I swear I will get better at this blog thing....Insha'Allah (god willing)

So apparently, I’m pretty bad at this blog thing…..

            It’s been almost 3 months since I’ve written, so I’ll make this as precise as possible. The beginning of October my awesome friend Annie came to visit me for 10 days. We started with the overnight bus to Fes where we walked around the medina, ate delicious street food, and wandered to the smelly tannery (where a Moroccan man shoved mint leaves up my nose...no joke). We inevitably got lost and had to pay a small child to show us the way back. The next day we went to Chefchaouen, which was by far my favorite part of the trip. The gorgeous blue medina, which was surprisingly hassle-free, made us feel as if we were in Greece. We ate cheese salads, and this made me happy. We then spent 2 nights in Casablanca, which was interesting. We toured the mosque (set so scenically on the beach) then went out for a night on the town. I won’t write too many details here, but let’s just say that Annie and I were the only women out who weren’t prostitutes. Therefore, I got sassy and yelled at a Moroccan (okay I yelled at a few). Then we went to Marrakech, and then she came to my site where she got to meet my site mates and get her henna on. I was sad to see her leave, but then the next week my parents came for a visit.

            The original plan was for my Dad to come alone, but to my great surprise at the airport gate in Marrakech my mom was with him. I cried and screamed, then pointed and laughed at her because she was in Morocco. They were only here for 5 days so we spent a night in Marrakech, then I took them to my site. My mom was a good sport, and even used the Turkish toilet. We went to Angelica’s house (along with Alex and Alexa) and made them burritos for lunch. The last night we went to Marrakech where they took me out to one of the fanciest dinners I’ve ever been to. I had a caesar salad, steak, and cream brulee. Not to mention a few bottles of wine. It was heavenly. I have to admit, it was a bit stressful showing them around. Morocco is a difficult country to travel in. There are days where I wait 3 hours for transportation and am often crowed between people in the crazy taxi rides. However, I think that overall they enjoyed their time here. I am glad they came because they now have a slight understanding of my life here. I doubt my mama will come back, but I may be able to convince my dad to return (or better yet, meet me in Portugal) J

            Now we are in November. Most of this time was spent getting to know my new community and celebrating Eid. (I don’t feel like explaining this holiday, so if you want to check out the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha all your questions will be answered) A lot of volunteers don’t particularly like this holiday, but I found it surprisingly enjoyable. Give me a holiday where I walk around my village and am handed meat on a stick, and I am a happy girl. The beginning of the day was spent watching 2 sheep get slaughtered. Maybe Morocco has made me immune to things that I would normally find disturbing, or maybe it’s because I have become accustomed to seeing the meat I buy hang ever so lovingly at the butcher shop, but I didn’t find the slaughtering as troubling as I expected. My neighbor took his knife, slight its throat, then it started to bleed to death. No need to feel bad for this sheep, because Moroccans don’t waste a single part (they eat the eye’s, heart, tongue, EVERYTHING). I spent the day eating liver wrapped in fat kebabs, meat tagine, and of course, Moroccan cookies and tea. Families came home, everybody was in their best dressed, and the entire village was lively. It was like Christmas, expect instead of giving presents to each other, they sacrificed a sheep for Allah.

            Other than that, I have been putting my efforts in to assessing the needs of my community. I have been so lucky to live near some amazing teachers (who speak some English!) who are eager to work with me. I had a meeting with them and they gave me some great ideas for larger projects. They are interested in building a library, new desks, and are in need of science materials. Also, I spoke with the president of an association and he is very willing to help out on building a neddi (women’s center). After vacation, I will start writing up a grant to get things going. Also, come January they are giving me a classroom 4 days a week. I will probably start off teaching English, but once I get in the groove of things, I’d like to do some basic health lessons and art projects. Also, Alex and I are planning on starting an English club at the middle school which is 4 kilometers from my village. My site, Tidili is made up of 49 villages (population is about 17,000) and within Tidili, there are many elementary schools, but only 1 middle school. The closest high school is in Ouarzazate, which is about 2 hours away. Therefore, these kids need some motivation when it comes to their education. This is why I’d like to spent most of my time working in the schools.

