'It's been a long time, we shouldn't of left you' (Aaliyah & Timbaland, anyone?)

Happy Birthday to me! Interesting fact: I share the same birthday as the King of Morocco (how cool is that?!)

Well it’s been a long while since I wrote a blog entry. Initially there were a couple reasons; 1. I wanted to add an audio component to this blog to make things more fun. 2. I did have any new pics to share worthwhile and I wanted to wait until I traveled some more since my own site had been thoroughly covered. I was successful at one of those tasks. You can figure out which. My last post was on May 9^th so it’s been well over 3 months now and of course so much has happened since then. I don’t want to be too long-winded as I have tendency to be mrra mrra (from time to time). So just the highlights for now and a promise to all my loyal fans (lol) to write more often.

I’ll do this in the method of a compliment sandwich style. That's the Student Affairs way.

Highlights:

v  I Went to Marrakech for training and had a blasty-blast. Hung out with my fellow PCVs and partied at awesome clubs, stayed in some sweet bungalows, saw some of the city's famous landmarks and learned a lot of new vocabulary that I’ve put to very good use already. Definitely excited to return back there soon.

v Took my first trip to Europe and went to Spain where I hung out in Madrid with the coolest bunch of bros eva (knights of boof 4life!). Also made it to Pomplona for the annual San Fremin festival better known as the Running of the Bulls! Apparently you have to be sober to run (who knew?) haha. Still had fun though!

v  Went to my first Moroccan wedding and actually had fun in spite of my partner in crime complicating things with a group of chebab (youth)

v  I taught an English class to roughly 6-8 students during my first two months in site. It was a surprisingly enjoyable experience. Not quite as fun as teaching the RA class at Penn State, but it was a close second J

v Celebrated my first Ramadan with fam, friends, and makla bnina (delicious food)

v  Won Peace Corps Prom King! (long story)

Low(lights):

v  Trying to find work and interested people is really hard, specifically finding what motivates youth here

v  Seeing my beautiful town be littered so nonchalantly every day is not cool AND we have dumpsters around town now too!

v  Finding a way to connect with the young women in my site is very difficult and nigh impossible since I lack the proper anatomy

v  My counterpart(Moroccan work partner) sold his business and moved away, forcing me to return to drawing board for everything from classes to projects to cultural immersion experiences

v  STILL not having a bank ATM card after waiting on a replacement card going on 16 weeks

Positive reflections

v  Moving forward I know that  “Build it and they will come” is not enough in my site. I will have to be more hands-on and ‘all up in it’ to be successful. (Coming here I thought 50/50 would be sufficient, but after three months in site I know now I will have to do more like 75-80% of the work)

v  Little kids are not evil spawn and you can accomplish productive things with them. Haha.

v  Following the previous point, I have humbled myself more to understand that this service is all about sustainability and that by reaching the young ones and starting projects and initiatives with them I may not see the full benefit, but the volunteers after me may. Circle of life and all that jazz

Whew! Done! That was a tasty sandwich. Now enjoy the pictures and see you all next time. And definitely feel to comment on the blog below, write me a letter or email (xavier73129@gmail.com), or send a care package if you so choose.

Daviyion Johnson

BP 73

Rue Abdelaziz Ben Driss Msila

Bhalil, Morocco 31102