Recent Escapades!

Only in Morocco :)

Hello all!

I'm back in site now, resting up and getting back into routine after another crazy month...

Gerald's Parents Visit
Before I headed to Fes for Marche Maroc, Gerald's Mom-Theresa and her husband Peter came to my site for the weekend. They thoroughly enjoyed getting to see all the wonders of life at the base of the High Atlas mountains! My host family cooked 'wedding chickens' and Sheria for us on the day of their arrival. Wedding chickens are roast chicken with a lemon spice marinade and lots of olives. Sheria is a dish of another sort-it's pasta (think angel hair, cut into 1 inch strips) and is served in a communal dish topped with powdered sugar, raisins and peanuts, interesting mix right?! On Sunday, we got up and had a breakfast of different Moroccan breads and cakes from the only 'bakery' in town and then headed to souk. Peter had a camera strapped around his neck, which enticed all the children to follow him around as they all wanted their picture taken. Theresa bought a bundle of scarfs, as gifts for friends back in England, which I haggled relentlessly for! On Sunday evening, both my site mates, along with Eric's girlfriend, and Moses came over for a home cooked Honduran meal, compliments of Theresa. She made 'melt in your mouth' steak fajitas, refried beans, and salsa and it was devoured and appreciated by all of us! They headed back to Fes on Monday morning, via a private taxi, which we prearranged for them.

I must give props to their spontaneous nature...not only did they come to Morocco on the fly, but while in Fes they met a young man named Omar, who took them all around, very happily, not expecting a dime in return-he just wanted to practice his English. In the end, they ended up canceling their hotel reservations for the last portion of their stay in Fes, as Omar's family insisted that they stay in their home! They even traveled a couple hours outside of Fes, past Taza, for an overnight trip, to visit the Uncle of the family, who lives on a farm in a village full of waterfalls. Wow! I met Omar on their last day and was extended an open invite, "anytime I'm in Fes, I musn't stay in a hotel, I must come stay with them". Talk about hospitality!


Marche Maroc Fes
Was a success, we sold the same amount as we did in Marrakesh, keeping our numbers steady. The only not so great part of the weekend, was that Rebha packed for cold weather and therefore was stuck in a heavy wool jellaba for the whole weekend in extremely hot weather. I did offer her some of my lighter clothes, Rebha found the idea of her wearing my 'western' clothes very funny and politely declined. Ah, well. Rebha gave a speech on the opening day to all the other artisans and I received an e-mail a few days after from my program manager, Mina, commending our Co-op, Rebha's understanding of sustainability and willingness to speak in public (which is huge for these ladies). It was great to get together with all the other volunteers and enjoy 'city life' for a brief moment too!


Spring Camp in Khenifra
Boy-oh-Boy, Me-oh-My, I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I volunteered to help the Youth Development volunteers out with Spring Camp! It was intense. I arrived in the afternoon on Monday, straight from Fes, so I was already exhausted from the busy weekend in the heat. From the moment I arrived at the Dar Fataat, I was on the Ministry of Youths schedule. Myself, along with three other volunteers and a handful of Moroccan staff, were with 50 kids for the next 4 days, 24/7, and I mean 24/7. Wake-up calls were at 7.30A.M. and no sympathy was spared. Drums and music blasting from 8am until 'lights out' at 11.30 P.M..

I taught English, every morning to 13 intermediate level kids. This was the most enjoyable part of the week for me, as I had my own (nice and quiet) classroom and was 'in-charge' of the schedule for those few hours each day. Each day had a different theme; culture, geography, environment, and health. I had the most fun with 'health' as we went through the names of body parts and then I taught them, 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' and 'The Hokey Pokey' which all the kids seemed to enjoy.


The afternoons were a mix of Moroccan and American 'clubs', during which we played lots of games and did lots of very silly dances. And then after dinner each night was a disco and more games...I was knackered out early every evening! As the kids had to be under constant supervision by all of us, there was pretty much zero down-time the whole week.

