Happy Black Friday!

So I guess its about time for another blog entry.  The fall has been really nice.  In late Sept it seemed like Autumn was about a week long and the long cold winter had begun.  But then Fall came back!  The hedgehog must have seen his shadow.  So yeah the weathers been great.  Nice sunny cool days and then pretty chilly evenings.  I’ve had to break out the sleeping bag but not the long underwear yet.

So in early October I started helping out with English classes at this small private elementary school near my house.  I go there every day and spend between one and 3 hours with the kids.  They all get about one hour of English a week so its pretty basic stuff.  Sometimes I work with the English teacher and sometimes I’m on my own.  The kids are great and they help me with my Arabic.  I also sit in on the beginning French class once a week.  Its pretty humbling since the kids in their are about 5 years old yet know far more French than I.  So far I can count to 20, know the seasons, and know all the names of my school supplies.  Well......now that I’ve said that I’ve probably forgotten most of it.

So my plan was to start with the English stuff and then at some point slip in some Environmental Education.  Then, the principal approached me and asked if I would be interested in doing a year long Envr Ed program focusing on trees.  He said I could have every Friday afternoon from 2-5 to do lessons.  Not really sure how much I can talk about trees but I think I can expand.  

My first lesson was for the 6th grade class and was about the parts of a tree and their functions.  We also did a short hike and an activity and it went really well.  Then, since I’d heard more and more talk about H1N1 I did a lesson on prevention for the whole school.  Me and two other volunteers put glitter on our hands to demonstrate how germs spread by shaking hands and how important it is to wash our hands.  We also talked about not drinking out of communal water bottles and sneezing into your sleeve.  All in all I think it was a success and we were able to reach around 250 kids.  The only hick-up was when i was trying to open the glitter bottle with my teeth, it exploded, and I ended up with a mouth/face full of glitter.  I’ve always considered myself to have a sparkly personality.

Then yesterday, I repeated the first tree lesson to the 5th grade class.  They were a rowdier less focused group.  I got pretty frustrated when I said that trees make sugar and was just met with a roomful of blank stares.  I further dug my hole by saying its like sugar but not.  “Ummmm.........forget it.  We need trees because they give us oxygen.”  I think they grasped that important point.  

We celebrated Halloween in Tafaghalt at a friend and volunteers house.  It was an International gathering as we had Americans, Spanish, Italians, and Dutch represented.  For the Europeans it was there first experience and I think they had fun.  Anthony certainly won the prize for best costume with his Captain Planet outfit but there was also a batman (me), a Morton salt girl, zombie Captain Kirk, a road construction worker, a hammam goer, and other various consumes.   

I’ve been in discussion lately with a few associations regarding repairing a basketball court and holding a tournament and also maybe doing something with Safron and bees at a community garden.  Also Operation Smile is in Nador next week and I think I’ll help out with that.  Sometimes I really stress myself out since I’m down to my last six months and still have a lot to do.  I

On a really sad note.......a volunteer (So-Youn) died here on Monday (Nov 16th).  She had an undisclosed illness and died really suddenly in the hospital in Marrakech.  She was only 23.  Unfortunately, I had only met her once and really briefly but its super sad and it hit hard with the Peace Corps community here.  I’ll try and post more information when I get some.

If you are reading this then you are probably either family or friend.  I just want to thank you for your support and encouragement through this experience. Happy Thanksgiving!