Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda, Here I Am at Camp Granada

Im back from camp. It was interesting. A few months ago when I went to Ourzazette for an English Teacher Training I came back to home with a refreshed view of life here. (Ourzazette is very touristy, with chic cafes and bakeries, a plesent square to hang out on). The same thing has happened now that Ive been gone to camp for a week.

I was in camp in a nice costal town. The center where we slept and conducted some of the camp activities was right on the river. You could see the tides coming and going each day. It was really cool. The center was nice and kept clean while we were there.

There were two other Peace Corps Volunteers that worked the camp. Both of them ended up getting sick and throwing up. The kitchen staff said it was probably the tap water and that all the foreigners they've had there have gotten sick off of it - a great thing to be told after drinking the water for 4 days straight. Right then I started drinking bottled water and the leg aches and night chills I had experienced the past few nights went away. I was so glad I never threw up or anything.

The center also had hot water all the time - and it never ran out. I think I showered more frequently while at camp than I ever have since coming to Morocco. It was nice.

Our part of the camp was to teach English to the kids and have them work up to performing a small theater skit. It was long and hard at first, but in the end each group put on a pretty good theater skit. It was nice. Each afternoon they'd usually do something with the Moroccan camp staff - field trip to nearby towns, walk along the river, walk around the town where we were staying. It was nice. Each night they'd turn up the music, play thier drums and dance and sing until pretty late.

We found a cool juice making place near the center so the three of us Peace Corps Volunteers would often go there and hang out.

Camp was not like I thought it would be, but it was effective and the campers had fun. I was so tired by the end of camp. Then, of course, I had to travel for 7 hours to get home.

When I finally got home I made some pasta (how irronic since I was so tired of eating pasta at camp - but its all I had) and climbed into bed. I pretty much slept from that afternoon until the next morning.

Its nice to be home. I have a new view of Morocco and of the village where I live. Its good to be home but it was nice to be away for a while.