Busy Happy Busy

Last Tuesday I left town for a meeting in Rabat and just got back today. I'm coordinating a spring camp this year and met with the moudir of the camp. We talked about both our expectations, planned the schedule, and I got a chance to ask a lot of questions. (All in arabic) Then, the moudir peaced-out. I thought he was kind of rushing through all my questions, and then when he asked "safi?" as in "are we finished here?" and when I nodded yes he got up from his chair and quickly walked out of the room (underwear sticking out from above pants) and drove away. Everybody else's moudirs stayed for the rest of the afternoon, so come time for the presentations I had to give ours alone.

If you forgot from last year, I'll remind you what a spring camp actually entails. All students in Morocco have a spring break from March 31-April 5 and there are many national camps all over the country. A handful of these camps work with the US Peace Corps to provide language immersion camps for 13-17 year olds. I worked at the spring camp in Agadir last year and this year I will be coordinating the spring camp in El Jadida. Also, during the summer there are four two-week long Peace Corps language camps offered in El Jadida. I worked two of these camps last July.

This spring, I will be responsible for coordinating the schedules and activities of the PCVs working the camp. At my camp, we will have two Youth Development volunteers (including myself), two Health volunteers, and two Small-business Development volunteers. And 100 youth attending. There will also be around 8 Moroccan staff and the moudir. Each volunteer will teach an English class in the morning and lead a club in the afternoon. I am going to be teaching a beginner's class and leading Science Club. Some other clubs volunteers are putting together are theater, art, Guys and Girls Leading Our World, and geography. Us volunteers will also be expected to lead two of the evening activities. One night I plan on showing an American movie and the other night we'll throw an un-birthday party. Moroccans don't celebrate birthdays, so it will be a chance to share a little bit of American culture with the kids. We're going to make party hats, play games, have a pinata (which I might fill with toothbrushes and toothpaste to encourage kids to brush their teeth), and eat birthday cake and sing "Happy Birthday."

Because I've been so busy this week planning the camp and then stopping by my friend Rebecca's house on my way home, I've had little time to prepare for Sara's visit this week! I got home today around 3 o'clock and went to the Dar Chebab where I found all of my boys waiting around for me. I was really surprised because normally they don't show up until around 6pm, but I guess they missed me. I got them all hyped up for Sara's visit. She can expect to play a lot of ping pong!

Tomorrow will be a busy day for me! On my list of to-do's is clean house, do laundry, and buy mattress. After the bed bug disaster, I ended up getting rid of my bed (aka throwing on top of roof) and since then have been sleeping on a small mat on the floor. So, if I want to be a good hostess I should probably go buy a similar mat for Sara to sleep on! And if I get lucky, I'll buy a pillow, too!

Hopefully next time I post I will have lots of new photos of Sara in Morocco!