The first night, the groom's family brings a sack full of shoes, candy, henna, dates, etc to the bride's family
The second day. The women from the bride's side are bringing the bride to the groom's family's house.
Last Saturday, my boss' daughter got married in Rabat. Traveling up to Rabat for less than 24 hours was quite a hassle and very tiring, but DEFINITELY worth it to attend such a lovely wedding. We had a great time dancing and spending time with various Peace Corps staff....such a great time that we left the wedding at 4:30am. Just in time for me to meet my 5:00am train in order to travel back down to my site for Najma's wedding.
Emmy and I getting ready for the wedding at the Peace Corps office. Meredith was nice enough to lend me her beautiful takshita for the occasion.
The bride is brought in on this throne carried by 4 men.
She also changes her dress a lot. Every hour at some Moroccan weddings!
The bride and groom with the volunteers, the brides father, Mostafa, and our other boss, Rachid. Note the dress change.
Our first course. AMAZING seafood pastilla. It may be the best food I've ever had in Morocco.
Second course. Lots and lots of amazingly flavored chicken. Most tables put chicken on their plates and ate it with knives an forks. As volunteers who live out in the country, we used the communal dish.
Another dress change! Layla's husband looked more than a little overwhelmed.
Last dress of the evening. This is the one she wore for their wedding in France.
So after rushing from the train to the bus to a taxi to another taxi, I made it back to my site in one day. Just in time to celebrate my best friend in site, Najma's, wedding. Same type of wedding as Fadma's, but I was very sad to see my best friend leave!
"Ahwach" or singing and music at Najma's wedding
Same deal as before. Sack full of shoes and things. Oh, and I forgot there are always cones of sugar as well!
The next day I had to teach....but I tell you after one heck of a weekend, I slept 13 hours Monday night.
5 comments:
Dad likes frequent updates...makes my morning!
:-)
Erin:
I am COO of Water Charity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that does water, sanitation, and public health projects worldwide. We recently started a new initiative, Appropriate Projects, to fund small water and sanitation projects very quickly.
I am a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Bolivia ’66-’68), and am well aware of the difficulties Volunteers face in the field. Appropriate Projects is an addition to our regular Water Charity model that is allowing us to provide project resources to PCVs in the field immediately.
Often there is that little project that must be done now (before the rains start, before school begins, or in response to a critical need), but there are no funds available. Traditional funding sources are cumbersome, and there are long forms, detailed requirements, limited resources, and long delays.
PCVs working in water and sanitation usually have potential projects lined up. For those working in other program areas, there may be water components to their projects, or improvements needed where they work or teach.
Sample projects may be: a rainwater catchment, handwashing stations for a school, water for a clinic, piping, tanks, pumps, sinks, latrines, wells, etc.
We like to “finish” projects that have been started, and “fix” things that have ceased to function.
We encourage follow-up projects that expand upon the successful completion of the first small project.
If you have a project in mind, please fill out the application form. We want this to be easy for you, so we have developed a simple form that you can fill out in one sitting.
If you have any questions about the appropriateness of your project, or you need some time to get it together, just let us know.
If you do not have a project that qualifies, please pass this message on to your fellow Volunteers who may have an interest. Finally, if this initiative resonates with you, please let others know what we are doing through your social networks, websites, and blogs.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Averill Strasser
Appropriate Projects
http://appropriateprojects.com
Water Charity
http://watercharity.org
LOVE LOVE LOVE when you update A LOT! Also, I love the pictures of weddings. I wonder what they would think of mine!
These pictures are just gorgeous! I love reading about the weddings!
you look so pretty in that blue dress, takshita! beautiful!
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