Only 10 Months of Couscous

With heavy hearts, it's time that we tell everyone our Peace Corps service is ending early.

First and foremost, we want to send a thank you out into the world to all of the amazing people we've met during these last 10 months. Moroccans, Americans, cats, whoever - you're great. We have been greeted into this country with hospitality that neither of us ever imagined. Our two host families let us not only into their homes, but into their families and hearts. It's something we'll never forget.

The Moroccan friends that we have made are phenomenal people, and have been nothing but friendly, helpful, and supportive. Despite some language barriers, we made some lifelong friends and had a lot of entertaining times.

The Peace Corps Morocco staff are all gems. Every single one of them. They worked nonstop supporting just under 200 volunteers at a time, giving us personal attention and helping with whatever questions arise.

And the other Peace Corps Morocco Volunteers are the worst people in the world. Just kidding - gotta keep you paying attention. We all traveled different roads to get to Peace Corps and it was a privilege and an honor to walk on the same path as all of you.

And, not to be forgotten, everyone who supported us in any way shape or form while we were here. We loved the post cards, care packages, visitors, FaceTime sessions, Facebook messages, snapchats, and everything else. You're all the best. Period.

After being in Peace Corps for these past 10ish months we can safely say that it is a fantastic and unique program that does great things around the world. Thinking of joining Peace Corps? We are too! (the Peace Corps retirement plan that is - check back in 2076. We're planning on breaking the record set by Alice Carter for oldest PCV - challenge accepted) We had a lot of great experiences, and are sad to end our term early, but the time has come for us.

There have been a few situations that have lead us to the conclusion that we can't complete our service. We believe that if we stayed, we wouldn't be able to put every ounce of effort into our work, and that isn't fair to anyone (Peace Corps, the Moroccans we would like to serve, or ourselves). To be successful in Peace Corps, you must be fully committed and we could not say that we were anymore following some incidents beyond our control and their effects on us.

We do hope that Peace Corps will place (male) volunteers in Taounate in the future, as there is still a great need for the work we all do! We are also very excited about the continued work volunteers are doing to help combat sexual harassment and promote gender equality in developing countries like Morocco.

We'll leave Taounate on Monday for Rabat where we'll get to go through the final medical and dental and administrative stuff (woo!) before heading back to Washington, DC, at the end of the week.

The time between now and then will be filled with meals with our Moroccan families and time with our other friends here in Morocco.

Extra note: For anyone reading this who has questions about Peace Corps. serving as a couple, Morocco, how cute our cat is, etc, please feel free to reach out to us! You can leave a comment or send Alexis an email at alexiskathrynthom@gmail.com or Toby an email at thom.toby@gmail.com

We will be leaving the blog up for posterity and for future PCVs.

Big changes

Okay, it's been forever since we posted - sorry! But some big stuff has been going down. 

Most recently, Alexis spent the last week in Agadir, a southern beach resort town. It was for a Community Health training to prepare for new projects and activities in site and with other volunteers around the country. It was really helpful, with a huge group of people, and a great chance to visit Agadir. 

It was lovely. Definitely a place to visit if you ever make it to Morocco. 

In other news, we have recently been approved to move to another site in Morocco. Where? Yeah, we don't know yet. 

Why? It's been tricky. One of the perks of Taounate was always that it is a little bit bigger (around 50,000 people) and has recently gotten a lot bigger. With that, however, comes the struggle of mixing older and more conservative lifestyles with younger and, potentially, more liberal ones. The result is a mixed bag. While there are people who speak English or who are looking to be doctors or educators, there is also a high population  of ne'er-do-well individuals who spoil a great situation for everyone else by being jerks. In short, it's a good site for a male Peace Corps Volunteer or two. 

However, Alexis (as well as a female volunteer from two years ago), faces quite a bit of daily harassment in different forms. Her security hasn't been at risk more than a few boys (with poor aim) tossing rocks at her, but that in addition to everything else has reached a not great level. The majority of people we know here are wonderful, generous, and kind people, but the small percentage who are jerks have made it a non sustainable environment for us. 

We explained the situation to Peace Corps staff and they agree that it's no longer a good fit for us here, and we'll be moving soon. But for now, it's just a waiting game to see when and where. 

Other than all that, Morocco is moving into the Fall and it's pleasant and rainy outside. Also a huge thank you to everyone who has been sending post cards and care packages! These last few weeks have been a little rough, and it's made a huge difference. (Also hold off on sending any more until we have a new address please!) 

And obviously, Enib the cat is great. 

Another visitor and some travels

It's been a busy week here in Morocco!

Last Sunday, we went into Fes to meet up with Toby's sister Emma. She was visiting a few places in Europe and able to benefit from the €20 flights from Rome to Fes (ahem. Reread that and plan your next vacation accordingly)

We all and up to Taounate and she got a chance to see our site, how we live, the people we hang out with, and a little bit more about Peace Corps life (the summary there: we've gotten really cheap).

While in Taounate, we took Emma to have lunch with one of our favorite families. We expected just a normal lunch with amazing food and a lot of talking about the differences between America and Morocco and them telling her to stay longer. Well this one definitely had all that, but with some extra added funzies. 

Fatima, the mom, gave her some dried figs, made us all a chocolate cake, did both of our henna, and gave her a beautiful new jelleba. It was a lovely lunch and an amazing representation of the hospitality we see from Moroccans every day. 

From Taounate we took the bus to Casablanca (it's only a little over 6 hours!). While we were there for business (we took the Foreign Service Officer Test), we still had a chance to explore the city and find a few familiar tastes. 

This was our first real time in Casablanca (yes, we landed there, but we aren't counting that hazy experience), and we weren't disappointed. It's a lovely city that really is a lot more like Europe than most of our experiences in Morocco. 

It's beautiful. Right on the coast. The largest mosque in Africa and the seventh largest in the world. A cute old medina. Starbucks. A huge mall with a fish tank. Great food. All sorts of stuff. 

From Casablanca, Emma continued her world travels and we went to visit friends for a few days in Tiflet before returning to Rabat for some dental work. 

We'll be in Rabat for a couple days (Insha'Allah) and will return to Taounate for Toby's birthday and to, finally, get back to work!

Post-Eid update

We were fortunate enough to have two couscous experiences with the rams from Eid. First, on the day after with the family we spent most of the first day with: 

As we observe on most Fridays. 

The, on the following Tuesday, our neighbors also brought us a plate! 

So much couscous. 

Now things are calming down and everyone is getting into a routine. Schools have started, the weather is cooling down (to a lovely, lovely place), and days are getting shorter. 

We have a pretty packed October coming!

4-5: Emma (Toby's sister) visits Taounate

6-9: we all go to Casablanca - we're taking the Foreign Service Officier Test on the 7th

10-12: visiting the lovely city and people of Tiflet

13-15: Rabat for medical/dental work

16: begin work at the Dar chebab again!

17-19: friends visit Taounate to celebrate Toby's birthday

21-27: Alexis goes to Agadir (southern Morocco, on the Atlantic coast) for a Community Health training 

It's a busy time of year for us, we're learning. 

And here's an attempted family picture taken through our window: