Monday, October 29, 2012

oh hai.

hello dear readers, sorry for the radio silence. i tend not to update if i don't have anything really exciting going on or im feeling a little negative and right now there's not a whole lot going on so i don't have a lot to even update about. things are still in summer mode in a lot of ways, even though it's cooled down substantially. before leid kbir (or the big feast) no one really wants to do anything, even though school has started people have difficulty focusing, it's like the week before christmas because leid kbir is a big deal. i was feeling guilty that i hadn't been going to the womens center but then i ran into a bunch of the ladies i've gotten to know at the womens center on friday when i was a walking around town and none of them have gone  either which made me feel better. they also asked when i was going to start sports classes, which should be good. my sports classes went really well last year.  some other volunteers were able to start things up in october, but my site is not such a place, and now that leid is done im going to kick it up a notch, and everything else will hopefully follow.

A lot of the success of a volunteer is contingent on the different associations in town and at the dar shabab, and to be frank my site doesn't really have any. This past month a group of guys started a sports association, and they seem like a really nice and nishan (not creepy) group so hopefully we can work together to spruce up the dar shabab and get more people to come. i met them by just walking into the dar shabab the other night bc i saw the lights were on, and lucky i did too because up until then i just had heard they existed and that was the extent of my knowledge.  i finally got to see into the mystery room that's been locked for the past year, and turns out we have a ping pong table! good times. so long story short, i haven't updated a whole lot because there's been nothing really to update a lot. i've been trying to re-acquaint myself with morocco after my amazing trip home, say hi to the people i know here, but to be honest there's been a lot of sitting around watching tv shows on my computer and working on craft projects. i also read the 50 shades of grey series, which was terribly written pornography, i felt very awkward reading it around other people ( so i tried not to) . i don't think ill ever get the time i spent reading that book back. also christian grey is a douche, and anastasia was kind of whiney. if you tell him to hit you, don't get all pissy when he does and suprise! it hurts, totally lame. anyways. that's all im going to say about that because i'm a little ashamed to admit that i even read it. so to "save face" im now going to read the 11th book in the sookie stackhouse series.... because that's WAY better...............

moving on. as i was writing that i didn't do that much last month i realized that wasn't totally true. i actually was out of site on and off. I did a weekend in ouarzazate, helped my friend with her activity at her youth center, where i taught kids how to make paper beads, which went really well. i also went dancing at a shady club in the city with a bunch of other volunteers which was really fun. i miss dancing in public. i especially miss the days of being on tour when me and my tour mates would try and find the gay bar in any given city we were in, gay bars and dance clubs have the best dancing and music. those were the days..... what else did i do. i also went to marakesh for a regional meeting, that was not entirely successful on my end, considering my supervisor didn't show which made me feel like crap and really disappointed, but it was good to meet the people from the new group, they're pretty great. my region only has 2 other people from my group, which means that 98% of the people in my region just got here a few months ago. new blood is great, they're so full of wide eyed optimism and great ideas that are inspiring, because even though i've been trying not to, i've become a little jaded, so optimism and inspiration are great. i also got to go to a bar and have a beer served to me in a glass and also we watched a really fun soccer match, matches that are important to other people are really fun because there's so much energy.

today is kind of a rainy gloomy day which is kind of nice, but because there has been rain there has been an explosion of evil. FLIES.... flies are the worst. flies suck. flies are the worst creatures ever created in the universe ever. the fly population here has exploded. when i walk into my kitchen you can literally hear the the flies buzzing, those smug douchey douche creatures. they think they own everything, oh, im going to land here, oh im going to land there. im going to puke my fly poop on your food then eat it, im going to screw in your dreads. Dont mind me, just making you crazy by landing on you and then flying away too fast for you to kill me. bastards.... flies are literally the most terrible of everything. i wish they would all die.

so beyond my hatred for flies, friday was leid kbir, as i mentioned earlier. here's the link to last years leid celebration pictures and the info. leid was different here, the food was different, the way it went was different (omitting the everyone kills a sheep thing). in the morning everyone was walking around town all dressed up like they were going to a wedding, new kaftan's and lots of white lace over top. i wanted to take pictures but people are really unhappy about the picture-taking here. which is unfortunate. i really want to do a photo project on women's clothing here, but it would never work because no one wants their pictures taken. boo.

sorry this update has been sort of schizo and random. i hope you all enjoyed it.  so that's it for now. sorry i took so long to update again. please feel free to leave comments, send me emails or write me letters, because that would be totally fine by me. hint hint. 

Monday, October 1, 2012

begging?

so this blog post has no value whatsoever to do with my life in morocco except to beg you all for ingredients for my upcoming (in a long while) thanksgiving feast.  if you've been thinking to yourself "wow I just saw michelle while she was home she's so great! i'd love to send her something to make her life better" or "wow i feel guilty that i didn't get to spend as much time or any time with michelle while i was home" this post is for YOUUUUUUU!!!!!

things i need for my thanksgiving feast

- 2 cans of coconut milk
- 2-3 cans of libby's pumpkin pie mix
- 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
- those delicious french's fried onions for green bean casserole
- brown sugar
- stuffing mix
- pecans
- mulling spices

if you are sending me these things please let me know because i'm attempting to co-ordinate with another pcv to make sure we get what we need and don't overlap.

things i would like that are unrelated to thanksgiving

- mac and cheese boxes
- cheese related items
- salty snack items
- granola bars
- peanut butter
- anything coffee related
- gel pens

honestly i'd like anything. if you send me a letter i pretty much guarantee you that i will send you a letter back and i've got a fantastic stock of some pretty sweet 1970-80's glamor shot postcards and awkward postcards that i got a few weeks ago that need homes i promise you wont regret it.

so besides that nothing is going on all that much here in morocco. it's cooled down enough that i have to sleep with a sheet and my blanket i brought from america. it's nice to cuddle up but i still stick to my guns that it's better to be hot then cold. im eternally not a fan of winter. (which is hilarious considering im from mass, went to school in vermont and becoming keen on alaska as a future living location) the only time cold wins over hot is if you have to be outside a lot. then cool beats hot, because layers rock. but for normal day to day, in the house and doing crafts stuff the cold can suck it. also without foliage and snow the cold is incredibly less fulfilling and really pointless, it should just stay warm.