After months and months of planning, having meetings, emails, tea and coffee, the 2012 Science Fair Competition grant has been approved and is now online! Back in June I began to think of ideas for my last project as a Peace Corps volunteer, (PCV). At first I wanted to do something for Earth Hour, which involves people around the world turning off their lights for one hour to save electricity. Then I moved on to trying to find more international environment-type days. Finally I decided to try and tackle the idea of a science fair. I met with my counterpart, Mohamed, director of the American Corner in Oujda, about the science fair idea. I had done some initial research going in to the meeting and just pitched the idea. I knew that Mohamed would probably be my best bet as far as finding a counterpart for this project because he loves contests! I have been to a few events at the American Corner and they were mainly all competition based. He just loves them. It also doesn’t hurt that he speaks English. We wrote 3 goals for the project and went from there.  Moving along, I spent the summer researching science fairs, how to coordinate them, emailing my fellow PCVs, in my region to see if they would be interested in getting their communities involved.  Here is a synopsis/summary of the project and it’s goals.  The 2012 science fair competition is a first for many students in the Oriental Region of Morocco. Under the theme “Environmental Problems in Morocco and Ways to Combat them,” students are encouraged to explore the scientific method and try to solve real world problems through hands on experience. The goals of the project are: 1. Provoke students to think and act consciously about their local and global environments; 2. Gain public speaking skills to effectively communicate what they have learned; 3. Have fun, meet new people and make new friends. Students will use their reading, math and science skills to create projects and presentations that will address this year’s theme and goals in a creative way. Projects will include short plays, videos, display, boards and PowerPoint presentations. We will be using local venues (schools, youth centers, association buildings, etc.) to host both the local and final competitions, as well as the assistance of several local associations, clubs and ministries. Along with Peace Corps volunteers, these local associations, clubs and ministries will assist in the organization and implementation of the project from beginning to end. A committee will be set up through the Delegation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in order to ensure sustainability for future competitions. A resource guide and manual will also be created to assist both Moroccans and Peace Corps Volunteers with future competitions. By working with Peace Corps Volunteers, we hope to bring new learning opportunities to smaller communities and give participants a venue where their efforts will be recognized. Thank you to all the other PCVs and Moroccan counterparts who have helped with this project!!! I’m very excited and looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.  You can donate at the following link. Please and thank you! https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=378-178 

*WARNING: There are some photos that contain blood……* How can I put into words just how amazing Shuksgiving was this year!?!?! For all of you who have forgotten what Shuksgiving is, it means Thanksgiving. Some volunteers have just decided to “Americanize” some Arabic words, and one of those words is “Shukran” which means “Thank you”. We took “Shuk”, added an “s” and boom, you have the Arabic equivalent to “Thanks.” Now that probably really isn’t the word at all, but I love saying “Shuks”, and some kids in my site even say it when talking with me. I find it hilarious. There you have it, “Shuksgiving.”  It was a 100% couple of days with some awesome Peace Corps volunteers and Moroccans. It might have been the ultimate cross-cultural experience. Allow me to explain. I’ve never slaughtered anything in my life, let alone my own turkey for Thanksgiving. So when I got to my friend Nicole’s village, Ouled Ali, and she said “Hey we are slaughtering Bob at 6pm”, I was to say the least shocked and very excited! Since we and by “we”, I mean the Americans, did not know how to do such things, we had a Moroccan come in. Johnathan, Nicole’s site-mate had his host brother, Ahmed help us out. Is it weird to say that it was a bit “normal” for me to see something like an animal slaughtering? Two weeks or so prior to Shuksgiving was of course l3id Kbir, in which every Moroccan family slaughters their own sheep. l3id Kbir is the celebration of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son. So needless to say, I am used to the blood and guts by now. It was just fascinating to see it done to our turkey, Bob. Now I can say that I know how to not only slaughter a turkey, but also how to d feather it. Every opportunity is a learning opportunity!  Our turkey, Bob. Thank you Mr. Turkey for your 18 kilos of meat! (18kg=36 lbs).  Nicole and Ahmed getting their work on d feathering Bob. Ahmed really helped us out by basically taking care of Bob and getting him ready for cooking the next day. He split the turkey in half and cooked one his style and we took the other half and cooked it at Nicole’s house. So that was Wednesday.  Thursday was the BIG DAY! It started off with me checking my phone to see what time it was. It was around 7/7:30am, definitely time to go back to bed for more sleep, except for the fact that Nicole was wide awake getting ready to cook our half of Bob. She woke Colin and I up and said “Come on, get up, people are here, get up!!!!”. Her voice reminded me so much of that of my mom’s, waking us kids up early to just try and get motivated for the day. I started laughing and complaining, but she was right, people were here. Colin and I needed to get dressed; Colin did, I didn’t. So I met three new volunteers with a coffee-stained shirt on. Hey, it was cold!  After some delicious harcha (Moroccan cornbread), and coffee, it was time to really get motivated and start my apple pie! Colin was very helpful (as usual) and brought in a table for me to roll out the dough and a nice bottle of Jameson to act as my rolling pin…HAHA! After the pie was sent off to bake at another location, the real party started, and by party I mean the start of listening to my “Workout Mix 3”, over and over again. Let me just say that by “workout”, I really mean dance party in my house. You have been warned.  Workout Mix 3: Move Your Body- Beyonce feat. Swizz Beatz Till the World Ends- Britney Spears Get It Right- J Lo On the Floor- J Lo feat. Pitbull I’m Into You- J Lo feat. Lil Wayne Gossip Folks- Missy Elliot Give Me Everything- Pitbull feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer) Rabiosa- Shakira feat. Pitbull E.T. -Katy Perry Let It Rock- Kevin Rudolf We weren’t exactly counting, but I’m pretty sure we listened to this mix about 12 different times. The people want what they want. The true gem of this mix is Britney Spears’ “Till the World Ends.” Who knew that several chest thrusts could inspire a Peace Corps volunteer team warm-up before a soccer game with some Moroccans OR that you could do these chest thrusts just about anywhere? You can’t deny it, Britney has got skills, whether musical or whatever, she is a master of the business.  Check out the video below:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzU9OrZlKb8&ob=av3e Don’t worry though, there was TONS of food being prepared among st all the dancing.  As in true Peace Corps fashion, we tried to pull out all the stops. First step was slaughtering Bob, second step was busting out some from scratch goodness (i.e. pies, muffins, biscuits, soup, stuffing etc.)  The fixings: sweet bread, rosemary bread, mac n’ cheese, mash potatoes, stuffing, cornbread stuffing, gravy, meat balls, pomegranate sauce (substitute for cranberry), and sweet squash (substitute for yams or sweet potatoes).  The two sides of Bob :)  Like I said before, this might have been the ultimate cross-cultural experience, one worry of even putting on our VRF (Volunteer Report Form), that we each have to fill out each quarter. We had Moroccan friends help with the slaughter, in turn teaching us some things about the trade, PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) cooked the food and shared the meal with our Moroccan friends AND we all had an epic dance party afterwards. We ate dinner at this AWESOME jit (hotel), where Nicole’s friend Abdelallah was kind enough to not only let us use his kitchen but even let some PCVs spend the night and use the hot shower!! Before the dance party started, I was talking to Nicole’s friend Hassane, and he said, “Socorra, I really like your culture, American culture. Do you know why?” Hassane told me that he liked the fact that boys and girls, men and women interact together and that it’s normal. I took a second to look around the room where everyone was just hanging out, talking and dancing and turned to Hassane and simply said, “These people are my family, they are all my brothers and sisters.” I didn’t know what else to really say in that moment. I realized how lucky I was and I also realized that it was the first time that a Moroccan told me that he or she liked my culture and gave me a reason. It was so cool. Probably my favorite part of that whole night was explaining to Hassane what a “dance battle” was. As we sat back and watched, I realized how weird this must look to someone who doesn’t speak English and doesn’t know all of our customs. I mean think about it, people dancing somewhat aggressively towards one another, looking very crazy. I could understand the confusion.  I’m not going to lie, I’m going to miss Peace Corps versions of the holidays, especially Thanksgiving. While during Christmas people tend to go on vacations and become dazzled with presents, Thanksgiving is different. Thanksgiving is all about family and friends…..well and the food of course!  I was feeling a bit or maybe very homesick before Thanksgiving. I realized this as I was writing a Christmas song which turned out to be a bit sad. I thought to myself, “Damn Soco, I think you are homesick.” I don’t remember feeling this way last year. It could have possibly been that I was still on a high from experiencing  my first l3id Kbir, seeing my entire stage for a week during IST (Inter-Service Training), revisiting my old CBT (Community Based Training) host family outside of Ouarzazate and the anticipation of eating; that it covered up the whole homesick feeling. This year was a bit different. I’m on the cusp of being done with my Peace Corps service and like a crazy person, I have a huge project to finish still. So I’m a little stressed, confused about the future and trying to savor all the rest of my time here with my Peace Corps family and my Moroccan family. It’s all starting to become very bittersweet. I suppose all of this led up to becoming homesick. Thanksgiving just seemed to fix everything, even if it was only for a couple of days. No one talked about work, there was no negativity, only dancing, eating and spending time with each other. It was perfect and I will miss it very much.  Group shot (apologies for the bad quality).  Day-after Thanksgiving tacos! 

Check out the Socorra C. Music BandPage on Facebook!: Check out some of the songs I have written during my Peace Corps service in Morocco! 

Hola everyone! I hope you all are doing well. Inchallah (God willing). Since my last entry a couple of things have happened. First and most exciting was my show at Cafe Clock in Fez last weekend (October 15th.) Aside from needing an amp and a mic, it was so much fun! I definitely could have used some amp-action due to the fact that we were in a restaurant on the main floor……BUT still, hella fun. I must say thank you again to all the PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) who made the trek up to Fez. I know it is far and then very far for some of you but from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! Your support means the world :) Also, I gotta thank my buddy David Freedman for stepping to perform some covers and originals. He is a truly gifted musician and I hope to get a couple of more jam sessions in before our Peace Corps service is over with. Finally, Cafe Clock for hosting the event and dealing with crazy volunteers AND making a kick-ass menu that was even laminated!!!! So awesome :)  I’m not going to lie and say that I wasn’t nervous…..I’m always nervous. I believe I told everyone that I was really nervous. Hands were sweating and knees were shaking, the whole nine-yards so to speak. Then something crazy happened, I stood up out of the “musicians corner”, strapped on my guitar (we’ll talk about the guitar strap in a second) and just started singing. I opened up with one of my favorite originals “Home”. I wrote this song during college when I was supposed to be studying haha. Actually most of the songs I wrote in college were during a time when I should have been doing something else but I just couldn’t concentrate, so I would write a song or just a line down and then return back to whatever it was that I was supposed to be doing. After “Home”, I moved on to sing more originals, most from the album that I’ve been working on during my service called “Rough Cuts from da Bl3d.” It was awesome and although some of the songs were only half-done, I decided to sing them anyway. I thought, “Why not?” Any who, it was just a magical night for me. I felt pretty damn confident singing up there.  Of course I had to add some covers like “That’s All Right, Mama” by Elvis Presley and even tried to tackle “Someone Like You” by Adele. So all in all the show was sooo much fun and I definitely want to go back again before I leave, inchallah. I even got another gig out of it! Hopefully I’ll be performing at the English Language Center in Fez!  Aside from trying to get my rockstar on, I’ve been working on a sort of huge Earth Day science fair project with the awesome volunteers in my region. I must say a quick thank you to all of them who have decided to join me on this crazy ride!  A quick overview of the project to be inchallah: Middle/Jr. High school students and High School students from 7 cities will compete. Each city will have a local competition where only one group from the Middle/Jr. High division and one group from the High School division can win. Each group is a small group of 3 students. The students will work to create projects based on the following theme “Environmental Problems in Morocco and Ways to Combat Them.” The winning groups from each city will advance to the final competition in Oujda (big North-East Moroccan city.) The final competition will take place April 14-15, 2012.  My personal hopes for the project are that students get to be creative, voice their opinions and feel like they are being heard. Youth are the future of Morocco, so I think it’s important to give students different opportunities to express themselves, especially opportunities that can really help dynamic and visual learners.  Knowing that this is a strange idea to most students, I’ve tailored the method of presentation (i.e. display boards), to be more in-tune with what Moroccan kids like doing already, plays and videos. I’m going to assume that most students are going to put together a play, which is awesome but some, perhaps High School students will put together a little video, either way I’m very excited to see what students come up with. Hopefully at the end we’ll have some great prizes for the winners!  Keeping with the science fair, last week I met with the Delegate of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Oujda to discuss the project. I had my awesome Regional Manager, Amina there AND my Moroccan counterpart, Mohamed. It was great to have support from both angles going into this meeting. I really felt like we had a solid presentation, though I hardly spoke haha. The Delegate really seemed to love the idea and got excited enough to add his own personal association to the mix of partners, even stating that we could get t-shirts made! And you know how I love t-shirts! So things are looking pretty positive on the Oujda front. My mission now is to just concentrate on working in my site and my souk (market) town to get students interested and involved in the fair. Easier said that done fo sho but I have met great school directors and students who seem to be very excited about the prospect of going to Oujda. So we’ll see.  Aside from the science fair, my sitemate and I are working on a world map mural at the dar chebab (youth center). It’s going very well. Students are excited and come to paint each day. Some have even started saying (in English), “This is Morocco, This is the United States, this is Australia, which is just awesome. For a geography nerd like myself, this is awesome! I love maps, my house is pretty much decorated with maps haha. So to be able to share my love and knowledge of geography with students has been awesome. My sitemate and I plan on doing some activities with the map, the one I’m most excited about is “Music of the World”. This activity would most likely be a listening party and perhaps getting some videos to expose students to different types of music!  Like the title of this entry states “Now I’m busy?” With 6 1/2-ish months left, damn. Everyday I have something to do that involves work, whether it is writing the grant for the science fair, meeting students, school directors, teachers, making photocopies, painting etc. I’m busy! It feels awesome and at the same time, I feel very unprepared, almost as if I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be busy haha. Sounds weird but maybe it’s just a PCV thing. It’s rare that we feel productive in an “American” sense and so I think when we find ourselves in these busy situations, we are excited about it and confused all at the same time.  Well I think that’s all for now. Like I said I’m writing a grant to help fund the science fair. There will be a link on the Peace Corps website where those of you who can/want to, can donate. I’ll post that link A.S.A.P.  Check out www.facebook.com/socorracmusic for photos from the Cafe Clock show. I’ll post videos to www.youtube.com/socorracamposanto when I have faster internet :)  Peace! 

