Back in the Saddle

I arrived back in Sefrou almost two weeks ago into a country two weeks into the month of Ramadan during the hotest time of the year. I could see a change in the people when and if you saw more than a handful during the daylight hours. They looked tired and in general a litle pissed, but as the time to break fast approach I saw more and more people on the streets, vendors were out selling food, cafes are filled with people just sitting and staring, not drinking and very little conversation. This was the time i would head back out to get my staples and observe... there was tension in the air and almost as if on schedule everyday, the square I reside turned into a mass of honking horns, people yelling and my two favorite hand gestures here. First, bring your hand up to the side of your head and turn your wrist as if you are screwing in a light bulb... two or three quick turns of the wrist, this is the sign for "ARE YOU F'en CRAZY!". The next is the the arm gesture and flip of the wrist over to palm up... so arm at a lose 90 degree angle in front of you and the flip of the wrist along with a slight movement of the arm to the side. This means many things but lately in my area it means "Iam walking here... think of Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy... with out the pounding of the car but the same voice level. Why there are not more fist fight amazes me... back in the States fists would be flying. One thing I will say is that when an altercation is happening by standers will intercede into the argument and most times they stop the argument from turn ugly with god phrases and wrapping their arms around one of the potential combatants. Once again to compare this to my world in the States if there is an agument between two people and a third jumps into the mix even as a peacemaker... it becomes like the old thirdman in a hockey fight... that person is now fair game.

Fasting: Well outside of one day that I cheated and had water during the day (it was close to 100 degrees) I fasted from 4AM until 6:30-7ish each day I was here during Ramadan... why you may ask, I have no good answer besides one I love a challenge and two it was the respectful thing to try to do. I found that everyone I met asked me if I was fasting, if I was muslim and when I answered yes and no they would smile and say t-bark allah. I never had anyone check my mouth to see if it was parch and white from the lack of water. I am not sure how many people in my town are "strict, by the book" muslims, but during ramadan everyone appears to fast and take the religion to a higher level.
Heat and drawing: Well the downside is that since my sleep schedule is ass backwards (I sleep from 4:30AM until 10-11AM) and the heat of midday and glaring light has mad it difficult to get up or out to paint or draw. I have instead played with my website (www.jameswilliamflynn.com) and updated the look and function, yet I miss the drawing and never feel quite right unless I have done a drawing or 10 a day. Lets hope I get back to it this week...inshallah.
PeaceCorps: Well Ramadan sucks the life out of any PC work I had been working on and between the lack of real work, not drawing much at all and a flipped sleeping schedule I have been like a caged lion pacing my home and town... I never do well with too much down time and look forward to the fall months, with many projects to move to the front burner and the end of the heat. Looking forward to see what Sefrou is like in the fall
Salam-

Heat and Fasting...

Day two of fasting... with the temperature hoving around 108 degrees here in Sefrou, Ramadan was in full swing when I returned and now 48 hours later I am getting an understanding on the ebbs and flows of daily life during the holy holiday which lasts one months. During Ramadan muslims fast from sun up until sunset... fasting means no food, fluids, vices, sex... so our days are flipped as I mentioned in a previous posting I am staying up until 4AM and "trying" to sleep or rest from 4AM-1PM. During the day I may venture out for a short walk or errand but mainly i sweat in the heat of my home. I am fasting during the day, but today I broke down and had water... as long as I drink only in my home, I am not crazy and in this heat I will need to consume water during the day... I am not muslim.

Very little goes on during these day, I am not sure if it is because of the holiday, the heat of August or the combination. At the signal that the sun has set and the end of the days fasting, the few business that are open shut and the streets are empty for the next hour, then life brings again around 9 and stays busy until 2 or 3AM. Last night I walked the town and got my haircut at midnight and stopped and had the wonderful fruit drink until 1:30AM... it was the best time of the day, temps still in the high 80's but nice.

Sleeping in this heat during sunlight is a challenge... but I am getting some sleep so lets see what it is like in a week. Salam-

Five Years... and Ramadan

Well I am back in Morocco after 20 wonderful and fun days back in Massachusetts... cant believe how much I missed the New England area, I feel blessed to have been born and raised in that part of America. Actually I would like to thank my forebearers for having the "balls" to come to America and because of their actions I have reaped the benefits of living in the United States and the honor to say I am an American... I never took her for granted but living outside of her shores I find I have a renewed love and faith in my country. Granted I have been out of the loop of all the political BS that still runs deep through our system, but I have faith that no matter what the spirit of what was conceived almost three centuries ago will win the day in the end.

Ramadan... arrived back in Sefrou on Thursday night at dusk to completely empty streets, it was so quiet that I was a little unnerved as I made the trek to my front door... i could see a few men step out into the hot and heacy air to take the first drag off the gato (cigarette). As I open my door to a blast of steal hot air I opened the windows and waited for life to fill the streets... around 9 people started to come out and shops reopened and the night was day. SO I gathered my lflus and headed out to get my food. I have decided like most PCVs to try to fast during ramadan, now I missed the first two weeks but for the remaining two weeks I will sleep from 4AM until 1PM get up and wait for the sun to set so I can eat and drink only time will tell if i can do this for more than a few days.

FIVE Years: Today marks the fifth anniversary of Carolyn's death from cancer or as my son Stephen and I like to say from the drug avastin that was giving to her that took her before we could even say good bye. Not a day goes by that I do not think of her, yet I know that she had a wonderful life, we raised two great children into fine young men and that our love was true and pure... and for some strange reason she was only given 47 years on this earth. Like most we dreamed of old age together, that was not to be... but we were given 30 years of happiness together... wanted another 30 but feel blessed to have what we had. Miss you!!!!

Back Up To Boston...

Back home in Boston... and spending the week on Cape Cod. Came into Logan last Thursday, arriving 2 hours late from Paris, but happy to be home. Seeing my loved ones for the first time... words can not describe how I felt and the warmth that flowed through my veins, it was less of a shock to come from Sefrou to Boston since I had visited Europe recently and experienced the bussle for the western world... still at times I look around is disbelief at what a different world I have lived in over the last 11 months. Even when Morocco attempts to bring the western world in... there is something amiss as it does not fit or they have not figured how it blend the old and the new.

The Cape has been great, the weather all week here has been beautiful, my family has visited the cottage off and on and in general I have missed the ocean and I am reminded that I have to be close to the salt water to truely feel at peace. The seafood has been fantastic and in general I am eating too much... when I arrived in Morocco I was placed on the scale and weighed in at a whooping 196lbs ( I think that was wrong but it was what the scale read) and when I arrived back in the states almost 11 months later I hit the scale at 162lbs... I have a sneaking feeling that when I return in a week or so I will be back over 170... hard to stop eating.

Ramadan is in full swing back in Morocco and I am sitting on the beach enjoying all that America can give... I feel a swiya guilty about missing out on the beginning of this period, but will be back for the last two weeks and may find coming back into the middle of the holiday can be very difficult... only one way to find out.