I have been meaning to write this for a long time, but, you know, excuses are easy to come by when you have all the time in the world to think about them. For those of you who care, I’m sorry and hope this makes up for all the unwritten entries. For those of you who don’t care, I hope this entry is amazing enough to make you care next time I neglect to write.
Current location: on the “patio” of my host family’s house. It is a Thursday, which means that most of the tourists are back home for the week and town has gone back to its sleepy self. The sun is out, but up here on the mountain the weather rarely gets excruciatingly hot. Not like the south. Anyway, I am in the shade of a fig and cedar tree and under a trellis of ripening grapes. The patio overlooks the small family garden that is terraced down the beginning of the Zegzal valley. Just down the hill is a steep cliff over which a waterfall tumbles and at the bottom of which is the cave of Pigeons.
If this sounds too good, I think the same thoughts every morning. Well…maybe not EVERY morning, but a lot of them. The beauty that surrounds me is pretty astounding. Where my house sits, I can look down the valley at the towering Zegzel cliffs or if I go down the road a little, I can see the Mediterranean on clear days. No doubt that, if this were in America, there would be a hotel, rest stop, or some sort of scenic overlook where my house is.
It’s a lucky thing that this post is being written. I was just on my way to my host father’s café, when I realized I had some battery left in my computer. As we don’t have electricity at the house, this is sort of a big deal and I wanted to celebrate. So here it is, my celebration of electricity.
I tend to spend most of my time at the Café. My host-father, Ramdan, owns it, and it seems to be a popular place. Especially now, with the World Cup in full swing. It doesn’t have a name and it looks exactly like all the other hole-in-the-wall cafes in Morocco, but when I become a star volunteer and write a book about this, the café will get its own chapter. I might even dedicate the book to it. It’s where I do most of my learning and, since at the moment I have lots of time and not lots to do, I spend a considerable chunk of every day there. I will admit that most of it is spent staring into space or at the tourists passing by. Most of the people have lost interest in me already and just count me as the white guy who doesn’t talk much and who is there way too much (they all know by know how bad at Darija I am, so most don’t have the energy to bother trying).
I could go on about how much of a struggle the boredom and rejection and language are, but really, I still feel like this is a bit of a vacation. Just one where there is little to do and even littler money to do it with. When I say little, I only mean that in the scope of my situation. I have two years and lots of time. If I were on vacation I would not have enough time. I’ve set up a system of rationing (I try do this with some foods as well i.e. Mike and Ikes with less success) so that, at least for the first few months, I can have new things to do and new places to go when I need them.
Examples of ways I pass my time outside of sitting around:
1) I spend a lot of time looking for and figuring out how I’m going to find a place to live. I actually just signed a contract for a very nice place today, but until I have all my stuff there and I’m soundly sleeping in my own bed, I’m going to be skeptical. When I have it, though, welcome to anyone who wants to stop by.
2) I look through the previous volunteer’s donation to me, sifting through the junk in search of useful things. I have found a bed, stove, playing cards, coffee, plunger, and two seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space 9. There were a lot of dirty clothes and dishes to go through to get to them, but I am very thankful to Jonathon for it all.
3) I take trips out of site once in a while for varying activities. I have now been to Fez, the national park outside of Taza, the beach near me, and Rabat. I also spend quite a bit of time in Oujda and Jerada, where the nearest volunteers to me live. It is about 2-3 hours away depending on how many people want to get on and off the bus on the way there.
4) Another way I pass the time is at home with the family. Mostly I play with the kids, because it’s an easy way to have fun without talking. Sometimes, when I’m very lucky, I get to help with the manual labor. I mean that. I really appreciate now doing real work. Ramdan, again, is my host father. In addition to owning a café, he works for the Kied (or local mayor type person), and farms. He is a kind man and clearly cares about the future of his children. He has been very patient with me. His wife Cherifa is also very kind and patient. In addition, she is an amazing cook and, it appears, has quite the sense of humor. Their kids are 3li (17), Sana (13), and Yassine (11). Yassine is a handful and both him and Sana always want to play some game or other, but they are polite and helpful when I need anything. 3li just got home for the summer from high school in Berkane, and now he spends most of his time working at the café. I get along with him very well.
5) Finally, I do a lot of hiking around. There are some established trails around the mountains outside of town. I also make my own way once in a while. Today we actually had a large group of students from colleges around the country hike into town. The nice forested area around my mountains is relatively small, but I’m lucky to have it.
Right now I have a few things that I am looking forward to. First being the World Cup. It’s quite an event here even though Morocco’s team sucks (not my words, theirs). Secondly I will be moving out of my home stay soon. While it has been a good experience, four months was plenty and I’m ready for some privacy again. I’m also ready to stop living out of my bags finally. Around this time, I have some friends coming to visit from the States. They are stopping here for a week as part of their Euro trip. After that a Fourth of July celebration on the beach. A few weeks later some more training in the Atlas Mountains. And then a weekend in Rabat for work.
Wow, looking at it. I actually have a lot to do!
Anyway, that was way too much to write, so I’m going to try to do this more regularly. But, you know, no promises.
