Beach Bums and Onion Baseball
Hey Everyone,
Month 2 in Amssouzarte down the tubes and not to much stunning to report. I'll do my best to make it entertaining however.
First I know everyone is waiting with baited breath after my last e-mail to hear about the results of my run in with the Moroccan legal system. This is as good a place to begin as any and so I shall relive you of your worries. I am happy, (and yet somehow disappointed at the same time) to report that I have been absolved of any Moroccan criminal record and am free to continue trying to help the people here. I'm sure someone at PC's budget room breathed a sigh of relief and at least I've still got the story. Speaking of which the appeals court was interesting and in the Atlantic seacoast resort town of Agadir. (bonus!) I got the usual call from the PC safety and security coordinator... (who fell in the process of dealing with us and broke his leg) to come and call him back. The problem being that I had to call by noon and got the message at 11:30 requiring me to run all the way to the phone 5 kilometres away. I made it and he tells me that I'm due in court in two days in Agadirand have to go get mark and tell him we're leaving. Ironically enough my program manager has just finished telling us the day before that we were finished with the process and didn't have to worry about it anymore... Nice to know that they talk to each other up there. We head out and sign the summons at the gendarmes office and then head to Agadir (mind you after waking up at 4 am and riding in a crowded dusty land rover for 5 hours). We had the afternoon free so decided to quest for some American cuisine and went looking for McDonalds. On the was as if by fate we bumped into a delivery boy for pizza hut and decided to go there instead. Being the man of the world that I am I usually avoid such places when I travel but after 60 plus days of tajine I was ready! Nor was I disappointed... we demolished a large supreme pizza and breadsticks and then decided that we needed to walk off enough calories to avert the current hunger crisis in Niger... on the beach.
We found it eventually by heading the same direction as every other non Moroccan in the vicinity and walked its entire length, which after heated debate we judged to be about 5 kilometres... We still had all our stuff and were in no way dressed for the beach but managed to have a good time anyway soaking our pants and getting harassed by people who wanted us to Jet ski (backpacks and all aparerantly). The beach in an Arabic nation is an expanse of stunning contradictions. Everywhere you look differentness confronts you. There are ugly European tourists in g-strings and Speedos (eww!) who's presence is a requirement for the beach, the town and even the country to survive, side by side with fully decked out Berber women who's face or eyes is the only thing you can see. Then there are the inbetweeners, people in bathing suits but headscarves, or Moroccan women swimming in pants and teeshirts without the scarf. Family groups gather just as they would at home and eat tajine out ofTupperware with bread, or cook rice in a pressure cooker at the same time others munch down western food with reckless abandon. All is overshadowed by the ever-present slogan of morocco spelled out in 40 foot letters on the hill at the end of the beach lit up at night so its the first thing and the last thing you notice when coming or going anywhere in Agadir... GOD, COUNTRY, KING.
After exhausting ourselves at the beach we retired to the only hotel we could afford on our PC expense account, no thanks to the would be guide who called us "shit tourists" when we tried to talk to him in his own language and showered to rinse off the beach sand. Having been thwarted in our quest earlier to find McDonalds we decided to do that for dinner after hitting up the internet and to our surprise we found it was right on the beach... right next to yet another pizza hut. A big mac and fries hit the spot and I got an extra pair of flip flops (a summer promotion here) in the bargain. Not only that but its the 5th anniversary of the coronation of the king and there was a huge concert in the square right by the restaurant. We stayed and watched that and I was delighted to discover that there is arabic music out there that isn't half bad. For pretty much everyone's sake I hope the trend catches on.The next morning we stumbled awake early in order to be on time for court at 9 am. Our translator met us there and we went in as soon as they opened the doors, only to discover that the gendarmes had "mislead" us once again and appeals court didn't start till 12:30... Ahh well.. more time to enjoy the beach. We went back at 12:30 and packed into the court room with many many other moroccans who haven’t showered in at least a year and at least half of whom were convicts in the handcuff and police escort sense of the term... This wasn't calculated to make me feel good about the circumstances. About an hour behind schedule (apparently a new record in timeliness) the judges got started, going through about 5 cases before someone passed them a note and they called me to the bench... After waking up my translator (who was a woman and therefore seated in a different part of the room) and reminding her of my name... I went before the judge and stated my case again. You could tell hewas bored by the circumstances and he clearly had other cases to see that were more exciting. He didn't even bother to check out the evidence I had brought with me. He repeated the process for mark and then we all left with the promise that we would hear something by Thursday.
