January Update

And January:

This month I began going on long bike rides with a few volunteers from around the area. Our first trek was 3 of us and we biked from Errachidia to Boudnib. 90km total. Was only 85km from my site. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed myself. There was a late start, but still made it before dark. The trek was mostly flat with some hills, then there was this great downhill. The last 15km were torture. This was the longest bike ride I have ever done and hadn’t biked very much beforehand. A great experience though. The ride got many of us motivated to do a long 3-4 day bike ride from Errachidia to Ouarzazate at the end of February.

Then the following week I went to Rabat with another volunteer for ear issues. They looked at my ear and even took cat scans but they can’t figure out what is wrong with it or what is causing the pain. So I’ll just have to deal with it for another 9 months and have it looked at again when I return back home to the states. Overall a really good trip. Was about 4 hours for me straight biking, about 6 hours with breaks. At least the pain isn't daily. I still think it is from elevation changes, who knows.

Then the Sunday after that 4 of us took a 60km bike ride to Erfoud. It was a beautiful day as well and the trek was beautiful. We passed the Ziz Gorge and stopped at the lookout there for a bit. Then we stopped in Aufouss and had an amazing lunch. One of the bikers had made yummy wheat bread that he then put turkey and cheese on with mayo and mustard. Seems normal, but abnormal here in Morocco. It took us about 3 hours straight biking, about 5 hours total with breaks. Overall lots of downhill and much easier than Boudnib.

Then the next weekend me and another volunteer rode to Tinjdad from Errachidia, me from my site. Errachidia to Tinjdad is about 80km. This trek was harder than Boudnib, lots of gradual hills. There was one that I thought would never end, haha. Took me and my friend about 4.5 hours straight biking, about 6 total with breaks. Was a bit chilly, but a nice and sunny day. Was wiped out after we arrived. So glad my Tinjdad friend had a shower, :).

And let me tell you, my butt was sore after each and every ride. Definitely need to create a seat cover for my bike, haha. Overall it's been really great exercise and loads of fun.

Otherwise my village was harvesting olives the majority of the month. I had a site visit at the beginning from my program assistant, was a good experience. Much of the month was spent reviewing for the GRE when I could which didn’t seem to be very much. We also had to have our H1N1 shot. Good to see volunteers but I really hate needles. I survived, :). Really crazy month overall with all of the traveling. I also gave my friend back her cat.

Then at the end of the month I got a new haircut. My split ends were getting pretty bad. The original plan was to just get a trip as my hair was finally just getting long enough again, but of course I decided to do something a bit new...much shorter han planned but I like it, very cute.