Wow I cannot believe that a year ago today I was moving my things from Oakland to LA and preparing for the Peace Corps. It has almost been a year that I have been in country and I cannot believe time has gone by so fast. My emotions goes up and down. I have really grown a lot in the past year.

Nothing much new is going on in Morocco. I celebrated my birthday with a few friends in my province. Played banana grams and apples to apples, ate some homemade Thai food and laughed. Celebrated a little bit more in Marrakech this past weekend. Things are going well. I have had so much time on my hands to think and I am glad I am slowly getting over people.

I have a lot of plans to come in Morocco. I don't want to sound like a big dreamer so I will wait until things start to happen then tell you all about it. I am done with my grant to get restrooms put into school so look forward to making some donations!

That's it for now!

First of all I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Today is my birthday and I cannot believe I am 26 years old now. A little update since I returned from Thailand.

For New Years myself along with some other Peace Corps Volunteers went on a camel trek, stayed the night in berber tent, had a bonfire, ate Moroccan tajines, and brought in the new year in the middle of no where. The camel trek was awesome. It was 300DH which is about 40dollars or so. It included transportation to the site where the camels were, a two hour camel trek in the sand dunes, dinner, bonfire, beds, blankets, breakfast, 2 hour camel trek return, and return vehicle. It was well worth it. I watched the stairs all night. It was pitch black and millions of stars. The most beautiful scene ever. We also climbed the largest sand dune and watched the sunset. It was awesome. After the trek went to visit another volunteer and headed back home.

Since I have been back in my site I have been really working trying to get my grant completed to construct bathrooms in 2 elementary schools. People are seriously starting to get on my nerves. I will not bad talk anyone because we have blog stalkers, but this project is driving me nuts. I am also teaching English lesson 4-5 times a week. Things are really picking up and I am just taking things one day at a time.

Dont know what my new plans are for 26, but I will figure it out and get back with you all soon!

Happy Holidays!

This was the first Christmas ever with me not being with family and friends. It was very difficult in the beginning but I made it through and made the best of the holiday.

I just returned from Thailand where I had an amazing time. I went to visit another Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. Porscha and I went to Cal together. I had an amazing time and she was a really good host. The first day I arrived in Bangkok and we spent two days there hanging around in the mall. We went to the movies, bowling, aquarium, Kousan road, Grand Palace, museums, reclining Buddah, resturants and much more. Remind you all I was only in Bangkok for two days. We filled those days with so much. I was so exhausted by the end of the day but the trip was well worth it.

Things I didnt know when traveling was that countries have the choice on which currencies they will convert and of course I couldnt convert my Moroccan Dirhams into Thai Baht. I never known that currency places had that option. It was kinda funny to me. Then of course something else had to happen. I started using my bank card and then Bank of America blocked my account because I forgot to inform them of my travels. All that was resolved and I was able to get a little bit of money.

After Bangkok we went to Elephant Island (Koh Chang) for three days and that was equally as amazing as Bangkok if not better. Beautiful white sand beach! We took a ferry to our Island and once there we had Thai food at an amazing resturant and chilled out on the beach. The next days were filled with relaxing on the beach, eating, drinking, pedicures, massages, elephant trek, hang gliding, swimming pools, fire throwers, dinner on the beach sand and much more.

Thailand is a totally different place than Morocco and I enjoyed myself a ton. Came back to Morocco and spent Christmas with the people in my province and we made homemade nachos and eggnog and just chilled!

New Years is supposedly a camel trek and I am definitely looking forward to that. New Years Eve camel trek with some PCVs should be extra fun!! HAPPY NEW YEARS TO EVERYONE!

Wow I didn't blog last month...

It has now been 9 months away from home in another country. I am still surviving in Morocco. Much has happened since my last blog post. I have had several meetings with people regarding my project to build bathrooms in the schools, Toubkal, Halloween, and IST in Marrakech, Fez, and L3id Mqqourn.

Bathrooms:

This has turned out to be more difficult than I wanted it to be. I am working with people that are corrupt, want only money and believe that all Americans are rich. I am so tired of everyone telling me that everyone that lives in California are rich. I told them I have been living in California for 25 years; I know many people and none of them are rich. It still blows my mind that schools are being built without restrooms. Some things that seem so obvious and natural to me it is just not the same here in my village. There may have been reasons behind not including restrooms that is not clearly communicated to me. I am a health volunteer and I try to communicate that I am here merely to better the health and lives of the people I work with and they want the money and don’t want to be educated on the importance of bathrooms and hand washing stations. Well this process it in transition I will try to keep everyone updated on the progress. I often tell the people if I knew rich people I would try and do a lot more and try to get donations, but many people I know sometimes need donations.

Toubkal:

As some of you may know I have never hiked a day in my life. I have come to Morocco and I have stepped out of my comfort zone and believed I was a mountaineer. The highest mountain in North Africa in Morocco is called Mountain Toubkal. It is a 7 hour hike to a refuge (similar to a hotel) and a 3.5 hour hike to summit. It took me 9 hours to get to the refuge and I didn’t quite make it to the top of the mountain summit. I definitely don’t have the endurance to climb mountains. I was so tired after the 9 hour hike the first day. I went through hot and cold phases. It was supposed to be cold because snow was on the mountains and we were all striping off layers before we ever made it to the cold part of the mountain. The second day we were to hike to the top. Everyone in the hotel woke up early and left to summit. My group decided to sleep in and leave around 10:30am. Bad idea! That was too late of a start, one reason being that it is fall it gets dark much earlier another reason being we were not prepared and were amateur at hiking to begin with. I made my attempt to the top and got really sick half way up and turned around. The higher I climbed the worse my condition got. The mountain is about 14000ft high I made it to probably 9500ft or so. I am proud of what I accomplish, but I wish I would have had the success to say that I climbed to the top. I will try again Enshallah (if God is willing)!!

IST:

In service training (IST) was really fun. It was a week in Marrakech. It was very informational and I enjoyed reuniting with the health and environment volunteers. It was good that our Moroccan counterparts were there and we had translators and it was great being able to communicate better and understand completely without the language barrier. We had a prom that was themed as the Moroccan markets called souq. People were able to wear anything they purchased from souq. There was a king, a queen, 3 princesses, and 5 princes. I was honored to received one of the princess crowns lol. It was actually a really fun event. I have memories from prom. I enjoyed myself. We also had a talent show and many people showed off their talents and it was entertaining. We also had a football game, chili cook-off, and a birthday party. Marrakech was a really fun place. It is filled with tourist and crowded all the time. It is wonderful to go to tourist parts of Morocco, speak the language and get discounts or regular prices and sometimes free things. There was really amazing restaurants in Marrakech. I had Thai food!

Fez:

This was the farthest place I have traveled yet. Fez is all the way up north and I have the furthest southern site of volunteers. It was a 19hour bus ride home. Besides the travels it was a really nice place. I loved the scenery and the shopping was great! Not much to say about it, but I enjoyed myself. I didn’t do many of the tourist sightseeing things because it rained and I wasn’t really supposed to be there in the first place. Shhhhh don’t tell! Well I guess it has gone and passed hopefully I cannot get in trouble afterwards. It is not that I cannot be there I just didn’t inform Peace Corps that I was there. If any of the staff read the blogs, now you know I detoured to Fez on the way home from Marrakech. There were two birthdays that were celebrated and we had fun!

Aid El Adha/ L3id Mqqourn (The Big/ Great Feast):

This is a big Islamic holiday similar to Thanksgiving or Christmas. It lasts three days. It was an interesting experience. Each family slaughters a sheep and eats every part of it including the head. Some history given to the volunteers: “The Islamic festival of Aid El Adha, the festival of sacrifice, is an ancient religious festival based on the story of Ibrahim and Ishmail. As was tradition at the time, Ibrahim was about to sacrifice his only son to demonstrate his faith and submission to God when a goat / sheep appeared in the thicket and God spoke to Ibrahim telling him to sacrifice the goat instead.” They dressed me up in Moroccan gear and I watched them slaughter several sheep. I walked around telling everybody happy l3id and watched as they all consumed the liver, stomach, intestines, and heart of the sheep grilled on kabobs. I still don’t eat meat so I didn’t partake in any of the meat festivities. I believe even if I did eat meat, after watching the slaughtering and skinning part I would have probably stopped after that. It was the most disgusting thing I have witnessed to date. I really like how all the families come together during this time. They say this is the time where all the members of the families come together to discuss family matters and negotiate marriages. I received so many marriage proposals it was ridiculous. Especially being I was dressed in traditional gear, many believed I converted to Islam and were trying to find me a husband to take back to America. All the men of the family work together to slaughter and skin the sheep. The women work together cleaning the insides, grilling the head and preparing bread. Every house I visited served tea and had deserts out to serve. It was nice.

New culture shock:

In Morocco men are allowed to have up to four wives as long as they treat them all equally and provide for all the households. Something new I found out is that women are allowed to have more than one husband. Because the man late wife passed away he gets to marry the sister of his wife or the bride of his brother. I don’t know the history behind it; it was just interesting to me. I went to the wedding. I know the first husband; he is really a nice guy. Moroccan weddings are fun and long... they last for about 3-4 days of drumming and partying. Glad its over.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving! A lot of volunteers are meeting and we are having a potluck. Pecan pie, pumpkin pie, turkey, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, biscuits, stuffing, cranberries etc.... EXCITED!!

That was a brief summary of all the things that has occurred since I last updated. I could make a speech saying I will blog more and blah blah blah, but in reality it is not easy and I do it as often as I could. My trip to Thailand is rapidly approaching and the next blog post would definitely be about my adventures in Thailand! Overall I am very happy and taking life one day at a time.

HEY!

