Hi and Bye

Hello Everyone!

Well, the Griswolds came and went and the past two days I've been busy getting myself ready for summer camp. I'll leave tomorrow morning at 5:30 am inchallah. Packing was trickier this year because I'm not only packing for a month of camp, but I'm packing for a Moroccan wedding, a week in the Sahara, and a week in Rabat. Camp packing includes summer clothes I don't get to wear in my site, like tank tops. I also am lugging along a suitcase full of balls, games, and other odds and ends for the kids. After camp I'm attending a fellow PCV's wedding. He met his Moroccan wife at the summer camp two years ago and now they're getting married. His family is coming over from America and it should be a fun wedding. After the wedding, I'm heading out to one area of the country I have yet to visit: the southeast. I want to do a camel trek before I leave Morocco. Then, I'll head to Rabat for a week of what we call the "close of service conference." All the volunteers who I met two years ago in Philadelphia will gather again to talk about our experiences here and prepare ourselves for finishing our service. Then, back to my site and Ramadan will begin. This will be my THIRD Ramadan in country.

So, back to other things I need to catch you all up on...

The Griswold vacation was a blast and I had such a fun time showing mom and dad around the country. The best part was parading them around my town. We did a lot of that. Parading to the Dar Chebab, parading to the souk, parading to the farm, parading to the village. We also did a lot of eating at family and friend's homes, which made my job as hostess a breeze! They'd be so stuffed so full of food I never had to make them dinner! But, they did keep me busy with their errand requests of bananas, bottled water, and toilet paper. As I don't have a tv, dad found another way to keep himself entertained. People-watching. He'd sit on my balcony and gawk at the people passing by and their various modes of transportation and they'd gawk back.

Mom and I got a few good laughs while in Marrakech. Dad bought a big wide-brimmed hat to wear because it was so hot and when he put it on we instantly thought he looked like "the man in the yellow hat" from Curious George. Funnier yet, just as we pulled out to take a picture of dad with his hat, holding his bananas, a big gust of wind picked up and swept his hat off his head and sent him running. He chased his hat as mom and I laughed and Moroccans stared.

While I think Marrakech was dad's favorite city because of its county fair-like atmosphere, I think mom preferred Essaouira. I was proud of mom for drinking the orange juice in every city we visited. Dad, on the other hand, had a strange and strict diet he made himself follow. No glasses. He'd drink directly out of the bottle or can. No ice. No orange juice. But he allowed himself limitless bananas and bread, lots and lots of bread.

In Rabat mom and dad impressed me their partying skills. They kept up just fine with us younger folk and provided endless entertainment and conversation. Rabat was a fun time for me because I got to see my friends and I'm not gonna lie, going to TGIFriday was the best dining experience of the year for me (excluding the time I ate real American food in America of course).

Today was probably around 115 degrees, give or take. It was HOT. Maybe the hottest day of my life. I'm not sure. I feels hotter than last year, but was it just the same and I just forgot how miserable it is? Anyway, today was hot and as an added bonus, the water stopped working. So, luckily I finished all my laundry and showering this morning. If I could I would leave now. I just want to get out of here! With the heat, came plenty of ants and cockroaches and some weird insect bites all over my body. I ate two popsicles today. I ate one and enjoyed it so much and went right back out and bought a second one. So, I guess tonight I will clean up my house a little, hope the water comes back, and pray the electricity doesn't go out.

I'm not sure how often I'll be checking my email or updating my blog for the next month and a half, but I will try and send you updates as much as I can! I'm going to coordinate with mom and dad to get some pictures of their trip online. Have a great summer and Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Guest Post from Mom

I am writing a guest blog to share my thoughts and impressions of Morocco. Brian and I visited Jenny for 2 weeks from June 10 – 23, 2008. We had a great trip and I will remember it for quite some time. Let me just say that from the moment we arrived until we left, Jenny took care of our every need. Her knowledge of the Arabic language and speaking it fluently was a never ending source of amazement to us. She was the best tour guide we could have hoped for. From arranging transportation in a petite taxi, grand taxi, train, horse and buggy; to reserving hotels and riads which are beautiful homes set around an open garden courtyard; to choosing restaurants of which some were local, traditional Moroccan foods and others, more American like Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and TGIFridays; to finding local sightseeing spots in each city; to bargaining and haggling with the street vendors in the souqs; Jenny did it all and she did it well. I may be biased, but I would like to add that Jenny has accomplished so much as a Peace Corps volunteer. She is a young woman who figured out how to navigate in a country where women are viewed much differently than men. Her work in youth development is really outstanding. It took a lot of perseverance to be the first PCV in her town and to start a youth program from the ground up. We are so proud of you.

