Monday, February 28, 2011

Ruth and the Terrifying Turkey Sandwich

Ah. Home. I've been away from home for around 10 days, and I've gotta say, I missed my house and my site and my people here, which did actually surprise me a little upon my return. It's good to be home. Thankfully Olly was still alive upon my arrival, although in his role as cleaner of my floor, he seemed to have found plenty of dust bunnies while I was gone and attached them all to himself at the same time. He's now clean and hiding.


Last week was a week full of training - all 67 volunteers from our stage were in the same place at the same time (well, different hotels) for recaps on each others sites and projects, and workshops on different subjects to help us in our work here. It was great to catch up with everyone and find out how we're all settling in to our sites. We also had more language tests, which was interesting, and despite my worrying about it, I actually went up a level - yay me! Now why can't I understand what people are saying to me??


So I'm home and exhausted from a long trip back down south - it's about a 12 hour straight shot from where we were to where I am, so I'm glad that's over. But up north, I at least got the chance to do a little hiking, which is the one thing that's sorely missing from the south. It's so flat here, it's just walking. Sad face.


Now it's another three months until the next gathering of us all, although us SBD-ers have an upcoming craft fair in Fes to look forward to. My task over the next few weeks involves encouraging my women to make as much product as possible to take with us. But based on feedback from other volunteers, with some tweaks, the product should sell up a storm.


I'm sure some of you have seen news of the protests going on here, so a quick word about that. There have been things going on in some of the larger cities - Fes, Sefrou, Marrakech, Rabat, Tanger, Al Hociema, etc. - but many of us are placed in small villages, where we really don't feel the effects of the things going on. So, not to worry - I am totally fine. Peace Corps keeps us updated on the goings-on, and lets us know if there are places we should avoid while traveling. So far, nothing has affected our day-to-day, and in'shallah, nothing will. We all have way too much work to get on with and too many things to look forward to to go home!


That's all for now - surprisingly no crazy stories despite the traveling. Oh wait, no, I have one. Kind of. Not all that crazy, just a bit disgusting. While I was waiting for my bus to bring me home I picked up a turkey sandwich to tide me over. Turkey and chicken sandwiches are usually pretty awesome here. But I managed to get through two-thirds of this one before realizing that the meat wasn't cooked all the way through. Mmmm. Raw turkey. Don't ask why it took me so long to realize - I just wasn't looking at what I was eating. And remember, this was just before I was about to get on a bus for the next ELEVEN hours. Imagine my joy. But luckily, it would appear that living in Morocco for the past five-and-a-half months has left me with an iron cast stomach. Who would have thought eating intestines and liver wrapped in fat could have done that, right? But thank goodness, as it could have been extremely messy and unpleasant. For everyone.


And on that note.


xoxo

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Ruth, the Missing Internet and the Crazy Chicken

This week has been a little frustrating, to say the least. I have been trying for over a month now to have internet installed in my house. Which has involved me going to the Maroc Telecom store at least three times a week - I'm now on a first name basis with the director of the store - to ask them what's going on. And, at first, this was, oh just wait, someone will come, no problem. Then it was, oh, you don't have an address (which I had told them, and even drawn them a map to my house). Then it was, oh well you need a telephone pole put in by your house since you live in the back of beyond. (Which inevitably led to, and why exactly do you live there?) Then someone was killed in a car crash, so that threw things off for a week. Then it was, someone will be there by Friday. Then by Monday. Then by the next Friday. And finally someone did come. And put a wire that went to my window (outside - and not a new telephone pole, btw) but didn't connect it to anything and left. Then they came while I wasn't home and made a huge mess of my desk by drilling a hole in my window frame for the wire to go through (my landlady let them in). Then I went back to the store, and reminded the director that I haven't paid for anything yet, and I don't have the modem I need. His response, was well, who is going to pay for it then, and why don't you have a modem - like it was my fault that I've been telling them since day one what I want. And that I'm willing to pay! Here, take my money and MAKE IT WORK!! So then I got the modem. Yesterday. WHICH DOESN'T WORK. ARRGGGGGGGGGGGGGH! I've tried everything I can think of and my computer recognizes the modem, but won't connect to the internet with it. Which I suspect is part of the evil Maroc Telecom plan. Oh, yes, and they are closed on Saturdays. Brilliant.


So. It goes without saying that I will be in there first thing on Monday, and they can expect an earful from me. All I want is this to be fixed before I leave for PPST (training) next week, so that I know it's done and dealt with (and download my missing episodes of The Office). Things really are never as easy as they should be. Especially when you're trying to do 70% of this in a foreign language! (The other 30% is in English, since the director does speak English - thank eff.) Phew. So there's my rant for now. Oh wait, no, no - I forgot, there's more - then, my trusty iPod decided that it didn't want to work and needed to be restored, wiping all my music from it. Thank goodness for back ups, but talk about a technology challenged week.


