Merry Christmas

Okay, so it’s pretty pathetic that it’s taken me until my Christmas vacation to finally write an entry.  But I’ve finally found myself a little bit of time and well, I’m going to take advantage of it as much as I can.

I find myself in a tranquil state- with a tall beer in hand and just have gotten out of the bath. Oh yes, Germany has it all folks. To be honest, I don’t really remember where I left off. So I guess I can start from my most recent events.

I apologize for taking so long- however, I have been insanely busy. In the beginning of November, I decided to change my site (not a much change, as move 30 minutes down the road). The change itself, has been, such a good thing for me. I have a site mate, actual work, and a very welcoming community; I’m actually the 9th volunteer in this town, so they are very familiar with volunteers, what they’re there for and how it works.

My new house!!!

A beautiful wood burning stove and wall of cards!

Along with the move, I had a trip to Spain right before Thanksgiving, Barcelona actually. Which was absolutely amazing. I think that one of the greatest opportunities that I have here is the ability to travel. While I am trying to do my best and help out the country that I’m living in, there’s no reason to take advantage of it’s location and the great deals on plane tickets sometimes.

TAPAS!!

So after my trip to Spain, and after a temper tantrum about coming back to Morocco, my better half and myself went to see some friends for Thanksgiving. And oh, how glorious it was. We had deep fried turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, and whole array of different sides. And while there was none of my Grandma’s broccoli casserole, it still hit the spot and was absolutely amazing.

After Thanksgiving, things got even more hectic. I and my site mate, were holding a Maternal and Child Health Care workshop in our community. So, with that in mind, we needed to go out and recruit about 25 women from the outlining dwwars. The entire process went exceptionally well, except for me, after biking about 25k and not having a nice hot shower- I ended up with a sweet cold. But it was definitely worth it. Every time we stopped to ask a women if she was interested into coming to the training- we would be invited for tea, for lunch, for any sort of hospitality they could offer. Which was great, but there was only so many times we could stop, drink tea, eat bread, and then set off biking again. 

The training that we conducted was with about 25 women, and we went over topics such as female anatomy, pregnancy (problems with this), pre-natal care, hygiene, and a few other things. Which both my site mate and I had actually done a month or two before, so we were a little familiar with what to do.

Beber women from my area in their traditional dress

warming in the sun during our break...

Doing a demonstration on how germs spread... yes, that's me on the far left!

Needless to say, everything went off without a hitch. It was a great workshop, the women were quite receptive and it all ran very well.

So after all this, I had about two days to get myself together, because I had to go up to Rabat for a meeting with USAID for the huge water project that I’m working on- which is putting running water in all the houses in my community (including my own!!). While that was overwhelming and intimidating, I think that this project will be very good and I look forward to working on it- and hopefully it’ll all work out and actually go through.

Alright, so what happened after that... oh yes! Then, I had to haul my behind to a SIDA training. Here, SIDA is the acronym for AIDS. So I went and helped out a friend and sat in on this teaching of teachers training for SIDA. All in all it went quite well and it was a nice send off. Because after this, I had to go back up to Rabat for two days, to get a flu shot. That’s right, Peace Corps paid for me to go all the way up to Rabat for a flu shot. But hey, I’m not complaining. I got to spend my birthday in a nice hotel, with great food, and a had chance to see Rabat for the first time. 

So after Rabat, I mentally checked out. I officially was on vacation. And now, now I’m in Germany for Christmas and nothing could be better. Well, that’s a lie- I could be with family, I could be with friends. But this Christmas I’m spending it was new family, with new friends, in a new place. And while a part of me is crying like a little child because I don’t get to be with my family on Christmas- I’m trying to be a grown up (which is SO hard!!!) and appreciate what I have here, around me. And I do, and I am so happy to be welcomed into such a great family which such great traditions. I am very blessed and very thankful this Christmas. And Mom, as much as I love you and wish I could be there- I am in very, VERY, good hands.

And while the beer & wine keeps flowing, the chocolates & cookies keep getting handed to me, the pretzels are infinite, and the company is so comforting, a part of me is hysterical- because I realize here and there that I will have to return to my real life- or should I say surreal life.

And I do promise to be better with writing and keeping you all updated. You’d think that since I don’t have internet in my house I’d have plenty of time, but you’d think wrong.