We spent 4 days in Jenny’s town experiencing her life as a Peace Corps volunteer. We were invited to have lunch at the homes of 3 different families. It was like eating Thanksgiving dinner 3 days in a row. At each home we were seated in the salon after removing our shoes. Moroccans serve their tea in high style in a silver teapot along with a tray of nuts and dates before the meal. Eventually a kettle of hot water was brought to us and poured over our hands over a silver basin. Then the meal was brought out to a knee-high round table around which we were seated. The food was served in the center of the table for all to eat from. Each home served a piping hot tajine with vegetables and meat (yummy!). We tore off pieces of bread to scoop up the hot food with your fingers. Next, we were served a large tray of couscous with meat. Along with the couscous, a bowl of buttermilk was consumed (not so yummy!). And to top it all off, we ate Moroccan-grown fresh fruit (watermelon, honeydew melon, apples, bananas, grapes, peaches, oranges) for dessert. We were encouraged to eat more than we possibly could. Two of these families were the host family to Jenny. It was great to meet them and express our thanks for being her family in Morocco.

While we were in Jenny’s town, we went to the Dar Chebab to see her work and meet the boys. They are a good group of boys who come to the Dar Chebab to learn English and do fun activities. We played ping pong, Connect Four, Jenga, Old Maids, and put together a jigsaw puzzle with them. It was clear to us that these boys like and respect Jenny very much.

In the second week of our Moroccan adventure we did some sightseeing and traveled to Marrakesh, Essaouira, Rabat, and Casablanca. Each town or city had a wall surrounding the oldest part of the medina and something different to offer. Marrakesh was a hot, chaotic, lively city with a population of 970,000. The focal point of Marrakesh was the Djemaa el-Fna, a huge square in the medina complete with snake charmers, juice stands, story tellers, musicians, monkeys, and boxing matches. Brian loved this and likened it to the Steele County Fair multiplied by 1 million. In the evening this square comes alive with rows of open-air food stalls selling anything from seafood to shish kabobs. The souqs were nearby selling many local crafts. We wandered through the maze of shops and vendors looking at the slippers, rugs, metal works, leather shops, pottery, textiles, jewelry, fruits, vegetables, chickens, meat, nuts, spices, etc.

Essaouira was a picturesque Atlantic coastal town with a population of 45,000. I loved this charming town with its cool ocean breezes, whitewashed houses, stone ramparts, and fishing boats. The pace of life was much calmer and serene. We enjoyed our stay in a beautiful riad complete with breakfast served on the rooftop each morning. One day we walked along the beach watching the wind surfers and para sailers. One evening we watched the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean perched atop the stone ramparts wall.

Rabat was a large modern city with a population of 1.4 million. It is the capital of Morocco and home to many government buildings, museums, and monuments. The office of Peace Corps is also located in Rabat. Although it was a large city it had more of a relaxed atmosphere than Marrakesh. It was in Rabat at the train station that we ran into Dan, a Peace Corps Volunteer friend and his sister Becca, who was visiting from the USA. We met two other PCV’s Jeff and Lindsey. We also met Abdslam, a friend of Jenny’s. They met working at a spring camp. Abdslam is a student studying at the university in Rabat. This was very exciting for Brian and me. We had someone new to talk to that could speak English! We had a fun time getting to know everyone at a local spot called I Palatino where we had some drinks. One evening for dinner, Jenny wanted to go to a newly opened restaurant, you may have heard of it – TGIFriday. We treated Jenny and her friends, Abdslam, Dan, and Becca to dinner. We did some sightseeing in Rabat too. We visited the Kasbah Des Oudaias, a fort or citadel situated high on a hill overlooking the Atlantic. One day we saw the Chellah, a site of ancient Roman ruins. Next, we went to the Le Tour Hassan & Mausoleum of Mohammed V. The Hassan tower is Rabat’s most famous landmark towering above everything. On the same site is the Mausoleum where Kings Mohammed V and Hassan II are laid to rest. It is beautifully decorated in the traditional Moroccan style with elaborate zellij (tile work) from floor to ceiling. Another favorite day of mine in Morocco was the day we went to the beach. Abdslam helped arrange to have a taxi driver take us to the Temara Plage (golden sand beach) which was 13 K south of Rabat. We rented a beach umbrella and beach mats and spent an afternoon laying in the African sun and swimming in the Atlantic Ocean.