Blogging: This blogging thing is more difficult than I assumed it to be. Not having a regular email connection is the most difficult because once I do have an active connection blogging is the last thing on my mind. It seems to be so time consuming and I don’t feel as though I have much to report about. I sometimes get annoyed with every irrelevant detail in some blog posts, but then I realized that is what blogging is about. It should be complete randomness about every small detail in my daily life. It may not be interesting to me, but it may be interesting to others. Just as I start off each other blog post, not much is going on.

Feelings: Actually things are going wonderful in Morocco. I don’t have many complaints. I am still struggling with language, but I believe I may be my worse critic. Some people say my language is good, but I believe it sucks. Ramadan ended September 11 and I went to celebrate the end of Ramadan in Agadir with some other PCV’s. We had an amazing time. I am happy, stress free, and enjoying my vacation. This doesn’t feel like all work. I sometimes feel as though I am on an extended vacation. Never in my life will I be the one to set my schedule and do what I want when I want without someone verifying it. I am embracing my downtime instead of complaining about it now.

Ramadan: I did not fast the entire Ramadan. It was difficult for me not eating or drinking from sunup to sundown 5am-7:30pm in 125 degree weather. I could have done it, but I don’t believe I wanted to. Many people questioned my reasoning behind fasting. Some encouraged me to fast, while others reminded me I am not Muslim so why fast, someone even told me that it does no good to fast if I am not praying. Praying once a day is not enough. I have to pray 5 times a day and dehydrate myself in order for the fast to count. So I considered everyone comments and concerns and agreed totally and made the decision after two weeks to not fast anymore. I began drinking water only. I still did not disrespect the religion by eating or drinking outside my house. One day I had some orange Tang on my tongue and someone called me out on it and I felt bad because I had an orange frozen drink before I left my house that day.

Work: I taught a few lessons on tooth brushing and those children drove me nuts. I don’t particularly love children, but I know education is important. I don’t like to teach and don’t want to pursue teaching as a career, but I will continue to do small activities on tooth brushing and hand washing. I am starting to appreciate life in America a lot more. You don’t realize how we are taking advantage of daily activities and resources until you get away and go without for so long. It has always been natural to me to wash my hands and brush my teeth daily, and it is something I am trying to educate people in my community about. I don’t pass judgment or believe that I know what is best for their hygiene. I just make suggestions, offer soap, tooth brushes, and toothpaste and leave the decision up to them to utilize the things. I am currently working on a project to get bathrooms put into two local schools. It blew my mind when I realized that so many people are living without a place to use the restroom and without a water to wash their hands. That is the root of the problem. I am targeting the young population because they are the future. I am doing an assessment and will write a grant to begin installing bathrooms in the school and then I could do more lessons on proper usage and the importance of hand washing. I am also in the works of making reusable always pads out of old material. Once I make a few by myself and get good with the vocabulary, I will go out and teach the women how to make the glad rags out of things they already have.

House: My house is coming along great. I am comfortable and I like it. I painted my bathroom and will soon get to paint my kitchen and my room. I am decorating my office. I will buy a book shelf and a desk soon hopefully. I have a television, but no satellite. I will soon buy a satellite and hope that I could watch Grey’s Anatomy when I get it!! I doubt it will be available, but I still have hope. I am still having problems with rodents, bugs, and scorpions. I have not yet got a kitten because I am not sure if it’s what I really want. I will keep thinking about it. I may get a cat to keep me company, but I would much rather a dog to protect me. I was locked in my house a couple of weeks ago. Not locked OUT but locked IN. My lock would not turn and I was stuck inside for about 4 hours and my landlord was traveling. My host sister eventually came and let me free haha.

Overall things are good and I am excited to now have an agenda and be working towards something. It is making me feel more useful these days.

Sorry I have not been able to blog lately. Things are going great for me. I cannot complain too much. PPST went by extremely fast and it was very informational. I look forward to starting a project post Ramadan.

Ramadan is a month long fasting. From sunrise to sunset, no eating, drinking, making babies, smoking or anything else you enjoy. When the sun goes down, every prays and have soup, shabekia, and other sweets. The break fast meal is called Lfdor. I have been fasting now for 6 days. The first day was a bit difficult to adjust to and I was drinking water because I was thirsty, but now I have more control over myself and I am doing what I have to in order to experience what my community is experiencing. Days are extremely dead during Ramadan. Many people are asleep until the sunsets and then Lfdor is served, Iminsi (dinner) and around 4am we have SHor. During SHor you consume lots of water and coat your stomach with bread or something. Most of the men go to the Mosque and pray, women usually go to the fields and I go back to sleep lol. Everyday I am visiting a new family home to break fast and it's great to get around and meet new people in my community. I am talking more and asking more questions to try and improve my language.

Post PPST we celebrated a birthday in Agadir which was great. We found a chinese food restaurant which was fairly decent for Morocco and chilled out on the beach. When I arrived back home it was the day before Ramadan started and I realized my house had been infested with mice. They were everywhere. As bad as I felt, I went out and bought poison. Overall I found 6 mice in my house. I was traumatized. I really don't like mice and I was ready to move. Then I thought about it and realized my strength is constantly being tested and I will never let anyone bring weakness out of me. So I defeated the mice and moved on.

Enjoying the summer, waiting for it to end so hopefully I can find work! It's so wonderful living on my own. Things have definitely gotten better since I moved. I made a pepper turkey sub with American sandwich cheese and mustard, with chips and tropical punch koolaid on the side and chopped apples. I felt as though I was hope and I loved it!

Thanks for reading.... Miss everyone

We have reached the next step in our journey and it is very exciting. The last few weeks in my own place has been amazing. I had a few road blocks when my refrigerator broke and it was 103 degrees Fahrenheit around 3am. I thought my world would soon end, but days later it began to work again. It now shuts off every other day and I enter my kitchen to find water all over my kitchen floor. I have gotten use to it. I will soon buy a new refrigerator.

I am not sure what else is going on at site. The women in my site do not yet trust me. I had a conversation where the lady informed me that she believes that I may be a spy only in their country to research their daily activities. It was discouraging in the beginning, but I am eager to prove the women wrong and go in and be the best that I can. I know it's great to be hopeful but it's difficult sometimes.

We have now been in country for nearly 5 months and it seems as though we have been here forever. We are at PPST (Post pre service training) and it is wonderful to see all the PCV's and hear about their experiences and realize that we are in this together and are experiences similar emotions. Many people have similar findings and it's interesting to know that there are many provincial differences.

We will be here for two weeks and I hope to have a breakthrough and head back to site with lot's of new ideas!

Things went well this past week. It was my first week in my house and they were not bad. In the beginning I was feeling a bit lonely. The first night went well. It has been really hot here so I am trying to survive the heat. I dont have a bed frame so I hallucinate at night because the bugs are out really bad. The third night in my house two little birds got in and I tried to fight them out with a broom and took out my hallway light bulb lol... Cleaning has been fun and interesting. It gets so dusty so I am constantly sweeping all day. I really wish I had some interesting facts, but I dont. I start my English and health lessons next week and I am looking forward to that.

Overall things are going well. I am enjoying my life right now and trying to find survival tips for the summer! Any ideas hit me up! Also if you know who could donate books in English and sports equipment let me know.

Love ya!

Hello All,

I have been in Morocco now for four months over 130 days and I am having a feeling that I have accomplished nothing. Although, two years remain and I have just completed the training process, I am ready to help my community. While still in the language learning process I cannot communicate effectively the major health needs in the community, therefore, I want to start with trying to bring in resources for the children. Things such as book, toys, sports equipment etc. I need to develop something sustainable that will be able to continue after I depart from country. I am taking things one day at a time. If anyone knows of any organizations that are willing to help me by donating supplies, equipment or money may you please send me their contact information. The things do not have to be new.

Since my last update. Everything at site is going well. I constantly tell myself at the end of each day that I will type what I do so I could give a nice detailed blog about what I am doing. It doesn’t seem like much is getting done. I helped another volunteer do a field day at the school in her site. It turned out to be a success. My language is definitely improving a lot but still not where I want it to be. I been to the Sbitar to talk with the doctor about possible projects related to health and I was pleased with the discussion. I have a lot of ideas just taking things day by day before I make any big moves. Right now I am just teaching English to those interested at the local association.

I found an apartment!!! It passed safety and security, rental agreement forms are signed and I will be moving in on July 1st!! It’s so exciting to be preparing to move on my own. For the last 5 months I have been living with people and the last 5 years I was living alone and I cannot wait to be in the privacy of my own home. I love Moroccan hospitality, but I am ready to eat when I want, wear what I want, sleep where I want and all around do what I want on my own time and I am not constantly being watched or questioned about my actions. I pretyped this blog, but I am not in my apartment!!!!!!!!! It is in the decoration phase but I am excited to be on my own! I am afraid of the free time, but excited that I could be as Hshuma as I like because it's my place.

Highlights of last two weeks: I got busted in the shower twice, questioned on why I was showering so often and dropped my brand new bar of dove soap down the bitlma hole lol… That bitlma and I have not became best friends yet haha. I got harassed by a drunken official guy who works at the commune, touched by a school director and invited to tea and lunch by a potential tutor that declined signing my tutor agreement unless I had lunch or tea. Then he agreed to sign it at a later date and suggested I pick it up later on in the night. All those things are unacceptable in Moroccan culture yet so common amongst the female PCV’s. So on the search for a new tutor I went, I found another tutor and language tutoring will being July 1. I hope that goes well. Most of the people in my community that knows English well enough to tutor me are males.

