Je suis tres fatigue.

We went to Casablanca today, Josh and I, with a friend who's a professor at ILCS. We had a bbq with some friends, then drove around the city, got a coffee (I love all the cafes in this country), and tried a wonderful fruit drink called a panache. Casablanca is about an hour away from Rabat, and we got to drive through some countryside, too, which was gorgeous. Spring is finally in the air, and I am LOVING the sunshine.

Other than that... hmm... life is life I guess. A routine is beginning to form. Very different from my home routine, of course, but a routine nonetheless. This week coming up is full of school assignments, quizzes, etc. Blech. Motivation is hard to come by these days. A classmate and I are preparing a presentation about the issue of beggars in Morocco... very interesting subject. We actually tried to go out and do some covert photography/interviews with some of the local people who ask for money. The results were slightly crazy at times. :)

French classes are going better these days. I'm starting to be able to read things half-decently, and to understand some basic conversation. I really want to learn the language, not only French, but Moroccan Arabic (Darija) as quickly as possible. I want to be able to ask my host mother about her day, and to converse with the little children that play fotbal and dolls outside the door of my house and give me kisses when I come outside.

And... tonite as we were jamming in the car on the way back from Casa, I realized that I do miss the car a bit. I don't miss driving everywhere necessarily, but I miss singing at the top of my lungs on the way home from work in the evenings. There's no place to really sing here, unless I want people to look at me strangely. Guess it's ok if they do... since I think they do anyway.

That's enough for tonite. Buh-bye.

I'm sitting in the smoking lounge at the school, ILCS. No I haven't taken up smoking, but the Internet connection is better here. :) I'm listening the chatter around me, enthusiastic voices in Darija and French, with some English words thrown in here and there. I love the mix of language and cultures here, at the school. There are students from Japan, from Korea, from different parts of Africa... and almost everyone knows at least 3 languages, I think. Except me... but French tutoring starts on Friday so I hope that will help. I'm pumped about learning French, because with French and English I think it'll be easier to communicate almost anywhere in the world. Today I have one class: Intercultural Communication. Should be an interesting class. Most of the classes here meet only once a week, some maybe twice. So that's different too. I'm trying to adjust my thinking to scholar mode again, after a week of feeling like I am on vacation.

The weekend was really good. I went with my friend, Salma, to her house. We slept in, went shopping, and... lots of fun stuff. On Sat. we went to a party, a traditional party they have for a new baby 7 days after it is born. Lots of food, dancing... good times. We wore the traditional clothes, which I can say the name of but can't spell. But they are beautiful... handmade and intricate. I wasn't expecting to dance, really, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. :) Also... we walked around more of Rabat. I will never forget the ocean at night... never. Let's see, what else... I ate an omelet w/ peas. I bought stilettos. I shopped in the Medina.

More later... it's classtime. 

I'm sorry.... I said I would post pics but I'm much too lazy... most of you have facebook anyway, so I'll just put photos on there.

I always tend to make vague-ish new year's resolutions, which are sometimes fulfilled and most often are not. However, last year I resolved something really specific, and I kept it! (for the most part, at least). We've all heard the saying "you learn something new every day", right? I wanted to prove it to myself. So every day (almost) I wrote down something that I learned. I wanted to share a few with you.

Today I learned...

January 3:  ... that immunizations for hepatitis B are expensive.

January 14: ... that "wherever you go there are very good people, very bad people, and all sorts in between."

February 16:  ...that beta fish survive up to 4 hours in winter temperatures. (this was learned by experience, my poor pet Packy...)

March 9: ... that sometimes a good breakfast and heart-talk with a trusted friend is more uplifting on a Sunday morning than the most pious sermon.

March 12: ...that calling in sick isn't gonna kill me.

April 5: ...how to shoot a double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun.

April 20: ...how to shoot an AK-47 (WOW... all this weapon learning... I have lived in the states too long!)

May 4: ...that if you issue an invitation to a person, they cannot remain unchanged.

