Tanger, Tetouan, and Chefchaouen- Last Moroccan Vacation

What a trip! By far one of my top 5 mini Moroccan vacations. Once COS conference was over and things settled down, I went on my finale vacation here inMorocco as a PCV. One of my close friends in Peace Corps and a friend from Khemisset came along with me on this littleadventure. We had a car so we really got to see a lot of all three of these cities. We began with just wanting to see Tanger, but once we had a car, we decided to make the most of the time we had and see the other two cities too.

> Chefchaoen

Tanger>

Tanger is by far my favorite northern Moroccan cities. It had the perfect mix of Spanish, Arab, and Africa blends in culture and architecture. I got to walk around the city for a while, visit the famous American Legation, and got to chill at the cafe where they filmed The Borne Supremacy.

Once we got our fill of Tanger, we hit the road to Tetouan for a quick coffee break before arriving to Chefchaoen.

The Tetouan souq was HUGE! I almost got lost. There was a beautiful palace that was right in the middle of town. Tetouan was one of the most Spanish/European influenced towns of the north. The architecture of the townmade me feel like I was in southern Spain walking around the main streets. Also being spoken to in Spanish the whole time was wonderful. I'd rather be

"Hola"ed than"Bonjour"ed any day.

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Once we left Tetouan, we hit

the road to our finale destination, Chefchaouen!! Located in the Rif Mountains. This town is famous for the color blue that is used throughout the city and the location within the Rif Mountains is one of the most breath-taking locations in Morocco. Check out this link for more on this information on this city: http://wikitravel.org/en/Chefchaouen

If anyone decides to visit Morocco, you have to check out Ozt, Tanger, Wester Sahara, and Chefchouen for sure.

Chefchaouen stairs>

Just A Little Taste of Being A Woman In Morocco

I love Morocco. I truly do. The majority of the people here are some of the most kind and welcoming people I have ever met, but at times, the men in this country take it upon themselves to remind me the ranking in this culture really is when dealing with gender issues. I understand that they think that the way they greet non-Muslim women is a compliment and that out of 100 women ONE will enjoy these kind of comments, but the 99 others do not. I took this comic from a fellow PCV's blog and wanted to share with you. I am happy to of joined Peace Corps because it was one of the best things I have ever experienced in my life thus far, but also, one of the hardest experience I have ever been through. AGAIN, I remind you that not all Moroccan men do this and I do not see every Moroccan man in this light, but since moving from a small rural village to an urban town filled with foreign women married to Moroccan men, it is hard to even walk to the local haunt to buy milk without some daily harassment. I just want to share another side of my Peace Corps experience. Both the good and the not so good.

link: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/09/02/women-and-street-harassment/

COS Conference DoNe!

Close Of Service (COS) Conference is DoNe! Last week was one filled with LONG meetings to help my staj "reintegrate" into American life again, getting my teeth checked out along with my finale physical and the many trips to the lab to drop off samples of bowel movements and blood. Also I cannot forget to add the usual unemployment protests and enjoyable walks from Rabatville to Agdal. Honestly, it is not a truly authentic stay in the capitol of Morocco without at least a couple protest going on outside of the Parliament Building which was located across the street from the hotel all the volunteers were staying at last week.

I had meetings with David, the Country Director along with my programing staff YD lovingly calls "A-Team." It was nice to be able to share my experiences and recommendations from these past 2 years+ of my PCV life.

It was good to see SBD together again with YD chilling at HQ. Catching up over drinks at non-Moroccan food restaurants was great! I got to sit down with a lot of other people in my staj that I never had the time to get to know as well as I wanted. That was a blessing.

After the COS conference, it was nice to see that most of my fellow staj-mates are in the same boat as I am with what the future holds for us once we sign that little red book on November 12th. When I was able to talk to other PCVs and listen to the RPCVs (retired peace corps volunteers) talk about what they went through, it took some of the stress off of me and reminded me that I need to be patient with myself and that things will work out.. also this traveling bug I have is something that will always be with me. We shall see how long I stay state-side until I start getting antsy again:) well that is all for today! Hope all is well in your world and keep a look out for my next entry which should be up by the end of this week, Inch Allah.

Connecting My Peace Corps Experience with Belle from Beauty and The Beast.