My host fam almost made me cry again. They are not the nicest people, but not the meanest people either. It’s just really frustrating that they are not patient with me. They don’t try and help me in the language process. They just talk about me and give up on me after one word. It’s sometimes uncomfortable in the house because they don’t talk to me because they just chuck it up as “she knows nothing so why try and talk to her”. I get most of my language practice outside the house. There are some really nice women in my community and I cannot wait to be able and communicate with them properly where they could help me out and let me in on all the scoop in the town haha. All they do is gossip. Not much is very different between women in Morocco and women in America. Everywhere you go women are moody, argumentative, gossipy, and nosy.

I braid my hair often in cornrows and now I cannot walk anywhere in the community without someone asking me to do their hair. To prevent everyone asking me to do their hair I let someone do my hair! I got individual braids and I really like the outcome. It is a blessing not to have to deal with my hair now. The best part is I only paid 6 US Dollars to get the braids which are awesome!!!!

Sometimes it is still hard to believe that I am in Morocco because there are so many similarities. Although I miss washing machines or laundry mats, fried chicken, ice cream, and pickles lol. I know I am a fatty. I have been doing a lot of walking and I think that I may be losing weight a bit. I gained so much weight during training, but I am a tad bit more active and it’s so hot in Tata that I am sorta slimming down haha. Probably only in my eyes, but my eyes are the only eyes that matter!

Things that I missed since the last update were two of my best friend’s graduations from college, my uncles’ funeral and some birthday. I wish everyone the best and if I could have been there you know that I would have. Love and miss everyone. Thank you Roomie for sending me that great package! It was perfect timing. I had cup of noodles for dinner the first night in my apartment.

Excited about moving! Will post pictures once I am in! Until next time… Peace!

My internet has not been working at all and I didn’t get to post this blog when I intended to so I could add on it daily. I traveled to Tata this weekend only for a couple of hours, spent some time with some current PCV’s internet wasn’t working really well. We just caught up with one another and it’s great that each time we meet we all have stories, but the stories are getting better each time. We are definitely getting use to the place. We are all growing as individuals in Morocco and it’s great. We have been here close to 4 months and we have found houses to rent and starting to develop a vision for work.

Monday’s are souq days. The souq is a weekly outdoor market that I attend to buy produce and small household items. It is full of people and sometimes chaotic. I can tell I am getting use to the place because the crowd doesn’t bother me anymore and people are starting to recognize me. The program staff came for a visit this Monday. We sat and talked for a minute regarding plans for the summer and how things have been going at site. It was also a wedding at my site. Weddings in Morocco usually last about three consecutive days. I knew it was going to be a big wedding because the last time I was in the fields I was informed that three cows I saw was for the bride. The heads of the cows will be chopped off and served at the wedding. I thought to myself wow three cow heads, man that is a lot of beef. I am not a beef eater so that was definitely not appetizing to me. Also seeing grilled cow head doesn’t appease me. Well thank goodness I was left and didn’t have to deal with the “I don’t eat beef” speech. I was first upset that they left me, but then I got over it and went to bed. The first day of the wedding last til around 2am and I am usually asleep around that time. I started reading Twilight. I never was interested in seeing any of the movies and the books were so thick I never was interested in reading them, but my site mate has all the books and I started reading the first one and it’s a very easy read. I am not sure if I am ready to read about love.

This blog is all over the place and I dont have the energy right now to edit it. I just want everyone to know that I am doing well, I am in my new place, my language is getting better, and I am getting project ideas! I wouldn't trade it for nothing

This last week was alot for me. There were so many things going on from so many different avenues. I was feeling as though I was surrounded by death. My site mate grandmother passed away and she left for America for a weekto mourn with her family. During the week she was away I actually accomplished a lot alone. I integrated more with my community. I spent two days in the hospital and the other 3 days teaching and tutoring English to high school kids. Then I got news that my uncle was sick and in the hospital and I left my site and traveled away to better communicate with family. When I arrived back to site I was informed that a HCN (host country national) died and it was one of my friends uncle. Memorial Day I found out that my uncle passed away from liver cancer via facebook. I didnt have a lot of time to mourn and deal with that before another HCN died. The day I returned to site I made a run for a few little snacks and while there I conversed with two old men sitting out on the step outside the store and the next day they found one of the old men inside of his house dead. It was so difficult for me to deal with everyone in my community coming together crying and mourning the death of their love one. It was at that moment that I had a breakdown. I couldnt deal with being alone and away from my family. I was feeling as though I was being surrounded by death and I didnt know how to deal with it.

I am feeling a thousand percent better. I accepted the fact that my uncle passed and I was content with my last encounter with him. I said my goodbyes, my I love you's, and the I will miss you's before I left. He was sick and I am glad that he is not suffering any more. I didnt meet my goal for the week which was go to the Lmdrasa (school) to meet with the director. But I accomplished alot.

Other than dealing with the deaths. Morocco has been great! I am having a great time. Everyday is different for me. There are not many exciting exciting things going on, but everyday is different. I am integrating a lot more, language is coming along well, and I am happy. I miss my family a lot and I have been emotional after each conversation, but I am dealing with it. I will try and update more.

Love ya!!

Hi All,

I still have not sat down and typed all my blogs yet so I will keep this short because i am not a fan of the French keyboard.

Things are great here in Morocco. I am happy, my health is good and all is well in my life. Of course I am complaining about the differences here, but I adjust quickly, this was my decision and there is nothing I could do about the way things are done in Morocco. Everyday is becoming easier I am integrating with my community more, language is coming along and all is well. Sorry if I was sounding as though I wasnt happy in earlier blogs.

Since I last blogged I travelled to Agadir which is the California or Florida of Morocco where there were beaches, alcohol, people with very little to no clothes, pizza hut, Mcdonalds, and an unlimited supply of ICE CREAM!!!!! I had an amazing time I felt as though I was at home lying out on the beach. They also had a huge flea market and a walmart like department store and it was awesome.

I have not yet developed a project. I am still integrating in the community and learning the language. As soon as I am able to communicate and determine what the people want I will develop something. I was proposed a bathroom project, I have a literqcy group in mind, but so far I have been teaching English and making my presence at the hospital where I am observing the health problems of the locals. I am intersted in working with the women in my village.

I am at the cyber cafe where my post box is and I checked my mail today not expecting to have mail, but I had a card from a nice lady whose grandson is a PCV. That was my first piece of mail at my new Post Box! Thank you J. Clifford from Washington for your kind words and thanks for reading my blog!

I had an okay week. I had things laid out to talk about and my ipod died so I cannot reference. I am looking forward to the heat. The first week was successful I met people at the school, found a tutor, went to the hospital, dealt with all my official people, had a few emotional breakdowns, walked the town a bit, saw about 45 camels, questioned my life, almost had a heat stroke, done alot of walking about 10-15 miles, looked for apartments, met with the ministry of health, and just adjusting. Just letting everyone know that things are going well. I have my ups and downs, but I am a big girl I can do it! I miss my family, my friends, ice cream, wing stop, and my bed.

love you all! sorry for the short update, will try and get more detailed next time.

CBT is community based training and it is now over. It was sad to leave my family. A brief overview on the last couple of days at site. I went shopping for family gifts, got pictures printed out and made cards and photo albums, presented the families with the gifts. I also received lots of gifts from host families. Small rugs and household things. We held two health lessons at the schools in Tazntoute. One lesson on hand washing at the preschool and the other lesson on garbage at the lmdrasa.We had our language progress exam and I scored the minimum we could score to not have to sign the paper. I could put together a sentence, but I am not yet at the level at using alot of words. We threw our host families a party and we made pizza! That was a success the party was very fun! My host family dressed me up and we danced. Leaving was very emotional, everyone was crying and we had grown very attached to our families and our Duoar.

I am just throwing out random things and my mind is very scattered right now. I cut my hair yesterday. Not very very short, but cut. I was suprised at myself to go to a Moroccan hair shop and let them do anything, but it was fun. Tomorrow we swear in as official Peace Corps volunteers and we are off into the real world. Headed off to Tata on Friday. I got a post box there address is posted on the blog. I don't remember whether anything new, interesting or exciting have occurred. I want to be more specific in these blogs, but by the time I get to the internet I have forgotten everything that occurred in the last week because time is going by so fast that yesterday seems like a week ago and a week ago seems like a month ago lol... I am just taking everything one at a time.

Overall positive experiences and good times. I have no complaints. We are definitely getting closer and things are becoming more official. Being in HUB for the last couple of days and hearing current volunteers speak has kinda given me an outlook that I am not alone and many volunteers are having the same experiences and feeling the same way despite how different we seem.

Hopefully I can get an internet stick and it actually work at my site. We shall see. More blog updates if thats the case, but I believe I have to pay by the day so we shall see!

Site visit in Tata.....

We left Ouarzazette on Saturday on the 2:30pm bus. Things were not so bad. We arrived in Tata around 10ish. Current volunteers welcomed us at the bus station. We had a fun sleep over at a current volunteer's house and it was fun. They made a nice feast for us which included Thai chicken with peanut sauce, rice, steamed vegetables, cakes and more. It was totally delicious!! On Sunday we all headed off to our sites.

In my site Kasbah Ait Herbil there is currently a volunteer there and she is amazing. She introduced me to everyone I was able to meet my host family, meet a lot of people in the community, and visit facilities in which I may work. My host family is the same host family of the past volunteer which could be good in some ways, but annoying in other ways. They compare my every move to the other volunteer who obviously is great with the language after two years and I come into the community for five days and some people expect me to be as fluent. In the host family I have four sisters over the age of 30 and a host mom. Everyone seem to have the potential to be great, but I will just give it time. They occasionally tell me "ur tssnt walo" which translates into you know nothing. It was kind of funny in the beginning because it was expected and the current volunteer warned me that she advised them not to say that to me because I am still learning.

My room.... I sleep on top of dirt with a carpet and a blanket. It's actually not uncomfortable, but at first site you would say to yourself seriously lol. I actually had some good nights rest; besides fighting flies and being terrified of being bitten by a mosquitos.

