Category Archives: Uncategorized
Beautiful Rabat
Today has been a good turn around for me. Yesterday got a bit stressful. I was extremely tired and lost a vital plug. Plus the language training was bogging me down. Today was much better. I realized I was doing great on the language (for having only three days of training, that is). Then I went out with a few friends. We went to a Café, practiced our language skills, and generally enjoyed ourselves. I also bought a new vital plug. It doesn’t work….but that doesn’t matter. It only cost 5 Dirham—which is about 75 cents. So I’ll try again tomorrow. I may even shell out 10 or 15 dirham.
Tomorrow is our free day. Plans include going to the Madid (the walled downtown that was the whole of Rabat before European Colonialization). Then it sounds like we are off to the beach (Atlantic Ocean). That sounds like a great way to spend the day. A few people are even talking about going to an Internet café in the evening—Which sounds great considering how broken the connection is at the hotel. I would love to check up on the news, work on the blog, talk to a few people, and so forth.
At this point, I must say I am seeing very little that makes me want to go home. Language and overall anxiety were my biggest fears. I have gotten past both. Anxiety seems to fade with every day and every lesson. With my amazing language instructor and lots of practicing, I do not fear the language. My only major problem is being away from my girl. We now have about four days until we go off to our training sites (mine is in the Atlas Mountains off of Fes). I can’t wait to get there and meet my host family. I will be there until March 26th with four other volunteers.
Bislama!
Day Four
I just practiced my Arabic for a good hour or two. I can now count from one to ten, introduce myself, go through the basic greeting and say goodbye in the dialect of Arabic that works in Northwest Africa. I feel like I need to as much or more language practice compared to the other people here. I have always had a difficult time learning languages. I just don’t enjoy memorizing. But I am—slowly—getting it down. I am going to have to do this every day to keep up with the lesson. If all goes well, I won’t be kicked out when training ends because I just can’t get by with the language.
I have continued journaling on a daily basis. This will be my main form of writing while I am here. During my training, I doubt I will get by fiction writing done. Once I get into my two year service that may change. That isn’t until late March. I still need to master the language to the best of my ability.
Today is my girl’s 21st birthday. It has been especially hard today being away from here. Part of me wants to be where she is. Part of me wants her to be here. In the end, it honestly does not matter where we are. I just want to be with her and celebrate with her. As I complete my fourth day of 800, I can’t help but imagine what the next 796 days will be like without her.
This is going to be hard. But amazing.
Day Three
I am officially wrapping up Day 3 of 800 on my Peace Corps adventure. I am starting a new method of blogging. In this method, I write my updates in a word document…and upload them whenever the internet decides to work. Sound like a plan? Good. Anyway, this will be the first night since Saturday that I have been able to get a true full night’s sleep. I think I may just faint right now. Sleep sounds so glorious.
The flight and bus rides went smoothly. I converted my money over just a few hours ago at 8.17 Dirham per American dollar. To put that in perspective, we went to a café a little bit later. I got a pastry for 5 Dirham and my friend got a coffee for 5 Dirham. The exchange rate is going to heavily favor us. It’s kinda nice not to worry about buying little things like food. I can afford it. At least for now.
We have one week left in Rabat before we break apart into small language groups. This is going to be a crazy week full of meeting a bunch of people, getting a bunch of shots, learning basic Arabic, and survival skills. Emotionally I have been all over the place—from wondering why I decided to do this one moment to sitting back and relaxing the next. This week in Rabat will be a good way to test the waters.
Live from Philly
The plane ride went smoothly. When I got to Philadelphia International Airport, I met up with the four others from Colorado. We split a fun ride into the heart of Philly. I immediately dropped off my bags and went to orientation. Fives hours of orientations while hungry and tired…At least I got to meet a lot of new people. This has been a great start. Although I still feel like the anti-social one. That is kind of how I work though.