I’m shamelessly stealing this from other shameless blog thieves. I don’t know who deserves the credit, but I’m pretty amused.If you ever wanted to understand what I go through as female Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco check out this clip from Beauty and the Beast. What Belle experiences in this clip is my life in a nutshell here in Morocco:

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1. She reads books, and people think that’s odd. It’s especially odd because she carries them around with her all the time.
2. People scream “Bonjour!” at her from windowsills and alleyways.
3. She lives in a “little town…a quiet village.”
4. Everyday is “like the one before.” (also see: “Every morning [is] just the same since the morning that [she] came to this poor provincial town.
5. She sees the baker first thing in the morning with the “same old bread and rolls to sell.”
6. Minute 1:00 – She excitedly recounts to someone an important story (in her mind), and is politely dismissed because the story has nothing to do with the number or price of produce that day.
7. Minute 1:07 – People in town start talking about her behind her back. She doesn’t notice — it’s almost as if they’re speaking another language and she’s happily strolling through town, oblivious to their comments…just smiling at them the whole time.
8. Minute 1:20 – She hitches a ride on a horse/donkey cart. This is a common occurrence in Peace Corps (though I can only comfortably speak to my experiences in Morocco). Sometimes there’s no other transportation available, and hitch on a donkey cart, you must.
9. Minute 1:24 – People are greeting each other, not only saying hello, but asking about their families. Although their greetings here do not extend into the 30-second long salutation that we experience in the bled, I’m sure it would if the song had been longer if American audiences were judged patient enough to sit through that kind of thing.
10. Minute 1:30 – There is an exasperated woman with multiple babies in her arms.
11. Exasperated woman wants 6 eggs, but that’s “too expensive.” Six eggs would also be deemed preventively expensive in many places here as well.
12. Minute 1:35 – Belle says, “There must be more than this provincial life!” She’s complaining again. She didn’t say, “I miss peanut butter and Mexican food,” but that’s pretty much what she meant. Again, note the complaining. Peace Corps Volunteers are EXPERT complainers.
13. Bookstore owner is a cute little goat-looking man. Those are found in abundance in Morocco.
14. Minute 1:50- Belle climbs the ladder in the bookstore and swings it to the other side of the bookshelf. In a Barnes and Noble, this would prompt screaming store attendants, wary of a possible lawsuit when you fall. In Morocco (and in Belle’s world), no problem. If you fall, Allah willed it.
15. Minute 2:00 – Belle goes on and on about how much she loves something, which basically requires the nice goat-man to give it to her. You often see this in Morocco.
16. Minute 2:02 – Men staring at her and trying to get her attention.
17. Minute 2:10 – Belle pats a random child’s head. This is considered creepy in America, but in Morocco, PCVs are encourages to pat, hold, and feed random children.
18. Minute 2:21 – Belle sits in the town center next to the fountain, (like Morocco – except their fountain works) surrounded by sheep.
19. …then Belle starts to talk to the sheep. Many a PCV talk to their pets, because they sometimes understand English better than the townspeople (or so they think).
20. Also, at the same moment, you see a woman washing her clothes in the public water source. Hopefully she’s not using Tide and exposing us all to dangerous levels of phosphates.
21. Minute 3:00- Townsfolk say they think she’s beautiful because she’s fair. Moroccans often say this about light-skinned Americans. Belle, on the other hand, probably fancies a nice tan (and could probably use one, too).
22. Minute 3:20 – Gaston wears tight Euro-trash pants and shirt, and obviously thinks more of himself than he should. Reminds me of a few select 20-something boys in Morocco.
23. Minute 3:35-4:00 – Gaston wants to marry the foreign girl because he thinks she’s pretty.
24. Minute 4:45 – Townsfolk joyfully remark how Belle doesn’t “quite” fit in (even if she has been there for almost 2 years!).
25. Minute 4:55 – Everyone is staring at her.

And finally, (26) she’s singing a Disney song!

BEERY PICKING TIME!

It is that time of the year :) Berry Picking 2010 in Ain Inlueh, which is a town about 4 hours away from Kheimsset. This little village that is located on the side of the Middle Atlas Mountains is one of the most peaceful and breath taking areas up north. I got to spend some quality time with some SBD volunteers, eat some yummy food, and pick a ton of black berries that were FREEto take! In Ain Inlueh, not many Moroccans eat black berries or know that you can cook and make these berries into jam so the group I went with to berry pick just went along the sides of the roads and into peoples yards (asking the home owners first) picking away for hours. I did not realize how relaxing it was to berry pick and why I have not done this more often back in the states at my grandfather's bushes back home. I am planning on helping him out next season back in Michigan for sure now that I am a pro-berry picker now :) Bring it on thorns.. I am ready!

Here is a picture of the town of Ain Inleuh and a couple of my Peace Corps friends that I went berry picking with. This town was very welcoming and an awesome town to work-out in. The steps to get from the top of town where we all stayed with a volunteer to the souq and closest haunt guy for bread would leave you out of breath and sweaty. It was an intense workout that I loved! I woke up early one morning just to go up and down those steps to work up a sweat, but I think the women who were cleaning outside and watching me go up and down where saying " Why is this white girl going up and down these s

teps so much?" It is because I love to work-out, to be challenged, and also have the local people have something to talk about :)

The photo above shows how proud I am with my water bottle full of freshly picked black berries!

