A Very Sick Week in Morocco

As I am writing this blog post on March 8, indeed much has happened since I substantively informed all of you back home and in country about what things are looking like from my perspective here in Morocco. It would be pretty exhaustive to go through everything that has happened this past month so I’ll just do a quick review of this last week starting from today and going to last Saturday.

Insh’allah, today will be the last bedridden day with the current virus I have fond myself battling this past week. A major accomplishment from last night’s sleep was lucid dreaming (it was pretty cool, but I have yet to take it to Inception-esque levels. I will say that it is good to learn because it is a great way to turn a potential nightmare into a big joke). The day was spent listening to two volumes of Disney’s Greatest Hits, Catholic Stuff You Should Know (theology podcast) as well as SPQN: The Break (A podcast for nerds run by a priest). Getting out of bed and eating lunch still has left me pretty tired and so the notion of attending an entire day of school tomorrow seems pretty daunting.

Saturday was not much more eventful than today. I was bedridden for the entire day, but was happy enough to have summoned up the energy to finally change out of my jeans and into actual pajamas (which is appropriate for any sick day). In bed, I watched Les Miserables and the Bourne Supremacy (which I enjoyed, but it is indeed a true shame all of my other films are in my second suitcase). Due to the fact that dehydration was such a major issue today, I was visited by every volunteer in my CBT group and my LCF who all cheered me up and gave me more bottled water than I ever could have hoped for. A small victory was being able to walk up to the roof of my house and enjoy the sun for a few minutes.

Friday and most of Thursday felt like complete Hell and those two days were filled with so much sleep and discomfort that I can hardly recollect any cohesive thoughts to share on this blog. However, I will repeat that I was visited by all of my CBT group and their support and beverages really propelled me from that sad state I was in. I also met Mickey, who is a current PCV and my predecessor with this host family. He came in and visited me for a while, which was nice. Specifically on Thursday, all I can remember is waking up at our HUB hotel in Meknes in a great deal of pain (I have been many types of sick this past week, that is all that is proper to share). I told my LCF I needed to get home soon and before I knew it we were on a very uncomfortable Grande Taxi home. Once in my site, I barely made it to the front door of my home (which was open, l’humdullah) went past a living room that was unoccupied and collapsed on my bed fully clothed.

I was actually sick on Wednesday, but not to the level of concern as later in the week. The big news from that day was that I learned I will be living in a small city situated within a desert oasis that is an hour south of Errachidia, with two female site mates and plenty of other volunteers nearby. It is a very exotic part of the country, which I am excited about, but I also am happy to be near a big city so that I can attend Mass (there is a parish in Errachidia), which is something I explained was important to me in my site interview. I will be visiting this upcoming Wednesday through possibly Saturday or Sunday with my current site-mate Nadia. Sanjay, the volunteer I will be replacing, has done a lot of cool work down there and has communicated a strong desire to get me well-acquainted in this community that has hosted PCV’s for at least 30 years from what I have learned.

For those who aren’t familiar with the geography of Morocco, I am placed just north of the Sahara desert and a wee bit west of the Algerian border. Something that has garnered my attention is that my region was once home to Jews who migrated to Morocco after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the 1^st Century AD. So there are some really interesting ruins and cultural festivals that attract Jews from all around the world to my region (and apparently even to my town). My town is predominantly Berber, but they all speak Darisha, which is really nice. I will have the option to learn Tamazight, but am unsure if I will do so or just try my best to get as good at Darisha as I can (I am leaning toward the latter at the moment because there are several Berber dialects in Morocco, but Darisha is the language that is dominant throughout the land and I think would prove to be more useful after service, such as if I want to study Standard Arabic). My current training site is predominantly Arab and so it will be cool to learn more about the culture of the indigenous population of Morocco in my permanent site so that I have a good understanding of both major ethnic groups here.

I was indeed also sick on Tuesday, which made understanding what was trying to be communicated during the day sessions extremely complicated. Fortunately for me, Gelatto took me out to dinner early that evening because I was feeling dizzy and his company was really appreciated. The initial plan was to celebrate Brandy’s birthday that evening, but since she was also sick that day (really, really sick), it had to be cancelled. Kelsey went out and bought her a birthday dessert that evening, which was very sweet, and so I dropped by a small birthday party for Brandy in the hotel room for a few minutes when I returned.

On Monday, I joined Nora and a very sick Brandy early in the morning for a very cheap “taxi” to Meknes where we three paid the same price as we would if we crammed six people into the car (shout-out to Nora for the hook-up). Gelatto and I roamed the streets of Meknes in the evening, which is a great way to catch-up with one another. We accidentally found a delicious shawarma restaurant we ate at during the last hub (and one of the only good affordable restaurants in Meknes). Gelatto knew I was sick and so we returned to the room early. I watched Chelsea v. Tottenham in the room, which was enjoyable an d also sad because the Spurs lost this one. I also roomed with Ryan, which was amazing because I had not seen him since Rabat in January and have always loved talking with him.

Sunday was spent in Meknes for Mass in the morning and lunch with Mahdi in the afternoon. Mass was awesome and I was fortunate enough to have been joined by my good friend and fellow-volunteer Ben unexpectedly. Seeing Mahdi was great as usual and I was very fortunate to have had his help with transportation getting home because I was feeling a bit under the weather.

Saturday was spent in Volubilis and it was an absolutely breathtaking place to witness. I saw pagan, Jewish and Christian ruins in the same sight and got to engage with some of the most well-preserved ruins of the Roman Empire that exist. My favorite part about visiting Volubilis was that there are no restrictions for visitors and so people can use all of their senses to engage with the history there. The pictures I will upload will hopefully tell a story that these few words cannot.

Me in Moulay Idriss, a nearby city to Volubilis that hosts the tomb of Idris I, the “founder of Morocco.”