  I found this article in the August issue of Essential Magazine. At first I was attracted to the story simply because I was in Spain on vacation and one of the cover stories was about camel trekking in Morocco. So of course I flip to the article and read it only to discover that the craziness of transportation and randomness that is being in Morocco is not unique to Peace Corps Volunteers.  Please let me share some of my favorite sections of this article with you:   1.       “To describe the adventures that befell the photographer Kevin and myself on the frist part of our journey would take an extra couple of articles. The shortened brief overview included just avoiding a car crashing outside Algercias, cancelled ferries in both Tarfia and Algercias, torrential rain, catching the last ferry to Cueta (it may have been 70 kilometers from Tangier and still in Spain but at least it was North Africa), crossing the border into Morocco in scenes from a Terry Gilliam movie (and I’m sure there was some dung flinging involved), a truly terrifying 90 minute cab ride from Cueta to Tangier courtesy of the Maghreb’s answer to Fernando Alonso, rocking up at the Gare du Tanger to be told that the sleeping compartment with no door or heating, while the teenager in the next compartment played Lady Gaga and French rap on her mobile in an endless loop. It would be somewhat of an understatement to say that we were relived to arrive in Marrakech, although even that wasn’t without its problems. Events were unfolding in Cairo and Tunisia, and we had been warned to look out for riots and general unrest in the city. Although, it you have ever driven through Marrakech, you’ll soon realize that general unrest is the normal order of things”.   2.      Description of their guided tour through the Marrakech medina: “Be warned- it’s an assault on the sense with noise, colour, bustle and an underlying faint smell of dung and urine”.   3.      While in the Djemaa el Fna square in Marrakech, Ibrahim their tour guide says “You know the best thing about this 17-year old hooker that is bringing down Berlusconi? She’s from Morocco!”.   4.      Once on their journey to the dunes, Kevin the photographer wanted to wake up in time to catch the desert sunrise. Bobo, their tour guide says “Don’t worry, we are Berber. We live by the sunrise”. Just before sunrise the following morning, Kev and I were the only people up and about, setting the cameras for the shoot when we heard a cough. A half asleep Bobo came out of his tent, rubbing his eyes and lighting up the first cigarette of the day. He looked up and saw us and, obviously surprised, ducked back inside his tent. Later, over coffee and mint tea, Kev said to him “I thought that you said that you were Berber and that you live with the sunrise”. “The sunrise? Said Bobo parking up another cigarette “Pah! We have seen it many times!”.    5.      Bobo asks his guests if they want to meet his girlfriend. She is “a young Belgian bohemian backpacker”.  “She’d come to enjoy the desert experience. Judging by her slightly disheveled state, I concluded that Bobo was providing one.”     Desert Stomer! -Giles Brown August 2011 Essential Magazine   If you think I made this stuff up……think again. After reading this story I felt relieved to know that it wasn’t just Peace Corps Volunteers noticing these things about Morocco. Others are noticing too and it just makes me laugh. And I just say to myself “Oh Morocco”.  *Photos courtesy of bencollinsphotography.com* 

Well it’s time for Ramadan 2011! I’m in site and about to break fast with my neighbors in like 20 minutes. I love breaking fast! Aside from the always present “Mr. Awkward”, the food is delicious and observing the Moroccan family dynamic reminds me of Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Case in point: Yesterday I was at my neighbors’ house breaking fast. Two of the six children weren’t there. I’m not sure when they are coming. But anyway, the family decided to call each and wish them a Happy Ramadan or “Mabrook Ramadan”, basically meaning “Congratulations!”. The mom, we call her “Nana” left each son a message. This reminded me so much of my Mom because she didn’t really seem to understand when to start the message or when to stop. There were long pauses in between as if waiting for someone to pick up the phone on the other end. I laughed sooo hard! But so did the rest of the children……so it was okay. We all laughed. It was great.  We proceeded to watch the traditional Ramadan shows which are great because they are in Moroccan Arabic (Darija). Last year I hardly understood a thing. Not only were the actors talking way too fast but I just didn’t understand the cultural context of it all. Even things like body language…….or Moroccan sign language, I didn’t get it. Last night, I got some of it! It was great. I was laughing with Moroccans and not laughing because I was trying to not feel left out. But laughing because I understood. I understood the language (well most of it), I understood the cultural context and I understood the Moroccan sign language. So that was fun.  After eating some AH-MAY-ZING potato thing, drinking a couple of cups of tea, a cup of milk, some juice, eating some dates, slurping down some hiraria, I was STUFFED!  ——————————————-Breakfast time!—————————————————— Okay just got back from my neighbor’s house and lovely breakfast :) So good!! And at most times, too good…….But any who, where was I? Oh yes, talking about what happened yesterday. So yeah after eating and watching some TV, I went outside to jam on my ukulele. It was awesome! Gotta love jam sessions with anyone, anywhere :) I started teaching two of my neighbors some of the chords but I don’t know many myself. I’ve only been playing for a couple of months lol. It’s been going really well and I’m bringing it to Spain. I’m hoping to make some money singing on the ferry across haha. Inchallah.  But yes, my usual Ramadan activities of late night music, TV and cards with the neighbors are right on track. Tomorrow I plan on blowing the kids minds with a new card game……”Old Maid”? lol. They already know “Crazy 8’s”, “Egyptian Ratscrew” and “Speed”. Gotta keep the games simple though, one because of my language ability but also because of the abilities of the kids lol. I should probably bring my tennis ball also…..FYI my usual toys that I bring anywhere in Morocco: a deck of cards and a tennis ball.  Even though I’ll be gone for a week or so in Spain, I’m still getting a good helping of my last Ramadan in Morocco. Crazy to think this is the last one. And I’m not sure what the future holds, therefore I don’t know if I’ll ever be in another Muslim country, able to see Ramadan first hand. But I’d say that two Ramadans is pretty good for someone who had never experienced one before. So if I don’t post again for a while, I just wanted to say thank you to Morocco for showing me what Ramadan is. Thanks to everyone who welcomed me into their homes to break fast :) I truly appreciate it!  -Mabrook!!-

Apparently Nick is showing old TV shows from the 90s! Damn I wish I could see this……again. 

I think this post will be a random one but who knows, I may find my thesis somewhere in the middle haha.  It’s harder saying goodbye twice. By this I mean that I just got back (or rather a week or so ago) from Paris! I had an amazing time and met some new friends which is always fun! But above all else, I got to see my dear dear friend Karen!  Karen and I have been friends for what seems like forever but closer to about 10 years :) It has been an amazing ride with her and I’m so lucky to have her in my life. Before I left for Morocco to join the Peace Corps, I KNEW it was going to be hard to say goodbye to people. I knew that. Of course I knew that. BUT at the same time I had been used to saying goodbye to people and not seeing them for a long time. I would think of it as “see you later” rather than “goodbye”. It must have been my childish way of coping with the sadness. And truthfully it still is. I don’t like goodbyes. Who does really? So therefore “see you later” makes it easier for me.  More than a year ago I left California and came to Morocco and have been here ever since aside from random mini-vacations to Melilla (a Spanish enclave in Morocco) and to Brussels for Christmas, well and now Paris. Other than that, I have been in Morocco trying to understand this place, figure out where I can make my stand, make new friends both American and Moroccan etc. To say it’s been 100% fun is STUPID! haha. It’s definitely been a pain in the ass about 40% of the time but then again the other 60% of the time its been a blast getting to know a new place, new people and new things about myself.  So any who, all these things have obviously changed me in ways that maybe I don’t even know yet but perhaps in ways that Karen had noticed? We didn’t talk about it and to be honest we just slipped back into our routine. It felt like we were never apart for the past year and a half haha. It was AMAZING! It was comforting, it felt like home, it was happy but at the same time it was incredibly sad. Probably more for me than Karen. As I’ve said to others on the phone, it was weird that I was going back to this life I have in Morocco and Karen was going back to California to start her new life at Chapman for grad school. The way we were interacting was as if we had come to Paris together rather than meeting up. I’m not sure if this is making any sense. Is it? I guess email me if you have questions haha.  What I’m trying to say is that it was much more difficult to say goodbye to Karen this time around than the first time. I don’t think I showed it and I don’t think I realized it until I got back to my house in Morocco and had to deal with a snake lol. I miss people back home :( I really do.  I miss being up to date with my friends and family more so than I ever thought I would. I thought I was good at being away from people and I still am compared to others but after seeing Karen, it was a shock! It made me sooo happy and then sooo sad. Life really is a rollercoaster.  Don’t get it twisted though, I’m still enjoying my time in Morocco for the most part. The prospect of new work with the American Corner in Oujda is awesome, potential guitar lessons in my site and not to mention I love the new volunteer friends I’ve made. And to be honest some of my best days are playing cards with the kids. It’s enough for me sometimes. For other volunteers, maybe or definitely not but for me, it is.  There is always a TON of talk about what the hell volunteers are doing here and what the point of all of this is. And it’s hard to admit that we don’t really know. I definitely am not sure what I’m doing here sometimes. We tend to measure ourselves by our achievements, by things we can count and see tangible results. And for some letting go a little bit of this condition is VERY difficult. It certainly has been for me.  I’m not one to be late to things or not show up at all. I’m no one to let people down. But here I feel like I do and it’s okay to lol. Let’s just say going back to America is going to be a bit difficult. And I still like being on time and “walking the talk” BUT at the same time, in my short time on Earth, I’ve really stopped to smell the roses. I’m 24 years old and have grown up in America where it’s GO GO GO GO GO, send an email, send a Facebook update and GO GO GO GO.  In Morocco my life is pretty SLOW SLOW SLOW! The adjustment has been INSANE! And at times has not gone so well but still it’s going. I sort of like that at my age I have noticed the roses. I enjoyed sitting outside and just hanging out back in America but I don’t think I never really looked at my surroundings.  But now I can sit outside, not even waiting for a ride or anything, and just admire my surroundings and take it all in. My site is beautiful. The way people interact in my site is beautiful. I love going for a walk in the morning and seeing a neighbor in the field and saying hello and then getting a lunch invite or some free food straight from the field lol. It’s amazing!  Well this entry is very random indeed but I think has come to some sort of circle, no? To sum it up, I miss all of you back home! I’m enjoying Morocco and looking forward to the last 9 months or so of my service, and the unusual “cool” weather for July (knock on wood). 

Let’s just let this entry be about the music :) As some of you know I just put out a new video series on my youtube page (www.youtube.com/socorracamposanto) called “The Rain Chronicles”. I’m VERY proud of these videos haha. I keep talking about them because I’m surprised by the music that came out in a 6 hr time span.  The power went out, it was raining in my house and I was laughing at myself and my life these days. What better way to put all that frustration hidden behind laughs than to write some songs! I wrote these in my favorite way: improv. I love writing improv! It’s sooo much fun and I feel like it’s more real than trying to sit down and write a song. I’m sorry but for those you who think that you can just say “Today I’m going to write a song” and try to do it, it WILL NOT be your best work. Song writing is an organic and random process. You can’t force it.  I find that some of the best work has been while just sitting with my guitar, strumming some chords and just singing. Or even just singing to myself in my house or riding my bike. No pressure with the pen and paper. It just flows like some mad rap from Wu Tang or the Roots.  So yeah I took my guitar and wrote “The Rain Song”, completely improv and I don’t even have a copy of the lyrics written down. I’ll have to watch the video again to write them down. I couldn’t have planned the video better with the power going in and out either. So funny!  I wrote “Lullaby” sort of based on my new niece, Olivia. I was imagining what my cousin and her husband are feeling right now with their new little girl. And really what my mom and dad were thinking when I was born. AND when I see all the women in my neighborhood and all their children what they could be thinking too. I have to admit I thought it was weird after I got done recording it and watched the video again. I was thinking to myself, well that’s an interesting song to write Socorra. You’re first “lullaby” of sorts. I did sing a song with my other niece, Shelly to try and get her to take a shower but I don’t know if that qualifies as a “lullaby”. I just remember laughing REALLY hard during the video. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaG9yejiwmA  Haha good times, anywho…… The next song is “Untitled”. I’m not sure what to call it yet but I needed a name to put when loading the video. I REALLY like this song, the words and music. And actually the other day I was watching The Office and started singing the song and ended up writing two more verses. Hopefully I’ll record those soon. The episode of The Office had NOTHING to do with the song but that is what happens to me. I’ll be doing one thing, completely unrelated and just starting writing music. Let’s just say that most of my notebooks in high school and college were about half notes and half random lyrics. That’s why I haven’t really thrown away any of my school papers. There are hit songs hidden in the pages!!!  Well I guess that’s about it. Just a random post about my latest music adventures as I sit in a cafe drinking shitty coffee and using their fast(er) internet. This is the life haha.  Peace! 

