So peace corps is filled with ups and downs and
currently I’m in an upward slant. It’s a combination of finally having
work, having work come to me directly and a nice blend of good feelings and
mild apathy for the things that I’ve come to accept will not be happening for
me here. Apathy may sound like a strong word, but it’s important for me to
really be at peace with the things I have available to me for the rest of my
service.
A few weeks ago a group of 15 or so boys came to
me and asked if I would teach them English three times a week, so that was
exciting! I’ve never been approached to do work for someone before, and it’s
incredible how different those classes are compared to my other classes where
there isn’t a level of commitment or they are there because they feel like they
have to be. The latter (the ones who feel like they have to be there) applies
to my classes at the student boarding house, they are a tough group of kids-
last year was equally as challenging and I was hoping that this year would be
easier and after 1 full week of classes it is proving to be equally as
difficult. This year is especially challenging because there is a ton of crap
in the classroom, so the already small space is now halved. So that’s fun to
deal with. Also my youth center has put plywood over all the windows instead of
trying to fix them because 75%-85% of the window panes have all been
broken. So now I work in a drug
dealers house. It’s kind of annoying because the windows are too high for me to
reach so I have to stand on a chair to open them, and I have to open them
otherwise my classroom is pitch black, so that’s fun. Luckily I now have all
the desks I need, a black board that more or less works, and at least with the
windows open it feels nice, breezey and spring-like in there on Saturday
afternoons while I wait in vain for my students to arrive.
I also cleaned my house for realsies this week,
and as much as I didn’t mind having a messy house/room/kitchen it’s crazy how
nice it is to have a clean room. In bad news on that front, part of the reason
I was procrastinating on cleaning was because now I feel like I can take a
puppy into my house. There’s a little dude that I’ve gotten to know pretty
well, I’ve named him Achilles because the poor little muffin has broken back
right leg. Because he’s hurt he hasn’t moved in the past week, so every day I
get to visit him and say hello and hang out, he’s a bit of a biter but I’m
trying to work on that. Today I’m going to see if there’s someone in town who
can help him, because I’m not 100% sure what to do. It’s hurting my moral fiber
that I can’t just scoop him up and take him to a vet. It’s been inspiring
though, Moroccans can be kind of cruel to dogs, throwing rocks at them, ignoring them, screaming in fear even
when they approach them with wagging tails. It ‘confuses me that people think
dogs are mean when I’ve seen dogs on the street that have sat calmly while some
kids have clearly drawn on them with marker- a mean dog would not let that
happen. Anyways. Achilles has been being taken care of and looked after by a
lot of the butchers in the area, he always has food, and oftentimes a little
bowl for water. It’s nice to see people helping an animal in need, even an
animal they don’t particularly care for. The other day I played with Achilles
for an hour and one guy was like “you should take him home” and let me tell
you- it’s taking a lot of will power for me not to take him in. Next week I have to travel to Marrakech
and we shall see how he’s doing when I get back.
I’ve
been keeping busy with work and craft projects and soon I will be doing
teaching a group of women from my womens center how to make bead crochet
bracelets, so that should be good, well hopefully good, and if it’s not good it
will be a spectacular failure, which I am ok with. So here’s some pictures of Achilles
and me buying carpets.
