Tauma Visit with Friends and the Realization of Cultures

Carmos, prickly pear

Rural village in Tauama

Hanna leaving Peace Corps after 2 years

Ram for L3id

Dried desert mud

Mosque 

My new earring creation

Peace Corp friends Mark and Jennifer

On our hike

Cemetery  
              

Grazing sheep

Breezy and pleasant weather                

Sahara turtle

Halloween mask made of recycled                                                                                                                                                                  materials, milk container, paper and feathers.

(Library) school supply store   

Laundry day in the bled

Artful shot at neighbors house

Families sheep for L3id Kbir

A morning with the children

Trash problem in douar

Sun sets from village

Moroccan crepes       

Looks just like Dizzy kitty

Moroccan cranes

Washing the rugs

Catching a chicken

Family chicken

             

Posing on families roof              

In a continuing effort of gratefulness, I remind myself that it is all the little things such as having running water which is good. I am grateful that I have a hot water tank which is luxurious for showering and laundry and dishes as the season is getting colder with rain. My apartment stays around 60+ degrees and is often warmer outside. I have found a way to insulate the windows using large sheets of plastic tied to the shutters while open so sunlight can enter which works well on days that aren't too windy. It’s fun to retrofit my place with limited supplies and to realize I don’t need much and do with what I have as I am comfortable here. In America, I may have taken a lot of these simple things for granted. Such things like sun, sunsets, water, food, a roof over my head and the path that brought me here. 

A good day is waking up early to the Quaran , sipping hot coffee while checking my email followed by  a rigorous stair or yoga workout. Meeting my sister in the village, going to the next town to run errands, window shopping, meeting her friends for lunch at the library, picking out pastries to bring home to the family for tea time, studying and teaching Arabic and English then gathering to watch, “The Doctor’s” on tv, while having coffee and pastries followed by an early tajine meal with all the family. Then sleeping early in my sister’s bed telling each other stories. Waking up early to the smell of whole-made msinmn bread and coffee, walking home as the town is waking up and the workers prepare for the day. 

One of the biggest challenges I am struggling with is not feeling that the gifts I have to offer in the States are of any worth here in Morocco. As the culture is so very different, most Moroccan's just aren't interested so much in my past. It's a difficult job to explain my role here as well as letting them know I don't want to get married and have 10 or 12 children and cook and clean all day. The cultural differences are so great that here in Morocco you are raised to believe you are just another girl or boy and you do what you have to in order to get by happy or not. In America, we are raised believing we are special and we have choices as our birthright. We strive for happiness as it's a choice, we often struggle because we have choices and we struggle because we are looking for happiness. I am beginning to identify that in Morocco the difference may just be that there is a kind of certainty about life without choice, therefore there is no struggle or search for happiness.