This weekend, at last, my voice came back! So this meant that I could go singing at La Maison Anglaise -hooray! It is a beautiful guest house(on Trip advisor), sustainably managed and run by local moroccan staff and owned by an english woman who considers Taroudant to be perfectly geographically placed for its climate and surroundings.
As well as singing some great songs and sharing a few laughs we finished the weekend with a trip to the Claudio Bravo museum 12 km from Taroudant, nestled in the foothills of the High Atlas mountains. It is a stunningly beautiful house and grounds with views that fair take your breath away! If you want an ideal and dream-like wedding venue (and happen to have lots of l-flus = money available!) then this would be your choice...here are some photos for you, so, get a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy!

La Maison Anglaise singing group
Pauline is our singing tutor (second from the right)

Entrance to Claudio Bravo Museum
He was a Chilliean born artist(1936 - 2011)

He loved swimming- there were at least 3 huge pools situated in different parts of his grounds
this one was the largest and has spectacular views of the mountains.

sculptures by a visiting friend from Chilli

Arriving in style!

main entrance to the museum

Enormous insects! probably native to South America

He was a football fan

these paintings are strongly influenced by Salvador Dali, a contemporary artist of the same era

He also collected art - this is a painting by Francis Bacon

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giant jewellery made from precious stones 

Claudio Bravo's mauselium with his favourite artefacts surrounding him
We sang a beautiful 'harmonic temple' song - the accoustics were amazing!

Sipping tea in Claudio Bravo's drawing room

Here are some of Claudio Bravo's paintings and artefacts...

self portrait of the artist as a young man

stunning views of the high atlas mountains from the rooftops

The artist's studios, brushes & easels

Well, I've completed another week here in Taroudant... my week began with a nasty virus causing me to get Laryngitis so I went to the doctor who prescribed me some antibiotics - I thought it best to 'nip it in the bud' because I'm only here for 3 more weeks and, whatsmore, I've got a singing holiday to join in so I need my voice!
On Tuesday, I prepared and helped with the evening young adults english lesson; we now have 4 students- 3 boys and 1 girl.
On Wednesday I started working atthe Lalla amina orphanage here in Taroudant. I changed 5 babies' nappies, bottle-fed 3 babies, cuddled and put them back to sleep in their cots. I then helped to get some of the toddlers dressed and played with them and cuddled them with 2 other volunteers who were trainee nurses from Belgium. I will be working there in the mornings Monday to Friday. I did enjoy changing and feeding the babies, although I felt a bit apprehensive at first! It is quite heart-wrenching with the toddlers because if you give some attention to 1 or 2 then they all want your attention and I was feeling rather like a human climbing frame at one point, being tugged in all directions! I can't obviously take any photos in the orphanage but here are a few other photos to show you.....

my english class excercises and games: Oliver said I had planned the lesson well:)

me trying to keep warm and drinking lots of lemon, honey & ginger drinks!

Hajar & me on having coffee on a roof top cafe and an informal derija lesson

view overlooking one of the babs
(city gates)

my cappacino!

Hajar very sweetly bought me this pair of sandals as
a souvenir from the souk in Taroudant:)

Oliver and I did an english meal last night and invited 6 guests, MCT workers, to join us...

We all enjoyed cottage pie with broccoli

and for pud- apple crumble with vanilla cream
(no custard out here!)

There was after dinner entertainment from Brahim
He said he was trying to gather all the snakes in Morocco!
There was also guitar music and we played traditional berber music on the laptop.
I

School holiday activities with the MCT children

We have been very busy at the MCT center the last 2 weeks withe the children's school holiday activities. I have been assisting with lots of different projects such as sports activities; on Tuesday morning we took the children to play hockey at a local tennis club who rent out various pitches  - it was very hot! There is a good sized sports hall at the center where the children can run around, play ball games, skipping and team games every day - which they need as they seem to have endless energy!
On Monday I helped to run a hygiene workshop with Naima, one of the social workers and in the afternoon we had a cooking session with the children: we prepared and cooked mini pizzas, harira soup and moroccan pancakes and then we enjoyed eating them together!
On Tuesday evening Oliver and I ran the english class for a small group of young adults - we played a memory game called 'going to the supermarket'(my idea) which used the alphabet and lots of vocabulary and then finished the lesson playing hangman. It was fun!
On Wednesday morning we watched 'Snow white & the seven dwarfs' which the children really enjoyed.
Unfortunately, on Thursday and Friday I developed a cold so I had a couple of days resting in the volunteer house.
Sadly, but as you can understand, I cannot take pictures of the children for legal reasons but here are a few photos of various things...

A painting of nature by some of the MCT children....hopefully more arts&crafts to follow soon...

We finished the week with a trip to Tioute on Saturday
Moroccan people do picnics in style!
The children and staff had a wonderful day there:)

Berber jewelery for sale - so cheap and all hand made!

lovely peaceful haven away from the city

A Moroccan wedding!

I was very fortunate to be invited to a Moroccan wedding this weekend. Moroccan wedding celebrations traditionally begin in the evening and last all night. This one began at 8 pm and went on until 7 am the next morning (however we managed to escape at around 4 am!) The bride & groom change their outfits 7 times throughout the evening/night!
The preparation for us, the group of wedding guests who I went with, begun with a trip to the souk to hire a traditional style outfit. During the afternoon, after a delicious couscous lunch that was 'beneen bezeff' cooked for us by Zaynah in her family home, we had our hands and feet henna tattooed whilst chilling out watching t.v. Then we did our make up and got dressed into our 'wedding' outfits and were driven to a huge events hall on the outskirts of Taroudant city... here are some photos:

The bride is carried in to the hall in great style!

my henna tattooed feet & hands
apparently only married women have their feet tattoed

There was lots of music and berber style dancing!

And finally the food arrived at 2.30 am!
but not before washing our hands first

The group of friends I went with: left - right:
Zahira, Zayna, Harija and Sukrir with bride & groom behind

one of the performing musicians

My wedding outfit

Homesick today:(

Sometimes only 3 things in life can help
when you feel homesick!