I’m not quite sure just what to write about… so much has happened! I have moved into my new host family’s home at my site. It’s a mud house, but a huge one. My host father is one of the Shixh in the village. A shixh is a person of authority, kind of like a governor, only usually a little more personal. So, closer to a mayor, I suppose. There are several local levels of command. The moqadem, then shixh, and then qaid. And after that there are more that I don’t know about. J Anyway… we have two cows, two calves, 11 sheep and lambs, one ram, two goats, one donkey, one mule and three chickens. And one cat who is usually hiding. My family spends a lot of time going to gather alfalfa for the animals. They harvest a new small patch of field everyday (by hand), and pack it all onto the donkey’s back to get it back to the house. Sometimes the sheep go out to graze, but I’m not sure the cows ever do. It is good we have cows, though, because that means we have milk! Hooray!! I won’t become lactose intolerant from under exposure after all. I might become intolerant anyway, though, who can fathom the ways of the intestines?? Certainly not me!
Some things that have happened, since I can’t decide what to write about:
--I had a meeting with a bunch of volunteers from the Eastern High Atlas region: lots of fun, some good ideas and hopefully some hiking buddies later!
--Tried to show my host mother that I can milk a cow, but she is afraid it will kick me, and I don’t know how to tell her I’ve been kicked by a cow before, so it’s OK, it won’t kill me (probably).
--Went to a Berber wedding: fascinating ceremony, involving a mule and lots of dancing, I’ll put a separate entry up about weddings sometime. On a side note, I don’t know if I mentioned that I got married a few weeks ago? Just kidding!! We had a mock wedding at training, and two "couples" got married. Somehow I ended up being one of the brides, and was completely decked out in Arabic finery. Pictures will follow at some point… The other girl was dressed like a Berber bride. The big plus from this is that if I need to claim to be married in the future, I won’t exactly be lying!!
--Biked 40 km to my souk town: a gorgeous ride, very remote, so I carried all sorts of tools just in case my bike got a flat or something truly irritating like that.
--Helped my host brother take our sheep out to graze. Fairly entertaining... the goats are sneaky.
--Made friends with our donkey. She’s very shy.
--The highlight of today is when I broke the tap in our kitchen. I am not at all sure how it happened, I was just turning it on to get some water when the whole handle just came off! With water flying everywhere as I frantically tried to screw it back in, I was thinking, "how come there is water pressure only when I don’t need it???" I almost got it back in, but then it came off totally with a spectacular shooting of water into the air and I realized that the sink drain was clogged… perfect… I tried to plunge it with the handy-dandy sink plunger nearby on the counter but no go… so now not only is water flying everywhere but the sink is a mere minute or two from overflowing, no end in sight… I try yelling for help but no one is in earshot and I cannot seem to stop the flowing fountain… so I put a big clay dish under the tap (think massive 2 ft. across and 4 in. deep clay dish) and sprint down the dark, unevenly huge spiral stairs to find someone, anyone… run out the front door and find my host father chumming around with some friends, I am yelling and telling him to (follows a rough translation of what I said) "Come! Now! Tap, kitchen, water, everywhere!!! Lets go! Now! Come ON lets go!! Now!!!!" Finally he understands my urgency (or maybe it was my soaking wet clothing) and comes up, screws the stupid thing in and the water stops. None too soon, either, as my makeshift water-catcher is filled to the brim. We sweep the water into the drain, and I go change and then go to meet the Qaid. Did I mention I was trying to hurry to a meeting the whole time? I have resolved never to use that tap again. Which leaves only one question: how on earth did I break it in the first place???
--My host father wants me to become a Muslim. Fortunately, I just learned the word for Christianity, so now he really wants me to become a Muslim. I predict many conversations about this… perhaps at some point I will succeed in convincing him that I do, in fact, greatly enjoy my choice of spirituality and that it’s great! Really! All without giving the appearance of proselytizing… a bit of a tightrope walk.
--I hope and pray each day that somehow the lightning fast conversations will magically begin to make real sense instead of bits and pieces here and there, but I know that it will instead require steady practice… I seem to be improving, anyway, which is encouraging.
--They have something like chapatti here! (Shout out to all you who know and love chapatti…) It’s called misms in Arabic and rrumtfos in Tashellhit/Tamazight. And it’s at least twice as big as Tanzanian chapatti. Usually served with more butter than I care for but I got one without any today! Delicious!!
Peace and joy to you all. In Jesus’ name… because I can say it here. J
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