YCEW Morocco 2006

VBS Pictures

2006-07-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

VBS was a lot of fun. We split the kids into three groups -- youngest, middle, oldest -- and put three YCEW members with each one.

We began and ended each day with singing. I believe that we were singing "Hipp-hipp-hipp-hippopatomus" in this picture.

Volubilis Pictures

2006-07-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before VBS we went to see the nearby Roman ruins of Volubilis. Several teachers from Amacitus joined us. We rented a van to make the almost two hour trip there and then ate lunch in Meknes and had a short driving tour of that city.

all aboard

2006-07-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it is almost 5:30 am here. Our last train to Casa leaves at 7:00. Though our goal last night was to hit the sack early, we were all restless and many went to bed late. Personally, it took me at least an hour to fall asleep. To make that better I woke up about an hour or hour and a half ago. Also, I find I have several new bug bites. This will be an interesting 5 hour train ride.

We've all had an amazing time here. Each of us has some feeling of wanting to stay to interact with more people or do more work, however, each of us also have that thing or two from home that we can't wait to return too. Everyday I think of a couple more things I can't wait for (milk, my dog, and of course there are some people out there I miss too).

When we arrive to Casa after 5 long hours, we will drop our stuff off at the hotel and then visit the mosque. This will be the end of our time in Morocco, we flight out tomorrow morning.

I must head out now to finish any minor packing of all of our large bags. BYE

shining like the son

2006-07-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

V.B.S. is over but some of my best memories will come from there. Chrissy and the youth were amazing their energy and enthusiam held out all week even during 110+ tempatures. Our theme was living water so we took on names like trout, wade, drew, brook and more. Brook and wade (Kara and Jay) did a great job with their skits every morning searching for the living water, Dora and Diego could not even come close to such a performance. The singing had the children jumping out of their seats and they loved the crafts and games. On the last day you could hear the disapointment from the children as they hugged and said goodbye. Kara and I were blessed to take 3 children home and hear them as they burst through the door at home. They yelled out " that was so much fun it was the best day ever".
God is good all the time and I thank him for giving us such a blessing!
Sam

Swimming Pictures

2006-07-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the pictures of us at a nearby swimming pool. I almost got Bill in trouble for asking him to take pictures of us. The security guard got into a rather heated discussion with him because the guard thought that he was taking pictures of the girls in bekinis. However, Bill assured him that he was just taking pictures of the Americans and eventually they let him be.

Scavenger Hunt

2006-07-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today we put everything we've learned about getting around in Morocco into action. Bill and Betty set up a scavenger hunt for our team. We were split into groups of three, each with a Kelley leader just in case we got too lost. Each group began at a different point, but had the same objectives and destinations to reach. The "winner" would be the group who completed it fastest, cheapest,the most correct answers.

All of the groups went about the hunt in different ways. My group took the path of actually visiting all of the destinations to get the answers. Taxis and our feet were our modes of transportation across the town. Another group chose to sit at a cafe (not on our list of destinations) and find someone there who spoke English. While conversing with the English speaking Moroccans, they managed to get all of the answers to the questions. The final group found some of the answers without traveling too much and buying other items in the process.

Even though the point of the scavenger hunt was to simply interact with Moroccans and use the skills we've learned (language, taxi skills), and not about winning, our group clearly won in all three categories :) There was some argument over the directions given, but it's just a game and in the long run, no one was declared the official winners (but it's alright because my group knew we won).

Overall, we all did have a fun time. I believe every person got at least one opportunity to use something they have learned here. We all came away much more confident of our ability to survive in a new foreign town. By the way, it was 104 degrees during this scavenger hunt.

A Change of Plans...

