Travel Log, June 7, 2009

This morning, Melodie served us coffee in bed! I heart Melodie. Oh man--we slept til 8:40am. Heavenly.

S and Co. made "Svinge"--fried dough rings [yes, like doughnuts, but not]--to be dipped in sugar, coffee, or the fried egg in oil concoction. So much tasty oil in this country. SO much.

After saying besalama, we drove in the van (9: Russ and the gals) and truck (B and Rick) down the mountain to meet Joey. As we neared a minaret, Sarah said "Is that a WHITE GUY???" Yes. It was. It was Joey, along with M. Everyone, including J, piled into the van. Ie, FOURTEEN people. [It's Morocco. Just don't think about it.]

Up in that area, the gov't put up a memorial to the work FOR is doing. Apparently it claims they did things they didn't do, and don't say some things they do do, but it's still pretty cool:


We drove to the Sunday souk (market), which is the locals' (ie not tourists') market. It's usually "a guy thing", but as foreign women, it was somehow ok for us to go. (We actually saw several local-looking women there.) The guys were saying "labess!" "salam!" often, as anyone who's anyone goes to the Sunday souk, man. Joey knows all the gendarme, apparently, too.




(written on June 8, 2009)

We stayed close to Joey and M as they led us through the booths of anything a Moroccan could want in daily life, with screaming vendors and dirty roads and staring men. Yep--a group of four men and eight American women sure causes a scene.

Souk!

Anna and me!

Mint for tea:

Donkey baskets:

Textiles:


We bought Toniks (candy) for 1 Dh and admired some clothes (some for beauty, some for nonsense or misspelled English phrases). We briefly looked at goat heads (mmmm tasty...?), and Amy watched a chicken-killing. The watermelon guy hammed it up for our cameras, as did his buddy the pepper dude. A bunch of us bought a mix of spices that they use for tajines (delicious meat dish).

Spices:

Watermelon Guy!!

The Pepper Dude joined Watermelon Guy:

Leaving the souk:


At home, we SHOWERED!!! Alhemdu Allah! ("Praise God" in my personal phonetic Arabic spelling.) I put on makeup, even, for the first time since leaving home, did my hair, wore earrings, and put on my favorite "Moroccan" outfit.

Fun words:
psaw..?--really...?
wa--yes
la--no
waha--ok
buzz--to pass gas (in Rifi)
maleesh--whatever, no worries
shukran--thank you
blezhmere--you're welcome
zeed--more
soffi--enough
hmar--donkey
hmuck--crazy
labess--"how are you?" and "fine!"
fin kein--where is
sbah lkhir--good morning
kif kif--same same
chobbes--bread
meziehn--good
ejoos--almonds
manarf--I don't know
ul-mah--water
zbida--butter
yezho--bricks
ah-te--tea

Silly sayings:
"Nish ish fish"--"I eat fish" in Rifi. (Well, "fish" is not Rifi, but it rhymes.)
"Cool dude"--"eat worms". Yes. "Cool" is "eat" and "dude" is "worms" ("dooda" is worm) in Arabic.
"ENU ENU!!!"--"MINE MINE!!" (in Rifi) [I learned that from a two-year-old.]

Melodie, Joey, and Dani drove us that afternoon in two squished vehicles to Hoceima. I rode with Mel in her truck and held Elias (2) on my lap in the front. He is fluent in both English and Rifi, and babbled to me the whole time (in English) about the trucks he saw and the big hills and was just generally adorable.

We first went to a store that is Mel's favorite. They had shoes, purses, wallets, boxes, dishes, leather seats/footstools, and a host of other "traditional" souvenirs. I bought shoes (leather) for Dad and two aunts (Amy got the other aunts and David). I may get a footstool, but was overwhelmed at the moment.

Beth and I wanted coffee, but the cafes here are, again, "a guy thing". No local women go, and Mel didn't want us in there alone. [Women can expect to be verbally and perhaps even physically harassed. I really take issue with a chunk of this culture.] So we met Joey and Dani at a park and got ice cream instead. :)

Little Benson:

Driving home through Hoceima:


We paid room and board for the two weeks in cash. I enjoyed holding 6000 Dh (for Beth and me--it's about $700):

Travel Log, June 6, 2009

June 6, 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Written June 7, 2009)

Yesterday (Saturday), was a BIG work day. Everyone went to the widow/divorcee's site. First thing: break up and level the HILL by the back wall.

