family visit and a workshop

The past month has been a pretty busy one, which has been a nice change. In the middle of March, my family arrived! We had a really great time all over the country, including Casablanca, Marrakech, Essaouira, Ouarzazate, Azrou, and Fes. Highlights included lunch with my CBT host family in Idelssane, outside Ouarzazate. I hadn’t been back since we swore in almost a year ago, and it was really nice to see them. My host mom had gotten pregnant and had a baby girl since I left, which I somehow managed to never understand on the phone. It was also nice that my family got to see what I think of as “real Morocco”, since I live in such an abnormal Peace Corps site. I also celebrated the year in country mark in Ouarzazate with a few other PCVs who were around—almost unbelievable to think I’ve been gone for that long.

Lily, Ayoub, and Hamid

two families

            Another highlight was bringing my mom and sister to my English class in Azrou. At the end of the class the women all of a sudden whipped out complete a complete Moroccan teatime, including lemonade, banana smoothies, and about twelve different kinds of cakes and cookies, all of which had been coordinated as a surprise. My family also ate dinner with my two favorite Moroccan families in Azrou, my landlord’s and my former tutor and now friend Aicha’s, so there was no shortage of Moroccan hospitality. It was great to have my family meet some of the people that are important to me and understand a little better what my life is like here.

Mom and Lily come to English class

Right after my family left, the cooperative that I work with attended a two-day workshop, funded by a grant through Peace Corps. The workshop was conducted by a professor from an agricultural school in Meknes, who taught the women how to make shampoo, lotion, and two different kinds of soap. The cooperative currently makes a few different kinds of couscous and herb waters (essence of lavender, peppermint, chamomile, poppy, thyme, lemon balm, and other herbs,) which are cool but don’t sell all that well with tourists. The idea behind the workshop was natural herb bath products would sell better both with Moroccans and with tourists, so the co-op would be a little more profitable.

            I was expecting the processes to be more along the lines of traditional and all-natural, so I was surprised when the professor whipped out his containers of lauryl sulfate and potassium hydroxide. The workshop was also more technical than I would have liked, which is difficult since only one of the women in the group is literate. Some of the others don’t understand numbers longer than one digit, meaning they can recite phone numbers but can’t read a scale when weighing out ingredients. (They also can’t total prices or make change for customers.) The shampoo and lotion processes were simple enough that I could follow them in Arabic, but the soap was way more complicated and involved calculating proportions of different ingredients to get the right “indice de sabonificacion” (one of several French terms that I never really figured out.) Another obstacle is that the chemical ingredients are pretty expensive and have to be bought in bulk, so the initial costs are high. Despite all this, the women are excited and have high hopes for the products.

the professor demonstrates part of the shampoo-making process

Laziza (the cooperative president) tries it out

the women try out the lotion they just made

            Since the workshop, I’ve mostly been working on lesson plans and teaching, planning the next steps for the cooperative, and exploring a few other project ideas. This week I’m taking two women from the co-op to a craft fair in Fes, so right now I’m helping out with that. Almost immediately after, I’m taking my first out-of-country vacation, to Madrid for a week with three of my friends. There are no words to express how excited I am for that, except: Tapas! Sangria! Grocery stores! Hot showers! I can wear a t-shirt in public and not be hassled! Also, hopefully we’ll get some nice weather, since did I mention it snowed last week in Azrou?

            And that brings me pretty close to May 25, which besides being my sister’s birthday and the date of my college commencement is also our Swearing In date, and therefore the exact halfway mark of my service here in Morocco. As I’ve said often here, the days are often slow but the months are flying by.

            Let me end with a reminder of how happy it makes me to hear from family and friends at home. Every email and letter I get makes my day, so, please, send me an update or just a hello. Love from the Maghreb.