2006-07-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

When we arrived on monday at the Village of Hope in the beautiful Middle Atlas Mountains, we all anticipated a week that had been set aside completely for manual labor and service. We were anxious to serve after time spent adjusting to and understanding the culture around us. But our first day we received no work. This made us all the more anxious, and when our project was delayed the next morning there was a general feeling of uselessness and and impatience; however, we soon received all the work we could want. We were asked to sand the walls of a room in preparation for paint. At the end of the day we were finished, and many of us had sanded our thumbs raw. But at that point the status on the rest of the project was up in the air. As the pictures show, the room was too tall for us to sand everything from the floor, and although we were told that there was scaffolding available, we were unsure of how safe the equipment was, and we never followed through on trying to find were it was stored in the village. The ambiguity of the project combined with the lack of urgency we sensed from our instructors, the prescence of other volunteer groups, and some health issues caused by altitude, led us to the decision to leave Ain Leuh on Wendsday, two days earlier than planned. Anxiousness had been replaced by awkwardness, and a feeling that our plans to serve had failed. Should we have left? Could we have tried harder, or been more patient? Were we leaving simply because we were not serving on our own terms? These questions crossed through my mind as we returned to Fes. But in our daily group discussion we came to realize the truth expressed in Proverbs 19:21,

"Many plans are in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

We had gone to Ain Leuh completely assured of what we were going to do. It was all planned out, scheduled on our trip calender. But we were not aware of God's purpose. Our plan didn't work, and that did not feel good. But we know that we are exactly where God intends us to be. We've heard prayers offered at church that God would use us and teach us how to serve Him. We're connecting with Moroccans. By the grace of Christ we're reflecting His image. And we're exicited, anticipating God's plans, not ours. And that feels good.

Dips in Fes

2006-07-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

The past two days we have beat the heat in one of the local pools. This aquatic complex is far better than any outdooor pool around Oregon. The youth there are very similair to the children at any American pool. In order to find this out we were offered an enticing incentive. Anybody that could hold a conversation for 30 minutes(with a Maroc) recieved a free breakfast a cafes.

I spent my 30 minutes efficiently playing billards and Foosball by the pool side. This international matchup attracted quite a crowd and the game proved to be a great time, espcially since I happened to be playing really well. The only "culural issue" were centered around rules of the game. The Arabs play pool differently than the American way of stripes and solids. So after I had cleared my balls from the table my Arab friend attempted to tell me that I was supposed shoot his last two balls in before the 8 ball. I didn't understand this request and continued on my way to shoot at the black ball. This did not hinder his desire to continue gaming with me, but we moved on to the cheaper foosball tables. This went well (seeing as the rules of this game are universally obvious) and even some of my opponent's friends joined.

This experience gave me more than just a free breakfast. It helped in achieving the purpose of this trip. Through interactions like these I am meeting and understanding this culture more clearly.

Pictures at Ain Leuh

2006-07-06T03:17:00.000-07:00

When we first arrived they assigned us rooms and gave us bedding to make our beds. Then we waited for orientation in the main room. We found out that this was the room that they wanted to have painted in preparation for turning it into a school room for the children.

Before the room could be painted we had to sand all of the whitewash off of the walls. We spent most of Tuesday working on this project. Unfortunately, they didn't have scaffolding, so we couldn't finish the whole room before we left on Wednesday.

After sanding plaster off of the walls, we were all a bit whiter than before as can be seen in this group picture.

For the 4th of July we decided to celebrate by barbecuing chicken.

Breakfast pictures

2006-07-06T03:04:00.000-07:00

Joel and Mark took some of us out for breakfast on Monday before we left for Ain Leuh. Here's a picture of the been soup, bisara, with olive oil on top for all of you who are curious as to what it looks like. Luckily Christian came with us and ordered those who wanted them scrambled eggs. I enjoyed the eggs much more than the bisara.

Christian also told us that Mark Bowman had the record for drinking the most mint tea during one breakfast (8cups), so after my fifth cup everyone said that I should try for the record. So here is a picture of the eight cups I drank to match Mark and the record breaking ninth cup. It's a good thing that those cups aren't very big. And the fresh tea leaves take up a bit of space too. As it was, I still had to use the bathroom a few times before we left to get taxis to Ain Leuh.