            Now we are in December. I just spent the past week up north at a beach town an hour away from Rabat for my last Peace Corps training. The days were spent in sessions and the evenings were filled with hanging out with my fellow volunteers. As usual at these trainings, the evenings were a bit livelier. I slowly made my way back to site, and now I’m home for a few more days until I head off to SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve been in Morocco for 10 months, and this is my first time leaving. I am in desperate need of a break from this place! It will be my first Christmas away from home, and while it will be difficult, I am fortunate enough to have found good friends to spend the holidays with. We rented an apartment in Madrid so we will be able to make dinner (pork, pork, and more pork please), Christmas cookies, and watch Love Actually (always a Christmas favorite). I’ll be back in Morocco on January 3, so once I’m back, I will (hopefully) feel refreshed and motivated.

Happy holidays to everybody back home. 

Surviving Ramadan and a site change

I know it’s been a while since my last entry, part of which was due to limited internet access, being surprisingly busy, AND being too lazy to write about my life. That said, let me give you all a brief summary of my life these past 2 months.

            Ramadan….it came, it past, and I survived. Not much happened during the month of August. I spent my days watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I heart Spike), working out, reading, and chatting with other PCV’s on the phone (thank god for the phone plan). Boredom throughout the daytime really set in within the first week. I noticed that I was going slightly crazy one day when I was sitting on my roof and staring at the sheep. In the distance I noticed a large white tent. (For those of you that don’t know, I am located in the Ouarzazate province, home of a large movie studio. Here movies such as Gladiator, Prince of Persia, and Sex and the City 2 were filmed). I watched the tent and started wondering if maybe, just maybe, James Franco was filming his next movie in my little village. He would then discover that a Peace Corps Volunteer lived nearby and knock on my door. He would look past the fact that I haven’t showered in days and dress like a homeless person, and we would instantly fall in love. Suddenly I thought “What am I, 12 years old sitting in the back of my Magrande’s truck with my cousins and truly believing that it is Jonathan Taylor Thomas driving behind us?” I immediately went inside and called a friend for moral support. Turns out I’m not the only one with a crazy imagination. I suppose that’s what happens when you are the only English speaker in a village of 400 people.

As the night started to fall during Ramadan, I would walk around and in no time, I would get an invite from somebody in my village to break fast. Initially I was worried about breaking fast, as I was getting tired of the typical Moroccan dishes served to me during home stay. However, I was pleasantly surprised when instead of being served tagine and cous cous, there would be an array of deliciousness such as fresh figs, dates, soup, pastries, etc. I was also surprised to find myself enjoying spending time with people in my village, especially my host family. I was able to practice my language (which continues to be atrocious) and often get laughed at when I would sit around not knowing what the hell was going on. This was, in a nut shell, my life in August….

Now we move to September, which was a very busy and somewhat stressful month. I will make this very long and complicated story short: The closest volunteer to me had an incident which involved a site change. Because I have to travel through her site all the time to get to Tamalkout, Peace Corps decided that for safety precautions, I too needed a site change. Three weeks went by and we both moved to another site (still in the Ouarzazate region) called Tidili. I now have 3 AMAZING site mates and after all the confusion and stress, I feel very content with my move. Not only is my new site absolutely gorgeous, there is a lot of work to be done. I do, however, worry because I am in the mountains, which means that winters will be quite harsh. As I am used to my sunny Arizona winters, I am beginning to mentally prepare myself for the large amounts of suffering I will endure come November. Until then, I am enjoying the beautiful weather.

In addition to my site change, and a rockin’ birthday celebration in Ouarzazate, I went to Rabat for my first VSN (Volunteer Support Network) committee meeting. Rabat was fabulous. It was modern, clean, and had all the food a person could ask for. Because I have spent so much time in the rural parts of Morocco, Rabat made me feel out of place. My mom told me that maybe once a month I should go to Rabat just so I could have normal interactions with people. After experiencing multiple James Franco and Spike fantasies, I am beginning to think she is right.  

The other day I got together with my site mates (Alex, Alexa, and Angelica) at Alex’s house to discuss potential projects. We then made lunch, discussed our Halloween costumes, and then played darts. This all happened on a Tuesday between 10am until 4pm. When we were walking home we started to laugh, wondering at what other moments in our lives would a day like this make for a productive Tuesday afternoon? Gotta love the life as a Peace Corps Volunteer. No need to worry though, there are many projects to be done in Tidili, so your tax dollars won’t be a complete waste.

