Sustainable Development Presentaion

Last weekend two of my BAC students and myself put together a power point presentation and open discussion at the local library about sustainable development internationally and locally. There were speakers from different associations, the BAC students spoke English very well, and I even had a few minutes to talk about Peace Corps, my job, and how the local communi

ty could help with sustainability within Skoura, itself. We had a wonderful turn out and what was even more impressive was that the whole presentation was in English. I was very proud of my BAC students. It was refreshing to be able to meet new people from associations I have never heard of in my site, and now I have more places to go and volunteer at!

Now I am heading to Spring camp in Missour! I am so excited to travel and meet new students and

hang out with some old PCV pals of mine that I have not seen in months! until next blog, Baslama.

<-- I am the one with the green hat:)

The British Are Coming!!!

The British came to Skoura High School for a random last minute cross cultural morning presentation with the first and second year BAC students in my site. There were about 20 British students and teachers that came to the high school to participate in some cross cultural activities and English speaking.

The BAC students prepared two presentations; one on the city of Skoura, and the second on the Moroccan educational system, all in English. The British group that visited us was part of a Geography Class, so the information that was given to them by the BAC students was helpful for the visiting students.

After the presentations we then showed the British students and teachers the high school grounds, showed them the English classrooms, and ended the morning with tea and one last cross cultural activity. At the end of the morning activities both Moroccan and British students were exchanging emails so they could keep in touch.

It was just a short morning meeting with those students from East London, but it has left a lasting impact and possible new friendships formed here in Skoura.

I was so proud of the BAC students for using their English, interacting with the visiting students, and being open and very friendly towards them. I could see all of them enjoying their conversations and the new friendships they were forming.

Rain in Skoura = Leaking Roof

Well Since early this morning I have been stuck inside my house to escape the on going rain fall hitting my site today. I was woken up by dripping noises and then it hit me, a HUGE drop of water from my ceiling got me on my left eye waking me up at 5:00 in the morning. I turned on my bedroom light to find my who bedroom ceiling soaked and around the wall edges water dripping onto my books, clothes, picture, and bed. I went to check out the rest of my house to find every room, except the kitchen, to be dripping a lot of rain water and paint peeling from the ceiling due to the rain and pieces were coming off with the water.

After I figured out how many spots were dripping, I went into my kitchen and took all my pots and pans out and did "Oliver Twist" style collecting of all the water falling from my ceiling. It took about a half hour to get enough pans, pots, and old clothes to collect the water, but it worked. I woke up later to still find it raining, and as I write this blog I can still hear the rain hitting my door, roof, and windows at nine at night.

During the day when I had a moment during downpour periods, I went outside to see the damage. There were rivers everywhere! Living in the south where it NEVER rains and to get the most that I have ever seen these 16 months I have been here in just one day, there were a lot of new rivers popping up due to not enough top soil around here to deal with this much rain. Even though it was depressing and raining all day, the small moments I had to go outside and look around from my roof top area was beautiful when looking at the High Atlas Mountains. They looked like they were almost totally covered in snow! It was an amazing site to see. The clouds were moving fast and were so saturated with rain water that the clouds did a wonderful contrast between the bright color of the white snow on the mountains to the dark clouds moving around, above, and in-between the peaks. I tried to stay as long as I could to take in that memorable view, but sadly the downpours were too consistant for me to stay longer than five minutes outside.

Though it was a very LONG and boring day; in a way it was the most relaxed and content I have felt since arriving back to Skoura from America. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and that it will be nice enough to go outside for a walk or something. I hope my site-mate is dealing with all the rain in her mud house! I was planning on visiting her today, but with the rain and the 3 river-beds (that are usually dry all year) now filled with water up to my knees from what the locals were saying; I sadly could not venture out her way. Maybe tomorrow? Inch Allah.

The photo in this blog is what happens when it rains down south , even if just for a half hour at times.

**Image from: http://www.globosapiens.net/data/gallery/mo/pictures_468/morocco--taroudannt--71372.jpg ***

I Am Back, Morocco :)

I have finally made it back home to my cold concrete house in Skoura and I could not be happier! I enjoyed my time back in Michigan, and am glad that my medical issues have been figured out, but I will admit I had an overwhelming feeling of being home when I got off the plane from JFK and walked onto Moroccan soil. Seeing other PCV's and staff was also a nice way to ease into things back here as well. The train ride down to Kech and the bus to Ozt were not that much fun, but traveling in Morocco is never really a blast when it takes 12 hours to get home. I got in on Monday morning, went to souq, had lunch with my host family who were really happy to see me (my host mom would not stop hugging me),and hung out with my site-mate the rest of the night and watched "I Love You, Man."

I am excited to see what will happen here in Skoura these last 9 months I have of Peace Corps service. Coming back from my medical hold has given me a fresh look at things and I hope I can do some more positive things in my site before I head out on November 12, 2010. It is official! My staj got our COS (close of service) date! Super Excited!

I have been talking to the teachers in the site and they have some great ideas on clubs/classes at the Dar Chabab and I can not wait to see what will be going on once the kids, teachers, and myself make up a schedule for the next two months.

It is crazy how fast time has flown by. I have been in Peace Corps, Morocco for almost 16 months and the next 9 months go as listed:

Late March into early April - spring camp.

April through May- BAC study time.

June- BAC exam and summer break! Also summer camps begin.

July through August- summer camps.

September through October- slowing down class hours to prepare for departure.

November 12, 2010- COSing, Inch Allah.

There are some other things through out those 9 months that are not listed BUT I am just excited to see it written out and how much I have to look forward to before I am done. I hope to go on one more vacation in June or early July to Croatia to see family :) but still things are up in the air.

