The Great Western Kingdom: November 2009

As we near the end of Pre Service Training, it is obviously the natural time to look back and reflect upon this experience. So according to the rules and regulations of proper reflection I have had the past couple of days to look back on my time in PST. Upon reminiscing I have discovered an interesting paradigm that has been created in my Community Based Training group. Because we have a small group, all three of us are very good friends now. This friendship is even stronger as we are all very different people. We have varying interests, act very differently, and thus attract different types of people. This last characteristic is exactly where the paradigm that I want to discuss has developed. Naturally, different groups of the local population have attached themselves to us, the volunteers, during our time in Morocco. Essentially, we have attracted three distinct groups of community members. Jason, nicknamed Jamal (beautiful) by the locals, can almost always be seen surrounded by a huge crowd of teenage girls when appropriate. I suppose this is not surprising as his nickname says it all. Donniell, on the other hand, can always be spotted surrounded by a group of twenty-year old guys speaking perfect english. This again is quite obvious as she is the only blonde in our town and the most intellectual of us... she has her Masters for Gods sake! So what group is left to surround me? Lets think. Its not the teenage girls or the boys. That leaves the prepubescent boys. Yep, thats right. I am usually surrounded by a large group of 5 - 12 year old boys.

Sometimes reflection time can be difficult. When one realizes a paradigm such as this they ten to ask: “What is the meaning?” Thus I have spent countless, sleepless hours pondering over what this says about me. Does it indicate anything about my personality? Why small boys? Why not girls? Why not the intellectuals? In an effort not to be self-deprecating I have tried to make the best of these circumstances. I mean, who really wants to be surrounded by a group of pubescent teenage girls in a locale where deodorant is not common and there is no conception of personal space? Maybe once in a while, but not everyday. That could get tiring; however, somehow Jason has persevered. And a group of twenty year old dudes who speak english perfectly. This could be fun, but I want to speak darija now. I was just in college. I lived in a frat. I was surrounded by enough english speaking dudes there. I want a change. What could be better than prepubescent boys?

The paradigm displayed itself in full force last weekend. Jason, Donniel, and I ventured to a local soccer game on Saturday. As girls do not venture out of the house often, you might be asking how Jason is always surrounded by groups of them. When he teaches english at the dar chebab his class is composed of 98% giggling, teenage girls. However, outside of this environment there are not groups of girls. Donniell is usually the only female out and about: at soccer games and at cafes. However, even at the soccer game, which was void of any female, save Donniel, Jason was being attacked by girls. During the game Jason was receiving love letters from various females around town while simultaneously trying to decide if he should accept an invitation to dinner. This invitation was given to him by a girl that had just professed her love for him. Though life slugger! Donniell was watching the soccer game with the boys, speaking english, and continually answering questions about grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. And there I stood, surrounded by a pack of 25, twelve year olds spit-firing darija at me. Laughing, playing, making huge hand gestures, and having fun. When we left the game the pack followed us. It literally looked like an army. In fact it was kind of scary. I would have wet myself if I didn’t know that I had complete control over those little rascals. Can someone say Peter the Great, eh?

So, back to the question. What does this say about my personality? Hadi asaada d lhqeeqa! (This is the hour of truth!) I guess as a youth developer attracting kids is not a bad quality to have. Additionally, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m still a bit of a kid. I like playing, running around, making loud noises, and creating havoc. These are all things I knew about myself before I came to Morocco. I guess those qualities have become more clear in this country. In the end, I’m very happy. This quality should make it easy to attract kids to the dar chebab in my new town. Not having to worry about that is awesome. However, I came to Morocco to grow up a bit. Being surrounded constantly by a pack of 12 year-olds does not facilitate that very well. I suppose some things never change!

Wxxa. Now a few photos...