Smithsonian Folklife Festival - Traveling

I just got back from an amazing two weeks at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. It was exhausting, but such a cool experience. Khadija and Fatima did great, despite often being overwhelmed by the strange food, strange clothes, strange sights, etc.

We left our villages on Monday, June 27th and traveled to Casablanca. Khadija and I traveled together from Marrakech to Casablanca, while Fatima met us at the hotel in Casablanca. It was Khadija's first time on a train! So many firsts on this trip, for both women. They did an amazing job 'going with the flow' and trying new things. After the first day of the fair, Khadija turned to me and said, "Now I know what its like for you volunteers when you first get to Morocco. EVERYTHING is strange!"

It was over 120 degrees when we were traveling through Marrakech and the train, unfortunately, had no air conditioning! Its amazing how much more exhausting traveling is when its super hot. We made it into Casablanca in the early evening and quickly turned on the air conditioning in our hotel rooms. Smithsonian really took care of us on the trip - they paid for our travel in Morocco and graciously offered to pay for a hotel room in Casablanca the night before our flight, so that we all had a good nights sleep before another long day of traveling.

We woke up on the 28th, ate breakfast, and headed out to the airport. We had A LOT of luggage, since I brought carpets and embroidery from my cooperative to sell at the festival and Khadija and Fatima brought all their weaving supplies. We looked a little silly each dragging two giant bags to the train station and then to the ticket counter.  After checking in at the airport and sending our bags off, we were a lot more comfortable. We went through security and relaxed for a few hours before our flight.

Both Khadija and Fatima did absolutely fine on the trip. It was Khadija's first time on a plane (Fatima had been on a short plane ride from Casablanca to Agadir) and both ladies first time out of Morocco. Luckily, the plane wasn't full so we could all stretch out and get some rest on the flight. After 8 hours, we arrived at JFK and went through customs. I was a little worried, because we had a huge amount of luggage, but we made it through without any problems. All of the customs agents really got a kick out of my speaking Tashelhit (you speak WHAT??) and wished the ladies good luck on the rest of their trip.

After grabbing a snack at Starbucks, we got on our plane to D.C. By this time, we were all exhausted. When our plane got stuck on the runway for two hours, both Fatima and Khadija fell asleep and slept until we landed in D.C. at 11 pm. We found the Smithsonian staff that came to pick us up at the airport and rested for a few minutes while waiting for some of the Columbian participants at the fair to arrive. They got in at 12:30 AM and we took the bus to the hotel.

Smithsonian put all of us up at the Marriott Hotel by Georgetown. The hotel was absolutely beautiful and I felt really lucky to be staying at such a nice place. After making sure that Fatima and Khadija could work the air conditioner, TV and the shower, I went to sleep. We were up again at 7:30 am for orientation and a trip to the mall to set up for the festival.

This is me with Fatima on the train to the airport. You can't tell so much from the photo, but it was HOT and we were carrying a lot of luggage. I was so happy when we finally got to the airport and could check-in and get rid of all those bags!

Zarnaz, an RPCV from Morocco, invited all of us to her home for a wonderful dinner. I can't thank all of the Moroccan RPCVs enough for their help during the fair. They went out of their way to make all of us feel at home, taking the women out for shopping, for lunch, and coming to help at the fair itself. They were all wonderful and made the experience even more special for all of us. 

Fatima, me and Khadija in front of the official 50th Anniversary sign for Peace Corps.

This is us at the 4th of July parade with our amazing neighbors at the Festival, Elena and Mele from Tonga. They demonstrated weaving palm like leaves into mats and decorative items, like the belts they're wearing

Amy, Khadija and Karen at the dinner party at Zarnaz's house. Karen was the PCV in Khadija's village a few years ago and Amy served in a village very close to mine. Both really went out of their way to make all of us feel at home in D.C. and came to the fair several times to hang out with us. Khadija's face would light up anytime she saw them :)