Teaching and Learning

Enjoying Peace Corps friends and doing my best to enjoy the small things.  This past week was a good week.  I started the week with my boss coming to my site to review my progress and to assess my site.  My boss, Rachid, told me that he was impressed with my progress thus far and was impressed that I have started teaching already.  It was good to hear that I am on track and doing better than what was expected of me.  I also got some ideas for projects in the future.  Just this past weekend I had a HIV/Aids training at my house, which was interesting.  Morocco does not, currently, have the same problems with Aids as the rest of Africa, yet.  However, the U.N. predicts that they are headed for an epidemic because of the culture here does not allow them to discuss such issues and they are unwilling to recognize that Aids even exists in Morocco.  This past week I asked my nurse if there was Aids in my village and he scoffed and told me that Morocco does not have these kinds of problems, Aids only exists in the West because our morals are all wrong.  I followed this response with asking if men in my site sleep with prostitutes and he said of course their are prostitutes in every village in Morocco, and most men sleep with them.  After sleeping with prostitutes these men will go home and sleep with their wives; most of these encounters are unprotected.  This is why Peace Corps is here to break through the stereo types and teach men and women about Aids and STDs.  

I am getting really excited to come home in December and cannot wait to see everyone.  Being so far away reminds me of how much I appreciate you all.

Love 

Emmy

Update

This past weekend I had a group of eight Peace Corps friends come to visit me and it was so great. We got to be American and dance the night away until four in the morning everynight. One night we even watched the sunrise over the beach, which ended up not being as beautiful as we hoped because the sunrises to the East, not over the ocean. It was great to see everyone, some of them I hadn't seen since training in Ouarzazate. Then I had four girls come to my house and that was a blast we watched the sex in the City movie, and realized how our lives are so different. While Sarah Jessica Parker is buying 800 dollar bags we are trying to figure out how often we need to shower to be presentable to the world. I have found that even after a week I only shower because in my past life it would have been unheard of to go this long without a shower.
This past week was a good one. The sbitar was really busy and I am starting to feel more comfortable there. I read my journal this week and realized how far I have come in the past nine months. The first week of homestay in my site I was pleading to God to help me get through the day and I needed pep talks just to leave my room. Now I leave my house without fear. I still am not as busy as I would like to be but that will come with time and toothbrushes. I want to do a toothbrush project with the primary school kids where I brush my teeth with one class everyday for three weeks. Then the kids can bring their toothbrushes home with the knowledge of how to use them. Sachel is doing a toothbrush drive at his wedding to make this possible.
Life gets better here everyday.
I love you all and miss you all
Emmy

Ramadan comes to an End

Now that Ramadan is coming to an end I am going to take a little time to explain to you what Ramadan is. Ramadan is the celebration of the Koran being revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. To celebrate this Muslims fast during the day light hours for an entire month. Just before the sun goes down everyone enters a state of complete chaos, everyone starts running to their houses and taxi drivers start driving like mad men. I have been in taxis many times when all of a sudden the taxi drivers realize that the sun is starting to set and begin to drive like nascar drivers. Once the sun sets everyone breaks fast; this consists of eating dates, cookies, and soup. Whenever I have broken fast with people they never drink water and that is all I want after a day of living in eighty degree weather. Fasting means no food or water all day long. The no food thing is not that hard but the no water thing drives people to insanity, me especially. I fasted the first day then got really sick and decided that I couldn't do it. But, then once I got better I decided to start fasting again, and it was hard. Yesterday was Laid which is the celebration of the ending of Ramadan. I was so happy that Ramadan has ended because now I can start carrying around a water bottle with me again. I also don't like getting up at four in the morning to eat real quick and then go back to bed.
I admire the devotion that Moroccoan's have for God, their devotion is part of their everyday lives not just a Sunday morning after thought. Once the sun goes down and people can eat again Ramadan is a very peaceful time of day. I really enjoyed standing on my balcony looking out at my town and watching everyone rush to the store to get last minute things, and then once the imam called out and it was time to break fast silence filled my entire town, it was very peaceful.
Life here in Morocco is getting a lot better I am starting to get used to the culture. I am no longer in a state of confusion all of the time. I know how to get around for the most part and understand when things don't work out as planned. My language is coming along slowly but surely. The loneliness and the lack of work has been the hardest things to get used to. I am getting more comfortable being alone most of the time. The work part is starting to pick up but will never be the same as life in America. I have started to force myself to enjoy this experience because I feel like it is one that will help guide me in the future so I want to learn as much as possible from it instead of wishing it away.
I love you all
Emmy
Mbark Laid (Happy Laid)