Teaching English and computer is turning out to be both frustrating and a lot of fun. We have an old computer at the neddie, and all the Microsoft info is in French. No printer. So I have one girl/woman on each side of me, explain a few things, and then they take turns keyboarding. Some are catching on quite quickly and that's so cool. Word is there is a good chance we will have internet in town, perhaps as early as March (Hurray!!) so I am sure that will increase the interest/demand for learning computer. I understand there are 2-3 computers at the high school, and that it is. Rural Morocco, what can I say? So I do six hours of computer, and now 3 hours of English. Then I have abourt 3 hours a week of learning Arabic. Trying to work in a couple hours a week for aerobics. Then in between, we are doing community mapping, which is having all the girls/women at the neddie identify the three most important places to them in town, then later, the three places they go the most often, then I'll talk to them about a seasonal calendar (what happens when, other than religious holidays) and their daily activities (so I have a good feel of who is available when to work on a potential project). THEN comes the needs assessment, to use a matrix and determine what they believe is their priority of needs. I'm sure that will prove to be very interesting. Hope to have that completed by first of April, then choose a project, do the S. W. O. T. analysis on that (see previous blog) and by my in-service training the first part of June, be ready to report on it, come back, and start working on it. All things move very slowly, and a lot because of my language incapability.

A friend asked about religion, and Sundays. Sunday is just another day of the week. Since the country is 99% Muslim, they don't do church. They pray 5 days a week, seven days a week. But most of the professional type businesses (banks, govt, etc.) work a five day week. In my town, there is no bank, but there are city government offices, post office, and they are closed on the weekend. The neddie is closed on the weekend so I am not expected to work. There are, however, training sessions in my current cyber town on weekends which I might attend occassionally, and am considering doing an aerobics class once in awhile on Saturday mornings.

I do not use the local post office, as I receive my monthly living allowance from Peace Corp there. It's called a mandat, and it's like a check that you cash there at the post office. Everyone in town would know how much money I had, which is not a good idea, as although I don't get a huge amount, it is still quite a bit compared to what the locals yet. I wandered off the subject a bit there, but did want to mention that in my community based training town the first two months here, I stayed with a family who were very respectful of my religion and didn't try to push Islam on me at all. When I first arrived in my present town, there was same subtle and not too subtle pressure, but by know they pretty much know I'm firm in my own beliefs.

I am not yet totally accustomed to the "unwanted attention" but understand and accept it. I grew up in an environment that had little/no cultural diversity, and so when I saw a black person, of course I stared. So it is with people here. Very few whites, and most of them French. So the American in town is quite something to look at and talk about. I dress differently (although modestly. modest is not just making sure you don't show cleavage, it's making sure you don't show your sternum!)my hair is not only showing, it's light colored and short. I walk for exercise. (Getting thumbs up from truck and taxi drivers...which means the same here as it does at home...but they sometimes narrowly miss hitting me!) People here are various shades of black/brown; when I ask which Fatima someone might be referring to, sometimes they'll clarify by saying the black one, which means one who is really dark.

I'm in Marrakesh tonight, enroute to Rabat for my Volunteer Advisory Council meeting, as well as a dental (cleaning) appointment. It's an hour taxi/bus ride from my town to Kesh, then a 4-hour train ride to Rabat. But it will be fun to get together and air our gripes about things.