These four days were jam packed. I walked around with the other volunteer meet a lot of the officail people, got a P.O. box, visited another Duoar near me where the Souk market is each week, and also helped out a group of Swedish Optometrist check the vision and prescribe glasses to those that needed them.

There is so much more to add to this Tata adventure, but I am tired and internet is limited. Tata claims to have a Cyber which I hear has One slow computer and mainly men go inside there so I will try other alternatives for communication. I am going back to my old host family tomorrow for this last week. I will type up an outline of my week in Tata and post when I have connection again.

So my life for the next two years will be spent in the hottest place in Morocco word is it gets well over 120 degrees in the summer. I am the furthest volunteer south. I will be in the Tata Province in a village called Kasbah Ahevbil. Not only am I in a place where no other volunteer wanted to be, I am in a house with 5 women over the age of 30. I have a host mother, my host father passed away and there are 4 single women over the age of 30 inside the house. I will be with that host family for 2 months after swear in and then I can move out on my own. I am not disappointed about my site placement because I already set my mind out to believe that I was going there and I just received confirmation today.

I am still not too sure what my project will be. I am replacing a volunteer that will be leaving mid May. Whatever she started in the community I should pick it up where she left off. I will have running water, electricity, and a cyber café on site. Those things are very exciting to me. I am also pleased to know that I will be working closely with another volunteer who actually flew from LA with me in the beginning of this whole thing. We are 2km away. All of my official places are in her town and we have the same Sbitar (health clinic). Things are going well. We will be leaving Ouarzazette on Saturday heading out to our permanent sites for a one week site visit. On April 25 we will head back and stay with our current host families for the last week in April and swearing in is rapidly approaching.

Things are moving fast and it seems like it has been months since the last time I posted a blog and in reality it has not been that long. Nothing much has gone on. I have just been trying to grasp the language and taking things one day at a time. Kind of doing some self reflecting and trying to picture my life after the Peace Corps. I am trying to not stress out about it, but I am not sure of the direction I want to go. In a way I want to apply to some programs and get my Masters, although, I also want to find a job and start working. Other options I am considering are travelling for a year. Those are things that I should not be worrying about right now. I am taking it day by day. I am excited right now.

That is all for now. Until next time.

It's been only a month in and it seems as though I have been in Morocco forever. Days go by so slow but the week are flying by. I am still in language training. This are going well I actually know more than I think I know. I still cannot successfully hold a conversation, but I can understand the basics of the conversation.

So far I have moved familes, had a few disagreements with some people and just been trying to deal with certain things. At one point I was feeling as though I was an outcast and no one could relate to me as a person and it was difficult accepting things without losing who I am as a person. I don't believe I have lived what most believe is the standard "American" life. My upbringing was different, my hair is different, many of my actions are different and some don't understand the fact that my parents were not married, I have two sisters and I don't share both my mother and father with the both of them, I was the first person to go away to college, I was raised in the projects, I didn't grow up with a vehicle in the car, I don't like the Beatles, and yes I went to public school. Feeling though I have to define my identity to everyone was irritating to me. Moroccans think I am African.

I had to move host families because my previous host family lied on their forms and did not document that they had sons. Peace Corps has a policy that female volunteers are not allowed to sleep in the house with a family that has sons over the age of 15 years. My host family had 3 sons over the age of 15 years. When the PC made a visit to the families they met my host brothers and the family introduced them as their brothers. The twins are 26 years old and the other brother is 23 years. So they moved me immediately disregarding how I felt about it. It was a bit annoying because the communities are so small and I was of course the talk of the town because everyone knows the business and were asking the reasons behind my move. What was even more annoying is that when coming to Ouarzazette everyone was asking me questions regarding the move as though the PC publicized it, but news travel fast around here.

My new host family is cool. It's a different environment. I now have three host sisters ages 14, 11, and 6 years. It's a different environment. It's more busy where I am living now because my host mother is the "TaHanut" store owner so there are people coming in and out all day, but it's more practice with language because everyone wants to talk to me and I am exposed to more words. I use to have a big full size bed and a room. I don't have a room anymore or a bed. I am sleeping in the Salon which is the host room with the nice furniture and I am sleeping on the couch which is so hard that I prefer the floor. Although I have an amazing tradeoff. I now have Hot running water and a WASHING MACHINE!!!!!!!!!! That damn hand washing was a job. Although I still do my laundry by hand I don't have to struggle with all these damn jeans and such.

I had some disagreements with some people here because of course many will not understand Monica directness. I speak my mind and most time I just say what is on my mind and I tell it like it is, but I am trying to hold it back becasue it's offendig people lol...

Well I am going to end this for now. I have my interview next week and this month I should be finding out exactly where I will be place and what community I will be working in!! I am excited for that!!

It has been a while since I have posted something. Things have been going well. I don't have many complaints about the country. I am living better off than alot of people in my village. I have running water, electricity, a nice bed, and a family that doesn't bother me much. I have had moments where I miss my family and friends a great deal and I get slightly lonely and I feel as though I have no one. It's difficult seeing the tight knit relationships in my host family and I sometimes feel as though I am out of place. As time progresses things get better and I am able to handle certain situations differently than I would handle them in the States.

Since the last time I posted nothing serious has happened. I went to the Hamman (public bath) for the first time and it was a nice experience. It was all women. We wore underware no bras and spent about 2 hours there utilizing their hot water and steam rooms. I had around 10 buckets of water surrounding me and it was a process. I went with 3 other PCT's and my host sister and another sister of a volunteer. The experience was rewarding and I would definitely go back. Another thing that was different for me was the fact that I washed my hair at the Hamman and it was of course a totally different texture from everyone around me and all I could do was laugh. It was so difficult maintaining my hair that I am ready to shave it bald lol

Another thing that happened was the fact that above my bed there is a photo of my host brother which is somewhat creepy but funny. I dont know if they are trying to marry us or what. Everyone in the city knows my name. I recently found out that he was 23 years old.

Another tragic experience that occured is water from the out house "bitlma" Turkish Toilet splashing in my face. I was so upset that I wanted to run home and cry. I dont want to relive the experience so I would end the story with that!

I am having communication problems and I am dealing with the fact that I cannot speak with some people as often as I would like. People in Morocco feed us so much. I eat around 5-7 times a day. My diet is filled with tons of Carbs and Sugar!! I thought that I would have came to Morocco and lost weight but by the look of things these first few months I am heading towards freshman 15 lol.... With stress, loneliness, and other things lacking food is my coping mechanism!!!

My host family is great! I dont have much of big family I only have one sister and she is 17. Things are going alot better than I anticipated and I am a much happier person. Language lessons are going great! I am learning Tashleheit which is a berber dialect. I am just going to throw out random things with no structure because internet is limited.

Breakfast with host family around 7am.

Class at 8am Language training

We eat bread 6-9 times a day with tea lol... I am growing to love Tea and bread!!!!

Class ends at 5pm

Dinner with family

I took my first shower in the "bitlma" turkish toilet lol... It wasnt bad! I dropped my wallet

I took my first shower in a bucket

I am meeting really great people!

Sorry that I have not had time to update my blog. Things has been moving really fast and at times I get a bit overwhelmed with everything around me. It has been about a week since I updated you all. First of all I made it to Morocco. We have been doing a lot of moving around. I went from CA to Philly, Philly to NYC, NYC to Casablanca, Casablanca to Marrakesh and Marrakesh to Ouarzatte all within a week. We flew in to Casablanca on March 3, 2010, stayed the night and took a bus to Ouarzazette. We have been in Ouarzazette for 3 days doing in country training. It started a bit rocky for me. I was letting small things affect my mood. My laptop crashed and wasn't working so I had no way of communicating. I counselled myself and reminded myself that things are not going to be like they were in the states and I cannot depend heavily on technology. So I quickly got over it. After I was over that situation I started to get sick. My stomach was cramping and the different food was upsetting my stomach. I had some beef! I wasn't missing much for the past 6 years lol.

Overall, this is a really beautiful place and the weather right now is very similar to California. Training has been very interesting, especially listening to current volunteers talk about their experience and adjustments. The adjustments I will have to make in my life is what was tearing me down in the beginning. My days are getting better by the day. It's great here in training. They feed us breakfast, lunch and dinner!! We eat a lot of bread, tea, and honey. The food is tasty. In the beginning I was kind of skeptical on what I will be eating, but all lunch and dinner meals are served with salad, bread, and potatoes!!

The first day in Ouarzazette we received vaccinations. I received a shot in my right arm as well as my left arm. I got the H1N1 vaccine in Philly, Hep B, Meningitis and Malaria in Ouarzazette. We learned all about safety and security procedures, health training on common infections like diarrhea. So many factors play in our diet. The change in environment, food, stress, and certain fluids can lead to our body reacting badly to our food. I will soon update photos. Language lessons are fun, but a tad bit difficult.

So far we have been in hotels in both Marrakesh and Ouarzazette. Yesterday I received my PST site. I will be meeting my host family today in Tazantoute today and the language I will be learning is Tashleheit which is one of the Berber dialect. My LCF (Language and Culture Facilitator) name is Fatima. Fatima is a really common name in Morocco. There are 6 LCF's named Fatima. Today after lunch we will go meet our families and get Moroccan names. I believe my name will be Malika! I like that name. We are now moving into Community based training. The family doesn't know english and every day we will have to commute to language training. At first I was a little afraid of language but after talking with current volunteers I have so much hope and believe things will get better.

I will try and blog again after I meet my family. Until next time..... Love you all!

Yesterday was pretty interesting. Departing from LA was actually not as bad as I thought it would be. It was great because I had a great support group escort me to the airport and no one made it extremely difficult to leave and I handled it fairly well. I have had sudden break downs when I hear the voices or think of something funny someone said.

