The paid vaca (aka eye infection)- This break I speak of was unexpected, and came with the price of bearing with what was probably the worst pain I have ever experienced in my face. It began very randomly; with waking up one Saturday morning and immediately realizing that I could barley open my right eye, and that to do so was horribly painful. Assuming that it was just another temporary irritation (those of which are ever so common here in the desert), I proceeded to spend the day walking around outside, which now, in retrospect, was a very stupid decision. Tinejdad is probably one of the worst places anyone could be outside with an infected eye, what with the blazing sun and sand storms. After a full day of the pain increasingly getting worse, and my eye feeling increasingly reminiscent of a tackle box, I was told by PC medical staff to make the God forsaken 12 hour souk bus trip to Rabat to see the doctor there.
After somehow managing to make my way to the bus with a makeshift eye patch made out of a bandanna, I found a seat and the journey from hell began. Although it was only my right eye that was infected, it was painful to have just the left open, so my trek was spent with both eyes closed, occasionally having to feel around like a blind, out of place pirate in order to exit and get some air. Once arriving in Rabat and successfully avoiding being hit by a car while blindly making it to headquarters, I was driven straight to an eye doctor who took one look at my eye and said something along the lines of "there is a chance you will not go blind." My immediate thought: "a glass eye wouldn't be so bad would it? I mean, i'd always have a killer Halloween costume, be able to provide endless entertainment for children, would have the ability to look really scary if need be, and it would cut the price of contacts in half, right?"
Needless to say, it was thus determined that I be medically evacuated (med-evaced) and sent to the PC medical headquarters, which just so happens to be located in Washington, DC, about 4 metro stations from my house. Just as quickly as my condition got bad, it got better, as did my overall situation(karma perhaps?). The med-evac thus became a paid vacation, in which I was able to spend time with family and friends, and do as many things American as I could possibly fit into the time I was there. My eye was said to be fully healed about 2 weeks after I arrived there, although the doctor said I did "dodge a bullet", and was lucky to return to Morocco with nothing more than a small scar in my eye. Lhumdullah(praise be to God). To top it all off, I was bumped up to first class on the flight back, which was a luxury that words can not do justice, and a realization as to why rich people love money so much.
IST- To further add to my wave of good karma, I was able to return back to Morocco just in time for in service training(IST), in which everyone from my PC group, or "stage"(about 58 of us) got to spend a week on the beach in Agadir. Agadir is a large beach city in the south, with a very cool 60's beach town vibe. In 1960 it was the site of what was the worst earthquake in Moroccan history, killing 15,000 people. The city was re-built about 3 k south from where it was originally, and with a very un-Moroccan 1960's beach town architectural style. Hence, it felt a lot more like I was somewhere in Southern California than in Morocco...definitely a good way to gradually re-integrate.
There were long days of training involved, yet most of it was practical stuff that was good to know, and much of it was taught by pcv's in the classic PC skills sharing way. Beach time certainly made it all well worth while. Afterwards, some fellow pcv's and I went to Tagazout, which is a small surf town about 35 k north of Agadir...it was apparently well known by beach dwellers world wide in the 1960's and was where many American hippies came to hang out, including The Doors. We got a perfect condo for a night right on the beach, for the equivalent for about 6$ a person...the experience could not have been topped. One of my favorite thins in this town are the shirts they have for sale with the image of a man in a jellaba(traditional Moroccan clothing) holding a surf board. This is definitely a good portrayal of the town...Islam meets surfing.
So I am now back in Tinejdad, getting back into the swing of things after being out of town longer than I had ever anticipated, and loving it. After some time in America and a week on the beach, I am recharged and ready for some volunteering action. Some time away was good to put things in perspective and realize just how incredible and unique an experience this whole peace corps thing is. Furthermore, walking around town yesterday and seeing how excited people are to see me back reassures me that I am in a good place right now, for me and for those around me. It is now summer, which means school is out, things are slowing down, and getting very hot and uncomfortable. Despite this change of pace laced with overshadowing gloominess, I am ready now more than I have been thus far to seize my time here and go full force with all development help I can provide, and to become even more integrated in my home away from home.
That is all for today, however, updates on projects are soon to come. Until then...
No comments:
Post a Comment