May 13: ...that a semester's worth of college notes adds up to a lot of paper.

June 9: ...that there is something very redemptive about sitting on a curb eating pizza.

June 26: ...the difference between a cappucino and a latte.

July 27: ...that even some hymns are syncopated.

August 18: ... a gripping line from from "Phantom of the Opera"'s Christine: "Am I to risk my life to gain the chance to live?"

September 8: ...that in 1787, our "founding fathers" committed "treason" and totally restructured the governmental system.

Sept. 15: ...how to REALLY ride a horse.

November 1: ...that in Indonesia the punishment for possession of marijuana is the death penalty.

December 2: ...what happens when you overdraw on your checking account.

Ok, so it doesn't look like I learned a lot of really profound things in the past year. But maybe that's because the really profound things take more than a day to learn. You don't really realize that you have learned them until after the fact.

Anyway, I also wanted to mention that this site might be getting more usage than normal in the next half a year. I'm going to try to post a blog/pictures of my time in Morocco, fairly regularly. I am leaving in a little over a week. Keep me in your prayers, if you can. I am slightly nervous about it all. :)

Xanga (and facebook) are the best forms of procrastination that exist. It's midterms-ish time, and though my workload isn't too crazy I do have two exams on Monday that I should be prepping for. If anyone has helpful insights into game theory or the differences between monopolistic competition and oligopoly, they would be greatly appreciated. Social work students as a whole despise economics, I believe. Maybe we're too idealistic to care about the intrinsic workings of the business world.

It's an amazingly beautiful day in central PA. Autumn is such an inspiring time of year. Suddenly the leaves are 50 different shades of flame-colors and the days are crisp and clear. I love to walk through the campus and observe everyone in their different styles of autumn fashion-ness. It's so nice this week that I want to be outside all the time and feel a bit panicky sometimes cuz I'm afraid it's going to be winter before I get the chance to enjoy fall. I think this comes from living up north for so many years where the fall season was about two weeks in length. Mom keeps reminding me that down here we have a bit longer to enjoy it.

Life continues to be full and fun and stretching. And hard to summarize in little xanga paragraphs. Grrr.

Quote of the day:  "Even nice people have shadow sides."  -Dr. Paulus

Today was a lazy summer day, one of those days where I am always amazed by how much time I can kill doing nothing. I didn't really talk to anyone all day, and towards evening found that I was holding conversations, out loud, with myself in the car. Slightly creepy. It is time to go back to work tomorrow.

This weekend is my last in Lancaster county, already. Summers are always in fast forward, seems like. It's been a lovely summer. I discovered that God provides the funds for not only my needs, but also my "wants." Hence this summer held an adventurous trip to Chicago, some good beach time,  and a sweet road trip up to what is still the dearest place in my heart. There was also a good week at Camp Andrews, some fun nights in city cafes, and lots of other good times in between. I will miss it, but also feeling the need to move on, and especially to get back into a real schedule again. Altho I'm sure a week or two into the semester I'll be groaning and wondering why I didn't enjoy my off time more. Always greener grass... ah well.

Dienners, my weekend restaurant job, is overflowing with tourists right now. I enjoy interacting with people and seeing where all they come from (sometimes I even like answering the classic "Are you Amish?" questions). But wow, it gets crowded. I've been meeting a lot of French people, and they tell me that Dienners is advertised in their popular French tourist guidebook of places to visit in the US. Since they don't really advertise at all locally, I think that's pretty funny.  

I did accomplish one thing today... bought textbooks for all my classes at a fraction of the price the university bookstore was asking. I actually tried out ebay, too, which I never do. I think I made a bid on a book in pounds, or whatever currency they use in the United Kingdom. Hmmm....

Classes for the fall include:

Human Behavior and the Social Environment * Child Welfare * Economics * State and Local Government * Drug Education * and then 1 credit hour for university choir. Good times... tho I've heard scary things about Econ.

And because there always has to be a quote:

"Real knowledge is to know
the extent of one's own ignorance."
Confucius