Insanity.

There is a lot to catch up on and a lot of writing I need to do in general but for now I will give you the highlights and elaborate on them later. I hope that is alright blog-o-sphere.

Things with my counterpart have improved by a thousand percent. I think standing up for myself and making sure we were on the same page, literally and figuratively, made a huge difference. I am actually excited about projects now, and it's a good feeling.

The Tashlheet (Berber) channel came to my village and did an entire day of filming last Thursday. There must have been 2,000 people that showed up for the parties they filmed. Because I am an American gal living in a rock house in the middle of nowhere AND I speak Tashlheet (sort-of) I had to be interviewed, 3 times. I got to do one section in English just because I protested enough and I think they were tired of listening to my broken Tashlheet. Some of the questions they asked were extremely difficult, even in English but overall, I think it went well. My house was a staging place for the 10 or so crew members and reporters who came to tape, so that made for an interesting day. As a note, I don't have running water or a big bathroom, plus I am not Moroccan meaning I am not equipped with "Moroccan" necessities. It was an experience and it took me an entire day to recover. It was AMAZING to see all of these people in my village and outer areas that I have either never seen before or am seeing again for the first time in a while. My co-op ladies were so cute in their new matching smocks. They were hamming it up to the camera. We also made our famous rock oven cooked bread which I love. All in all, it was a great day and a cool experience. Plus, I get to be on T.V. (You can see some photos on Facebook)

Thursday was also the day of the bombing in Marrakech. If you are interested in knowing more specific details, feel free to Google it, there are a ton of articles. The jist was that it was a remote controlled bomb, filled with nails, exploded in a tourist cafe in one of the most heavily visited tourist (and volunteer) destinations in Morocco, Jemma El Fina. There are 17 confirmed dead, more than 1/2 of which were French tourists. Luckily none of my fellow PCVs were hurt or killed, just a little shaken up.

Saturday I hosted the most successful event to date. I invited women from all over the village to come to the commune and watch a video on women's empowerment called, Women Can Dream, which was made by a fellow PCV. I was nervous people wouldn't show, or the TV wouldn't work but my fears were never realized. 75 women came to my event. I want to say it again, just because of how monumentous it was, 75 women. Women came from far away villages to watch. Women who NEVER leave their homes came to see my video. It was amazing. The video was in Arabic (with English subtitles) and since most of the women are uneducated and don't speak Arabic, two high school girls volunteered to translate the video. It worked out amazingly. We drank tea, ate cookies, talked about the challenges facing women in Morocco and all over the world and even got a women's development association started. Yes, it got its roots at my meeting. Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, I know I am gloating but I am just so happy at how successful it turned out and how great it was to see women together, achieving things. It reminded me of my sorority days and how proud I was when I saw a group of motivated and dedicated women tackle a goal. It brings tears to my eyes.

I spent the past few days with my dear friend Donielle in her site outside of Kech, preparing for my trip to AMERICA. I am so excited I could pee my pants.

I am writing this blog post from BEAUTIFUL Madrid where it is currently 76 degrees with not a cloud in the sky. This place is amazing.

Tomorrow I get on a plane for America and after a 4 hour layover in Philly, I touch down in St. Louis, the Gateway to the West, at 9:10pm, just in time to grab some cold ones and some food after a long day of travel.

I will be in touch soon!