MeHdia Version 3.0

IST (In Service Training) has come and gone and with the bombing in Marrakech back in late April, Peace Corps staff decided to move IST out of that city to the ocean town of MeHdia a little north of Rabat. My first impressions of Maroc were in this ocean town back in September 2010 as this was the place were PC had us for the first days of training... and I must say it was a dreadful experience... sleeping 4 or more to a room better reserved for one or two with 10 hour days of force-feed culture and language. My next time here was before swearing in and it was even worse... BUT as the say the third time is a charm... the older PCVs got single rooms, it was in season and the weather and beach was great.

Lots of laughs, some work and three square meals a day... it was the last time I will see everyone in a group until COS (Close of Service) and that is 18 months away and who knows how many of us will still be here... it is a fun crew of over 60 people and I will miss many if not all... but the PC has a way of creating a bond as we are a small tight group that laughs and cries with each other.

These gathering in the PC are a mixture of corporate and high school... for the 29 of us in the SND program it was a bitter sweet gathering as we are the last in this program as the PC has decided to abandon our program in order to focus only on the youth and basically teaching English... I for one believe this change in direction is foolish and short-sighted... I say that only because I think this direction does not take into the account the 70 million "baby-boomers" who might want to bring their skills in the business world to a country like Maroc... some may want to teach english but I think many would rather work with established artisans and small business to spread out our knowledge... inshallah only time will tell.
The two sketches are from Mehdia ... I hope you like them. Heading to Porto for a few days and hope to do nothing but paint, eat wonderful food and drink port.

Salam-