagna like dish this week which turned out OK. Ben finally saw a doctor and he has bronchitis. He has some pretty serious medicines and seems to be doing better but his cough isn’t gone yet.

This is a project another volunteer is doing if anyone is interested...

http://sendmedicalsupplies2morocco.blogspot.com/