So I started this post a couple of days ago but for some reason or another it didn’t save which is a total bummer because I had some good material going in that one. Oh well, on to this newer edition! This past week I went to Rabat to get my mid-service medical stuff taken care of! I was excited because it meant that I could get this ear problem that I’ve been having taken care of. What ear problem you may ask? Well it’s sort of nasty but I think I’ll tell you all anyway :) Plain and simple: EAR WAX! So much so that it was interrupting with my hearing ability, although in the bl3d of Morocco with men, women and children always yelling, I’m not so sure it was a totally bad thing haha. So yeah over the course of however many months I guess the wax has just been building up and building up so much that whenever I woke up I could barely hear anything. SILENCE! I though oh shit I’m going deaf in Morocco and shit is really going downhill for me. But no I was just freaking out but it did hurt for a while.  At first I thought I was getting an ear infection because I used to get them a lot as a kid but since my little brother isn’t around to pass germs to me, I thought hmm how could it be? But no ear infection just a bunch of wax build up from my ears trying to protect me from Moroccan elements I suppose.  So I went to Rabat and my doctor used a giant syringe filled with warm water and proceeded to flush out the wax from both of my ears. It felt soooo weird, I got pretty wet but eventually the wax came out and I felt soo amazing!!! Like a brand new person haha. I thought oh shit, I can hear again!! Thank God :)  Aside from cleaned ears my physical went off without a hitch. I’m a 100% with no signs of even one cavity! Amazing. Just amazing. I was sure that with all the cups of tea, cookies and being on the road that my dental health was in the shit hole. But actually since being in Morocco I have increased my dental hygiene regime out of fear lol. I guess it paid off!  Rabat was amazing and every time I go there I have a bit of culture shock. Men and women seem to interact more freely than anywhere else in the country, perhaps maybe Agadir but I have yet to be down there. There are so many different restaurants and people but yet it feels more sophisticated than Marrakech and Fes. I love it!  Let’s see besides having a clean bill of health and my network TV shows ending their seasons lol, “work” has become a little different. Once again the definition is changing and re-defining itself and so am I. You have to in order to survive here. Right now I’m focusing on getting back into it with the kids in my site, playing games and whatnot all summer…..well not all summer but for a good majority I think. Also I’ve been getting some work with the American Corner in Oujda.  The American Corner is an organization in Oujda which works with the US Embassy and some other local organizations/associations. They work to promote good relations between Morocco and America and also work on cultural exchange. Yesterday I went to an event where a Professor from Columbia in the US gave a presentation on how “Birds are Living Dinosaurs”. It was so cool! I felt like I was back in college again learning and discussing about evolution. It was awesome :0 Afterwards there was a Q&A session and then the closing ceremony for a crossword and sudoku(sp?) contest. The event seemed random but at the same time really fun. It’s this mix of events that I love about the American Corner. Another great part is that you meet Moroccans who are really interested in what Peace Corps does and how our lives in Morocco differ from them in America. The funny thing is that these are city Moroccans and they find it so weird sometimes that volunteers live in small villages. They don’t know how we survive and sometimes I don’t know either.  But we make new friends and contacts and it’s a great networking environment. I’m looking forward to going to the American Corner more and more and participating and doing a couple of musical performances!  Well since May is almost over (can’t believe it!), I’m looking forward to summer, not because of the heat but because of vacation haha. Since schools will be out it will be more difficult to get people together to work though I still have hope for my medicinal plant book of my site.  In July I’m going to Paris to see Karen!!! Karen is a long time friend from high school and college :) In August I’m going to Spain during Ramadan with some other volunteers so that should prove to be an excellent time. Also 4th of July at the beach is planned which just makes sense in my bones :)  I suppose that’s all for now. Oh but I would like to let everyone know that my “Rough Cuts from the Bl3d” album is coming together quite nicely. The other day I sat down and tried to organize what songs I have already and I have about 20! Now most of them aren’t complete haha but they are a start. I’ll perhaps start recording some this summer and will be releasing them on my myspace and other social network sites soon, so be ready! Peace, Socorra 

Sorry that I have not posted in a while. I could make up a ton of excuses as to why but to be honest I haven’t really felt like it and I sort of have been forgetting. But any who here is a story to hold you all over until I actually sit down and write down some new stuff. That post will be soon I promise!  I wrote the following article for a newsletter that another volunteer puts out. A Whole New Morocco….One Year In By: Socorra Camposanto Environment Volunteer 2010-2012     I’ve been in Morocco for a little over a year (13 months to be exact). I came to country in March of 2010 and since then I have been inundated with information that I don’t understand. Everything from culture, language, gender roles, transportation, food etc, was all different and new. And over the past year I have come to grips shwiya b shwiya (little by little) with the differences between Morocco and America, the good and the bad.   I live in Guefait which is a fairly conservative community about an hour and a half south of Oujda in the Oriental region of Morocco. Women tend to stay in their homes doing the usual housework, cooking and taking care of the children, while the men work outside tending to the fields.  Since coming to Guefait I have made a lot of friends in my neighborhood, mainly little girls. We all sit outside of my house and play soccer, sing songs and they tell me about their days. After a little while I began to notice that the age range of these girls who I hangout with were between the ages of 5 and 13 years old haha. Girls who are 13 and over seem to just hangout and watch but never participate. So for the past year I have been used to girls being this way and since I don’t spend much time in the city, this is all I knew and could reference to. Even when I lived near Ouarzazate in the south of Morocco, girls tended to act the same way.   This all changed when I worked Spring Camp just this past week in Figuig. Figuig is about 6 hours south-east of Oujda near the Algerian border. It’s a beautiful place where the people are mainly Berber and speak Tamazight. I would definitely recommend hitting up Figuig if Morocco is on your travel list!!! See the picture below.   Anyway, back to the girls of Figuig. I expected girls to act the same as they do in my site and could not believe how wrong I was! First of all, everyone in Figuig seems to have bicycles and rides around everywhere. This is very different from my site where although we have a paved main road, few people have bicycles. I think I am one of the few people in my site who rides his or her bicycle around! Seeing all the kids riding their bicycles reminded me of something out of the Sandlot and a sign that summer was soon approaching. I loved it!   As I said before my experience with young women in Morocco has mainly been with the timid and shy type but not in Figuig. These girls are fisted, sporty, hangout with the boys, speak their minds and wear clothes I’ve never seen other girls in Morocco wear. Of course no tank-tops or shorts but they definitely seemed to have a style all their own. Two girls in particular probably between the ages of 15-17 years old, the first couple of days were rocking trucker hats backwards and playing volleyball and football with the other kids and Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs). I didn’t know what to think but here were girls that I could relate to a little more, girls who rocked a tom-boy style and who liked playing sports. No one looked the same, even the veiled- girls didn’t act quite as I expected and maybe this had something to do with being at camp but still, the change was awesome!     Many times I find it difficult to connect with young women in Morocco because on the surface we don’t seem to have anything in common to use as conversation starters. Plus I can be loud and crazy and most young Moroccan women and girls that I’ve met are the complete opposite of me. Not to say that there isn’t something deeper there but it’s just hard to get to and sometimes I never do. But here I was in Figuig where these girls dressed more like me, talked more like me (although in Arabic/Tamazight), acted more like me etc. And although I am 24 years old and these girls are 19 and under, I felt more of a connection with these girls than I ever had before in Morocco.   One night during camp I called a good friend of mine, Jackie, who was doing camp in Ouarzazate and we talked about how camp was going and the kids etc. She had kids from Rabat and Casablanca coming down to Ouarzazate for camp and she talked about how much of a culture shock it was for her because they were city girls and Jackie lives in a small Berber community and speaks Tashleight (another Berber language). I told her about the girls in Figuig and we both agreed that it was a whole new Morocco for us. A year in and we are still finding out new things about Morocco every new place we travel to.   Another girl I met, Meriam who is 17 years old told me that she wants to go to university in Rabat to become a sports teacher. I told her, “Wow Rabat is so far from Figuig” and she said “But that is where I want to go. They have good programs for sports teachers there.” She also told me about wanting to go to an English speaking country like America or England to improve on her English but that her mother won’t let her go. She had a look in her eye that she was going to keep trying to change her mother’s mind and that hopefully sooner or later she was going to get her chance.   And right there is one of the most interesting parts about Morocco. Just when you think you’ve seen it all in a culture that seems very homogenous all over the country, you find these differences and of course you notice them right away. I’m not saying that conservative quiet girls and young women are bad or boring, no not at all, but it was nice to see another side of women in Morocco. Since gender roles are very important in Morocco it was interesting to see the girls of Figuig and try to imagine how their lives would turn out in the future and if they would keep their spunk, curiosity and courage. I certainly hope so J   A view of the southern part of Figuig and in the distance behind the mountain, Algeria. Photo courtesy of Ina Boatwright, Small Business Development Peace Corps Volunteer in Figuig.        

On March 2, 2010 I arrived in Casablanca, Morocco. It was windy, a bit overcast and I remember saying that it reminded me of Santa Cruz, CA. We got our bags and made our way outside where two buses were waiting to take us to Marrakech which is about 2 hrs away. Right outside the airport was my first introduction to Morocco. There were men waiting outside near the bus to help us with our bags and in exchanged they wanted HELLA money. I remember a guy asking for 20 dollars and I just laughed. I wouldn’t give someone 20 bucks in the States unless they did more than put a bag under a damn bus. Right away these men were calling us cheap Americans and blah blah blah. I didn’t really care and I just got on the bus. I sat next to a future training mate, Mina, who didn’t seem too interested in talking to me at all. I even seem to remember her not really liking me and probably thinking I was just being annoying. I was just trying to make conversation. Little did I know I would turn out to love this girl haha. Weird. We got to Marrakech and of course had tea and it was HORRIBLE!! Now I’m not Moroccan but I have had my fair share of tea here and some is awesome but this Marrakech tea was awful!! It was salty and I was not a fan and afraid that this very very very popular tea was going to ruin my life with its nasty taste. I was wrong. If anything it has increased my love for sugar and probably ruined my nearly perfect dental records…..sorry Mom and Dad :) So skip ahead to March 2011. In a year’s time I have learned so much, I understand a little bit more and a little bit less about the world, gained appreciation and pride, been offended and judged beyond my own belief and seen kindness and generosity that I thought was lost in today’s world. Of course it really isn’t that easy to sum up a year but here are some key points for me: 1. Americans who aren’t from California are still pretty damn AWESOME! Meeting people from all over the country has been amazing and has sparked my interest in touring the States when I return.  2. My training group mates: Steven, Anton, Mina and Colin are some of the coolest people I’ve ever met and I was so lucky to have been put in a small 500 person Berber village outside of Ouarzazate with them. 3. Just because my water shuts off every day or sometimes doesn’t come on at all doesn’t mean my life is over. This one is key because I moved into my house last July and there were days when I had no water. No one in my neighborhood did but still kids would be sent from other peoples’ houses to bring me water. Now while I would automatically want to hoard and conserve the water I have, my neighbors gave, gave and gave! 4. Adaption is key to living in this world. I don’t mean just the Peace Corps world either. BUT I must say that I may not have learned this lesson that well if I had not joined the Peace Corps. Everyday something happens, I show up for a meeting and no one else does. I get stuck having tea and dinner when I just ate. I end up saying yes to something when I don’t really understand haha (this happens A LOT!!!). Every time something goes wrong you have to try and adapt to the new situation. I’m not saying this is easy, if anything it’s the complete opposite. I’m not one to let people just offend me and not say anything. I’ve walked down streets in Morocco so angry that I could punch a hole through a wall but would rather hit a person. But I haven’t. What good would it do? It would make me feel a hell of a lot better but really, what good would it do? So I’ve tried to pour my anger into something else: my music. Thus far it’s sort of working haha. 5. Good friends and priceless. 6. You have to have an outlet to release whatever feelings you have pent up otherwise you will burst! 7. There are assholes EVERYWHERE in the world. 8. My host family in Idlsan, Morocco are some of the BEST MOST AMAZING people I’ve ever met. Generous to the max and loving beyond belief. These people went from never meeting an American to having a strange one live in their home and making me feel like I wasn’t such an outsider, that I was really a part of their family. I will FOREVER be greatful to Idlsan because they remind me that there are still really genuine people in this world and that you can find them in the little corners. 9. What is “work”? The American definition is very different from the Moroccan definition. Work ethic is something different too and it is a constant frustration and reminder of how weird the world is. This is one of the biggest lessons that I’m still learning and probably won’t ever really understand. You have to find that line between you and them and how you can work together with people who are different from you. How to do you all get something done when you aren’t on the same page. Well maybe you aren’t on the same page but you have to at least be in the same book. I never knew that all that group work we did when we were kids in school would amount to me living in a small village in Morocco haha. Funny. 10. Shwiya b Shwiya (little by little). The phrase of a lifetime for me. Everything is little by little. Living in Morocco and trying to adjust and be accepted and function is little by little. I’m getting this tattooed when I get back home. FYI. 11. My house leaks, it’s cold as HELL in the winter and hot as HELL in the summer but I’m still alive. Relax every once in a while and really look at what you have versus what you don’t. I do have clean running water, electricity, a roof over my head, fresh veggies (amazing!) to eat, great neighbors, my guitar etc. I have a lot of stuff here and I’m learning to be more and more thankful for it every day. So any who, those are just a few and I’m sure I could come up with more. But mainly you just learn to still live your life but just in a couple of different ways haha. Now it’s unrealistic for me to say that just because I’ve learned these things that I won’t forget a little when I get back home. But I think it’s safe to say that I am forever changed since living in Morocco and I’m hoping that I can take home some really important lessons and memories when i do get back home. Change is hard for anyone, especially someone in their mid-20s who barely knows anything about the world haha. But I’m trying and I think that’s all you can really ask for. I’m having my coffee, sitting outside and I’m trying to just live my life to best that I can :) Notes: 1. Mom try not to cry when you read this. 2. I miss and love everyone back home! 3. I’ll be updating my picture blog on picasa soon! Peace, Socorra

