Emeek smeek (Little by little...)

6/8

It’s been a busy week and little by little I'm becoming more and more integrated. I went to the Sbitar waiting room on Monday and Tuesday to hang out with the women waiting to get vaccinations. I met some of women in town and got some practice with my tash so that was good. I also tried to get a hold of the moudir (principle) of the lycée (high school) because I need to get started (since it takes awhile) on getting approval so I can get into the schools and teach health lessons in the fall. They had the bac (the baccalauréat is French equivalent of the SATs only much more intense) last week though so I had to put that off for another week. On Wednesday I was in Tiznit for some furniture shopping. Thursday I was in Tiznit again for some more cyber time and tutoring….

I also lost my computer charger there which was funny because I wasn’t really worried…who would want to steal my computer charger especially since it’s American and they can’t use it anyways right?!.. However when I told my host family they were determined that we were going to locate it. I did have the number for the cyber cafe so I gave it to Jamila and the plan was for her to call and see if they had it. The plan would have worked if the number was actually the number for the cyber. It ended up being the home number for one of three of the guys who worked there. Two of guys who help run the cyber are younger more modern looking guys, and then there’s the guys who owns it. He looks a little older and is definitely a fundamentalist (he never looks at or talks to any of the PCVs when we go in). The home number ended up being Emr’s, the fundamentalist. Luckily his mom picked up though (hahahahah…) and told us to keep calling back. I told Jamila not to worry about it because I could get another volunteer that lives in Tiznit to go by and check for it in the morning. Seven, yes seven, phone calls she located the charger. Moral of the story: Don’t lose things! Hey, at least they helped me find it though and that matters.

Anywayysssss.....so that was Thursday evening, Friday I went over to my friend Neijma’s for cascrut (tea time) which was fun because I also got to help her crack Argan nuts. Argan trees are only found in my region in Morocco. A lot of the women collect the nuts and make Argan oil which is hard work but it brings in decent money because it’s so expensive. I actually got to taste some of the oil and it is unlike anything else I’ve tasted. It’s really good but also really different from anything we have in the US. When from I came home from Neijma’s we had family visiting so I spent the rest of the day hang out with them and helping in the kitchen. Saturday and Sunday, Marj and I went to visit Nicole near Tafrout. Tafrout is up the mountains and absolutely beautiful. We met her host family and had cascrut with them which was nice then we got a tour of her town and relaxed some so that was nice. Sunday morning we caught a taxi back home in time to catch the finals of the French Open and get ready for next week.

Alright…that’s it for now but also check out Marj’s blog (easternedge.wordpress.com) because she’s given me my own section on it called “Thoughts by Jess” which I think you’ll enjoy! :) Take care and I’ll post soon!