Other side of the world

Listening to: Joy Division (certainly a top 10 band for me.)

As I have told you, my precious readers (broken record style,) winter can be a real pain for me. Lately though, we have had a much welcomed respite from the cold, and temperatures are up, and precipitation is low. This equation, as you might guess, leaves the spirits high. While I think this will change in the next few days, I don’t really care, because the light is very near at the end of the proverbial winter tunnel. I will explain…

The Blood Runs through the streets

Listening to: Sigur Ros – ( ) 2002 … the parentheses are the album title. Icelandic Band are one of my favs.

*This post contains graphic descriptive writing, and may not be suitable for those with weak stomachs, or who cannot take descriptive opinion and thoughts about animal killings.*

Today, when I was texting a friend, I wrote a benediction as the response. I wanted to share that with you all now.

“May your streets be cleansed with the blood of the slaughter, and your body be ever filled with the meat of the blessing of Abraham.” – Me

Eid al adha, commonly referred to as 3id kbir (big holiday), is the celebration of Abraham (same guy as in the bible… as many of the biblical characters are EXACTLY the same in Islam) and his willingness to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, to God in obedience. This holiday is the biggest single holiday in the Islamic calendar (month of Ramadan might be equally as big.) In the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, roughly 3.4 MILLION people are making the pilgrimage in what is referred to as the “Hajj.” This pilgrimage to the Kabaa (the most sacred site in Islam) is one of the five pillars of Islam (if anyone wants me to discuss the five pillars… I will, please please ask if you do.) It is expected that every Muslim should make the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime. People save up all of their money in order to pay for the trip.

This is essentially my equivalent of Moroccan Christmas. Everyone is in a festive spirit, and every family purchases an animal (sheep, goat, camel, cow… BUT NOT PIG… that is considered unclean in Islam) to slaughter as celebration for Abraham and his obedience. So just think, however Muslim families are living around the world, each one is expected to slaughter. That is a lot of food, and a lot of blood. Puddles of blood sit in the packed mud streets, various shades of red. Children get gifts and money in order to go out and stock up on some candy and sugary type goods. Everyone is happy.

Pioneering…(You have died of dysentery)

Listening to: The Secret Sisters – Self Titled album (2010)

After writing the title out, I realize that on quick glance some who are not familiar with the game “Oregon Trail” may be caught off guard, think I have some ghastly illness, or am just screwing around. My apologies. If you clicked inadvertently hoping to find me ill or under some immense duration of stress… sorry, maybe next time.

Being from Ohio, I grew up in a what was once the good ‘ol frontier back in the day. I mean really, any of us did if we are from the states. But us Buckeyes (WOOT!) have a very rich history of first settling and living at peace with the native peoples, then beating the crap out of them in order due to the early appearance of Westward expansion, and national security. Some of the most famous pioneers and Native Americans come from the region. I am dirt-dang proud of those facts (well, except the really mean parts about running people out and killing people etc… but that is history.)

Growing up in this former frontier land, I have learned about this rich history in a number of ways. Seeing ancient native burial ground and cities, watching re-enactments of famous natives and pioneers are just a few of the things that exist in and around Ohio. It is a lovely place, and quite honestly, being away from it makes me want to delve into the history more.

But, I am in Morocco, and there are more important things in life… like my own winter survival.

Warm things (On Returning Home)

Listening to: Sweater Weather – Now, Everyone Can Sing

When I looked up the date, I realize my dear readers that it has been over a month!!! WOW. It has been fairly busy, and I have been a mix of out of site for work and vacation, in site working on projects, and just hanging out. I don’t really count those as excuses. But I am back now, and wanted to update a few things.

Coming back to town today, I seemed to be greeted by a lot of little kids. But rather than getting a “Bonjour,” most of the kids greeted me with “Salam.” This made me feel at home, and warmed my soul a little bit, as I have been gone a week, and got back in town exhausted! I love that over the period I have been here, enough people, especially kids, know me and say hello to me. It makes me feel warm fuzziness. I just had to put this little story out there.

Also, While I walked through my town today I thought… “well, the weather isn’t so bad out.” Then I walked into my house, realized it was colder than the outside, and thought… “Yuck, welcome to the cold.” A few hours later, I sit here with a hat on my head, USB gloves (with heaters in them) rocking out on my hands, and later tonight I will break out the fleece pants, top, and socks.

My nose is cold, and my fingertips were numb (prior to breaking out the gloves.) While I certainly dislike the strain and stresses of beating the cold, there is something survivalist about it. It is intriguing that because I have experienced this before, my body and I will be much better prepared than last year.