I was happy to of gone on this berry picking adventure with my friends to this town. Now that I have only 46 days left as a Peace Corps volunteer, I am trying to enjoy any last minute cities I have yet to visit along trying to prepare for graduate school, career hunting back in the USA, and shipping items back home from Morocco all the while starting up my finale project in site and preparing things for the new volunteer that will be replacing me. A lot needs to be done. wish me luck!

It was nice to leave site, but now it is time to get some Close Of Service (COS) things together. Time is running out!

A.R.M. DONE and OFFICIALLY TWO YEARS in MOROCCO!

AFTER TWO YEARS OF HARD WORK AND FUN ART RELATED WORK, THE ART RESOURCE MANUAL THAT WE LOVINGLY CALL, A.R.M. IS DONE!

It is a 153 page art manual for all Peace Corps Volunteers in Morocco to use to help them with anything from art club/class lesson plans, local suppliers, museums, galleries, to how to say "yarn," or certain materials in Daija, FusHa, and Tam that are not given in our PC Darija/Tam language manual. I am very proud of this manual and it could not of been done with out the help of my good friend and fellow artist, Lisa Payne. Lisa, you are amazing! Thanks for listening to my crazy idea for A.R.M. and helping me make this crazy idea come alive and become an actual manual.

This manual makes my experience as a Peace Corps the "cheery on top" of my service. A.R.M. reminded me how much I love art, miss it, how much I am looking forward to the next step in my life after Peace Corps, which is, Inch Allah, interning, working, or volunteering at a museum or historical society to start my dream of one day working in collections/archives. I am ready for the next step and this manual is an example of my dedication to art and how important it is to have art in my life along with the rest of the world, or at least Peace Corps world. Now after Living in Morocco for 2 years, I have come to realize the lack of creativity the students I work with have in this country. It is all academic, nothing to do with the arts, and I am happy that for the two years I have been here in Morocco, I can leave knowing that the students I worked with and helped got a creative injection of the arts. If it was from doing 50 English drawing flash cards, family trees, paper doll races to art battles, life drawing, mural painting, etc. I know that they are looking at life differently now or at least can draw a darn good tree, remember the English vocabulary I taught them (visual learning is powerful tool), and can paint like a pro now :)

It has been officially two years today since I left the USA and came to this country, and even through the ups and downs I have had, good and bad, when I think of my time here I spent as a volunteer, friend, and family member, it warms my heart to know that I made an impression upon my students, community, family and friends. I would not of had such fond memories with out them in my life while in Morocco, and it will be a very sad day on November 13th when I officially leave Morocco to start my Close Of Service Adventure to Egypt and Turkey because I will be leaving good friends, new life long family, and a country that always welcomed me with open arms. I know that I will return to Morocco. I promise that.

Back Home In Khemisset, Humdullah

Yes. I have returned from a month long adventure/summer camp fest and man am I tried! Since July 20^th, I have been on the road traveling, meeting new people, seeing new places, and working my last summer camp as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

(Image: with my host brothers, Ayoub and Yassine, after a tearful goodbye to new friends the last night of camp)

As soon as I landed back in Fez, Morocco, I caught a train to Meknes and then a taxi back to my site where I had only 24 hours to unpack, wash clothes, pay bills, re-pack, and hit the road for another 5 hours to get to El Jadida for my last summer camp as a PCV!

It was a fun camp with some great first and second year volunteers. The Moroccan access students were super helpful this year due to the amount of beginner students I had to take on and little issues that came up between staff and the kids at camp. It was a productive and very chill camp until Ramadan hit. When Ramadan began, that was when tempers were shortened due to fasting, which is totally understandable. Not being able to eat or drink from 6am until 7:30pm while at a camp, running around, and doing activities; that is not a good and healthy combo. It was rough and most of the kids, volunteers, and Moroccan staffers got sick, but we pull through and ended the last camp of the summer on a positive note. I was able to bring my two host brothers, Yassine and Ayoub, to camp with me and they enjoyed themselves to the point that they were sad to leave and tearing up when saying goodbye to new friends that they made while at camp.

