Overdue Post

Okay. Okay. I’ve been slacking on my blog posts. The end of February and beginning of March brought a lot of rain and with it came a ton of power outages. I was lucky enough that my water worked the entire time.

One of the associations that works with my dar chebab has been busy hosting all kinds of events since my last blog. There was a huge party for International Women’s Day (March 12…only a few days late). Some of the older youth I know helped my director plan it and it was a huge success. All the women from the Arabic class came and brought cake (there was a lot of cake). My director borrowed a tent so we could hold the event outside, they set up a stage and the older youth preformed skits about women and women's roles and how it was important for women to study. Then the music group preformed.

The association brought doctors from Fes to the Dar Chebab March 25 and 26 to check eyesight, blood pressure, and blood sugar. A lot of the villagers in my town showed up and were checked free of charge. About 150 people showed up each day. Town officials also came including the caid (one of the highest government appointed officials). I along with the doctors and association members were invited to lunch with the caid at the Dar Talib (student dorms).

The next day I left for Spring Camp in Marrakech. Spring Camp was a weeklong English Immersion Camp in over 22 cities. Our camp had 76 kids, 6 PCVs and Moroccan staff. I taught English for 2 hours every morning, then was in charge of Dance Club for 2 hours in the afternoon. It was hard work but a lot of fun. There was 2 talent shows during the week and during each a group did something I taught them. In the first, 3 girls from my beginner English class sang Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and in the second 3 girls (with me) danced Cotton-Eye Joe.

After Spring Camp, we met up with other volunteers in El Jadida for a night then went down to Essaouira for Sunday and Monday. Standing at the taxi stand in El Jadida I ran into my Dar Chebab Director, who was thrilled at the chance to meet a bunch of other volunteers. He helped us negotiate with the taxi drivers who were giving us a hard time. Essaouira was a beautiful city, we played soccer on the beach (some swam), ate ice-cream, and watched the sunset over the ocean. Sunday we even had a little Easter celebration. Donnielle bought 28 eggs, boiled them, then hid them around our enormous beach house. Half of us took part in the first egg hunt, then re-hid them for the next group (the prize…a bed to yourself). Then of course we ate the eggs for breakfast the next morning, Donnielle made awesome egg salad sandwiches. It was a relaxing end to the week.

Last Saturday I went to buy bread and ran into a French tourist at my bread stand. My bread guy looks at me, wanting me to help translate, the guy knew no Arabic and took bread from the “display not for eating.” My lack of French abilities stunned the tourist who was confused when I also started speaking Arabic. In the end, the guy got his bread and the bread guy and I shared a laugh over it. I actually felt successful, not being the one doing something wrong and able to share a laugh with a local over someone else’s mistake.