I havent blogged in a while. What's new: Friday before departure. Complete stress ALL DAY packing. My roommie drove down from Oakland and we went to a karaoke bar which was extremely fun. Saturday was the day before I departed to Philly from LAX at 8:50AM. Saturday was extremely stressful tons of running around, last minute visiting, and other stuff. I took my mom out to eat for her birthday. Her, myself, my sister and my grandmother went to BJ's Resturant and it was Delicious!! Saturday night I done my hair and sat and talked to my loved ones. Overslept on Sunday, but still made it on time to the airport! Packed entirely toooooo much stuff and being the genius that I am I had three heavy luggages that rolled. Once making to Philadelphia I could not possibly pull all three bags. Lol (comedy). It was funny but it really stressed me out. Immediately I had to think of a plan so tomorrow I will be mailing things back to California. Went out with some invitees to supposedly the best Philly Cheesesteak place near our hotel. I was very tempted to have a Philly Cheesesteak but I ended up getting a turkey hoagie!

Today, Monday we had orientation from 12-7pm. So a group of other invitees and myself went to the Amish Market where they had tons of food options and I had french toast and turkey bacon!!! After breakfast we walked the streets of downtown Philadelphia, walked to the liberty bell, saw Independence Hall, saw where the Declaration of Independence was signed and pretty much observed the city a bit before training. Training was very informational and actually went smooth. There are only Health and Environment invitees and there is alot of diversity. I kindof expressed my fears of not connecting with people as much, but the people I have met has turned out to be really down to earth and friendly. In training we got money, passports, learned logistics, meet and greet and more! After staging aboug 15 invitees indulged in our last American meal and I had Shrimp Scampi!

Tomorrow I plan on going to Kmart and the post office before 10AM. Check out is at 10AM. We are taking a bus from Philly to JFK and our flight leaves for Morocco at 7:01PM East Coast Time. As of now it's 1:30AM in Philly and I should be asleep, but I am doing things lol...

Wish me luck! Things are really happening. Excitement has started and the journey has begun

Wow. Who would have known that packing would put that much stress in my life. It was intense. Me being me I waited til the last minute (yesterday) to really pack and it took me alllllll day literally 10am-10pm. I don't know what I would have done if my sister and my roommie didn't step in and take charge because I wasn't doing it. I hold on to so much and I want everything to go not to mention I lived my entire life in jeans and the 80 pound weight limit and all of my jeans I had to let so much go. That wasn't easy for me, but it had to be done.

Well this is it. Today is the official last day with the people I love the most, but it's not goodbye it's I will see you later! I'm really going to try and not make this an emotional event maybe just a few tears of joy!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Every night I lie in bed for hours trying to go to sleep. I have always been a night owl and sleep was never my friend, but I need to rest. My thoughts consume me. I make several attempts to keep myself busy to not think about certain things that are bothering me, but in the end it doesn't work and I'm back to thinking.

Well there's only two days left :( I'm excited yet extremely sad. I leave Sunday at 8:50AM which means I will be awake all night on Saturday due to anxiety hopefully I don't have too much fun Saturday night and oversleep. I will be getting up preparing for the airport around 6am to arrive before 7am which still gives me an hour and fifty minutes to get through security and such.

It's funny the way some things are playing out. I want to reveal so much through this blog regarding some people, but I have received four journals as departing gifts and I will begin to utilize one today!

Can you believe I still have not packed! everything is bought and ready to be inside of a suitcase but that part isn't yet accomplished. Tomorrow is the final deadline I put it off long enough.

Someone asked me today "what would happen if you never went to the airport and you just changed your mind" I thought about it and concluded my mind is made up this is what I am doing for myself, I have the support from the persons that mean the most to me so it's done! There are no what if's... Gnite

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I am really loving the way my life is going right now. I had a going away party LA style yesterday and I really had a great time. I could not ask for more. I will not give too many details on the party, but I had fun. We had guest that came early and left early, guest that came from out of town, young guest, old guest and uninvited guest, but overall it was a cool turn out and I was pleased. I really have to give it up to my big sister who put all that together. I cannot express enough how much I love and appreciate my big sister. She has been my backbone for my entire life. I really wanna thank her (my sister), my brother in law, my mom, my dad, my little sister and everybody else who offered a helping hand to make the party a success. I really appreciate my old roommate, her mother, and grandmother, and little baby girl Jaimi for taking that road trip down to LA to celebrate with me. I also appreciate all my friends and family who came out to celebrate with me. It was great to see everyone who means the most to me come together and just party. All of my little babies were there playing together and I was overall happy. I got a little emotional for a minute, but I tried to stay strong for the sake of everyone else. I cry the most when I am alone. It is really hard for me to leave my sisters (elder and younger), but I am loving skype right now and I am ready for the adventure and excited that the experience can be shared via technology!

I still have not completely packed my luggage for Morocco yet, but my plan is to definitely get that done by Wednesday. I really have no choice it has to be done. I am excited because I got me a new camera!! Thanks Roommie!!

Well I will express how some people really believe I am the same person from years ago. I am a new Monica. I have definitely changed from 2 years ago and 2 years from now I will be a different person. It is not as easy as it use to be to get me to believe every little thing that comes out of your mouth. I really respect people that could admit their faults, but it really isn't enough. When I hurt I hurt hard. I have always been the one to forgive, move on, and not dwell too much on situtions. I remain friends with those that hurt me and the old me use to allow myself to continue to be hurt, the new me will not sit back and continue to allow myself to get hurt over and over and over again. One of the reason I am traveling is I am ready to do things for myself, put myself first and make me happy above others. I never had this selfish mentality and I don't believe it's really selfish of me to want to do certain things in my life that I wanna do.

Well I still have a few conversations to have with a few people before I leave but overall I am loving life, loving my friends, and definitely loving my family!!

I have one week left in the United States and I am trying to do as much as I can in as little time. Every since i received my invitation to Morocco, I feel like things in my life has been going extrememly fast. I created this blog to express my feelings and emotions about life as I prepare for peace corps, but I feel as though things are going so fast and so many things are occuring that I cannot truly express how I feel. I like to write and type to vent and get things off my chest. I decided to change directions of the blog and not use it to vent, but use it more to update everyone on my process. There are always things going on in my life that seem to annoy me. Life as usual has changed and will continue to change and there is no need for me to complain and let every detail annoy me.

I tend to let every minor detail in life affect me. I lie in bed at night letting my thoughts consume me until I realize that hours has past and the sun has risen. There is so much on my mind from the fact that I will be leaving in a week, leaving my family for an extended period of time, relationships, finances, love, mission and purpose in life. I have been trying to lay out a 5 year plan. I see the peace corps for the next two years, but what's next? What do I have to look forward to after I return to the United States? Will I find a job? Go back to school? Live in the Bay? Live in Los Angeles? Marry? Have children? Extend my service? The real question I struggle with is What do I want to be doing? I try to not focus on what I will be doing and focus more on what I Want to be doing.

Tomorrow I will be having a going away party and I am excited about that. I dislike the fact that we have had beautiful weather in LA all week and tomorrow a storm supposed to come through. I am excited that all my family will come together to celebrate the fact that I will be taking a new journey in my life. I appreciate all the support I have been receiving regarding my departure and I also appreciate those that do not support my decision.

I didnt blog about yesterday and how I went on a bus journey in LA got lost and frustrated

I had a very good weekend. In the beginning I was anti-valentines day because I didnt have a significant other to share the love with. Then I realized it's not all about who you are in love with, but who you genuinely love and who loves you back. I spent valentines day with the people I love the most and I had the best time ever. The day started with Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles with my older sister, my nieces, my nephew, my brother-in-law, and my little sister. The food was GREAT (as always), it was 80 degrees in LA and everthing was perfect. After breakfast I spent a little time with my little sister and we went to my father house where we celebrated my little brother's birthday. I lost my brother when I was 9 years old, he was 5 years old. I think about him often. He would have been 21 years old on February 14, 2010. In memory of my little brother, we had a BBQ, music, drinks, games, cake, and family love. We celebrated and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. After that party ended I went out with a friend to visit another friend where we shared many laughs and had a good time.

Monday did not start out as well as the weekend did. I had plans to make some visits which didn't occur because of my vehicle access. Therefore, it resulted in me being stranded in the house all day. My iPhone died around 11am and I was without a vehicle and a phone all day. It wasn't too bad because it gave me time to relax.

I completed my list. Everything I needed was bought. Anything else that I may need more of will be purchased soon. I have visions on exactly what needs to go inside of the suitcase, but I still have not yet began packing the suitcase. I feel so much better that I have had the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. More to come this week!! Now we are getting ready for the party. I am grateful to have a wonderful sister who is taking on the task of organizing this event. She and my brother in law are opening up their home for us to celebrate my going away. I am really going to miss my sister and the kids. Everytime I think about it I get emotional because the love is so genuine.

That's it for the night! Time to go to bed everyone around me are snoring and I am the only one awake

nite nite :)

Time is going by extremely fast. I have two weeks and two days left and I still feel as if I have a lot of things to do. I have not been stressing over things and am really taking it one day at a time. My time here in LA has been going well, I have been spending a lot of time with family. My days are spent usually watching Nick: Yo Gabba Gabba, The Wonder Pets, Ni Hae, Kai-lan, Umi, Spongebob and the list goes on. This time in LA has giving me an opportunity to enjoy my niece and nephew and I am enjoying it.

I haven't been spending much time with friends and I haven't saw my little sister. Some things going on out here annoys me, but I am learning to deal with. The last two nights I have been out with different groups of friends, had some really good conversations. Today was filled with a lot of online shopping. I am buying a new digital camera, a digital voice recorder, swiss army knife and some other stuff. I will really start to put things in a suitcase this weekend. I will be having a going away party next Saturday and I am definitely looking forward to that. It gives me time to bond with family and see a lot of people before I take off.

