Volunteer opportunities

Friday
Oh man was today a good day. I woke up wicked early (about 6) and finished my paper and almost finished the last one. I gave myself just enough time to shower, eat breakfast, and get to school. Arabic wasn't so bad today, either. I mean it's a lot of information all in one sitting, but it didn't go so badly. After class I finally got to talk to Trish again and I finished my paper. I got home and had couscous with my host family, then made it to the train station just in time to catch the next train. it was awesome. I got on the train to Kenitra (where i'm going to be volunteering) and found one of the last seats next to a family (no sketchy guys!) then when I got to Kenitra, the first cab driver i saw was willing to take me (they can, and often do say no). He dropped me off in front of these deserted buildings and I started to panic, but kept walking and luckily found 2 women who I was able to communicate (in darija!) with and showed me where to go. I got to Chaml, the women's center, at exactly 2:55pm and the presentation supposedly started at 3. As usual, the presentation started an hour later. Meanwhile, I began talking (in French) with a professor at a local university and a girl who works there who speaks English. My professor got there later, but another woman had already sat down next to me. The 2 women who sat next to me are both English teachers in Kenitra who now have my phone number and I have their email addresses so that we can get lunch and meet up. They told me that if I need anything to just let them know! they were so nice. The presentation itself was soooo interesting. It was about the problem that they have here with racism and immigrants from SubSaharan Africa. They expressed their own feelings of detachment from an African identity and their own complex national identity. The first guy to speak was hard to understand because he would switch from darija to french and he had a very interesting accent. But the woman who spoke was very clear and stuck to French the majority of the time. when the presentations were over and it was time for questions they served us tea or coffee and pastries. they were awesome. At this point it was already 6 and my professor had already left. it seemed as though the woman next to me was going to leave so I asked her when the last train to Rabat was. She said that they were leaving right then and that I could go with them if I wanted to. So I left and one of them drove us to the train station. They were so nice! I think they are really curous about how the rest of the world views Morocco but they keep censoring themselves becaue I don't think they want to come off a certain way. It was funny. they kept correcting each other in how they phrased certain things. They were definitely concerned about being PC. I've totally given up on being PC since being here, so it was pretty hilarious. I got back to Rabat and walked towards the medina from the train station and bumped into some of my classmates. Then I saw my professor who actually lives in Kenitra, not far from Chaml, where I had been. He invited me to tea at his house the next time I'm there which I thought was very nice of him. He's getting married in December and is working on his PhD. Such a nice guy. So I made it back to the house in time to watch dirty dancing havana nights, censored of course. then Jason called me from skype! I was so excited! For dinner we had harrera (this awesome soup) and tajine. I'm exhausted now from this crazy week of insanity and i'm so excited to sleep in jist a little bit. I'm going for a run with Chandra again tomorrow morning and then shopping with Megan and Lauren. A nice relaxing stress free weekend will do me some good i think.