summer is upon us. for reals.

Summer is once again upon is and I find myself planted in front of my fan wearing as little clothing as possible, turning my computer off midday to keep it from overheating and I take long naps with a wet sheet covering me. It is notably hotter this summer then it was last summer, the hottest it ever got in my house last year was 97 degrees, and yesterday we banked in at 99- when it gets that hot, really all I have the energy to do is sleep. While I never took naps in college, or partook of the midday siesta’s at camp they have become wildly important  to my summer schedule here in morocco. Naps always made me feel lazy and like I’d wasted a huge part of my day, but culturally I’m in good company- most everyone else in my town sleeps through the hottest times of the day as well. If you want bread or milk at 2:30 pm you are shit out of luck my friend- everything is closed and most people are taking their typical afternoon snooze. The nice thing about taking a nap (for most of the) midday means that you can stay awake comfortably when the sun goes down, the breeze picks up and it becomes way more comfortable to be alive.

Nothing much new has happened here, classes are officially over at my youth center, we held a little “party” with the last 2 students standing on Friday which mostly involved us doing the coke or pepsi taste test, playing guitar eating cookies and then them showing off their kung fu and “parkour” skills.

I’ve decided that this will be my summer of betterment- which means I am actively (and happily) working out every day- I’ve been rotating between some biggest loser dvds  I bought before I left and some yoga videos. I love being back to a point where I crave my exercise and feel like my day is empty without it. I love building onto my yoga practice and it feels nice to feel strong in my body again. Morocco can be very lazy. While I do walk everywhere, it’s a lot of walking then sitting. Sitting then more sitting then some more walking. I’m pretty sure most of my muscles have atrophied past the point of health so its time to kick my own ass back into shape, and yoga is such a great way to do it. It is a little on the hot side, but I figure I paid 30 bucks to do bikram in America, and the temperature at my house is almost that hot, so might as well do some hot yoga for free!

I am currently in zagora to work a camp, that was very moroccoed in its architecture and setup. It was a surprise camp, no one knew it was happening until yesterday afternoon when me and another volunteer were frantically drafted to help. We showed up in zagora this morning, and made our way to the house of the volunteer where we are staying. Because she is traveling she left her key with her local store/hanut guy. When we showed up, he wasn’t there. So in a very Moroccan fashion we knocked on his door and confused his poor daughter into letting us keep our bags in their living room while we went to souk/the weekly market to pick up some food for the week. Mashi mushkil (no problem) the guy was back upon our return and apologized profusely, but really it was no big deal. (I realize how wonderful morocco is that it was no big deal that I just left my belongings in a strangers house then walked away for an hour or so to go buy veggies). Now we are settled in with the internet, waiting until it cools down so we can meet with our manager/boss guy. So, very un-American of me to be as calm as I am when less then 24 hours before this camp is meant to start I still have no idea when it is, where it is, what I’m doing, how many kids there will be, lets be honest I LITERALLY have next to no information. I think morocco is having a good influence on me.

As I was sitting waiting for the taxi today I have learned that while I still can be highly anxious and easily frustrated by many things I have gained so much patience. Before morocco I don’t know how relaxed or laid back I would have been about sitting on the curb just chilling with nothing to do until 6 more people decided to go the same direction as me. I definitely would not have been ok with my bag being in a stranger’s house and walking away from it and I would absolutely unequivocally not be ok with this work situation. I’m really thankful for the things morocco has given to me and I’m hoping that I will be able to carry some of it back to the states with me.

So that’s it for now I think, here’s some random pictures from the last few months.

on of my ladies threading beads for her bead crochet. 

me and my lovely site mate tiffany in traditional n'kob garg

one of my favorite things about bigger cities is that you can buy pre-cooked chick peas and fava beans. yum! 

souk 

apricots and plums!

a pretty door in my friends site

 you can kind of see under the right wing that there is a baby bat under there! they had gotten trapped in my big room one night and while they took me by surprise  i know they made their way back to their home in the rafters above my stairs. i also have baby birds living on my stairs- literally i have no idea where their nest is meant to be, and they are literally just cozied up into the corners of my stairs at night.  they're so young i can get right up to them and look at them from less then a foot away and they just stare back. 

reflections in the palmerie

carbohydrate fiesta! we had our closing day party at our women's center and everyone brought their own type of bread, personally i made banana bread with chocolate. 

i washed my bracelets in bleach, they needed it. 

danger guys and girls, we now have a full time donut guy in town. while they aren't the best donuts i've had in morocco they are now available to me all the time. luckily during the summer, i don't often walk down that way.

thanksgiving!

