Painting at the Dar Chabab!

I finally got to do some sort of art today at my Dar Chabab! It has been difficult due to the construction that is STILL going on  (since January) and the lack of supplies is hard to, but the kids and my moudir got together and found some paint and paint-brushes and went to town making a mural of the city of Skoura on one of the walls outside the Dar Chabab. The kids had a blast and I was over the moon about being able to do something art related! Also this week I am starting my Art Club! along with other clubs like Youth Cafe, Journalism Club, and Activity Time (biking, sport, games, anything active) on top of my 6 hours a week of English. I have almost 16 hours a week of work! It is great, but i am getting so busy that having time to sleep and to even relax is becoming hard, BUT soon (June 2-6) the kids will have their exams and things will slow down for me and i will be able to get totally bored over the summer and I will be wanting to be busy again. I think the summer will be fine though, I have 3 months to get my lesson plans together for October, I will be working on the Art Resource Manual along with my PCV pal Lisa, and I will also be doing 4 weeks total of Summer Camps on the coast :) That should be fun! 

The issue I was having at my site are still somewhat present, but the issue is being controlled by people who are in a higher power of government position and have been helping me be able to do my job better here. We shall see how these next 6 weeks go. I think no matter what I will be in Skoura over the summer and after Ramadan. When October begins, we shall see how the issue is then and if it is still not the best situation for me, PC will just site change me to another city, but things at the moment seem to be playing out okay. Only time will tell, but I am not worried about it. 

Last weekend i went to Kalaa M'gouna with my site-mate April to meet up with the 5 other PCV's that live in this huge city just 55 Km. from my site. We hung out with another PCV who works with dagger makers in Kalaa. It was amazing to get a tour of where these men work and how they make such detailed dagger work. The history behind the daggers has a huge Jewish background here. When the Jewish people came to live in Kalaa they brought their dagger-making skills to the Moroccans of this site and from there the people of Kalaa have made it more Islamic in style and design. The patterning is more detailed and the dagger case is  curved instead of straight case shape.  April purchased a beautiful dagger for her boyfriend back home and both her and myself got a photo taken of the two of us hold the BIGGEST dagger i have ever seen. Two men from the Co-Op made that dagger together! awesome !