Typical....

I've never considered myself the super "peace corps"y type, (re: low maintenance hippie) but I think I might be...at least more so than I thought.

Evidence:

1. I just sharpened my eyeliner with a knife

2. Felt bugs in my bed last night. (didn't turn on the light to see what they were because I didn't want to know.) Solution? I wore long sleeve/pant pajamas.

3.Calculated my daily water usage based on "buckets" per day. (running water has worsened as the summer has progressed.)
- can successfully wash dishes and laundry with no running water... I mean, it's running at some point. It's all about timing and water storage.

4. And just between you and me, I haven't bought TP since May. (except for traveling).

I don't think cutting my own hair should count. Lots of people do that in the first world. Though I do know one guy who gave himself a pretty nice trim with his pocket knife.

Also, that fact that I'm still wearing eyeliner once in a while is proof that I'm not way over the hippie-edge. Although, I will admit I'm wearing it because I was told by my good friend, Radia, "THella fik!" or "Take care of yourself!"

The girls here really glam it out when they go out on the town. Now that it's Ramadan, evenings are popping. From about 10pm - 1am the streets are FULL. People are out wandering around to look at other people primarily and secondarily to buy a new outfit to wear on "L'Eid Sghrir" (meaning "small feast day." Actually called L'Eid Lftar, which means "Breakfast Feast Day").

Tonight, I'm going to go wander around the streets with my friend, Soumaya. So I'm trying to look my best, I guess. I was recently asked why the girls that are sent to my town as Peace Corps volunteers "don't dress as well as the Americans we see on T.V." I really didn't have a good answer because what I wanted to say was, "Well if you notice, the American girls on TV are perhaps showing a little calf/knee action and don't have their rear-end covered by long, baggy shirts." Instead I told her that I couldn't speak for the other volunteers that preceded me but that I wasn't very fashion conscious because it didn't really matter. We were not on the same page with that and she really didn't understand.

Oh well. I'm trying to meet their American expectations, while still dressing conservatively and avoiding using "kohl" (the THICK traditional eyeliner used by people all across Mid-East/North Africa for thousands of years) Here's a photo I found on the internet of a pretty standard bride in a Moroccan wedding. Check out that makeup!

Ramadan Packages!

Today is August 23rd. I have been fasting during daylight hours for 21 days now! And thank goodness Ramadan is almost over! Through this experience I have solidified that I am a morning person and that just does not suit Ramadan. In any case, one of the best things about this time is that people are even more welcoming than usual and I have daily invitations to break fast, or "lftor" with a family in my community. That is the main reason why I am fasting anyway. Sure, I could just eat and drink in my house, but then what fun would it be to break fast if I'd been eating all day? Plus, I wanted to experience it and be able to say I did it the whole month.

I doubt I will fully fast next year. From food? Probably. But not from water. It is well over 100 degrees here and there's over 15 hours of daylight. Next year Ramadan will begin in the middle of July. I have changed my schedule so I'm literally up all night, and rarely asleep before 6am (a full 1.5hrs after the call to prayer that begins the fast.) And I am generally not out of bed until 3pm.

Ok, ok, so maybe waking up at 3pm is kind of cheating but technically I am playing by the rules. I know for a fact that the teenage boys are not waking up before that either because they're outside my window playing soccer until they have to go home to eat SHHor at around 3am. The women/girls I've talked with who are not married/mothers also don't get up before 2 or so either.

Today! I roused myself at NOON! (which was difficult because there was a solitary fly in my room attempting to go up my nose until 8 IN THE MORNING)But I got up because I knew there would be a package waiting for me at the post office.

Surprise! There were TWO packages! One from the Peace Corps librarian and one from my mother. The PC librarian is my favorite staff member by far. Every so often, out of the blue, I'll get a package with some lesson plans, random magazines, and books that he thinks might interest me. It's such a sweet surprise. Recently he sent me the book "'Tis" by Frank McCourt; a sequel to "Angela's Ashes." I was talking about "Angela's Ashes" with my friend who said that it was one of his favorite books and I absolutely could not read the sequel without reading the first. I shot off an email to the librarian and today I found "Angela's Ashes" in my mail box!

