spain, planes and road pavings. (that almost rhymes, right?)

summer is ending and apple season is in full swing. mmm.. apples. sadly, this week has been a reminder of how absolutely bone-chilling cold it was last winter, something i had managed to conveniently forget. i do love fall though, and i hope the autumn weather lasts at least a few weeks. i have been busy these past few months with works, meetings, vacation, ramadan, and applying to grad schools.

oh, and on an exciting note (well, probably more for me than you), they are almost finished paving the road to my site. they started last year and made very little progress before the rain and snow fall. now it's actually getting done. this has cut a lot of time off the commute to ouarzazate and the trips are a lot less dusty :).

ramadan started september 14th, so we still have a week or two left. this year i am not fasting (to everyone’s dismay, apparently), but i am participating in l’fdor (the breaking of fast). last year, when i was fasting, the last thing i wanted to eat for dinner was porridge, dates, and bread. but this year, i am more than happy to. i have been going to a different family’s house in my village each day to break fast (well, more accurately, watch them break fast and i just eat dinner). it’s been really nice to spend time with many different families, most of whom i haven’t sat down to a meal with before. the holiday ending ramadan will be mid-month, and i’m looking forward to spending the time with my host family. i can’t really remember what they do for this holiday, but i’m certain it involves slaughtering something.

right near the beginning of ramadan, fabiola and i took a trip to spain. it was such a pleasure to finally visit europe and return to the first world. fabiola speaks spanish, so i didn’t even try to remember my rusty high-school spanish. we flew from marrakech to madrid. we visited zaragoza, barcelona, and madrid. i got to see some basic tourist attractions, famous art work, and eat lots and lots of pork (oh my blessed past as a vegetarian). unfortunately, my time in morocco almost made me forget about the glory of real grocery stores, beer on tap, starbucks, and metro rails. fabiola and i had a wonderful time, and i hope to return to spain again someday. and as fantastic as spain was, i was really pleased to get back to morocco. the trip gave me a renewed perspective and excitement for the rest of my time as a volunteer.

a few weeks ago, i held another young women’s health education program. it was very similar to the last one. the turn out was good with about 15 girls coming each day. i am aiming to hold one in a different village every one-two months until i leave.

at the beginning of august, the pump or motor or something broke in my village. we haven’t had tap water since then. when i ask them about it, i usually get some vague answer about it being fixed. they don’t really complain about it… i do, usually only to myself.  i would have thought tap water is one of those things like power locks in a car… once you have it you can’t live without it. but seriously, this is a really important exercise in sustainable development. the previous volunteer wrote a grant to install tap water into the houses in this village about 3 years ago. usually, they are able to fix any problem within two or three days. this time i think that they need to purchase equipment which involves finding a way for them to pay for it. if they are able to find a way to pay for the equipment and fix the problem, it will show that the project was a long term success. now that doesn’t sound so selfish at all, does it?

the irrigation system i am working on in the village up the mountain is still in progress. i submitted a grant to fund the remaining portion a few weeks ago. hopefully it will get funded within the next month or two and the village can start construction.

the school library is also going really well. we just received a shipment of 50 or so donated english and french books. after ramadan, the teacher and i will get together to organize the books and create a check-out system. i am also considering writing a grant (for a few hundred dollars or so) to pay for purchasing additional books. that way, the teacher could have more control over choosing the books, books he would like to have multiple copies of, etc. and because most books that are age and language appropriate are available in morocco, it would make the most sense to purchase them here. i will keep everyone updated.

this month i will participate in a training of trainers for a women’s health conference that will be held early november. i hope to accompany a woman from my village to this training, so she can use the information to hold a similar (or smaller scale) conference. the conference will be in two other volunteer’s villages and will last a week. the women and volunteers that were trained at the training will be traveling to several rural villages to give health lessons and provide health information. while i can’t responsibility for the planning of this project, i’m excited to be involved, as this conference was the idea of a moroccan youth center director. he planned a large portion of it and was able to get local donations to fund a larger part.

this month is the month. i am trying to get my applications completed and submitted for the master’s programs that i am applying to. the application process is significantly more difficult without the internet access or a computer. i am going to apply to five schools, and hopefully i’ll get accepted to a few of them. i’m pleased to have found a program that i am interested, but it’s a lot of stress to complete all the necessary paperwork, get recommendations, write essays, etc. and i’ll be relieved once the applications are out of the way.

less than seven weeks until my trip to see my parents. my plane tickets have been purchased and i can’t wait! i have a nice layover in paris at the beginning and then i’ll be meeting my parents in munich. let the countdown begin.

alright, if you are still reading this, bless you. but that’s about all for now. as always, i hope everyone is well, and a reminded that i love getting emails and letters (hint hint). if anyone still needs it, my mailing address is:

write my name here (you should probably know this part)
B.P. 512
Ouarzazate, 45000
Morocco