Surfing Morocco

2006-07-06T01:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings Friends. Life is still good here in good old Morocco. So far our trip has been filled with many little surprises. So far the most amazing unplanned event
was surfing. Jedidiahs friend Collin works for a surfing company and offered to take us. Of course we all jumped at the chance, after clearing the fact that sharks and other critters are pretty rare in the Casablanca waters. The ladies arrived bright and early. All sun screen applied and ready we next suffered hours and hours of waiting. Okey we waited for about a half an hour. , but still. Once the men folk arrived we discovered that our appointment was moved and They forgot to let us know. Shortly afterwards our surfing teacher and boards arrived. we got all suited up in some pretty flashy wet suits. We hit the beach, learned how to get up on the board and not fall over drown and die. I stood up the whole time. I was amazed at how amazing we were. not one time did soeone fall over. We were amazing. Positively pros! Then we hit the ocean, and it was a completely diffrent story. Some people cought on pretty quick. Kara and Ben were probebly the first to get up, quickly fallowed bu Jay and Lyndlee. Not being to confident of a swimmer (but a champion dog paddler) I kept starying away from the group by accident. Most of the first half was spent swimming against the current trying to catch up with the group. Then once it finally stoped and the ocean finally decided to listen to my insructions. Now was the time to catch some waves. I came across some monsters. I stayed strong as I was trying to walk further in to the ocean. Although I was pushed back a number of times. Fianlly I got up. I was all like "did you see that ! I was surfing!" Nobody so far that I know of saw. However I did surf on my knees alot . It was awsome I had an amazing time. Every one did. thank you again for your support and never ending prayers You are amazing, may you be eaternally bl

Surfing Pictures

2006-07-05T09:57:00.001-07:00

On Friday night we went to Casablanca where Jedidiah had found us all places to stay with himself or friends. Saturday morning we met at the beach to take surfing lessons from Colin who has a surfing business in Casablanca. Everyone took lessons except for Amanda and I. Getting dressed in wet suits and practicing standing up on the boards while still on the beach was the first part of the lesson

Everyone was successful in getting up at least once; however, it was hard to have the camera ready at just the right time. Here are shots of Ben and Lindley.

After surfing Jedidiah took us to his favorite pizza place in Cassablanca. We all got our own pizza. (The main two choices were hamburger or tuna and shrimp. Both were very good.)

Camel Ride Pictures

2006-07-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

The beach at Essaouria. You could boat out to the island, but we settled for just taking pictures. There is a constant wind blowing here and it is a major tourist place. Several of our group tried windsurfing which was a popular activity on the beach.

In Essaouira we were very excited about riding camels. Our hotel clerk set up an hour ride for us on the beach. When we got there we got to choose our camel. Then they linked us up into a boys line and a girls line with a guide for each.Jedidiah didn't want to ride a camel so he rented a horse to ride on the beach.

This ruin marked the half-way point for our camel ride.

Everyone enjoyed riding the camels. Here are a few close up shots.

Portrait of a Footballer

2006-07-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

This is what you get for playing football on the Sabbath. While we were resting at the Kelly's today before heading to the orphanage for the rest of the week, Sam, Faith and I decided to take a football down to the local dirt/rock pitch and try to get a game going. We eventually got two teams of six, and the game was underway. The score remained close despite the fact that Sam's team was stacked with older players, including "The One". I personally encountered "The One". While racing down the sideline with the ball, I found that my path was blocked by my aforementioned foe. In my attempt to evade him, I lost my footing and bit the dust. My team then went down 7 to 5, the 7th goal being the last. The ball passed through the posts, and rolled onto the street, where it encountered a tire with a resounding pop. At this point, the game was over, and we returned home to lick our wounds, beaten, but with the experience of a sandlot football match with the children of Fes.

CAMELS

2006-07-02T06:37:00.000-07:00

Alright...what we've all been wating for, THE CAMEL RIDES!! In our short time in Essaouria (however that is spelled) we did a lot of things, but our most anticipated event, and now one of our most memorable, would be the camel riding. We walked down the beach to arrive at the camels laying out in the sun resting. Basically, we were told "hop on", so we did. The camels then took their time standing up, which was an awkward movement. First, they would stand up on the back legs so you would be looking down at the ground then they'd get their front legs up and there we were - tall, sitting on our camels.