Yesterday Alexa and I walked through my village and stopped to sit on a rock next to a creek. An old man walked by and handed us some walnuts. He then took them out of our hands, cracked every single one for us, and left us with a delicious snack. When we were done at least 2 more people handed us walnuts and apples. The day before that we met up with each other in our souq town, and after doing our shopping, we got a beverage and decided to sit down on the side of the road to chat. A man saw us and not only brought us a table and chairs to sit in, he gave us a bowl of walnuts and made us tea. Say what you will about Morocco, but the hospitality in this country, especially in my site, never ceases to astound me.

My wonderful, beautiful, and amazing friend Annie, that I taught with in Honduras, is coming to see me tomorrow. It’s been a little over 2 years since I have seen her, so it will be a lovely 10 days. Also, in 2 weeks, my dad is coming for a short visit. Seeing how I haven’t gone longer than 3 months without seeing him, his visit will be quite amazing. Also, I will not be coming home for Christmas. As much as I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go home, I worry that going back to Morocco, with still a year and a half to go, would be difficult. Instead I will be traveling up to Spain with some friends.

Hope everybody is doing well back home. When you eat bacon or drink a beer on tap, think of me.

Leigh Anne

My new address is:

BP9 Inghrom N Oudal 45253

Ouarzazate, Morocco

Pre-Ramadan shenanigans

            First of all I would like to apologize to those I tried to set up multiple skype dates with this past month and was not available. With the time difference, zero internet at site, and the inconsistent internet when I am able to connect, skyping is difficult. Please know that I would never intentionally ignore any of you.  

Last week we had PPST (Post pre-service training) up north. It was Quad’s birthday a few weeks ago so a bunch of us went up to Fes for a belated celebration. I always felt that transportation in Morocco was awful compared to other places I have been, however, this day verified my opinion regarding the bus system in this country. The plan was to meet Alex on a bus towards Marrakech, then catch the train to Fes. This entire trip should take on average 12-14 hours. I left my house at 8am, and finally met up with Alex at around 4. Take note that the trip from my site to his site should only take 2-3 hours. We finally made it to Marrakech (city of American goods such as McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut) around 9pm. I know that these restaurants are not usually recognized as delicious cuisine, however, live in Morocco for 5 months and trust me, you will change your mind. We got off the bus and immediately headed to Pizza Hut. Alex and I walked in to the restaurant looking frumpy, sweaty, and wildly unattractive, and were surrounded by modern Moroccans and foreigners. As we ate our delicious stuffed crust pizza (with real pepperoni), we sat and stared at the beautiful people, as if we’ve never seen girls in short skirts and nicely groomed men. The lifestyle in our rural, bled sites is quite different than a big, modern city like Marrakech, so we sat and enjoyed the cheese and attractive people. This is what living in the bled does to a person, scary to think I have 20 more months of this life. We safely made it to Fes and 8am the next morning. Total travel time: 24 hours. We ate McDonalds twice while in Fes J  

            I finally returned to site on Monday and will be here (with the exception of heading to the city for internet and a birthday BBQ for James next weekend) until the end of August. To be honest, it feels good knowing that I can put all of my time and energy in Tamalakoute. My daily schedule consist of waking up, working out, making my coffee, then I start my ‘work.’ Like I have mentioned before, I haven’t, nor will I, start any real projects for a couple months. Part of this is because I need to assess the needs of my community and I want to work on my language (which is still appalling). Therefore, work for me right now is going out on walks, getting invited to tea, and sitting awkwardly with everybody as I try to speak tashleheet. Getting tea invites takes no time, as most people in my village are eager to get to know me. It must seem like a joke to most of you back home knowing that your tax dollars are going to people like me who, at the moment, their job consists of drinking tea with Moroccans. Therefore I am hoping that I can eventually astound all of you when I actually start real projects. Until then, I am a slave to this rigorous and time consuming work schedule.

 After talking to other volunteers at PPST, I have realized how lucky I am to be in the Ouarzazate region AND to be in a small village. The people in Ouarzazate are amazing, especially in small villages where everybody knows one another. Tamalakoute is great because I can wear t-shirts, I can paint my nails, and wear my hair down (mostly signs of a prostitute). Also, men greet me and sit with women for meals. There are areas where the women don’t even leave their homes, so living in Tamalakoute is quite the positive experience when it comes to living in a Muslim country.

