After Eid el-Adha, I took a day or two to rest. Eight hours slaughtering and eating and visiting with folks will tire you out, let me tell ya. Then, yesterday, my landlord rolled in with a few younger looking guys who were visiting their family from Meknes and Chefchaouen. He showed them the house and […]
Silence of the Lambs, or what I like to call, Abdelqader Day
“Fouaaad. Fouaaad,” Soufianne chanted my name from his bike as I walked up to the gate of his house. Calling it a ‘gate’ makes it sound like a nice, walled-in community of some such. It’s technically the gate to the local fish market, of which the house is just conveniently connected. I yelled at Soufianne […]
Ahmed.
Today, I said goodbye to Ahmed – Jonathan’s host brother (and previously Nicole’s). It was the first goodbye of many in the next week. Ahmed’s gotten to know quite a few volunteers, and he’s become a good friend. As the owner of a “gite” (think, “bed-and-breakfast”), he’s played host to many Americans, and that’s actually […]
Sheep in the Taxi Trunk
The big holiday known as Eid el-Adha or Eid el-Kbir is just around the corner. The holiday celebrates the almost-sacrifice of Ishmael. This same story appears in Christian and Jewish texts, though is slightly different in that it is Ishmael who is almost sacrificed by Abraham in Islam, not Isaac. In either case, that God […]
A Capstone Experience to my Service – a visit from the Country Director
On Monday, the Country Director and the person in charge of gifts and grants for all of Peace Corps drove out to our province in the Middle Atlas. It was an opportunity for several volunteers to come together and talk about (and show off) some of the work we were doing based on the grants […]
Hicham and the Paradox of Cultures
A few weeks ago, I was on a train for Rabat, and I met this guy named Hicham. Hicham was dressed to the hilt in religious garb, all black, and his beard would have put Sam Beam to shame. To be honest, I had no desire to talk to Hicham; I was tired and not […]
Give & Get
Didn’t get a chance to buy a pair of adjustable glasses as part of our “glasses project” PCPP grant a year ago? Now, you can buy a pair directly off the Eyejusters website, and you‘ll be contributing another pair to the developing world. Just thought I’d help spread the word. For $55, you get a pair […]
Thirty Days
Thirty Days. It’s like America is so close but so far away at the same time. You may as well be dangling a giant cheesy gordita crunch in front of me and saying, “One month. You have to stare at it for one month, but you can’t eat it yet.” Sick, sad world. I think […]
Quiet days in the Orchard
Since the end of the diabetes project, it’s been a quiet week in the olive grove. With September ending, the weather is finally beginning to feel like it isn’t August anymore. And I mean that. It changed overnight from sweltering hot to, “Oh my God, where did summer go?” I woke up cold in the […]
Hassan.
So, here’s a few thoughts about a man who has had a big impact on my life the past two years, but I don’t know that I’ve ever even mentioned him, so it just seemed fitting to say a thing or two. When I arrived in my village, Hassan – the director of my youth […]