Once we all finally got up and named our camels (mine = sugar dumpling) we started out on our journey. Our camels took us along the beach out to some ruiny things and then turned around and came back. It seemed that we all made friends with the camels we were on and the ones behind us since they kept their faces by our feet. It was a jerky ride but man was it fun!

When we got back, I watched everyone else's camels go down so the they could get off, first the front legs would go down, then the back, leaving you in that position where you stare at the ground for a bit. Everyone else's was going smoothly and then it got to mine. The front legs went down, and that was it. My camel just kind of left me hanging there (literally). I was hanging on starring parellel to the ground. The guy who was sitting the camels down tried for a while to make mine go down, but it only faced me more towards the ground. Finally, after Lindley had time to get a nice picture of it, my camels sat down and I hopped right off.

Making friends, having fun!

2006-06-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

As we traveled to Essoiura in southern Morocco, we anticipated connecting with people and making friends in this beach town. While on the train Chrissy connected with a local English teacher and we all got an invitation to dinner in Marakesh, but had to decline. Upon our arrival in Essoiura we checked into our hotel and then went out to a local food place. The next day we went to the beach to ride camels. After our camel ride we had lunch and I was the only one wanting fish so I ate with some people from France. I had a great conversation dispelling the myth that Americans were close- minded, evil people. They were impressed that we were Friends, pacifists, and wanted to embrace the Moroccan people. After lunch we spent the day on the beach. Ben and Jay made friends playing Frisbee. I was surprised and very happy that a boy about 9 yrs. old asked me to play paddle ball; we all had fun. It's very evident that our young people want to do more than just have fun, they want to make a difference wherever we go.
Sam

Monday's Pictures

2006-06-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

In the morning we went to a nearby language school to learn a few words in Arabic. They split us into two groups and we went through two 90 minute sessions. Here is one of our teachers, Milute. The other picture is of us eating tangine and learninf proper table manners.

The Jewish quarter which is near Djellaba Street where we all bought our Moroccan outfits. Can you tell which YCEW member is in th red and black djellaba?All of us dressed up and waiting on Joel. Girls definitely outnumber the guys on this trip even with the addition of Mark and Joel.

The guys playing hackey sack with a neighbor boy. (This is actually on Tuesday)

Another of the neighbor boys.

The kelley's cat, Grant, who has provided us with a lot of entertainment while we've been here.

Henna Party

2006-06-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Betty arranged a henna party for the girls on Tuesday. Hessna (the house help) came to do th henna and a friend of hers, Hannan, taught us how to dance. Here are Julie and Kara getting their hands decorated.

Here is a picture of all the girls with our henna decoration.
Our dance teacher, Hannan All of us with Hessna and Hannan

2006-06-27T07:03:00.000-07:00

Selamu alaikum. (Peace be upon you)
Wow, today has been amazing!
It started out at 6:00 am, we went to a bisra place to eat breakfast, which consisted of bean soup with olive oil on top.
After that we came home and started a game of Egyptian Ratscrew which was considerably quieter than usual, as Ben and Jay decided to go up to the roof and play hacky-sack with the nieghbors instead.
Around noon we got on our work clothes and went to Amacitia, an American style school in Fes, to help them move.
About this adventure Kara Kluver quotes; "The guys just sat around and watched us lift all those heavy desks and bookshelves, and when we asked for help they told us to work harder!"
Ha, Ha, very funny Kara. In reality the guys did most of the work, since it was mainly heavy stuff, and we watched and corrected them when they did something wrong.
Thanks guys for your work and being patient with our critcism.