So as you all know I kind of live in the middle of nowhere, this past week 2 peace corps staff came to my site to do the groundwork for the possibility of me getting another volunteer here in april which should be exciting. Anyways while we were waiting the one guy commented “we just kept driving and driving and I was like, she really lives out in the middle of nowhere!” the only time it bothers me is if I actually had a emergency situation. When I broke my foot last march I couldn’t tell if I was freaking out because I was hurt or because I lived so far away from legit medical care and the process of getting to a hospital isn’t exactly fun- but 9 times out of 10 I love living somewhere so far away from cities. It’s quiet and the stars are better then anyplace i've ever been before. But because I live so far out in the bled (country) no one ever visits which is really just a shame for the pcv community because I love hosting and cooking for people, and im a pretty decent cook . So… because I live so far away from everyone I laid the groundwork early for my favorite holiday ever… thanksgiving. I may or may not have told everyone and started planning the menu in june. Ooops. Let’s just say I had a lot of time on my hands this summer, and I wanted to make sure no one had an excuse for not making it to my house. So having more or less threatened everyone in june that they had to come to my house for thanksgiving November finally rolled around and thus my dreams were realized.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday ever. Let me tell you why, it’s like Christmas but without what I like to call the present pressure. Thanksgiving contains good food, good music, good people, good wine or beer (or in the case of morocco any wine or beer) and no other expectations…. No expectations except for full bellies and good company. When I was younger my family used to go to Chincoteague Island and rent a cottage and just hang out for 3 or so days. I loved it. We all sat around, hung out, drove around the nature preserve saw some awesome little ponies, cheated at board games and just enjoyed each other’s company (one year our dog had just recently had a litter of puppies so we brought all 10 tiny little guys with us! So much fun). My fondest family memories are often pulled up from the times we spent there, it’s also one of the few times my whole family got together at the same time. Over the years my uncle took charge of thanksgiving and as always there is a superfluous amount of food and really fun music. I wanted to carry the family tradition of over-doing it over here in morocco. And while we didn’t have as much left-overs as I was anticipating I think everyone was very satisfied and full.

I was really hoping to have an all-american sort of thanksgiving, a flash back to home. On my trip home in august i had funding, baggage and timing issues and didnt manage to bring back with me all the things i had originally intended. But i got really lucky and have 2 friends who have an American bank account and they generously got American commodities shipped over (ie cream of mushroom soup, stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, marshmallows and of course libby’s pumpkin pie mix) i feel so lucky that we all got to have such a taste of home. I was also really lucky that my host family generously let me borrow their propane gas oven, because my microwave size electric oven would not have accommodated our menu. The only weird thing about the dinner was that we didn’t succeed in obtaining a turkey, as a vegetarian I have no idea what kind of meat is available here in my site, so we made do with a full chicken, no one complained.

At times my kitchen felt a little small, but it was worth it to feel like my house was full, i think people enjoyed themselves and it was a really nice change from cooking alone in my kitchen and sharing my meal with episodes of the office and parks and rec. My lovely friends who got the stuff shipped for us (Lauren and Justin) came up a day early with their food cache and a bunch of stuff from their kitchen. i've never cooked so much food for so many people. realistically this was the biggest kitchen undertaking i've ever done and i think it turned out really well. everyone was full and happy and I barely had to do any of the dishes (which to be honest is my favorite thing about cooking for other people ).

I find I get a huge amount of emotional satisfaction from cooking and hosting for other people. To me food is the craft that everyone appreciates. I used to make home made presents for people all the time (ie bracelets, necklaces, crocheted things etc) and while i try and tailor gifts to the people i'm giving them to,  I can tell sometimes that I am handing someone something they will never use, it will sit on their dresser for a few years out of guilt and then they’ll either give it away or sell it at a tag sale or something. Food however, unless you have allergies or some kind of disorder is something that everyone appreciates. I love making something delicious and fun and then serving it to people. I have a dream of someday hosting dinner parties around an outdoor fire pit or something. Le sigh.

So in short thanksgiving was both wonderful and successful and I’m so proud of the hard work Lauren and I did cooking it. Huzzah.

In other non-food related news I’ve theoretically started at my youth center. Even with all the leg work and publicity I did in the weeks leading up to it I still had pitiful (read next to no) attendance. Just like last year I know patience and perseverance is key. I also have an ace in the hole with this new sports association who may or may not be doing some publicity for me to do another class later in the evening? I’m not 100% sure- meetings always have the possibility of mis-communication and lost in translation. But, I’m excited to have new work partners and a group of fun, motivated young men who like me and seem to have my back in a totally appropriate way.  Nothing else really exciting to report.

That’s all for now…. But! If any of you are like… wow… I haven’t seen or talked to michelle in so long,… or wow! It’s so close to Christmas I should send michelle a present because she’s so awesome my list is short. Yarn for crocheting stuff (more then 1 skein so as to ensure there is the possiblitiy of completing a project) anything pumpkin flavored, peanut butter,  mac and cheese, any kind of salty snack and if you’re feeling super fancy the stowaway backpack from llbean (in green). Wow. I sure do beg a lot on this blog… sorry guys. I hope you are all doing well and staying warm.

the lovely lauren working hard

our kitchen assistants! lucia and justin

first course of deviled eggs, home made bread, ranch dip and pumpkin soup with coconut milk 

thanksgiving dinner!  green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, onion gravy, veggie quiche, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and chicken! 

serving dinner

desert of pumpkin and apple pies

eating desert

so much delicious food!