Azilal House Arrest

As of writing this entry, I have been in Azilal, a small, sleepy town, for one week. And I can’t get out. Every morning, I wake up and go downstairs in my hotel to ask if the “idraab” (strike) is over yet……and every day it is. Which means another day of few food options, and literally nothing to do. This was slightly entertaining for the first two days, but now being in Azilal House Arrest is just getting old! I want to go home and see my cat! Also, I have now been out of my site for over two weeks.

Looking back about three weeks ago, Steph and Adam came to visit! It was a phenomenal trip, and I was just so happy to see them. They arrived in Marrakech on the 22 of March after two full days of traveling. Chicago to Nashville to Miami to Madrid to Marrakech! I am honored they went through all that to come visit me in Morocco. Since we only had a few days together, we were always moving and active seeing the sights of Morocco.

Sunday we hung out in Marrakech, and they were amazed/overwhelmed by the exotic atmosphere: monkeys, snake charmers, and infinite leather slipper and carpet shops. I really think they were in a bit of a dream on the first day, and I could barely understand that I was getting to see my sister and Adam in Morocco!

Monday we spent most of the day in Marrakech, taking in the many interesting aspects of the city. In the afternoon we took a bus to Essaouira, my favorite beach town, and then got to ride camels there the next morning. It was a very entertaining experience, and very cool. It just hurt our legs. A lot. Tuesday afternoon we took various transportation to Tiznit, stopping over in Agadir for some ice cream. Apparently I didn’t prepare either Stephanie or Adam for the experience that is riding in a taxi with 4 people in the backseat for three hours. However, they handled it very well. After that trip we decided to buy out the fourth seat in the back of our taxis for a little more room.

We spent Tuesday night in Tiznit, hanging out with my friend Hanneke, who was happy to meet Steph and Adam. We spend so much time talking about our families back home, it is nice when we have the opportunity to put faces to names. Wednesday morning we did some shopping in Tiznit, including stopping at the silver souk, for which Tiznit is famous. Steph and Adam both got nice silver rings made in my region. For lunch we met up with Meredith to eat at the beach. There is a small beach town 5 miles from Tiznit, and I swear we didn’t see a single other person while we were there. It was just us, enjoying our beachfront tajines.

Wednesday afternoon we went to my site! We had tea with my host brother Omar, my host dad Abd, and his brother. Then we drove up to my douar to get settled in my house and meet Chandler. The next day we hung out in my house and then lunch with my host mother, Ijjou, and my host sister, Najma. They dressed Steph and Adam up in traditional Berber clothes, which I found VERY entertaining. Usually I am the one who is dressed up like a doll in people’s houses. By the last night, Stephanie was really embracing my lifestyle, using the Turkish toilet, bucket bathing, and everything! I am thoroughly impressed.
Friday we went to souk (after a mishap with my host dad’s car. We were hoping he would take us since we had all the luggage, but his car broke down and we had to walk half of the 3 miles before a pick-up full of men going to souk stopped and let us ride the rest of the way), and started our trek back to Marrakech. We were able to stop in Agadir at my favorite Lebanese place for lunch, and then completed our trip. In Marrakech we did some shopping and enjoyed a nice dinner on the terrace of a restaurant overlooking Jma lFna, the famous Marrakchi square. The next day I was so incredibly sad to say good-bye to them, after spending a great week together. Fortunately I was distracted from thinking about missing them because I had to travel back to Agadir for a week of English Immersion Spring Camp.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports sponsors Spring Camps throughout the country to Moroccan youth to attend. There are Moroccan volunteers (mostly teachers, some college students), who run certain activities and handle the logistics of the camp, and there are Peace Corps Volunteers who teach English and various other activities. Our camp in Agadir had 96 participants, between 13-17 years old. It was truly amazing to spend a week with city kids, since I am so used to kids from my rural area. We had an absolutely phenomenal time. The Moroccan volunteers made our camp what it was. It was inspirational to see them get the kids so excited, sing songs with them, while at the same time keeping them under control. And of course, our camp was in Agadir, so the climate was perfect. We were able to take the kids to the beach for games on day, and spent a lot of time outside.

After the camp was over on Sunday, I spent 8 hours traveling to Azilal, where the new group of Peace Corps Health trainees are spending there training time. My boss had called me up a few weeks prior to see if I could come speak to the trainees about the health education work I have done thus far in my site. I was very lucky to arrive on Sunday night, because by Monday morning the strike had begun.

For some reason, the local taxis were not striking on Tuesday, so the trainees were able to get to Azilal from their CBT host families. The Health Education Workshop went well, and the trainees had a lot of questions for us. It was definitely surreal to be back at training after a year. I really feel like that was me like last month!

On Wednesday I was planning to go visit my friend Doug’s site in the region, but the strike was back on. Today is Saturday, and there is no transportation going in or out of Azilal. Some of the local restaurants are even closing because they can’t get food delivered from Marrakech. Rumor has it the strike might be over on Monday, but we’ll see.....