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So this is what so many people have been asking for. Before you actually look at the pictures though, I must warn you that I got VERY lucky with my house and I have a lot of things that some PCVs don't... like a fridge. I'm very proud of that fridge and so that will be the first picture. :) I also want to warn you that I decided not to clean my house before taking these pictures, so this is about how it normally looks.



What you see on top are all the spices and stuff that I have. There is no cabinet space in the kitchen, so everything I have I put either on top of my fridge or on the counter by the sink.



Now remember that there is no running water so I have to go collect that which can really be a pain. I have the conversation almost every day about why I don't have a wife to do that for me. The Peace Corps of course didn't put "Wife to carry water" on the packing list so I didn't bring one. I'm very upset about that and am lodging a complaint through the proper channels. I'd get one in country, but my budget doesn't allow for that.



This is a desk that my landlord left in the house for me. I don't sit at it though because I think the chair would break if I put any weight on it. It's nice to put things on and look at though. It's all about appearances anyway right?



This is the room I spend most of my time in. I sleep here if it's cool, I read here, I eat here, I... well... sit and stare at the wall here. I was going to get carpet and just use that ponj as a bed, but I sleep on the floor and bringing carpet takes, you know, planning ahead and stuff. I'll think about it.



These of course are my beloved books. I do a LOT of reading and if you ever are thinking about me and want to send me something, "BOOKS" is always a good answer. History, Biography, Theology, Politics... I can get novels over here. Anyway... there are my books. Maybe some of you can recognize the ones you've sent me already... I've read them all.



This is my bathroom. It's hidden under the stairs and there is no door. If you look closely you will find no toilet paper... you do what you gotta do.



Last but not least, this is the outside of my house. Looks pretty cool don't it? Yeah, I didn't show pictures of my roof where i do laundry, sleep and read, mostly because it's just a roof. Stay tuned and you'll be getting pictures of the community as well. Ciao

Clarification and Apology

I just got a comment on a post from a while ago entitled "Stupid Sheep". I don't know who posted it, but he/she raised an excellent point and I want to respond.

Morocco is a large and VERY diverse country, not only linguistically but culturally. The poster mentioned that even though he/she is Moroccan that he/she sometimes feels like a stranger in his/her own country when travelling.

If I sometimes use the phrase "in Morocco" I am not trying to make a sweeping comment about the entire country. I can only speak for the very small section of Morocco in which I work. The problem is, however, that I am not allowed to tell you where that is for security reasons, so I end up sounding like I'm making sweeping generalizations. I apologize if it seems that way. If anything it is because I'm a lazy writer and I'll try to be more discerning in my words.

Where Can I Go?

Just listen to the words...

An Eventful Weekend

It all started with the earthquake then the next night there was a spectacular meteor shower around 1 in the morning. I know this because I sleep on my roof where it is cool. The shower was happening literally above us. One landed on the other side of the mountain from my house. Some of them were streaking all the way across the sky from horizon to horizon. I wish you could have been there because I am not one for poetic description.

Those two awesome displays of nature, and the wonder in which it had entranced me was broken yesterday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6945504.stm

There was yet another bombing in Morocco. This time it wasn't in the far off coastal city of Casablanca, it was in Meknes, one of the Imperial Cities. To set your mind at ease... Meknes, although considerably closer to me than Casablanca, is still about 140km away from me. So don't worry about me, worry about Morocco and worry about our world, and if you pray, pray for us all.

We, all of us, are in the fight of our lives. You and I are warring against indifference in our own lives, and the objectifying influence hatred and ignorance have on all of our hearts. As long as we live in a world with and "us and a them" we will be at war. Until we finally discover that there is nothing but "we" we will always be fighting. Those of us here attempt to stand in that gap and are struggling against both ourselves and other forces to bring two wayward families together, or at least to remind all of us that we are family.

There are always times of doubt here because sometimes because the immediacy doesn't always seem that evident.

It is.

From an imperfect and humbled minister of reconciliation...

Earthquake

So last night I was sitting on my bed reading my History of Europe... that's right, I'm a geek, get over it... and my bed started to shake for about 4 or 5 seconds. I started to chuckle because for those of us who have gone to college and lived in dorms, that usually indicates something. I'll let you figure it out.

Once I realized however that that wasn't possible cause I was the only one in my house, my next thought was that it was an earthquake. Now we have an earthquake region here in the Rif Valley up in the north near the Mediterranean which is one of the reasons we don't have volunteers in that area so I figured it was a relatively powerful one from up there, but I got no call from Peace Corps and my friend who lives further north and closer to the region didn't feel it. I called my region mate, Mara, and she felt it.

So today I was looking online to see what I could find. There was no news of devastation so that was a good thing, so then I looked the earthquake up.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007fxb3.php

It was a 4.8 and the epicenter was about 25 miles from where I live. So congratulations to me, I just lived through my first earthquake.

On an unrelated note, I finally got my camera working so hopefully I'll get you pictures of my new house next time. I would have gotten them today, but my house needs to be cleaned a little first :)

REVOLUTION!!

There is a revolution going on in Morocco right now. This particular revolution "will not be televised" but that of course is because most of the people I work with don't have electricity... hence no televisions. So maybe that means the revolution will be televised? I don't know. Regardless there is a revolution going on and I am bringing it back to the States with me.

Citizens of the United States of America... throw away your mops and prepare yourselves for the miracle that is THE SQUEEGIE.

That's right, no more mopping the floor then squeezing the water out then mopping again and continuously repeating the process until you resign in frustration and leave up a "Wet Floor" sign, praying no one slips. Now you can treat your floors the same way we treat our windshields... scrub them and then just squeegie that water right off. No more need for endless squeezing of the mop.

Now I know that the revolution is not going to be easy. We all know that "Big Mop" has billions of dollars of profits at their disposal to perpetrate their smear campaign against the truth, but you can't keep the truth hidden! They have you caught in the lie that you need both a mop and the thing that squeezes the mop. SQUEEGIES OF THE WORLD UNITE!