.jpg)
Isn't she cute :)
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And a dancer..
On my 21st birthday celebration at Harpos.
Yep, she likes her duck umbrella.
Claire and I on Philanthropy day during Recruitment :)
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Claire Bear is 21.
I wanted to dedicate a post to my little sister, Claire, turning 21. I cannot believe how old she is and that I cannot be there to celebrate! We will celebrate quite nicely when I am back in the States I am sure. Here are some pictures for your entertainment.
.jpg)
Isn't she cute :)
.jpg)
And a dancer..
On my 21st birthday celebration at Harpos.
Yep, she likes her duck umbrella.
Claire and I on Philanthropy day during Recruitment :)
Isn't she cute :)
And a dancer..
On my 21st birthday celebration at Harpos.
Yep, she likes her duck umbrella.
Claire and I on Philanthropy day during Recruitment :)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Yes, I acted a fool.
I am going to write this story, despite that fact that I indeed look like a fool during it, because I believe it is a story that needs to be told. The fun all started last night.
I was sitting in the kitchen watching my sister cook dinner, after an afternoon collecting all of the wheat that the women in the village had harvested. My brother, Moustapha, comes into the kitchen and tells me that my host uncle has letters from his “friends” in America that are in English and he cannot read them. He wants to know if I will read them and help him understand what they are saying. I am immediately daunted by this task, since after all I know slightly better than Kindergarten Tashlheet and translating letters sounds way out of my language league, but of course I agree.
About 30 minutes later my host uncle shows up with a shoebox size box full of “letters”. I then ask my host uncle if he has friends in America, and he says “no”. So then I start wondering, where are these letters coming from if he doesn’t have friends in America. I open the box and to my surprise and delight, it is an ENTIRE BOX full of junk mail. Yes, anywhere from 40-50 pieces of junk mail that were sent to my host uncle’s PO Box in southern Morocco, saved from 2005 to now. I immediately burst out into a fit of laughter. Of course everyone around me has no idea what is going on, so I tell them, “This is trash, all of this mail is just trash letters from America”. They still don’t understand.
This is where I start to look like a fool. In my defense, I have no prior knowledge about my uncle and his feelings (this was only the second time I had met him, the first time he yelled at my about George Bush for like 25 minutes), I also had no idea that Moroccans have no concept of junk mail. Americans are well aware of the concept of sales calls, junk mail and the constant solicitation that we receive every day for products, ect. In Morocco, they do not have these same problems. I suppose in Morocco they use the postal service for actual letters instead of just advertisements and solicitations.
All of you can empathize with my initial reaction of laughter. After all my uncle thought these were letters from his friends, but they were just junk mail. My question is why are American companies (one was based in KCMo) sending this mail to a Moroccan man who lives in a small village far away from the USD?
We then brought all of the mail into the living room, where there were about 7 of Moustapha’s friends and my uncle assembled eager to figure out what these letters said. Here is a synopsis of the letters. “If you mail us $30 and all of your personal information, including your Social Security number or Passport number, then we will mail you a new flat screen TV or $10,000.” All of the letters promised lots of money in exchange for a little money. This is the sort of stuff that American’s don’t even open, they just throw it away.
At this point, I had been trying to explain (in my limited language) that this was trash mail and not from his friends, for about 45 minutes, but no one understood. It was too late to call anyone I knew who could translate, so I tried to make a point by crumpling up one of the pieces of paper and throwing it towards the trash can. This was single handedly the stupidest cultural thing I have done since I got to Morocco.
My uncle immediately became extremely mad that I was treating his letters this way, walked over grabbed the rest of the mail and the crumbled up piece of paper and left the room. At this point, I didn’t know what to do, so I went upstairs and called Sami and Dave. First to remove myself from the very awkward situation and to tell the story to someone, in hope that it would help me calm down my laughter. After I got off the phone with them, I went back downstairs and started apologizing to my mother and my sister, they both told me it wasn’t a big deal and that I didn’t do anything wrong, but that was not the impression I had gotten.
I then start explaining to my mom in different words that these are just American companies who want information and money from people, even Moroccans. I told her that in America we get lots and lots of letters like that, and we just throw them away. I told her that there is no company in America that will just mail you $10,000 for no reason (one of the letters even promised $1.5 Million USD). She then started to catch on and understand, asking me many more questions about the companies and letters. I explained the best I could. She then told me that my Uncle had been mailing his information to these companies, despite the fact that he couldn’t read the letters. To my Uncle’s credit, he had NO idea what he was getting mailed. He had no concept of junk mail, or scams or any of the above. He assumed, rightfully so, that if he got a letter in his mailbox, it was a legitimate letter. The fact that he was sending his info back explains why he had so many letters. I am sure every time he sent something back, they mailed him even more stuff.
