Tag Archives: memory

Fired Up & Ready To Go

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I just slept for a good ten hours.  Although I don’t feel completely at 100% yet, I am ready to get back to work.  I know I was at work for the past five weeks, but it felt less like work at the orphanage as time went on.  Now that I’m back in site, I have many volunteers to contact about several different ongoing projects.  At the same time, I am going to start looking for a new house and working on paperwork for the Peace Corps.  It really is going to be a busy couple of weeks.

I think I fell a day behind on my Memory Challenge during my travels.  I’ll update twice today to catch up.  I just spent half an hour fixing all the links in the Challenge.  All the memories are now available to read.  Here is Day Eleven:

Day Eleven: AIM Crush Realization

A Month at The Orphanage

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Tomorrow is my last day at the orphanage.  It’s strange how attached I’ve gotten to these kids over the last 28 days.  I’m so glad I was among the five who got to spend time here.  I can’t even begin to explain how amazing and frustrating this month has been.  But it has been entirely worth it.  Now I set my sights back to my town–Bhalil.  I hope I can make as big of a difference there as I have in this village.  Over the course of the school year, I will have plenty of opportunities.  I just need to be myself and grab them.  I want to work my ass off so I can deserve next summer.  I’m crossing my fingers.

I am still trucking along with the 50-Day Memory Challenge.  Remember, if you want to attempt it, just send me a link and I will set you up with my 200 subscribers.

Day Eight: Kicked out of a Bar

Field Strip to Casablanca

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I just went on a field trip to Casablanca with 15 of the best artists in the orphanage.  It was a great experience.  We were fed a fantastic lunch (FOR FREE!!!).  Then, after walking around the campus of the country club, the kids were given an endless supply of good paper and paint.  They painted for two full hours.  It is incredible how many people want to give to these kids.  This is at least the fourth group that I’ve seen interacting with the kids in a big way–and I have only been here for four weeks.  They come from a tough background, but they have an incredible upbringing in this place.

Another day, another memory:

Day Seven: Lightening in the Cemetery

 

This Feels Like Posh Corps

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So I attended The First Annual El Jadida Grand Prix today.  We found a good spot at a corner and watched rally cars take the 300-degree turn at speeds that would make my car back home flip.  It was fascinating to see.  I’ve never been to anything like that–even in The States.  I suddenly realized what Posh Corps means.  While most of the people in the Peace Corps experience poverty and constrained diets, I am living in a metropolitan city…and a three minute walk from a large super market.  For the most part, I am in the Posh Corps.  Though Posh Corps does have it’s downsides….namely harassment.

Anyway, today is Day Four of The 50-Day Memory Challenge.  This one is a strange one from 2010.

Day Four: The Injured Goose

The Weekend at Last

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It hasn’t been an especially long week, but I found myself excessively tired this morning.  After doing our morning with the young kids, I was glad to be on weekend.  Now I get a day and a half off before doing the intense last week of work here at the orphanage.  It’s been a great month for me–full of reflection and work and writing.  I have come up with several ideas for how to utilize my time in the Peace Corps.  Most of it requires wifi for faster internet.  So September is going to be an interesting month for me–looking for a new house and setting up the internet while I start working with the kids.

Today is the third day of The 50-Day Memory Challenge.  I wrote about last summer–reflecting on the massive fire that burned the mountains just outside my town.

Day Three: Watching Colorado Burn

Getting Back to Writing with a Memory Challenge

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Now that this blog is back to being a writing blog rather than a Peace Corp Writer’s blog, it is time to embark on a new project.  After much contemplation, I decided to restart the 50-Day Memory challenge.  I tried to do this last year, but broke a lot of the rules and stopped far short of the goal.  If all goes well, I should be done with this project in early October.  I hope you enjoy.

The 50-Day Memory Challenge

Don’t Fret. Just Write.

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I spent a good deal of time last night wondering how I was going to write my current story.  I worried that I didn’t know how to do it right.  I worried about the order the story should go in.  I worried about this and that.  In the end, I pretty much gave up on figuring it out.  Instead, I just wrote.  It may not have come out perfectly, but it came out.  I got 500 words on paper last night.  So far this morning, I’ve already put another 500 words down.  The story is starting to come together.

Today’s poem is a special one for me.  I wrote it second semester of my 8th grade year.  I had a huge crush on a girl in my class.  I had no idea how to tell her.  Instead of gathering up the courage to talk to her, I gathered up the courage to give her a poem.  I printed it off and slipped it in her locker during the last week of classes.  She never made any mention of the poem.  But, after that, I had a small amount of courage that made it easier to talk with girls I like.  This poem is my introduction to romantic life in High School.

Speak of a Sin