The insh'allah and mashi insh'allah of working in Morocco

Today marked the success of my first completely organically created project during my Peace Corps service. Here's the very long process of how it happened.

So, about 2 months ago before my parents came, I suggested to the Moudira of my Neddi Neswi that we do a "decor" (decoration) project which would involve painting murals on the walls of the classrooms. She said "inshallah" after the construction work (that had been going on for weeks) had been completed in the Neddi.
I came back, two weeks later, and probed the idea again she said, okay, yes, insh'allah after the work was done and then showed me paint and brushes that I could use in her office. Supplies! A step in the right direction.
Then I successfully convinced the girls that we should have a "girls club", first session of which was a nutrition class that was held about two weeks ago. Then last week after I came back from my IST (In Service Training) with Peace Corps, I mentioned to the girls that maybe we could do the painting for the next session of girls club. They were mildly responsive and I insisted that if they didn't want to do it we could do something else, but then they said that they did really want to do it. So I said okay on Thursday (of last week) we'll start and in the mean time they should find a few girls that can draw well to do the outline for us.
I came on Thursday and asked if we were going to do the painting and one of the sewing teachers said the girls really want to but Bouchera (the girl that draws well) wasn't there. They said insh'allah she'll come tomorrow or maybe Monday. With only a week left of the Neddi being open until summer vacation (during which the Neddi is closed until mid-way through September), I felt kind of hopeless and thought that it probably just wasn't going to happen (especially since Bouchera isn't a regular attendee of the Neddi).
So on Friday I come about an hour later than normal to the Neddi just to check and see if anything had happened... and as soon as I walked in to the classroom all the girls asked me why I was late and pointed to the wall to show me two giant outlines of flower designs that had been drawn there. (I was almost at tears at this point, actual initiative being taken by the teacher and the girls when I hadn't been there it was great).
So today I went and got them the paint from the Moudira and helped them prep the colors by showing them how to mix paint and held a short lesson on how to mix the primary colors to make other colors such as green, purple and orange. Then about 10 different girls participated in painting the mural at various stages and the sewing teacher helped them with painting techniques.
While this was happening they started talking about how they want to do a larger one on the adjacent wall and in the other class rooms. THEN the preschool teachers came in and asked if I would help them in the fall to do paintings in their class rooms.

The last... errr 6 months?

So... I took a temporary leave from the blogging activity. However, recently I decided to get back into it after realizing a blog would give me material for the book that I plan to write about my Peace Corps experience if all else fails later in life. So, now I'm back, and am insh'allah here to stay.

Life in Peace Corps Morocco has been well... very Peace Corps-y and very Moroccan. The terms that are often used to coin our experiences here are "if it was easy it wouldn't be Peace Corps" and "if it made sense it wouldn't be Morocco." Those two sentences pretty much sum up my life for the past 6 months.

While still going through the "adjustment phase" (I think the chart that PC gave us when we first got to country says that ends at about the one year mark?). I've spent about half of my time here super motivated, trying to integrate and trying to get work done in site and the other half adventuring across Morocco and relishing in time spent with other PCVs who seem to be the only people who can properly empathize about our shared experience.

Work wise... things have been interesting. So, my Dar Chabab closed, which was suppose to be my focal point of work as a Youth Development volunteer. The question of whether or not there was enough work for me here and if I needed to change sites was on the table. This was a bit frightening since I had spent the last 4 months in site getting comfortable, integrating, and adjusting (harassment had been going down and names and faces were becoming familiar). The thought of having to do that again was daunting. However, the Dar Chabab closing was pretty much a blessing in disguise because it forced me to put more effort into finding work elsewhere. I ended up finding work at my Neddi Neswi (woman's center) and Dar Taliba (kind of like a boarding school for girls from more rural sites). Even though I am still doing a bit of English teaching/tutoring at both of these locations I am also doing work that I find a lot more enjoyable like a girls club at the Neddi in which I've done nutrition lessons, art projects and will be doing a "spa" day. However, it's about to be summer in the Sahara, which means EXTREMELY hot and everything shuts down here, so I'll be out of work until September, which is okay because I plan on traveling.

I've also been able to explore a lot of Morocco in the past few months, including visiting other PCV sites, doing work related things in other major cities across the country and just being a tourist and enjoying leisurely travel to many of Morocco's popular tourist destinations. Also, my parents came to visit so I was able to show them a bit of my life here.

It's only June and already 100 degrees in site, so if I don't write again for a while just assume that I've melted.