Day Tripper...

My sister in one of her letters asked me what a typical day was like for me... well i am not sure i have had many days that can be described as typical so far, but as time travels I find more and more a routine is settling down upon me.
My day starts at...
5:35am ... Call to prayer from the Mosque about 50yards away from my bedroom window, if I am lucky it will last two minutes... if it is one of those mornings that the imman is unhappy with his flock it could last beyond 6. Over the month his call has become background noise and I pull the blanket in my chilly room over my head and fall blissfully back to sleep
When my day really starts...
7:30- 8:00am ... I wake up and hug the sheets for the next 15-30 minutes before heading to the bit lma and putting the water on for my morning constitutional of coffee (strong). As my water boils I turn on my music as loud as my computer will handle and start my chores... making my bed and my mother will be happy and she has trained her children well...sweep the floors every morning (Morocco is very dusty and dirt is everywhere). My water has boiled and I have my freshly grounded coffee and use one of the two best things I carried across the ocean... my french press that Steve got me. (many a day the first three months I wonder WTF... why did I carry this here... the last month it is the closest thing to real pleasure that I believe I will encounter in Morocco (haha).

8:00 -10:00 ... with coffee in hand Isit down to read any emails I may have received over night... you would not believe how having an email from the states can make my morning just a wee bit better. With music blaring I start thinking about my day, will I draw in the AM or PM, what is needed for the PC and maybe practice my language (yeah right).

(If it is laundry day (once a week or longer) I fill my laundry tub and start a wash... which is my hands and arms, elbow deep in cold water making like a washing machine for a few minutes... then soak for 20-30 minutes bring to the sink and scrub with a small brush rinse and wring out then up to the roof to hang them out).

10:00 -nootime ...Chances are a drawing has been done, emails answered and any BS Peace Corps stuff has been started and around 11:30 I head to the post to check for mail. If there is mail I return home like a child on Christmas morning and revel in what may be inside... candy? faceclothes? books? it is all good. If there is nothing there.... insert a sad face here... I walk the city looking for things to buy or just taking in the sites, then back home around one.

1:00 - 3:30pm ... everything for the most part is closed between these hours, if this was Spain it would be a labled a siesta, shops and people will start to come back out around 3:00 (inshallah) and by the streets are packed and will stay that way for the next 3-4 hours.

3:30 - 5 through7:00... this is the time I shop, visit the artisanat (hopefully twice a week at this point, some weeks I never get there... but there is really nothing to do at this stage). I go to the same man to buy my fruit, another for veggies, still another for beef and yet another for my chicken. I settled on each of these people not because they have the cheapest price, but because they engaged me in conversation and I felt as if I was not being taken advantage of... so they get my business most if not everyday and a relationship is building. As for the meat man I was steered to him from my tutor who runs a sandwich shop... says his meat is the best and so far it is. On my way home from the medina I stop by Snack Ali and hang with my tutor for anywhere from 1 to 3 hours talking (both english and arabic) and meeting many people.

Finall as I head to my busy neighborhood about 5 minutes from Ali's business I stop for my 1Dh fresh popped bag of popcorn and try out a little arabic with the young man who makes the popcorn...usually he is busy, but we exchanges a few words and he now puts me in the front of the line.

my evenings ... when I get in I immediately get my music going, start supper and hit my work for the PC, answer emails and in general "chill". Speakingof chill'in, it has gotten chilly at night inside the homes so while I prepare dinner and get ready to eat I turn on the small heater in the bedroom close the door and around 8 :30 after the food has been eaten and the kitchen is clean I go into my warm room and work, read, skype... until around midnight or until i think the day is done.

That is my daily life in 250 words give or take... there are always changes to the routines but for the most part that is it... maybe I get home early one afternoon and hang on the roof with my ipod drawing or reading, or I head to Fes and take in that city. Right now it is mid-afternoon, and I am writing my blog....change is good sometimes. These last 30 days have been total different than the previous 3 and half months.
Salama.