As promised.

Hello! It's been a while.
So what is going on with my life? Well, since the last time I've talked to you, nothing much has happened. I have been busy with school, Nanowrimo, and classes. We have started learning how to teach english. In the next semester, we will be teaching English to students who cannot afford other english classes through a program called CLC Connect. Basically, us ten american students will be teaching beginner students ages 13-16 English once a week for about two and half hours for about four months. I love working with younger students and teaching them. We are learning the Communicative approach, which is the way in which we're taught. Essentially it is about speaking the target language in the classroom, and teaching through examples. We also sit in on English classes at the CLC once a week to learn more techniques, and to learn by example. I am very excited for this project, and we will also be certified as Teachers of English as a Foreign Languages, which is important in the future if we ever want to teach English abroad.

What else...well, we had our first meeting with the Anti-Harassment club. We talked, and decided that it is worth our time to do videos, and get the word out that harassment is NOT something a girl wants while walking in the street. (Speaking of harassment i wrote another essay for the state department and it was about..you guessed it! Harassment, my favorite topic).
I have also gotten involved with the Debate Club (debates are in English, thank goodness) and it is a very gratifying and fun experience. We get to interact with Moroccans, sometimes (like tonight) act as a stand in debater, and I get to debate, which I LOVE doing.

Today we also cooked Thanksgiving dinner. We are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, and I was in charge of making Chocolate Mousse pies. Getting all the necessary ingredients was a struggle, but we managed. Since Graham crackers don't exist in this country, I made the crust out of chocolate wafers. I have no idea how it will turn out, but I'm hoping for the best. We wanted to make pumpkin pie, but alas there was no pureed pumpkin. I was very sad, mostly because it won't be a true Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie...I'll just wait until I get back to the states for that.

So that's all we've been up to lately. I'll post my essay as well as the essay of a friend later on.
Bsalama for now!

I promise

Post to come this weekend, I promise. Sorry about the absence! 

Agadir, British film week and why I haven't been blogging.

Hello my devoted readers, in case you havent noticed, i've been quite absent from my blog. I do apologize. For one, I travelled this past weekend with my host family to Agadir. I loved it, it reminded me of home because it was cold, foggy and near the ocean. I spent some quality time with my host family as well as spending time with my host cousins.

As for this week, I just came back from the third night of British Film Week. Tonight the movie was "The Selfish Giant" and it was a very well done film that was based off of Oscar Wilde's novel. It was an emotional and interesting film. I really enjoyed it, and of course, I cried. Insha'allah I will attend the rest of the film week, since it's free and its a very wonderful experience.

Thirdly: why have I not been writing on my blog. Well there's this thing, it's called NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month. This has completely taken over my life in the best way possible. The goal is to write 50,000 words by the end of November, averaging about 1,600 a day. Of course, me being the procrastinator I am, I didn't write for about four days, meaning I had to write about 6,000 words in one night to make up for lost time. So I apologize. As soon as it's done, I will for sure be blogging more.
This weekend I will be meeting with the Anti Harassment club, I hope. Insha'allah we will get this project started and off the ground. More info to come as the meetings progress.

For now, I must go and do my homework. Until next time, bsalama!

Woodworking video!!

For some reason I cannot embed the video into this post, but here is my latest vlog (ish) that is about woodworking!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfgvy5Wx2o0

Video

My classmates and I made a video of our Sahara trip. Stephanie and Cody (who doesn't have a blog that I know of) were the major editors, SHUKRAN BZEFF.
Anywho, hope you enjoy (if you can understand!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W551nDdhvN4


For some reason it won't let me embed the video into this post, sorry for the inconvenience.

Honeymoon is over.

When one moves to a different country, a radically different one from their home country, and they live there for a while, they experience something called culture shock. What is culture shock, you may be wondering.
Well, it's essentially how one reacts to the culture they are placed in.

There are usually four stages: 1. the honeymoon phase (everything is great and I love it here!) 2. the negotiation phase (god this is so different from home I hate it) 3. Adjustment phase (it makes sense!) 4. The "understanding" phase (everything is put into place, and one is able to become a functioning member of society and enjoys living there).

