Travel....

07MAR2006 We are here!!! Didn't get to bed last night, all the way the paper bag was on my knee, man I had a dreadful flight, I'm back in the USSR...WAIT A MINUTE. What's with all the Arabic and French everywhere? Riiigghht... Skye was just singing a song about air travel. She didn't really have a dreadful flight. It was as good as can be expected from air travel. Last night we were on a plane all night, and we lost five hours, and I didn't sleep on the plane. I'm really tired. I only slept for about 10 min on the bus from the airport. Thoughts not very coherent on paper. Food on flight was GOOD!! Chicken Curry!! Lots of Peace Corps buddy fun stuff. Morocco is eeirly like So. California. Eucalyptus trees, cacti, green fields of stuff growing, geraniums, aloe plants, the weather feels like a chilly winter morning in Port Hueneme. It's bright and sunny, but you can see your breath against the blue sky. There are rows and rows of run-down apartments and every one has about fifty satellite dishes on the roof. And laundry hanging from the windows. It's great! I was just riding along and forgot for a while that I was in Morocco, it just looked like driving through the agricultural parts of Oxnard. Then, I saw a herd of cows and goats crossing above us on an overpass. MOROCCO!! It smells so different here. That is what first got me. It smells like food. A million spices mixed up, cooking fire, animals, with earthiness in the middle of it all. We're confined to the hotel all day, we won't be let out until we have a security lecture. That's fine with me. It's all pretty overwhelming. I now have not only a passport, but an actual STAMP in it from somewhere. And I'm making tons of new friends. It is still terrifying at times, but I just keep reminding myself that it's only one day at a time. The toilet is a western one in the hotel. Prayers are answered. Ok, that sounds a little sacrilegious. But, one of the things I was looking for in this experience was the chance to challenge myself spiritually. When you feel so alone in a part of yourself, its amazing how the spirit can be so welcome. The other volunteers are so great. A new friend of mine and I were talking on the plane and it was cool to find someone else who liked to just go help other people when he felt bad himself. It is a great distraction from your own thoughts, and it usually feels really good to be able to see other people feel so happy from something you like doing anyway. Perhaps that's part of the "lose yourself in service to find yourself" idea. When you are so distracted with figuring out how to comfort someone else, you forget to be nervous about the exact same thing. And then, everyone feels better. When your nerves come back, you've already talked someone else through it, and it's a little easier to deal with yourself. And usually the people you've reached out to will come back to help. It's amazing what a little good will can do in the world.