PPST & Ait Hamza

Me & The Gang in Ait Hamza

Phew. It's been a busy month! Last weekend, I traveled to Tahla, which is located between Fes and Taza. Another volunteer hosted a Chinese New Year dinner, which was delicious (she had lots of specialty ingredients from the States shipped-so it was extra yum). I saw Fes from the taxi and look forward to going back there soon and exploring. It was a 5 hour journey via bus and taxi, and as with every time I've traveled in this country, the views were amazing.

On Sunday, we all headed to Azrou for a week of PPST which stands for Post-Pre-Service-Training- the Peace Corps, just like most major entities, loves acronyms. PPST was a mentally exhausting week! The first day and a half was dedicated to volunteer presentations on our sites and the work we have been doing since we arrived in site. The rest of the time was dedicated to technical training in topics such as: Project Design & Management, Product Development and Color Theroy, Marketing & Promotion, Grant Writing, and Web Site Building. We also had a guest speakers from the Ministry of Artisana, Akhawayn University in Ifrane and a female president of a successful cooperative.

I found that a lot of the technical training was repetitive from the classes I took to get my BA, but I guess a quick review wasn't too painful :) The guest speakers were the highlight for me as they provided direct insight into how things work here, which was very informative. It was nice for all of us to be together for the week and gain knowledge form each other too.

Yesterday, I went back to my CBT site, Ait Hamza. Let me just say, it was a fantastic afternoon/evening/morning with Hafida and Family. It was also proof that my language has come a long way as I can count on one hand the number of things I didn't understand versus before, when I lived with them and we could just barely get our points across using sign language and broken Tamazight. It was so so so rewarding to go there and be able to have 12 hours of conversation and understand each other. Absolutely Fantastic.

Omar, Hamza, and Rizlan were ecstatic to see me, which made me smile non-stop. They are great kids. I took the boys each a dinosaur set and Rizlan got a pink animal rattle type thing...my goal was to get the boys something indestructible, as the last time I gave them each a toy car, the cars were in a million pieces within five minutes. The dinosaurs were a little more heavy duty since they are solid plastic pieces, but they still managed to make the dinosaurs fight each other and lose legs before I left...For the few toys kids have here the quality is awful and never lasts.

During my brief, but brilliant 20 hour visit, I was fed 7 times-even Hafida told me I should fast the next day :)

Highlight of the Evening:
Hafida sister's family joined us for dinner in the evening, along with a neighbor so there were 11 of us were crowded around the table. Dinner was delicious as Hafida's cooking always is. The meal consisted of a communal plate of chicken topped with caramelized onions and raisins (one of my favorite dishes here, but usually prepared with lamb) along with roasted pepper and tomato salad and a strawberry and orange salad. Yum. While eating we discussed the differences between Ait Hamza and my current site. Hafida asked me if I had been to any Tamgra's (weddings) or CeeBah's (naming ceremony's) to which I replied no, only in Ait Hamza. Hafida then told me that they would be having a CeeBah at their house in the future. I shreaked out an MBruk (congratulations) to Hafida and Mimoun and gave Hafida a bear hug. ----Keep in mind that when Jeff (who also came and visited his host family) saw Hafida he immediately asked me if she was pregnant.----After letting go of our hug, Hafida looks at me and says, "Harass'dat'sagh" which means only kidding. It was really funny. I didn't know what to say, and just kept repeating ibasil, which translates to naughty. Haha.

I left early this morning and went straight to my weekly Sunday souq upon arrival back in site, to stock up on veggies and fruits for the week. Surprisingly, I had the most verbal harassment, I've experienced in-site, today. Lot's of 'Oh my Gawwwd's' and other noises from males. They must have all watched a movie and learned that while I was gone :) I'm pretty good at blocking it out and not listening to that kind of stuff, I realize that they live in an oppressed society and many times don't know any better (or even what they are saying).

So now it's a busy week of working on stuff for the Co-op and working on my language (via tea with various members of the town). As many of you know, Gerald will arrive next Sunday and stay for a week, which I am very much looking forward to!

Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Azrou

Marisa and Jeff walking to the taxi stand in Azrou

Mosque in Azrou

Roof tops in Azrou

Omar & Rizlan in Ait Hamza

Hafida, Omar, Rizlan and Rykia in Ait Hamza

Women Stringing a New Loom@the Co-op in AitHamza

Jeff weaving in Sam's host family's house