On Thursday, we took a field trip 24K outside of Khenifra to a small beautiful village in the countryside. With all the rolling green hills, wild flowers, and lots of pretty nature. I felt like I was frolicking, that's right frolicking through fields in 'The Sound of Music' with the Von Trapp children :) To get there 50 of us crowded into two small transit vans-it was like that old Volkswagen commercial, where they try to see how many people fit in one car-a mess of bodies! I am working on getting the name of the village, but we hiked to a 'palace' which is still under construction and owned by a 'rich-man' from Khenifra and also to a pretty waterfall. It was 39C all week-and there were no shower facilities for us or the children...as you can imagine we were a pretty smelly group by the end of the week. :P

I couldn't have been happier when Saturday finally came. We (the volunteers) headed to Marcia's (where I went for Christmas) for an afternoon of well deserved R&R. I arrived back in site on Sunday around lunch time, went straight to souk to get my weekly veg and fruit, and then spent the rest of the day relaxing.


What Time is it?!
So Morocco decided to adopt 'Summer Time' the weekend before last. We all put our clocks forward while we were in Fes and this 'New Time' will last until July 31st. But get this--only big cities and government buildings follow the 'New Time'. So, when I got back to site, I had to put my clock back, but when I went to the post office yesterday at 3.30 P.M. old time, I found it was closed as they follow 'New Time'. Way to make things confusing huh?! So for the next few months whenever a time is set to do something, I have to be sure to clarify whether that's 'New Time' or 'Old Time'...Tujdidt Ta3ssa3t mid  Taqdimt Ta3ssa3t?! 


Upcoming Escapades...


The Rose Festival
Rebha and I are heading to Kelaat Mgouna (down South) in the beginning of May for the Rose Festival. This area of Morocco is famous for its rose products and the Rose Festival happens annually and is pretty well known to tourists. This will be the first time my Co-op has attended and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it's a success. My point behind taking Rebha there is to let her get to know artisans from the area so that she can make contacts and attend the festival in the years to come. As this isn't a Peace Corps sponsored event, I think it is a good shot at getting her/the Co-op into a sustainable event. Marisa, my good friend from CBT, lives in the area and her artisans have been kind enough to offer for Rebha to stay with them (I'll stay with Marisa). So the only costs will be food and transport, which is good news for the Co-op.

Trip to England
I'm headed to England in mid-May for a very quick trip. I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing all my family, friends and Gerald, of course. I can't tell you how excited I am to eat all kinds of food while I am there :) Gerald is taking me to Gaucho (yum yum yum) in Richmond-upon-Thames for lunch one afternoon and I am super excited about that as I've never been to Richmond before. I'm hoping to see Hampton Court Palace while we are there.

Funnily enough, Moses (the health volunteer from the next village over) asked me to write him up an itinerary for his upcoming trip to London, which I agreed to do, but first asked when he was going...turns out we are both booked on the same flight!

Well, I suppose that's about it for now. Hope you enjoyed reading this and the pictures below...for more pictures go to my FaceBook page!

Lots of Love xXx

Moroccan Double Decker Bus :)

The Hills are Alive...with the Sound of Music...literally!

Dinner Time

Ladies Night

Marche Maroc Fes-Rebha & Fatima & Our Carpets

Certificate Time

English Class at Spring Camp

Teaching Head-Shoulders-Knees-and-Toes

English Class

Spring Camp Field Trip 

Moooooooooooooooooo!

Gerald's Visit and More...

Long time overdue, I know, but patience is a virtue :)

Gerald's Visit...
...Was great! It's been six months since we said goodbye at Heathrow and it was so nice to finally see each other. He had a safe flight into Fes, where I met him at the airport. We stayed the night in Fes and headed to my site first thing the next day. While here, he got a real good taste of Moroccan culture :)

From the gender roles side of things, we went to a cafe one evening, with my sitemate Eric, to watch the Arsenal vs. Barcelona match. As I've mentioned before, women don't go to cafes in my town, no matter what time of day. I go for a coffee during the day on occasion, but in the company of other male volunteers. The football game was on at 8pm, and the cafe was absolutely packed (they love Barcelona here). It was certainly strange being the only female in the crowded building, but we sat with some of the boys from the Herria, who I have helped teach, and they were very polite. I'm sure it caused some murmur among the older men in the community, but I think they are getting used to seeing me there during the day and don't think too much of it. N'Shalla

