Holiday Wishes to each of you!

Hello everyone, and Happy Holidays!!

I've been getting private emails from multiple people about the frequency of my updates, so let me first say that I apologize. As you already know, I'm in the Peace Corps with little access to the internet, and when I actually get a chance to hit the internet (like this) it's slower than dialup. Believe me that I have a ton of pictures that just need to be transferred to digital format, and once that is finished than you will all be the first to read them. So with that being said, here's a few words on my experiences over the last month...

The swearing in ceremony was set at a beautiful Kenzi Hotel there in Ouarzazate. The governor of Ouarzazate, along with the US Ambassador to Morocco were both in attendence. In addition to this, all our host familes from each of our individual sites were present. After raising my right-hand and swearing in, we took to the poolside festivities where we all had a chance to pat eachother on our backs. At the poolside, we were greeted by a traditional berber band (dancers, drummers, etc).

Moving ahead to December 1st, you find us all at our final sites (Amizmiz for me) and with our host families. There, we would stay for the next 2 months until we were acclimated to our new environments. As of right now, I'm closing in our my first month, and I'm reeeeeally ready to get my own apartment. So, about my living quarters now... well, I can say that I'm not struggling like the typical Peace Corps volunteer. I have a room to myself, a bed (which I sleep diagnal on), and a light that flickers on an off. Usually, when I need to study at night or read a book/magazine, I will use my headlamp that I bought at REI in the states. There's a hole in the middle of our house that showers all the time, due to the fact that we live at the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains. The rooms are all situated on the outside of this "courtyard" and each day we cross this to get from one room to the other. If you can picture a bagel, than you're more than half way there to understanding the setting. The house itself is made entirely of concrete with a few iron rods. Ooohh yeah, it's cold...insulation.... what's that??? Then there's the "Turkish" (which is hole in the ground surrounded by porclain) which is on the otherside of the "courtyard", and makes for a difficult evening if you need to use the facilities.

Let's see... well, my day... My day is pretty simple I must say. Believe it or not, but not having much to do is harder than you think. I've learned to appreciate the little successes that I might have, and try to shift down my gears. I typically try to sleep in till ooooooo about saaay 10am eachday. Then we have 1st breakfast, then we have 2nd breakfast at 11am, then we have lunch at about 2pm. Continuing with this we have 1st dinner at 6pm and 2nd dinner at 11pm. Yes, that's right... 5 meals per day. If anyone tells you that people in Africa are starving, know that it's in the Southern parts of Africa, because Moroccans eat good and often!! Continuing with my day, I might meet my sitemate (Andy) for a coffee. Have you ever seen the movie "About a Boy" with Hugh Grant?? Basically, his day is alittle like mine in that we try break up our days in segments of time. (30mins for getting dressed, 60 mins for eating, 45 mins for going into town and getting some walking excercise, 8 hours for trying to understand why I'm here and what I'm doing, and so on and so forth)... you get the picture. Basically, it's sloooooooow here! Time is of the plenty here, and it's actually a good opportunity for me to do some other things in my life where I didn't have the time previously. So, it's not all that bad, it just takes some getting used to.

For the time being, I've taken up teaching english in my community. My class consists of about 30-40 girls (age ranging between 18-22yrs). Although this isn't my primary job, it does help for me to show value in my community. And with the limited language abilities, this is something that's fairly easy for me to do considering that I'm the town expert in this language. As for my other responsibilities, I don't really have any at the moment. Believe it or not, but my job for the first 6 months to simply integrate with my community (drink tea, walk around, say hello, watch Rambo in Arabic at the local coffee house, etc.) At the same time however, I am beginning to understand alittle more about my artisan community and there desires for the future. My 500+ artisans consist of seamstresses, potters, blacksmiths, shoesmiths, carpenters. Hopefully, by the end of the 6 months I will have had a better idea as to how I can assist them for the future. (nshallah) (God Willing)

More later, ... I promise.

Jan.2005: National Geographic Issue

The January '05 Nat'l Geographic Magazine features a story called "Among the Berbers: a journey through Morocco's high Atlas mountains". I thought this might be of interest to you (families and friends) back home who are wondering what Berber culture is and their daily life. It will give you a picture into the daily life of those living within the Atlas mountains (including myself).

Here's the link for the story:
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0501/feature4/index.html

Thomas T. Riley - U.S. Ambassador to Morocco

Thomas T. Riley was confirmed as the United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco on December 9, 2003, culminating almost three decades of work in international business, technology, and energy management.
Mr. Riley earned his Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from Stanford University in 1972. He began his professional life as an Associate Engineer for the Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. After a year of service with Boeing, Mr. Riley attended Harvard Business School, where he was awarded an MBA in 1975.
Following graduation from Harvard, Mr. Riley spent four years overseas with TRW, based in Northern Ireland, England and France, rising rapidly to the position of Manager of European Operations. He then returned to California and co-founded General Resources Corporation, an equipment distribution company, establishing partnerships with local service companies in Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan. Mr. Riley speaks French fluently.
Mr. Riley also has a strong foundation in technology, having worked in the Silicon Valley in California for the past 20 years. He has served as the President and CEO of Unity Systems (automated building controls), Web State (online training) and most recently ActivePhoto (online digital photo services). Mr. Riley is often invited to speak at industry conferences in the US and Europe, and was awarded a U.S. Patent for an innovative energy management system.
Mr. Riley has actively donated his professional expertise through volunteering at organizations such as Bizworld, a program that teaches business principles to elementary schools, and Hope Rehabilitation Services, a charity serving those with mental disabilities. He and his wife Nancy, a tax attorney, have 2 daughters in college.
 

Swearing-In Ceremony

Myself and Lee

Room-mates (DougB, Andy, McKean, & I) 

Myself & U.S.Ambassador to Morocco- Thomas Riley