            Ramadan starts on Sunday night and I have to admit I am frightened about the whole month of August. I have to leave my site to get food (other than basics like jam and eggs) so I am not sure how to get out of site when people will be fasting. Many volunteers like to fast during Ramadan, however, I have opted to do otherwise. Experiencing Ramadan in a Muslim country is a rare experience, but I have no desire to not drink water in 100 degree weather. Needless to say, August is going to be rough. If anybody has any book recommendations to get me through this, please send me an email or message on facebook. Thanks!

Brief highlights of June

It’s been a while since I’ve written, and much has happened in the month of June, so I will give you a quick overview of what’s been going on. In the beginning of the month, a group of us (a mixture of older volunteers along with us newbie’s in the Ouarzazate province) went on a nomad hike. The purpose of these hikes is to trek and locate groups of nomads and to survey certain health related issues within the families. We then send off the questionnaires to the Ministry of Health with hopes of providing mobiles in the region to give them vaccinations and an opportunity to see a nurse or doctor, since clinics are not easily accessible to nomads. After they answer our questions, we provide them with soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, etc. The newbie’s couldn’t do much because our language is still very limited, so we mainly shadowed the other volunteers. The trek was more strenuous than we predicted, and after the first day we questioned if we were ever going to walk again. We did make the best of our pain, often by busting out in to songs by Lady Gaga and even performed Nsync’s ‘Bye bye bye’ for everybody on top of a mountain. However, most of us were happy we did it, and now have a better understanding of how to do these treks, which is something many of us want to continue to do.

            Last week I went to a music festival in the beach town called Essaouria. About 70 volunteers all over Morocco were there and we rented 2 ‘hotels.’ Not only was it great meeting other volunteers, it was amazing getting out of the Ouarzazate province for the first time. Needless to say, it was a much needed good time.

            After arriving in Morocco in June, I have been living out of my suitcase and living with 2 different host families. Living with a host family is although a good experience, is extremely tough. We have no control over what we eat (tagine EVERYDAY), and are always checking in with our families. However, that all changed a couple days ago when I FINALLY reclaimed my independence and moved in to my new house. Although it’s not as posh as other Peace Corps houses, I love my new casa. It has 4 small bedrooms, a living room, a nice kitchen, a bathroom (no shower so bucket baths will be had for the next 2 years), and a roof with a 360 degree view of the mountains. Getting everything I need for my house is a pain, especially since I am so rural and have to haul things from the city to my village every time I want to buy something. This week I have made 3 separate trips to the city and still need many more things to get my house in order. I’m trying to get everything done before Ramadan (beginning August 1^st), as transportation during that time will be scarce. For my first meal to celebrate my newfound freedom, I cooked up a box of Velveeta shells and cheese, sent to me in an awesome care package from my wonderful parents. It was the best batch of Velveeta I’ve ever eaten in my life.

            The other day the transit from my site to the main road arrived and as I opened the door, there was a giant cow sitting there. The driver told me to sit up front and I just closed the door and sat in the front seat. It took me a minute, but I turned around and laughed to myself. I’ve only been here for 3 months and do not find the fact that a large cow sitting in my transit was odd. It made me think of a conversation I was having with fellow PCV’s and how after being here, certain things that we would find unusual is now ordinary. We laugh at how crazy we are all going to be upon completion of our 2 years here. I suggested that the Peace Corps provide us all with intensive therapy once we go home, just so we can get back to ‘normal.’ Everybody agreed….

            After heading to a friend’s house in the city of Ouarzazate for a 4^th of July party (no bacon or hotdogs were eatenL ), my standard group of volunteer friends in my region are working an English immersion camp for the week. A group of about 15 high school students were selected to attend this camp where we will provide them with activities such as theatre class, volleyball classes, leadership exercises, etc. It will be a lot of work (days start at 8:00am until 10:30pm), but so far, I am enjoying working with young Moroccans.

Hope everybody had a wonderful 4^th of July!

           

All I want from America is.....

Note to all: The easiest way to send care packages is through USPS using the flat rate box. However, sending things to Morocco isn’t cheap and if you wish to be so kind and send me things, I would advise some of you to get together and pitch in (hint hint: Wildcat friends and cousins…) Also, the post office here checks packages so don’t send money. If you buy things in boxes (i.e. Mac and cheese) it would save space if if you took these things out of their boxes and put them in ziplock bags. That said, and I will say it again, you don’t have to send me a package, as I would appreciate a post card or letter sending your love.

*There have been some issues with the post office stealing things out of care packages. If you do send anything, please attach a list (on a post-it or whatever) of everything in the box in case things go missing.

