3/13/12

March 13! (On April 13 my mom will be here!!)

I couldn’t sleep till 9 a.m. my bed became uncomfortable and I had a dream that I ran into Ron and Jesse etc. in Chefchaouen, which is weird and VERY REAL in my head. I woke up at 8:30 and just hung out in bed (a favorite pastime of mine…) until a little before 9, when I started to make my bed. I have been wearing the same pants for the past two days, and theyre definitely not mine. S/O to Colby or Bri who left them at my house when u came to visit—miss that. They are now very well traveled, and I will return them in August. Anyway we had breakfast, which was not as delicious as before because we did not have any breakfast cake. It was this weird, and dense shortbread/cornbread that I have seen in Rabat, but have never eaten yet. Wehad a darija “class”- not sure why it was on day 3 our of 4 and not the first day. We had to write down as many Darija words as we knew, and then we had to make up skits based on the words we gathered. The skit were then to be performed in front of our families, but ours was so terrible that we somehow got out of that. Total summer camp activity. We selected two skits to perform (not mine). We played cards and then took another walk after the Darija session. We went back to the Danish car, and then Yousef- the protector- walked me home, holding back branches so I wouldn’t run into them. We went back for lunch, and our “sister” was worried again because I was the only one there again.

I was VERY hungry, and lunch was a little scary looking. It was totally unidentifiable besides some random fish, and eggs. One of my roommates ruined lunch for me by saying that there was liver of some sort in the concoction. After lunch I read a little and just reflected on my summer plans. Then it was time for the hafla (party). I put on my party clothes (my harem pants and a clean sweater). It was 3 pm, and was extremely hot. We only get one (big) bottle of water per day, and I drank the majority of it on the walk to the NGO. I was very hot and sweaty. The schedule says that we are supposed to walk to the NGO with our bags tomorrow morning. Upon arriving to the NGO I made it very clear to Fadoua that I would not be partaking in that walk. No way no how. She agreed, and said that the bus would go to the village (I knew I luved her). We sat and waited for the other SIT kids- they were VERY late. Rude. We asked the NGO “Joudour” some questions. I learned that Moroccan NGOs are 100% volunteers. All of the people working for them are doing it as a second job and are not getting paid. Not only are they not getting paid, they are usually using their own resources to support the cause. I assume that this falls under Zakat, one of the pillars of Islam that has to do with charity-giving. For big funds like rent of NGO buildings etc, these organizations often look to the government. This limits their activities, for example- Joudour would never have a “register to vote” table because civil society is not allowed to intervene with elections.

After the discussion we were supposed to “teach English” which was cool in theory, but definitely not in practice. They kind of just threw us into it and we buddied up. Three people were to teach one Moroccan woman whatever we watned to. Me, josh and Carolyn had two girls. One was pretty okay at English and the other really wasn’t. She got flustered a little so we slowed it down. I can totally relate to being flustered while speaking, and I felt really bad. I helped HER a lot. I am not sure if they learned anything, but it was good to interact. We all just chatted and PLAYED TWISTER before the hafla. I ended up talking to the head of the NGO who didn’t really speak English, but claimed to. I asked about internship opportunities and he was VERY enthuastic and assuring that he has work for me. He said that Ramadan wouldn’t be a problem and that summer doesn’t even start till July 29^th. Anyway he introduced me to the secretary and we spoke French/Arabic. Our conversation started with exchanging information and then she went thru every city in Morocco and told me something about it. I THEN was wisked away by another girl who also “spoke English” but she just took me in the kitchen to dance (?) – the HAFLA was starting (FINALLY). Being here changed my perspective on rural/urban issues. The real problems seem to be in the rural areas, so I might be re-considering my project. I spoke with Abdelhay and he said that me interning there would be good, but he was VERY adamant that it gets incredibly hot there during the summer. It was very very hot there during our stay (in March), so I told him that I believed him. He also said that Fairouz would be able to help, so I have to talk to her next week in Rabat.

I was STARVING because of the bad lunch. Shoutout to Kristen Wissmar for bringing me the luna bars! I ate one right after “lunch”. At the party I ate probably 10,000 ghreef (crepe things) with Nutella. It was hot and smelly inside the party- too many people moving around too much ("dancing"). They really under appreciate the outdoors. It was a MARVELOUS summer-like evening, but we were all inside sweating. Party def should have been outside, and I have to remember to suggest that to someone. We walked home AT DAWN (or is it dusk??)- very nice, and again very summer camp-y. Usual dinner—getting VERY tired of it, but that was my last village chicken tagine for a while. We chatted after dinner again, and then did the usual pre-bed routine. I slept like the littlest petit bébé in all of Morocco.