Mark and I left for Taroudant and stayed there before heading back up to site the next day. All in all it was a rewarding and interesting experience. We got the news Thursday that the Judges had agreed with us that the whole thing was silly from the beginning and now we shouldn't have anything to worry about until we attempt to renew the citizenship card next year... Mark and I are planning to start now :-)In other news around town my host dad, soon to be my landlord is putting the finishing touches on my house. I should have running water (at least until the pipes freeze) and a new kitchen ( a countertop) Next step comes with furnishings and fixings as well as learning how to buy food from a weekly farmers market instead of a supermarket. I had been labouring under the happily delusional impression that all meat is raised in plastic wrapped Styrofoam containers until ready to be plucked from the vine. At least until they slaughtered a cow in my village recently. The preferred method of advertising what meat type is on sale is to prominently display the head of whatever animal was unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with the knife wielding butcher most recently. Its gruesome and takes a bit of getting used too as you walk from stall to stall. You also have to get used to flies on everything, but then the alternative is to not eat at all and so its remarkably easy to adapt.
Amssouzarte itself has recovered from the flood a few months ago with amazing dexterity. Except for a soccer field sized mud pit kept clear by constant use the new rocks have been stacked into new walls reminiscent of New England farm fields and everything is green again. I'm blessed to live in a region of morocco where there is year round water. Most of my friends are rationing and only get water for about an hour a day. All about conservation. The evenings have already started to get colder and with no readily available method to heat my house its going to be a long cold winter. I'm trying not to think about that too hard. I did think about it enough to choose an apartment over the public baths so my floor is slightly heated at all times... Probably won't make too much of a difference but every little bit helpsMy language continues to improve in spits and spats and I alternate between being praised and being told I know nothing. I've learned to deal with this as normal and just keep plugging away. My focus has started to shift as I become more comfortable with the people and the surroundings into trying to decide things I can do for them. So far I've come up with a couple of ideas and they have suggested a few. They are thinking about starting fish farming for four reasons and have in fact, already built several tanks for this purpose. The reasons are, dietary variety, selling the eggs for profit, increasing iodized salt in the diet to reduce the number of people with thyroid disorders, and tourist attractions. I'll probably help with this project at some point. The other things that they are interested in is planting more trees and building a woman’s centre. I would LOVE to do this last thing but its difficult to get support for a project when you haven’t discussed it with the people that would benefit the most from it.
Actually I haven’t discussed anything with the women at all and its definitely a moral dilemma for me. As much as I'm enjoying my time here in Morocco I think I would have trouble dealing with the Arab world on a long term basis. I have too many friends that are women, who's thoughts and opinions are unique and interesting and entirely valid, and that matter to me a great deal to be able to easily tolerate a society were 50% of the voice is ritually excluded as a matter of course. And its god's will so there is no argument. I've been reading the Q'uran to try and increase my understanding as well as trying to build up the trust of the (insecure?) men to let me talk with the women. I'm also trying to build relations with some of the younger teenage girls that still have some freedom of movement hoping to get an in to the women crowd. Its a delicate balance. Conversely, Mark's village only 10 k away is a complete 180 and there we ONLY talk to women. Its a refreshing switch andthey love to joke around all the time. The jokes have a dangerous edge though because talking about marriage and the like is only ever half joking. By being foreign we are the most eligible bachelors in town. They other day though we tried to teach them about baseball by playing catch with an onion... The onion proved to be not very aerodynamic and it turned more into a game of Berber soccer (aka race the onion down the nearly vertical hill at full speed in flip flops). They loved it.
