Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
busy bee
recently i've been working on my old lady skills.
first of course is the rustic sort of culinary projects i've told you about. i can't quite decide if i feel like a gramma, a crunchy hippie or some sort of pioneer woman when i soak my chickpeas over night, strain them for stones and bugs, sort them for bad ones, take off the peels and theeeeen add them into soup (complete with rachel's awesome home-made veggie broth). maybe none of the above. maybe just someone without a whole lot of money but pleanty of time on her hands. and besides, food tastes way better when you've spent that much time with it (:
i've also been mastering the fine old lady art of embroidery. i've been exchanging english lessons with this wonderful woman, hajiba, for moroccan style embroidery ones. i use the term mastering loosly... dabbling might be a better word. every wednesday i go and spend a few hours with her in her workshop and she guides me through the impossibly intricate patterning. she has a few other students also- three moroccan girls. the workshop space also serves as a gossip circle for the four women. the language barrier prevents me from understanding most of the good stuff, but now i have a good goal for learning arabic...
my days have been filling up nicely lately. i've got some new tutoring clients and i've just started volunteering at this pretty awesome woman's empowerment association in town. i'm teaching both the staff and a group of young girls english lessons. i'm especially excited to be working with the girls- they are all girls who have stopped school and are at risk of becoming house servents- this association is working with them to get them back in school and also does vocational training. pretty awesome place. i'm really happy to be able to do something that feels useful there, and to have students who aren't totally spoiled rich kids.
yes, yes, all of this recent activity has severely cut down in my aimless wandering and exploring time. i think i'm pretty ok with that.
ok, thats all. hope you're all staying warm.
maura
first of course is the rustic sort of culinary projects i've told you about. i can't quite decide if i feel like a gramma, a crunchy hippie or some sort of pioneer woman when i soak my chickpeas over night, strain them for stones and bugs, sort them for bad ones, take off the peels and theeeeen add them into soup (complete with rachel's awesome home-made veggie broth). maybe none of the above. maybe just someone without a whole lot of money but pleanty of time on her hands. and besides, food tastes way better when you've spent that much time with it (:
i've also been mastering the fine old lady art of embroidery. i've been exchanging english lessons with this wonderful woman, hajiba, for moroccan style embroidery ones. i use the term mastering loosly... dabbling might be a better word. every wednesday i go and spend a few hours with her in her workshop and she guides me through the impossibly intricate patterning. she has a few other students also- three moroccan girls. the workshop space also serves as a gossip circle for the four women. the language barrier prevents me from understanding most of the good stuff, but now i have a good goal for learning arabic...
my days have been filling up nicely lately. i've got some new tutoring clients and i've just started volunteering at this pretty awesome woman's empowerment association in town. i'm teaching both the staff and a group of young girls english lessons. i'm especially excited to be working with the girls- they are all girls who have stopped school and are at risk of becoming house servents- this association is working with them to get them back in school and also does vocational training. pretty awesome place. i'm really happy to be able to do something that feels useful there, and to have students who aren't totally spoiled rich kids.
yes, yes, all of this recent activity has severely cut down in my aimless wandering and exploring time. i think i'm pretty ok with that.
ok, thats all. hope you're all staying warm.
maura
Friday, February 16, 2007
address
i finally figured out my mailing address:
56 Derb El Hammam
Riad Laarouss
40000
Marrakesh, Morocco
if you're inspired to send snail mail i promise to be an awesome pen-pal.
life here continues to treat me well. my roomate, rachel, and i have gotten quite into cooking delicious dinners lately. it's a fun challenge to find stuff in the market and figure out what to do with it. though morocco is not-so-vegeterian-friendly in general, there are tons and tons of wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables all over the place literally for pennies a pound. so, with a little experimentation with mystery vegetables and spices and some help from the internet we've done pretty well for ourselves. we've also had lot's of fun inviting people over for dinner partyish gatherings. i really love the moroccan sense of hospitality- it's totally normal to invite people for dinner even if you've just met. we've had some of the most interesting people both moroccan and foreign and off all ages over to our little abode. the most notable was this british artist who we met in a cafe. he had lots of crazy stories about his youth as a struggling starving artist, but made it clear those days were behind him. so, we of course googled him the next day and he's totally famous! he was in all these british journals as like an in vougue celeberity artist. and to think, he was eating lentils with us in our tiny kitchen. next time he comes back we're all going to have a meal in his fancy pants riad he's recently bought in central marrakesh. crazy world.
