Let's start with the fun ones.
Mental health!
Apart from some odd habits formed as a result of spending so much time alone, I'm in a pretty good place right now. For example, I've gotten increasingly OCD in terms of having to do everything in a specific order. However, this weird tic also helps keep me busy, and as I've mentioned in earlier posts, being busy is very good for my mental state.
This month has been a good one in terms of motivation to do...well anything, really. For Pete's sake, I went running this morning. I just feel more stable in general. Things that might, in darker times, make me melt down, are no big deal lately. Example: I was in Fes the past two days meeting new Trainees and my cell phone AND iPod went completely dead. And I finished the book I was reading. And my program manager accidentally walked away with my pen. I didn't have chargers for either electronic device, nor did I have a replacement book or pen. This means that after an exhausting 48 hours of re-living "informative" sessions on bicycle safety, the (unofficial and heavily Berber-biased) history of Morocco, and cultural differences I had to take a three-hour train ride with no entertainment and no means of communication should I run into trouble. March/April/May me might have freaked out about this, but September me stared out the train window and fell in and out of consciousness, and everything was fine.
Physical health: I have a fancy new flu shot, I was weighed and blood pressured recently (both are fine) and, like I said before, I am feeling motivated to exercise. All these things make me feel a lot better about the sugar-based diet I seem to be on.
Work: It's too early to tell if any of my efforts are making a difference, but things are going okay. A running club I tried to get off the ground in March (note to self: it rains a lot in March and also you are really busy) has resurrected itself. Right now we are a small band of adventurers---just the host cousin and me, actually--but we run laps on the track every Tuesday and Sunday morning that we are both in town. After that we do some other exercises (today I taught her how to do a sun salutation), talk about who is more out of shape, then go home. Except today we ate breakfast together...which consisted of a candy bar, a pastry, sugary mint tea, bread and cheese. I know. We are working on it.
Another project I want to give a whirl is a club for English speakers. I'm working on the name...probably something like Anglophonia. My vision is to have bimonthly meetings with presentations on either different social issues or different Anglophone cultures. The problem here is that the vision is solely mine and I can see the whole project turning into a lot of work for me with hardly any skills transferred to Moroccan counterparts. It sounds bad, but a really important part of my job is finding other people who can do it for me.
Of course, there will also be day-to-day activities at the Dar Chabab. I'm still tweaking the schedule but it looks like there's going to be a lot of English tutoring this school year.
Social life: Before accurately evaluating this, I need to note that after a year living in Morocco my definition of normal is not yours. For example, saying that I get to see my closest friends every few months probably sounds pretty depressing to most readers. Saying that the bulk of my verbal interaction takes place in a language I'd never heard of 15 months ago might sound pretty stressful. Saying that I spend almost every Saturday night cooped up in my house watching The West Wing might sound pretty tragic. However! This stuff is all fine. I get a little lonely and I'm definitely not fluent in Darija, but I'm lucky to have internet and people in my town are pretty accustomed to my accent now. Plus, the relationship with the host family has never been better. I was at an engagement party for one of my host cousins last week and my host aunt spent five minutes explaining to one of the party-goers how I have two sets of parents now, her house is my house, I'm Moroccan, every time I open my mouth an angel gets its wings, blah blah blah. Truth be told this is all pretty standard coming from a Moroccan woman, but it's still nice to hear.
Regarding Andy: long distance relationships still suck, but it's bearable and I get to go home for a little bit in December.
Because, at the core of my being, I am a complainer, I need to come up with something negative to say. I'm currently COVERRRRRED in mosquito bites. I'd say about 50% of the last half hour (or 25% of the last hour) was spent scratching some part of my body. Let's go to the pie chart:
I'm just going to let Science do the talking on that one.
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