...Given the extreme heat, bed bugs, stomach problems, hoards of flies, barking dogs, crying babies, breighing donkeys, cawing roosters, dirt falling on us from rogue dogs prancing above our earthen roof, geckos chirping in the ceiling, and the 4am "call to prayer" via loud speakers at multiple mosques in the valley, we are lucky to get 8 hours of sleep from about 12-1am (shortly after we finish dinner with our host family) until 9-10am. First, we clean up. Unlike many other people we've seen here, our host family brushes their teeth and washes their faces on a regular basis. Nevertheless, I worry because they seldom use soap, and clean up using well-water supplied in little buckets that are also used for rinsing feet and hands after using the outdoor pit latrine.
We eat a breakfast of homemade bread and butter derived from our host family's cow and wheat from their own fields, which is made using fairly simple methods (i.e. earthen furnace with iron barrel lid as bread pan). We drink 2-3 cups of mint tea per meal that is made with dangerously (i.e. for heart and teeth) high amounts of sugar. We practice our Tashlhiyt language skills with our host family (i.e. Uncle Hassan, Aunt Khadija, 12 year-old brother Abdullah, 23 year-old sister Karima, and 30 year-old sister Zahira with new baby, Ryan) because that's the only way we can communicate with people.
Second breakfast is usually at 11am and consists of mint tea, eggs, bread, olive oil, french fries, and or fried green peppers, which are all locally grown by our family. The biggest meal, lunch, is a tagine (meat, oil, and veggie mixture with bread) that occurs between 2-5 pm. This is followed by afternoon snack/tea between 6-8 pm, and usually a dinner of bland milk noodles or tagine around 10-12pm. A healthy dessert of homemade juice (i.e. beet/orange or cucumber/orange), or some kind of melon, is usually served following lunch and dinner. At all meals, we are seated on the floor with other family members around one dish, from which all people eat primarily with their right hand. The left hand, which is used for wiping after latrine usage, is seldom used, but sometimes to tear bread and meat for group distribution (i.e. Good idea for sanitation workshop). Prior to eating, a bucket of water, sometimes with soap, is passed around for rinsing the hands clean, and one towel has the dual purpose of drying hands and serving as communal napkin. I admit that the abundance of oily starchy foods, the frequency and timing of consumption, and the low sanitation standards are not easy for me or Alex to adjust to, but we remain polite, grateful, and tolerant through and through.
Depending on the weather and whether or not our counterpart/host brother is able to come in to the office from Marrakech, next Alex and I either work from our room at our host family's house, or we walk a few km to the office. Our workday normally consists of the following: write emails to associations, translate and review associations' documents (e.g., feasibility studies, scopes of work, environmental impact reports), and make planning/guidance documents for organizing meetings and capacity building/training events. If we go to the office, we are surrounded by a melange of languages. French is the common language of the office, but coworkers can be heard communicating to each other in French, Arabic, Tashlhiyt, German, or English. We have found that the most efficient way to overcome language barriers is to type technical documents in our language of choice, and then use google translator to convert to something we can understand. Even so, there is great potential for misunderstandings.
With respect to “work”, we are still adjusting to the slower paced and indirect style of business interactions here in the country, which has much less emphasis on productivity and efficiency than we are used to in the US. Granted, it is quite nice not having to deal with the stress that comes with the up-tight, competitive, performance-oriented business culture of the US. I have found that people are much more oriented towards the value of building relationships with family and friends, rather than the value of their paycheck (i.e. working to live rather than living to work). In our community, 1-3 days of the work week are spent in time traveling and shopping for living necessities at the souk (i.e. weekly caravan markets that have pretty much everything you can think of). In addition to multiple snack/tea breaks throughout the day, there is also an afternoon nap built into the schedule...very refreshing!
Hmmam (bucket bath) day is usually on Friday, which is also the day of prayer, when Muslims spend more time praying than their normal 5 times/day (a very dedicated people). As for the hammam, it is like a small 1 person sauna made of concrete that we build a fire under to induce extremely hot temperatures. Keep in mind that the temperature during the day this time of year is on average about 105ºF, and so far the temperature has already gotten up to 120°F. Now add a fire and buckets of near boiling water for rinsing, and you've got a 1-2 hour detox session in a human sized oven. I can only imagine how dangerous this practice will be in August during Ramadan, the month-long religious holiday of fasting, when it will be even hotter and there is not any eating or drinking allowed during daylight hours. I guess bathing in the hmmam once a week is more than enough when you consider how exhausting it is to get clean.
Leisurely time is spent socializing (imagine lots of hand gestures, looks of confusion, and laughing) with our host family and neighbors. We also spend time strolling through the gardens, strumming my gimbri on the roof, hiking and climbing on the sizzling hot rocks above the house, or sitting on the floor in the family room where there are always soap operas playing in the background. The soaps are usually Turkish or Bollywoood soap operas translated to Arabic. My favorite is the Saudi Arabian soaps in which men have to deal with multiple wives vying for their attention and resources, which is legal according to Islam and culturally acceptable. On this last point, I have been reading an English translation of the Koran per recommendation of our Tashlhiyt tutor, and am learning the reason why there are so many cultural differences between predominantly Islamic Morocco and predominantly Christian America. I think I will go more in depth about this subject during the month of Ramadan, when we hear that life pretty much slows to a halt.
