Laughing with Anny at her going-away party in Tioute.
Vish and Joy with the birthday feast they prepared for me.
Just a few things I'm thankful for:
The palpable sense of being surrounded by love, both by new friends here who feel like old friends already, and by enduring and ever-growing relationships back home, loved ones who do not feel at all far away.
My looming visit home, where those loved ones will be within hugging distance, where those beers will be within hoisting distance, where the Southern slice at YiaYia's will be within savoring distance.
In the meantime, care packages of unnecessary luxuries that bring home back to me ... Constant Comment tea, nag champa incense, peanut butter, books books books books books ...
Wonky podcasts.
The recent discovery of such delicacies for sale in Taroudant as panini bread (perfect substitute for tortillas), soy sauce and red wine vinegar.
Having survived, as of this week, an entire year here in my dusty southern village, and knowing that the second year will be, comparatively, a piece of cake.
Realizing how far I have come in that year. Learning, at last, the value of perserverence, of things not coming easily, of not giving up.
My host sister Kabira reminding me recently how, at first, I cried a lot and my face was hard like this (as she hit her palm against the wall). And look at me now, completely wllft (adjusted), she added, as we sat around the kitchen table, roaring in laughter over nothing in particular, making hlwa (cookies/sweets) to sell at her shop, me doing my best to ignore the distinctly non-OSHA-compliant process.
The amazing ability to communicate and forge connections across vast barriers. Common language isn't everything. Shared cultural norms, neither. A smile, a shrug, a pantomime, a raised eyebrow of understanding, and a new kindred spirit.
My firmly established vegetarian status in the days before L3id kbir, the biggest holiday in the Muslim calendar, the one my neighbors and students remind me of by slicing their fingers across the neck in the sheep-slaughtering manner. (You can see last year's post if you need an explicit reminder.) But, also, my greater understanding this year of the holiday and, once again, how we global peoples (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Pagan) are connected far more closely than we allow ourselves to realize.
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6 comments:
Wlel put darling. I miss you - we were talking about you tonight and how awesome you are (Mel - health staj lady who you met in Rabat, Marissa, and myself). Stay cool till I see you at MSMs.
Happy Thanksgiving :-)
Happy Thanksgiving, Beckie! I'm hoping to see you while you are here for the holidays. We'll be back from India on Dec. 16. I'll be coherent again after jetlag and holiday festivities sometime after Christmas :-) I still can't believe we're really going, and that we'll only be there a week. That's travel whiplash.
I love the Kabira's comments about how much you've grown into your own in Morocco. I've seen it in your posts, too, and am watching that same transformation with our exchange student, Mona. I am in awe of your adventurous spirit and grit in sticking with it during those times you may have wanted to take off running in a generally western direction.
Take care and I'll find you right after Christmas! You need to come over and see our urban ranch :-)
Molly
Happy Thanksgiving! Can't believe it's been a year.
I am so thankful you are in my world, Becki!
congrats on making it to the one-year mark! i can't wait to see you in two weeks!!!!! travel safely, please!
Maintaining your gastronomical integrity illustrates tremendous, ideological fortitude. Or perhaps you aren’t hungry.
A comment on last year’s blog about the bicycle pump: I'm not a hunter, but they always say bleeding the animal quickly in the field, then dressing it, is crucial to flavor, which the blood taints. I wonder if the pump is an ingenious way to bleed the animal quickly so it tastes even better.
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