*WARNING THIS POST IS MAINLY ABOUT FOOD. IT MAY CAUSE HUNGER* Now this is probably only in the United States but that is what makes the U.S.A. amazing. We celebrate popcorn!! And my love and admiration for popcorn has grown exponentially since moving to Morocco. I hope that it doesn’t turn into hardcore resentment by the end of my service. But right now, it’s like my new best friend. Let me tell you why: 1. Cheap 2. Easy to cook and quick 3. Versatility in flavor combinations  4. GREAT party snack or personal snack So since moving to Morocco I’ve developed these interesting snacking habits. It may be because I want to limit the amount of wrappers from cookies and chips I have but also money. Don’t get me wrong, given some basic money management skills, no volunteer should go hungry. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to have some money stashed away for a rainy day. Either way, I splurge mainly when I’m with other volunteers, usually Colin and Joe and we have our dinner get-togethers.  Back to snacking habits: right now because of the season, Tangerines!! OMG they are SOOOO delicious here. I do not know what it is but Morocco does citrus right! Thank goodness. So I go through about 3 kilos/week (6lbs) lol. Why? Good price and delicious. I mix it in with bananas. Always gotta have my bananas. Peanuts because I’m either looking to try to make another batch of peanut butter or I just want to eat them straights. Either way, delicious! Popcorn!!!!! and of course, one of my favs. I eat popcorn almost everyday and when I’m not, I’m eating peanuts and tangerines. Heck sometimes I just eat them all together and have myself a little fun snack-time with a giant bottle of water! Haha.  So hmm….what else do I eat….not just snacks of course. But I will say, I do love snack time. Even at a Moroccan’s house. Snack time is EPIC! It’s usually a spread of tea (and maybe coffee), peanuts, bread, olive oil, fruit, butter etc. You have to be careful and try to not fill-up on snacks before dinner or you’re screwed! They will tell you to “Kuli, kuli kuli!!” or “Eat, eat, eat!!”. And listen, I’m a good eater, ask my Mom but even I get SUPER full and it’s very difficult to say “no” to a Moroccan when they are feeding you.  My other meals include: soups, chilies, egg sandwiches, Peace Corps Mac n’ Cheese (Laughing cow over some macaroni), homemade pizza, burgers (no cheese *epic sad face*), spaghetti, rice (and if I make soup and it’s too spicy I just put the soup over the rice to act as a curry of some-sort) and of course Moroccan food. But truthfully, I don’t eat Moroccan food that often anymore. Not that I don’t like it because I do and some I even love but I LOVE cooking. Ask any of my friends from Merced, I love it! It gives me something to do, it’s fun, it’s therapeutic, creative and delicious (well sometimes….).  Anywho, the real point to this blog post was to celebrate National Popcorn Day and to give a birthday shout-out to the Queen of Southern Cooking and one of my all-time Food Network favs, MRS. PAULA DEAN!!!!! If you don’t know who she is then shame on you because you should. She is funny (if you’ve met my mom, Paula Dean and her are sort of alike), she makes bomb food and is not afraid to use butter and in fact LOVES butter. So happy birthday Paula Dean!!!! 

So if you’re like me, you have paper EVERYWHERE! And you don’t even know it until you decide, “Hey my house is a mess, maybe I should do something about that.” And by “mess” I mean that my coffee table has crap all over it. So I gather the papers and try to make a nice pile but I end up throwing away half of those papers. Then I just get on this cleaning kick and start going through ALL the papers I have.  This happened to me last week. I ended up filling up an extra box with old scrap pieces of paper, everything from envelopes to “to-do lists”. In keeping with my recycle-kick and desire to not burn as much trash as possible, I decided to make NEW paper! JIGGA WHAT!?!?! Let me explain: 1. Gather old paper, non-waxed 2. Soak paper for 1/2day to a full day 3. Rip up paper scraps (can either be done before or after soaking) 4. Use a blender or a mortar and pestle to create the paper pulp.  5. Fill your basin about 1/2 full of water. Dump the pulp into a basin where you can submerge your paper frame. You can use an old picture frame for this and tack on some mesh. I made one with scrap wood.  6. If you want to make your paper “ink-ready”, then you’re going to have to make liquid starch. To make liquid starch just take 1T of cornstarch and dissolve in 1/4c of cold water. Bring 3/4 cup of water to a boil. Mix cold mix into hot mix and let cool. Then add some of this mix to your basin. 7. Submerge your frame into your basin and let the pulp settle on top of the frame, pull the frame out and let drain.  8. Use either felt or flannel for this part to prevent the wet paper from sticking to the fabric once pulled out of the basin. So after you’ve pulled out your frame, use a sponge to squeeze out the extra water and then place the felt or flannel on top.  I don’t have any flannel or felt at my house but for some reason I do have this shammy thing that you would use to dry your car and it soaks up water really well. So I’m just using that. Once the fabric has been placed on top, I also use an old manual and place that on top. Then I flip the whole thing over and carefully peel off the frame. Now you should have a wet piece of new paper on the fabric, let that dry. Depending on how hot it is outside, the drying time may vary.  Then BOOM! You should have some new paper. Use a frame according to the size of paper you want to make and also try mixing different papers to get the color, texture etc that you want. It’s an experiment so have fun!!!

*Posted a little late….* 11/29/2010 It’s not about the turkey, it’s not about the stuffing or the gravy or the mash potatoes or the cranberries or the pumpkin and apple pies (although all of these are very important and oh so delicious), it is all about FAMILY! And never in all of my Thanksgivings has one been so important as my first one in Peace Corps.  Peace Corps has its fair share of ups and downs. Its fair share of crazy, happy and sad and as one of my close friends said “It’s great having something to look forward to”. And I had been looking forward to Thanksgiving for months! Literally, waking up and getting super excited because it meant that we were one day closer to the FEAST! If you haven’t figured it out yet, I LOVE Thanksgiving, it’s my favorite holiday. Why? It’s simple really, Thanksgiving isn’t about gifts wrapped in shiny paper (though I like getting presents and I like Christmas). Thanksgiving is about family and friends getting together, feasting and just being thankful for one another. I LOVE it! Well, I love eating but I love being with family.  The process of putting together a Peace Corps Thanksgiving started with an idea to get a bunch of volunteers together from the Oriental region to celebrate. Then this invitation extended to one of my best friends whom I’m so so so so lucky and grateful to have in Morocco with me, Jackie Shay, amongst some other non-Oriental region volunteers. Basically Joe, Colin and I invited our family lol. It was great.  Thanksgiving day is ALWAYS crazy and I learned that no matter where you are, if you’re celebrating Thanksgiving, it’s going to be crazy. Be prepared :) Let me just give you the run down of the process of preparing the feast: 1. I made tortilla chips, hummus and banana-walnut bread on the day before Thanksgiving. 2. I get to Joe’s house around 1p on Thanksgiving day. 3. After hugs, I meet Colin in the kitchen. He has started laying down foil on the cookie sheet to cook the turkey. 4. A couple of us make a run down to get some last minute items from the marche in Jerada and especially BUTTER!  5. I pop a beer open and start helping Colin prepare the turkey with butter, salt, pepper, garlic and some special spices Joe had in his house…. 6. Turkey in the oven, we take a break and munch on some hummus, chips, peppers and carrots and banana bread. Snack time! 7. Steven starts on his yams and cranberries. 8. Martha starts on her green beans and corn (bomb!). 9. Jackie makes HELLA mac n’ cheese. 10. I think Martha and Jackie both made AMAZING brownies.  11. Cynthia had already made the pumpkin pie and mexican wedding cookies ahead of time (we feasted on those after stuffing our faces). 12. Turkey is done, tastes soooooo good! And Steven has the amazing idea to just put the stuffing on top. Brilliant. Just brilliant. 13. Anton makes his garlic mash potatoes!! 14. EAT!!!! We had a little ceremonial turkey cutting, me with the knife and everyone around staring with moved eyes. No one was really hungry because we had been snacking all day but it wouldn’t really be right if we were hungry. Thanksgiving is about your stomach hurting sooo good haha. It was just such a lovely time. Just lovely. Drinks, great food and amazing friends who are now my family. Family is such a strange word because the boundaries of blood really have no meaning. What it really means to be a family is to respect, care and love each other. The volunteers I spent my first Peace Corps Thanksgiving with are AMAZING people! I’m so thankful that I have gotten this opportunity to get to know these people, become friends and in the midst of a crazy volunteer life, we have together as a family, managed to pull off a truly momentous Thanksgiving!!  The happiness everyone was feeling was erupting from their faces each time they took a bite of food off of their plate, bowl, tupperware lid or tupperware (we had limited dishes to work with). It was one of my best days in Morocco and I miss it all the time. Can’t wait for next year!! Here are some photos from that night. *The food!!* *The family, from left to right (Colin, Cynthia, Martha, Steven, Erika, Jackie, Joe, Anton and Me)*   *The after affects of Shuksgiving. Martha was already passed out. Time: approx. 9pm* *All photos courtesy of Josh Bernard (http://joshbernard.smugmug.com). Thanks!!* It was an amazing amazing time! Thanks everyone :) Love, Socorra

11/6/2010 *The beginning of this entry is straight from a scratch piece of paper. I just felt the need to write but didn’t have my journal.* Right now I’m sitting in my old room in Idlsan, Morocco. My first two months in country were spent here, learning Darija, the way of Morocco via culture and customs and even things such as transportation and how to order coffee. At the time it was a crazy two months. feeling trapped in my own head with no way out. Days were spent in confusion whether it was by language or culture. I hardly understood anything, could barely speak and felt overwhelmed by the entire experience of Peace Corps in general. At the end of April 2010, I set out for my new home, Gafait. Gafait is way on the other side of the country, requiring at least two days travel. I was scared and happy at the same time. But this time, I was doing it alone. No CBT mates to hangout with, no Darija teacher to translate for us and more than those things, I was leaving my host family. I’ve only been back in Idlsan for a couple of hours and I never realized just how much I missed the warmth and love that surrounded everything AND I missed the tagines sooo bad!! OMG! So good!!! Now six months after leaving Idlsan, my CBT mates and I have decided to return. We just finished a crazy week of IST in Marrakech and thought it would be a perfect time to come back. I have to admit I was a little nervous. Was my family going to remember me? Was my language going to work? Was I going to feel a part of Idlsan again? YES YES and YES! I just got done eating dinner at Anton’s house and I have to say it feels sooo great to be back! I missed everything about Idlsan. The smell, the dirt roads, the food and the people. I missed how I felt here. I felt safe. And I owe a lot of that to my host family. Upon entering my old room, during tea time my CBT mates and I looked up and saw my family photo and Peace Corps certificate hanging up. So amazing to see that. It’s not the picture but the meaning behind it. I truly feel like I’m a part of this family. The weird American daughter/sister/friend, but still. It feels great to be back. I needed this. Really needed this. Peace Corps (PC) life is up and down. Right before IST I was on a down. My work felt unfocused, my language seemed stagnant and overall I just felt drained from life itself. But then IST came. I got to see all my friends and reconnect with Jackie AND win the talent show!! I did a mash-up of “I’m Yours” and “Single Ladies” and then a random improv song about life in Morocco, playing to “Halo”. So much fun!! People laughed so hard that they cried/almost peed their pants, I got to vent and just have a great time. *End* Okay this part is the rest of my reflections. In a day and a half, my CBT mates and I partook in the consumption of at least 30 cups of tea each! Holy crap! The night we got to Idlsan, we made the rounds to each person’s house. Went to mine first, then Anton’s, Steven’s, Colin’s and then Mina’s. The funny part was that neither Colin’s nor Mina’s families had a clue that we were coming lol. I guess the news didn’t reach all the families. It turned out that Mina’s Dad had her number wrong. I left my phone in Rabat, and reception in Idlsan is lacking to say the least. But everything worked out. You know those hugs you get from your Mom? Or anyone you truly care about and who truly care about you? Almost “bear-hug” like. So tight that you can’t breathe but you don’t want to let go? That is how it felt when my host Mom hugged me or when my little sisters saw me. Or really when any of our CBT families saw us. It was as if we were truly their children who came back for a visit. The smiles, the hugs, the food, the memories, everything. It was exactly what I needed. Our time was too short and I miss them terribly but it was just to boost I needed. I think we all needed that boost. My CBT mates and I talked about how weird it was but in a good way. Seeing all of our families and friends in town. Again you could feel the love almost explode out of people. And we all opened up a can of worms when we told our families that Anton and Colin have to know some Berber language to get by in their sites. Our families got a kick out of that, especially Colin’s grandpa. If we couldn’t understand him before when we was speaking Darija, having him joke with us in Berber was even more difficult. But it was funny. I’m not sure how else I can describe how amazing last weekend was. Colin and I even talked about spending a week or two back in Idlsan before leaving Morocco. I know our families would love it. I would too. It would be the cherry on top of this crazy cake. Speaking of cake, Colin’s sister makes amazing cake!! I will say though that I think we all got little stomach aches from the sugar overload of so much tea in such a short period of time and food. But it was totally worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Next on the agenda of life is more project research, language studying and THANKSGIVING!!!! It’s my favorite holiday and Jackie is coming to Gafait!! So excited. -Soco *An old school photo of the crew*

Brownies!!! No Eggs required! I had a craving for brownies, no eggs and a perfect opportunity to make them and share with my neighbors for dinner. So of course I had to make them! They were bomb! 1/3c flour 1c water 1/2c butter 2/3c cocoa powder (I used the Aiguebelle Dessert Chocolat Noir from Marjane 13DH) 1 teasp. vanilla extract (1/2 pack of vanilla sugar) 2c flour 2 1/2 teasp. baking powder 1/2 teasp. salt *Cook the 1/3c of flour and 1c of water together until thick. This is the substitute for the eggs. Eggs act as a binder, this flour-water mix will do the same thing. Let cool.  *Melt the chocolate and butter together and let cool.  *Mix 2c flour and vanilla sugar with cooled thick flour-water mixture. *Combine the chocolate mixture with the 2c flour/vanilla sugar/egg-substitute mix *Bake for about 25mins. Since butagas ovens are VERY unpredictable, you’ll have to monitor this. I would just cook it on the lowest setting to be safe. In the States: 350F.  ENJOY!!! 

