Feliz Navidad!

Well….looking back on 2008 it’s crazy to think that most of that year was spent here in Morocco. The majority of the time it really does seem to be flying by.

So I spent Christmas in Madrid, Spain with Hanneke (my girlfriend) which was wonderful. While we maybe suffered a bit of culture shock arriving back in the developed world, we were mostly just giddy about the comforts of home that were available there (i.e. Ben & Jerry’s) and how clean, efficient, and easy everything was. We were also pretty excited about the pork product offerings (not readily available in Morocco.) We spent the week wandering around Madrid and enjoying cosmopolitan life. We easily entertained ourselves with the restaurants, parks, and museums there. Unbeknownst to me, a tradition in Madrid is to dress up in funny hats and colorful wigs for Christmas? I guess it beats Christmas sweaters? Leading up to the holiday, it really didn’t feel much like Christmas in Morocco so it was nice to see some Espanol Christmas festivities. Incidentally, since Christmas Eve in Spain is spent at home with family, and there are no restaurants open, it was kind of funny to be eating Christmas Dinner at Indian Aroma. The dal replaced fruit cake this year.

I write this now back in my house in Jerada. Kind of a challenging transition back but I’m really gonna buckle down and focus on my work here. I’ve been working with an Agriculture Cooperative and have a bee keeping/honey production project that will hopefully be gaining momentum. I’m starting on a grant for that. Who wants honey?

My plan was to run the Marrakech Marathon in 3 weeks but do to inclement weather and being kinda sick I think that’s been downgraded to running a ½ Marathon. We’ll see?

Hope everyone had very Happy Holidays and I wish you all a wonderful 2009. I’ll be home next year!