My wish list: Updated on January 24, 2012

Good hot sauce (like Sriracha)

Taco Bell sauce packets
Kraft Parmesan cheese (very important to make my mama's Cesar salad)
Buffalo sauce (this would seriously make my day)
Any other kinds of bottled sauces (Ranch, yellow mustard, honey mustard etc.)
Pepperoni (you can get packets of these that don't need to be refrigerated)

Blocks of Velveeta Cheese

Granola Bars and protein bars (lots of these!)

Venus Razor blades

Beef Jerkey

Ban roll on deodorant 

Photos (I love looking at pics of my family and friends)

Peanut butter 

Almonds 

Kraft Mac and cheese (take the cheese packet out of the box and just send that. I can buy the noodles here)

Garlic powder, taco seasoning, fajita seasoning, enchilada seasoning, etc. (VERY IMPORTANT! A package of just spices would bring a smile to my face)
Kernel popcorn seasoning
Cayenne Pepper
Powdered ranch packets 

Nail polish (bright colors make me happy)

Hair ties

Nyquil

Reeses’s pieces, M&M's, etc.

Candy (gummies and sour stuff)
Starbursts

Nutter butter cookies

Powdered Gatorade
Crystal Light packets

Sunscreen for face (Very expensive in Morocco)

Mascara (black)

BACON BITS!
Boxer shorts

Arm and hammer baking soda and whitening toothpaste (the best toothpaste ever!)

Construction paper

Markers

COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! (can’t get enough of this!)

T-shirts

Dove curl and sculpt moose

Lotion (big fan of Jergen’s cherry almond scent)

Dried fruit

And anything else that you think would bring a smile to my face…

My address is:

BP9 Inghrom N Oudal 45253

Ouarzazate, Morocco

Love to all,

Leigh Anne

It's official..I'm a Peace Corps volunteer!

            At last, training is over and I am an official Peace Corps volunteer! We all swore in on May 25 and after a rockin’ night in the city of Ouarzazate, we all went our separate ways to our final sites. Alex (the other volunteer in my staj in the Ouarzazate province) and I had an appointment with the Ministry of Health to obtain some papers so that we could legally work in Morocco. I spent the night with Alexa (another health volunteer who lives close to me and has been here for a year) on Thursday, and we headed back the next day to the city for our meeting at 10:00. Alex was running late due to transportation issues, and as he was calling me at 11:30 telling me he was finally in the city, we were getting told that we had to come back on Monday. When Alexa asked them why we couldn’t do it then and that Alex was on his way, they answered: Just because. Ahhh such is life in Morocco.

On Friday I arrived to my final site, Tamlakout. Apparently, Tamlakout is a big tourist destination due to its incredible hiking opportunities. There are 4 hotels in my site and I am living in one of them. Some of the other volunteers wanted to have me scalped when I told them I had a western toilet and hot showers. However, I do not have a bed, (I know, what’s the point of a hotel if there aren’t any beds?) so it evens out. The first 3-6 months of my service will mainly be me hanging out and integrating with my community. Since there are only 400 people in my village, getting everybody to know who I am won’t be an issue. On my first day I took a walk and it didn’t take me longer than 3 minutes for a large group of women to stop me while they were baking bread and welcome me to their village. EVERYBODY knows my name and tell me that I am welcome to be there. After getting told by 10 women that I should get married, I left, and the next thing I knew I was sitting at somebody’s house and drinking tea. From what I’ve been told, the people in the Ouarzazate region of some of the kindest, so I feel lucky to be here.

Since I am the first volunteer in Tamlakout, I am faced with many challenges. People have no idea what the Peace Corps is and look at me like I’m crazy when I say I will be there for 2 years. While there are volunteers who are replacing each other and are getting projects handed to them, I have to start from scratch. I have no idea what my community needs and with my VERY limited Tashlheet, figuring this out will take me months. While it is daunting having all this free time after 2 months of a rigorous training schedule, I have to admit that I like that my days are all mine. Next week I am going with a large group of volunteers on a backpacking trip in the mountains to talk to nomads about health issues. I’m still not sure of the details of what we are doing, but not only will it be fascinating, it will get me away from my home stay (which will end on July 1^st when I move in to my house!). Needless to say, it should make an interesting blog post.