so, i am seriously considering staying for another year. all of the teachers at the american high school are deciding whether or not they want to come back in the fall, which means that several positoins are opening. i could probably get one seeing as i'm here already and know some people who are working there. i really am happy here, but am also sort of petrified of missing some sort of boat back in the us if you know what i mean. the decision has been plaguing my thoughts recently... i think i'm waiting for some sort of religiousish sign or something (coming from a borderline atheist). anyhow, any input or words of wisdom would be much appreciated at this point.
i miss you all. do keep me posted on what is happening over there.
maura
56 Derb El Hammam
Riad Laarouss
40000
Marrakesh, Morocco
if you're inspired to send snail mail i promise to be an awesome pen-pal.
life here continues to treat me well. my roomate, rachel, and i have gotten quite into cooking delicious dinners lately. it's a fun challenge to find stuff in the market and figure out what to do with it. though morocco is not-so-vegeterian-friendly in general, there are tons and tons of wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables all over the place literally for pennies a pound. so, with a little experimentation with mystery vegetables and spices and some help from the internet we've done pretty well for ourselves. we've also had lot's of fun inviting people over for dinner partyish gatherings. i really love the moroccan sense of hospitality- it's totally normal to invite people for dinner even if you've just met. we've had some of the most interesting people both moroccan and foreign and off all ages over to our little abode. the most notable was this british artist who we met in a cafe. he had lots of crazy stories about his youth as a struggling starving artist, but made it clear those days were behind him. so, we of course googled him the next day and he's totally famous! he was in all these british journals as like an in vougue celeberity artist. and to think, he was eating lentils with us in our tiny kitchen. next time he comes back we're all going to have a meal in his fancy pants riad he's recently bought in central marrakesh. crazy world.
so, i am seriously considering staying for another year. all of the teachers at the american high school are deciding whether or not they want to come back in the fall, which means that several positoins are opening. i could probably get one seeing as i'm here already and know some people who are working there. i really am happy here, but am also sort of petrified of missing some sort of boat back in the us if you know what i mean. the decision has been plaguing my thoughts recently... i think i'm waiting for some sort of religiousish sign or something (coming from a borderline atheist). anyhow, any input or words of wisdom would be much appreciated at this point.
i miss you all. do keep me posted on what is happening over there.
maura
Monday, February 12, 2007
spring is in the air
hello,
sorry i've been so bad at keeping this up, as you probably know i'm not really a blogger at heart... anyhow, life in morocco continues to treat me well. it's starting to really feel like summer here, the saharra sun has definitely put some renewed life into the city. the streets are buzzing even more than usual and everyone seems to be in extra good spirits. ha, yesterday the guy who i buy oranges from told me that if i stayed in morocco i would get some color in my skin 'ench'allah' ['if god wills it', or in this case more like 'i hope to god'].
let's see, what is new... well, last weekend i spent a couple of days in the atlas mountains visiting my roomate, jordan, in the village where he is researching. beeeautiful! it felt so good just to get out of the city and breath some fresh air, and the atlas really are breath taking. the village itself was really amazing as well. it was wonderful to have jordan as a sort of tour guide, he's been living there off and on throughout the year and really has done a great job of immersing in the community. we spent the first day pretty much going from house to house drinking tea and eating cookies, soup etc, talking about the weather and catching up on gossip. well, jordan did all of the catching up- i myself had no idea what was going on because everyone was speaking berber. but jordan did some good translating so i caught the juicy parts. the hospitality in the community was really amazing, it seemed like every time we left one door someone would come along and invite us into their house- and it was almost impossible to tell who lived where because everyone was in everyone else's house. oh! and i met jordan's new baby goat. don't worry, he's a vegeterian, the goat is purely for bragging purposes when he's talking with the other men. but he was so cute i almost wanted to bring him back to marrakesh with me... also of note, i went on a hike with a boy, mohammed, who looked like he was about 10, and got absolutely burned. not only was he like half my height, but he was wearing plastic sandals and yet still hiked me into the ground. he was jumping from rock to rock and laughing as i was huffing and puffing behind. i think i was border-line crippled yesterday i was so sore, but the view at the top was totally worth it!
so yeah, i really enjoyed my time there. hopefully i'll get to return for a longer stay... there is some talk of exchanging english lessons for room and board, so that is possibly my plan for the summer... we shall see. speaking of bartering, after i leave this internet cafe i'm going to talk with a woman about exchanging english lessons for morrocan style embroidery ones. sweet deal, huh? i'll let you know how it goes.
ok, i have to get going. hope things are going well on the other side of the ocean.
