The Land of The Beautiful Confusion

Things that influence Morocco to make it what it is today. 
Arab
Spanish
Mauritanian
African
Berber
French
Media (Globalization)

Languages Spoken
Arabic (MSA)
Darija
Tarifit
Tashelhit
Tamazight
French
Spanish (In the North)
and more

Conclusion
Beautiful confusion

Early Mid-Service Freak Out

I think I had my mid-service freak out early. Times get hard and you don't know what to do. There were a couple of times which I was trying to blog about it on here but I am sure my Peace Corps supervisors would have probably called me. Actually I still have them saved as drafts. I figured that if I woke up the next day then I could post it but my feelings were the same but the next day I felt quite the opposite of what I was feeling the day before. So I didn't post them but I think I figured out mostly what it is.

The roller coaster of emotions is the think that I believe I have the hardest time with. In one day's time I feel like I am so excited to be here and do what I doing and in the next hour I feel like trash and wonder what I am doing here. It's funny it seems that there are no in between emotions like a calm happiness or a little anger or a slight misunderstanding. In my opinion, when you are in a tense situation like this every emotion you feel are magnified times three. To be honest I don't think I have a very difficult job its just everything else. Teaching is the easiest part about Morocco. Trying to communicate with people is most difficult. The middle stuff is like trying to constantly figure out what in the world people are doing here or acting a certain way etc.

I would say the second hardest thing is the difference between boredom and extreme activity. Sometimes I have nothing to do at all. So I try to fill the time with doing random things. Other times I will have so much to do it is extremely overwhelming and I feel like I am going to implode.

Some things that have helped be with my early mid service freak out:
packages
Seinfeld, The Office, Parks and Recreation
Dr. Who, Star Trek, Curb Your Enthusiasm  
skype conversations
other PCV's
Tanie
trip to Agadir for my birthday 
my upcoming trip to London
my sister coming to see us
upcoming In-Service-Training
summer time
Tiberius

All this to say is that it feels great not to quit and make it on the other side of frustration and all those other extreme emotions. I feel more confident because of all of it. I feel like for me that is the best thing I could gain.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Matt

Tiberius the Turtle

Tiberius is my turtle. He is named after James "Tiberius" Kirk (Yes the Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise) because he is a little explorer. We got him from our Arabic tutor. He is very cute and he been with us enough that now he has a personality. He does things like constantly staring into red lights and hiding in toilet paper rolls :) I have never really been much of a pet person myself (well a dog or cat person) but it seems this is a pet that I will enjoy having.

Pros:
Super cute
Small
Eats flowers and weeds
Does not bark or meow
Sleeps almost all day
Hypo-allergenic
His head goes in is shell
Poops a tiny little bit
Gives us happiness
Good practice of having a real kid

Cons:
Does not snuggle
Might out live me (some live over 100 years)
Could become the size of a small watermelon
White pee
Might get salmonella from the shell


So you can see there are many pros! I was really bored I thought you would enjoy meeting my turtle.