Hello All!  Yeah, I still have a shit ton of bug bites :/. Those little mosquito type bugs that you don’t see, you just feel this awful little pain. Joe knows what I’m talking about. They suck! But I’m not as bad as my friend Anton. I pray you have enough bug spray my friend!! Stay strong!  I haven’t written in a while. Been a little busy. Just a little. Last week one of my neighbor’s got married. I have to admit…..I was not excited haha. Thus far, my Moroccan wedding experience has been nothing but an awkward headache. Sitting there for hours, not understanding what is going on really and barely hanging on to what little Moroccan Arabic, “Darija” I know. The loud noises consisting of women banging on drums, singing, yelling and screaming etc. It’s such hard work to just pay attention.  Although this doesn’t sound too positive right now, it gets better. So Day 1 (Thursday 9/23/2010), I go over for lunch and hangout a bit with the kids in my neighborhood. The blank stares are so frequent from people here, especially the women that you would expect to get a little used to it. But sometimes it still catches me off guard and I feel like I’m right back at day 1. I sit there trapped in my own mind, 23 years old with the language abilities of a 5 year old, if that. Hence the headache. But anywho, the food was delicious so that made up for some of it :) As always.  Afterwards the family went to the next town over to have dinner with the bride’s family and then came back to party at the house. I went over at night and hung out with the kids again, playing “Snake” on my phone and talking about when we are gonna play cards again. I swear these kids are obsessed with playing cards haha. I got a phone call and walked away from the noise and walked up the hill. I’m pacing back and forth while on the phone and occasionally looking down at what’s happening at my neighbor’s house and I just have this overwhelming sense of happiness. Right then and there. I look around at the plateaus that surround us, the clear night sky and in the middle of the dark is a household glowing. Music, yelling and screaming, lights, smoke etc. It was so cool. I had a moment haha.  Here I am, living the life. It’s a difficult life but as my friend Cara says, “Living the Dream”. She couldn’t be more right. I stood there on the phone, looking around me and thinking to myself, “Damn Socorra. You made the right choice. You’re doing all right”. It was great! All my fellow PCVs, I hope you have moments like the one I had :)  Day 2 of the wedding I went with my neighbors to the next town over to party at the bride’s house. We drove in a caravan line, honking horns and making a riot around 10pm. We arrived, everyone started singing and I felt like my brain was on crack. This was the first time that I had experienced the “groom” side of things. The previous weddings I had been to were all on the bride’s side of the family. So this wedding was especially cool.  Big roof top party. Thank God because with that many people, being inside would have been awful. So we have ventilation! Yay! I sit there, a bit awkward at first and not knowing exactly what to do. All the women are sitting down, so I sit down. The men are dancing and there was this particular boy who was getting a lot of attention for his Shakira-like dancing abilities. Very interesting. I commend him!  After a coffee break, I finally get the nerve to dance. The thing is I LOVE dancing haha. I’m no way talented in it but I love doing it. My Merced crew would know this with our Partisan nights :) But Moroccan dances are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I feel off-beat ALL the time. I look like a fool but it’s fun. After a while you just gotta let go. For some reason getting up the nerve to dance also gave me another sense of letting go. These people are my “family” while I’m here. These people are my friends. These people are my people! So hey let me look like a crazy fool, at least we all do together :) But no really, some of the people at the wedding were really good dancers. I was not one of them.  By the time I knew it, it was 4am! Woah! I was so tired. My brain was on overload and I definitely needed to go to sleep. We all made our way back to Gafait and after parading up and down the street honking horns, I went to bed. What a night!  *Yeah I started writing this a while ago, the end of September, but I got lazy, tired etc and never finished. So now these are just discontinuous thoughts strung together. Oh well :)* So what can I say, I really enjoyed myself at the wedding. I met some new people from my site and basically just hung out. It was overall better than I expected. But I definitely do not want to go to another one for a while…… Well I guess that’s all for now. Haha all of a sudden this post seems outdated but still important enough to share with everyone. Okay I’m out! Peace

Souk (market) when a driver strike hits :( No fruits, no vegetables, no fish etc.  

*10/11/2010* Today marks the day that I completed my very first Peace Corps project. About 3 weeks ago I was thinking of some smaller projects that I could do while I try and sort out my bigger vetiver plant projects. My idea for the Gafait library book project came about in a couple of different ways: 1. My neighbor and his plight to get a school bus for the children in Taznight (northern neighborhood) who go to the Jr. High School in Harrash (the southern neighborhood, about a 30minute walk). And although a school bus project and a library book project don’t seem to go exactly hand-in-hand, my neighbor’s continuous discussions with the Ministry of Education gave me the idea that he may be a good person to work with.  2. I noticed a lack of books or none at all at the two primary schools, one college and dar chbab (youth center). 3. After becoming friends with many of the little girls in my neighborhood, I began to ask them questions about what school is like and the things they like to do etc. I asked if they had homework or did anything after-school. They said no, they just come home. Of course there is nothing wrong with just coming home after school. Lord knows that most days I just wanted to come straight home and not go to basketball practice, do my homework or extra reading. But as I said in an earlier blog post, my love/hate relationship with reading has in a way fueled my desire to be an education advocate. Gafait is about less than 100km from Oujda (population about 500,000). In Oujda there is access to fast internet, bookstores, private schools etc. For me, Gafait is a world of different. The opportunities for children here are drastically different. Though many are happy to go to school and love it, I had a feeling that with a couple extra books in their classrooms not only would the atmosphere of the class be better but also opportunities for children to read and enhance their reading and writing skills, imaginations etc. would also be increased. So that was my hope. I pitched the idea to my neighbor who really liked the idea and got his association to help me with future verification of the books etc. To hopefully ensure the livelihood of the books.   At first I started looking for those who would just donate books, no politics, no b.s., just donate to donate. I really did not have much luck in that department and again found another cultural difference between Morocco and the United States. In the States we have book drives, donations, public libraries etc, at our disposal pretty much anytime we want. In Morocco, it’s a bit different, or at least I’ve found it to be different in my situation.  I then contacted a friend at the U.S. Embassy and asked her for help. I asked if she knew anyone who would donate books, anyone I could talk to. Within the week, it was settled that I was going to be getting 166 books, CDs, brochures and pamphlets in Arabic, French and English. I was a little shocked and then immediately terrified. Oh my gosh! My first project was becoming a reality. I found good people to work with and a great source for books. Holy cow! So fast forward to today, with the help of my neighbors association and the U.S. Embassy’s Information Resource Center I was able to deliver books to the two primary schools, Jr. High school and the youth center! I would say this was a great day!! And although I do not enjoy reading the way some of my friends and family do, I know that I am privileged and lucky to not only have the ability to read but to have had and continue to have, books to read. So thanks Mom and Dad :)  I am hopeful that some of the books that were donated today will help the children of Gafait and perhaps inspire more reading later on in life.  Thanks to everyone who helped me with this project!!!!  *The books* * At the Jr. High School* *At the Harrash Primary School* *At the Taznight Primary School*

October 3, 2010 *This is one of those random night, can’t sleep, must write, type of blog entries*   I know that some of you have been asking me to post more pictures about my life here in Morocco. And much of my life here includes my neighbors in Taznight and friends in Harrash (two neighborhoods in my site). They have become my friends and family while I try and find my way through the maze that is the Peace Corps. Although I would love nothing more than to post pictures of the little girls who randomly cleaned my house one day, who knock on my door to play cards, who I joke around with calling her “mushkila dyali” or ” my problem”, who tell me to “kuli kuli kuli”(eat, eat eat), who show me what it’s like in the “Moroccan underground” etc, who want to take me to the discotech and just dance, people who upon meeting me once offer their homes for the weekend and want to go on weekend adventures, without their permission, I won’t post their pictures. You will all just have to wait until I get home (this means that you all must attend the “Welcome Back!” party that my parents are planning. You guys are planning on planning one right? haha). Let me explain: When I first got to Morocco in March and started training in a small douar (village) named Idelssane we were told by our language teachers that in the rural places people do not like their photos to be taken let alone be posted online. At first I thought this was crazy, who doesn’t like their photo to be taken? This could just be because I have a HUGE cheesy smile. Who knows. But still, coming from America, at first I could not understand. Then one day during lunch break, I’m sitting outside with my host sister, Hafida. I pull out my camera to take a photo and she runs away from me. I ask her why and she tells me that her mom told her to not get her photo taken by tourists. I told her I wasn’t a tourist but she still looked at me in fear. So I backed off. Later that night at dinner my sisters and I were talking about our days and Hafida mentions the photo incidient. I thought I was going to get in trouble. But my host mom explained that I wasn’t a tourist, that I was Hafida’s sister and that all of the trainees in my group (Steven, Anton, Mina and Colin) were all her brothers and sisters and to not be afraid of us. The next day all Hafida wanted to do after school was take pictures with me. I thought to myself, “good girl for listening to your mother” and the fact that my mom taught me and my brothers to never talk to strangers. So I understood. That was close to 5 months ago. Now fast forward to today. I live in the North East of Morocco, a world away from the south where I started my journey with my Berber family. But, the stigma of photos being taken by foreigners still remains. This was evident from my desire to post the photos of a wedding I went to last week.  After talking with some friends, I again realized that for some people, especially women, they would not appreciate having their pictures online for the whole world to see. It may cause shame or embarrassment to them and their families. I definitely do not want to do that. It took a great amount of “work” to be able to get kids and women let me take their pictures and by “work” I mean community integration, gaining their trust and respect. And with that, out of respect for their worry of the harms of the internet and having their pictures posted, I won’t post their photos without their permission. If you look on my photo blog you will see some photos of Moroccan men, women and children who I have had the honor to photograph from my training town of Idelssane. After they found out that we weren’t tourists, they, like my sister Hafida, all wanted to take photos J I will tell you though that some of the children that I have had the pleasure of meeting and becoming close with are some of the most adorable children I’ve ever met. Of course they are all trouble makers in their own right, aren’t we all? But at any rate, one day I will be able to thank all these kids when they’re all grown up for helping me with language, culture, ways of the village and welcoming me with open arms. It’s been a great ride thus far and I’m looking forward to the many people and places I have yet to meet and see :)   Peaceout!  

Joe salsa, chips, tortillas, chicken&peppers The only way we could have celebrated our 6 months in Morocco, with MEXICAN FOOD!!!! haha. Wish Colin could have been able to come! Next time fo sho! 