best,
maura
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
new place
hello hello
i spent the majority of the day yesterday with my two roomates moving into our new place... i thought moving in the us was a pain. omigod. we were only moving like a 20 minute walk from rachel's old place, but somehow it took all day. luckily we decided to hire a man-drawn cart to take us through the city with all our stuff. i guess its like the moroccan u-haul. so we totally loaded the cart with all of our suitcases, back packs, boxes etc. and we all sort of caravaned through the crowded, windy, pot-holed filled cobble stone streets. and it was raining to top it all off. that poor man. we almost had an accident because we couldn't quite squeeze past a donkey cart at one point. it was a pretty hilarious scene.
but the new place is really great. its much smaller, but feels more like home already. it's been fun trying to find household items in the markets- today i'm going to hunt for a spice rack and spice containers (spices in market are all in bulk, so right now all of ours are wrapped in paper or in little bags). the neighborhood is really great too, it's much farther into the heart of the old city, so it's much more 'moroccan' feeling. though its also much harder to find, which mixed with my ewing sense of direction has lead to lots of wandering. to be perfectly honest i'm in the new city right now and i have no idea how to get home...
last night we had our first house dinner. jordan's moroccan fiancee (!), nadira, was visiting from casablanca. she is a pretty amazing cook so we all helped her make a wonderful moroccan feast of carrot tagine, eggplant salad and sauteed zucchini. delicious. we all ate family style around our makeshift dining room table and then spent some time rubbing our bellies. can't complain.
oh, the one thing about living in such a residental area is that there are many many kids running around. generally that would be a nice thing, but it just so happens that we are in the middle of a month long holiday where kids are given drums and allowed to light fires. i'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to combine children with drums and fire, but i disagree. from what i gather the drums are pretty much to see who can play the loudest for the longest. and the fires are for the older boys to jump over, that part is pretty cool to watch actually- though it yanks any maternal strings i have in my body.
ok, no more rambling. i miss you all.
maura
i spent the majority of the day yesterday with my two roomates moving into our new place... i thought moving in the us was a pain. omigod. we were only moving like a 20 minute walk from rachel's old place, but somehow it took all day. luckily we decided to hire a man-drawn cart to take us through the city with all our stuff. i guess its like the moroccan u-haul. so we totally loaded the cart with all of our suitcases, back packs, boxes etc. and we all sort of caravaned through the crowded, windy, pot-holed filled cobble stone streets. and it was raining to top it all off. that poor man. we almost had an accident because we couldn't quite squeeze past a donkey cart at one point. it was a pretty hilarious scene.
but the new place is really great. its much smaller, but feels more like home already. it's been fun trying to find household items in the markets- today i'm going to hunt for a spice rack and spice containers (spices in market are all in bulk, so right now all of ours are wrapped in paper or in little bags). the neighborhood is really great too, it's much farther into the heart of the old city, so it's much more 'moroccan' feeling. though its also much harder to find, which mixed with my ewing sense of direction has lead to lots of wandering. to be perfectly honest i'm in the new city right now and i have no idea how to get home...
last night we had our first house dinner. jordan's moroccan fiancee (!), nadira, was visiting from casablanca. she is a pretty amazing cook so we all helped her make a wonderful moroccan feast of carrot tagine, eggplant salad and sauteed zucchini. delicious. we all ate family style around our makeshift dining room table and then spent some time rubbing our bellies. can't complain.
oh, the one thing about living in such a residental area is that there are many many kids running around. generally that would be a nice thing, but it just so happens that we are in the middle of a month long holiday where kids are given drums and allowed to light fires. i'm not sure who thought it would be a good idea to combine children with drums and fire, but i disagree. from what i gather the drums are pretty much to see who can play the loudest for the longest. and the fires are for the older boys to jump over, that part is pretty cool to watch actually- though it yanks any maternal strings i have in my body.
ok, no more rambling. i miss you all.
maura
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
words of wisdom
today i took a cab ride and the cab driver told me, "i love americans... but your president, he is just so simple in the head." hahaha
i love marrakesh. i feel like it's an adventure every time i leave the door. my roomate, rachel, is like the best person to know in the world- she's been introducing me to people and showing me around quite a bit. and she's already hooked me up with a couple of tutoring clients. tutoring pays quite well- if i get a couple more i should be fine with money and still have pleanty of time for adventuring! shes doing a really interesting fulbright research scholarship dealing with woman's literacy. my other roomate, jordan, is doing his fulbright research in a village in the atlas mountains so he is only in the city for a few days at a time. sometime soon i think i'll join him for one of his village stays- he says its a really beautiful place. oh! we found a new apt. well, rachel did. it's really cute and is in a nice neighborhood in the 'old city.' theoretically its a one bedroom but there is enough common space that the three of us will be quite comfortable. and there is lots of couch space for visitors...
ok, thats all. i think i'm going to go bike shopping now. there are lots of very very vintage bike shops in the market. i think it will be a good way to scoot scoot around the city and do some exploring with a little more ease.
