Djemaa el-Fna

I can't believe my last post was three weeks ago when I was so excited and full of expectations of the adventure I was about to embark on. I'd been packed for a week before I left, carefully planning a number of outfits to see me through, keep me cool whilst remaining covered up, due to the strict Muslim rules in Morocco.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and took the bus into Marrakesh, not 5 mins into the journey and already you could see the poverty in this country; mud huts made and occupied on rubble sites, small children walking the streets alone, beggars on the road side, stray cats and dogs, beat up cars and buildings that looked like they had been bombed yet people living in them... shocking!

We stayed in Djemaa el-Fna... The beating Heart of Marrakesh! It's a place like no where else on earth... it's totally crazy. It's a meeting place for residents from the Medina and Berbers from the mountains, Moroccans from else where in the country and tourist from around the world. The square is awake from 7 in the morning with rows of (foul mouthed) fresh orange juice sellers and street cleaners. Late morning the square is filled with tons of fruit and spice stalls, snake charmers, women offering henna tattoos (or in my case forcing it upon me), fortune tellers, healers, acrobats and Gnaoua, the spiritual musicians. As well as hundreds of people, scooters, horse carts, donkeys, monkeys, snakes, stray cats and taxis all whizzing about in all directions! MADNESS!

Once the sun begins to go down the square gets even more busy as it begins to transform for the evening ahead. Countless numbers of metal stalls are hauled into the square and assembled everywhere you look.

At night the square fills with locals and turns in to a huge open air restaurant. The entire square is pitch black, lit only by the light of the moon and endless food stalls. There is smoke, steam and the smell of food everywhere. Each stall tries, rather aggressively, to get you to choose them for dinner. Most stalls are different, selling snails in broth, sheep's heads, Tagine, couscous, brochettes and Hairia.

The non food part is very dark and crowded mostly with Moroccans. In the chaos are large groups circling around performers, magicians, comedians, musicians and story tellers. The entertainment continues into the night, quieting down around 11pm. It is quite an overwhelming sight, especially when watched from a distance, ideally from one of the many rooftop terrace restaurants.

Bye Bunnies...

Wednesday morning was my last day at Hula for 3 weeks. I did my usual clean and feed and all was well. Branston and Bounty, the new guinea pigs were still very shy, hopefully when I get back they will have built up their confidence a little bit.

I said my goodbyes to the staff and when I get back I will to see what days my help is required.

Cats and Rabbits... Bliss!

The usual start to my Tuesday, cleaning out the small animals at Hula. Numbers today were; 1 duck, 3 hamsters, 1 rat, 1 tortoise, 3 rabbits and 2 Guinea pigs.

The Guinea pigs are new and were very scared so after I cleaned up their pen and left them to chill out on their own to try and help them settle in. Tommy the tortoise has stopped eating so that means he getting ready to hibernate shortly. And Jack the rat seemed a lot more chilled out this week.

In the afternoon I was looking after the cats. Honey had moved from the back room to the main room, she didn't seem as happy as last week, I think she's not too impressed with being locked in a cage all day, but I'm sure it wont be long until she finds a lovely new home.

Kevin was collected today, he's heading off to his new home, which is great news. Bless him he's a very chatty cat with no tail and had been at Hula for quite some time, so it's really great that he's found someone that thinks he's the one!

The kittens have grown tons in size and confidence in just a week, they were quite playful today. Boris is really growing in confidence too, he was out and about today and really didn't want to go back in his pen at the end of the day. And Clive, the feral cat was looking much happier today sitting at the front of his pen, not curled up in bed as he normally is. He came out for a wander and then came and sat by me for a little bit, which is such a good sign that his confidence in humans is really coming on.

I wont be seeing the cats for 3 weeks now, I wonder who in that time will find a new home and what newbies will arrive!

Gloomy Night...

Last nights soup run was a bit of a gloomy one, it didn't leave me feeling my usual chirpy self. We had two new helpers and woman and her 17 year old son, so we were a group of seven and the soup and sarnies were made in no time.

Out on the street we had a low numbers at all the stop off points, not sure why, the weather was nice, no drizzle and not too cold... just strangely quiet.

At the theatre district our new 17 year old helper recognised one of the homeless guys as a kid who use to be in his class at school and told us that when the boy was in middle school he was known for doing drugs with his dad at home... Shocking!

One of the regulars, Little Tony came out for a soup, unusually sober and very quiet, which was not surprising after he has just come out of hospital after four days for receiving a nasty whack on the back of his head with a glass bottle. But he still had a smile for us.

Then sadly the evening was really spoilt at the library, when one on the homeless guys started being abusive to John, the organiser. It didn't seem to faze John at all, who just tried to explain to the guy if he keeps on shouting, people will complain and the Government will shut us down. It didn't seem to work and it wasn't the best Soup Run experience I've had, which is sad as it's my last one for three weeks. But I'm sure things will calm down by the time I get back and if not John says sadly we'll just have to stop doing the library stop off for a while. Sad times.

All Change....

Well, the news is, that Vietnam is cancelled... I got a call from the UK organisers who informed me that they had been receiving such bad feedback from volunteers who have been working at the orphanage I was going to, that they are no longer allowing any volunteers to go there! Lucky being the unorganised person that I am I hadn't booked my flight!

I started searching the Internet for new places to volunteer at, when Original Volunteers were brought to my attention and from the moment I saw it I felt so happy, happier than I had ever felt about the Vietnam Orphanage.

So I'm now going to Marrakesh doing some really varied volunteer work at orphanages, schools, baby orphanages, street kid projects to remote villages and sports camps. I'll be helping disadvantaged children with anything from English to swimming with the schedule being organised according to local demand.

And I go in 9 days!!! I'm so excited!!

Alzheimers Society

This morning I decided to stop by Hobbycraft on my way to the Arts & Craft session at the Alzheimer's Society, as I've come to the conclusion that my knitting is taking way too long and I would never have this scarf finished in time to make it onto the charity craft stall at Christmas. So I thought I'd try my hand at cross stitch. I found five small designs with a Christmas theme which once completed I can make into Christmas cards... much better idea, much quicker and will help raise money for the Society.

However, having never done cross stitch before, I took my time getting up to speed with it, also having chosen such tiny designs, thinking smaller would be easier, I actually made it a little harder on myself as they are so fiddly!! I perservered and got to grips with it by the end of the session and then spent the afternoon at home (nearly) finishing the first one. They are a little cheesy and I feel like such an old lady doing embroidery but hey, it's for charity!