I had then asked my mom to call my host uncle and explain the situation and apologize for anything I did that I didn’t mean to do. She agreed. Today I called one of the people who works for PC and can translate more complex ideas than I can. She talked to my host mother and explained in greater detail the situation and the caution I send to the uncle about passing his information to American companies. Turns out my broken Tashlheet had come through and my mother indeed understood what I had told her the night before.
The moral of this story is that my cultural insensitivities had made me look like a fool in the end. I had failed to fully digest the situation before I reacted in laughter. In the end, it turned out fine. My uncle is not mad at me, my family thinks its hilarious and most importantly the point has been made that these letters were not from his friends, they were scams. Hopefully I have explained it well enough to prevent future sending of information to scam artists in the States.
I learned my lesson and taught something at the same time, accomplishing goals two and three of the Peace Corps Mission.
Love you all.
I was sitting in the kitchen watching my sister cook dinner, after an afternoon collecting all of the wheat that the women in the village had harvested. My brother, Moustapha, comes into the kitchen and tells me that my host uncle has letters from his “friends” in America that are in English and he cannot read them. He wants to know if I will read them and help him understand what they are saying. I am immediately daunted by this task, since after all I know slightly better than Kindergarten Tashlheet and translating letters sounds way out of my language league, but of course I agree.
About 30 minutes later my host uncle shows up with a shoebox size box full of “letters”. I then ask my host uncle if he has friends in America, and he says “no”. So then I start wondering, where are these letters coming from if he doesn’t have friends in America. I open the box and to my surprise and delight, it is an ENTIRE BOX full of junk mail. Yes, anywhere from 40-50 pieces of junk mail that were sent to my host uncle’s PO Box in southern Morocco, saved from 2005 to now. I immediately burst out into a fit of laughter. Of course everyone around me has no idea what is going on, so I tell them, “This is trash, all of this mail is just trash letters from America”. They still don’t understand.
This is where I start to look like a fool. In my defense, I have no prior knowledge about my uncle and his feelings (this was only the second time I had met him, the first time he yelled at my about George Bush for like 25 minutes), I also had no idea that Moroccans have no concept of junk mail. Americans are well aware of the concept of sales calls, junk mail and the constant solicitation that we receive every day for products, ect. In Morocco, they do not have these same problems. I suppose in Morocco they use the postal service for actual letters instead of just advertisements and solicitations.
All of you can empathize with my initial reaction of laughter. After all my uncle thought these were letters from his friends, but they were just junk mail. My question is why are American companies (one was based in KCMo) sending this mail to a Moroccan man who lives in a small village far away from the USD?
We then brought all of the mail into the living room, where there were about 7 of Moustapha’s friends and my uncle assembled eager to figure out what these letters said. Here is a synopsis of the letters. “If you mail us $30 and all of your personal information, including your Social Security number or Passport number, then we will mail you a new flat screen TV or $10,000.” All of the letters promised lots of money in exchange for a little money. This is the sort of stuff that American’s don’t even open, they just throw it away.
At this point, I had been trying to explain (in my limited language) that this was trash mail and not from his friends, for about 45 minutes, but no one understood. It was too late to call anyone I knew who could translate, so I tried to make a point by crumpling up one of the pieces of paper and throwing it towards the trash can. This was single handedly the stupidest cultural thing I have done since I got to Morocco.
My uncle immediately became extremely mad that I was treating his letters this way, walked over grabbed the rest of the mail and the crumbled up piece of paper and left the room. At this point, I didn’t know what to do, so I went upstairs and called Sami and Dave. First to remove myself from the very awkward situation and to tell the story to someone, in hope that it would help me calm down my laughter. After I got off the phone with them, I went back downstairs and started apologizing to my mother and my sister, they both told me it wasn’t a big deal and that I didn’t do anything wrong, but that was not the impression I had gotten.
I then start explaining to my mom in different words that these are just American companies who want information and money from people, even Moroccans. I told her that in America we get lots and lots of letters like that, and we just throw them away. I told her that there is no company in America that will just mail you $10,000 for no reason (one of the letters even promised $1.5 Million USD). She then started to catch on and understand, asking me many more questions about the companies and letters. I explained the best I could. She then told me that my Uncle had been mailing his information to these companies, despite the fact that he couldn’t read the letters. To my Uncle’s credit, he had NO idea what he was getting mailed. He had no concept of junk mail, or scams or any of the above. He assumed, rightfully so, that if he got a letter in his mailbox, it was a legitimate letter. The fact that he was sending his info back explains why he had so many letters. I am sure every time he sent something back, they mailed him even more stuff.
