The last month has been a whirlwind of travel, teaching,
Ramadan, utter boredom,
learning, and fun.
While challenges and unpredictability of live have shown me my own
strengths and weaknesses since I have arrived.
Most recently I have had the chance
to travel to El Jadida and work at a summer camp teaching English to kids ages
10-17. It was an awesome
experience and I loved every second of it. El Jadida was like going on a tropical vacation compared to
Tafraout. It was 75 and humid
every day, compared to 110 and dry as a bone I’ll take it. Camp was a blast, not only was I
teaching but spending time with the kids and learning about them. We introduced them to Halloween, and
put on quite a scary haunted house, did American trivia, and had a pretty intense
soccer game. The kids were so
happy to be there, even though it was Ramadan and they were very tired and many
times just wanted to go back to bed.
Camp was just like summer camp in America though, we shared two rooms
for 14 volunteers, there were 4 bunk beds in each room and one bathroom. By the end, the 4 shirts I brought
smelled like camping and everything was just a little wet. Needless to say I
was happy to get back and do laundry.
The other Peace Corps volunteers I got to work with were amazing as
well. We did a lot of playing
Frisbee on the beach and riding waves.
It was hard to consider this work.
After this I was lucky enough to have some good friends invite me to
stay at their place in Essaouira, which quickly became one of my favorite places
in Morocco. It’s a very touristy
beach town, but their Medina (city) was beautiful and the shops there were
incredible. It was a great stay
and hard for me to leave. The
first time I went to catch my bus I was easily convinced to stay just one more
night.
Though life here hasn’t been all
beaches and fun. The ups and downs
felt here come on quickly and can last for 2 second or can drag on for what
feels like 2 years. These moments
don’t happen often but when they do they can flatten you. Like waiting with baited breath for
each e-mail update about my grandfather after his surgery, and my heart sinking
each time my phone rang, just hoping it wasn’t from home with bad news. These moments can feel like a lifetime
when you’re so far away. On top of
that many of my friends in country have gone though so much more than I can
ever image and it’s hard not to be able to be there with them. We are all so spread out now that it
makes it impossible to be there when people need you most.
 |
| El Jadida at night |
Being away did make me realize how
much I love Tafraout. With the
amount of harassment that I got in El Jadida I can understand why it drives
people crazy. After arriving back
in site I was instantly invited over to my friends house for wedding chicken
(my favorite meal). The next day I
met with the rest of my friends from town. A much-needed reunion was had for Sarah and I as well, with
some homemade peach wine (video to follow, not very delicious but did the job),
a pretty epic puzzle, and the Emperors New Groove we were happy to both be in
Tafraout again. And once again we
can ask the question, old time or new time? Morocco has undergone another time
change now that Ramadan is over.
Though I’m not sure people know.
Meeting times, store hours, I have no idea what they really are
anymore. This will all happen
again in about a month then we have another time change.
