In theory, there is a lot going on with the coop/work right now.
1. The women are busy creating products for our display at Cafe Clock.
Estimated delivery: mid-late June.
2. Spinning wheels have been ordered and are being made.
Estimated delivery and training: early July
3. Funding has been requested and is waiting approval for three projects:
A. Inspiration board for the new coop building
- In hopes it will be up for our grand opening in late June.
B. Camera for the coop
-To be used in conjunction with training for the coop as they become members of
www.theanou.com in mid June.
C. Women's Empowerment Camp
-I'm hoping to organize a two-day women's empowerment/life skills camp for 25 women in
early September.
As you can see there is quite a lot in the pipeline, but there's not actually a whole lot for me to do right now. Needless to say, I've got quite a bit of time on my hands and am doing my very best to keep busy.
Four months left until my departure from Morocco, so I've been sorting through my house trying to get a feel for how much packing space I'll need and deciding which community members will get what. Numerous people from the community have already approached me about getting my belongings/furnishings when I leave. It's slightly annoying, because it makes me wonder how many people are genuinely my friends and how many just want a free load of things when I go. Are they counting down too? I'd like to think not.
With all this downtime, I thought I'd give you a glimpse at 'A day in the life of Miriam' (when work is scarce).
Most days, I wake up and head straight out for a run. It's been incredibly windy here for the past week or so and that means major dust storms. Running is pretty difficult when it's a haze of dust blowing in your face, but running keeps me mentally healthy and without it I start to get cabin-fever.
After my run/battle with dust, I come back to my house and have what's known by Peace Corps volunteers as a 'whore bath' over my kitchen sink. This entails me stripping from the waist-up, leaning over the kitchen sink and splashing water and soap all over my upper body. Don't judge, it works.
I then make myself a mug of coffee using a stove top coffee maker like this: http://www.espressoplanet.com/espresso-coffee-machine/hot_to_use_stove_top.html
I also make myself a smoothie. During March/April strawberries were in season and made their way to Toon Town souk each Sunday. I stocked up on a couple kilo's of strawberries, knowing they'd be non-existent pretty soon. So my freezer is stacked with strawberries, for now.
My smoothie consists of the following:
2 Strawberries
1 Orange
1 Banana
1 Danone Activia Yogurt
Splash of milk
1 Heaping tablespoon of Anutra (http://www.anutra.com/1.html) or Flax Seed
I then take my coffee and smoothie upstairs to enjoy while catching up on e-mails/checking the news/writing new blog posts/etc...
If the weather is decent enough (and not too windy) I then put a blanket out on my roof and read for an hour or so. Then comes lunch, for which I either head to someones house for, or make a salad at my place. Most of the time my salad is lettuce-free, since lettuce is pretty hard to find around here. For protein I top my chopped veggies with either a hard boiled egg, lentils, or when I feel like splurging-a tin of mackerel.
After lunch, I visit with various community members and drink enough tea to put me into a sugar induced coma. Yesterday's community visit was with my landlord's family. I take my veg/fruit peeling to them each day and they feed it to their cows and mule. While dropping the bag of scraps off yesterday, my landlady invited me in to sit with her as she sorted through a large (very large) sack of wheat. After and hour or so of sitting with her making small talk she let me know that I have never been to the fields with her and that I should go with her today.
The field is not too far from our houses and now that it is harvest season, she goes daily. I agreed to go with her, but told her I was going to run home and grab a notebook and book first. When I returned fifteen minutes later their mule, who I named, "Daisy" was tied up in the alley outside their house. Poor Daisy, I swear I don't think she had ever been groomed in her entire life and judging from her withers, I'd say she is up there in her years. She was looking pretty meskina (poor little thing).
For the record, I began coming across as crazy when I got there and named the mule "Daisy" -animals don't get names here. Then seeing the state of her coat, I continued my crazy antics by asking if there was a brush for the animals. Mama (the landlady) kind of ignored me the first few times I asked, but when she knew I wasn't messing about, she disappeared and came back with what I am assuming was the brush they use to clean their 'hole in the ground' aka squat toilet. I am also assuming that she 'washed' it because it was dripping wet. Sometimes it is better not to ask questions, right?
Raja, the landlady's daughter joined us and we hoisted her up onto Daisy. Mama tried to insist that I too, should climb on, but poor Daisy, how could I? So I walked with Mama and we made our way to the fields. Upon arrival, Mama took the makeshift blanket saddle off of Daisy and I removed the bridle and Daisy immediately dropped to the ground and rolled, twice. When she was done itching herself, Mama tied rope around one of Daisy's feet and then staked the other end of rope to the ground.
Mama and Raja made their way into the tall wheat and I stayed with Daisy, letting them know that I was going to brush her and that I would join them in a bit. I literally pulled clumps of what can only be described as "dingle-berries" from all over Daisy's body. Poor girl, it has been hot for weeks now and she still had a full winter coat. She let me brush that entire winter coat out and while I know that she enjoyed it, I am pretty sure she was giving me this look that said, "what the hell are you doing?!" the entire time.
All the while that this was happening, other people in the fields were staring and watching me like I was a four-eyed monster. Some were calling out to Mama, asking what I was doing and laughing at me. I continued my 'craziness' by joining Mama in the field, and going on to tell her how Daisy and I shared a dialogue in Tamazight, that included Daisy thanking me for brushing her and telling my how clean she felt. Mama was bent over laughing at me and asked me if I want to take Daisy to the hemam (public bath house) with me next time :)
Raja accompanies Mama to the field most days and brings her homework with her. Yesterday's homework was reciting the Koran. So, I sat down next to Raja and listened to her recite the Koran, while Mama continued to make fun of me for being 'friends' with Daisy.
Not too long after I sat down, two women and four small children came through the field. When they got close to us, I heard a little voice shout out, "Mama ur righ ad zri, gwidugh n Taromit" (which means, "Mama I don't want to pass, I'm scared of the foreigner". This made me laugh out loud. The Mom realizing that I understood also started laughing and then there was Mama calling out to me to make sure I understood, repeating what the little girl had said, while also hysterically laughing. It was pretty hilarious.
I stayed for a little while longer and then announced that I was going to visit my host Aunt Baha. I said goodbye and then headed over to Baha's. Baha was sorting through sesame seeds when I got there. In case you can't imagine what that is like, I've included a picture. I sat with Baha helping her sort out the bad sesame seeds from the good ones (I'm not sure this is necessary and if anything all it does is give you a stiff neck), drank tea, ate bread and jam and watched her Turkish soap operas (dubbed in Arabic) with her for an hour or so.
I then headed home, made dinner and watched my UK soap operas :)
And that's it a day in the life of Miriam x
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| Neck-Breaking Work-Sortin Sesame Seeds |
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| Daisy, looking at me like, "What the hell did you just do to me?" |
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| We snacked on the solid parts of young wheat while in the field |
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| Raja reciting the Koran |
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| Mama hand-cutting the wheat...and making fun of me |
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