A NEW HOME

It's July and I'm on my own, in my own rent-paid apartment.

The bitelma was newly enlarged and tiled half-way in soft blue design tile, and half painted a soft yellow. There is a large window with an unobstructed view of the distant moutains. The center room floor is tiled black and white and has the same view. Of the two small rooms in back, one is on the same side - the other has a westerly window. On the other end of the apartment is a large room the length of the building. The kitchen is in the middle and has a tiled sink counter on one side with a stainless steel sink and a drain for the running water! The floor is also tiled. But there are no shelves or cabinets. The place is TOTALLY BARE. not even a hook. So shopping is my game and confused is my name, to paraphrase the Bingo slogan.

Yesterday Brian, the volunteer from the next town, came to help me get my stuff - suitcases and books and sleeping bag, etc.- to the new location and to help me get a stove and some bedding. I have to sleep on the floor until I can get a mattress, hopefully tomorrow when I go for tutoring. I will have to bring it home by taxi and get a local cart-boy to deliver it to my house. The boys wait at the bus stop and taxi stand with their homemade bicycle-wheeled carts and tote your load for a couple durhams.

An old Berber saying is: Little by little does the camel go through the eye of the needle. I have calendar pages to tape to the walls and family photos to brighten my eye. And so I will fill the space with treasures.

Bought some paint to brighten up the doors in my pad. Only to find out when I opened it that it was half empty. I brought it back and the guy just shrugged, put it back on the shelf and gave me a different one and a refund of 10 dirhams. Morocco!

The temp now reaches in the high 90's most every day, but cools off after 5pm a little. By sleep time its quite comfortable.

The work pace here is not. I have divised a plan to meet with the school director in the fall seeking to talk with the English teacher to meet wth her class and tell them about the PC purpose and introduce the toothbrush campaign. At least the plan gives me some purpose. I will talk in simple English translated into simple Tashilheet. Brian the PCV in the next town will help. In the meantime I go on Fridays and Sundays for 2 hour tutoring lessons. That is, providing the bus and/or taxi is working. Today no transportation.