The next day, he got to see the women's world. It was actually the day of my site visit so my Program Manager, Mina came for the afternoon. I had pre-arranged a 'tea-party' for the occasion. Mina came to my house first, where Gerald sat in on our meeting, which was basically about how things are going and what my projects are and how I plan to work over the next two years. After the meeting, we went to Laila Fatima's house for the 'tea-party'/Co-op meeting. I made pumpkin cake, which was a huge hit, even Gerald gave me props for how good it was :) All 12 women showed up, along with my counterpart, Rebha. We drank tea, ate cake, talked about the good work the ladies have been doing with the carpets, made a video clip for Peace Corps 50th Anniversary, and discussed possible product line expansion in to bags. A good time was had by all, even Gerald, the only guy in the room full of Berber women. Mina also said it was a great site visit and she really appreciated the tea-party. Oh and she also brought my mountain bike to me, which is super exciting! Once the weather gets warmer, I'll be taking lots of bike rides out of town, for some great photos!

That same evening, we had Eric and Dan over for dinner, which Gerald prepared. He whipped up some mesquite fried chicken (which he got to watch being killed, plucked, and bagged up for us at the chicken hanut), savory rice, and a delish salad (we bought lettuce while we were in Fes, so this was a luxury dish) :) Gerald cooked for me the whole time he was here, which was much appreciated!

I'd arranged for my host family to cook a meal for us as well. Gerald requested to be able to watch Mamaksu and Hayat cook, which they were more than happy to do.  We went the day before and bought all of the food they requested and then he observed in the kitchen the next day. They made a dish called Rifassa, it's my favorite here. In a nutshell, it's chicken and lentils over shredded, fried bread (think thin flaky fried deliciousness topped with lemon chicken and spiced lentils). There are endless amounts of spices in it, but they also boil mustard seed for the sauce, which is a dominating flavor. Yum. Gerald said he enjoyed it...It was served in a communal dish and we ate with forks, but the three women dove in with their hands, which put him off a little bit. Hessna, the pharmacist who organizes the aerobics classes, came to dinner as well, so he got to meet her, which was nice.

On Thursday, we took a trip over to Boumia, where Souk was taking place. Gerald thought souk was absolute madness and loved it. Eric, took him to the Hemam in the evening, which he thoroughly enjoyed! He said if he lived here he would go every single day-I let him know that as a female it's not so soothing as it's a room-full of naked women and screaming kids, who don't want to be scrubbed! I try to go early and get out quick, before they all show up after lunch! He also enjoyed the craziness of the taxi's here in Morocco.

We went back to Fes for the weekend, which was absolutely brilliant. We made no plans other than to get lost in the medina and eat yummy food. Walking through the medina, which is only accessible via foot or motorbike, is like taking a giant leap back in time. All your senses come to play and it is truly an amazing experience. The highlight for me was the Tannery's. From inside a shop (full of leather) you get to look down on the men working. The process is wild-Gerald had watched a program on the Tannery's in Fes before he came, so he knew everything that was going on and explained it to me as we were watching them work. Did you know they soften the leather via pigeon poop?! When you enter the shop you are handed a sprig of fresh mint-the odor from the dyes and pigeon dropping-wash are very strong, so they give you mint to hold under your nose while you look on. The men are standing in this mixture and also the dyes all day long, it's crazy.

We both loved Fes and are looking forward to many trips back over the next two years!

It was a sad goodbye at the airport, but I am going to England in May, so not too long between visits...

So now I am back in site, preparing for the next Marche Maroc, which happens to be in Fes next week! Peace Corps got funding to pay for two women from the Co-op to attend, so Rebha, Fatima and I will be enjoying Fes together next week. Hopefully, we sell lots of carpets!!! N'Shalla :)

I will go straight from Fes to Khenifra, to help out with the Youth Development sectors Spring Camp. That's a week of English Immersion Camp for kids all over Morocco. There are 30 camps in total. For the Khenifra camp, there will be 4 PC Volunteers and about 100 kids aged 14-17. I'm just a little scared...lol.