Arabic, food, cards, and bruises

2006-06-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

Holy Camel!
Today was by far the most wonderful, awsome, body aching, heart touching, belly filling day I have ever seen in my entire life. It all started bright and early at 6 am. Lindley was sleeping as were most of the people here. Actually, I dont know much about what happened until about 6:45. Then I woke up and everyone frantically got ready to get some language skills at the school where we were supposed to start class at 8 . Lindley is very picky. (Only because Julie can't spell my name right) :). Anyway, now that I fixed my spelling errors, which my co-blogger has pointed out, I shall continue. Once we got to our destination we learned Arabic. We are all very fluent now. Most of us can order a coke, banana shake, count to ten, and say thank you. It is very nice to know that I will never have to live without a shake here in good old Morocco. Our teachers were all amazing and had an infinite amount of patience when dealing with us. Although from their constent giggling , it seemes that they got a good kick out of watching us struggle is saying three in their language. I tried ordering breakfeast at the cafe, but Instead of saying one I said two. So then I paid twice as much and had an extra plate of food. However, nothing goes to waste here, which brings me to this afternoon. After we got home we had the most ginormous, extravegent feast. We started with the salad. Apperantly germs do not exist here. Thats okea with me. They had two huge plates of meat and potatoes. Yum, Yum. Now, according to Morocco tradition, the host is not permitted to stop eating untill his or her guests are finished. We had one hostess per platter: Erin and Kara. Now this kind of set up can only lead to one thing -- EATING CONTEST!!!. The meat and potatos went for about two hours as each table made it their goal in life to eat long and slow just to make the hostess eat until they burst. After about 3 hours Erin and Faith Kelley(an awesome tour guide, friend, babysitter, discount-getter, and card player) called it a draw. This was only because Erin had run off and hidden the plate, what a bad hostess. Okay, I was just kidding. By this time we had moved on to the fuit. We would have still been on the main dish if Joel Kelley (a totally awsome guide, real host, and evil computer genious) hadn't gotten impatient for dessert and took the plates away. Kara and Mark (yet another Kelley and the most competitive and sore card player loser ever) were still at it. About another hour later Kara was still on her first banana and Mark was on his second. And Joel was impatient again and took the food away. Kara had one, thus Mark finished first. Then after this filling meal came the most intense, death defying, never ending game of Egyption Rat Skrew. That game lasted about the rest of the day; four hours later we had done absalutley nothing but eat and wrestle each other to the ground for stealing the best cards and cheating. It looked like a wild animal had been set loose. Well, that is actually pretty close to reality. There were people going insane. Im surprised those wierd guys with the white jackets and animal control didn't showed up. We had to do somthing so we kicked all of the guys out of the house. Actually, they would have had to leave anyway. We had a girls only henna party to plan for. After they left Faith, Amanda and I got to choose and buy the most important part of any party: Cookies!!!!!!! Man were they awsome! Actually, we havent eaten them all yet. They party was cancled and moved to tommorrow. We did get to eat a few cookies though. I hung out with Faith and we made an awsome cookie mossaic of a hippi man. I also learned some babysitting techniques and managed to spill a full cup of water on my head; very fun. The guys in the meantime went to an awsome shop owner named Mr. Happy. Ben's thinking of getting a cool sword, and Sam got an awsome coin. Jay and Sam also got to play football (soccer) with some native kids. The kids thought that they were very funny to watch. We (the ladies and Mr. Kelley) went to the djallaba street. We went to this awsome guy who gave us all discounts because Betty Kelley is a regular customer. Erin went all out and got the whole Aribic woman dealeo. One thing for sure, that tourist stamp on her forehead seemed to dissapear when she put it all on. Everyone got a djellaba from our team that went. We came home and got all dressed up for photos. It was a blast. Because of the Kelleys, almost everywhere we went we got a discount. They rock my socks off. When everyone returned home we all hit the floor (and eachother) in a continuation of our card game. At the end it became a clear classic case of sibling rivalry with Faith at one end and Mark at the other. Faith won and I got a new nick -name, Hennan, which is far better then the one I earned at the madina zammel. Hennan means warm feelings. I don't know why, Joel just assingned it to me and I like it better than cammel. Anyway, after that we just prayed and then I wrote on the blog. Then I started getting pierced by my new friend Faith who seems to have joy in giving people puncture wounds with screws and white out containers. I love Morocco. thank you so much for your prayers and support. I know it doesn't seem like we're doing much. We're taking time to meet and get to know people here. We have built many conections and have all seen God in every day life. Tommorrow we are getting up early and are going to help an American school move a bunch of stuff. Thanks again for support and thank God for our hosts. We love them lots.

