“Your Vibe Attracts a Village”

Disclaimer: The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government, the Peace Corps, or Long Stories.

HEY… its been a minute.  Click play and read on:

I was recently inspired during a conversation with a volunteer to start writing in my blog again. In short, I had mentioned something about stopping my blog because things didn’t feel “new” or “reportable” anymore. But I guess at the start, being new or reportable wasn’t what I was looking for, though it was perhaps what this blog grew into. What I was looking for January 2014 was a way to stay connect with those I care about through reflection on my experiences here… something that positively impacted me as I did it and will hopefully continue to as I try to make this blog a part of my experience once more.

So what’s there to say? It has been about six months since I last wrote about what all was going on and these six months have been filled with change in ways I could not anticipate from the start of my service. A shortened story would tell you that I was pulled out of my site for safety concerns and reassigned to a site in the south of Morocco, where I’m currently writing from. A longer story would talk about the relationships I had to say goodbye to in my old site, the work I had to wrap up and seek sustainability within in just a few days, the feelings around coping with such unexpected change in such immediate circumstances, the moment I turned around and saw an empty house that was my home when I had to move and couldn’t do anything in the moment but sit on my host family’s roof with a roll of toilet paper and sob, and my last moments spent in my home of almost a year-and-a-half holding my host mother’s hand as she told me I will always be a son to her.

This story would also talk about getting to climb a mountain with dear friends, both struggling and rejoicing on said mountain, having a friend come and visit and her helping immensely in the coping process, going on a bus ride adventure gone wrong, making jokes at a terribly raunchy toilet, spending two weeks at home getting to be in the therapeutic comfort of family and friends, getting to attend a wedding of somebody dearly important to me, revitalizing the motivated and adventurous spirit that exists inside me and my potential to live up to it, and starting new in a town that may just be the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in my life while learning a new language and exploring a culture different than the one I have lived in since I started my journey here. In this moment alone I feel the benefit of writing; of having a blog. Things in life happen continuously, without warning, daily. And while in the mix of things one may find themselves bored, unable to draw meaning, it is in looking in retrospect that we can not only find ways to value what we have gone through, but we can also begin to cope more with the emotions we have held back from things unexpected, both wonderful and tough.

I like the long story better.

It can be tough, as definitely shown by being in the states. A “How’s Morocco?,” doesn’t really warrant it and when it does, a certain mindset has to be present, but for the times when both of those aligned, I got to story-tell my experience with a lot of gratitude for what I’ve done and a lot of excitement for what’s ahead.

Speaking of gratitude, I read an article recently that talked about it being the key to living a happy life, and so expressing it has been something I’ve been working on. I think this runs a bit deeper than expressing “thanks” and so finding ways to let it manifest in my life has been really interesting, but I do have to say that an immediate output of it all is just a greater tendency to be invested in the moment; to work to find something to be appreciative of in the present so that it holds your attention with awe and learning.

Alright, so onto cool things that have happened in Morocco or in life in the past six months, because all of the stuff I’ve been talking about has been super recent:

-Ability Camp!: I had the opportunity to work at a camp inclusive of students with special needs… probably one of my favorite experiences here so far, and I came out of it with some of the closest relationships with students that I have been able to build here. The camp was in the deep south in Morocco so I also got to explore some new places while working. My first paid job was working in a social skills classroom for a special needs summer camp, so getting to do this kind of inclusive work again was really enjoyable for me. Also, I got married! (See photo below).

-Peace Building Conference! With three other Peace Corps Volunteers, I was able to attend, as a volunteer for it, an International Peace Building through Technology Conference in Nicosia, Cyprus. The Conference was really cool, and the attendees were even cooler. There were about 300 people there from 60 different countries and I got to idea share with so many people doing such important things in the world. A lot of interesting inner-dialogues took place throughout it in terms of personal beliefs on peace building and how technology can help or harm social systems. I think it is so necessary to have an understanding of both, the roots of the issue you are working with and the roots of the technology being used before moving forward. In any case, I learned a lot and got to spend some time in beautiful Cyprus with a crazy fun detour in Italy.

-New Volunteers! At the beginning of April we swore in 90-something new volunteers here. It’s exciting to have new faces around and doing work with new volunteer programming here and there has been really interesting to be a part of. Especially since most of us still feel so new here and that we don’t know what we are doing, and are yet supposed to be some sort of source of knowledge for new volunteers. I’ve luckily become close with a few of our new Peace Corpsers, including this super easy-to-be-around couple whose names are Marc and Michelle and also happen to be the conversation sparkers that made me write in this blog again.

-Mount Toubkal! I climbed to the highest point in North Africa, with my friends Jordan, Uthman, and Nabil. It was an incredible adventure and getting to share it with both a friend from my American home and friends from my Moroccan home was a really special thing for me to be able to do. I don’t like using the word “special” to describe things, haha, but until I find a different word, it will stay.
-English Teachers Conference! My pal Andy and I put on a little English Teachers Conference for twenty students interested in becoming English teachers. A lot of passion was expressed for the English Language from the students present and while I always have mixed feelings about teaching English abroad, these students’ general interest and love of expressing themselves in other languages made our conversations more about the way we use language to enhance our lives and the lives of others rather than just how to teach grammar and vocabulary.

-I had a bunch of visitors that I am so thankful for in the past six months, and was able to go on a lot of great adventures in even better company. Know that if you are interested in visiting Morocco, you have an excited host waiting for you  And to those who visited, I value our time together so dearly!

-Ramadan Round Two! I went through my second summer of fasting here for the holy month of Ramadan. It, as it was last year, was a really good time for community integration and self reflection.

-OSU Student Visit! A group of eight students studying abroad from Ohio State came to my site. We did a cross culture Question and Answer at the Women’s Center which concluded in theatrical depictions of Moroccan and American weddings, and had lunch at my host family’s place to be able to exchange cultures, talk about things from Morocco that can be taken home with us and applied to our lives there, and get a better understanding of why some norms are the way they are.

Alright, I’m about to head out for some errand running, so I’m going to stop there.  Last week, my regional manager dropped me off to my new site and said, “Remember, your vibe attracts a village.”  Those words stuck with me.  Being in  a new place 20 months into my service is so unexpected, but remembering to act from a place of compassion and to bring a sense of energy and curiosity to my daily interactions is so important and so immensely beneficial.  Its all about those good vibes.

Salaam Out,

Anooj