I’ve been getting a lot of requests for my address and things that I need. I forgot my wish list at home (so I’ll post that list on Sunday when I get internet again) and while I feel a tad guilty posting up things I want, I think I’ll get over it once I’m eating a delicious box of Kraft mac and cheese. I know that sending stuff to Morocco is expensive so even if you want to send a card or letter, I would love it. My address is:

My address is:

BP9 Inghrom N Oudal 45253

Ouarzazate, Morocco

Hope everyone is doing well back home. I love and miss you all.

Two months in Morocco down, only 24 more to go

To be honest with you all, writing in this blog will not be consistent. After being here for 10 weeks I have come to terms with the fact that for the next 2 years internet will be slow and not dependable. That said, I will do my very best to keep you all updated of my whereabouts in Morocco.

I finish training and swear in as an official Peace Corps volunteer on May 25. My job title in the Peace Corps is a Community Health Educator in Rural Morocco. I won’t bore you with my training schedule, however I’ll give you a very brief description of what my life has been like since my arrival in March. There are about 58 of us who arrived together and were broken up in to small groups for training. Four others and I (along with our teacher) have been living in a village 20 minutes away from the city of Ouarzazate called Tazentoute. I have been learning the Berber dialect Tashlheet, which in my opinion is the most confusing and frustrating language on earth. (I mean really, what is the point of conjugating adjectives?) However, I was lucky enough to get placed with an amazing host family who has taken me in as their own. They have demonstrated an immense amount of patience and tell me I speak great Tashlheet, even though I know it’s a lie.

            A month ago our final sites were announced and we were sent to visit our assigned locations for a week. I am going to be living in a very small village (population: 401) an hour and a half away from the city of Ouarzazate called Tamalakort. Tamalakort is nestled at the base of the High Atlas Mountains, and as my new volunteer friend Alexa described, has a lot of character. My second day I decided to go on a walk and as I sat on a mountain and looked around, all I could do was laugh. Here I was, my blonde American self, alone in the middle of Morocco, and all that surrounded me were sheepherders and their sheep. It hit me that this was going to be my life for the next 2 years. In reality, I wanted to cry (and I did this once I got home), however I have accepted that I have many challenges and many more uncomfortable situations in my future, and I need to keep reminding myself that this is what I wanted. After only being in Tamalakort for 5 days, it became clear that the idea of a single 27 year old girl is blasphemy. There were at least eight women in Tamalakort telling me not to worry, they will find me a Moroccan husband. I need to learn how to say “Thanks, but I’ve already been promised to James Franco” in Tashlheet.

            So much has happened since I got here and yet I often don’t have the right words to describe to you all what it’s really been like. Moroccans are probably the most hospitable people on earth. It is difficult to walk through my village without an invitation for tea. I am still trying to conquer the Turkish toilet (for those of you that don’t know what this is, please Google image it immediately) and not a day has passed that I haven’t peed on myself. While rinsing my laundry (Yes I have to hand wash everything) I did loose my underwear to this evil contraption and almost lost a sock as well. I can’t count how many times my family just looks at me and laughs, and I laugh too, still not knowing what the hell is going on. Luckily, I have met some pretty amazing fellow volunteers, and it took many of them no time to comment on my laugh or tell me I walk like a duck.

            There are a bunch of committees within Peace Corps Morocco such as a Gender committee and an HIV/AIDS committee. I ran for the VSN (Volunteer Support Network) committee and was excited that my fellow volunteers voted for me to be their representative. The VSN committee serves as a strong support network for volunteers during their service. I will be traveling to the capital city of Rabat every 3 months for the meetings with other representatives. I am really looking forward to supporting my new friends these next 2 years, as we all know there are many challenging and frustrating days ahead of us.

            The other day my training group had a going away party for our families in Tazentoute. My host brother and his friend (around 9 or 10 years old) were sitting next to us and our cook was serving them food. We asked our cook to stop and made them get up and serve themselves. Although this won’t change their attitude of the role of women in their village, I was overwhelmed with joy as I watched them pour their own drinks without the help of their mothers. While Morocco is a progressive Muslim country, there are still many conservative families, especially in the rural areas. Being the feminist that I am, learning to live in a world where women empowerment isn’t valued will probably be the biggest challenge I will face. These 2 months in Morocco have made it clear to me how lucky I am to be American. 

            Within the next couple weeks I plan on posting a wish list. I welcome any care packages or even letters from you all. I’ve only been here for two months and I already feel terribly homesick, so even a card from my wonderful friends or family members will be greatly appreciated.