Moving In!

Well hello everyone! Life has been very busy for me these past few months with teaching 4 different levels of English in Skoura’s Dar Chabab (Beginner, Intermediate, BAC, and Adult beginner) and also doing a 3 hours sport and movie night, things have been crazy but totally enjoyable. My DC is actually under construction at the moment and will be like this until the summer I believe. That is one of the many things in Morocco that you do not have an official end date or month. They told me a couple months so that means in Moroccan time 4 months. I just now officially moved into my own apartment in Skoura, painted it, and have actually been cooking meals for myself using only a stovetop and a gas tank. Using a gas tank to cook is not the safest thing on earth to use, but if you know what you are doing and it is a good tank, there are no issues.
I will hopefully be heading off to Greece in March to see my friend and fellow Art History nerd Amber O in Athens for a few days to take in some Greek culture and enjoy the days off that I have earned these past 5 months. I have earned 6 days so far and when I return from Athens in March I will have 0 until April. Totally worth using up my days to see good friends and some good art FINALLY! I mean I love the art and culture in Morocco, but now Morocco is home and I am ready to leave home and have an adventure IF anyone has any suggestions on where I should go and what I should do in Athens please write me! I will love any tips.
I am not sure but I MIGHT in the next couple of months be getting WIFI at my house. It would be great to have it here and be in contact more with everyone back home. Also it would be nice to actually get online past 8 pm because after 7 or 8pm here in Skoura it is not the best of ideas to walk alone to and from the cyber in town. Safety and also most things close by 8 anyways around here.
I have been hearing that the weather back home in Michigan and across the East coast has been insane! Snowing for days and just recently a 3inch ice storm! Wow! I mean it is cold here but nothing like back home. My host family tells me that it should be warming up to the 60 or 70s by march which would be great, but once May hits down here it is going to be so hot you will not want to move and take cold showers at 3am just to cool down. EK. We will see how my living in humidity-engulfed Michigan will either help or hurt me in dealing with the heat here. This might sound kind of great here the weather and all, but honestly I miss the housing architecture from the states where there is actual instillation in the walls! Here there is nothing by concrete and mud huts. Mud huts are much better but kind of crumble after a couple decades. Concrete housing is REALLY good at trapping in the cold in the winter and absorbing the heat in the summer. For example, my salon is actually really cold right now. My fingers are cold and I have a heater going, but when I walk outside to my terrace it is very warm and I feel like I can take off my jacket. I am just trying to imagine the summer months and living in this apartment.
I just want to send out a HUGE thank you to everyone that has been sending me mail these past couple months. I just got a couple of letters from my mother’s friends at church, my writing pen pal Amber O, and my favorite teacher and friend Dr. Eberly. Thanks again. Those letters always make my week here Skoura better. I already am starting a wall up in one of my salons of the cards and letters I am getting so I can look up at them when I am having a not so great day and remember that I am getting some international love from back home
Well I am off to teach and unpack. I hope everyone is doing well back home, keeping warm. I am thinking of you all and hope to hear from you soon.
Hugs,
Hillary Lynn