Zions Hill

Well, i dont have anyting specific to say. im pretty much trying to kill time before dinner.

this weekend was a great one. on sunday morning - sunday is supposed to be our day off but it hardly turns out that way - we went to a park with some of the youth from the 'house of youth'. we went to the source of some springs we have in our little town. its a pretty cool place but the springs dont run much these days - especially since the water bottling company moved into town.

anyway, we walked to the spring park and played games in preparation for an activity the youth have planned later this week. we had allot of fun playing all the different games. kids came from the park to watch us and this nice lady even joined in. turns out she speaks a decent amount of english and is a teacher in a neighboring city. she was really fun. she wanted us - peace corps trainees and youth from the town - to come to her shool and play the games with her students.

after we were done in the park some of us walked the long way home. it was great to see the outer parts of town and get a different perspective on things.

today has been a busy day. we had class this moring, then went to the market to buy veggies and fruits for lunch for the entire week. like always, we run into people we know in the market. its great. then one of our training directors came and met with each of us.

when we started talking about site placement - like where ill be assigned to live and work for the next two years i told him that would like to have a larger site - maybe a small city or something. other than that i dont have many requests. it can be hot or cold and i wont really care.

after the interview i went home and did some lanudry - by bucket - again. it was nice to get that out of the way. when i got home my dad asked me if i had already eaten and i said that i had.... about 10 mins later my brother called me from the bathroom - where i was washing my clothes - and told me to come eat. they had food ready for me anyway.

i live with a great family and i love and appreciate them. my dad is anxious to have all the other trainees and our teacher over for tea someday (how do you say 'when is a good time for my friends to come over for tea?' in Moroccan Arabic?). Morocco has great mint tea and everyone dirinks it all day long - except for me. i abstain from the tea. i usually dont even drink soda but lately my mom has been getting 7up for dinner and i have some of it. its good. oh yeah, this morning we had apricot jam on bread for breakfast and the jam was AMAZING. holy cow it was good!

My sister left for college Sunday morning. Saturday night we had a party/dinner thing at our house. it was an interesting experience for me. for the most part women sat in one room with the little kids while the men sat in another room. before dinner was served a washbasin was brought around with some soap for each of us to wash our hands. we did it while sitting at the table which was new to me. then the food was brought in, then when we finished the first course we had the next course. to finish it off we had fruit. after we were all done the wash basin was brought back in again and we washed our hands again. only this time the two guys in front of me slurped a little of the water out of their hands, swished it around their mouths then spit the water into the basin. i was kinda weirded out by this - because i had never seen this done before. i didnt know if it would be ok if i didnt wash out my mouth so, sure enough, when it was my turn i washed my hands and swished water in my mouth then spit it in the basin.

i was totally relieved when the basin passed to the next guy. only as i sat back into my seat did i notice that i had spilled some water all over my lap! it was great. so i sat there with wet spots all over my pants while the guys talked and talked.

my host grandpa was there. i had never met him before. he is a really great guy with clear brown eyes. it was nice to meet and mix with extended family. the neighbor girl - who is a cousin - was there with her little brother and they love hanging out wiht me. to be honest i enjoy hanging out with them too.

anyway, things are shaping up really well around here. the past few days have been warm and pleasant.

today i learned that the public showers - they have both public baths (hemmam) and public showers - are very near my house. i think ill stop by in the next few days and soak in the hot showers. (unlike the hemmam, public showers are private, you pay then go to your own enclosed shower and proceed as you like).

im really excited for this opportunity to be here among such amazing people.