Monday, February 28, 2011

Ruth and the Terrifying Turkey Sandwich

Ah. Home. I've been away from home for around 10 days, and I've gotta say, I missed my house and my site and my people here, which did actually surprise me a little upon my return. It's good to be home. Thankfully Olly was still alive upon my arrival, although in his role as cleaner of my floor, he seemed to have found plenty of dust bunnies while I was gone and attached them all to himself at the same time. He's now clean and hiding.


Last week was a week full of training - all 67 volunteers from our stage were in the same place at the same time (well, different hotels) for recaps on each others sites and projects, and workshops on different subjects to help us in our work here. It was great to catch up with everyone and find out how we're all settling in to our sites. We also had more language tests, which was interesting, and despite my worrying about it, I actually went up a level - yay me! Now why can't I understand what people are saying to me??


So I'm home and exhausted from a long trip back down south - it's about a 12 hour straight shot from where we were to where I am, so I'm glad that's over. But up north, I at least got the chance to do a little hiking, which is the one thing that's sorely missing from the south. It's so flat here, it's just walking. Sad face.


Now it's another three months until the next gathering of us all, although us SBD-ers have an upcoming craft fair in Fes to look forward to. My task over the next few weeks involves encouraging my women to make as much product as possible to take with us. But based on feedback from other volunteers, with some tweaks, the product should sell up a storm.


I'm sure some of you have seen news of the protests going on here, so a quick word about that. There have been things going on in some of the larger cities - Fes, Sefrou, Marrakech, Rabat, Tanger, Al Hociema, etc. - but many of us are placed in small villages, where we really don't feel the effects of the things going on. So, not to worry - I am totally fine. Peace Corps keeps us updated on the goings-on, and lets us know if there are places we should avoid while traveling. So far, nothing has affected our day-to-day, and in'shallah, nothing will. We all have way too much work to get on with and too many things to look forward to to go home!


That's all for now - surprisingly no crazy stories despite the traveling. Oh wait, no, I have one. Kind of. Not all that crazy, just a bit disgusting. While I was waiting for my bus to bring me home I picked up a turkey sandwich to tide me over. Turkey and chicken sandwiches are usually pretty awesome here. But I managed to get through two-thirds of this one before realizing that the meat wasn't cooked all the way through. Mmmm. Raw turkey. Don't ask why it took me so long to realize - I just wasn't looking at what I was eating. And remember, this was just before I was about to get on a bus for the next ELEVEN hours. Imagine my joy. But luckily, it would appear that living in Morocco for the past five-and-a-half months has left me with an iron cast stomach. Who would have thought eating intestines and liver wrapped in fat could have done that, right? But thank goodness, as it could have been extremely messy and unpleasant. For everyone.


And on that note.


xoxo

No comments:

Post a Comment