Reflecting and such: Today vs. 6 months ago

I’m dirtier. But it really doesn’t bother me that much. Now, rather than throwing clothes in the laundry bin and then fishing through it later, I just fold them back up again because I know I am going to wear them again. Until they smell. Pretty bad. I’m calmer. But that is attributable to not having many stressful things on my plate, not to any change or new guiding principle I’ve developed. I can speak a new language, perhaps better than any foreign language I’ve spoken before. And it’s wonderful to be able to communicate with people, but sad whenever the conversation ends with my inability to speak another language. I think a lot and I think it’s keeping me up at night. Without a large circle of friends close at hand and constant daily conversation in a language I fully understand and through which I can accurately express myself, I find myself thinking more. I look back on all kinds of relationships with people with an intensity and scrutiny they don’t get when I’m around them. I think about choices I’ve made. I think about all the potential outcomes after two years in Morocco. I read with much more interest than I ever could in college. I’m hoping to give myself another education. With a little work, I think I might be able to learn as much here in two years as I did in college. First subject that I’d like to look into: linguistics. Currently, I find the subject fascination. I have a friend. She’s married, has a child, prays five times a day and I had to inform her that Jews don’t smell different from the rest of us, but she cares about me and my well-being and we can make each other laugh. We can talk to each other honestly because we know what we say won’t reach the whole town. I miss fancy meals. My mouth generally waters when reading about restaurants or recipes for steak, lamb, bacon, mushrooms, parmesan, and the list goes on. I will try to create what I can, but I don’t think I yet possess the culinary creativity demanded when faced with limited ingredients. An unfortunate side note: the meat selection really does not lend itself to the idea of the first international Steak Off. I’ve gotten taller. Maybe that’s a stretch. But I have realized that I’m no longer short in Morocco. For the first time in about 7 years when I told someone I played basketball in high school, I didn’t get a laugh. I might blush less. I stood up in front of a room of about 80 boys between the ages of 14 and 22 and spoke to them off the top of my head in Arabic and I am pretty sure I maintained my normal complexion. Time has never gone by so quickly and I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s good because I’m not dwelling on getting home, but also worrisome because what if I don’t get anything done? I keep on telling myself that I still have two years, but I won’t have two years forever.

Job and such

It recently occurred to me that the readership of this blog, numbering in the thousands, no doubt, might not even know what kind of actual work I’m doing here. So I’ll try to fill you in. As a Youth Development Volunteer Peace Corps volunteer I have two sets of goals to work with: the Peace Corps goals, and my program’s project plan. The larger goal for the Peace Corps, which I absolutely intend to fulfill in a mere 27 months, is world peace. Just one step beneath that are the three aims that Peace Corps seeks to reach in each country: help people in the country better understand America, help Americans better understand the country, and to help the country meet it’s need for skilled workers. I do believe it is within this last aim that each program’s project plan lies.

Each YD volunteer is invited by the Ministry of Youth and Sport to work in a community’s youth center and develop youth. Although teaching English tends to be what many volunteers focus on, it is not our only role, but is meant as a way to integrate into the community and meet people. Right now I teach beginning, intermediate and advanced level English classes to students and one beginning level class for women. They come to the Dar Chebab after school and, for the most part, are self-motivated to be there. Students in Morocco generally start English in their last year of middle school and continue for the three years of high school. Most of my students have started English in school. I also hang out with some of the students one Fridays and Saturdays for free time/music club. And they have taken a liking to the ping-pong set Evan sent me for Christmas.

Other than that, my only other activity is going to/coaching girls’ soccer practice. There are usually about 12 girls who come to play, but probably about 18-20 who are considered to be on the team. They started playing just for fun when the last volunteer was here, and turned it into a more regular practice, but as of right now they really don’t have anyone else to play against. I would really like to expand their program, find some other girls to play soccer, and have a real 11 v 11 game, but it may be difficult to do. Soccer is not really considered a sport that girls play, so I think these girls might be the only ones in town. I would like to look around in the surrounding villages, but since they are smaller and generally a little more conservative, it might be even harder to round up players. So my goal for the next few months is to meet some girls who might want to play. This might also require me to meet a lot of parents, as girls may not always be allowed out of the house.

So in addition to learning Tashelhit and getting my house together, that is what I have been working on. My next project will hopefully be to start some activities at the Dar Talib/Dar Taliba, a sort of boarding house for students at the middle and high schools who live in far villages, because the students there have a curfew at the time when my classes usually start. That's life, for the most part. I'm getting a routine together, making some friends, figuring out how to cook here, and trying to keep a distance between myself and Moroccan high school drama. Here are some pictures:

A view on a walk/hike just a few kilometers outside of town.

Some of the soccer girls watching the Morocco-Ghana African Cup Match, we thought they had scored, unfortunately they did not.

God, Country, King. Lit up where the old city of Agadir was, which was destroyed by an earthquake.

Me sporting the Melhaf, the traditional garment worn by most women in town. More on that later.

My Proudest Accomplishment

If it works, what I say in the video in Arabic is "Kiss your muscles."