My Life is Cool!

Hello everyone, it has been along time since I have written you and I have decided I need to step up this blog thing. Recently, I was talking to my friend Chelsey Paulson and she simply asked me what I did today and I realized this would be a good blog. What did I do today…? Well today, I woke up and decided that I needed a day to just be with Emmy and chill. I have been reading a book by Jon Krakauer called Under the Banner of Heaven; this book is about Mormon extremists, who believe polygamy is a necessity. I have realized religion in general uses many excuses to get masses of people to believe that it is Gods will to do crazy things. Anyways, I spent my day reading this book. I went to the store to get food for the day, which I have to meticulously time because the store I go to, only is open certain times of the day, never being the same times of day. I bought eggs, two candy bars, a coke, and toothpaste. Then I went to another store to get my bread to either make eggs on toast, a regular for me, or to make peanut butter and jelly toast.
Once I got home I settled into another couple of hours of committed reading. I know it seems like I am being lazy over here in Morocco but sometimes we all just need these days. I have the most amazing job where I am allowed to do this anytime. Something I have realized is that us Moroccans definitely rest more but our lives are more strenuous when it comes to everyday living. Every other day I haul water with a wheelbarrow and this takes me about an hour. I use drastically less water here in Morocco than I do when I am in America. If Americans had to haul their own water for their daily use we could never work forty hours a week. I think we would also have fewer children because you also have to haul water for everyone in your family. Most people in my village have running water but it is inconsistent, when the water is out they haul water on the backs of donkeys, I am the only one that uses a wheelbarrow. My water comes to me through a machine that makes this horrible noise while it is extracting water, so I have chosen to haul my own water because it is good exercise and it forces me out of my house.
Back to my day, around seven at night it finally cooled off enough for me to go for a run. I have never been a runner but have taken on the activity since I have come to Morocco. I love it because I release so much energy and it is a time for me to get my mind straight. I also get to surprise Moroccans. Nobody exercises here because everyday life for them is a workout; when I am running everyone gives me looks of curiosity and confusion. I run around the same time I tend to see the same people now and I have created a team of cheerleaders. People ask me in the taxi if I am going to run today and I have had many people ask me why would I ever want to do something like run. A year ago I would have been asking the same question. I love my runs because I get to see people herding sheep, today I passed a tractor, and I got to say hi to the grounds keeper at the primary school, he is one of my cheerleaders.
After my run I took a bucket bath, which entails me heating up water, that I hauled yesterday, then I sit in my shower room and bathe, there isn’t much to it but not something we do in America. My life here is very simple and I am definetly going back to the basics of living, even though I have a computer, Bose radio, I pod, and DVD player. I still feel like I am roughing it. I love my house I am constantly outside. There is a huge courtyard in the middle of my house so when it rains or the sunshine’s it is in my house. I will miss being able to just look up and see the stars at night. I am very grateful for this experience to live like most of the world lives. Even though my house is much nicer than any of the other Moroccans in my village I am for the most part living they way they do.
Yesterday, I taught the girls at my neddy how to crochet. They are very slow learners but I kept my cool. By the end of the three-hour class they all had it down, some better than others. We will see tomorrow what kinds of messes they have created. My neddy has basically shut down because it is summer and it is hot but I retaining a couple of girls that come a couple times a week. I have been using this down time to start working on my curriculum for teaching health lessons in the fall, after Ramadan. I also am spending more time with my host family, eating with them and we also are working on the wheat harvest, and we crack argon nuts together. I feel like a factory worker when I help them because the work is so tedious, but now I know that being a factory worker is boring.
I am trying to carpe diem everyday and have a great next ten months. This experience is not forever and I will probably never live my life like this again. I will miss eating with adults on the floor, I will miss my two host sisters, I will miss my alone time, I will miss the slow lifestyle here, I will miss my taxi drivers, I will miss hauling water and doing laundry by hand. For right now I am going to try to appreciate everyday that I have left here and learn everything that I can.
I miss you all tremendously and love you
Love
Emmy