Here
goes:
My counterpart invited me to go on an overnight trip to a small village in the area. He said we would pass out clothes and do activities for the kids. I said sure. I liked the idea, so I showed up at the youth center at
1:30pm,
and
of
course,
transport
didn't
come
until
4pm,
and
then
we
literally
went
2
hours
out
into
the
small
small
villages
where
I had never
been,
in
a
transit,
with
a
guy
playing
the
drum
constantly
in
the
back,
and
me
shoved
up
in
the
front
between
the
driver
and
my
friend.
The
road
that
took
us
to
the
village
where
we
were
going
was
possibly
one
of
the
most
scary
roads
I
have
ever
been
on. I
(generally
fearless
when
it
comes
to
crazy
roads)
was
actually
scared,
and
couldn't
stop
murmuring
under
my
breath
for
the
driver
to
keep
watching
the
road,
because
he
was,
of
course,
yelling
into
his
cell
phone,
while
we're
all
sitting
in
this
transit,
on
the
side
of
a
mountain,
on
a
road
that's
about
a
horse
cart
wide.
So
that was, whatever.
Eventually,
the transit stops at the end of the road, on the side of a mountain
and we got out and
then
I
look
down
the
mountain,
and
my
friends
are
like,
pointing
out
the
donkeys
and
mules
that
the
town
is
sending
up
to
us
from
way
down
there.
It
took
me
about
5
minutes
to
find
where
the
animals
were,
they
were
so
small.
Anywho,
it
took
us
an
hour
to
descend
the
face
of
the
mountain
and
when
we
got
to
the
village,
this was where
the
real
fun
starts
happening.
Somewhat
like a weird dream, we're
greeted
by
about
20
children
running
up
the
path
from
the
village
to
greet
us,
and
they're
so...awestruck
(this
village is isolated/there
be
dragons)
that
the
kids
are
just
staring
at
us,
until
my
friends
start
taking
candy
out
of
their
sacks
(stranger
danger
doesn't
work
here) and
then
the
women
and
men
come
out
to
greet
us
as
we
enter
into
the
village
and
immediately
my
hand
gets
taken
and
held
for
the
next
3
hours
by
this
woman,
who
looked
like
she
could
have
been
out
of
a
storybook. This
woman
looked
like
a
character
out
of
a
storybook.
She
was
covered
in
black
cloth
that
was
bordered
with
neon
colored
thread,
draped
in
traditional Berber
jewelry,
and
underneath
her
head
covering,
she
put
a
sprig
of
basil.
I'm
looking
around
this
village,
and
i'm
wondering
to
myself
if
they
have
running
water
or
electricity.
Check
one
and
check
two,
except
electricity
was
run
by
solar
pannels.
That
evening,
we
put
on
a
little
movie
for
the
kids
on
a
projector
screen
(since
people
in
this
village
try
to
conserve
energy,
I
don't
think
they
watch
too
much
tv)
and
then
we
had
an
aHawaiyj
moment,
where
we
did
all
sorts
of
traditional
dances
and
hung
out
together
I
feel
like
i've
also
been
practicing
how
to
be
quiet.
This
weekend,
everyone
spoke
Tashlhiyt,
a
language
I
don't
know
well.
I
was
delighted
to
find
that
a
few
women
spoke
Darija
and
so
did
some
of
the
boys, (Because Arabic, and especially Moroccan Arabic, a street dialect, are languages learned in the bigger city streets and at school).
Anyways,
the
second
day,
we
got
up,
did
more
games
and
activities
with
the
kids,
and
then
handed
out
tons
of
clothes
to
the
village.
We
separated
the
clothes
out
into
batches,
and
after
doing
this
for
about
an
hour
and
a
half
(my
sense
of
time
is
a
little
funky
because
I
turned
off
my
cell
phone
due
to
no
reception
and
I
don't
wear
a
watch)I
sat
down
on
a
pile
of
blankets
and
passed
out
hard.
I
mean,
the
temp
in
the
mountains
isn't
as
severe
as
it
is
in T-town
but,
it
was
warm,
and
I
was
dehydrated,
which
is
ridiculous
because I had drunk
about
6
liters
of
water that day and
still felt like I could have drunk more.
And
then
we
ate
lunch,
and
while
we're
all
hanging
out
after
lunch,
the
man
of
the
household
comes
and
tells
us
to take what he's handing to us, which is roasted liver wrapped in fat,
which actually I don't mind because I think I crave the iron that it
has. and
then
we
wandered
around
the
village,
hung
out
at
the
river,
dipped
our
toes
in
the
nice
cool
water,
and
I
watched
the
tadpoles
swim
around.
It
was
kind
of
great
not
doing
anything
and
I
could
feel
my
mind
blanking
out. And
then
we
went
walking
through
the
fields,
which
is
where
I
grazed/fell
on
a
cactus
and
got
a
million
prickles
in
my
shirt
and
into
my
skin.
This
was
directly
before
my
counterpart
asked
me
if
I
wanted
to
go
to
another
douar (small village),
to
which
I
firmly
said,
'no.'
And
I
felt
ok
saying
no,
I
wasn't
prepared
to
do
another
night
out,
especially
without
more
stuff
from
my
med
kit,
aka
tweezers
and
pepto,
haha.
and
with
our
goodbyes
said,
we
headed
back
up
the
mountain.
I'm
happy
to
say
that
it
only
took
us
around
an
hour
and
a
half
to
two
hours
to
get
up
the
mountain,
in
which
we
got
back
in
the
same
transit,
with
the
same
kids
playing
on
the
drums,
and
the
guy
on
the
cellphone
and
managed
not
to
die.
Sorry, I left my photos on my external drive. I'll get them to you in September. Inchallah.
For now, I'm in a really swanky beach town called Safi and it's been marvelous, minus the 110 degree weather. We've all been sweaty messes. Blagh. But, it is nice to be around the beach. Huzzah!