*This was written on Saturday August 21, 2010. But due to lack of reliable internet and patience, it is only just now being published.*  Ever since I was a kid reading has NOT been my favorite way to pass time. Definitely wasn’t ever my first choice and sometimes I made it so it wasn’t even an option. I was never “good” at reading. It was always hard for me and perhaps one of the reasons why I hated it so much as a kid. I had to go to special reading school to help me and all I wanted to read were Zoo Books. Hence my love for biology and the greater world outside. I loved being outside. I loved playing and could never sit down long enough to finish a simple worksheet for homework let alone read a book. I would just get bored way to quickly. This way of thinking continued throughout my school years, even  in college. While I did read some amazing things, I still didn’t like it that much. I had my music and would spend most of my free time writing and singing songs on my guitar. It was something that I didn’t have to struggle with. Something that didn’t remind me of my childhood and how hard it was to put things in alphabetical order or to read simple sentences outloud in class. Music is still and always will be that for me: home. But as I sit out in my courtyard, reading “My Mercedes is Not For Sale” by Jeroen Van Bergeijk, I can’t help but think about what other women my age or younger are doing right now in my site. You can only clean the house so many times. Only do laundry so many times. And since it’s Ramadan, not much cooking is being done. Tea isn’t being made at every hour. So what are they doing? My community integration thus far and observations have lead me to the following: when I asked my 15 yr. old neighbor what she did last weekend or yesterday even, the response is always the same, NOTHING! What!?!? I’m shocked but at the same time not. She says that she just stayed in the house all day and maybe walked around a little. So much of what I’ve seen from my female neighbors has been a lot of “chit-chat”. Just hanging out but mainly staying in the house and tending to the chores of the day, which seem to be the same everyday. I often wonder if she is bored. But at the same time with my limited language abilities at this moment and the fear of being rude, I don’t ask. It is sort of implied by her tone, her facial expressions and her body language. But I can’t be 100 percent sure. So I just leave it to what it is: she stayed in the house all day and did nothing.  I just wonder what Moroccan women do for fun. I still have yet to discover what that is in my site. Pretty much all women are in the house all day. So do I just go to peoples’ houses, walk in and just start asking away? I need an “in”. Or at least I think I do. I still have a very small clue about how to integrate “properly”. Probably because there isn’t a “proper” way. It just happens shwiya b shwiya (little by little). Unfortunately, I’m so curious about womens’ free time or fun time activities that it can be very frustrating at times to not be fluent or at least understand them when they start speaking really fast and in high pitches. So what in the hell does this have to do with reading? Well when I say I did “nothing” all day, that usually means that I didn’t go “outside”. I didn’t walk around outside of my house. I didn’t make any improvements or contacts or gather information for my future project. I stayed home and did the usual cleaning etc, cooked some, played my guitar, wrote emails to friends and family back home, researched for my project, watched some TV or a movie on my computer and read the news or a book, sometimes both. When my neighbor says she did “nothing” all day, I literally invision her just sitting at home, watching TV or cleaning and that’s it. But again, I can’t be 100 percent sure. But what I can be at least 85 percent sure on is that reading as a way to pass time is pretty much nonexistent in my site and perhaps other volunteers’ sites. I read when I have nothing else to do, when my fingers hurt from playing the guitar, when I don’t want to stare at a computer screen etc. This eventually lead me to the thought that perhaps it’s just not a popular thing for girls and women to do in Morocco. Although my host-mom in site did read occasionally, I think they were prayer books. Nonetheless, she was reading. So I pose this idea to all of you out there: Do you think if more books were available and more girls and women could read, would they? Would they pick up a book instead of turning on the TV to watch Diablo? I don’t know either but it’s definitely worth thinking about. Since being back from PPST, a group of little girls and two teenagers have been coming over to my house to just “hangout”. The little girls draw me pictures and ask me to tell them about America and if it’s pretty or not. While the older girls browse my bookshelf and read the animal posters I have on my wall about Morocco. They are in French and standard Arabic, so they can read them. They seem to take so much pleasure in it. A simple fun and an ability that I think is simple and take for granted every day. *L-FTUR BREAK* Okay I just got back from breaking fast with my neighbors. Fun times. Great food. Always! I’m so lucky to have neighbors like them. Always making sure I’m okay and offering to help me with Arabic. As a matter of fact one is coming over tomorrow to help me with Arabic. Sweet! I need all the help I can get lol. Anywho, back to my ramble about reading etc. One of my neighbors, just informed me that he is hoping that in 2011 there will be a library of some sort at the Commune in town. It will be accessible to everyone. That was the idea that he proposed to the commune in which he is one of 12 members. So hopefully that works out. I’ll be in site to see what happens, so that’s exciting. It may even help with my discovery of Moroccan girls and women having the option to read in their free time and whether or not they would do so. Of course not everyone would want to read in their free time but I do know of some women, mainly teenagers with big aspirations to study in Europe or even America. Perhaps they would be the ones to seek out the library first? So I guess what I’m trying to say is that even though reading is not my favorite thing to do, I have become quite fond of it since being in Morocco. And also I have met incredible girls and women just within my 5 months of being here who either could not read or probably weren’t going to continue their education past primary school. It’s unfortunate and at times makes me feel guilty for having these abilities: to read, to write, to go to school at my choice etc and that I don’t like reading that much.  But at the same time, I use it as an opportunity to stand up for all girls and women. Why not me? Why can’t I be the one to give a girl or a woman a book, to help her read it and perhaps change her perspective or open a door etc, stretch her imagination etc. ? I can tell them about how hard it was for me to read when I was younger (and truthfully still is sometimes, even with a college degree). Thus here is my relationship with reading. I hate it because it’s still difficult for me and because I don’t have the attention span to stick with it for more than an hour or less. But I love it because of the opportunities it has given to to me. The things I have had the pleasure of studying because I can read. The things that I still have left to discover in this world through reading. And I’m not just talking about history or politics.  I’m talking about the poems I still haven’t read, the many authors who my friends Karen and Vanessa talk about who I have no clue are etc. And so perhaps in the future the girls and women in my site will pick up a book and read it! OMG the potential lol. One can only hope :) Okay enough of this. I’m making some popcorn and watching GLEE :)   PEACE OUT!     ps: OMG what if someone in my town watches Glee???? haha, that’s a longshot. 

This is taken straight out of my journal. I thought it was important to not only keep in my journal but to share my experience with others in the world who may be reading this little  blog of mine. Anywho, truthfully last night was my first experience with Ramadan. Even in the USA where there are tons of Mulsims who participate in Ramadan, some of them being my friends, still this was my first experience. I don’t know if it was my own ignorance or the vastness  of the USA that created this disconnect between myself and other religious holidays….don’t know, but yeah. Last night made me realize that.  So I get a text from my neighbor Mohammed to come to his house at 7p to break fast with him and his family. Okay cool! Excited and nervous all at the same time. I didn’t know what to expect, what to bring or what to do once I got there besides eat. And how long do you stay at someone’s house knowing that they are all pretty tired? I had no clue. I stayed for like 2 hours.  I get there and everyone looks soo tired lol. Like the day just slapped them in the face. We had cake, dates, this salsa stuff (soo good!!!), juice, milk, water, soup and these things that I thought were going to be pasteries but turned out to be potato cakes. Pretty tastey. But yeah, everyone was just so beat looking and quiet. We watched TV and eventually everyone left to pray while Faiza (15yrs.) and myself watched CNN. People with cable always let me watch CNN for some reason. Perhaps they think I’m starved for news of the world outside of Morocco. Part of that is true but I do have the itnernet in my house, so I could look it up whenever (well when the internet is working lol). But it is a very nice gesture.  Anywho it was sort of awkward because the whole discussion on CNN was about gay marriage around the world…Apparentyl next week gay marriage will be legal in California. And before Mohammed left for the mosque, he kept asking me what the problem was on the TV. CRAP! Trying to find a way to explain the truth without being offensive was very interesting. But yeah when I told Mohammed, he said “Oh yeah, in Spain that is not a problem” lol. So I was relieved and sort of shocked all at the same time. Of course the second time I watch CNN it’s about gay marriage lol. Just figures.  So yeah, I just hungout a bit and then went back home. For some reason I expected a part of sorts lol. But I guess if that were to happen every night for 30days, that would be too much, even for Moroccans. Oh and side note sort of: I ate a quarter of a hardboiled egg last night, which I sort of regret. I picked it up and then got a closer look at it but I had already touched it. And in my American sense of mind where once you touch it, it’s yours, I had to commit. So I ate it. Luckily no major problems down below!!! Hamdullah!!!  So it was a pretty chill first night of Ramadan in Gafait. I sort of liked it because it was so chill. A good introduction. Some people were out and about and I’m sure more were out in Harrash (lower part). Perhaps tonight will be louder lol. I just always expect loud noises now. I’ve learned to just make music out of them. Life is a song afterall :)  ps: dinner is at 2am!

First burrito attempt in Morocco! Homemade fo sho! OMG better than Jiff I swear! I gotta say thanks Cara for the Amaluu or however you spell it. It has changed my life lol. 

It’s not what you think. Well maybe shwiya (I mean “little”). Let’s start with neck sweat. We all get it, it’s like a rash. It’s like a mosquito bite. It’s like that really annoying person in class who won’t leave you alone or shut up. It’s neck sweat. When do I get it? Well everyday of course! But right now I’m mainly talking about sitting on the train, in my house or on a souk bus and just have tremendous or copious amounts if you will, of neck sweat. No matter how hard I try to get rid of it, it keeps on keeping on :( Take for instance when I was going to Azrou for PPST. I was on a souk bus from Fes to Azrou, a couple of hours. It was so hot on that bus that I not only had neck sweat but my entire body was dripping. It was sooo gross. So much in fact that the guy next to me offered a tissue so I could wipe the sweat. OMG! First off, how embarrasing that someone noticed that I was sweating more than a fat kid when he or she sees a Betty Crocker double chocolate cake!!! Second, I was sweating so much that my arms which were resting on my legs, once I lifted them up, the sweat marks were left on my pants…..EWWW I know it’s gross. Mom don’t read this lol. Oh, maybe I should have said that in the beginning of this lovely story……oh well :) Okay so now Joe, Colin and I are leaving Azrou to get back to Algeria. Or at least we are trying to. “Trying” being the key word here. Mark it, there will be a test later. So we were being cheap and decided that hey let’s pay 25DH and get on the bus to Fes and then take the train to Oujda. Okay cool. Done it before. It’s probably gonna be hot, crowded and slow but oh well. That’s just how souk buses work in Morocco. Anywho we finally get on our bus and I swear like 10-15mins out, BAM the bus breaks down, on a hill. So the genius of men working the bus, flip flops and all decide that the bus weighs too much and so that’s why it broke down. WTF? If you’ve ever been on a souk bus this whole maximum occupancy thing DOES NOT EXIST!!! So everyone gets off the bus because for one thing something smelled like it was burning and could possibly lead to lung cancer and secondly because of “weight”. BS I say! We get off and walk up the hill. The bus gets up the hill and then the bus driver proceeds to hoke at all of us as if it’s our fault and we need to hurry. So we all do of course. And then BAM it break down again. So the guys get big rocks to put behind the bus so it doesn’t fall down hill. However, the bus did fall down hill a little twice and people were freaking out! Mainly women, in the back (of course where we are all sitting), so it’s hella loud!! And then there is all this yelling and Moroccan sign language going on. And of course I have about 50% of a clue of what’s going on lol. Basically enough to where I won’t lose my bags in the process. Finally we just get on another bus. A short bus. But it had more windows! So yay for that. Unfortunately Joe and Colin were in the way back of the bus and I was sitting in front of them. This meant that there was not 5 seats but 10 free on the last bench seat. Sooo not true! we fill the bus and most people have seats. Then we stop and pick up another 20 people who have no seats. People are in the walkway and bam, end up sitting on Joe’s lap. Literally this old Moroccan lady, following the directions of our highly intelligent money man of the bus, says to her that there is room on the back bench for her. Clearly if anyone were to have seen what I saw, what Joe and Colin saw, they would not agree. But the lady just sits on Joe basically. And tries to nuzzle her way on in there. No space. Unwated snuggling :( Poor Joe. Okay slave children. This literally just happened to me. I was playing my guitar in my courtyard and these kids kept running up and knocking on my door. So finally I gave in and opened it up to find 4 little girls outside. 4 girls and 1 doll……so clearly they were bored. So we sit and they ask me to play the guitar. So I do. And we just hangout for a bit. I teach each of them a little something about the guitar and they tell me all of their names, which I have already forgotten :( Anywho then my courtyard door keeps slamming because it’s really windy outside. So the girls get some rocks to make a door jam. Smart. But then they see my courtyard and all the rabbit crap and twigs that were around. Sidenote, my neighbors rabbit got into my courtyard and they dont have a key so it was there for two weeks crapping everywhere! Okay back to the kids. So they just start grabbing my broom and sqeeque (sp?) and then BAM! they are throwing water and soap and cleaning everywhere, everything. They clean my patio furniture, kitchen and courtyard. They ask to clean my house and I’m like no it’s okay I can do it. But OMG I could not stop them. They kept saying it was no problem and that they are there to help me. It’s soo easy to get a kid in the USA to stop cleaning, well because they probably don’t want to do it in the first place.But here, shit dude. HELLA hard. So ends up I couldn’t stop them without getting mad or something. So I just made some Hawaiian punch and we all had some after cleaning lol. So that is that. The kids wanna come back tomorrow and hangout. I’m afraid they are gonna do all my chores. Then what in the world am I supposed to do? Lol. What am I supposed to do!