I still have not began packing. I have so many things on my to do list that I don't know where to start. My personal to do list is all in my head nothing is wrote down. I will sit down at the end of today and sort it out. In real life.

This packing list is very interesting considering most of my clothes might not make the cut lol. They say not to stress over packing and not to try and pack for the entire two years. So we have a weight limit of 80lbs for 2 suitcases (Ouch) My luggage usually are 50lbs when I am traveling to LA for the weekend haha.

Packing List for Morocco (as recommended by PeaceCorpsWiki Packing List )

General Clothing

Remember that Morocco gets very cold in the winter and layering is important!

• Lightweight, waterproof jacket (e.g., a windbreaker) NEED IT

• Heavy jacket or waterproof shell to wear over layers NEED IT

• A few sweatshirts, fleece tops, or sweaters for cool evenings HAVE IT

• Bathing suit HAVE IT

• Bandannas or handkerchiefs (indispensable for dusty road trips) HAVE IT

• Several long skirts/dresses or pairs of khaki trousers (though it is acceptable for women to wear trousers, it is not the norm to teach or attend professional meetings in them) NEED IT

• Long-sleeved shirts HAVE SOME, MAY NEED MORE

• Knee-length dressy shorts

• Athletic shorts (for sports or leisure time at home only) HAVE IT

• Several pairs of jeans DEFINITELY HAVE IT

• For women with the potential to be in rural or more conservative sites (especially in Health/Environment sectors), several shirts that do not show too much cleavage but also cover to the top of thighs NEED IT BECAUSE ALL MY SHIRTS SHOW MY GOODS

• One dressy outfit MAY NEED IT

• Sweatpants or leggings to wear under long skirts (not Lycra, which is hot and inappropriate) HAVE IT MAY NEED MORE

• T-shirts (without controversial slogans on politics, drugs, or sex) HAVE IT

• A favorite hat

• Wool or fleece scarves and gloves HAVE IT

• Thermal underwear HAVE IT, MAY NEED MORE

I can pull most of that out of my wardrobe closet, but I may still need to go out and buy a few things

Shoes

• Sturdy sandals NEED IT

• All-purpose shoes (which you can walk, run, or bike in) HAVE IT

• Sneakers or hiking boots HAVE IT

• For women, one pair of dress shoes, preferably flat HAVE IT, MAY BUY A PAIR

Miscellaneous

• Two lightweight towels HAVE IT

• Water bottle (e.g., Nalgene) HAVE IT

• Coleman camp shower ??

• Hand wipes HAVE IT!!

• Flashlight with extra batteries HAVE IT

• One or two sets of double-sized bedsheets and pillowcases NEED IT

• Compact umbrella (can be bought in Morocco) NEED IT

• Backpack for day trips HAVE IT

• Swiss Army knife, Leatherman, or the equivalent NEED IT

• Travel alarm clock (battery-operated) HAVE IT

• Bicycle gloves (if you use them at home)

• Duct tape (you would not believe all of its uses) NEED IT

• Pocket-size dictionary and thesaurus NEED IT

• Maps (good for traveling and wall hangings) NEED IT

• Plenty of pictures of your home, family, and friends HAVE IT!! LOVE MY BABIES!

• Money belt or other means to conceal your passport and valuables when traveling HAVE IT

• Favorite music, CDs or tapes HAVE IT

• Frisbee, hacky sack, and travel-sized games (Yahtzee, cards, Uno, etc.) HAVE IT

• Sleeping bag and ulta-compact backpacking pad(great for sleeping at large gatherings at volunteers houses or a hotel roof) HAVE IT

• Art supplies HAVE IT

• Lightweight exercise equipment (e.g., jump rope, yoga items) UMMM MAY NEED THIS

• Sticky tack to attach photos and artwork to walls HAVE IT

• Incense

• Journals HAVE IT

• Postcards from home to share NEED IT

Personal Hygiene and Toiletry Items

All of the following items are available in Morocco, but they are sometimes expensive and may not be of the quality you are used to.

• Razors HAVE IT

• Shaving cream

• Contact lens solutions ( Bausch & Lomb's Renu brand is available in the capital; if you require a special brand, bring a two-year supply because the Peace Corps does not provide contact lens supplies)

• Makeup

• Scissors or other hair-cutting device (there is usually at least one Volunteer in a group who can cut hair)

• Lotion (Lubriderm is provided by the Peace Corps upon request, and Vaseline Intensive Care and Nivea are available locally) HAVE IT

• Lip balm (Chapstick comes in the medical kit, but you may want to bring a different brand) HAVE IT

• Tampons (available in large cities for a price) HAVE IT

• Three-month supply of any prescription drugs you take (to last until the medical unit at the Peace Corps can order them) HAVE IT

• Two pairs of prescription eyeglasses, if you wear them; also consider bringing a repair kit

• Any favorite brands of personal hygiene products (shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant, etc.) HAVE IT

Kitchen

You can easily buy most kitchen supplies dishes, pots, glasses, and utensils in Morocco. There are, however, a few items we highly recommend bringing:

• Plastic food storage bags (freezer bags are best) NEED IT

• Favorite spices NEED IT

• French coffee press (if you drink coffee)

• Favorite cookbook (you can purchase a Volunteer-produced cookbook filled with recipes using locally available ingredients in-country)

• Pocket knife sharpener

Miscellaneous

• Laptop computer (be sure to insure it, and bring a good surge protector and backup disks to fix any software problems); a flash drive is optional but very useful for carrying large files. HAVE IT

• Good-quality adapter for electronic gadgets (Morocco uses 220 volts) NEED IT

• Electric or solar-powered battery charger and rechargeable batteries 112 NEED IT

• Camera supplies (a variety of film types is available in the large cities, but the quality of film processing may vary) NEED IT

• Shortwave radio, for listening to programs on the VOA and the BBC HAVE IT

• Discman with speakers (can be bought in Morocco for about the same prices as in the United States)

• Flashlight (a small Maglite is great, but bring extra bulbs; or an LED flashlight, the bulbs last longer and take less energy) HAVE IT

• Hand-held tape recorder (to record language lessons or tapes of your voice to send home). Sector Specific Suggestions NEED IT

WOW... That is a lot of stuff. The stuff that is crossed out I am not worrying about. Everything else I am working on it. Until the Thunderstorm came through my plan was to go out and buy some things, but now I am inside chilling with my niecy pooh! This has been a long time customizing. I dont feel like color coding everything. Puple is HAVE IT Red is NEED IT!!

Reality has finally set in. I have resigned, moved out of my apartment, uhauled all of my belongings to LA, stored the belongings, and add some contacts to the evite for the going away party. My mission now is to get people who are not so internet friendly home addresses so I can send invitations to their homes. Still have a lot on my mind, but I am not feeling as stressed as I have been. I was scared for a moment, but I am feeling a lot better. I love my Oakland family, but there is something about being in LA that calms my soul.

I got a uhaul truck on Friday (which cost me an arm, leg and kidney) I didn't know it cost so much to move. I mean everything is so expenisive in my eyes. I appreciate all the help from my Oakland mommy, sister, and friends that came out and made my move a smooth, fast success. We got it all done in the matter of hours. From there I put the keys in the mailbox and got on the road at 2am that night. After being awake all day, packing and moving I was extremely exhausted. I didn't get much rest, but I proceeded in leaving. Brandon and I was tired on the road, it was raining and the ride started to get very draining. Once we made it to Kettleman City we pulled over and took a nap, got back on the road around 6:30 and from there we were okay!

Made it to LA Saturday morning, dropped off Brandon went to my mom house and got some rest. Later that day, my lovely sister and brother in law helped me to unload the truck, which was a complete success! After everything was out of the truck I organized the boxes and put them in the storage.

All I know is reality is setting in and there is no turning back. I am beginning to get so excited and I cannot wait for the adventure. The hardest part is leaving the ones I love. Thinking about that gets me emotional...

Until next time...

I had two emotional breakdowns today. It was my last day of work and I received some really exciting news that made me tear up. It was sad to leave all my coworkers, people I have seen everyday for 5 years. I see the people I work with more than I see my family and it was difficult to leave. I held a lot in, but it was hard and I could not hold tears in for too long.

My next emotional breakdown came a few minutes ago. I really appreciate that my old roommie came and helped me to pack the rest of my things. She came in and got to business and everything that is something is packed or trashed. I have nothing more to do, but clean and we done a little of that tonight. The real emotions came when I sat and talked out my feelings and then gave Jaimi a hug. Everything together was too much for me.

I am not going to say much more tonight. Just relax, get some rest, get up do laundry and make it do what it do around here. I plan on going out to lunch tomorrow and the rest is serious business.

It's funny how you have always wanted to do things that were different and all the decisions made in your life was based around goals you had and you often wonder the What if's.....

I forsee many many more breakdowns within the next couple of days and weeks. Let me get myself prepared because I am tearing up already thinking about LA. The part that hurts all in my throat is when I try to be strong and hold it in :( so I am just gonna let it all out

Tomorrow is my last day of work and I am sad about it. I like my coworkers and I like the environment I work in. It's going to be a sad thing to leave. We will all be going out for lunch which should be very nice and I will try my best not to cry.

I am sick :(... I don't know if everything going on has me sick to the stomach or if I am just really sick. The stress can sometimes cause overeating (that's my excuse), but I really don't feel well in my stomach. I tried reintroducing beef in my life slowly yesterday by eating some beef gravy with beef chunks inside over my white rice and it has been down hill every since. I was thinking like who needs it, why reintroduce it? I am okay without it.

