Rainbow's Adventures: September 2012

So I figure it’s probably about time that I update my blog considering it’s been a significant period of time.

Part of the reason I have been so absent is I just returned from my 20 day adventure back to America. My trip to America in one sentence you ask? FUCKING AWESOME. And sorry I try not to swear too much here but it was just hands down great. You know that saying you don’t know what you have until it’s gone? Well nothing like living in Morocco for close to a year to help you realize how great your home is.

Things I love about the states:

- Family. There is no one who understands you better- it was wonderful to see my family again.

- Friends- they helped me remember who I was and who I like to be and just smiles and hugs and awesomeness

- The smell- America smells like heaven. Like a perfume I know it sounds weird but new England in august is just full of delicious natural smells. I could not stop obsessing about it.

- The way people talk about academic subjects and appreciate art and theater

- The sensations of pure joy- from things such as driving, being in a canoe, swimming, hiking, being able to dance and sing wherever/whenever I want, feeling liberated and free in ways I didn’t even realize I was limited in. etc etc. the list can go on

- TREES!!! I love trees so much. I feel like a missing piece was returned when I laid on the grass and looked at the trees of my backyard or heard the wind sway the leaves. I got to go on an amazing hike at Bartholomew’s Cobble back home and there is some sort of magic under trees. The way the light looks, the way you feel as a person. I definitely belong in the forest.

- Food and Drinks- something I said to people while I was home when I was asked what I missed most one of my first responses is always “a casual drink”. Which I now realize makes me sound kind of like an alchy… but for reals. When you live in a culture where the majority of people don’t drink and drinking is reserved for the seedy underbelly of society you always end up drinking straight crap behind closed doors. The relationship most Americans have with alcohol is so different then Moroccans and PCVs. So yeah. A beer that was brewed locally or a glass of wine with dinner that doesn’t taste like apple cider vinegar’s 3^rd cousin once removed is nice. Also coffee, there’s no 20oz to go iced blueberry coffee’s here. One shot of espresso with milk? Sure… but man. Latte’s iced coffee… yum.

I realize that the bigger paragraphs are not about the people I love, and mostly about random and slightly awkward things but it’s hard to sum up just how great friends and family are- sure I have friends here and a Moroccan family but to give you an indication on how different I can be here- a lot of Moroccans think I’m a quiet person. HAHAHAHA… you and I both know better. So what else…. Well you already know that my trip was great. At first I was a little worried that I had booked myself at home for too long but it was the perfect amount of time. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to see everyone but things worked out magically for those who I did get to see . It’s like the universe placed people up and down 95 just so I could see them easily. Also it was so magical to be part of my dearest friend Tina’s wedding- I realize while the whole events of the wedding unfolded that I honestly know more about Moroccan weddings then I do about American ones… ooops. I still had a lot of fun, loved seeing my lovely SMC people who I do not see enough and I would not have missed that wedding for the world.

Being back in morocco is… weird. As I told a few people before I left going back this time was WAY harder then coming here the first time. When I got here a year ago the world was my oyster I had no ideas of what I was going to encounter, I had no experience here, not a whole lot of expectations it was all fresh and new and exciting. This time around I knew what I was going back to… for better or worse. Peace corps hands out this graph in our medical book broken down into stages of our service and it doesn’t help my case that months 11-14 are called “mid-service crisis”. Not that I’m letting that piece of paper determine my emotional state, but just like when I was a roatary exchange student it’s not too far off the mark. So not only did I go home at the beginning of this ‘crisis’ I came straight back to it. (For those of you at home, don’t worry, it’s mostly a crisis of insecurities about my first year of service, uncertainty about the year ahead which it totally normal peace corps emotions. I’m all good- it’s just another step in the process). But since I’ve been back I’ve actually welcomed (for once) the back to back trainings that have happened. First there was the Berber/Tamazight language training where I finally got some formal berber undersanding which should hopefully give me street cred in my site. Now I’m in Marakesh, sharing some of my ideas for artistic projects that could be done here in Morocco. Being around Americans has been a great way to slowly ease my way back into my Moroccan life.

So that’s it for now. I don’t have anything exciting lines up for the immediate future. I hope you all enjoyed my little rant for the time being. Here’s some pictures of my trip home. Enjoy!