Our last city to visit was Casablanca with a population of 3.8 million. We spent only 1 day here before returning home. Jenny requested a hotel room with a TV and a bathtub, both rare in Moroccan hotels/riads. So we visited 1 point of interest in Casa, the Hassan II Mosque and spent the rest of the time in our hotel room doing some much needed rest and relaxation. The Hassan II Mosque is the world’s third largest mosque. At a cost of more than half a billion dollars, it is amazing. The mosque is partly erected on the water of the Atlantic. The minaret is the highest in the world at 210 meters. The inside is beautiful with marble floors and lots of granite. It has colorful zellij and stucco molding. The vast prayer hall is large enough to hold 25,000 worshippers. Outdoors can hold another 80,000 people. It fills up during Ramadan according to our tour guide. It is one of the very few Islamic religious buildings open to non-Muslims.

So this was the end of our Moroccan adventure. It’s hard to put into words everything we saw and experienced. We saw many social and economic contrasts in this country. The very rich and the very poor. Traveling on a city street we saw old cars, expensive cars, thousands of mopeds, and an equal number of donkey carts, and bicycles all during a single taxi ride. We saw women and men dressed in a variety of clothing. Women wearing the very traditional jellabas with full head coverings with only the eyes showing to very much American-like clothing. We saw very nice homes similar to those you would see in San Diego and we saw slums and everything in between. We heard the call to prayer. An unforgettable sound. Five times a day Muslims are called to come to the mosque to pray. The Moroccans place much emphasis on the family unit with many extended families living together in the same home. They take care of each other and share their possessions. I will take away with me the memories of the people in Jenny’s town. Their kindness and generosity shown to us was amazing.

Ssalamu ‘lekum,

(Peace be upon you)

Pat Bentley

Daylight Savings Time

Last Sunday Morocco switched over to Daylight Savings Time in an attempt to conserve energy, and as I expected, it's been a slow and chaotic change. Peace Corps was good about sending out both emails and text messages reminding us volunteers to move our clocks ahead. According to one of the many emails I received from Peace Corps, this is not the first time Morocco has attempted Daylight Savings Time. The last time was twenty years ago.

Twenty years is a long time and I can understand how people might find this change complicated or unnatural. Imagine if you were 25 years old and the last time you experienced Daylight Savings Time, you were five years old. But, excluding young people, you'd think the older folks would remember and try to adopt the time change.

Instead, what's happened here is slightly insane and very very confusing. I call it the "new time" "old time" paradox. Official places like schools, government buildings, the airport, and cities have changed over to the "new time." Everyone else, including my town, have stayed with the "old time." Well, everyone except for me and the mayor's office, the post office, and the schools. And the schools are closed now, so I'm pretty sure the kids are functioning on "old time."

The first morning of "new time" I walked outside my house at 9 am to find all the stores closed. My friend Kabira was just arriving to open up the bakery downstairs. I asked her, "What time is it?" to which she responded, "8 am." And then we got in an argument about Daylight Savings Time. I guess we were both right. I told her it was 9 o'clock, she was convinced it was 8 o'clock. I told her the entire country was changing their watches and she told me that only the airport would change over. I asked her how people were supposed to make their flights on time if everyone else was living an hour behind the airport. Her answer: she doesn't know anybody who travels by plane.

That day I left for a weekend on the beach, where I forgot about the "new time" "old time" paradox. I bought a new cell phone on Monday and when I got back home, I charged it up and started using it. Somehow I got confused and went back to the "old time" for a few hours that day. I'm back to "new time" and probably the only person in town who finds this whole thing amusing. Ask a person for the time nowadays and they will respond with the following, "Oh, it's 6 pm old time, 7 pm new time."

The problem with all this, is that time doesn't really matter here. Especially now that school is over and it is summer. Time is dispensable here and as an American, that is a strange idea to wrap your brain around. Luckily, my work is winding down for the summer and I now have no reason to ever mind the time. But, don't worry mom and dad, I will be at the airport on Tuesday at the correct time! Only three days!