Boredom and Ramadan

I call this time in my Peace Corps experience Absolute Boredom. I haven't really posted a lot lately because there really isn't much to report. Since Ramadan has started my life has been boring. I try to find things to fill this time but it is hard to fill it with cleaning, watching movies, playing games, surfing the net, etc. I just get bored quickly. BTW if you don't know what Ramadan is check it out here.

I think when people told me before that Peace Corps volunteers have a lot of down time I didn't believe them. I thought that we would have so little time because we would be doing our jobs. But the truth is that our jobs are sometimes seasonal, and when we do go into work it is not an eight hour day it is more like a college professor: go to the class you set up, you have "office hours", and then with the free time you play games with the kids(well my professors never did that but maybe yours did). 

With the month of Ramadan no one comes to the Youth House (where I work). They are either traveling, in their homes with their families, playing soccer or helping with chores. So it makes it difficult to just do my job when no one even comes. Also almost all the stores are shut down because no one wants to work in the heat with no water or food. So they go home and sleep. I think they are smart. This makes it difficult to do normal everyday things like buy food or pay bills. Strangeness it seems rules my life.

So in turn we are in our house trying to make it through the heat and the boredom. Sometimes it is difficult to stay completely positive. 

Here is a list of the things I miss and think about the most when I am bored:

Canned Food

Microwave Dinners
Frozen Pizza
Starbucks
Parks
Movie Theaters
Driving a Car
24 Hour Stores
24 Restaurants
Being close with family and friends

Community, Cooking, French, Kids and Religion

I have been a Peace Corps volunteer for close to a two months now. I hope that this blog gives you an idea of some of the things I am experiencing here in Morocco.

A few thoughts:

-Community is important here and everyone knows your business (sometimes before you do)
-Kids are kids anywhere you go. Here it is a progression to slowness with boys. From going crazy everyday doing things that mothers in America might discipline their child for like jumping on the back of moving trucks. Then they get old and stand on street corners just talking. Then a little bit later in life they end up in cafes watching football matches. Slower and slower.
-Cooking takes a lot longer here because we have to make everything from scratch but that is not a bad thing.
-The French language is very important here and I feel disadvantaged because I do not know it
-Religion is a big deal to most of the people here in Morocco, but most people here cannot understand the religious text they are following. (It is in a different type of Arabic.)

Much love and more to come.

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