Democratic Price

This is my favorite line that I hear when I go to Essaouira. Men will sit outside there shops or restaraunts ans try to get you to come inside using the slogan I will give you a democratic price, good democratic price. What does that mean that we will sit down at the table and then take a vote on what the price should be? The waiter will always lose unless you eat alone then you will tie and then what happens to the democratic price? As a political science major I love this because it makes absolutely no sense. Moroccan men also like to call me a chicken, it is one of there pick up lines but not quit sure what to think of someone saying hey chicken how are you doing. If anything it does always bring a smile to my face.

I have been battling sicknesses of all sorts this past week. On Saturday I was supposed to go to Essaouira for the night but couldnt make it because I was hanging out in the bit l ma - bathroom. My family was really nice to me though they made me food that was easy to digest, which I ate even though that is the last thing I felt like doing. I just wanted to be left alone but my family just didnt understand, for the most part they were understanding. Now today I feel like I am getting a cold. I know my Dad would tell me to buck up and deal with it and for the most part I am. I am just worried because my entire family has this cold that when they cough I am sure that they have the black plague. But if Airbourne is all it is cracked up to be it can ward off the plague, I dont know if they tested this drug for such illnesses.

On Friday I am going to a music Festival in Essaouira and it should be a really good time. My next blog will tell you all about it. I am really excited!!!

It is hot here. Everyone go out and enjoy the lakes for me. I miss them incredibly but I am here saving the world :]

Love you
Emmy

Livin

So I ate rabbit again last night, because I keep going to my friend Amys and her family only eats rabbit. It tastes so bad, exactly like burnt hair. I am working really hard on eating vegetables because I know that it is important atleast that is what everyone has been telling me my entire life. My goal is to eat a salad at the end of two years and maybe enjoy these salad things. I have decided I will never love goat brains or rabbit.

I went and looked at my new apartment and it is amazing. There is a western toilet, a shower, and the kitchen has a stove. These amenities may all seem like an expected for you but they are a luxury here in Morocco and all of my friends want to kill me. I have a really nice roof area too. I have decided that I am one of the most lucky peace corps volunteers in my group because I was given the best province by the beach and I will be living in style. I might even make it on Cribs Morocco. When my host dad showed me the place it kept telling him I am so happy and he responded with the phrase boom chicka wow wow. There is this comercial on NBC 2 which is an english movie channel and they say boom chicka wow wow and he has no idea what it means and I dont have the tashlheet to explain to him that it is a sexual slang, which is totally nerdy, nobody actually says that; it was funny.

So now that I have a light at the end of the tunnel knowing that I have a place to stay I am feeling a lot better about this peace corps thing. I taught my first english class at the neddy yesterday and it went really well. I felt like Laura Engles because I was teaching in a small room and everyone was packed into this room and all the girls were really excited about learning english. It was a successful lesson, which I was really nervous about.

Another interesting fact about my life that I have been meaning to discuss with you all is I have a problem with dead puppies in my village. Every week on my walk home a new puppy has taken the plunge to doggie heaven. A couple of them were killed by their mom I think and the others have been run over. Today I saw one of the puppies was walking around with a bloody stump for a leg, who knows how that happened.

Life is good here in Morocco, for the most part. This is the hardest adventure I have ever participated in and I know if I survive these next two years I will be a better person for it. bled Morocco is completely different from America.

I love you all and keep me in your prayers,
Emmy

Keepin on

I have noticed a drop in comments on my wall which means you are all getting as bored of me as I am. So I will try to spice things up a little and tell you about the culture here instead of my drab life.

Have you heard that Moroccans have found the cure to cancer in ants. If you eat ants and have cancer you it will go away. Also if you eat watermelon seeds and have a head ach you will be cured. Or if you rub olive oil on an aching back your achs and pains will deminish. All of these home remedies I have been told by Moroccans. It is worth a try. Mom you can start an ant colony over the summer and cure cancer!

There are many cultural differences here in Morocco to start with today on my way into Essaouira I road in a cab with sixteen other people and no we were in a car not a mini van. These cab rides are always interesting because four people will be sitting up front and one person will control the pedals; another controls the gears and the taxi driver has the steering wheel. I am surprisingly getting used to it and have come to expect having a limbs wrapped all around me when I enter these cabs. And Moroccans from the bled are not known for smelling like roses.

Yesterday I ate rabbit which tasted like burnt hair. It was horrible I am still shaking the taste from my memory.

Everyday is still a struggle and an accomplishment. For example I started yesterday totally bummed for no particular reason but I always battle the question of what have I gotten myself into. But then I taught my English class at the middle school to the teachers and had three successful conversations and ended the day on a great note. Today I am in Essaouira and enjoying every second. I will return to my house tonight and start the battle of survival again. I know I came here to become tougher and that is being done. I always forget that growing does not mean you can sit in your house and watch tv to get there. I guess you have to live life and struggle in order to grow. CSI Miami sitting on the couch just doesnt create that change I am looking for as much as I hate to admit that. I am in the process of becomming comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Homestay is going ok I have 49 more days to go and definitely counting every second. My host family is great but it is like living with any family without the love you receive from your real family. Oh yeah and a common language. But everyday gets better we are learning how to understand each other because I am sure that I am just as annoying and weird to them as they are to me.

I have been drinking my share of mint tea and at the end of everyday I have cakes of sugar hanging out on my teeth. If you think Moutain Dew contains a lot of sugar here it would be considered a diet beverage.

Keep on Keepin on
Lifes a garden
dig it

That is what I am doing keepin on, the best way I know how.

I love you all,
Emmy
Enjoy the Summer for me!

I am teaching three english classes a week, two at the neddy and