No kidding. It’s been about 4 months since coming to Morocco for Peace Corps and I have a shit ton of bug bites. At first during training I thought I had scabies, then this past 4th of July weekend I got even more. Now I’m not sure if these are just mosquitos but they probably aren’t. I mean these are like scaring type of bug bites. It’s horrible and so damn itchy!!!! Just to demonstrate how horrible it’s gotten, this past weekend was 4th of July I was celebrating with some of my fellow PCVs and I guess throughout the whole celebration I was being eaten alive by various bugs! I never saw them and in the night they ate me like a fat kid eating chocolate cake. I woke up Sunday morning and my face was itchy! My face!! Come to find out as I look in the mirror I have bug bites all up and down the right side of my face. It looked like I was 15 and had just broken out! Except it was soooo itchy!!! AHHHH!!! Anyway it sucks and will probably continue to suck for the remainder of my time in Morocco lol…..kind of a long time haha. Oh and my arm looked like I had chicken pox again. I was like WTF bugs! No one else seemed to be getting eaten as much as me :( But don’t worry the bug attack did not take away from the celebration. Party on! So besides being eaten on a daily basis from Morocco’s finest, I moved into my own house! Very exciting!! It was really weird moving out of my host family’s house actually. I mean I didn’t want to see over excited but at the same time I couldn’t help it. I loved my family, they were great people and I plan on visiting them often but it is amazing to have my own place. After 4 months of home stay with three different families and having to constantly be on their watch, their diet and their time, it’s nice to be out! But it was weird moving out. I thought I was going to move out after breakfast but then they said stay until lunch and then after. So I said okay, free food! haha, plus I honestly liked my family a lot, so I didn’t really mind. I mean what was I going to do once I moved in? Just set stuff up, no biggie really. I was in no hurry. So then after lunch turned into early evening and then turned into staying to watch “Diablo” and then finally around 8pm I moved out haha. It was weird. I set up my bed and had no food in my house. My family had given me a piece of bread to take and the volunteer I replaced left some dry goods. I was going to make pasta BUT the water was out. I soon came to realize that my water goes out every evening around 6 or 7pm. This sort of sucks but not too bad. I mean I usually eat earlier than that or I just plan ahead and cook more during lunch to eat for dinner. So it doesn’t suck that much but that first night it did. So for my first “meal” at my house I had bread and water haha. The next day I also had no food but discovered that I had popcorn!! And I have a pressure cooker. So therefore I ate more bread, olive oil and popcorn on day two. Kind of sad and I remember laughing at myself right in the middle of moving things all around my house. Laughing at the fact that I would kill for a McDonald’s iced coffee right now. Laughing at the fact that I had only eaten bread, popcorn and water for two days and laughing at the fact that this is completely normal for me since being in PeaceCorps. I’m sure any PCVs reading this can agree somewhat with what I’m saying. It’s amazing how “normal” and “everyday” things become out here. It’s life in Morocco and in PeaceCorps. Finally the next day I went to visit my buddy Joe in Jerada and he fed me! Joe always feeds me!! Thanks Joe!!! I had some of his left over rice thing which was bomb!!!! And then he made me mac n cheese!! Life saver I swear! I definitely needed some calories. I had been moving things around, cleaning my house, sweating my brains out and yet had no food to replenish my energy. I was so tired! Anyway curently I’m listening to all of Matt Nathanson an SF Bay Area local! So holler! He’s got this Goo Goo Dolls feel but better and is a solo man like John Mayer but most likely not the jackass that Mayer is. So check him out lol. That’s my review! Um who is listening to Sara Bareilles’ new single “King of Anything”???? Please tell me everyone! God I love her! New record out September I believe! So sad that I can’t see her on tour this year :( Or the next one. Maybe she will come to Morocco? If so, I’m sooo going. I’ll have to travel two days from my Algerian side of things but it will be worth it lol. The hot sweaty train will be okay if I get to see Sara B. in the end lol. I’m have a great time in Morocco so far. Some days are easier and better than others but you have to have that balance. I think it would be unrealistic for any voluntee to tell you that they are always having a great time. It just can’t be true. But what I realize is true is that for every bad moment or bad day there are a ton of great ones. And the great ones out-weigh the bad ones anytime! My most favorite times in Morocco have been having jam sessions with my neighbors, teaching my host brother how to play the guitar and sharing meals with my fellow PCVs. Those times make getting all these damn bug bites okay. Things I do miss about America: -My friends and family -Mexican food!!!!!! -McDonald’s iced coffee whenever and whereever (at least an hour and a half and too much money for me to get here lol) -Missing Sara Bareilles’ new cd release and tour -Bacon whenever and whereever -The Partisan and the whole crew in Merced -My mom’s cooking. She can make paper taste amazing!!!! I do miss the ease of washing laundry but not as much as the things listed above lol. It really isn’t that bad, though my clothes are fading and I did manage to bleach a UCM shirt of mine :( EFF! Oh well lol. Some of the clothes in Morocco are pretty cool, guess I have to go shopping lol. Well that’s all for now. And um if anyone knows where Kacy is, I want to talk to her. So have her facebook me or email me!!!!!! Love, Socorra

Yes, I have allergies. They suck as usual. But I’m happy to know that it’s not just me, the forienger having these allergies. My host bro has them too. We complain to eachother in my broken Arabic about how much they suck. But besides that, everything has been going. Going slow that is. I’m not really sure what I do with my days but they seem to pass by pretty quick considering I have no “work” yet. My job for this first phase is just to get to know my community, my host family and try to “intergrate”. So thus far, I’ve been in site for like two weeks. I’ve managed to become addicted to “Diablo”, a novela translated into Arabic, had a jam session with my neighbors, met some random people, met some teachers and the director of the high school, met the Caid, walk around town and down to the river, currently teaching my host bro guitar, eating WAY too much food, getting laughed at, trying to apply for my Moroccan ID card, had tea with some shady dude (mistake! but the tea was sooo good), napped a lot, washed laundry on my roof and yeah that might be it. Seems like a lot when I try to write it all down but I know it’s just gonna get more busy when I actually have projects to work on. Now it’s just intergration time!! I miss GLEE like you wouldn’t believe. But lucikly I have the best little bro in the world who keeps me updated on the music! Hope he and Karen have an awesome time at the concert! SOOO JEALOUS! But besides Glee, I don’t really miss TV too much. Made me realize that I only ever watched the news, Glee and Bones lol. I mean of course Food Network and my favorite Paula Dean!!! Swearing in was awesome! The ceremony was short and sweet and there was AC! It’s amazing this whole AC thing. I love it and miss it lol. It is just now starting to get hot but it’s not even summer yet and the worst of it is yet to come. I’m nervous that I might melt from walking around everywhere or having to wait forever for a taxi. Sometimes I can get a taxi quick and other times no. But even then, you are squished beyond belief in the taxi. 4 in the back and 3 in the front. Clearly not the same in the States. AND no seatbelts! Weird. Language has been going pretty well. Verb conjugations are hard sometimes and trying to say words correctly gets hard. But it’s fun learning and actually talking to my family and other people in town. Once you get over being embarrassed, shy and scared (which I’m not completely over yet), it gets easier and you can really start to enjoy the people and the situation completely. I look forward to that day! Well that’s all for now. Gotta get on the train with Colin to Fes for some Peace Corps work stuff. Later days! -Soco

Literally one of the most digusting things I have ever eaten in my entire 23 years of living. A mound of rice, with dark colored melted butter that taste like movie theatre popcorn butter on top. Doesn’t sound like it would taste like shit, but it did. This happened a couple of weeks ago but I’m just not getting up the courage haha and time to talk about it to you, the world, right now. Please advise others against eating this. But if you dare, go ahead. Anyway we were just doing to my old host dad’s parents house for dinner. Okay cool. So we get there, they laugh at me, ask me why I don’t speak French, test my Darija abilities and then bam eat bread, drink tea and then they bring “it” out: butter rice. YUCKY!!! I had about 3 bites and wanted to die. I wanted to spit it out but I couldn’t so I just ate it. Then on the way across the street, back home, I thought to myself, “NEVER AGAIN!!!!!”. Anyway besides that, the occasional stomach ache and having to switch my host family for reasons that if you wanna know, just email me, everything is good. We find out our final sites today and I’m both really nervous and excited. Sad to leave the host family I live with now. They are awesome. My host sisters are sooo cute! And so well behaved, it’s amazing! This past week, or 3 days really have been insane. Sooo busy! We planned events with the local school and association which included: a mural, jam session, composting session, peace tree(olive) planting, skit and plastic bag pick up. So a very busy Monday and Tuesday. Monday we went to the school and did our events with the kids. At first a little freaked out by the insane amount of children that wanted to do the jam session with Mina and I. But then some of the kids were taken to do the composting session with Colin and Anton. So basically Minda and I made this bomb trash drum set and played a reggaeton beat as the kids sang a song about trees and the environment that our LCF, Fatima, wrote. Pretty amazing actually. Hopefully I can post the video soon. Then, Colin and Anton did a composting session with some kids: what not to burn, what you can burn and what to composting then what you eventually have to just bury. Then Steven did a drawing contest for the mural, the kids voted on the two best drawings and then drew them on the wall with a picture of the “dub” in the middle. The dub as explained in my pervious entry, is a local lizard. The mural didn’t turn out exactly how Steven wanted it to, but it’s still pretty awesome looking. Not finished yet, we were gonna go back yesterday and finish it but it rained so the wall was wet obviously haha. Then we planted our “Peace Tree”: olive tree. That was nice except for the fact that I almost fell into the hole that we were planting a tree in because all the children were surrounding us. That’s the thing about the kids, when they make a circle, it’s a small and tight and just keeps getting smaller and smaller. So I get squished and more and more and more haha. Kinda funny and then kinda not when you’re like um woah there, I don’t wanna fall in that mudd hole thanks. So after that extremely long day, we went home. The next day, Tuesday we had our skit for the town at the association. A room that was way too small, no real ventilation etc, was where we had our skit. The crowd was loud, so you couldn’t really hear anything which sucked. We wrote a skit called “Mina the Mika”. It was a about a plastic bag named Mina and her life. She is made from oil, used only one time and then thrown away in the trash. A great wind blows and she flies into the sky and hits a bird and kills the bird. The wind dies down and she falls to the river where she kills a fish. Then someone finds her on the river shore, washes her and reuses her for years. Eventually she brings her back to the town she originally came from to celebrate earth day. On the way out, the woman wants to buy some peanuts, the store owner asks her if she wants a plastic bag and she says, “No, I have Mina”. So all in all, a story about how plastic bags are made, used one time and thrown out, blowing into the air and killing birds, killing fish and other animals in the river and the possibility of recycling as much as possible. Not sure if the town got that exactly, but they all had fun and a lot of people showed up which was awesome. So after our skit, the town did a skit that they wrote. Couldn’t really hear it so that kinda sucked but I believe it had something to do with water conservation. Then after that long day, we all went home. Yesterday we did language, wrote our earth day report and prepared our presentation and Mina and I also had a jam session on our drum set with one of my neighbors. So awesome!!! She was playing some avocado juice bottles (pretty damn well, I might say) haha. Then we met at the association, took all the mika bags that were collected by the kids (plastic bags) and burried them instead of burning. The finally we were done with all of our earth day events! Soooooooooo tired!! But I had a lot of fun. Definitely gonna build another trash drum set!

Hey Everyone!  Yup, so much sand in my eyes. It seems as if every other day we have a wind storm in my town, thus sand, dirt, donkey crap etc haha are flying in the air. Thus in my eyes and nose. WONDERFUL! haha. And there are a ton of flies which are also annoying. But besides that every is all good. Language is coming along, had a practice assessment today with a different LCF so that was good. Did okay, still got some things to work on as expected. Can’t complain too much, my host family is all good. Still crazy at times but all good. Haven’t wrote any complete songs yet, but snippets of funny stuff that’s happened. One thing that wasn’t funny but now it is, are these spider bites I got on my hands. Or ants….not sure. But I thought it was scabies and I got really nervous but they never itched so I was really confused. Needless to say, it was not scabies and everything is OKAY! But it still sucked and scared me for a good two days. I even read my “Where there is no Doctor” book for the treatment of scabies. Such a process! So thank god it was not scabies, otherwise I’d be covered in Vasaline. Let’s see what else….um well my group and I tried to hike to the lake which isn’t too far from our town (by car) but by foot, kinda. Within reason for sure but still, kinda hard. Still fun though. We never made it. We only made it to the river to hangout and maybe 1/4th of the way to the lake. Not sure, couldn’t see. We were just walking up and down and up and down hill. Kinda hard. But we all got tired and ran out of water, plus I was in flip flops because we just got out of class and decided to go on this adventure haha. Soooo not prepared for a hike but Steven and I did it anyway in our California flip flips haha. So yeah we made it back, drank hella water, grabbed some snacks and headed to Colin’s house and watched Nepoleon Dinamite. Probably spelled that wrong but you know me :) We were of course offered tea and snacks again but his family and we accepted. It’s hard to say no to people and to try and tell them you’re not hungry. It was a good time for sure. That was last Saturday. Sunday I woke up, ate breakfast and did laundry and then went to the golf course with some members of my group and his family. We tried to go fishing but of course this group of guys comes and decides to swim right next to where we are fishing…..you can guess that we didn’t catch anything :( Bummer. Some black bass would have been bomb but no. So yeah we walked aronud and chilled poolside at some French guy’s house. Pretty bomb. He wasn’t there but the gardner was who is the uncle of a host brother of Steven. If that makes any sense? Draw a picture haha, it may help. So yeah we were there for a while and took naps poolside and then walked back to catch a cab back to town. On the way there one of Steven’s host bro’s spotted a lizard called “Dub” here in Morocco. You can eat them and apparently they taste bomb. Haven’t had a chance to eat one yet but I’m gonna do it next time I get the chance. So the dub is spotted and then slides under a giant rock but of course we have a pick with us (right?) and the boys are digging on the sides of the rock to loosen it up to lift up the rock and thus get the dub. Mission accomplished. Rock was lifted, dub was caught and end of story. Ended up in Steven’s stomach no doubt. Besides that, nothing too crazy has happened. We are working on events for Earth Day. We are having a town hall type meeting on the 7th so that the town can come and tell us what they would like to do for Earth Day. Hopefully people come and give suggestions and we can make something really cool happen :) Well I better go and try to upload more pictures. Until next time! -Socorra ps: Send me music! haha. online so I can download it haha. Or movies or pdf books :)

Greetings from Morocco! Jackie and I sitting on the roof of the Bob Sahar in Ouarzazat :)