Oh! And this weekend, Gerald's parents are coming to visit!!! They enjoyed hearing about his trip and the pictures sooo much that they booked a trip immediately, lol. Crazy, I know :) But, they are seasoned travelers and have been to many developing countries so this is totally their 'cup of tea' if you will. They got to Fes on the 20th and are staying til the 3rd of April. They will come to my site this weekend and spend two nights here. I've arranged for my host family to cook again, this time a tagine. At first, I was a little apprehensive about asking them to cook again so soon, I felt like they might think I was exploiting them, which is not my intention. But, as soon as they heard his parents were coming, they insisted they 'cook the food of Morocco' for them. In fact, they wanted to cook all the meals! They love visitors :)

I'm excited because the timing allows them to see Fes, my site and life here, as well as a Marche Maroc, which will be taking place (and our Co-op will be attending) in Fes while they are here! They'll be able to see all of the Co-op's that SBD volunteers work with from everywhere in Morocco, and all the Co-op's products! Pretty cool stuff.

Well, that's it for now, will be writing all about the next adventures soon, promise!

xXx

Bab Boujloud Fes

Me and Jerry in site

Jerry in site

Co-op Meeting/Tea Party

Fes by night

Fes Medina

Tannery

Tannery

Isilmin or 'Fish'

Spice Hanut

Pick your Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

Bab Boujloud

Lunch overlooking Bab Boujloud

MooN

Softball  Game in Midelt

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

In recent news...

February 16^th, 2011

I went down south to Tinghir this past week for VSN training. VSN is the Volunteer Support Network, which I believe every Peace Corps country has. I left on Thursday and it took me seven hours on the bus, which went by pretty quickly as the views were breathtaking. Around a town called Rich, the scenery changes from snow-capped mountains to red-desert with lush green oasis’s and sandy villages scattered about. Then you go into the red High Atlas Mountains/desert and through a large gorge with a green river and palm trees running along the road. The south is so very different from the north of Morocco and it’s pretty amazing watching the change take place from the bus, surrounded by Moroccans.

On Thursday evening, we had a meet and greet dinner of lentil soup and garlic bread. There were ten of us in total and I had already met four of the volunteers, on previous occasions. We went shopping the next day and bought our food in for the weekend and we all rotated turns cooking for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

VSN is a peer-to-peer counseling group and so the training was to help develop the skills to be a counselor. Active listening was the main subject, which is much more difficult and technical than one might think. We also talked about feelings...a lot. 

Each night we slept ten to the room, all in a row across the floor, in our sleeping bags. The first night I only got a couple hours of sleep as my sleeping bag wasn’t quite warm enough and there were a couple of snorer’s in the room. On the second night, we went out to dinner in Tinghir. I had a kefta mincemeat sandwich, which consisted of; mayo, mincemeat, pasta salad, potatoes, french fries, and red onion. I spent the entire second night in the bitlima, throwing-up, out of both ends. It was awful. And I was trying my hardest not to wake the other nine-up in a hollow Moroccan house. Until that night, I don’t think I have ever had food-poisoning, and I never want it ever again. By the third day of training, which was 8.30-6 each day, I was a mess. Absolutely knackered. I had a good nights sleep that night though, and was 110% by the next day. The training itself was very good and I really felt as though I got a lot out of the weekend.

Sadly, there was no time to do any sightseeing around Tinghir, which was disappointing as the Todra Gorges are close and I was hoping to see them. Ah well, plenty of time left to explore. The bus ride home on Monday was insanely hot, which was a crazy change for me as I am so used to the freezing cold. It’s warm down south and there is no air-conditioning on souk busses and on this particular bus there were no windows to open. We were also on the back of the bus above the engine and I was in long underwear in preparation for arrival back in site. I’m pretty sure I partially cooked myself. 

I had internet installed in my house on February 1^st, and much to my dismay, it still isn’t working. I’m trying desperately to get the people at Maroc Telecom to help me sort it out but, the problem is they are in the city and speak Moroccan Arabic or French. I kind of speak Tamazight and so there is a massive communication barrier, especially as the conversations take place over the phone. I paid for another volunteer to travel here today to try and sort it, but the end result was that the problem is on Maroc Telecom side of things. So tomorrow is dedicated to not hanging up the phone until it’s sorted.

I leave on Saturday morning to go to Post Pre-Service (PPST) training for 7 days and then I will go straight from training back to my original site, in Ait Hamza to visit with my old host family for the weekend. I am excited to see them and hopefully we will be able to communicate much better than we could when I lived there. 

