New Site...

Well the deed is done. Friday night was my first night in the new site.

Let me catch you all up on the craziness of the last couple of months. The story goes something like this… The area I was working in was so spread out that effective work was extremely difficult. I was hiking around the hills talking with random farmers and shepherds whose paths I would cross and that was about it. There were no associations with which to work and no potential for projects onto which I could stick a “sustainable” label so the Ministry of Health and Peace Corps finally decided to take me up on my proposal to change to an area where I had contacts and potential for work.

So below are pictures of the new house. I’m definitely taking a step down in amenities. I still have electricity and although I didn’t have running water at my last site, there was a source of treated water only 50m from my house. Now I’m about 800m from a source of drinkable water which is actually probably going to be the crux of my work over the course of this next year. I’m also a bit more isolated, but I’m in a gorgeous area. The Middle Atlas Region is one of the most spectacular areas I’ve ever lived in which is saying a lot since some of those places include the Black Forest, East Tennessee, Central Texas Hill Country, and northern Quebec. I went on a hike with some friends a couple of days ago and discovered lush cedar forests, breathtaking waterfalls, and some near extinct wildlife. Those pictures will have to wait for another time. Of the five of us on the hike, no one brought their cameras… go figure.

So here is the vew of the new house...

This is my bed. As you can see it's not actually a bed, it's just a couple of blankets on the floor. It's comfortable enough though.



This is looking the other direction in the room where I do my work very close to the floor.



And this is my kitchen... not much counter space I know...



There was quite a bit of trepidation about starting over this late in the game, but the past couple of days, I’ve actually been quite excited about hopefully getting some work done where I could potentially see some of the fruits of my labor.

So coming up this week is an exciting date. As of March 6, I will have been in country for a year. It is amazing how quickly the time has flown. I don’t have any plans as of yet to celebrate, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out… or not, I don’t know. I’ll probably just go on a long hike and maybe camp out somewhere, the stars have been spectacular as of late.