The men got picks and the gals got shovels [but we got turns with the picks, too] and soon everyone was exhausted and covered in a fine red dirt film. Even our teeth turned red. Hope it's not toxic! Haha!





(Popular sayings: "Eh, it's Morocco.", "Just don't think about it.", and "Maleesh" (Whatever/no worries in Arabic). These are useful when...things take a long time, you see cockroaches in your bed, you inhale strangely colored foreign dirt, etc...)

Yesterday was BAD for allergies. Maybe had to do with the dust? No? I had to take both normal pills and Sudafed and was out of it and STILL sneezing all day. Sigh. I had to take lots of breaks.

We also gathered tons of rocks. Joey directed us to climb up high and throw them down, then assembly line throw the rest of the way. I saw another Charlotte and lots of eggs. Ew.

We worked until 4pm (instead of the usual 2pm), because Joey offered the staff a day off if we get the roof poured by next Saturday, which means the floor had to be done TODAY. I was so tired and annoyed at the volunteers who were super gung-ho about working longer and delaying lunch. The Lord gave me strength, and it was actually really fun. ;)

We took wheelbarrowfuls of gravel and mixed in wheelbarrowfuls of sand until we had 50 total in a huge pile. Then they added the powder, and about five strong men made like cement trucks and mixed in water with shovels. We drove barrels of water up from the stream in the van and buckets up on the donkey.

The floor was, you know, first dirt, then they laid a puzzle of stones on top and we gals filled cracks in with tons of little rocks.

So. Many. Rocks.


A breaks up a rock so it fits in perfectly:


Then, the men shoveled cement into two wheelbarrows on the foundation and two buckets manned by girls, and dumped it evenly over the floor. J (aka the Moroccan Johnny Depp) smoothed it out with a piece of wood.




Horror of horrors--we didn't have enough gravel. Joey took Amy, Susanna, and I to get more. His pickup was still broken, so we shoveled it into the van. Nice. Finally, the foundation was FINISHED, and we ATE!!


Dee always brought really good lunch, and that dog adopted us because he got scraps:


One of the hardest parts about being here is being so DIRTY. We were all red and filthy and smelly, and arrived home to...no running water. ARGH! The situation was made worse because we all (the two teams) were off to spend the night at Melodie, B, and S's up in the hills, which just doesn't have running water period.

Ten sweaty people kinda cleaned off, packed sheets, pillows, and blankets, and drove an hour up to Melodie's. It was gorgeous up there in her small village--from her bedroom, you can see the sea, and from the roof, the view of the mountains is amazing. It's so peaceful. You see a farm or mosque here and there, the occasional donkey or sheep--but mostly it's red-brown hills dotted with green bushy trees, and blue-blue sky. It smells so nice, too. Fresh and earthy.





We had tea, and posed while waiting for it:


We went on a walk:



We hung out on the roof and practiced our Rifi-women-greeting:



We had hamburgers and french fries for dinner. HA! Rick and Sarah grilled them on the roof over new "shaweylas" purchased at the hanout in Izemmourren.


W is S's sister. We met her other sisters (she has five) and her mom! S speaks pretty good English and has eaten burgers before, but it was fun introducing everyone else to them. :)

Some girls slept on the roof, but Sandy, Sarah, Anna, and I deemed it to be too cold. It's very breezy up in the mountains! We slept in Melodie's living room; Anna and I shared a comfy couch-bed.

Travel Log, June 4-5, 2009

June 4, 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Moroccans are such generous people. It is amazing how much they give us out of how little they have. One group was offered a lunch of rabbit today--they were admiring the family of rabbits, when the woman of the house picked one up to show them. The volunteers said "aaawwweee", when all of a sudden, she made a move to wring its neck. They screamed "WHOA WAIT WHAT?" Trying to explain they were just about to eat lunch, they frantically called Joey and had him inform them in Arabic. The rabbit was (probably temporarily) saved!

We get tea and bread every day, sometimes twice or thrice a day:



Most of the AZ team went off to whitewash today (and get offered adorable lunch), while my team, Rick, and Sarah returned to the foundation we were laying.

(Story continued on June 5, 2009)

We have to move lots of rocks today---some from the hill at first, but then just made our assembly line and moved river rocks from the pile to the site where T was building the foundation walls. He, S, and Rick used the hose filled with water to level the walls again.