I have really been having a bad week. I cannot really remember Monday. Tuesday I went out to lunch with a few coworkers, got sick, went to the doctor, got my hair done, got involved (not physically involved) in some drama and was feeling guily about some things, decided to go bowling with my coworkers, got locked out of my apartment, took about 30 minutes to get back inside to get the keys off the couch, on the freeway on the way to bowling hit something in the freeway, bowled, car was having problems starting.

Wednesday, was supposed to be at work at 10am decided to go at 8am, car wouldnt start so I took it to the shop and left it there all day, work was ok, went to lunch with my Crystal to Angelines Louisianna Kitchen (very good food) ate a half of chicken po' boy and a half of shrimp po' boy. Ronnie made me a german chocolate cheesecake :) yummy didnt cut it yet but I cannot wait!! Then I went to pick up the car and apparently whatever was on the freeway that I ran over sliced the fuel cables and the fuel pump is not pumping gas to the engine so it's having problems starting. I told the guy I am not even going to deal with that right now, just give me my keys so I could go. Drove home, all of the gas has leaked out of the car and the car smells like nothing but gasoline. Had some family memebers come by look at the car to buy it and get it off my hands before I leave, then I had my Oakland Dad come by to negotiate a price for my furniture, Tiff tiff came and got the TV stand and I am slowly getting rid of things.

Tomorrow is Thursday and I hope things to have a better turnout.

I just checked prices for a Uhaul truck from Oakland to LA and I didnt expect for the prices to be like that... Ok I need to rethink some things lol... maybe I dont want anything!!

Until next time... Peace!

I want to start by thanking everyone that reads my blog and everyone that participated in making my weekend awesome.

One week in to 25 years old is not bad. This past weekend was great. It was filled with tons of fun and great times. On Friday I slept all day. I arrived home around 6pm, got comfortable and decided to nap before going out to a party. Well my nap was longer than I anticipated. I went to sleep around 7pm and woke up at 2am. Party was practically over :(. Therefore, I decided to watch a little TV til around 9am.

Saturday was the greatest!!! I had a going away party in Oakland and it was filled with coworkers, family, and friends. It was a great turnout. It was potluck style, therefore we had tons of food. I really appreciated all the love I received and wanted to thank everyone who played a part in it!! It sometimes seems that Thank You isn't enough.

Didn't get much rest for Sunday, but I woke up for a great church service which I felt was directed towards me. It was about having faith in God and how things are just an arm length away. All you have to do is reach for what you want, have faith, believe in yourself, believe in God and take a chance without doubting yourself. I felt this was directly connected with me because I feel God has a plan for me, he has called me to do something and I cannot let fear pull me away from doing things. If I just have faith I can do anything. He used Matthew 14:22-31 about Peter walking on water and how he began to walk and when others were telling him he couldn't do it he doubted himself and began to sink, at that moment he asked God for help and things got better. I told myself to move forward, walk on water take my journey, stop doubting things that I do and if I get stuck call on God to help to guide me.

Itinerary for my journey...

Sunday, February 28:

Full of emotions, telling all my family and friends goodbye before I take my journey to another world!

* 8:50am: Depart from LAX

* 4:55pm: Arrive at PHL

* Check into the Holiday Inn

Monday, March 1:

* 12:00pm: Registration

* 2:00-7:00pm: Orientation/ Staging

Tuesday, March 2:

* 10:00am: Check out of hotel

* 10:30am: Depart for JFK

* 7:01pm: Depart NYC for Morocco

Wednesday, March 3:

* 7:40am: Arrive in Casablanca, Morocco (airport: CMN)

* Life changes from here on out!!

Well that's all for now! Just a little update :( I cannot stop swallowing to keep from crying... I am starting to feel that pain in my throat

I began making progress on Monday! I had a let it go session. I got rid of 3 garbage bags worth of old papers and readers. I accumulated several boxes and the process to packing up my apartment has begun. I will also be selling some of my furniture and giving things away. I am torn between telling people that I will let them have something and selling it to make a little money?? I am definitely slacking on my packing and every moment I think about it I get discouraged.

Yesterday, Tuesday I had great intentions on getting more trashing done and it ended with a WWW. A WWW is Wingstop, Wine, and Wii (WiiFit)!! It was great! I did go threw a lot more envelopes and decipher between the things I will be keeping and the things I will be trashing.

Regarding the Peace Corps/ Morocco, this morning I received an email which contained a letter for the invitee, a letter for family and friends, a survey for the homestay family to get to know us, and a survey for language learning. I completed the surveys and read over the letters. The letter to family and friends explained communication with the volunteer while gone. Emotions are getting the best of me now because things are moving extremely fast. I will send an email to people forwarding this document. The address to send packages is:

Monica Teresa Johnson

s/c Corps de la Paix

2, Rue Abou Marouane Essaadi

Agdal, Rabat 10100

MOROCCO

All other info will be emailed. The letter to the invitee (ME) was about staging/ orientation. March 1 Orientation will be in Philadelphia and March 2 we will be heading out to Morocco. There is approximately 65 Volunteers whom I will meet in Philly. I am excited and frightened at the same time. I am not sure what to expect, language is difficult to learn, and the fact that I will be gone for 27 months in 1 month and 6 days is extremely overwhelming.

This morning I received an email from staging with hotel, registration, luggage, and travel information. Everything is paid for. My flight is paid for and I can leave from any airport I choose to leave from, hotel is paid for, luggage check in is free, and I will not be coming out of the pocket for anything! So I am really moving forward now, I need to contact SATO to make travel arrangements and really get things on my packing list. I keep asking myself how do you prepare for a long journey such as this.

Anxiety is kicking in..... to be continued on the process

On January 21 I turned 25 years old and things did not start great. That night I had some miscommunications with people and I felt alone (nothing more will be said). Thrusday morning my birthday weekend journey began. I started with getting gas in the storming rain and heading to Los Angeles from Oakland. The weather was horrible, traffic was ok, but the experience was dreadful. We had great timing until we arrived at the grapevine and it was closed. I started to beat myself up about why I didnt take the 101 fwy from Oakland in the first place. The cops were having people turn around and find alternate routes. We ended up on interstate 99 which lead us to Highway 166 which is a long long long road around the National Forest it took us an additional 2 hours in the pouring rain storm to get to Hwy 101. Once we made it to that freeway it was an addional 2.5 hours to get to Hollywood. We left Oakland at 11am and did not arrive to Hollywood until 7:50pm. We went to the Tyler Perry play Madea's big happy family at the Kodak theater in Hollywood which started at 8pm. We arrive right on time to pay $20 for parking and get into the show. By that time I was completely annoyed and ready to cry. The trip was way too long and draining and I was just all around irritated. The show was really good! I liked it alot it was funny, it was sad, and it had awesome entertainers. He told me not to worry things would get better and it did our seats were upgraded from the Mezzanine to the Orchestra so we were in th 3 row from the stage which helped me to enjoy the show alot more. Then we had dinner and had time to talk and bond!

Friday ready to head to Vegas. It starts with nice rest and waking up. Hair was a mess because of the rain so I went to my granny house to redo it. On the walk back from her house to my mom house it started to hail outside and I was drenched. Went out with a friend did a little shopping, discussed travel plans for Vegas and more. By this time I realized I was going to Vegas and I had absolutely no money, I had overdrafted my account, bought this laptop, paid some bills and really ran my credit cards up and things were not looking great. So I ended up getting some money before leaving for Vegas and the maddness begins again. Another road trip :(...

We were supposed to leave Los Angeles to Las Vegas at 7pm. We ended up leaving later around 8pm. We did not arrive to Las Vegas until 3am. The freeway roads were closed due to accidents and the weather. We experience being stuck in traffic for 2 hours in the snow going literally 2 mph. The 3.5 hour trip to Vegas turned out to be 7 hours. By this time my patience and tolerance for road trips was gone. I could not believe that in 2 days I spent so much time on the road. I had a really stressful roadtrip to LA and a really long stressful roadtrip to Las Vegas. I began to get discouraged and was annoyed that my birthday weekend was turning into so much of a disaster because of roads and weather.

We arrived Las Vegas at 3am and the party started. We did not hesitate to get lemon drop shots before getting hotel room keys. We partied in the Stratosphere hotel and went to downtown Las Vegas and partied til 8am... Saturday there was even more fun and the journey to get there didnt matter to me anymore. I was having fun with my sister and my friends that I forgot about it all. Vegas is a great place in the summer, winter, spring or fall... Today I flew from Vegas back to Oakland and I am beyond exhausted. I had many many fun times which I rather not share because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. My legs are sore, my tummy is hurting and I am tired. I been off of work since Tuesday and it's time to go back!!!

Now it all begins. I really need to pack and get things together. Saturday is the going away party and I am ready! Until next time, thanks for reading and I am off to bed!! Hollllllllaaaa

As I lay in my bed and count down the minutes til 25 years of life, I reflect on things I have been through both good and bad. I think about the people I have in my life now and the people I have had in my life in the past. I think about how for 25 years I have been searching for pure happiness. I am not depressed and I have my happy days, but everyday is not happy. I realize some decisions I have made may not have been the best decisions to make, but they are made and I cannot live in the past. I am questioning the reason behind why I make some moves in life. I feel so lonely sometimes and sometimes I feel as if I like the feeling of loneliness and other times I don't. Too much of a person pushes me away, not enough of a person pushes me away. I am confused and as I step into this new chapter in life I wonder if things would get better. Many people often say "things get better with time and age". Is that a true statement? I constantly see people that I grew up with whom were a tad bit older than I face the same struggles and pains they were facing before they hit a quarter of a century.

