Make Mine Khemisset!

In the post "The Assignment," I promised more information about my assigned site to follow .. well, that time is now. Here's what I know about my assigned site, and hope that future travel guides (ie Lonely Planet, Fodor's, Rough Guides Travel, etc) will include: Khemisset, Morocco.
sidebar:
Pointed out by fellow Peace Corps/Morocco volunteers that I was "Most Likely to Give a Corporate Marketing Presentation to Berber Villagers"

Note: actual names have been changed/withheld for obvious reasons (re: safety/security)


December is World AIDS (SIDA) Awareness Month**. As I'm always interested in AIDS-awareness campaigns, I noticed this billboard. Oddly, the only other billboard I saw in Khemisset is the one of the current and progressive Moroccan monarch, King Mohammed VI.


My host-family took me on a hike yesterday [Dec 11] to their zitoon [olive] farm. We spent most of the mid-morning picking olives off and around the trees. We spent the afternoon sorting olives according to ripeness**** before laboriously preparing them for zit [oil] extraction (green/red) or curing (black). The family donkey was a great help when it came to hauling the olives to the mill. At one point olive oil covered us just like Lucy and Ethel in the grape-stomping "I Love Lucy" episode.


Though I have seen drying machines (for clothes) only in stores in the big cities (Fes, Rabat), it seems like every rooftop has drying-lines. There are even communal drying-lines in most communities.


This is the handy indoor plumbing work of my host-brother. I asked him if he was going to patch up the wall after the work is completed, and he just gave me a puzzled look.


I think this is my first post of a Moroccan sunset .. looks just like a sunset over a groove of eukalyptus trees in Golden Gate Park. All my sunset pictures with a mosque silloqett do not look that impressive .. mostly cuz I've not taken the time to take a decent picture.


Though I see sheep and goats crossing town streets daily, I am still amaze there are not more road-kills. L3id kibera [big feast] is the most important religious holi-day in the Islamic calendar. I don't know much about this important day, but it has to do with slaughtering of sheep .. am told that, starting in three weeks, most households will keep a live (live!) sheep roof-top for a few days before mass-slaughtering .. am stocking up on ear-plugs and pepto for silencing of the lambs.


Other sheep-related sighting is this wool-dying operation on the roof-top of a rural neighborhood .. one of the five wood-carving cooperatives is located here, so I come to this part of town a couple of days a week.



I have just started a "photo shoot" of some of the wood-carver crafts. I decided to take these pictures now for future projects .. stay tuned.


I am currently working with five wood-carver cooperatives in the Khemisset Province. There are three cooperatives within the city limit that I visit almost on a daily basis; however, I need to get travel approval (not a problem) to visit the other two cooperatives. Khemisset is actually known for the rug/carpet cooperatives, and I hope to eventually work with these and other artisan cooperatives (such as metal and other textiles). I know I should not have "favorites," but the artisan I enjoy working with is CIMG2977 & CIMG2978; he's so great to work with because he has infinite patience and forgiveness when I try to speak darija [Moroccan Arabic] with him. He understands English perfectly.

Peace Corps volunteer SF suggested that I submit some of the photos to the next "Sports Illustrated" swim-suit issue. I think not, but I might make a "Wood-Carvers of Khemisset" 2006 calendar!

* the souq is an outdoor market that can start as early as 3:00am. Don't click on the following link unless you have a strong stomach; while having lunch at the souq, I sat next to this carved sheep. My host-father explained that the testicles are left hanging to let lunch-goers know that it is a male animal. Am told that Khemisset hosts the largest souq in all of Morocco; I heard it, so it must be true.
** maybe it's just Dec 1 .. not sure as I'm so clueless at the moment; I'm not flooded with AIDS-awareness messages as I would be if I were in San Francisco/Bay Area.
*** it's more like a tourist crooked-line route, but everyone here seems to describe this route as a "tourist triangle".
**** green is unripe, red is just ripening and black is most ripe.

tags: ..
another point of view ...

Anonymous Anonymous


Great posts - And great to see you enjoying yourself. I hope it continues, Inshallah! How long are you there? As I will be in the area in the next few months.

THE VIEW FROM FÈS
 

Blogger frankysbride


Great photos-- I hate I Love Lucy, so no comment on that one. *bg
 

Blogger Nam LaMore


SAMIR: hey, how are you enjoying your visit to Morocco? any advice you can give me? i'll email you in a bit to see if you want to get together for lunch.

FRANKYSBRIDE: ah, i grew up watching "i love lucy" reruns (and "the brady bunch"), and those were formative years! anyhow, am still looking for an albatross to take a picture for you. so far, nothing .. but lots of donkeys and malnurished cats.
 

Anonymous Anonymous


http://andresonkd22322.post-blogs.com/22671212/
Парсинг


@kkk
 

Anonymous Anonymous


https://tommym912wnd2.boyblogguide.com/profile
заказать продвижение сайта в топ москва


@kkk
 

speak up!


previous 10 posts:

home/current
[index of posts within each monthly archive]




disclaimer: some rights reserved. trademarks belong to their respective holders. inaccuracies are entirely unintentional. except where noted, this site is under a creative commons license. reuse, redistribution and/or excerpt permitted only with proper credit. linkback permitted without credit. if you find something offensive, then just stop reading. emails directly to me or comments posted here become my property. you have been notified.

the contents of this blog/web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the u.s. government or the peace corps.