Church, McDonalds and Prayer Walks

2006-06-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

It is now officially my turn to share with you what happened today and my perspective on how events unfolded. We started off today by walking to the church with the Kelley's (at a very quick pace if I do say so myself). One of the songs that we sang really stuck out to me and reminded me of something that God has been teaching me in my life right now. As we sang Heart of Worship it reminds us that after everything else is gone, the music, the devotionals, the self-help book, even the church and our fellow believers, God is still there. He is the still small voice that whispers onto our hearts calling us back to Him. We have so much in our lives that, though intended to help us, become an obstacle pulling us away from the heart and soul of our Christian walk, our relationship with God. We have so much and yet all we really need is to be in constant comminication and in a loving relationship with our savior. K, now that that tangent's over. :) After church Kara insisted on going to Mickey D's which is right across the street. So we had cheeseburgers and fries for lunch then walked home (again at a fast pace). The rest of the day was pretty relaxing and we ended the day with a refreshing and eye opening prayer walk (which was finally at a pace I enjoyed). It was exciting to see what God layed upon my heart and who he was calling me to pray for. Sometimes on prayer walks I feel like, "God, I don't know these people, how could I possibly know what they need and what you want to do in their lives?" But this time was different for me, I felt that the people and places I prayed for were in need of the prayers I gave them. All in all a fullfilling and fun day. And I'm finally starting to feel better and keep my food in my stomach, YaY. This is Lindley, goodbye and goodnight.

More Pictures

2006-06-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

A view of the minaret of a nearby mosque. We can hear the call to prayer several times a day. The first two mornings I was woken up by the 3:30 AM call and found it hard to go back to sleep.

Sleeping in on Friday morning. The guys slept on the roof and the gils were in the main salon on the froshes

Getting our of the petit taxis at the old Medina. (This medina was built in 800 AD, and the new one was built in 1200.)

In the rug shop -- We all wanted one, but the smallest started at around $350.

Some of the many spices at the spice shop we stopped at in the medina. He allowed us to smell many of the spices and everyone bought something here.

Looking at the leather items made in the vats below. The smell was a bit overpowering, but they gave us sprigs of mint to smell while we were in the shop.

Eating at McDonalds on a Sunday afternoon. Ben got the McArabia pictured below.

a day in the life...

2006-06-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well it's my turn. :) I get to tell you all about yesterday and today. Yesterday was our day to lounge around due to all of our traveling. Most of the day we stayed inside and played cards or just talked with each other. Towards the afternoon Mark, Faith, and Joel took us on a walk across town towards the church and the McDonalds. This was our first experience of the city. It's a busy city and traffic is slightly impatient (I'd suggest letting cars have the right of way). Also yesterday we had our first bit of cous-cous. MM that was good. much better than what the plane going to France tried to feed us. Night time is usually pretty calm around here. So far so we got our showers in and hit the sack (some people have been sleeping on the roof, others on the couches with the fans pointed at us).

Now today! Today was quite an exciting day. Our first advenure of the day was going to the Medina to get an idea of prices for items being sold. However, we ended up buying quite a bit there instead of merely looking. We split up into 4 taxi's and headed down to the Medina. Almost immediately we noticed the variety of smells in the air (for an idea, donkeys are QUITE a frequent sight). In the Medina there are many alley ways with shops in them, kind of Aladin-like. We passed a copper making area; gold and silver shops; shops sellin purses, shoes, spices and herbs; and the leather tannery. I believe everyone got at least one thing at the spice and herb place along with whatever else they bought at the other shops. There are amazing prices, I must say! Hunger was beginning to take over us so we decided it was time to come home for lunch. We got in 2 van taxi's and made it home to eat sandwhich's.

Shortly after eating sandwhich's some of us had the opportunity to go to a French-African wedding. It was an African couple who was getting married and the entire ceremony was in French so I didnt really understand a majority of it. Still, it was very intereting. African's have so much more enthusiam than we're too, and it's just so incredible to see their joy. The wedding was very similar in many ways to the weddings we're used to and some of the songs were ones I sang in English ("Here I Am to Worship," "Shout to the Lord" an two other songs that everyone knows). The ceremony ended up being about 3 hours (pretty hot, yes), but it was something I am glad I got to experience.

