Oh! You Pretty Things!

David Bowie Said the above. Much love to that man and his lovely music.

I have so much to write about today, and I am going to get back to my series of posts about Amazigh Resistance in a day or so…

In my village right now:

- Busy Souq Sundays
- Thunderstormed Afternoons
- Dust Blowing
- Puffy Clouds
- Non-Cold Hands in general
- Non-Cold Hands While doing Laundry or Dishes
- My cat becoming the Ultimate Fly Catcher (mmm tasty treat!)

What this all means?…
- Spring has arrived.

I love spring. For me, being done with winter is probably one of the happiest times of the year. In my village, more people are out for longer, People sit outside at cafes, and the arrival of new fruits fresh in season (Today’s theme was Honeydew Melon!, Bananas, and Oranges… the latter two have been around all winter). Soon to come are apricots, cherries (my fav!), cantaloupe melon, and Figs… etc.) Needless to say I am excited. These are all Pretty Things.

For me personally, the fact Morocco does not change times (until June or something) means that sunlight comes in at about 6am. I usually get up at 7ish, and go to bed around 11. A healthy 8 hours. No more of this wanting to lay in bed all day and having to get 9+ hours of sleep to even hope of feeling refreshed. I win.

So where the heck have I been you ask???

I went to camp. English Spring Camp in Figuig that is… and man was it fantastical (yes I wordsmithed that one!)

Each year, Peace Corps works with the Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports to have these English camps in various cities across Morocco. Peace Corps Volunteers travel to these camps, teach English, as well as have a club activity (Environment, Health, Dance, Theatre, Leadership). The kids have a week of school, lets call it a “Spring Break” for them. The kids from nearby places come to the camp, learn some English (hopefully) from native speakers, have some fun, and love life.

This year was year 1 of me being here to do spring camp, so I decided to go to Figuig, after debating about going to one of the beach towns (I miss the ocean…sigh.)

So where is Figuig (Fig-eeg) you are asking me nicely? (I am pretending I am in coversation… it sounds loopy I know). So…Have a Map.

This is Morocco

Okay, the scale of this makes Morocco seem small. It is the size of California (yes this includes the Province of the Western Sahara, which since I live here, I recognize as a part of Morocco. So no questioning that please.) If you look in the Northwest, at the town of Oujda. Go straight south along the Moroccan-Algeria Border. At the bottommost point, this is Figuig. Google Maps does it right, so find it here if you want.

“Wow Eric, that’s really far, and in the desert!… Why the heck would you want to go there?”

Figuig is an Oasis of many things. First, Figuig is the biggest palmery in Morocco (at least it used to be). I had also heard from previous PCVs that it was gorgeous, and one of their favorite spots in all of Morocco. So I was sold. For me had it not been for camp, I would never have gone there, because it is a 14 hour bus trip. Blah…

BUT… I learned that Figuig is an oasis of fun and laughter; Of good kids and fun camp.

So now that I schooled you all about Figuig, let me school you about camp.

We had roughly 60 students, ages 14-20 at the camp. We had 7 PCVs as well. About 45 of the kids were from Figuig, the rest were from nearby places where we have PCVs, and I certainly can’t name those places here (sorry.)

In the morning we taught English. I personally taught 9 students Beginner High English. Essentially it was good review of basic English. Lots of nouns (fruits, food, body parts etc.) and some verb basics and grammar. We played a lot of games, (hangman, Pictionary) as well as some creative writing to work on… writing.

The first day I gave my students names. Or rather, I let them choose their name, based on a Celebrity. My class consisted of the following:
- Michael Jackson
- Enrique Iglesias
- The Game (yes, the rapper)
- Celine Dion
- Hanna Montana (is that the way to spell Hanna?)
- Brad Pitt
- Tom Cruise
- Zac Effron
- Rocky Balboa

Yes. I was teaching English to a bunch of celebrities. They enjoyed this, and I did as well. I want to thank Dr. Ann MacKenzie for Pop Culture reference here. I certainly learned this from her (I hope she reads this. I’m such a suck-up.)

I love teaching, and teaching EFL is nothing new to me. So it was a dapper time.

We had some activities as well, like scavenger hunt, relay race, and English Olympiad. Kids love games. We also had an art day. Kids love Art and creativity as well!

Us PCV’s also had clubs. My club was Environment. Here is what we did:
I had students go in small groups of 5 (with an adult of course) around Figuig, finding natural items that fit the profile. For example, items that were:  Spiky, Hard, Strong, Dead, From an Animal, Old, Tasty, Green, Brown, Black, Soft. It was a good way to learn these words in English. I also had them ask two native Figuigis a couple of questions about the environment, and environmental issues in Figuig. Essentially, I call this activity the “Sense of Place” activity, because it allows students to learn about the natural area where they live or visit, and gets them in tune with their surroundings. I heart this activity.

Also, for me, it was a good chance to be taken to pretty places, learn about Figuig, and have fun. Teachers should learn as well! And in the end, it gave me a better appreciation of Figuig.

The activity went well, the only downfall being that with so many native Figuigi kids there, they knew all about their environment. But they taught others, and myself, so that was nice. But non-native kids learned an immense amount about Figuig, and saw the natural beauty in the Palmeries.

Finally, each night we had a different event. For example, Talent Show, Dance Party, Director’s Game, Movie Night, and Closing Spectacle. The kids showed off some good talent, dancing and playing guitar. I DJed the Dance Party until kids hijacked it with Moroccan Music (now I have some at least), and at the Closing Spectacle I did some break dancing, as part of a larger PCV dance set.

Camp was great, and I loved my PCV colleagues as well as the Moroccan staff. I certainly will go back next year. Figuig is probably my favorite place in Morocco so far in my service. The town is old, with tunnels even (for defense) between and under houses, and there is an underground natural Hammam with warm water for bathing (we went there twice), where you need to have candles. All this in addition to the gorgeous setting of the Palmeries intermixed in it all. I also could see Algeria. Sadly this time I did not straddle the border wall, as I wanted to… but there is always next year!

Other random things about Figuig that are awesome. Most people ride bikes everywhere. I love this, as it is not loud and environmentally friendly. Also, Women walk around with a white sheet to cover themselves and their face. They take the sheet in their mouth when approaching strangers, leaving only one eye to see. It is cool, and slightly humorous to me (I nicknamed them all Cyclops, and once I did that, I couldn’t help but chuckle.) It was really interesting to see the difference between the people and the language as well!

For my friends, I will send you some pictures of camp and Figuig via email!

I hope that you are all doing well! Much Love!

Me!