Sorry I haven’t posted anything since I left home. Been soo busy and tired since being in Morocco. But I’ve been having so much fun thus far. The new people I have met are amazing including all the staff. Plus the people I’ve met in my CBT (community based training) site have been awesome too. So to start from the beginning, Jackie and I traveled from San Jose CA to Philly, PA for a brief orientation for a day and a half, had my last American meal which was amazing! Dropped $50 bucks on a nice steak, baked potato and a beer :) Good food and good new friends!! Then we left Philly and drove 2 hrs on a bus to JFK in New York. We waited pretty much all day at the airport haha. After all was said and done with checking in and security checks, we had about 3 hrs to chill in the airport before actually leaving for Casablanca. We left around 7p NY time and got to Casablanca about 7:30am. So needless to say, we were all VERY tired. Or at least I was. So from Casablanca we drove 2 more hrs by bus to Marakesh. We stayed in Marakesh for one night and it was my first introduction into the portion sizes of Moroccan meals. We had lunch and we sat at a big round table and everyone ate from a center plate (totally fine). It was like this veggie platter thing with bread (always bread! always!!). So that was cool and I thought we were done but no. Then the next course comes in which is some meat dish and it was amazing! Then the third course came which was fruit. You always end a meal with some sort of fruit. Right now it’s bananas and oranges which are BOMB!!! So I was blown away by how much food is given and how many times a day you eat. You have breakfast which is usually bread and some sort of dip like olive oil, honey or some jam/jelly. Then you have snack at 10 or 11 and lunch at 12 or 1 then snack at 4 and finally dinner at 7:30/8. At least that was the schedule when we were all in Marakesh and in Ouarzazat. But when I’m with my host family, we eat soooo late (dinner). Last night we ate dinner at 10pm and then my host mom proceeded to make cookies afterwards. So yummy! I’m really surprised by how late we eat dinner. Time is not judge the same way here as it is in the states. In America time is really important and not being late is really important. In Morocco, time is just this concept but you don’t really follow it. You run on your own time and get things done when they get done. Kinda cool in some situations and sometimes not. Anyway, after a lot of orientation and seminar type meetings we all moved to our CBT sites. Myself and 4 other trainees are in a small town about 20mins outside of Ouarzazat. It’s not on my map. BUT we do have running water that’s clean and electricity. So that’s bomb!! Mainly the water, I could deal without the electricity seeing as I don’t have the internet to use the computer and whatnot. So it’s been cool. The town is separated by a road and I live on one side with the LCF (Language Culture Facilitator) and the other members of my group live on the other side. Wish we were all on the same side but it’s been cool anyways. We go to school at the LCFs house from about 8-530 everyday and a half day on Saturdays. So we are doing language about 4 hrs everyday and then either studying or doing some technical assignment out in our town. This is the first time that a CBT group has been in my town and so they haven’t gotten the fact that we aren’t French, we aren’t tourists and that we are American Volunteers and we ae here to do good things. It’s been a constant struggle to try and get people to understand we are here. But thus far the people in the town have been really nice and welcoming, always inviting us for tea and bread. Always! And we usually accept. My host family has been really fun thus far. Just two boys, 8 and 4 and my host Mom and Dad. Small family but a really nice family. They welcomed me with open arms, called me a gift, gave me a gift and have been really helpful in being patience with my lack of an ability to talk to them because I haven’t developed the language yet. But my host Mom does pretty much everything: makes breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, laundry, cleaning the house, watching the kids etc. My host Dad works outside of the home at the golf course. We watch soccer together and we just got a satillite dish yesterday so now we are ROLLING! lol. But yeah there was this one Mexican novela that they translated into Darija (Moroccan Arabic) and we all watch it. Sadly it ended this past Monday and a new one from India is going to start. But we all watched Margarita, Frijolito and Ignacio and their lives lol. But it was hard to get into since we really didn’t have any background info and it’s in Darija soooo yeah. You can all guess that it hasn’t been easy. But I still watched, actually most of the other members of my group ended up watching the show since we only have 2 channels, well that was before we got the satellite! The town my CBT is in in pretty cool, we’ve got 3 mosques, 2 schools (no high school but when we interviewed the children about their community map, they all said that they wanted a high school), a video game store, some hanuts which sell food and like stuff you would find at target but at a much smaller scale. There are stores where you can buy clothes and butagas for stoves. Thus far my CBT and I go hang out at the cafe and have banana juice (soooo bomb!) and play cards. We’re all home before dark which is about 7ish right now. I get home, my little brothers attack me and wanna play basketball (taught them that game) or soccer. Sometimes I have the energy and sometimes I just wanna pass out haha. But I usually just put my things in my room and hangout with my family for a while and then study a bit before dinner. And since dinner is so late I have quite a bit of time to do that. And after dinner I’m usually up another half hour to A. digest and B. to get things ready for class tomorrow. So this wedding……last weekend was my weekend off. I was going to go to Ouarzazat but then my host mom invited me and the other group members (Steven, Colin, Tina and Anton and Fatima our LCF), to the wedding. So all of us went except for Anton who went to visit another CBT group. So we all took a bus to a town that was about 30mins. We got off the bus and walked about 30 more minutes maybe more to the river. We then proceeded to decide how to cross the rivier. They said there was a bridge but then this guy who was walking with us said it was broken, so we were all prepared in some way to cross by foot. Not knowing how deep or how strong the current was mind you haha. We get to the river and my host mom’s family is on the other side waving at us and watching us all try to decide how we want to cross the river. My host mom just rolls up her pants, puts her flip flops on, grabs a stick and crosses by foot. Baller status! The rest of us on the other hand decided to use the bridge which was broken but might as well been. Now when I say bridge, I mean logs with the top cut off so they are some what flat, about 5 of them. They are strung across the river, supported by sand bags and some more pieces of wood. So not looking so good and sturdy but we decide to use the bridge. Steven goes first and makes it fine. I’m second and I was good until the last part which they said was a little wobbley. Almost lost my balance and then some guy came and helped me, that was nice. Then Colin and Fatima try to cross together. But Fatima is sooo scared that she stops and freaks out and Colin almost loses his balance and they both almost went in. Luckily the water was only like 3 feet deep but still enough to get soaked. The guys come and help them across. Next is Tina and she almost eats it on the second part and again a guy came to help. So once our survivor adventure was over for the day we met the family and hung out and of course ate bread and tea. Then we were fed lunch even though we already ate lunch haha. But we eat. Then we went and played hackysack out by the river and a bunch of kids joined us a little later, even my host mom came out. She was kicking but and blocking all the kids, soooo funny. She was really in to in. Play to win I say! We played until dark and then sat on a cliff and waited for the brides to come in by horse. So they come in with their respective wedding parties. The brides are all covered up, completely and are not to be seen by the rest of the guests until the next day. Only their husbands are allowed to see them that night. Then after waiting for a bit and hearing singing and chanting of some sort, oh this was a Berber wedding by the way. We went in the house and the boys had to sit in another room while Tina, Fatima and I sat with all the women on the floor. There were some drum circles happening and it was hella awesome. Really enjoyed the whole call and response drumming going on. Then we had tea and cookies and sang some more, a little dancing by some of the ladies. One lady came up to Fatima and I guess asked her if I really was American because I look Moroccan. I was like SCORE!!!!!! That’s the second time I’ve been told that I could be Moroccan. SWEET SAUCE! haha. Then we eat cous-cous and some meat dish thing and of course bread and water. Then we waited around some more and then everyone came out side and we had another call and response dancing-singing thing going on. That was cool, the girls seemed really shy and even Fatima said the whole wedding was very different that ones in her town. But as expected all weddings are different. This wasn’t the traditional wedding I would think of. There weren’t any vows or anything like that. The brides were there and then they weren’t and went to their husbands’ houses. So really the wedding was a celebration for everyone else I think. Not sure. But very interesting and I’m totally down to go to more weddings. Not sure about crossing a river via tree logs but yeah…. haha. Then the next morning we crossed the river again to get back and Fatima and my host mom took a horse across. We all laughed and took pictures. I’ll try to post those later. Takes soo long to post pictures! So that’s about it for now. I’ll try to be a little bit more consistent with this whole blog thing haha. I uploaded 14 pics on picasaweb.google.com/elvisrocks87 and I was going to do more but the internet took forever so I gave up. I’ll try again soon. Peace!

Merced Sunstar's story about Jackie and I going into the PeaceCorps :)

My gosh do I love sports! I love it when the Olympics come around :) So awesome!! Of course, hoping the USA will dominate in hockey!!!! Yay! We have a young team but a good team. I think we can do it! And just think when I get back from Morocco, it will be time for the Summer Olympics!!! Can’t wait for swimming, sand volleyball and of course gymnastics! Yay for Rio 2012, even though I wish Chicago could have won :/. Next time for sure!!! Getting really excited for the goodbye/see-you-later party this Saturday. Can’t wait to see all my family and friends :) Bittersweet for sure but definitely going to be an awesome time!!! Starting to actually get things together to pack, starting to let it all soak in and starting to freak out a little bit. Just a little. Just enough to keep it real I guess haha. Well that’s all for now. Until next time! Peace, Socorra

skype: socorra1 twitter: socorrac myspace: myspace.com/sococ youtube.com/socorracamposanto photo: picasaweb.google.com/elvisrocks87 email: elvisrocks87@gmail.com *I will have contact info cards at my goodbye party with all this info on it too. But just in case you lose it or don’t pick one up, here it is! I’ll post my address during training later. I’ll also have an address book for people to write down their emails, skypes, addresses etc so I can contact you guys!!!

Date: Feb 2, 2010. Well it seemed like it would never come, but it has. The count-down has begun and I have about a month left in the States before heading to Morocco for 27 months! Peace Corps here I come!!! As Feb. came around I was really excited and really sad at the same time. I’m just going to miss everyone, the music, the food. We do have some pretty good food in America believe it or not lol. But mainly my friends and family who have been so supportive over the year or so that I have been in the application and placement process. It has definitely been quite a journey and I’m really happy that it will continue till 2012 and beyond! I’m excited for all the stories that I will be able to share while I’m there and when I get back. So as of now, my family and I are getting the final plans together for my goodbye-party. But I like to think of it as a “See you later” party, that way it doesn’t seem so sad and definitive. If that makes any sense? Because it’s definitely not goodbye. I hate that word. I always say later or peaceout. It seems more happy that way. I’m also getting together things that I need to start packing and I’m also really thinking about this whole packing thing. But I probably won’t actually start till about 2 weeks ahead of time. Taking my time with it I guess. I’m also watching as much TV as possible!!!!!! I’m pretty bummed that I’m going to miss the last half of season 1 of Glee :( I effing love that show!!! I’m gonna miss the ending of season 5 of Bones. And yes, I watch it, but so does my little brother: The Vampire Diaries. I have to know why there are so many dang vampires in the little town of Mystic Falls!!! Oprah will be done by the time I get back. I hope Ellen is still dancing, because I’m gonna be on her show when I get back!!! Well, hopefully. Other than that, I’m really just chilling. Hanging out with friends, in fact I have a day with my homie Karen this Thursday!! We’ve been going on I believe 8 years of friendship!!!! Damn, I know, long time, but a very very very good time too :) I guess that’s all for now. Call me to hangout people!!!! Love you all very much!!! -Socorra ps: Sara Bareilles is working on her new album, so if I can’t download a copy, I expect someone to send me one ASAP!! I love her!!!

On Jan 31, 2010 I went to the 52nd Annual Grammy Award Show!!! OMG OMG OMG! For someone like me, completely completed by music, this was a dream. First off, shout out to my boy Bryson! We met in line, waiting to go in to the Staples Center. We hung out all night, good times!!! So after waiting for what seemed like forever but at the same time was probably only about 2 hours total, we went into the Staples Center and heard the announcement for “Show starting in 10mins”, “Show starting in 5mins, please take your seats”. So as you can all imagine, I’m freaking out, Bryson is freaking out and all of the other seatfillers are freaking out! So we walk down into the arena and immediately are rushed to take seats in the first 10-15 rows on the floor! Bryson and I sat 5th row for the opening with Lady Gaga and Elton John. Holy shit is all I have to say!!! It was amazing and entertaining. I have never seen Elton John in person before so it was great to see him and see him sing with Lady Gaga. The whole back-to-back piano duel thing going on was hella tight too! Then LMFAO came and jacked our seats so Bryson and I moved to the back until commercial. But before we left, we saw Heidi Klum and Seal, Bon Jovi, One Republic, Slash, Alice Cooper, David Foster, Queen Latifa and the Jonas Brothers. During the commercial breaks it was crazy because that is when everyone moves to different seats. I was lucky and only moved I think 3 or 4 times. The second half of the show I was in one spot in the middle so that was sick!!!!! When Pink sang, I got a little wet when she started spinning around and blessing everyone with her “holy water” lol. I was sitting next to Kesha when the Black Eyed Peas were singing and we danced! Beyonce’s performance made me wanna cry and be a better musician all at the same time. I literally felt her voice resonate through my entire body and her power was bouncing off everything in the arena. Couldn’t believe it! Loved all the performances, but definitely Gaga and Beyonce were my favorites. Bon Jovi was classic and best believe, I was screaming and singing hella loud. I’m an even bigger fan of Eminem now than I ever was before. Hearing that guy rap live was crazy!!!!!!!!!!!! Intense dude, for reals. Drake was sitting two rows in front of me at one point. Taylor Swift was 3 rows in front. Adam Lambert chillin’ behind me. When I saw Jay-Z I wanted to scream “Young! and HOVA!!!”, but I didn’t….I just screamed. A plain scream. Ne-yo and I brushed shoulders haha. I saw Lea Michele from Glee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited because I didn’t expect her to be there so it made it even more crazy. I said hi and she said hey in the whole “umm I don’t really know you way” and I knew it but I didn’t care. GLEEEEEEE dude!!!! When Taylor Swift won for Album of the Year my entire row which consisted of a lot of seatfillers all screamed “yay!!!!” at the same time and stood up haha. We definitely stuck out like a sore thumb right then and there. But it was amazing. Musical heaven and I felt like a little kid. Amazed by all the talent I was surrounded by and all the production that goes into making this show work. The stage crew, lighting, sound, those working the floor, security. Just crazy. I scored a program after the show and have a really cool wrist band with little Grammy’ on it. Definitely keeping that for life!!! And when I win my first Grammy, I’m going to have it with me and tell a nice little story about how I was once a seatfiller. Oooo I almost forgot, I was LL Cool J and I though of my mom. She loves him! When Carlos Santana came on stage, I wanted to grab a guitar and learn some stuff haha, but couldn’t obviously….. Overall, one of the best nights of my life ever!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope I get the chance to go again!!!!