Alex and I have slept on the roof a few times to avoid the heat and bed bugs in our bedroom. Although we wake up earlier than normal due to sunrise, when falling to sleep, it is quite nice to stare at the milky way (i.e. little to no light pollution means we can see a lot more stars than we are used to in the eastern US) and wishing on all the shooting stars we see (~8/night). Near our house, we also found a quiet swimming hole on the river/creek that has been created via a miniature hand-made cobblestone dam. In the river are tons of frogs, turtles, and snakes. With respect to wildlife sounds, imagine that by day we are serenaded by the sweet sounds of hundreds of song birds coming from the gardens, and at night we are lulled to sleep by a huge chorus of frogs.
For the most part, we are getting along well with our host family, but we are really missing privacy and independent living (e.g., making our own meals, and bathing, eating and coming/going when we want). Luckily, we recently found a very nice apartment to rent in a duplex, and we are really excited about our friendly new neighbors, a rooftop patio, and the duplex's relative proximity to rock-climbing areas and our office. Unfortunately, the house is still under construction, and so we won't be able to move in for another 1-4 weeks. This is a little upsetting considering that the fellow Peace Corps Volunteers whom we've kept up with have already moved into their new houses and apartments. Even after we move in, we will have to share the house for an additional 2 months with the owner and his family because every year he returns home from his work in Casablanca to be near his family members for Ramadan. This means that we will have been living out of our back packs for 6-7 months before we get finally get a place of our own....a place to unpack our bags and develop our own routines again.
Here's a funny story you: Earlier this week Alex and I made a spaghetti dinner for our host family with enough food to feed our family, a few neighbors, and the visiting husband of one of our host sisters (9 people total). Unfortunately only 4 of them ate of the food because they claimed they were full from snack. One person was brave enough to admit that the noodles had a problem because of the tomatoes on top. Apparently, tomato sauce on spaghetti is not common around here, and noodles are usually only topped with milk and butter. Regardless, Alex and I enjoyed the meal with its plethora of crisp veggies, and planned to save it for later consumption. Unfortunately the next day, I noticed that the large plate was set outside the refrigerator with hoards of flies swarming around it. When I asked my host mom why it was uncovered and not in the refrigerator, she said that she was going to feed it to the chickens. I told her that "No, the food is for people, not for chickens," and promptly put it back in the fridge. At this point, my host mom looked at me questioningly and said, "But the chickens eat the food and we eat the chickens, so no problem right?" Later, during snack time they asked if I wanted to eat it, to which I replied yes. After I finished eating, they told me that it was dangerous to eat "that food", and when I asked why, they told me that the electricity had been out since the day before, and thus the refrigerator hadn't been working. I now have diarrhea....doh! At least now I know that it is most likely the intermittent electrical supply that explains my previous bouts of vomitting and diarrhea. I have heard awful stories of other Peace Corps volunteers who have made a friend for life with an intestinal parasite...YIKES!
Despite all the challenges (many not addressed in this forum for fear of offending potential readers) with adapting to rural life in a developing country, Morocco is AWESOME, and I am incredibly happy with the type of international development work we are doing here. The pristine environmental setting, the hospitality of the people, and the cultural exchange is incredible, and we feel truly blessed to have this opportunity, which is unlike anything we've ever experienced before. We are very happy with the relationships we are forming through work opportunities and participation in our host family's daily routines (e.g. caring for animals, helping with meal preparation/clean-up, capacity building with local assocations). Even though we have some difficult experiences ahead, we are hopeful that we will have the strength to overcome the challenges involved with our work here and with our absence from friends and family in the states.
Here are a few photos to recap:
View of village Timzgida from our host family's roof-top.
Host family's courtyard with herb garden at center, and our bedroom is the center block.
Host sister, Zaiera, carrying bucket of fresh milk, and host mom carrying Zaiera's baby.
Host mom squeezing honey from honeycomb which she just retrieved from the hive on top of their house.
Host brother cheesing with the gimbri I bought in Ait Ben Haddou.
Host mom standing outside the hammam. Note fig tree (left) and cactus (right).
Our Tashlhiyt language tutor and eminent sage, Abdlah.
Alex hand washing her clothes.
Helping Abdellah cart doo doo out of the goat/cow/rabbit/donkey pin for fertilizer.
The family/bedroom.
Earthen oven.
Our posh bedroom (We are the only ones with privacy and an elevated bed in the house).
Host family's kitchen.
Propane stove with tagine dish.
Outdoor pit latrin
Jon saluting the moon on the mountain behind our new apartment.
"Peacing-out" on a boulder with our host sister Karima and some neighborhood friends.
Exercising via a 500 foot long limestone traverse behind our host family's house.
Our fancy new office. I hope it is used more after the summer heat burns off.
TADAA...after months of waiting, our new home! The left half of the house contains our apartment!
Covered in flies but still smilin,
Jonathan
