Ain Leuh con't

Greetings from cold and rainy Ain Leuh. It's rained (shta) for a week straight and it's COLD (but not as cold as it will get, so Lynn quit your whining!). It's been hard to find a time to do laundry, so not only are we transferring around the same cold bugs, we’re wearing the same clothes over and over-acclimation is at a peak! I did get some undies (slip) a bucket wash today at least. I’ve kept up the everyotherdaypilatesCDworkoutinthemorningfollowedbybucketshower routine-at least me and my undies will smell good!

OK, so dental health is not the first priority among Moroccans. Given the preponderance of sugar in the mint tea, lack of fluoride in the water, etc., dental hygiene could use some attention. Sooooo, Thursday night when I discovered the front part of a crown broken off while eating some soft bread, I was not thrilled to find that dental care will be my first "medical" intervention in Morocco. Apparently the dentist that the Peace Corps uses is in Fez, and I’m still waiting to find out when I go there to get this fixed. Rumor control has it that our swearing in ceremony will be in Fez, so I’m thinking there will be a combo trip, however swearing in isn’t until Nov 20. Soooo, I’ll have a funny smile on the right side of my mouth until whenever. Stay tuned-no doubt there will be a story when I get it taken care of.

Meanwhile, we’re moving right along w/projects. I did my workshop yesterday with the Coop women. In the US I would have planned for at least 1 hour with a lot of participation. I expected that this workshop would take only about ½ hour max. Much to my surprise (and delight), it did take an hour, with a lot of conversation (translated by our LCF). There were lots of questions and the feedback was positive. I translated all of the workshop materials, including several copies of the worksheets into Darija so I could talk thru it all with them, then had our LCF translate all of it into Arabic script so the women can use these materials after we’re gone. The point here is building capacity and sustainability. Inshallah!