Every day is a new adventure.

Hey all, so I know I haven't been blogging alot, but I did blog on my computer and just save the days, so i'm going to make a few consecutive blogs. Enjoy!

I’m definitely learning more Arabic but I get frustrated at times. I am still really busy because I am still in training which thankfully fills up my time. I have a few anxieties about the future and I know it’s sort of useless to worry but I still want to list them because I think they’re valid.

a)      I am slightly concerned that once I am let off of this tightly scheduled training I’m going to be swimming in a world of, “holy cow-what-the-heck-am-I-doing-here?” mindframe.

b)      That I have been so spoiled by my sister who speaks decent English that I’ll freak out when I have to rely on my broken Darija.

c)       That I’ll lose motivation in the months ahead.

d)      That I’ll freak out the first moment I’m in my Dar Chebab (Youth center where those of us assigned to Youth Development will be working)

e)      That I will be in a huge city and be surrounded by lots and lots and lots and lots of people who won’t talk to the weird and poor foreigner.

f)       That I’ll be in a tiny city where everyone knows the smallest details of my existence.

I know you might think that some of these are silly but, I think I just needed to air my mind out a little. I can’t be studying Darija all the time. I am very very very thankful for this weekend because I actually was able to go explore Fes and see Morocco’s version of Fred Meyer.

First of all, Morocco’s Fred Meyer is called Marjhane and it’s the biggest single store I’ve seen since I have been here. I bought some eye-liner for my eyes so people will stop asking if I’m Moslem because I don’t wear makeup. I also bought some cheese so I could make tacos for my family. It turns out that I couldn’t correctly decipher the French packaging and ended up buying goulda, so we had goulda and chicken tacos. When I came home my host sister and mother and I handmade tortillas and then cooked up some chicken and beans with onions and spices. I was really pleased with the results and the family seemed to enjoy the food. I did have to explain that Mexican food is very popular in the states and that everyone eats it.

So that brings us up to now, where I am listening to music with my host sister after a long day of walking around the Medina in Fes. Let me tell you, walking through the medina is a trip. It’s literally thousands of people all shoving through these tiny alleyways where every nook and cranny is filled with a shop of some sort. My group and I even managed to see the oldest tannery in North Africa. It’s called the Dar dbagh and we were able to take a little tour.