Well off to clean up my apartment and air it out as well. While I was gone a HUGE rain storm that lasted two days went through my site, which is really really rare, and I have a lot of cleaning up to do. At least the water did not flood my house out this time! Even though I live on the roof does not mean that I am safe from flooding.

(image from http://www.greece-map.net/africa/maps/morocco-map.gif)

Medical Hold! WhAt?!

Well I was packed up and ready to hit the road to Chicago on the 8th of January, but Peace Corps Washington D.C. called me up and said "wait!" Come to find out that whatever my dentist sent Peace Corps D.C. was what stopped me from leaving to back to Morocco. I will not get into details other than I need to get a crown (finally after 6 + months of waiting) but there might be more issues beyond that. We shall see how these next couple weeks pan out for me in the dental world. Cross your fingers for me because dentist and I do not mix well.. ek.

I hope that my host family knows that I will be back, along with my landlord. It would be bad to come back to my house to see it rented out to another person..hah. I am already missing my site and my kids, along with my good friends in Skoura . I will stay positive that things will work out. I mean it is another week or two with my family, friends, and when I return to my site, I will have one new awesome crowned tooth !

image can be found at this site :http://www.trcabc.com/resources/kids-corner/preventing-childhood-tooth-decay/

'Tis The Season In Michigan!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL! I have been state-side for the past couple weeks celebrating Christmas with the family, New Years with my good friends up in Grand Rapids, and doing some doctor appointments and chilling at my family's house before hitting the road again to Morocco where I officially have 10 months left before I am done! crazy how time is flying by! One minute I am freaking the crap out of my parents at 1:00 am surprising them with coming home for the holidays, then I am up in Grand Rapids brining in the new year with old friends, and now I am two days away from flying to London to get back to Marrakech, Morocco.

I got to catch up with all my relatives, have lunch with

grandpa :) and buy some supplies that I know are not in Morocco.

I spent about 6 days in Grand Rapids seeing old college friends, professors, ex co-workers, and good pals while celebrating New Years Eve, one awesome drag show performance, and a memorable Billy's 80's Night there. It was refreshing to catch up and see how life is going for my friends back in Grand Rapids. Now that it is almost time to go back to Skoura I am sad and happy at the same time. I am sad because I do miss my family and friends and also living in a house with central heating, and having toilet paper in every bathroom I enter has been amazing. I feel spoiled. I am also very happy to come back because I miss my friends back in my site, fellow PCV's in Morocco, my kids, and I really want to finish up my last 10 months left in country! I am over the hump! There is a light at the end of this PC tunnel and I can finally see it. Do not get me wrong, I have LOVED my time here in Morocco and can not wait to see what these last 10 months will bring, but I am ready for the next chapter of my life to begin once I COS in November :) Inchallah.

I just wanted to end this post by saying THANK YOU to my parents for housing me, to my friends up in Grand Rapids for chilling, and special thanks to my sister, Monika. If it was not for her, I would not of been able to make it home and see all of you. She is one of the most beautiful, amazing, strong women I have ever met in my life, and I am proud to call her my sister:) LOVE YOU!

Presidential Plates

My week here in Rabat has been a memorable one. Being able to eat non-Moroccan food, hanging out with other PCVs that I have not seen since summer camp, and getting my teeth cleaned for the first time in 16 months has been amazing, but what happened last night topped all of this. Last night all the PCVs in my staj got as dressed up as a PCV could get and had dinner at the American Ambassador to Morocco's house in Rabat for some delicious soup and open bar : ) We got to eat off of Presidential seal plates and ate REAL cheese and Christmas tree shaped sugar cookies! It was wonderful. Once most of us were done stuffing our faces in free yummy food, a group of us went to the Rabat Theatre where we got to watch the Rabat Symphony do Beethoven's 1st through 5th symphony. I was moved by hearing those movements. It was almost overwhelming being in that theatre and listening to the master works of Beethoven's genius. To add to the music the ticket only cost 50 Dirham, which equal about 7.00 USD. Not a bad deal, right:)

It has been a wonderful past 6 days here and hearing such support from my programing staff , and the kind words the Ambassador said to us last night has given me even more positive energy to go back to my site and keep working with my kids and my community in any way I can. I can not put into words what I have experienced here these past 15 months so you all will truly understand what I have done and have been through; it is something that I hope everyone can experience in their own way, OR through joining Peace Corps. This has really become the hardest job that I will ever love.

Water From Sand

I just returned from a meeting with my programing manager and assistant manager to talk about the progress of my work these past 15 months and all the drama and hard events that I have had to deal with at my site that involve my moudir and my programing manager told me "Hillary, you have made water from sand." That was a HUGE compliment! He said that all the personal issues that I have been through at my site with my moudir and all the negative energy that was coming from that man towards me never stopped me from giving up and ultimately I motivated my kids enough that they took control of their Dar Chabab and stood up for themselves against the moudir who was not being very kind towards them as well. The kids finally have their building back and have more of a say in what happens there, and the teachers are allowed in to help me and the kids now. Hearing all of this from my programing staff hit me out of nowhere. They told me that I have only been here 15 months and I have already hit my objective and I still have so much more time to grow from that into other things.

I was not expecting such a pat on the back; it still has not settled in yet all of this, but I left that meeting with the biggest smile on my face. I feel like I am doing something beyond what I ever thought I could of done for my kids and my community in Skoura just by helping them find their voice, and I still have 11 more months to go! I can not wait to see what else I can do and what my kids will do. Today I realized how much I love my job here. Thanks A-Team for making me realize how strong of a person I am and how much I have done and am going to be doing while I am here.