Fortunately for me, however, I managed to spend the first week of this life adjustment on the road. When traveling as a Westerner in Morocco, people assume I am a tourist (despite the beard and tan that I have worked on assiduously over the past two years), and actually expect me to eat and drink during the day hours. This makes for the one time of year that I enjoy sticking out, for it actually works to my advantage if I am not attempting to fast.
Skipping back a bit, last week I did return from yet another month of travel. It started with going to El-Jadida to help out with my final English immersion summer camp. This year camp was done a little differently, with a focus on country clubs instead of the traditional clubs of music, theatre, art, etc. Each camper was assigned to one of 8 countries, and spent the duration of the camp learning about their respective country, while competing against other countries for points. The entire camp was thus turned into a competition between nations towards triumph (which mainly consisted of bragging rights and a piece of paper saying they won- they were nevertheless highly motivated as a whole to beat out their competition and claim victory). Teams were able to win points through demonstrating good English, participation, and points earned in contests.
As the librarian for the camp I was given the ability to create any means of point distribution I saw fit. I decided early on that I would have two contests that would be carried out through the entire camp session for this- a reading race and haiku writing. Without thinking about the implications, I said that I would reward every haiku written with 5 points, which on the point scale was not a small number. Once campers realized the impact of writing these simple short poems, they began to really milk the system for them. By the third day of camp I became overwhelmed with haikus from all directions. Most of them were correct, although could have been a bit more creative. Example:
I like to ride bikes
they are very beautiful
I like to play games
The overflow of such poems became so strong that they began to define my camp
experience. As for the team I helped lead, Jamaica, they were down many points and on the last day of camp became haiku writing maniacs, causing them to gain 150 points worth of them and win the camp long competition. Of course, me being the person responsible for such a large point distribution, it was my duty to announce the winning team to the group of 100 campers who had tried their hardest to win, yet simply did not milk the system enough. A daunting task. Despite the mania, camp was great as a whole and I will surely think of it fondly when I am doing something far more dull for work in the future.
Following camp I had about 5 days free before my COS (close of service) conference, so I stayed up north and went to Chefchaouen, a beautiful mountain town about an hour south of the Mediterranean, for a relaxing excursion and a final burning of my
remaining vacation days. The small city of about 60,000 people is set on the side of a mountain, with most parts built on a slope. Its building are covered with blue and white, a staple of its beauty. Its surrounding mountainous fields being home to Morocco’s hashish(and therefore, much of the worlds) supply, it’s no wonder that everyone that inhabits the town is so peaceful and friendly, or that amazing artwork can be found behind every corner. After four days of taking in the tranquility, I was ready to move on to other things.Following that came the time for the event that every PCV patiently awaits 2 years for: the conference that beings the 3 month check out process of our service. The remaining members of the stage (training group) that I swore in with nearly 2 year ago assembled together to reflect on our service and life after the Peace Corps. Needless to say, it was a pretty emotion filled event, and helped to have people re-connect and relate with one another on shared difficulties (especially those of us who are still trying to figure out what we are doing with the rest of our lives). Re-immersion into American society was a big topic, and felt very reminiscent of staging in the states, when we talked about the same sorts of things, but for cultural integration into Moroccan society. A panel of RPCV’s (returned peace corps volunteers) came in to speak with us about their experiences re-integrating helped to see different perspectives on the issue. It was a good eye opener, and helped us realize that maybe more things have changed in ourselves than we are capable of realizing while we are still in Morocco. Daunting yet helped, it was good time.
This brings me back to the present...the hot, sticky, slow, sandy, food deprived present. I have spent the past week hiding inside my house (which is pretty much the only thing to do during the day) and have been working on the many components of preparing myself for leaving Morocco. I have also been semi-fasting in my unceasing attempt to integrate with the locals. Fasting without breaking any of the rules consists of abstaining from all eating, drinking, or smoking of any substances during all daylight hours. In order to do it one must change his daily routine entirely. The way most unemployed people do this is by staying up as late as possible at night and sleeping in as late as possible during the day (see my previous submission from last September entitled “Ramadan: A month of adjustment” for more details). Furthermore, they must wake up at 3:30 in the morning to eat the dinner meal before the sunrise. This part is the hardest for me, in that I am not a morning person, and have difficulty eating anything, let alone a meal large enough to hold me over for the entire day to follow, at 3:30 am. So by “semi-fasting” I mean that I might take a sip of water from time to time, but am obtaining from food during daylight hours as much as I can. Despite the toll this adjustment might play on my health, it seems to be a good mental exercise, and something that I have no intentions of doing later in life while not in a Muslim country, so I might as well try it now.
Whew, that was a long one. Perhaps the diffusion of this entry, like the delay in writing it, also reflects the effect that this time of the year has on me. For those of you who follow this regularly and may have expected more order, I hope you understand. Until next time...
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