I had then asked my mom to call my host uncle and explain the situation and apologize for anything I did that I didn’t mean to do. She agreed. Today I called one of the people who works for PC and can translate more complex ideas than I can. She talked to my host mother and explained in greater detail the situation and the caution I send to the uncle about passing his information to American companies. Turns out my broken Tashlheet had come through and my mother indeed understood what I had told her the night before.
The moral of this story is that my cultural insensitivities had made me look like a fool in the end. I had failed to fully digest the situation before I reacted in laughter. In the end, it turned out fine. My uncle is not mad at me, my family thinks its hilarious and most importantly the point has been made that these letters were not from his friends, they were scams. Hopefully I have explained it well enough to prevent future sending of information to scam artists in the States.
I learned my lesson and taught something at the same time, accomplishing goals two and three of the Peace Corps Mission.
Love you all.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Some random photos.
My host sister from training and I at our celebration for the village.
Martin and Dave think they are cool with their new hats.
The Taxi we rented to take us to our site, yes its insane but not that uncommon. The green bag is mine.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Lots of trips.
So these first few weeks at post have actually flown by, mostly because of the shear number of trips I have taken since being at post. In my defense, I am not leaving for fun vacation trips, but work related stuff.
The trips all started a few weeks ago when the women at my Co-Op I am working with asked me if I was interested in going to Sidi Ifni with them. Of course, I said yes. We were supposed to leave on Wednesday but didnt end up starting our journey until early Thursday morning. There were 3 of us in total that went, and I was really unsure of what to expect. I knew it was a "sale" of some kind, but I just wasnt sure what it was all about.
I was pleasently suprised when I go there. Sidi Ifni is like a beach town that forgot it was next to the ocean. There is very little development right on the water and for the most part (despite some trash) the beach is in pretty good shape. The town has a very laid back atmosphere and isnt nearly as bustling as some of the other cities in Morocco I have visited. The dress is still pretty conservative, with women wearing full body scarfs, but intermixed with tourists in tee shirts and shorts. It is quite an interesting combination.
Turns out that this "sale" was actually a festival of sorts put on my the Provience of Sidi Ifni (which I live in) for some of the local women's cooperatives in the area. They payed for our hotel and provided us meals, it was sort of like grown women at summer camp where everyone speaks a different language than you. We spent our days in our tent selling our products to locals who could just stop by and browse around (quite a few tourists came too). The co-op I am working with sells homemade Cous Cous, Argan oil for cooking and cosmetics, lots of natural herbs, cook books, henna and my personal favorite Amalou. Amalous is pretty unique to this region and is made on these rock presses combining either peanuts or almonds, oil and sugar. It is served with bread and is absolutely one of my favorite parts of the region. Other co-ops at the festival sold Traditional Berber clothing, cheese made from goats milk, as well as many variations of our products. It was really cool to see all of the different women's organizations working together to create these quality products as income generation. All-in-all we spent four days there (not the origional two I was told) but I did meet lots of very motivated women and spent my days beach side, which was quite nice. I have even seen some of the women around Tiznit and it is nice to start building those connections to the community.
Next started my trip to the Gendarms. I had to go to the Gendarms to get a carte de sejour which is essentially permission for me to stay in Morocco past my 3 month mark. This turned into a 4 day adventure with many many trips to both Lochkess and Tiznit. It did end with a free ride back to my site and a free lunch with the local authorities. The good news is that I did get my receipt (or reecie picie...as the Gendarms call it, haha) and all is well in that realm. Great. That trip was not without its stresses but in the end its over, for this year at least.
The final trip in this three part series was to Agadir, where I am currently. Agadir is a beautiful city with lots of amenities. We had a meeting up here and decided to spend the weekend just enjoying a hot shower and some delicious food. I am certanly taking anyone who visits me to this great beach town. Destroyed in 1961 by a terrible earthquake, the country got a lot of foregin aid money (I am currently on JFK blvd if that helps you out) and they used it to desgin a city for tourism. This means there are wide streets with parking and sidewalks. Tons of little cafes and shops as well as just about any amenity that you could possibly need. The crowing jewel (in my personal opinion) is the Marjane in town. Marjane is essentially a Target/ Walmart type place crossed with a mall. They have the normal "Wal-Mart" section but also lots of little niche shops (sort of like a strip center in the States) but inside. You can get ANYTHING here. They sell lots of name brand items that I miss from America as well as different types of cheeses, household items, electronics, ect. That is a must-do whenever we come here and its nice for just a few hours to feel a sense of shopping familiarity. At Marjane you dont have to look from behind a counter and decide what you want, you can actually shop, and thats a good feeling.