I managed to finally make it out to see the lake that’s 7 kilometres from my house. Let me tell you that seven kilometres is no joke though and nearly all of it is pretty much straight up hill. The lake was totally worth it though, glistening blue-green in a bowl which must have been carved by a glacier in years gone by. I went swimming in its "refreshing" depths and couldn't touch the bottom, even a few feet from shore. Probably go camping up there in the early part of October to meet some friends coming through from the other side of the mountains. There are lots of Shepard’s shelters so I wouldn't even need tents or anything. The problem is food... probably going to be sardines and bread for a lot of the time as there is nothing close to camp stoves. Probably have to go back to my cub scout days and make some out of tuna cans, wax and cardboard to boil water for coffee and such... Something to look forward to. My grander plans to hike up to Toubkal feel through, thoughI'm still not sure why... We just didn't go... Maybe sometime in the near future.Monday I have my first meeting with the Department of water and forests... the agency in charge of the park. Its in Marrakech and it will be my first trip to the city. I'm excited to see the square with all its monkeys and snake charmers and fire breathers... It will be fun to play the educated tourist. My language will mean little there as its not a Tashehiet region but I should be able to get by with French just fine. I'll be like the millions of other French tourists there.
Thanks everyone who sent letters and such... Its a slow process but I've been receiving and replying to them as soon as I get them (there often isn't much else to do :-)) I love you all and really truly do appreciate it. If I think of more to add to this e-mail I may send out addendums before I head back up the hill in a week or so... If not, keep in touch!
Till next time...
Love and Luck
Cheers!
-Andy
P.S. For anyone who notices a very slight British accent in this message... you have good eyes. The spell checker was smart enough to realize I was writing in English but not that I was American. Still have a ways to go Mr. Gates…
Month 2 in Amssouzarte down the tubes and not to much stunning to report. I'll do my best to make it entertaining however.
First I know everyone is waiting with baited breath after my last e-mail to hear about the results of my run in with the Moroccan legal system. This is as good a place to begin as any and so I shall relive you of your worries. I am happy, (and yet somehow disappointed at the same time) to report that I have been absolved of any Moroccan criminal record and am free to continue trying to help the people here. I'm sure someone at PC's budget room breathed a sigh of relief and at least I've still got the story. Speaking of which the appeals court was interesting and in the Atlantic seacoast resort town of Agadir. (bonus!) I got the usual call from the PC safety and security coordinator... (who fell in the process of dealing with us and broke his leg) to come and call him back. The problem being that I had to call by noon and got the message at 11:30 requiring me to run all the way to the phone 5 kilometres away. I made it and he tells me that I'm due in court in two days in Agadirand have to go get mark and tell him we're leaving. Ironically enough my program manager has just finished telling us the day before that we were finished with the process and didn't have to worry about it anymore... Nice to know that they talk to each other up there. We head out and sign the summons at the gendarmes office and then head to Agadir (mind you after waking up at 4 am and riding in a crowded dusty land rover for 5 hours). We had the afternoon free so decided to quest for some American cuisine and went looking for McDonalds. On the was as if by fate we bumped into a delivery boy for pizza hut and decided to go there instead. Being the man of the world that I am I usually avoid such places when I travel but after 60 plus days of tajine I was ready! Nor was I disappointed... we demolished a large supreme pizza and breadsticks and then decided that we needed to walk off enough calories to avert the current hunger crisis in Niger... on the beach.