The highlights of camp:

• Going to the beach and watching the students do Tug-of-War
• One kid got pushed in between two pillars by a Moroccan staffer and it took 3 PCV’s (yes, i was one of the 3) and 5 minutes of pushing and pulling to get him out
• Fasting highs and lows
• PCV boy band being created and performed "I Want It That Way" at spectacular
• Being voted most beautiful American volunteer/teacher at camp.. sukran ya'll :)
• PCV’s getting together and performing the song “Shout”
• My beginner kids picking out American names for class
• Halloween haunted house
• The song “ I Love Dogs” classic
• Being artsy all camp. I miss doing that.

Now that I am back in site, still fighting off whatever kind of cold/sickness I have had for over a week or so now, I am getting ready to finish the Art Resource Manual that my site mate and I have been working hard at for 2 years now. It should be ready by the time the new YD and SBD group comes in on September 15^th! I am still in shock with how fast time has flown by. I cannot believe that in about 3 weeks, there will be a new group that has come to replace my staj, and that there is one person in that group that will be taking over my position at the dar chabab in Khemisset. I am excited for what these next couple of months will bring! On top of all of this, I am applying for jobs back home in the museum world in ANY state that is hiring. If you know of any museum hiring or taking interns, please send the information my way. I am happy that I got to take part in Peace Corps, experience an Islamic country and the Moroccan culture, but I am eager to head home, start my life back up, and work towards my graduate school dream in Museum Studies or Conservation.

Well the Imane at the mosques are doing their calls so it is time for me to get some work done before Liftor begins. Hope all is well in your world. Peace N Love.

From Hrvatska, With Love

DOBRO JUTRO!

in English, GOOD MORNING!

(Image: Zagreb)

I started my journey in Germany where I stayed for a couple of days while waiting for my connecting flight to Croatia. I was happy to be back in Europe and in my favorite country with the best beer in the world J The highlight to my German layover was being able to walk around the countryside for a couple of hours and taking in the view of the lush green landscape. I was just walking around, jamming out to my ipod, and taking in the atmosphere that is Germany. It almost made me feel like I was back home in Michigan.

(Image: Germany)

Once in Croatia, I traveled for 9 days to:

Pula: Yummy food and a good city to walk around in

Rijeka: Awesome farmers market and port

Zadar: The Sun Salutation and Sea Organ. GOOGLE this!

Zagreb: The capital and now one of my top 10 favorite cities and got a great haircut in, Humdullah!

Đurđevacv: where I met my long lost family from my grandfather Presecan heritage. This was my highlight of my Croatia trip.

Croatia.. aka… one of the coolest countries I have visited! The people are kind and super excited to see Americans. Some people who met me said that I was the first American they have ever met before. CRAZY! So to all you Americans out there, go check out Croatia! You will be pleasantly surprised how cheap things are, how welcoming the people are, and the scenery is worth traveling for, trust me on this. Also in Croatia, everyone knows English so it is super easy to get around Croatia and communicate with the Croatians.

The food there was amazing, but very buttery and rich. I could not eat a whole meal due to this, but I did leave full from every place I ate at. Honestly, I was just happy to NOT be eating Moroccan like food for 11 days, whoo! By far my favorite dish was squash deep-fried in batter at my relative’s house in the countryside. I am not a deep fried kind of girl, but wow, when I ate that with some yogurt/sour cream on top… DELIGHT!

The beaches in Croatia are crystal clear, white, and the sea is so blue that even in the Rijeka Port, I could see hundreds of fishes swimming around looking for food. I have never seen such clean and clear water before. I mean nothing can beat Lake Michigan and the beaches there, but the Croatian coast can give Lake Michigan a run for its money.

(Image: Rijeka)

As I mentioned earlier, the highlight to my little Croatian adventure was finally meeting my relatives near the city where my grandfather was born. I met Tihana, Martina, and their family in a beautiful small town called Đurđevacv. I have never met such welcoming and happy people before. Their mother was always smiling and offering me food left and right until I could not move from my seat due to how overly stuffed I was from lunch. Their father was calling up all the family he could remember and asking about my grandfather and was sharing the baptismal certificate I brought to see if he could get any answers for me. He was very cheerful man, and helpful with looking into my grandfather’s certificate for me. I actually found out that my grandfather was from the village about 10 km down the road from them called Kolstar, that my great grandmother, Klara, her family was from around this area, and I found out how to say my last name correctly in Croatian J I am looking into changing my last name so it will sound like it should because it sounds beautiful in Croatian.

(image: Zagreb)

It was a sad moment when I had to leave Croatia so I could make it back in time to do summer camp in El Jadida, but I know that is was not a “good bye”; it was more like a “see you soon” kind of vibe. I hope to return again soon and visit my relatives longer in the countryside, check out the capital again, and see some of Croatia’s famous National Parks, and go more east and south within this beautiful and inspiring country.

HVALA!! vidimo se !