Picture Post

 Above is the one section of the Gorge du Dades near my village. This is where the road and river align, causing lots of flooding problems when it rains.

On the left is my house--below a garage...

My kitchen--complete with butagaz for the stove top and oven (the green metal box)

 

The beetles that like to crawl in my pants

More views of my house and the surrounding village with the mosque nearby.

 

My sister, Ang, is hiding under those covers somewhere on the left...these two pics are when they visited my house in December. Adam's peeking out on the right. They survived!

Eyeglass workshop in Zagora---Great workshop. Through an association in the UK called "Eyejusters" we were able to provide eye exams and corrective lenses that the people can easily adjust themselves to the proper strength.

 Imichil Wedding Festival (Sept. '11): Provided blood pressure screenings and education about the causes of high and low blood pressure.

We like to play with camels after work :)

Some of you may know this, but I had a really bad eye infection back in the fall and had to travel many, many hours to see an eye doc--this is what I ended up looking like...

When we're bored, we go to the fields...it's just what we do (and it's all we have to do)...and when we remotely attempt to blend in and hide ourselves when it's late and we're not supposed to be out, this is what we end up wearing...ineffectively making us stand out more.

Now, what would this picture post be without that of my cat?? I know, I know...skip 'em if you want. This is my baby Franklin! He pretty much hid like that the entire first hour I brought him into my house from my neighbors barn

He's a very good cuddler when we're all alone together in my house :)

This is a view of one village in my area during the winter. Hello mountains!

 Where my "multisport court" project will hopefully be implemented....pending funds!

MMM....fresh sheep organs on L3id Ikbir (kind of like Morocco's version of "Christmas")

Traditional wood bread oven

....where those organs came from...best meat you'll ever have in your life though!

Nomad Hike! We backpacked from the town of Tamtattochte to M'smrir (approx. 45km) over the course of a few days and provided bars of soap, shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste (along with improptu educational lessons) to the nomadic population. (Sorry, no pics of the nomads)

Scrounging up some food because we were starving

Trying to be happy campers even though the one spring available was under an overhang where we had been trying to retrieve freshwater while slumping over, knocking our heads and getting dripped on..... and having our pump break.

Spring Camp in Ouarzazate--Time to teach some intense English.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes....

We painted an amazing mural of Morocco, if I do say so myself. Getting those proportions right required some back pocket architecture skills from my first year of undergrad

(Sorry there isn't much rhyme or reason to this picture order)...Camels at the edge of the Sahara on New Year's

My Aunt Bernie came prepared with those instant mini travel toothbrushes (sorry I'm not a fan!) when you have no water...or when you just spent the night in the middle of the desert. We look great.

Okay, that's it--Hope you enjoyed a few pics!