While PST was mainly cultural and language training, PPST is technical training. We are going to have sessions on building websites, project design and management, marketing and promotion, product development, and grant writing. I am looking forward to learning lots in all of those areas. We also have to give individual presentations about our sites, I am planning to put together a power point for that this Friday.

Big smiles to everyone reading this-I am happy, healthy, and keeping busy and I hope you are too!

Love,

Maryeem xXx

Going down South...

Me & A Massive Cream Puff

View from our roof in Tinghir

Amazigh (Berber) Women waiting for the bus

Need I tell you what this is?

Desert outside of Rich

Just for you Mom!

February 5th, 2011

As you know from my mention in previous posts, the women in the bled (countryside), wear bed sheets and blankets wrapped around them, instead of jackets. A while ago, I mentioned that loads of women in my site wear the same design bed sheet, which my little brothers had on their beds while we were growing up. I see this sheet umpteen times a day, and it never fails to crack me up.

So, I finally managed to sneak a picture of the bed sheets that Carl & Sam used to have. 

Now do you remember it Mom????!!!!

:) 

Love,

Maryeem xXx

In response to your comments about my new digs…

January 29, 2011

I am glad that everyone likes it! Fortunately, I do too…kind of funny that I can actually say I live in a mud house in Africa :P Although, it's not a hut...

As far as standards of living-I live as an ‘average’ Moroccan in my town does. However, Moroccans don’t tend to live alone, they live with their family until they marry. Once married, the husband brings his bride home to live with his family, which most of the time includes living with his parents and many times grandparents as well. So, relatively speaking, my house is spacious, as I live alone. But, as you can see, there is no hot water, no shower/bathtub, no washing machine or dryer, and only one room is heated by my wood stove. Also, I don’t have a fridge. The kitchen is probably colder than a fridge, so it isn’t necessary. Although, I will inherit a small fridge from Eric, once he leaves in April, which will be ideal in the summer.

There are many homes, in the deep bled (countryside), which don’t have running water or even Turkish toilets (you just use the natural landscape outside). There are also many towns, that regulate water usage and so it is turned on for only three hours a day, providing limited access. On the flipside, many homes have hot water heaters, which allows for showers and hot water in general. Also, many homes have washing machines. In larger cities and also in newer ‘cement’ homes around here, the floors and walls are tiled with decorative tiles and elaborate chandeliers hang in every room. Many of the mud homes around here even have chandeliers. Many of the homes around here also have personal Hemam’s in them. That is, there is a wood stove in the bitlima (Turkish toilet room), which allows the room to get nice and hot and steamy and then hot bucket baths can be taken in the privacy of your own home, rather than going to a public Hemam (public bath house).

It should also be noted, that as far as furnishings go, my house is extremely modest. Most Moroccans have decorative wooden bases for their poonj’s (Moroccan couch’s/what look like a single mattress) raising them six or so inches off of the ground and also wooden frames for their bed’s. Whereas, my poonj’s  are bare, most Moroccans cover theirs with decorative heavy duty fabric and have an endless supply of back pillows lining them. Most entry foyers have an extremely large wooden china cabinet and the kitchens normally have permanent shelving or some kind of hutch. So in that respect, my house is below average standards. However, many homes in the deep bled, have no poonj’s at all. People simply sit on hand-woven carpets/shag rugs. And many families choose to sleep all together in the same room, on the floor and very close together. So as you can see, there are various extremes.

Wood Stove

Surprisingly, the tiny wood stove is very efficient and warms my bedroom in no time. It's just going anywhere else in the house, that isn't pleasant. It has started snowing here and is much colder than it has been. We only got a dusting here in town, but the mountains are covered. It is very pretty. According to the forecast we are going to get more snow on Monday. Brrr...I went out yesterday and bought another mule load of firewood!

Roof Door

As all the houses are connected, the roof is shared. There is a deadbolt on the inside of the door, which is the only way to shut the door. I am putting a second lock on the door this week though, so no worries!

Well that’s all for now.

Until next time,

Maryeem xXx

Drumroll Please....

WoooHooo--After five days of trying to upload this, it's finally here!

Hope you enjoy your tour of my new home!

Click here to see my home for the next two years!

Make sure you have the volume turned up...

Miss you all,

Maryeem xXx

P.S. I just finished reading "Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women" by Geraldine Brooks and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in a good read!