I live in an Arab Islamic country in the time when most of Arab world is in political upheaval. I live in a city that is over 1,200 years old in a country still ruled by a King. Every day I communicate with people in three different languages (and two dialects.) I take a taxi to school and it costs less than riding the bus in Minneapolis (not even during rush hour!) I fall asleep listening to the desperate plea of roosters. I am a minority and I am harassed regularly. Cats freely wander around everywhere, including restaurants. I eat with my hands and I can't drink local water for fear of explosive bathroom breaks. I've grown accustomed to the Moroccan “traditional” toilet.... a hole in the ground. Toilet paper and soap are arbitrary at best (so don't judge us for stealing toilet paper from hotels/school and traveling with them (and our mushy bars of soaps)) and the most common form of toilet paper, is a weird peptobismal pink and has the texture and consistency of crepe paper or party streamers....siesta anyone? Traffic in my section of the city consists mostly of motorcycles and donkeys (and I have to always watch my step so I don't walk in donkey feces, broken glass, or spit.
Every day I see beautiful things, the silhouettes of the sparrows, the oranges in the trees, now the purple buds, the beautiful fabrics of the djellabas, the Atlantic from another angle, Islamic art and mosaics. The birds sing differently over here but children laugh the same. And I'm simultaneously confronted by sad things that challenge me every day, like kittens with their eyes rotting out of their heads, children playing with trash, adults eating discarded food off the streets.
You learn a lot about yourself when you're the odd one out, but I know, without a doubt, that this is the best thing I've ever done for myself and I am exactly where I need to be in the world right now.
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