Wednesday, December 21, 2011

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. 

No comments:

Post a Comment