To mix cement, S shoveled sand, gravel, and cement powder into a pile and stirred in water (with a shovel). We had two barrels of it, but ran out. So, we gals took turns using the two buckets and walking down hill to the creek, filling them up, and returning to fill the barrels.




Beth and I met Charlotte on one trip. Charlotte is a LARGE spider.
From my journal:

Actual picture of the one and only Charlotte:


We hate her.

Later, Sarah and Beth saw two of Charlotte's friends. They moved to a new watering hole.

The brother of the women for whom we are building noticed our slow process and lent us their DONKEY. (Hmar.) We filled two big jugs with water, loaded them on Donkey (I was just informed that Moroccans do NOT name donkeys), and led him (it was definitely a him) up to the site. He was a good boy [ohohoho just you wait], but occasionally brayed at the top of his lungs. When we were done, S let Amy ride him back, side-saddle. She was so pleased. :)

Rashida and Hanan with Donkey:



S is so mischievous. When we were depleting the river rock pile, we found another Charlotte (this would be #4). He told us that she would bite and make our arms swell up, so we screamed. He put on gloves, grabbed her by a leg, and chased us. Ha. Then Anna squished her. Whew.

(First day, we saw a scorpion. The men tore off its tail, and it died.)

After work, Melodie drove down from the village with B and S's two kids (Elias 3 and Titi 2) and W's young sisters (12 and 11). Beth, Sarah, and I piled into the truck with them and we drove to THE BEACH!!! Yes, we swam in the Mediterranean!! The sand was kind of "dirty", but the water temperature was perfect and view fantastic--of brown cliffs and sandbars, and blue sky and waves. There were (of course) mostly men on the beach, but there were a few women. They were all SO modest--in scarves, at least knee length capris, and dress on top of those. We wore big shirts over our suits out of respect (and I still kind of felt like a slut). W's sisters had only been to the beach a few times, and were scared but eager to go into the waves. Mel, Beth, and I had fun dragging them in! Joey brought a whole family who had never been to the beach (despite living within 45 minutes of it), and we all had a blast pulling them in, too.







I napped for a while, and burned my neck and one ear. That takes talent.

That night, H came over to share his testimony (through M). He has an amazing one--he was a hashish dealer and druggie until a car accident that should have killed everyone in the car, but no one was too badly injured. Now his life has completely turned around and he is living for God.

I love listening to prayers in Arabic. It is such a beautiful language. I would love to learn it, man. We are picking up words in it and Rifi slowly!


~~~~~~~~~
June 5th, 2009
~~~~~~~~~

This morning, Beth and Callie went visiting with Melodie, and witnessed a riot in the marketplace! Mel. thinks it's due to the elections, which are next week.

Russ and my team (minus Beth) whitewashed, while the rest returned to the foundation house. First, we ran errands with Joey.

(written on June 7, 2009)

Errands like...picking up wood, dropping it off, picking up cement, dropping it off, etc. Then, we WHITEWASHED. We had been warned to wear crummy clothes. Good thing. Painting the lime-water mixture on the walls wasn't so bad, but CEILINGS! We were all so nicely dribbled. We put the second coat on every inside wall (this house had four rooms, bathroom, and kitchen) and got most of the outside done. I got to paint the outside walls by laying on the roof and painting top down. SWEET.





FOR houses are all whitewashed (for light and to keep it cool) with bright cobalt blue window shutters and door frames. So pretty. We were thrilled to be served coffee with fresh milk rather than the usual toothpaste-flavored syrup. This family was so nice. The dad and three boys helped and taught us more Rifi/Arabic. They were so cute--about 5-12 years old--and played marbles with Anna.



(note the excited woman on the roof)


This is their old house, which was destroyed in the 2004 earthquake:


Joey picked us up and drove off to get B and H. As we drove up, we saw them running and swatting the air. OH NO! They were swarmed by BEES. They jumped into the van and brought a few with'm. The guys swatted with hats and girls screamed and then they were gone. Whew. B was stung twice on his head. After about ten minutes, he became really dizzy...we stopped and decided to take him to a clinic. We dropped him and Joey off, and continued to lunch at the other site. Poor guys--it was an hour late! Thankfully, B was ok--we picked him up on the way home.

:)