Celebration

Celebrating my 23rd birthday in Morocco and a few observations…

I’ve never been a big birthday person.  I don’t mind doing something small or nothing at all.  So my 23rd was perfect according to my standards.  My closest friend here in Morocco decided to surprise me and came the four hour trip to my site.  But if that wasn’t nice enough, she went out of her way to go the nearest big city and bought all the fixins for really good cold cut sandwiches and a bottle of wine. The last time I ate white bread slices was probably before I left the states.  

Any who my site mate, friend, and I spent the day hiking to the river and later we made spaghetti with homemade sauce.  Enjoyed a few drinks and spent the night talking on my roof.  The next day was spent recovering, per usual.  All in all it was a great birthday.  

Before we came to our final sites, we were all given a timeline of the usual emotions that volunteers face.  So that 3-6 month period is known to be the hardest.  We’re thrust into the culture without our LCF safety net and CBT site mates to rely on.  We’re in the limbo period.  

The only expectations the Peace Corps have of us now is to work on language, start building meaningful relationships, and look for potential counterparts and just integrate.  Easier said than done, believe me. So this is the time where homesickness starts to hit, feel a little lost and unsure of role in community.  

How does this pertain to me… let’s see… homesickness… check.  Uncertainty of what the heck I’m doing here… check.  Emotions everywhere… check.  This place is a roller coaster.  One day I might have a great conversation and feel somewhat confident about language, the next I might not be able to understand the easiest questions. But then there are times when I feel like skipping down the road and hugging strangers on the road.  I want to say “Can you believe I’m here?! This is so hard and I’m here, doing it!”.  

So folks, now is an up period and it was all set off by my birthday.  What a great birthday.  I’m looking forward to gathering in a month for Post Pre-service Training.  Hopefully get some really helpful technically training.

Observations and thoughts…. 

1. With the Fourth of July coming up, I wish I brought a thing of sparklers. 

2. Usually after you move into a new place, then you start to notice the things needing fixed.  My bathroom sink is leaking like crazy and I have noooo idea how to turn the water off. Where do people turn the water off to their faucets or anything if say… their hallway is flooding.  Hopefully the landlord fixes it soon… 

3. Almost all 500 GB of my external hard drive is being used up by movies, tv series, and music that has been swapped between volunteers.  Who knew the amount of free movies I’d end up with.

4. I encountered my first man who would not shake my hand because of his religious beliefs. 

5. Had a guy ask me where my brother was (my site mate), I corrected him and then later 

that same day he asked me where my son was (meaning my site mate). Hahah I got a real kick outta that.  He was thoroughly confused. 

6. 8 adorable mutt puppies are living in my neighbor’s yard.  It takes every ounce of strength I have to not take at least one in.  Tagulefte has a lot of wild dogs and cats.  The other day I counted 10 just in the souk area on my walk home.  

7. Still not quite sure how Turkish toilets work… so it’s a pit underneath the house, apartment, etc. but what happens when they fill? Hm… I must investigate further, that and HOW DO I TURN THE WATER OFF? Haha 

8. I miss grass. Mowing in the summer and smelling fresh cut grass.  Walking around barefoot.

9. I’ve eaten more watermelon in one month then all my previous 23 years combined. 

10. So babies eat normal food as soon as they can… no puree baby food, just some bread soaked in oil or super mushy potatoes, or anything really. Just got me thinking I really don’t know anything about maternal and child health… Any website articles are welcome. What can hurt a kid that age? How much is too much of something for babies? And popcorn definitely a bad idea right? (I didn’t feed the baby popcorn, I even tried to convince him he had no teeth to chew it… it didn’t work). 

But that will do it for now… hope everyone is enjoying my rollercoaster with me.