The other big thing we have done on this trip is try out new restruants in the area. While they were a little pricey for our budget we finally got to eat some variety of food that feels more like home. Friday night we went to really the only Chinease place in town (we tried to find Mexican but NONE exist) and it was awesome. The food tasted good, the atmosphere was great and it was quite worth the adventure to get there. Last night (Saturday night) we went to an italian place called Mezzo Mezzo and it was awesome. Certainly not "Hill" italian food from St. Louis but good none the less. Wow, the food really made the trip.
I have really enjoyed these crazy days but I am looking forward to my time at home with my family this next week :) Now the house/ apartment hunting begins....
I love you all.
Sami and Dave came and visited Maria and I at our booth in Sidi Ifni.
The Governor of Sidi Ifni Prov. and myself in Sidi Ifni.
The festival.
The ocean :)
Me, on the rocks by my house.
My host sisters, some of their friends, Sami and I pretty close to my house.
The trips all started a few weeks ago when the women at my Co-Op I am working with asked me if I was interested in going to Sidi Ifni with them. Of course, I said yes. We were supposed to leave on Wednesday but didnt end up starting our journey until early Thursday morning. There were 3 of us in total that went, and I was really unsure of what to expect. I knew it was a "sale" of some kind, but I just wasnt sure what it was all about.
I was pleasently suprised when I go there. Sidi Ifni is like a beach town that forgot it was next to the ocean. There is very little development right on the water and for the most part (despite some trash) the beach is in pretty good shape. The town has a very laid back atmosphere and isnt nearly as bustling as some of the other cities in Morocco I have visited. The dress is still pretty conservative, with women wearing full body scarfs, but intermixed with tourists in tee shirts and shorts. It is quite an interesting combination.
Turns out that this "sale" was actually a festival of sorts put on my the Provience of Sidi Ifni (which I live in) for some of the local women's cooperatives in the area. They payed for our hotel and provided us meals, it was sort of like grown women at summer camp where everyone speaks a different language than you. We spent our days in our tent selling our products to locals who could just stop by and browse around (quite a few tourists came too). The co-op I am working with sells homemade Cous Cous, Argan oil for cooking and cosmetics, lots of natural herbs, cook books, henna and my personal favorite Amalou. Amalous is pretty unique to this region and is made on these rock presses combining either peanuts or almonds, oil and sugar. It is served with bread and is absolutely one of my favorite parts of the region. Other co-ops at the festival sold Traditional Berber clothing, cheese made from goats milk, as well as many variations of our products. It was really cool to see all of the different women's organizations working together to create these quality products as income generation. All-in-all we spent four days there (not the origional two I was told) but I did meet lots of very motivated women and spent my days beach side, which was quite nice. I have even seen some of the women around Tiznit and it is nice to start building those connections to the community.
Next started my trip to the Gendarms. I had to go to the Gendarms to get a carte de sejour which is essentially permission for me to stay in Morocco past my 3 month mark. This turned into a 4 day adventure with many many trips to both Lochkess and Tiznit. It did end with a free ride back to my site and a free lunch with the local authorities. The good news is that I did get my receipt (or reecie picie...as the Gendarms call it, haha) and all is well in that realm. Great. That trip was not without its stresses but in the end its over, for this year at least.
The final trip in this three part series was to Agadir, where I am currently. Agadir is a beautiful city with lots of amenities. We had a meeting up here and decided to spend the weekend just enjoying a hot shower and some delicious food. I am certanly taking anyone who visits me to this great beach town. Destroyed in 1961 by a terrible earthquake, the country got a lot of foregin aid money (I am currently on JFK blvd if that helps you out) and they used it to desgin a city for tourism. This means there are wide streets with parking and sidewalks. Tons of little cafes and shops as well as just about any amenity that you could possibly need. The crowing jewel (in my personal opinion) is the Marjane in town. Marjane is essentially a Target/ Walmart type place crossed with a mall. They have the normal "Wal-Mart" section but also lots of little niche shops (sort of like a strip center in the States) but inside. You can get ANYTHING here. They sell lots of name brand items that I miss from America as well as different types of cheeses, household items, electronics, ect. That is a must-do whenever we come here and its nice for just a few hours to feel a sense of shopping familiarity. At Marjane you dont have to look from behind a counter and decide what you want, you can actually shop, and thats a good feeling.