For everyone, the time periods between these stages are a bit different. But for me (and a large part of my group) the honeymoon phase is definitely over. Right now, there are parts of living here that are irking me more than they used to, and perhaps more than they should be. But it's nice to be coming out of the "rose bubble". I like to be seeing things with a realistic glass, you know?
And I am starting to miss things in the United States more. Mostly the freedom that the United States offers its citizens. I miss being able to wear whatever I want. I could wear whatever I wanted to here, but not only would that be incredibly culturally insensitive, it would also receive a lot of unwarranted attention from people on the street. I guess part of the reason I'm realizing all these emotions right now is because Halloween is right around the corner. In the States, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays....and people in Morocco don't celebrate it.

Mumkin I'm being a bit dramatic, but hey this is my blog, I'm allowed to rant.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Morocco....yet. No no, I kid, I kid. I don't think I'll ever hate Morocco. But some things might continue to bug me. The trash on the street, the glue-sniffing street youths, the constant stares, the fact that I'm unable to connect with my host sister at all despite the efforts I'm making, the smell that ALL my clothes in Morocco have and the fact that I'm unable to make it go away...that's just a few of the things that bother me.
I know that in the future these things will start to irk me less, but for now they will continue to irk me and I will try to ignore them.

Alot of people say that study abroad is fun, and its nothing but good experiences. That is one of the biggest lies that I've ever heard. Sure, study abroad is fun, but there are difficulties. One thing is that you're learning what you have to immediately apply. There is no "understanding" period. There are no breaks. There is no bullshitting your way through class. You have to understand what you're learning, or else you're stuck in situations where you dont understand what is going on. Then again that is about 85% of your study abroad experience.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that study abroad isn't all fun. It's challenging, like almost everything else you choose to embark on.

I would suggest it to most people because it is a good way to understand your limits and what you're comfortable doing.

Sorry for the super long post but these were things I needed to get out, also they are facts about study abroad that not many people talk about.

Bsalama for now!

Being Jewish in Marrakech

Today my friend and I went to Shabbat services. In Marrakech. HOW COOL IS THAT. After the service, the Rabbi invited us over to his house for Kiddush Dinner. It was a wonderful experience. The rabbi, his wife,  his brother and his son were all at the dinner. It was nice to be with a group of people who share your same belief, and be able to share the holiday with them.
For those of you that dont know a large part of Judaism is story telling. I myself don't know many stories from Torah...and so today was a nice was to learn.

I was very content at the services, aside not being able to understand the Hebrew. There was a large group from Israel that was visiting Morocco because many of them were born in Morocco but then their families moved to Israel. We spoke to one woman who was born in Tetouan and subsequently moved to Israel. It was interesting to hear her perspective on Morocco. The group was fairly confused as to why we were living in Marrakech for eight months. Regardless they were intrigued by it.

This service attending made me want to learn Hebrew really badly. Also, knowing Hebrew and Arabic would allow to make a real difference in the world (imo). Although I didn't come to Morocco to discover my spiritual/religious side, I wouldn't mind if I was able to discover what I want from religion while here.



Oggi la mia amica ed io siamo andati al servizio di Shabbat . A Marrakech . Era fantastico . Dopo il servizio, il rabbino ci ha invitato a casa sua per cena Kiddush . È stata una bellissima esperienza . Il rabbino , sua moglie , suo fratello e suo figlio erano tutti alla cena . È stato bello stare con un gruppo di persone che condividono la tua stessa fede, ed potere condividere la sera con loro.
Io non conosco molte storie da Torah ... e così oggi ho potuto imparare un po di piu!

Ero molto contenta al servizio , a parte il fatto che non capivo il l'ebraico . C'era un grande gruppo da Israele , che era stava visitando il Marocco perché molti di loro sono nati in Marocco, ma poi le loro famiglie si sono trasferiti in Israele . Abbiamo parlato con una donna che è nata a Tetouan e in seguito si e trasferita in Israele . E 'stato interessante ascoltare il suo punto di vista sul Marocco.

Questo servizio mi ha fatto venire voglia di imparare l'ebraico. Inoltre, conoscendo l'ebraico e l'arabo permetterebbe di fare una differenza nel mondo. Anche se io non sono venuta in Marocco per scoprire il mio lato spirituale / religioso , non mi dispiacerebbe se potessi scoprirlo durante il mio soggiorno a Marrakech