Schubel and her newfound Moroccan friends have been cooking for each other with mixed results. "First thing I made was chicken and dumplings. Since dumplings don't brown up and look rather doughy. They were not impressed," Schubel said. "I have since made pizza many times, plus some pasta dishes. I baked several kinds of Christmas cookies and delivered them around to homes that I knew. "I like the flavors of Moroccan food. They don't have a lot of variety to their meals though. Lots of bread, about five times a day. Almost always a tagine for lunch and, yes, the vegetables vary a bit by the season, but are quite similar" to American vegetables. Schubel has found the simple things in life to be most enjoyable since she arrived in the country. She said her most memorable day so far has been spend planting crocus bulbs, from which saffron will eventually be harvested, and having a picnic with her host family in the High Atlas Mountains. "The weather was perfect," she said. "We then walked home, tired but happy. It was just such a fantastic family day."
After retiring from her job at Kalamazoo College last summer, Linda Schubel ignored her options to live a life of leisure and instead joined the Peace Corps and shipped off to Morocco
Kalamazoo retiree takes on Peace Corps stint in Morocco
By Rebecca Bakken | Special to the Kalamazo...
May 02, 2010, 1:08PM
Caption: lPeace Corps member Linda Schubel, 60, of Kalamazoo, has been stationed in Morocco since September and is scheduled to spend two years there. Here, Schubel dances the Hokey Pokey with children.
KALAMAZOO – After retiring from her job at Kalamazoo College last summer, Linda Schubel ignored her options to live a life of leisure and instead joined the Peace Corps and shipped off to Morocco.
Schubel, 60, arrived in the North African country in September and will not return to Kalamazoo until November 2011, when she anticipates coming home with many stories to tell.
MORE INFORMATION
To read more about Linda Schubel's work in Morocco – including a venture with a cheese association – visit her blog at www.lindaschubel.blogspot.com.
"I love the adventure of travel and the challenges that come with it," she said via Internet chat from Morocco. "I was ready for a foreign immersion since I knew I wouldn't really know a country unless I did this."
"I am willing and eager to try new things and try to keep an open mind when things are different than expected. I also love to share the American way of doing things."
Schubel was placed with a host family during the first weeks of her visit, with "parents" 20 years her junior and an 11-year-old brother and a 7-year-old sister. She said she's had fun celebrating Muslim holidays with the family, sharing some Christmas traditions and cooking, making them a source of comfort for Schubel in a foreign country, though she now lives on her own.
"I try to visit them at least once a week and usually the children stop by my house during the week since their school is near," Schubel said.
Schubel and her newfound Moroccan friends have been cooking for each other with mixed results.
"First thing I made was chicken and dumplings. Since dumplings don't brown up and look rather doughy. They were not impressed," Schubel said. "I have since made pizza many times, plus some pasta dishes. I baked several kinds of Christmas cookies and delivered them around to homes that I knew.
"I like the flavors of Moroccan food. They don't have a lot of variety to their meals though. Lots of bread, about five times a day. Almost always a tagine for lunch and, yes, the vegetables vary a bit by the season, but are quite similar" to American vegetables.
Schubel has found the simple things in life to be most enjoyable since she arrived in the country. She said her most memorable day so far has been spend planting crocus bulbs, from which saffron will eventually be harvested, and having a picnic with her host family in the High Atlas Mountains.
"The weather was perfect," she said. "We then walked home, tired but happy. It was just such a fantastic family day."
Learning the local language has been a challenge in ways Schubel didn't expect.
"I found learning the Tashlheet language to be very difficult and it challenged my self-esteem more than I ever thought possible," Schubel said. "Certainly took me back a peg or two.
"I have a long ways to go to be fluent. Tashleheet is a Berber dialect and it is not a written language. It has verbally been passed down through the years."