A call to prayer just started; we here that 5 times a day. All the mosque's in town have a guy announcing a prayer in Arabic and it can be heard from pretty far away. I think we hear in from 3 different mosques. Anyways, after the wedding it was time for a going away/birthday paty for a girl at the church, so we went to that. We got authentic South African food and enjoyed meeting the people from the church and hearing all of their stories.

Well, that's it for what we've done today and yesterday. Our first full days in Morocco have gone very well. Next on our agenda will be to get some djallabas (I have no idea how to spell that, but they're the pull over dress like things that Moroccan's wear). Thanks for sticking with my long update and forgive my lack of capitalization on some things :) i'm lazy.

The Train

2006-06-23T05:02:00.000-07:00

The train was quite an experiance. We left Casa Blanca at 2:30 P.M. on Thursday and arrived at Fes at 7:30 ,a 5 hour ride after 24 hours on a plane. You can imagine how tired we were, but everyone held up and the ride was amazing. As we pulled out we saw the typical big city buildings with people living in substandard housing. Then we got out to the country side. I looked for all the interesting things: people working with donkeys, making bricks and cutting wheat with a sicle; however, I had a hard time feeling I was in Morocco. The vegitation and rolling hills are so similar to southern California that I felt we were traveling down I-5. Olive and orange groves were everywhere with cactus and yucca plants surrounding them. The train had a great feel to it, rocking back and forth ,clicking and clacking along (very nostalgic). The toilets were your everyday brand, but the sewer system was absent. The guys thought it was cool to see the tracks disapear underneath, but the girls were not impressed. We entered a tunnel and the lights went completely out. We laughed and the Moroccans turned on their cell phones to add some fun -- total darkness with the glow of cell phones, you can imagine. One of the best things was watching our young people interact with the local people. Everyone really enjoyed each other. When we came to stops people had to leave, but you could see that they would like to keep going with us. (Our stop was the last one). One young girl gaves Amanda and Chrissy the traditional kisses on each cheek as she leaves, showing her feelings. What a ride and what and awesome group of people!

The First Meal

2006-06-23T02:04:00.000-07:00

Once we got past the plane food, our stomaches have been much more content (With the exception of Lindly, but she is feeling better now). So far we have enjoyed three meal times. Our first meal came after flying crazily through the streets of Casablanca in a van and a Petit Taxi. We arrived at the camel market and witnessed a scene completely new to me. Because it was noon, we took in our first meal. For Moroccans, the noon meal is the largest and yesterday we certainly made our noon meal a big one. We purchased 2.5 K of ground camel, which was ground before our eyes. We took the meat to a nearby restraunt and had it prepared. We ordered mint tea to accompany the meat. When the feast came we were very ready to eat, especially me because I had not eaten since flying over the Atlantic to Paris. The camel looked very much like broken up hamburger paties and it tasted similar as well. We flavored the meat with cumin, fresh salt and grilled vegetables. We placed this 'licous pile on a piece of torn bread and ate it. It was amazing; that's all I'm going to say. We washed it all down with the tea, which I swear had 2 T of corn syrup per serving. Well, that's all from the
food department.

Pictures of the Trip

2006-06-23T01:12:00.000-07:00

At the Portland Airport.

On the plane to Cincinatti

At the camel market in Casablanca where Jedidiah ordered two and a half kilos of meat for our lunch and then had it cooked up at a local cafe. Yum!

On the train to Fez, Amanda started up a conversation with Bouchra who didn't speak any English. However, with the help of the Lonely Planet Moroccan Arabic Phrase Book they were able to communicate a bit.

We finally arrived in Fez where we were met by Bill, Joel and Faith Kelley

Orientation Pictures

2006-06-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hanging out on the lawn on Tuesday, waiting for Paul to bring us our shirts. (Kara got a bit of a sunburn.)

