I was told by someone that my last blog showed signs I was becoming petulant. Well I assure you I am doing just fine and am in great spirits. I even got up this morning at 6:30 to run with two of my friends despite how freezing and muddy it is. (I can't wait to move to the Sahara! Two weeks!) Living with a family just gets old after a while. I'm sure it's like that with everyone.
The king came to our training city this week! This was a big deal for the town. Apparently, once a year, the king takes a month or two to travel around the country visiting different cities, and this year it was our turn. They were cleaning the city for probably a week prior-- cleaning all the litter up (or sweeping it over a ledge, out of site, in some places.) , painting the curbs, and hanging Moroccan flags on EVERYTHING. They even passed out pictures of his portrait. So this week we got a glimpse of the king! I saw the king! The first day he was here, we had Arabic school so we missed him. All the Moroccan schools here were closed and lots of stores and businesses so that everybody could watch and wave at the king. I was so sad because I thought we weren't going to get to see him. But the next day, yesterday, he was driving around town and I happened to be in the right crowded area at the right time and I saw him! It was mostly just his arm waving out the window of a car, but it was definitely him. So that was pretty cool!
A recourse of the king coming is that there are huge celebrations out on the street. It looks a lot like Christmas over here! They've hung lights on all buildings and the Moroccan flag is red and green so everything around us is red and green, plus everybody is walking around happily with their families. Tonight there was a concert in the garden full of Moroccan bands singing and playing traditional songs.
Because the king is here, security is very high, of course. Earlier today, Xavier, one of my Peace Corps training site mates, was wandering around and a plain-clothed security officer went by. He knew it was an undercover cop because he had a walkie-talkie under his clothes and the volume was up and it went off. Apparently he didn't know his walkie-talkie was live and he tried to muffle it right away. Real smooth. So I had this on my mind when I went to the gardens this evening with my sisters to enjoy the music. I wasn't consciously thinking of looking for secret police, but they were all over the place and nobody else seemed to notice! I'm already hypersensitive because I'm a foreigner, so I look different and I feel different and it is obvious that I AM different. So me being somebody "odd," I can spot other odd people in a crowd. And this includes secret police, apparently. Most people who walk by are with friends, walking with a purpose and looking straight ahead. The first undercover police officer I saw, I knew immediately because he was walking, seemingly with purpose, but very slowly and with shifty eyes. I took one look at his weird baggy turtle neck and jeans and I said to myself with certainty "that is a cop." and so as I followed him with my eyes and he passed me, I saw a black ear piece in his ear with a wire running into his shirt, so it was confirmed. I was watching him closely though and he definitely noticed and seemed bothered by my staring, and so when he passed us he stood about ten feet behind us. I know I should take it seriously because he has a serious job to do, but I was almost laughing because of how much he did not blend in. Our plain-clothed loss-prevention employees at the Gap did a better job blending in as customers than this guy did. So then my host sisters and I start wandering and this fellow starts following us from a distance. But again, it was very obvious he was following us. (Plus, I kept glancing back) So once we reached a certain part of the garden he stopped following us. Then we sat on a bench and within seconds another awkward guy with a low baseball cap (nobody is wearing baseball caps.) starts walking towards us slowly, and with shifty eyes. He passes us and then stops and stays a couple yards back. By this point, I decided that as amateur of an "undercover" operation this seemed to be, I should take them seriously, and I stopped staring. But still, one weirdo can always spot another weirdo in the crowd, I suppose.
All the weirdos came out last night Some strange lady approached me and started grilling me about where I was from. She started friendly enough and told me that she worked for a while picking strawberries in Spain. Then she started telling me I should have my head covered because it's cold...then that leapt to Haram in America. (Haram is like "sinful" according to the Koran) She said things like that America is nothing but Haram and that I like to drink and smoke and wear short sleeves and so does everybody else. None of it was in question form- it was all statement after statement of what many haram things I do. (I do enjoy short sleeves...) Eventually I just tuned out and stopped understanding, mostly on purpose, but my sisters stepped in and did a good job of defending me.
I guess you meet crazies everywhere you go!
All is well. About one week until L'Eid Kbir, the biggest holiday in Morocco (like Christmas for us!) and that should be really fun, and then in two weeks I'll be done with training and officially become sworn in by the ambassador as a Peace Corps Volunteer! Yay! That's on Nov. 24th, and should be awesome.
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