Unless their head has been lobbed off.  Today is Eid Al Adha, or Eid Kabir, the Big Holiday, and I just got back from watching our neighbors sacrifice their lamb.  I first met this lamb a few weeks ago, when it's bleets came wafting into my living room.  The sheep had been living in the interior balcony of my building.  It was an open, loft-style apartment which it shared with another sheep.  I stopped by one day, just to see how the new tenants were adjusting to their life in the big city.  Both seemed to be happy, but to miss the open spaces and flock they had left behind. 

This morning, however, when I went down to their small loft apartment, I found the sheep lying in a pool of his own blood, with his head severed from his body.  It was neither murder nor suicide; it was sacrifice.  I am told he will make many tasty meals during the next couple months. 

BsSaha!

There are many reasons to celebrate the independence of a formally colonized country.  Tonight I am celebrating the part where I don't have to work tomorrow.  November really is a month of holidays in Morocco.  We celebrated the Green March two weeks ago, and next week is the two-day long Eid al Adha... great news if you like long weekends, bad news if you're a sheep.   I had plans to go to the movies with some friends tonight.  Really, I had planed to go to the MOVIE, singular, because there is only ever one movie showing at the main movie theater in town.  So, I had arrangements to meet a few friends for the late showing, after my night class let out.  At 9:45, I arrived at the movie theater only to find that there would be no 10 pm showing, because there were no people to watch it.  So we decided to try the other theater in town, just a short, walkable distance away, which was showing a Bollywood film.  I had never been to this other theater, but it has a reputation in town as being a place for lovers.  However, in my two previous experiences at the "good" theater, I would say most of the people there were much more interested in their companion than the movie, so I don't really understand why only one gets a scarlet letter.  In any case, we decided to check out the Bollywood movie (subtitled in Arabic... ) but alas, it too was closed.  So, what else is there to do at 10:00 on a Tuesday night in Tetouan?  Go home, do some yoga andpop open a bottle of wine in your pjs, and eat some Canadian chocolate that your roommate got in the mail today.  In the end, it's just as well.  I really shouldn't be spending a whole three dollars on a movie ticket right now anyway.

Despite my movie capers, today was a great day!  I had a great Arabic lesson in the morning, worked on some tile designs this afternoon, chatted with a friend over coffee and sweets, then headed home and had a great conversation with Koichi on Skype.  My class this evening went really well and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves, I met a coworker for a pizza and had a great, meaningful conversation, and then walked around town with some friends before finally coming home, where I had wine and chocolate waiting for me.  And best of all, tomorrow is a holiday, and I am going to Spain!  Let me say it again.  I am hopping a cab and traveling one hour to Spain tomorrow.  I can't even remember how many times in my life I have wished I could say that sentence.  Tomorrow, I am going to Spain. Me voy a España.  كنمشى ن اسبانيا  I wrote about it, wished for it, literally dreamed about it, and tomorrow, I'm gonna do it.  Wow.  Right now it seems like all dreams need is a little patience.  But, I think there is something more than patience.  So right now, I would like to give a pat on the back to myself last year, two years ago, three years ago, for making good decisions that allowed me to make my dreams come true, while at the same time making me think with hindsight that it had been easy.  And, I would like to thank the many people who helped me get here, like my loving family, my sister's cooking, my boyfriend, the cab driver tomorrow, the academy.  Come to think of it, there's lots to celebrate tomorrow.  Moroccan independence, no work, the realization of dreams, supportive friends and family, taco bake... so whatever day it is that you read this blog, declare this moment a personal holiday, and celebrate it any little way you can. 

Another week has gone by, and this one marked the halfway point in the fall term.  So, as I always do at midterm, I had my students write and reflect on their progress in the course.  I figure it's not a bad idea to take my own advice and write about my own goals and what I have done to achieve them thus far.

