Week 6 :( :(
From the very beginning, Morocco has been nothing but nice to me! At the airport, when I was waiting to be picked up because the taxi driver didn’t show up, this Lady offered to take me in for the night. Just the offer meant so much to me, because no one does that in the U.S.
I’ve gotten into cars with random strangers and surprisingly didn’t die. I made friends with people just by sharing water with them. A shop owner saw me staring intensely at some fruit and he gave it to me for free. I’ve had people chase me down to give me back change (because I could never figure out numbers in arabic). Even on my last day, I still got told “Welcome to Morocco”.
I can’t assess if I have made a difference in my students lives, but they’ve definitely had an impact on mine. Their kinds words and positive energy inspire me to be a better person. I’ve had students do things from inviting us to their house for lunch, to taking the pins out of their hijabs to make sure my hair is properly covered, to giving me their abaya so I could go pray Friday prayer in congregation. Even though we could barely communicate with each other using words, their actions spoke louder than words ever could.
Now, I’m not saying there weren’t rough patches, there were lots of those. Even on my last full day in Rabat, I got stalked by a creepy guy and he wouldn’t leave me alone. I didn’t have clean clothes to wear for the last week I was there. I can count on one hand the number of times I got served snack with my family. But even after all that, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.
Why? Because I have never had so much fun in my life or felt half as happy any other time. I am thankful to the people who told me to stick with this and I am proud of myself for making it. I really thought I was going to leave after that terribly rough first week. Staying and surviving Morocco has been the best experience ever! (and I would love to go back someday, iA).
*Note: iA means if God wills, and is used frequently after every uncertain future event.
My last lesson
Some of my amazing students, three of them have been there since the very first day I started teaching :(
One of the rare occasions I found the streets of the Old Medina empty (at 5 am)
At the National Library…everything was in Arabic or French, and there were only two shelves of English books!
Kinza,
ReplyDeleteIt has been a joy keeping up with all of your posts. I'm so happy that Morocco has had a positive impact on you. You definitely did make an impact on your students, even if you can't for sure "measure" it. They will remember you for years to come!!
You overcame all of the hardships (no matter how small/trivial they may seem now) and you have become a stronger, more well-rounded person. I like to think that you not only learned about another culture, you learned about yourself. Not many people can say they have had an experience like this! Best wishes to you.
Tammy