In other news, I'm sitting at home, and when I'm in the house, I usually keep the front door open, to get some fresh air in, and some sun, for Olly to go and sit in. But today, there is a very bold chicken, who has come in to my house three times now - I've caught him behind the door, under the sink, and on the threshold to my bedroom! He's a quiet, sneaky chicken. If he's not careful though, he may end up as dinner. You hear me, chicken!?! I've watched chickens killed before! I'm not afraid of doing it! (Well, a little bit. Okay, a lot.) Oh, and now the chicken is getting in a fight with a cat outside. When will animals in Morocco learn that cross-species fighting will always end badly? Donkey vs. dog, cat vs. chicken, chicken vs. human…


Also, today I did my laundry. Not particularly, newsworthy, although it reminded me of the good old days when I had a washing machine and tumble dryer in my apartment building, and I thought laundry was a still such a pain in the arse - lugging it all all the way downstairs (in the lift) and then back, and having to fold it all when it was nice and dry. Now, I hand wash in buckets, and hang everything in the bathroom where it takes 3 days to dry. This is from the girl who avoids hand washing at all costs. Luckily, my lovely landlady does some of it for me - she always offers when she is doing her wash, and I've resisted since I've moved in because I don't want to rely on her doing it for me for the next two years, but I broke down the other day and she did my jeans for me, since I'm really scared of hand washing them (jeans are really heavy when they're wet!). But, everything else I do - and so my bathroom is now covered in my underwear (can't put it outside - since I don't have a roof, and that would be hshuma. And weird.) So, think about me and all my hand washed, wet clothes the next time you use your tumble dryer. Thanks.


Another story for you, and I think this will do well to cement everyone's perception of the wild, crazy, adventurous life I live in Morocco, at least when I'm at home. Last week my power went out, because my landlady next door is doing lots of work on their house, and there was something about a regulator that was broken. And it was out for 3 days. So, as soon as I would get home from the association around 5.30 or 6, the sun would be going down, and I would have to cook dinner by candlelight and headlamp. It also meant no computer, no phone, no heater, and no toast. So, what does one do without the stash of movies on my hard drive to watch over dinner? Read. A LOT. I finished a 435-page book in those 3 days, and was still in bed by 8.30 or 9. Wild times, right? You gotta just embrace it sometimes.


So, yes, thoughts from the back of beyond - where even here, people struggle to understand why I live where I live. And where people don't even know where I live, even though it's only 2km from where they live.


xoxo.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011


Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Ruth and Olly the Turtle

The past couple of days I've learned lots of things. Like:

Being whacked in the face by a spiky tree branch will give you a bruised nose and bleeding scratches across the face.
Elderly Moroccan women are awesome.
I love red peppers, and can easily eat a whole pepper raw as a snack. And they can be found here.
You can get icing sugar in Morocco!
Ski jackets are not necessary in Agadir, despite the fact that they are necessary inside my house.
Making knitted purses in different color combinations is really fun. And the possibilities endless.
Baby turtles pee on your hand when they are scared. And then try and bite you.

I've spent the last couple of days in various parts of my local region - some, I can name, and others I can't. On Saturday, I don't know where I was - some small village much smaller than mine, which I think is just a suburb of Ouled Teima, but it was quite far out, and I could never tell you how to get there. I was taken to see my host aunts' aunt, on their mother's side, who is awesome. My host aunts don't know how old she is (I would guess in her 80's, maybe even 90's?), but she gets around by walking literally doubled over - on her feet, but hands on the floor. I can barely even walk like that. And all she kept saying to me was that I was welcome there anytime I wanted.

Sunday I headed out to Taroudant, which was made a little harder by the road in to Taroudant being closed because of all the rain we've been having, so a thirty minute cab ride became an hour cab ride going the long way round. But some lovely views of the High Atlas mountains in the background. I met up with a couple of region mates, and went to one of their sites, which is a little outside of Taroudant. This volunteer works with an Argon oil association, which was really interesting to see. This was an education for me, which I can now pass on. Argon nuts have two shells - a outer shell that is easier to get off, and is eaten by animals (like tree climbing goats), then there is another shell inside, which is much harder to crack, but is cracked by whacking it with a big stone. Then, there is a little sliver of nut in there, which is they ground to a pulp, and the oil is squeezed out of that. So there's a lot of work, and nuts, that go in to making one bottle of argon oil. But it was really fun to meet all the women doing it.

Yesterday was Agadir with my (basically) site mates, who showed me yummy burgers, the closest thing to Best Buy in Morocco, where to go to shop without having to go to Marjane - and where I found good things like icing sugar, Carr's Water Biscuits and blue cheese. Yes, more blue cheese. Don't judge me.

And something else I've JUST learned in the last 10 minutes - I'm now the owner of a baby turtle called Olly. He is currently scared and hiding behind a table leg in a corner since the neighborhood kids just terrorized him. I went with my next door neighbors to the ruins of their family's old house again, and we found him in the field on the way there, and now he's in my house. He's tiny, so here's hoping I don't step on him in the middle of the night or something equally traumatizing.

xoxo