Our little outing!

Hello Friends and Family,

Hope all is well! Time here is just flying by and I am happy to see another month end and a new begin :) I have been pretty busy this month with work. I spent most of the month working on a grant application. In May I am going to Casablanca for a Women's 10k run/walk. Last year 30,000 Moroccan women participated and I am so excited! Then I had the idea of bringing two of my students with me to participate in the walk...then for them to come back to Bouarfa and all of us plan an Annual women's 5k here in town. The concept of women working out outdoors here is unacceptable (for the most part) and its time to reevalute this unfair social norm. So I wrote up a grant asking for money to get the girls to Casablanca which is a far ways from my little town...I would appreciate it if you could keep my goal in your prayers so that I can be a happy little volunteer :)


In other news, I have made a moroccan best friend! Her name is Loubna(the one with the black hat in the pics) and she has become my angel! We work together and team teach french and english at the same time. We spend alot of time together and its nice to have some one to talk to and relate to. The other day she watched my cat while I was out of town and when I came home she had completely spring cleaned my house. When I told her this was not necessary she got all upset and replied 'We are no longer just friends, we are sisters, we are like one person. When I do things for you it is like I am doing them for myself." So sweet! Then the other day we were walking down the street and she grabbed my bag to carry it. I said Loubna you dont have to carry all my stuff, im a big girl and she looked at me in disgust and replies 'Pfft what does friendship mean in your country?' It was adorable. I am learning so much about Morocco and their people from being friends with a Moroccan. They value friendship so much and there is nothing they wouldnt do for a good friend.


The pictures below are from a picnic I took my girls from the Dar Talib on. All weekend the girls are locked in the housing and the boys are allowed to leave whenever they want. This is the cause of alot of frustration and poor morale. After some serious persuasion I got permission to take the girls out for a sunday picnic. We had a great time! We hiked about 3 kilometers out to this spot that has a little water source and lots of shade. We sat around singing, making friendship bracalets and talking. On our next picnic we are going to go to a nice neighboring town and cooking and everything. They were so grateful for the day and I was too! All the pictures were taken by one of my students so I posted alot even though I know you dont know the girls.


The heat has started and I think as of next week I will be sleeping on my roof because it is much cooler up there at nite. Another one of the joys of summer has begun, I dont have running water except at night time and even then it doesnt have enough water pressure for a shower. Apparently this happens every summer in my neighborhood, I am trying to be patient but it is a little annoying. Good thing I am an expert bucket showerer! :)
Anyway I think that is all for now! I will write to you guys as soon as something fun happens! I miss you all soo much and I think of you always!

XOXO

Kris

Pictures of Spring!

Hello family and friends...Im running late for class but here are some pictures from my first swimming experience in Morocco...the spring was sooo BEAUTIFUL! I cant wait to go again soon! Also an updated picture of myself and my kitten! Hope all is well! I will write soon!

xoxo

Kris

Spring break...Moroccan Style

Hello Everyone! How are you? Great inshallah! Anyway I survived spring camp! Whooo hooo! It was an intense week full of english teaching, art club and 100 moroccan teenagers!
There were camps this week all over the country for the kids spring break but mine was in a town named Figuig. It is about an hour and a half away from me and it is known for its beautiful palmeries, if you read my blog regularly it is the town I went to for valentines day. Anyway it was an english immersion camp but we also had sports, clubs and a feild trip.
The week started out with a simple oral english test so that we could place the kids in appropriate classes. I taught intermediate and I was very impressed how much english the kids knew. My lesson plan was all about future dreams and hopes and I really enjoyed hearing the kids goals. Everything from race car drivers to break dancers to english teachers, you name it they dreamt it. (One boy even wrote that his dream was to marry Teacher Kristin...lol) Unemployment is a serious issue in this country because %50 of the population is of college graduate age, there just arent enough jobs to go around, so it was nice to see that this situation hasnt tainted the kids ambitions. Aside from teaching english I was also the art teacher for the week. I thought this was just great! I had such a great time, we made friendship braclets, plaster hands, rain sticks and we painted murals on the Dar Chebab walls. I was amazed at the kids creativity! They have fewer outlets here for the arts as in school they study mostly the basics and they spend their free time studying even more to pass a very hard graduation test. So even the 18 year old boys spent hours making friendship braclets, something I think would be hard to sell to an American class. :) Infact we had to go to the store and buy enough thread for all the campers to make braclets, I became the girl with the friendship braclet thread which boosted my counsler popularity ten fold ;) I think I will look into maybe teaching art when I come home, I forgot how much I liked it and to see children in their creative element is really rewarding.
Other highlights of the week were teaching an aerobics class to all the girl campers...we had a great time. We also had my favorite Moroccan meal three times..sounds silly but I never get to eat it so I was quite happy, I hope to learn how to prepare it before I leave but basically it is meat with boiled prunes and hard boiled eggs...might not sound delicious but I assure you it is! We also went on a feild trip to a surrounding city. We took the kids on an enviromental scavengar hunt where we came across a little river. This is the first water I have seen outside in 6 months so I had a blast splashing around in it. There were tad poles everywhere and a few frogs..definatley more adventurous than my usual day. We also had some good drum sessions and lots of laid back fun at camp. I really enjoyed the company of the other volunteers I was with and while it was a long week, I am really looking forward to the camp I will work in the summer. It is on the coast and I will be there for a month which is heavent sent because my town is rarely under 110 during that time. I am getting increasingly worried about summer cause it sounds pretty rough but luckily I will get away for camp and for a trip to spain! YAY!

In other news...I bought an oven finally...lol yes my life is that dull that I must write about my purchases but really it is exciting because in the states baking was my sanity! I already made chocolate chip cookies, sesame orange buscuits, and zuchinni bread. The possibilities are endless and I will have lots of free time this summer to experiment. Hopefully this week I will buy a fridge and then I will be unstoppable ;)

I would like to give a huge thanks to the MANY packages I got this month! You guys never seize to amaze me! Thank you Mom, Dad, Kelly, Diani, Aunt Ellen, Amy and Ken, Colleen and clan, and Aunt Vera. I am a spoiled girl and I know it. I was telling someone the other day that I am so lucky to know how great my friends and family are at such a young age. I didnt have to have a huge loss or a wake up call, granted I moved to Africa but come on..you people are amazing! I only wish you knew how much your support and love means to me, I will never be able to repay you for the sanity and peace you have given me.

I am sorry this blog is so horribly written lol...I had so much to write about and the words just wont come and now it is time to go to a lunch date...I promise I will write another one soon! Lastly, has anyone seen how damn cute my nephew has gotten?! Oh geez...I will add a picture of him to my blog for everyone should get to enjoy such beauty! :)

I miss you guys tons! I really reallly dont need anything since this was the month of packages but just for future reference my site mates parents told me about a deal you can get if you ask the post office worker...it is a flat rate box and costs under $30 for 25 pounds, several of you have spent WAY too much money on postage so its worth looking into.

I hope you enjoy the pictures, they are mostly from camp, my cat, art club, and me modeling my jelaba (the traditional clothing here)

Love you guys! Thanks for reading!
xoxo
kris