There is so much on my mind right now that I want to get out, but I feel revealing it in this blog would be inappropriate and unacceptable so I will move on with the current thoughts. I am grateful that my Rooommmiee Toommmiee and Jaimeee Waimeee got me a journal with beads from India all over the cover so I could write and write and write when I dont have my computer near, I would still be able to record my thoughts! At this moment right now good things and some not so good things are in my head. Woooo Sahhh :(

Lots of plans this weekend. The weather is so scary and I am constantly praying for my family, for my community, and for the world as a whole. There are so many things going on in the beginning of this new year. We are having major natural disasters which are leaving many confused and afraid of what is next. No one can predict what may happen next. I'm just kinda irritated and it's really sad because it's not regarding anything major just thinking about some things that were said and some statements that I made.

I didnt have a new years resolution for 2010, but for age 25 I want to live this year with no regrets, take risks, and just go for the things that I want while trying not to hurt others in the process!

Goodnight and Happy Birthday to me!

Everytime I lie in bed at night I think of all the many things I have to do and I constantly ask myself... Where do I start. I have accumulated so much stuff over the last 7 years. Everything I see I believe and tell myself I may need it one day, but to make things easier on myself I just wanna get rid of everything. How do you store something and come back in 27 months and continue to utilize it. Then I think to myself what if I am not strong enough to complete the entire 27 months and I get rid of all my things and then I need them? I have to start packing one day I just don't know when!

Where do I start with this language lessons? I am reading over and listening to these lessons and I immediately get overwhelmed and anxiety kicks in.

I had a pretty good weekend. Did nothing extra special, I really just took time out to relax and handle some business. Finally got my aspiration statement in on Saturday and I was in the house all day. I also was able to get alot of stuff off my chest and communicate with a person that I don't talk to often and that made the day better. Sunday was filled with church!! I also went to see my old roommiee toommmiee in a fashion/hair show. Glad to have had today off... Happy Martin Luther King Day! I want to Thank Dr. King for all he has done for equality. I wonder if it wasn't for Dr. King what direction have my life went in and whether I would be where I am today? Never know, but everything is possible because someone made it possible!

Gnite!

What's going on: This has been a long stressful process and things are coming together yet falling apart so quickly.

December 2008 I applied to the United States Peace Corps

January 2009 I interviewed

February 2009 I was nominated to sub-Saharan Africa as a Health Volunteer for January 2010

April 2009 I completed my medical review and dental review

September 2009 paid off all debt and completed legal review

December 2009 an entire year later stress of not receiving an invitation for January 2010. Received a call to test my flexibility where my region was changed to North Africa/ Middle East

December 31, 2009 received invitation

January 1, 2010 Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that we invite you to begin training in Morocco for Peace Corps service. The next step is up to you. You have 10 days to accept or decline offerJanuary 2, 2010 stress out, excited, relieved, emotional, overwhelmed, afraid....

January 6, 2010 Accepted Offer

Congratulations Monica and welcome to the Peace Corps: Your place in Morocco program has now been confirmed. Please submit resume and aspiration statement within the next 10 days and complete travel documents.January 7, 2010 Returned to work discussed with my coworkers and put in 30 day notice to my apartment. Last day of work February 4, 2010 moving out of my apartment from Oakland to Los Angeles February 6, 2010.

January 11, 2010 Mailed my passport documents

January 15, 2010 Received email from Peace Corps Morocco stating that Staging/ Orientation would be in Philadelphia on March 1, 2010 and all travel expenses are paid for and the travel agency will contact me 3 weeks before departure

January 16, 2010 submitted my updated Resume and Aspiraton Statement

Why the Peace Corps?

Many people ask why did I make the decision to join the PC. Each time I answer the question I think of new reasons why. I am ready to live my life for myself and do something I would enjoy. I have always been passionate about health, I enjoy traveling, and I enjoy helping people. Going to college did not give me a clear focus on what I wanted to do in my life. I found myself jumping from one major to the next and settling on something I created. I received a BS in Conservation and Resource Studies CRS (what is that?) Exactly... I created my own major. CRS was an interdisciplinary major where all of my field work combined with tons of research and a 25 page research paper on my area of interest. I focussed most of my studies on Public Health issues and Environmental Issues. I done research in West Oakland on air pollution and the health in the community. Going to community meetings and knocking on doors taking health surveys I became interested. Back to the reason why I chose the PC because I need a change in scenery. I love my family, I love my friends, I love my life in Oakland and I enjoy my work, but it's all so basic to me. I see myself doing so much more in life. I don't enjoy the feeling of settling. I have already beat myself up because I felt as though I settled in my undergraduate degree, but I cannot settle in one community and on one job for two long. I see so much more for myself and if I don't take the leap now while I have no commitments such as children, car notes, mortgages, husband etc. go for it while I am young because I only live once. So I find myself saying Why not the PC? I know many are going to hurt and so will I, but I am all about taking risks and living life to the fullest because no day is promised.

The program is for 27 months. 3 months training and 2 years on site. Location of Job: Will be in a rural community (and linked to a local health facility) in one fo these provinces: Azilal, Boulmane, Errachidia, Essaouira, Khenifra, Ouarzazate, Taroudant, Tata, Tiznit, Zagora etc.

So you probably wonder why so long, what are you going to be doing. I am not too sure what I am going to be doing but from my assignment The Community Health project merges two projects 1. Hygiene and Sanitation 2. Maternal and Child Health. The overall project purpose is to improve health status of rural community members through the use of preventative practices, reinforced by positive social and environmental change. Generally the job will be to identify health issues in my community, their causes and consequences, and to develop and implement educational strategies and promote behavioral change that address the problems. Sounds very interested to me and I am ready!! My life is about to change tremendously and I am afraid yet ready. Morocco has totally different cultural attitudes and customs and I will have to revamp the way I speak, dress, and eat. The language spoken in Morocco is Arabic. I have an Arabic language lesson which is the most difficult thing I try and read

The first 9 weeks will be Pre-Service Training where I will be living with a family learning the cultural and the language. Learn my role and responsibilities as a volunteer.

Here's a resource for my family and friends: A Handbook for Family and Friends of Volunteers: On the Home Front

I consider myself blessed to have this opportunity. The coincidence of this experience to work with two women who speak Arabic one of which husband is Moroccan, have property in Morocco and visits often. I also have a good friend who reads and writes Arabic.

Thanks for all the support. I have a lot on my mind and will return later today to explain what people in my life mean to me and post pictures of my love ones! Wow I will be 25 years old next week!!

I often wonder what my life would be like if I never met my college roommate. She has been my better half since we moved together in 2004 and is the reason I made it through college. Without that "Roommie" support I don't know how I would have survive some nights. It's crazy how you grow up and you think you are done meeting lifelong friends and then comes along a person who is like you in so many ways, have a genuine heart, and all around is a good person. Tonight she put together a great evite for a farewell party for me and I appreciate it. I always feel like things are my responsibility and here comes roommie like "I got this" Lol... Thanks sis!

I didn't get absolutely any rest last night and I really want to be asleep right now, but I cannot sleep at night. Why? I wish I could answer that question. Everynight I lie in bed tired, praying, and dreaming while awake and watching the clock as the hours pass by. I did not accomplish anything that I was supposed to accomplish, but as deadlines approach I get things done a lot faster. I have many things planned for the days to come with birthday celebrations, fashion shows, MLK day, visitors, my birthday, Vegas, going away party, packing, moving to LA, anxiety from that point on

I was thinking last night that I didn't really like my new laptop but as I lay here in bed under my covers listening to R-Kelly I realize I am enjoying this. I have lightweight dumped my iphone for my toshiba haha

Goodnight!

This is coming to you from my brand new laptop! I am excited that I used my hardworking money to purchase something that I have been wanting for a long time. I bought a 16" screen Toshiba from Bestbuy and it is now in my possesion and I am making it work.

Today I was treated to an early birthday dinner with Dianna (long lost sister lol) and she said we always eat the same things and she suggested we eat at a place different. We went to Cafe Colucci an Ethiopian Restaurant in Berkeley and I ordered Shrimp Tibs which was fresh shrimp sauteed with onions, bell pepper, jalapeno and fresh tomato in a spicy sauce! I forgot to capture the moment :( It was good, I thoroughly enjoyed it. At first I was skeptical and thought to myself I need utensils. Ethiopian entrees are not served with spoons and forks you eat with your fingers and Teff Injera which was something similar to tortillas or bread, but overall it was a good choice and I declared I will try a new type of food each week.

Other occurances today... I had a dentist appointment at 10:15am and I woke up at 10am. It's so sad I am really working on getting things together and being on time more, but everything worked out and I got my teeth cleaned. It was not too good of an experience because my nerves are damaged so the cold water being sprayed in my mouth was very painful. I made it to work around 11:30am and Chef Ronnie made me an amazing homemade cheesecake that he personal delivered to me and it was awesome. It's really sad reading about the things going on in Haiti so I donated to the disaster relief fund and said a prayer for all those that lost their lives in that tragedy. Once I was off work I went to bestbuy picked up my laptop and then headed to the Ethiopian Restaurant. Back to the top!

Overall good day. Tomorrow is the day I work on my aspiration statement for the Peace Corps. Things are moving so fast, but 10 days are flying by and I need to get my statement emailed to Morocco!

Goodnight!

This is my first time posting a blog....

I am awake at 12:30AM, have to be at work at 8AM. I have never been the one to go to sleep early, but lately my sleeping patterns are completely off. I lie in bed with so much on my mind. I am sitting at the computer listening to the rain fall and the wind blow and I am thinking to myself that my life is changing and it's definitely changing fast. I have to make so many real life adult decisions and sometimes I don't know where to start. I often become so overwhelmed that I want to shut down, but I consider myself strong and everything I go through I go through it for a reason.

A briefing on the reason I created this blog. I created this blog because I have joined the U.S Peace Corps. The program is for 27 months and my assignment will be in the Country of Morocco.

That's all for tonight. I will go into more detail and lay out my timeline on the process later.