It is a little earlier than I recall for the cold, but maybe it is the combination of me being gone, and not being able to control the temp of my house. You see, when I am around, I open the windows during the day to let some heat into the house. I will put my stove back in next week (or later this week if I have time,) and then can light a fire once in a while. Since I will be gone for a month in Dec/Jan (to India!) I have enough wood to start burning now.

Also, I will be traveling over the winter in order to beat the heat. I will spend 28 days in India in December/January, and other than that traveling to warmer parts of Morocco when time permits. I just got back from visiting a fellow PCV in the south of the country, and it was great to see that part of the country, the Anti-Atlas mountains, spend some relaxing few days with a couple of dear friends, where we hiked to some painted (literally) rocks, cooked some great food, and did a 1000 piece puzzle. In between there was a lot of relaxing and just kicking it, catching up, and getting quality time in before parting ways.

On the work front, we had another successful women’s community health leaders training. Essentially, a group of us PCVs brought in women (leaders) from 10-12 small villages outside of mine, and had them discuss and learn about various health issues, and come up with action plans to tell others in the community about health education. I essentially did a bunch of logistics, and the health PCVs in the area did a great job of the training. Hopefully as we follow up on this project over the next few months we will see some results, as we hold local meetings in these small villages for local women… AND men (but separately.)

I also went out to a local village to assess a water project, and hopefully can help them, out. Funding for the project will be tight, and while I don’t know if the time-frame works in my favor (before I leave) I can maybe get the project started for that local community. Little by little.

I also spent part of last week in Marrakech at a training for the volunteers a year below me. I gave a presentation about my Biomass briquette project. The presentation went well, and I got some good feedback, and hopefully generated some interest and/or thoughts into those types of projects.

This is my short but sweet blog post. Hopefully I can be getting back into this, and tackling whatever issues come along! Much Love, and talk to you all soon!

(Part 2) “The World is your Oyster”… and old school hipsters

Listening to: The National – White Sessions (Live album)

Really, before I rattled off into randomness, the point of the blog post initially was to discuss my current situation, and update you (all my lovely readers) about what has been going on here in my world. WHAT I AM SAYING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART IS IN THE BOTTOM HALF, SO I ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ IT.

If you haven’t read part 1, do it. It is full of useless information…BUT, you will be able to spit out some small talk when you are on your next date. The date will certainly might be impressed, and… well read it RIGHT HERE.

With 7 months (likely) to go before I finish my service in Peace Corps, my friends who came 6 months before me are getting ready to leave. This got me thinking a little about post Peace Corps.

Family Reunions/Mergings, Little Hellions, and Sentimentalizations.

Listening to: Elf Power; Album: Self Titled ; Year: 2010

Let me state this for the record. I have never been to a family reunion. (Unless you consider marriages and funerals family reunions of sort, which in a way, they are adequate places for reuniting, and celebrations of family.) If I were to go to a family reunion, I would probably be labeled as “that guy,” and “who invited him, shouldn’t he get a haircut and take that thing out of his tongue first. Didn’t he see clause one of the ‘Family Reunion Contract.'” However, I have never been to a reunion… maybe the rest of the family has had one and I wasn’t invited for the above reasons. Anyway, this trend continues in Morocco.

I love my family though, and miss them all. However, rest assured actual family in the US, I have a loving family here in Morocco too. They take good care of me, as one of their own. Being accepted with such open arms, and parting with tears can be a moving, emotional experience.

This past week, my host sister, all of 23 or 24, got hitched, tied the knot… got married. I was invited by my host family (I will just call them family from now on okay.) Initially, I was against going. Too busy, work picking up, and wanting to get back into the groove of things (As Madonna, my birthday sharing singer tells us.) However, I thought about how my family raised me, took me in, made me comfortable, gave me the foundations of language and culture. Essentially they raised me from the age of 2, where I was learning to speak, until around the age of 12… which is where I feel my language skills might be at today (some days I feel like I am 5. Maybe others 16.)

This unconditional, non blood-related type love drove me to reunite with them. Thinking of my sister, and this being potentially one of, if not the most important day of her life (as it is with many Moroccan women,) there was not even another correct choice. Also, I missed my family, my friends, and the environment immensely. I have been busy, but not busy enough to miss her day.

Moroccan weddings are in some ways similar to US, and western type weddings. Certainly there are differences. I will try not to be too wordy, however, there is much to discuss. I also have pictures to accompany, but for time constraints, those will have to wait.