this past week the env. sector broke into small groups and headed out to visit "real" PC volunteers in the field. zach, sarah sue, and i went to imilchil (8 hours south of azrou) to stay with rebecca gehring. imlilchil is situated near two lakes alledgedly formed by two lovers separated by family differences (think romeo and juliet). because of this story, imcilchil is famous for its marriage festival where the women ask the men to wed, and yup you guessed it i was turning them down left and right. for the first time we were in a strictly berber village where we could use our language. and boy was it bad, but on the bright side im an expert body gesturer. getting into the field and seeing a realistic PC setting was very refreshing, ive been getting bogged down in the 8 hour training days thus far, but seeing what life will be like for the next 2 years was great.
sarah sue, zac, rebecca, jesse (another volunteer from the area), me @ the tislite (the bride) lake. amazingly beautiful, the water was carribean blue/green, in stark contrast to the harsh, arid landscape surrounding it.
an old stone hut that overlooks the lake.
sarah sue and zach prance their way to the summit. at this point i was crawling.
we arrive at the lonely summit and are enjoying our lunch in solitude, when we hear singing coming from down the ridge. here comes mustafa, the cell phone tower guard, inviting us for tea. we join him in the tower for shared lunch and a couple hours of talking before heading back down. during our conversation mustafa was telling us about his family when he suddenly jumped to talking about my facial hair. somewhere along the sarah became confused and proceeded to ask how long his wife's beard was, oh the joys of poor language. moroccans are amazingly patient and generous, always willing to drink super sweet tea with strangers.
in the evenings i would go help jesse, a small business vol. also in imilchil, and her co-op set up sewing machines and looms they had received from a grant. notice the rugs.
the nomads trying on the co-ops wares, check out the guy on the left what an idiot.
resting on the hike down from the summit
hey mama
sarah sue, zac, rebecca, jesse (another volunteer from the area), me @ the tislite (the bride) lake. amazingly beautiful, the water was carribean blue/green, in stark contrast to the harsh, arid landscape surrounding it. 
an old stone hut that overlooks the lake. 
sarah sue and zach prance their way to the summit. at this point i was crawling. 
we arrive at the lonely summit and are enjoying our lunch in solitude, when we hear singing coming from down the ridge. here comes mustafa, the cell phone tower guard, inviting us for tea. we join him in the tower for shared lunch and a couple hours of talking before heading back down. during our conversation mustafa was telling us about his family when he suddenly jumped to talking about my facial hair. somewhere along the sarah became confused and proceeded to ask how long his wife's beard was, oh the joys of poor language. moroccans are amazingly patient and generous, always willing to drink super sweet tea with strangers. 
in the evenings i would go help jesse, a small business vol. also in imilchil, and her co-op set up sewing machines and looms they had received from a grant. notice the rugs. 
the nomads trying on the co-ops wares, check out the guy on the left what an idiot.
resting on the hike down from the summit
hey mama