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

2006-06-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

Our travels got off to a quick start since for some reason our 2:30 am alarm didn't wake us. Instead we got Paul Bock walking in at 2:55 ready for us to go. But we made it to the airport and began our journey. Our flights from Cincinnati to Paris to Casablanca all went smoothly, although massive remodeling at De Gaulle, and an unexpectedly long flight to Casablanca made us a little bit tired. Our contact in Casablanca, Jedediah, revived our energy by taking us out for some camel (more on this in Ben's food report). We also received our first taste of Moroccan driving, which is fast and unceasing in movement, completely interwoven with bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Our fianl leg to Fes was by train. Crammed into a small cabin with our luggage, this trip ended up taken 5 hours, which was extremely challenging, but gave us an opportunity to practice our French with a gracious Moroccan woman. We now sit in the Kelly's home, and I'm ready to eat. B'slama!

Map of Morocco

2006-06-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a map of Morocco so that you can see where we'll be. We'll land in Casablanca on Thursday and then take a train to Fez. The second weekend we'll be at Essaouria on the coast and ride camels. Then we'll return to Fez and spend most of the rest of the trip in that area. Most of the team would also like to see Volubulis which is an ancient Roman ruin.

Orientation

2006-06-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

Ah, orientation, that time in when we get to know each other and grow to hate each other, not really, it just sounded good. Thus far we have shopped for Vacation Bible School items, which was an experience in itself. Did you know that you can not buy bags of beads as Fred Meyers; we found that out on Sunday night. Also, if you are looking for little men for crafts, give up now, they are really almost impossible to find unless you wanted to buy army men. Which, considering the fact that we were buying them for VBS, was just not going to work. On Monday night we went to dinner at Julie’s house. Her mother makes some of the best guacamole that I have ever tasted. After dinner we played Loaded Question which is a get to know you game. We discovered all sorts of things about one another. Such as Ben is into Cuban music and Kara likes the Starry Night painting by Van Gogh. Today we are sending out tax refund forms for those kind people who donated money for our trip, and working on our skits for VBS. And tomorrow is the big day. The day that we leave the good old US of A. Actually, we don’t really leave during the day. I at least have never considered getting up at 2 in the morning “day” but oh well. Well, we will write more later. This is Erin signing off.

Trip Itinerary

2006-06-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

June 18 – Meet at Newberg Friends for barbeque and send off – 6pm
June 19 & 20 - YCEW Orientation
June 21 – YCEW leaves PDX
June 22 - Arrive in Casablanca. Jedidiah will be meeting us at the airport. Catch the train to Fes.
June 23 - Rest in Fes. Some orientation. Call families in states to let them know they arrived safely.
June 24 - Tour of the Medina.
June 25 - Church in Fes.
June 26 - Orientation at school for language and culture
June 27 – TBA
June 28 - Travel to Marrakech by train. Meet up with Jedidiah. Onto Essaouira.
June 29 - Explore Essaouira In Marraksh (CamelRUs)
June 30 – Explore Essaouira
July 1 - Travel back to Fes.
July 2 - Church in Fez
July 3 -8 Orphanage in Ain Leuh. Leave Fez on morning of the 3rd and arrive early afternoon at the orphanage.
July 9 – Travel back to Fes
July 10 – 14 VBS in Fes and packing of the American school
July 15 - Medina shopping for gifts.
July 16 – Swimming.
July 17 - Wash cloths, pack and get ready to leave on early morning train.
July 18 - Leave and arrive home-dinner with family. Plane arrives PDX at 11:42pm Delta Fl #433.
Team will spend the night in Newberg.
July 19 - Debriefing
July 20 - Last day of debriefing. YCEW members get to stay at home tonight if they want.
July 21 – YCEW members stay at home tonight, if possible.
July 22 – Youth Yearly Meeting beginnings at 5:30pm.
July 23-29 – Youth Yearly Meeting.

T-Shirts

2006-06-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

This is the shirt design that Emily Smith has picked out for us. They was a slight debate about whether the camel was too touristy of an option, but it was decided that it was much better than putting the ever present Moroccan donkey on our shirts.