We found it eventually by heading the same direction as every other non Moroccan in the vicinity and walked its entire length, which after heated debate we judged to be about 5 kilometres... We still had all our stuff and were in no way dressed for the beach but managed to have a good time anyway soaking our pants and getting harassed by people who wanted us to Jet ski (backpacks and all aparerantly). The beach in an Arabic nation is an expanse of stunning contradictions. Everywhere you look differentness confronts you. There are ugly European tourists in g-strings and Speedos (eww!) who's presence is a requirement for the beach, the town and even the country to survive, side by side with fully decked out Berber women who's face or eyes is the only thing you can see. Then there are the inbetweeners, people in bathing suits but headscarves, or Moroccan women swimming in pants and teeshirts without the scarf. Family groups gather just as they would at home and eat tajine out ofTupperware with bread, or cook rice in a pressure cooker at the same time others munch down western food with reckless abandon. All is overshadowed by the ever-present slogan of morocco spelled out in 40 foot letters on the hill at the end of the beach lit up at night so its the first thing and the last thing you notice when coming or going anywhere in Agadir... GOD, COUNTRY, KING.
After exhausting ourselves at the beach we retired to the only hotel we could afford on our PC expense account, no thanks to the would be guide who called us "shit tourists" when we tried to talk to him in his own language and showered to rinse off the beach sand. Having been thwarted in our quest earlier to find McDonalds we decided to do that for dinner after hitting up the internet and to our surprise we found it was right on the beach... right next to yet another pizza hut. A big mac and fries hit the spot and I got an extra pair of flip flops (a summer promotion here) in the bargain. Not only that but its the 5th anniversary of the coronation of the king and there was a huge concert in the square right by the restaurant. We stayed and watched that and I was delighted to discover that there is arabic music out there that isn't half bad. For pretty much everyone's sake I hope the trend catches on.The next morning we stumbled awake early in order to be on time for court at 9 am. Our translator met us there and we went in as soon as they opened the doors, only to discover that the gendarmes had "mislead" us once again and appeals court didn't start till 12:30... Ahh well.. more time to enjoy the beach. We went back at 12:30 and packed into the court room with many many other moroccans who haven’t showered in at least a year and at least half of whom were convicts in the handcuff and police escort sense of the term... This wasn't calculated to make me feel good about the circumstances. About an hour behind schedule (apparently a new record in timeliness) the judges got started, going through about 5 cases before someone passed them a note and they called me to the bench... After waking up my translator (who was a woman and therefore seated in a different part of the room) and reminding her of my name... I went before the judge and stated my case again. You could tell hewas bored by the circumstances and he clearly had other cases to see that were more exciting. He didn't even bother to check out the evidence I had brought with me. He repeated the process for mark and then we all left with the promise that we would hear something by Thursday.
Mark and I left for Taroudant and stayed there before heading back up to site the next day. All in all it was a rewarding and interesting experience. We got the news Thursday that the Judges had agreed with us that the whole thing was silly from the beginning and now we shouldn't have anything to worry about until we attempt to renew the citizenship card next year... Mark and I are planning to start now :-)In other news around town my host dad, soon to be my landlord is putting the finishing touches on my house. I should have running water (at least until the pipes freeze) and a new kitchen ( a countertop) Next step comes with furnishings and fixings as well as learning how to buy food from a weekly farmers market instead of a supermarket. I had been labouring under the happily delusional impression that all meat is raised in plastic wrapped Styrofoam containers until ready to be plucked from the vine. At least until they slaughtered a cow in my village recently. The preferred method of advertising what meat type is on sale is to prominently display the head of whatever animal was unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with the knife wielding butcher most recently. Its gruesome and takes a bit of getting used too as you walk from stall to stall. You also have to get used to flies on everything, but then the alternative is to not eat at all and so its remarkably easy to adapt.