I gave myself a couple of goals before coming to Morocco.  Here they are:
1. Learn Derija (Moroccan Arabic)
2. Improve Fusha (Standard Arabic)
3. Memorize poems in English, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese
4. Do some volunteer work
5. Hike and/or exercise regularly
6. Develop teaching techniques
7. "Make new friends, but keep  the old ones..."
8. Read and write as much as possible
9. Learn some Tamazigh

To this original list, I have added a few more:
1. Develop an appreciation for Egyptian cinema
2. Develop a passive knowledge of French with the least amount of effort
3. Learn all I can about mosaic tiling
4. Learn about discipline without having to discipline

So far, I think I am pretty on target.  Except for learning derija.  I'm feeling pretty frustrated again.  I know I have learned a lot so far and made a lot of progress, but the past few days I have been feeling pretty defeated.  I mean, aside from my Arabic teacher and my mosaic tiling teacher, no one even speaks to me in derija.  They prefer to speak to me in Spanish, or in crappy French which I don't even speak, or sometimes English.  It's like I'm trying so hard, but the other person in the conversation isn't trying at all.  Sometimes it hurts my feelings, sometimes I find it just insulting.  And after so much of it, it really starts to hurt my motivation.  Why should i even bother to try ?  I know it's the normal ups, downs and plateaus of language learning, but from where I am now, it looks like a loooong way to the top.

I'm starting to think maybe the whole world is just beautiful.

I asked some of my students last Saturday (Oct. 31) what words they associated with Halloween.  Among the answers?  "Santa Clause!"  and "Snowmen!" 

My brother again has become a golf celebrity here.  I told my students about how he works at a golf course and is in the PGA, and in our next class, they still remembered all kinds of things about him, like his name and how old he was and that he worked in one state and studied in another.  It was very cute.

I have 6 hours a week of Mosaic tiling at a local, government sponsored craft school.  It's like a free apprenticeship, and is just amazing!  Ali, my teacher, is very enthusiastic and each day teaches us a new design.  So maybe I will switch careers and go into tiling! 

Friday was a government holiday, so my roommate Mary, my friend Anisa and I went to Tangier for a Latin music festival.  I missed everything latin so much, and it felt so good to be in such a comfortable and familiar environment.  The more people got into it, the more casual it became, the closer people got, the more tank tops I saw... it was nice for just a minute to feel like I was in a familiar place with close friends and different cultural expectations.   I met this guy from Mexico whose company had sent him to Morocco for a few months, and it felt good to speak Spanish with someone who shared my dialectal persuasion.   

I recently realized I hit that phase in culture shock where you hate everything, and think everything is awful.  I realized this on Tuesday, the day I did the photo documentary of my life - not the best timing. But it's good I recognized what I was feeling and why, first of all because it makes me feel less crazy, and second of all because it motivates me to do nice things for myself.  And that's why today I have decided to upload a special album, dedicated to the great and wonderful things in Japan.  I'm not doing this because I prefer Japan to Morocco by any means.  Rather, I realized I have a ton of awesome pictures of Japan that never made it on my blog, pictures that I love to look at and that make me very happy.  And since I'm feeling a little down, I think some happy pictures will be the antidote to my melancholy.  I hope you enjoy!

Another week is over, and with it another month.  Time has been flying by as my days fill up with work and classes and meetings and activities.  I am really happy with the things in my life right now.  But since everything is still so new here, and therefore just a little bit harder, I find I need a little more rest than I have been giving myself.  Just walking down the street takes more energy than usual, so I need extra time curled up in bed with a book, or sprawled out on the sofa in front of the TV to compensate.  As long as I get that time, I feel ok.  If I don’t, I start to feel really overwhelmed and stressed out and a little bit miserable. 

Miserable.  When I start to feel that way, I know it’s all in my head, because my current situation could hardly be described by such a word.  Wonderful, relaxed, positive, satisfying… these are the words that really describe my life right now.  Tomorrow, I’m planning on taking my camera around town with me to take pictures of a typical day.  I’ll post them on my blog so you can see what a typical day is like: what my neighborhood looks like, the schools and cafes  I go to, where I buy my groceries, and just exactly who and what I see every day as I walk around town.  I think it will be an interesting experiment for me.  Will I remember to take pictures at important moments throughout the day?  Will I feel comfortable flashing my camera around town all day?  Will other people mind that I’m taking pictures of seemingly mundane things, like convenience stores and cafes?  I’m also curious to see what my life will look like, photo documented, labeled and in chronological order.  Will I recognize it as mine?  Will I like what I see?  Enough build up.  I need to go find a way to charge my camera battery for tomorrow (I don’t have the proper wattage converter.  The one I have is only for heat-producing electronics like irons and blow driers!) and I am also meeting a friend at a café in a half an hour, and I am still in my pajamas!  Hasta mañana  إلى الغدا