Weddings

This week is a week of weddings in my village. While I attended a few weddings right after I arrived in the village, I haven't been to any since. I'm excited to be invited to these weddings, as I know the families of the girls getting married very well. Weddings in Morocco are very different than weddings in the US. They normally last several days and have parties that go on until the early morning. Yesterday was the beginning of the wedding for Malika, one of my host cousins. She is about 20 years old and lives next door to my host family. I was invited to the very beginning of the festivities, including where the bride gets henna done on her hands and feet. It was a lot of fun to see the wedding of a girl I know pretty well.

When I arrived at Malika's family's house, I was shown into the main salon, where I sat with about ten other women. We were served tea and cookies, then a meal of chicken (which I obviously didn't eat) and couscous. (I'm getting better at eating couscous with my hands, but am still not very tidy when I do it.) While we were eating, the bride came into the house in a large group of women who were singing and dancing. She was led to the back salon, where there was a throne for her to sit on, surrounded by beautiful embroidered tablecloths and pillow covers. (She'll take these with her to her new home.) She was wearing a white kaftan with silver designs on it. Her hair, for the first time since I met her, was not veiled, but instead was in a fancy bun and sprayed with glitter. She wore a gold crown and had a long veil attached to the bun. She wore kohl on her eyes and had lipstick and blush on (again, not anything I'd ever seen her wear before.)

After she sat down on the thrown, people took turns taking pictures with her. It was warm in the room, so her sister got a fan to put in the window and one of her friends stood next to her waving a paper fan for her. After a few minutes, a table was brought in with a bowl of milk, dates, a sugar cone and incense. Several girls walked over to the bride and helped her get situated so that the henna could start being applied. They had brought in a girl from outside the village to do the henna. She started applying a thick layer of henna to the bottom of Malika's feet. She then did intricate patterns about 8 inches up each ankle. Because of the intricacy of the designs, this took several hours. Malika had to sit quietly on her throne throughout the process. Henna was then applied to her hands and arms. I can tell you from experience, its difficult to sit still while the henna is drying on your hands and feet. It can take an hour or so dry and then has to be scraped off with a knife. Sometimes, paint thinner is added to the henna mixture so that the henna patterns last longer. Unfortunately, this really makes the henna burn when its applied. (I don't know if Malika's henna had paint thinner in it or not.)

After watching Malika get hennaed for awhile, one of my host sisters came to get me to take me to the "party." In my host families house, all of the women of the village had gathered to sing songs and dance to celebrate Malika's marriage. Most marriage celebrations in rural villages are gender segregated, with the women divided into two groups (married and un-married.) Luckily, I'm able to attend whatever parties I want, as I'm kind of in a special group of my own. Its fun to see all of the women and girls dressed up in their most fancy jellabas or dresses, talking and singing. Around 9 pm, tables were brought in and we were directed to sit in groups of ten or so around the table. (I always kind of dread this part of a party, as being a vegetarian can lead to lots of questions and strange looks.) We were served chicken, then couscous, then fruit again. After that, a prayer was said and everyone went home. Tonight is the party for the unmarried girls. I'll probably attend again, but I'll see how I feel. Tonight's party will probably end much later, as the younger girls have more energy.

Tomorrow, the sister of one of my English students is getting married. The parties will start all over again!

Traveling....

I have finally made it back to site after traveling what felt like non-stop the last two months. I helped organize two craft fairs, one in Rabat and one in Marrakech. While my artisans participated in the Marrakech craft fair, they decided that the Rabat craft fair was too far to attend. I was disappointed in their decision to not attend the fair, but hope they will be open to going to the next one. The picture above is me with two other PCVs, Joy and Adriana, modeling the new shirts that Joy's association is making. They were a big hit at the fair.

After the craft fairs, I was only back in my village for a few weeks before I had to travel back to Rabat. This time, it was for a week of training with Peace Corps. My counterpart attended the training as well and I think learned a lot about Peace Corps and what volunteers are supposed to do/ can do for their villages. It was fun to be in Rabat for a week and see all of the other PCVs, many of whom I had not seen since our last training in February. Peace Corps put us up in a nice hotel, with hot showers in the rooms, clean beds and towels provided! I really enjoyed being in a big city again, where I could get all sorts of food (my village doesn't have any restaurants) and hang out with other Americans for a few days.

After training, I went back to my village for a week or two, then started traveling again to help plan the next Marrakech craft fair, tentatively scheduled for early December. My friend Ali, a PCV in taroudant province, is the main planner for the fair and has asked for as much help as we can give her. We talked to the director of the previous fair and got a lot of great advice on what to improve, what to keep the same, and how to write the grant proposal. It will be a lot of work, but hopefully worth it in the end. Our biggest challenge is going to be language. Ali and I both speak a Berber dialect called tashelhit. All of the government officials we will be speaking with speak Moroccan Arabic or French. Ali speaks some French, which will be very helpful but we will have to recruit additional volunteers that speak Arabic to help with some of the more technical language.

Right now, I'm sitting in my salon, preparing information on another craft fair for my cooperative. I will not be able to attend with them, as I'll be traveling with my family in Egypt, but I really hope they go without me. Craft fairs are great for the women to see what other cooperatives are doing and get new ideas for products. The fairs also give them a chance to build their customer service skills and become more comfortable with traveling outside the village. Keep your fingers crossed they decide to attend!