Amssouzarte itself has recovered from the flood a few months ago with amazing dexterity. Except for a soccer field sized mud pit kept clear by constant use the new rocks have been stacked into new walls reminiscent of New England farm fields and everything is green again. I'm blessed to live in a region of morocco where there is year round water. Most of my friends are rationing and only get water for about an hour a day. All about conservation. The evenings have already started to get colder and with no readily available method to heat my house its going to be a long cold winter. I'm trying not to think about that too hard. I did think about it enough to choose an apartment over the public baths so my floor is slightly heated at all times... Probably won't make too much of a difference but every little bit helpsMy language continues to improve in spits and spats and I alternate between being praised and being told I know nothing. I've learned to deal with this as normal and just keep plugging away. My focus has started to shift as I become more comfortable with the people and the surroundings into trying to decide things I can do for them. So far I've come up with a couple of ideas and they have suggested a few. They are thinking about starting fish farming for four reasons and have in fact, already built several tanks for this purpose. The reasons are, dietary variety, selling the eggs for profit, increasing iodized salt in the diet to reduce the number of people with thyroid disorders, and tourist attractions. I'll probably help with this project at some point. The other things that they are interested in is planting more trees and building a woman’s centre. I would LOVE to do this last thing but its difficult to get support for a project when you haven’t discussed it with the people that would benefit the most from it.
Actually I haven’t discussed anything with the women at all and its definitely a moral dilemma for me. As much as I'm enjoying my time here in Morocco I think I would have trouble dealing with the Arab world on a long term basis. I have too many friends that are women, who's thoughts and opinions are unique and interesting and entirely valid, and that matter to me a great deal to be able to easily tolerate a society were 50% of the voice is ritually excluded as a matter of course. And its god's will so there is no argument. I've been reading the Q'uran to try and increase my understanding as well as trying to build up the trust of the (insecure?) men to let me talk with the women. I'm also trying to build relations with some of the younger teenage girls that still have some freedom of movement hoping to get an in to the women crowd. Its a delicate balance. Conversely, Mark's village only 10 k away is a complete 180 and there we ONLY talk to women. Its a refreshing switch andthey love to joke around all the time. The jokes have a dangerous edge though because talking about marriage and the like is only ever half joking. By being foreign we are the most eligible bachelors in town. They other day though we tried to teach them about baseball by playing catch with an onion... The onion proved to be not very aerodynamic and it turned more into a game of Berber soccer (aka race the onion down the nearly vertical hill at full speed in flip flops). They loved it.
I managed to finally make it out to see the lake that’s 7 kilometres from my house. Let me tell you that seven kilometres is no joke though and nearly all of it is pretty much straight up hill. The lake was totally worth it though, glistening blue-green in a bowl which must have been carved by a glacier in years gone by. I went swimming in its "refreshing" depths and couldn't touch the bottom, even a few feet from shore. Probably go camping up there in the early part of October to meet some friends coming through from the other side of the mountains. There are lots of Shepard’s shelters so I wouldn't even need tents or anything. The problem is food... probably going to be sardines and bread for a lot of the time as there is nothing close to camp stoves. Probably have to go back to my cub scout days and make some out of tuna cans, wax and cardboard to boil water for coffee and such... Something to look forward to. My grander plans to hike up to Toubkal feel through, thoughI'm still not sure why... We just didn't go... Maybe sometime in the near future.Monday I have my first meeting with the Department of water and forests... the agency in charge of the park. Its in Marrakech and it will be my first trip to the city. I'm excited to see the square with all its monkeys and snake charmers and fire breathers... It will be fun to play the educated tourist. My language will mean little there as its not a Tashehiet region but I should be able to get by with French just fine. I'll be like the millions of other French tourists there.
Thanks everyone who sent letters and such... Its a slow process but I've been receiving and replying to them as soon as I get them (there often isn't much else to do :-)) I love you all and really truly do appreciate it. If I think of more to add to this e-mail I may send out addendums before I head back up the hill in a week or so... If not, keep in touch!
Till next time...
Love and Luck
Cheers!
-Andy
P.S. For anyone who notices a very slight British accent in this message... you have good eyes. The spell checker was smart enough to realize I was writing in English but not that I was American. Still have a ways to go Mr. Gates…
posted by Andy & Erin | 5:50 PM
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