MaM #4

Name: Habib

Profession: Potter

Place of Work: Qalala

Number of Years Working: +50

Work Schedule: 6AM-sunset, winters off unless the sun is brightly shining

Number of Training Years Needed to be Qualified to Work: 15-25

Number of Qualified People in B-town: 5-6

On Women as Potters: Pottery is difficult/excellent (there is a word in Darija that conveys both meanings). You must be very strong. You might be asked to make a pot that is more than a meter tall, and you must be able to lift it. So women and girls cannot be potters. (*Ironic to me, since women knead bread, run households without modern appliances, carry a week's worth of food from souq, clean up after men...oh, I can go on.)

On his Work: He'll make anything that customers want. From a town outside of Bejaad, Qalala workers will bring in clay. It's not fine clay like in Esfi (beach-town known for its ceramics). With water drawn from the well on-site, the skilled men knead the clay. In one of six cave-like stations, men throw clay on a foot-operated wheel (no electricity involved). They use one small shaper, a wire to cut the clay, and their hands. After the pieces dry, they are fired on-site, using rubber tires as fuel for the kiln. Local associations and stores buy and paint items from the Qalala. (*interesting side note, the motifs on the clay mugs are regional, so one can tell where a mug is from based on the design)

On the Future of Local Pottery: Boys don't want to learn. They can learn to make cups and bowls in 3 years or make bricks, like the ones drying outside, but they don't want to learn how to make vases. People want plastic. Plastic cups, plastic bowls, plastic buckets. It's cheap. No one wants traditional, hand-made ceramics anymore.

The Hardest Thing in PC

I can wipe my butt with my left hand after pooping greenish-yellow diarrhea, gnaw on cold sheep eyeballs, drink well water with the town's goats, babble in front of a crowd of non-English speakers, patiently sit for 16 hours in a bus aisle covered in baby vomit and sardine oil, shine a flashlight on a woman giving birth in the doorway in the middle of the night at my host family's house with no electricity or other adults around, sit through my French teacher's malaria-induced bathroom episodes, help my host mom cut poop-filled intestines with one hand while eating fresh bbq with the other, and god know what else. EASILY.

My fear of creepy crawlers subsided shwiya after a year in RIM. Hundreds of roaches in the outdoor douche? Dump a whole bottle of bleach in there, close the door, and wait a day. Poop/pee in the sand in the meantime while your "bathroom" is under repairs. Cockroach fights Gecko on top of my mosquito net? Be thankful that thin screen is there. Rat in the toilet hole when you need to pee? Scream, hold it until said rat runs off, then pee. Monthly arrival of hundreds of black beetles or white biting bugs? Never turn your light on, learn to appreciate the stars, sweep the dead bugs away in the morning.

I keep my house pretty sparkly clean by PCV standards, so I was surprised to come home to a cockroach infestation this week. Flying cockroaches took over after I was away for only 2 weeks!

Online research didn't calm my nerves. A colony can develop in a week. One egg case can contain 40 eggs. A female can produce 400 babies. New roach hiding spots, feces, and eggs pop up and scare the crap out of me. Seeing a roach crawl up my wall, then walk on my ceiling or fly and land right behind me is freaky. On one hand, roaches are a pretty amazing species. Individualistic and communal. Survivors. Hard-core. Innovative buggahs. Kind of like an ideal PCV. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I WANT THEM IN MY HOUSE!

Bug spray, lysol, bribing other PCVs to miss lEid at site to help me out, loud music, sweeping, mopping, and bleaching/omo-ing everything haven't worked so far. I've admitted to locals that dealing with these flying house roaches is the most difficult thing I've ever done here, and one kind sir has agreed to help me. Most laugh and say to buy bug spray/powder. Going to try another killing tactic tomorrow....But if that works, what am I supposed to do with the carcasses??

I'm writing to vent and to stay awake. Maybe one day in the future, I'll look back on this day and laugh at my silliness. I hope that day's tomorrow.

26 Observations

Just came back to site after almost two weeks of traveling ("fake COS/ birthday trip") around Marakesh, Taroudant, Agadir, and Rabat. Had the chance to visit four other PCV sites, meet up with even more PCVs, and enjoy life as best as we could with Ramadan going on. Morocco really is a diverse country, and I look forward to many more travel adventures here! It's hard to believe I've been in-country for a year already and don't mind it. As soon as we were allowed to travel in RIM, I left the country.

Since I love lists, here are 26 (semi-superficial) things I've noticed or learned about myself while traveling:

1. Food, cooking, and dining are really important to me.
2. Swimming pools are a luxury.
3. Green gardens are a luxury too.
4. Rural berber hospitality humbles me.
5. I've lost the "I'm invincible" spirit I had as a kid.
6. PC's goal 3 of sharing our experiences with people in America shouldn't be dismissed. How many Moroccan PCVs would ever burn a Qoran?
7. After not eating all day, some Moroccans break fast with just bread. I'm fortunate to be invited into (strangers') homes and served delicious food.
8. Hotel Tazi in Kesh thinks I'm a regular. Time to find a new watering hole.
9. I was more motivated learning Hassaniya than Darija.
10. I've read more books in RIM; I've watched wayyy more movies in Morocco.
11. While each PCV's experience is unique, I can connect to all the RPCVs I've met so far.
12. The 26th day of Ramadan is the Night of Power. In Rabat, men read the whole Qoran at mosques. Children are dressed in their finest traditional clothes. Girls put on lots of make up. The streets are a place to see and be seen.
13. In Rabat, many foreign restaurants (aka places I wanted to splurge at) are closed during Ramadan.
14. In Agadir, waiters will politely greet you and serve you beer by the beach.
15. The more touristy a spot is, the nicer locals are when you talk to them in Darija.
16. I live a pretty pampered life in B-town compared to other PCVs.
17. Meals with fresh produce excite me more than ice cream (said during the hot season too!).
18. My mom (and my family) loves and supports me. I'm so grateful.
19. Some bus tickets have "stud bus" written on them.
20. I used to believe in seeing all the "tourist spots," but sometimes hotel time with friends is a better alternative, especially when it involves Marjane luxuries, air-conditioning, and pole-vaulting on tv.
21. I am the most organized packer-traveler I know, even though I am a bit more lax now.
22. Looking like a hippie embarrasses me.
23. I admire and respect construction workers and fragile-looking old men who work during Ramadan.
24. McDonald's does not serve adult Muslims during Ramadan. Also, the McArabia burger is no longer on the menu (just when I was ready to splurge on it).
25. Loud music at night annoys me. Why am I going to sleep before other people? Am I getting old?
26. Cockroaches: still can make me scream, but now I can get rid of them myself.