-Maura
i love marrakesh. i feel like it's an adventure every time i leave the door. my roomate, rachel, is like the best person to know in the world- she's been introducing me to people and showing me around quite a bit. and she's already hooked me up with a couple of tutoring clients. tutoring pays quite well- if i get a couple more i should be fine with money and still have pleanty of time for adventuring! shes doing a really interesting fulbright research scholarship dealing with woman's literacy. my other roomate, jordan, is doing his fulbright research in a village in the atlas mountains so he is only in the city for a few days at a time. sometime soon i think i'll join him for one of his village stays- he says its a really beautiful place. oh! we found a new apt. well, rachel did. it's really cute and is in a nice neighborhood in the 'old city.' theoretically its a one bedroom but there is enough common space that the three of us will be quite comfortable. and there is lots of couch space for visitors...
ok, thats all. i think i'm going to go bike shopping now. there are lots of very very vintage bike shops in the market. i think it will be a good way to scoot scoot around the city and do some exploring with a little more ease.
-Maura
Monday, January 22, 2007
let's get to the meat of it
hello hello hello family and friends, friends and family.
as promised i will keep up this handy blog. thank you to matt for setting this up.
sooo... i am now in casablanca getting ready to hop on a train back to my new home city, marrakesh (!). week #1 in morocco has consisted of a whirlwind tour of morocco with my dear friend lindsay (who i sadly said goodbye to last night). the week was all sort of a blur, felt like we were spinning spinning spinning and now i'm plopped down into 'real life.' yes, the reality is setting in.
but oh, our tour was grand. full of lots of laughter, long bus rides and random adventure. i definitely impressed [amused] many moroccans with my stellar [horribly broken] arabic skills. some key phrases include, "hello how are you?" "how much for that?" and "i think you must be crazy in the head." luckily my french is coming back with a little more ease...
speaking of poor communication lindsay and i had one young suitor on the street who tried to woo us by yelling "hello scrawny! yes you scrawny come speak with me!" poor guy, a compliment completely lost in translation. you can imagine the looks he got from us.
oh! in rabat we visited my old home stay family. such loving people, we were both greeted with lots of kisses and warm welcomes. and they prepared a cous cous feast for us- complete with big hunks of red meat. i didn't have the heart to tell them again that i didn't eat meat so i decided to suck it up and down the pieces that were put in front of me. and i must say, it was good. i mean bone-sucking, finger-licking good. this may be a new chapter in the life of maura.
ok, thats all for now. i have to go catch my train.
if you are reading this it probably means i miss you dearly. keep in touch! all of you!
maura
as promised i will keep up this handy blog. thank you to matt for setting this up.
sooo... i am now in casablanca getting ready to hop on a train back to my new home city, marrakesh (!). week #1 in morocco has consisted of a whirlwind tour of morocco with my dear friend lindsay (who i sadly said goodbye to last night). the week was all sort of a blur, felt like we were spinning spinning spinning and now i'm plopped down into 'real life.' yes, the reality is setting in.
but oh, our tour was grand. full of lots of laughter, long bus rides and random adventure. i definitely impressed [amused] many moroccans with my stellar [horribly broken] arabic skills. some key phrases include, "hello how are you?" "how much for that?" and "i think you must be crazy in the head." luckily my french is coming back with a little more ease...
speaking of poor communication lindsay and i had one young suitor on the street who tried to woo us by yelling "hello scrawny! yes you scrawny come speak with me!" poor guy, a compliment completely lost in translation. you can imagine the looks he got from us.
oh! in rabat we visited my old home stay family. such loving people, we were both greeted with lots of kisses and warm welcomes. and they prepared a cous cous feast for us- complete with big hunks of red meat. i didn't have the heart to tell them again that i didn't eat meat so i decided to suck it up and down the pieces that were put in front of me. and i must say, it was good. i mean bone-sucking, finger-licking good. this may be a new chapter in the life of maura.
ok, thats all for now. i have to go catch my train.
if you are reading this it probably means i miss you dearly. keep in touch! all of you!
maura
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