We leave the hotel at 9:00am tomorrow morning. We immediatly get on a bus for JFK airport. The 8 hour flight will bring us into Casablanca overnight. Then, it’s straight to Rabat–the capital of Morocco. It is going to be a long day of traveling. But all I know is: 1 Day Down. 799 to go.
30 Minutes until takeoff
I’m at Denver International Airport now. I’ve spent a good deal of the past week saying goodbyes. Now all I have left is the experience. My plane just started boarding. Got to go!
Haiku #14
The rain is falling
The clouds are out—block the sun
You brighten my day
66 Hours Out
I have entered my last weekend in America. Come very early Monday morning (as in 3:30am), I will wake up at drive down to Denver International Airport with my parents. These final few hours in town are now a fun mixture of final preparations and goodbyes. I’ve already said goodbye to all my friends. I’m hoping to watch a couple movies with my parents this weekend. “The Impossible” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” Other than that, I am working my way through the final ten items on my to-do list. I hope to finish with time to spare so I can relax a little on Sunday and get to bed early.
I am going to continue uploading a mixture of old writing and new writing in the months to come. By the end of 2013, this website should be a good archieve of all my writing. For today, I have one of the first prose pieces I ever wrote. I was fourteen years old. I knew I was experiencing weird changes, but I still thought I was unique and–to be honest–superior. This piece is fascinating for me to read, but it’s tone is strange to me. Let me know what you think.
Pre Peace Corps Everyday Project
I started my Everyday Project shortly after seeing Noah Kalina’s six-year project–which exploded onto the scene in 2007. My video is now the approximate length of Noah’s original video (he has recently uploaded a 12.5 year project).
As any Everydayer would tell you, the projects means more and more with each passing year. Now, at six year, I can see myself through the end of high school, through all of college, and as I prepare to leave for the Peace Corps. I’ve gained weight. Lost it. Plenty of sunburns. Shaved my head. Moved. This project captures the intense speed of the world around you while simultaneously showing the slow aging process of humans.
Thank you to all of my readersand subscribers. If you are not already subscribed, make sure to. I get back from the Peace Corps in 27 months–which means the next Everyday Movie will be quite different. In the meantime, check out this Youtube site that organizes all the Everyday projects on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLABDA97DDEE8BFAAD&feature=mh_lolz
Losing My Pug
It seems so unfair. Our family had two dogs as I grew up. Cassidy was the old, larger mutt. Tocina was the younger, smaller pug. When Cassidy passed in November, it wasn’t exactly a surprise. She had survived the cancer far longer than we could have expected. The hardest part was her quick deterioration. I was 1,300 miles away when I got the news. I never got to say goodbye. That was the hardest part. I never remembered to cry. I didn’t cry for her until yesterday–when everything was unleashed.
Tocina was never exactly healthy. She was allergic to so much that we had to make her food out of a strange mixture of oatmeal and turkey. It did her well, but we still had to keep her on steroids her entire life. Considering I will only be gone for 27 months and Tocina is 8 years old, I expected she might still be alive when I get back. I couldn’t have been more wrong. A few months ago, Tocina desperately needed her nails clipped. It was impossible to hold her down. The vet put her under anesthesia to clip them. When she came out of it, she suffered a stroke. She suffered a second stroke a few months later.
My little Tocina has not been the same since then. Then, last week, something started happening. It was a small shake, like she was suffering from Parkinson’s It would only last for a few seconds. But, as the days carried on, it only got worse. Yesterday, it was quite violent and lasted for 10-20 minutes at a time. She was losing control of her bowels and we were finding blood. Despite her youth, we knew it was time. At the vet, my mom held her as they gave her the relaxing shot. A few minutes later, she was a dead weight. My mom couldn’t hold her up, so we put her on my lap. I put one hand on her head and the other under her–so I could feel her heart. It was relaxed. Then they gave her the shot. Her heart gave a single beat….then stopped.
Richard T. Reilly 