The other big thing we have done on this trip is try out new restruants in the area. While they were a little pricey for our budget we finally got to eat some variety of food that feels more like home. Friday night we went to really the only Chinease place in town (we tried to find Mexican but NONE exist) and it was awesome. The food tasted good, the atmosphere was great and it was quite worth the adventure to get there. Last night (Saturday night) we went to an italian place called Mezzo Mezzo and it was awesome. Certainly not "Hill" italian food from St. Louis but good none the less. Wow, the food really made the trip.
I have really enjoyed these crazy days but I am looking forward to my time at home with my family this next week :) Now the house/ apartment hunting begins....
I love you all.
Sami and Dave came and visited Maria and I at our booth in Sidi Ifni.
The Governor of Sidi Ifni Prov. and myself in Sidi Ifni.
The festival.
The ocean :)
Me, on the rocks by my house.
My host sisters, some of their friends, Sami and I pretty close to my house.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
A big week in America.
I would like to send a short shout out to my friends at home who are celebrating big things and I am unfortunately unable to be there to celebrate with them.
Graduating Undergrad:
Jesse Garwood (Mizzou)
Laura Cayce (Mizzou)
Carrie Barker (Mizzou, B.J. Magazine)
Max Reiss/ Heiman (Mizzou, B.J. Broadcast)
Michelle Aylesworth (American Univ)
Tiffany Butler (Spellman College, B.S.)
Brianna Kinney (Hollins Univ)
Jen Stuckel (Missouri State)
Meg O'Connell (Indiana Univ)
Analise Murphy (Mizzou)
Graduating Law School with a job:
Sabrina Guenter (Univ of Virginia)
Rented her first "big kid" place:
Danielle Hohmeier
Bought a car:
Danielle Lecompte
Got a job and graduated with Masters:
Megan Valli (Loyola Univ in Maryland, Masters in Montessori Education)
Kayla Smith (Mizzou, M. Accounting)
Christy Garofalo (Mizzou, M. Accounting)
Brady Bounds (Mizzou, M. Accounting)
Omer Farooq (Illinois Institute of Technology)
Going to the Sudan to work on water quality :) :
Natalie Rada
Got accepted into her Master's program:
Brittany Perrin (Masters in Public Affairs, Mizzou)
Getting Married in one month to the love of her life:
Whitney Schloss (soon to be Whitney Maus)
Moving to Moldova in a few weeks to start her Peace Corps service:
Lindsay Toler (Health volunteer)
Birthdays:
Jason Mehringer (5/16)
Claire Bear (5/31)
Martin Fredreckson (in Morocco :) 5/25)
Danny Stuckel (5/17)
I hope I didnt forget anyone, if I did, email me please.
I love you all. Congrats!
Graduating Undergrad:
Jesse Garwood (Mizzou)
Laura Cayce (Mizzou)
Carrie Barker (Mizzou, B.J. Magazine)
Max Reiss/ Heiman (Mizzou, B.J. Broadcast)
Michelle Aylesworth (American Univ)
Tiffany Butler (Spellman College, B.S.)
Brianna Kinney (Hollins Univ)
Jen Stuckel (Missouri State)
Meg O'Connell (Indiana Univ)
Analise Murphy (Mizzou)
Graduating Law School with a job:
Sabrina Guenter (Univ of Virginia)
Rented her first "big kid" place:
Danielle Hohmeier
Bought a car:
Danielle Lecompte
Got a job and graduated with Masters:
Megan Valli (Loyola Univ in Maryland, Masters in Montessori Education)
Kayla Smith (Mizzou, M. Accounting)
Christy Garofalo (Mizzou, M. Accounting)
Brady Bounds (Mizzou, M. Accounting)
Omer Farooq (Illinois Institute of Technology)
Going to the Sudan to work on water quality :) :
Natalie Rada
Got accepted into her Master's program:
Brittany Perrin (Masters in Public Affairs, Mizzou)
Getting Married in one month to the love of her life:
Whitney Schloss (soon to be Whitney Maus)
Moving to Moldova in a few weeks to start her Peace Corps service:
Lindsay Toler (Health volunteer)
Birthdays:
Jason Mehringer (5/16)
Claire Bear (5/31)
Martin Fredreckson (in Morocco :) 5/25)
Danny Stuckel (5/17)
I hope I didnt forget anyone, if I did, email me please.
I love you all. Congrats!
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