Morocco

Right after Kenya my whole program went on a trip to Morocco. I finally know how to spell that word. Thirty californian kids, our program director, and 2 peace core volunteers. It.. was... amazing. We went to 4 different cities, lived with families who didn't speak english, hung out with local students and engaged in discussions about women's rights, arab vs muslim vs islamic, education, sex, stereotypes, you name it. Super educational trip, but so not lame at the same time. Beautiful country, beautiful people.

When I got back to granada it was 8:30 on a saturday night so I dropped off all my stuff real quick and  headed out to the grocery store cuz I had zero food and everything real closes on sunday.  On the walk to the store it felt SO GOOD to feel light, and myself, and unnoticed.  To wear a tank top outside!  To be outside and not feel like everyones watching you (like it felt in Kenya).  I felt at hommme.  It was trippy feeling warm water come out of the faucet when I washed my face that night.. and being able to drink the water that comes out of every sink.  Morocco and Kenya were great, but its good to be back in gtown.

I recently got 200 some new songs from a friend, and its great having a new soundtrack to life.  I've also started looking up as i walk from place to place, like to the clouds and sky.  Makes for a better day!  Heres some pics from morocc...

This was a majority of the whole trip.  Laughing hard with my friend Tim.  He funny.  

To the left of her hand is my name in Arabic!  They write without vowels...

We rode camels.  Yayyyy.

BEAUTIFUL houses/cities/suburbs/streets

This is our host family.  I stayed with my friends Callia and Becca (Becs is here in the photo).  Also in the photo is our house mom, Fatima and her creepy little nephew. 

This is Callia and Becca with our house sister, Caucha.  Definitely spelt that wrong.  She didn't speak english, show she just kept hugging us and saying "love" in the sweetest 10 year old voice.  I loved her!

Our house brother, Adnaan.  He was our translator.  Suuuper sweet 16 year old kid.

Best food ever!  Communal, eat with your hands, delicious and healthy.  They literally forrrrced us to eat eat eat and eat more.  To say that in Arabic, they'd say "cool cool cool cool!"

The first night we got there, we were exhausteddddd.  They dressed us up like barbie dolls in classic Moroccan gowns.  

Roman ruins!

More roman ruins. 

Famous tomb of an old king.  They have kings there!  And youre not allowed to not like him.

Open markets (bargainable) 

We visited a rural farm town and got to talk with a farmer and his family for a long time and have lunch. 

Last city we visited... it was all blue!  Such a trip.

These girls are my besties!!!  Callia, Kaitlyn, and Becca (left to right).  Great people.

Kenya

Hey duuuuudes,

I know its somewhat ignorant, and biased, but i gotta say it: Granada.. is.. the best.  Right now every day you can see a constant flow of pollen floating through the air like little cotton balls. I feel like im in a movie.  I'm feeling extra grateful for the weather and how beautiful this city is.  It's possible that I just really enjoy city life: being able to walk everywhere, constantly see people out and about, and things being open at any hour of the day.  PLUS, Granada for sure 100% has thee cutest old people.  I'll do my best to photograph this in the next 2 months.

To the fullest extent that you can dgaf about school, that's whats happening. My departure from this place is quickly approaching!  There are pro's and con's to that, but mostly cons.  I'll miss my deep friends, my spontaneous up-for-anything fun friends, the novelty of living in Europe, the shawarmasssssss, the shawarmassss, the language, and the culture of constant learning/traveling/BEER.

Aside from Spain, I went to Kenya to be in my friend Juju's wedding. It was a TRIP.  Bride negotiations, drama over cows, and strange traditions.  It poured during the wedding!  We had to dance down the isle, which was fun considering my natural lack of rhythm.. in high heels.. on what was functionally a slip-n-slide.  Being with Juju was great, meeting her hubby was fun, spending time at Sammy's home for handicapped kids was the BEST, and visiting all the old schools/orphanages was really good.

Lots had changed in 2 years.  Being there without a team felt a lot different.  I still freakin love it :)  When I am there I am forced to think differently about life as a whole, and i like that.

center of town

crops and stuff

probably my thoughtsy-est stop.  its the road to one of the farthest schools we work with, and its where ive had some of my best realizations about life.

juju has a shop! a little boutique, and it actually does well! she spends most of her time here, and has a little community of similar shops around her.

miss this crappppp. beef samosas, chips (fries), cooked spinach and ugali (the white stuff) 

FAVORITE. green grams (beans), cabbage, and chapati (fatty tortillas)

jk, thiiiis is my favorite. ghideri: beans and corn cooked like soup. its what they eat for lunch everyday (apparently for the past 3 years) at Discover to Recover--one of my all time favorite places.

the girls house! i spent a lot of time here, slept over one night and traded the shirt im wearing in this photo for Irene's shirt-- the blue and grey striped one in the top left corner. newwww favorite. i wore it for the next 3 days.

Discover to Recover. SO SO SO great to be back here. I spent so much time here over the past summers. They moved locations to a bigger place. All the kids are a bit taller now :)

Sammy, the kid next to me, is one of the Kenyans I think of veryyyy often. love that guy

Sammy's house!!!! Sweetest. Kids. Ever. Levenda (in green) reminded me a lot of my sister Meg. Each of the kids we're so sweet. Figures, being Sammy's kids. 

Bromwell. Loved cuddling. 

Sammy. Loved talkinggggg.

Allan. LOVED walking :)

I also stopped by Gilgal, another school/orphanage that has grown a lot. Crazy seeing these kids grow older. 

Lots of new babies. Allllmost all happy ones.