Work Work Work

Ashley has been here since Thursday, and we've been working our little heinies off. We're trying the meeting for the environment club again tonight, and I'm feeling pretty optimistic about it. I know at least 5-10 kids who are definitely coming, and they helped us hand out 150 flyers this morning to other kids during the daily noon exodus from the high school. There's a very happy atmosphere in town today because the weather is officially getting spring-y. I realized while handing out flyers that I now know a lot more kids than I used to. Also, I'm starting to see more energy and willingness to do things than I used to perceive, and it makes projects a lot more feasible. Next Saturday is International Women's Day, and I already had a group of kids eagerly agree to prepare presentations and facilitate activities for an evening in the dar chebab. Also, the dar chebab's resident theater lover is pressuring me to do a project with him and some other kids wherein they would arrange an AIDS play--in English and Arabic, and I'm also going to suggest Tamazight ("Berber") with the help of a resource from Peace Corps--and then go around to towns in the region to do it. I suggested doing one in the local market and I think he found the idea horrifying, but we'll see if I can get money for transportation.

We're also working on organizing Environment Day for the 16th. It's going to be pretty awesome, ancha allah, although Ashley has told me I should probably not pursue a career in events planning, because it's stressing me out so much. Description of events pending.

I went to a meeting of a local association last night and somehow managed to get on a Communications Committee for the organization of The Second Annual Town Youth Festival. This'll be a great way for me to meet more active youths. Other than that, I might just be a chair-filler. Ahmed says he thinks I have good ideas though. There was some Canadian there who I thought could become my friend. He snubbed me, as I waited for him to come over and talk to me after the meeting. But I didn't go talk to him either. Well then! I guess there's no reason our western-ness should bond us anyway.

Today, people are putting on road safety awareness activities for kids in the dar chebab. Morocco, I believe, has the highest rate of traffic accidents of all the countries in Africa. They made the cutest little stop signs...I'll take pictures this afternoon.

Ahmed has distributed notifications to school principals about the reading competition. I had a girl approach me this morning wanting to participate. Awesome! I thought no one would want to.

Talking about US politics with Mohamed is so much fun. We're not supposed to, but I think Peace Corps just warns us about that in the beginning because often bumbling newbies with underdeveloped language blurt out regrettable things (I, of course, I am perfect, so that's not a concern). He said he heard Obama was a Muslim, which is funny because in America that's probably a rumor being used to deter people from liking him, but here it would make him very popular.

Sorry to just jump from thing to thing, but as I've said, my life is weird. I'm learning that, as a teacher figure, it's really hard not to play favorites. That student, Amina, who is the main one helping me with the women's day stuff, is just great and I want to fawn on her and give her a thousand projects. She's a senior, clearly very pious (she only wears a black veil), and is also starting be active in several youth and development organizations. I hate that it's such a cliche to say this, but it's amazing seeing Islam and modernity in one such positive young person like that.

As far as drug addictions in Morocco, I think the two main ones are to hashish and paint sniffing. I don't think my town is quite big enough to have a problem with paint sniffers. In bigger cities, a lot of kids who live on the streets get completely messed up by it. Here, we mostly have guys between 20 and 35 who hang out in the alley all day smoking hashish. You can smell it as you walk by.