Strike is over!

Last night, as Doug and I were walking back to the hotel in Azilal after dinner, we received text messages from Houda, a PC staff member, telling us that the strike was over! We ran back to the hotel, and had a little celebration with Houda, who was just as excited as us.

After spending 3 weeks out of my site, I was finally able to travel back toward Tiznit today. I got as far as Tiznit, where I am spending the night. I hope to run a few errands tomorrow morning and be back in the arms of my poor cat by lunchtime.

As frustrating as it was to be stuck out of my site for so long, I had a great time working at Spring Camp, meeting the new health trainees, and visiting Azilal. I thought I would post a few highlights of my time out of site.

-The students at Spring Camp chanting and yelling right before every meal. There were students from various towns throughout the Agadir region, and they competed at lunch to see who could be louder and represent his/her town better. Although the noise was obnoxious, I loved to see these students have such pride in where they are from.

-Quality time with the Moroccan Volunteers at Spring Camp. After the kids went to sleep we had the opportunity to hang out, get to know one another, and really bond. Since I live in such a conservative part of the country, I loved hanging out with such modern Moroccans.

-Co-teaching intermediate English with Doug. We had themed days, and one was music. We played different types of music and taught the kids the different genres. When we asked them what they liked and dislikes, Nourdin, one of our students, answered, “I like rap because it tells the truth. I dislike folk because it is boring.” We were extremely impressed by his insightful expression of the English language.

-Spending time in Azilal preparing for the Health Education Workshop. Rachid, my boss, had 3 Volunteers (including myself) facilitate the Workshop. We spent the day before preparing and having a great time. I don’t get to see the other volunteers very often and we thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company.

-Meeting the trainees! They are so enthusiastic; it is very inspirational. After a year or more in site, volunteers tend to get cynical, so being around the trainees helped to rejuvenate the rest of us.

-Exploring Azilal during the extra week and a half I spent there. The “Kefta Brothers” make the best ground beef/egg sandwhich I have ever had. And harira (Moroccan soup) every night for 3 dirhams! I saved money AND ate well. Azilal also has what I feel safe labeling the best pastry shop I’ve seen in Morocco. We are talking QUALITY pastries (Strawberry and chocolate cookie sandwiches, chocolate covered crème-filled croissants!).

-Spending 4 days in my friend Brian’s site. We went to the fields with his host family, and enjoyed tea together afterward. His host dad is blind, so communication is based solely on words. It makes things a lot more difficult for both him and the volunteers. Normally we rely on gestures to get a lot of things across, so talking to him was a new challenge (and one that Brian deals with every day).

-Buying my ticket to Egypt! My high school friend Amanda (who is Egyptian-American) is coming to visit in May, and then we are heading to Cairo to spend a few weeks with her family. I can’t wait!

On a side note, I was looking through old blog posts, and noticed that I mentioned the AIDS Skit Competition for the first time in September, thinking it would be held in November. In reality, it was held in March, Even after being here a year, I am still adjusting to the relatively different concept of time,