Now for my mother's WONDERFUL package: It was so beautiful, I had to photograph it.(click to enlarge)

List of its precious contents:
- Socks and underwear! (So important! Hand washing really does a number on clothes.)
- SMU alumni magazine!
- Chewy Granola bars!
- Crystal light packets!
- A few issues of the local paper! (including comics, of course)
- EIGHT spools of dark colored thread! (as requested! Thank you mom and Charity!)
- High school graduation announcement of my God sister, Krista!
- My brother's new business card for his new job!
- Letter from a little girl we sponsor in Colombia!

And last but not least....

- A beautiful little note from my mother!

Thank you!!

Angela's Ashes is on the right side of the photo next to the envelop in which it arrived. I love that it just says "Seibel, Abby/ Dar Chebab" and it finds its way to my box.

I love everything here, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be Granola bars. So delicious and simple and not available here...plus they don't melt!

I want to do a post on the breakfast cuisine of Ramadan but I need to remember to take my camera along to my next lftor!

SUMMER CAMP!

I recently got back from a Summer Camp in El Jadida, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. This summer camp is sponsored by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and is an English Immersion Camp. This camp is generally for the more privileged kids in Morocco; it is very expensive and not far from Casablanca and Rabat. It is for high school kids ages 13-17.

Because it is supposed to be an English immersion camp, the ministry called on Peace Corps to provide access to native English speakers. In exchange for us volunteering as counselors, the ministry graciously provides each volunteer three scholarship spots to bring kids from our own towns/villages. This is a two-fold benefit: 1. two out of three of my scholarship kids, have never traveled outside our town, and none of them have gotten to go to a cool camp like this. I imagine this is true for almost all the kids brought by PCVolunteers. 2. The kids from the "big city" learn about their fellow countrymen who may come from towns and villages the Rabat/Casa kids have never heard of and live lives so different that it's difficult to imagine they're from they same country.

After the photos are a few stories of things I witnessed that made me laugh and warmed my heart.

These are the three kids I brought: Zakaria, Mehdi, and Hicham. (Don't worry, they're happy- it's just not customary to smile in photos)

I lead a Journalism club with 11 of the most advanced English speakers in the camp. At the end of the 10 day camp they had produced a newsletter and distributed a copy to every child at camp.

The U.S. Ambassador to Morocco and his wife, came and visited our camp one morning.

Brahim, the "gentle giant" referenced in the story below.

Miriam at the Supermarket: Erika and I are the only Youth Development PCVs in our province, so together we had six kids. Because our province is just about as far away as you can get from El Jadida, our six rode an overnight bus and were some of the first kids to arrive the first morning of camp. Erika and I decided that we had time to kill so we took them to the LaBel Vie supermarket to get some snacks. Not only was it probably their first time in a grocery story, but LaBel Vie is a really fancy store. Miriam, one of Erika's, took one look at the escalator we were about to get on and a look of “WHAT THE HECK IS THIS THING?!” flashed in her eyes. She didn't say a word, likely just to save face, but as soon as she stepped onto the escalator, she stumbled a little and then held on with two hands, nervously giggling the whole way down. The way back up we took the elevator. She didn't know where we were going when we stepped into this strange little room and pushed some buttons. She didn't seem to like when it moved because she didn't know what was happening but no word other than shock could describe the look on her face when the elevator doors opened and she was standing in front of a scene completely different from where we'd left. I felt like we were showing her the future.

Brahim and the Ocean: Brahim, dubbed as the “gentle giant” by the PCVolunteers who were at camp that session, is a participant that PCV Yusuf brought to camp with him. A luxury of the camp being in El Jadida is that the kids get to go to the beach everyday. Brahim, like most of the kids who were brought by PCVs, had never been to the ocean. The majority of them were scared of the water and almost none knew how to swim. Brahim, in particular, was adamant that the ocean water was unhealthy and would give you skin diseases. He refused to get in. At least on day one. Day two came along and somehow he had silently made the decision to “get in.” He stood there with his feet in the water and would go no further. Day three: Brahim jumped in the water, splashing and swimming in the waves with the rest of the kids! Every day after that you would never have been able to tell that Brahim had once been convinced that the ocean would make him, and everyone else, sick.

If I told you all the wonderful stories of minds being opened and friendships formed during camp, this blog would never end. Each volunteer could tell you stories of their own kids' transformations and joys from camp. I'll leave you with a picture of me and my friend Mohammed VI. I am looking forward to camp again next year and hopefully by then I'll be able to find some girls whose fathers will let them attend with me.