Bludging in Morocco

Well I've been pretty lazy since the desert trip, so no new fabulous stories to tell. It's just been a lot of eating, sleeping, reading, going to the souk (a leetle too much) and very occasionally going for a jog. Oh yes - and going to work in the mornings! See, I do work; it's only 1 1/2 hours a day, but I see nothing wrong with this :) In fact it's something i could suggest for the library... Actually having read some of Peter's emails regarding everyone doing extra shifts on the desk maybe I'd just better keep my mouth shut re work!

The English classes have been going fine; i really enjoy one group i work with, about 4 young men trying to improve their conversational English. It's just a matter of sitting with them and chatting about pretty much anything that comes to mind. They're all very curious and intelligent too, so the conversations are never boring, and range from whether it's possible to buy a koala, to Morocco's political system, to 'how did the aborigines get to Australia'? One thing i've run into though is that we're just not going to see eye to eye on any topic involving women; it's very bizarre to realise that we can't even begin to see each other's viewpoint on this, so now we don't discuss gender issues too much. And this is the younger generation - the older generation is much more likely to talk my ear off about how western marriages are all failing because the women don't respect their men's needs; I try to be as diplomatic as possible about this sort of thing, whilst imagining something wet and slimy hitting them in the face.

I think this has been the hardest thing for me to become accustomed to here - the general attitude towards western women. I was prepared for the fact that i would obviously stand out, and that it wasn't seen as acceptable for women to do certain things like go to cafe's, travel alone, drink or smoke etc. What took me aback was that even when i dressed perfectly modestly, and didn't do anything like drink or smoke or even have a coffee in a cafe, I'm still regarded as being 'loose', or 'easy'. I can understand why - i.e. western women do have sex before marriage, and generally have more sexually liberated lives than moroccan women - not to mention backpakkers visiting Morocco and behaving like backpakkers do all over the world - but it is a really weird feeling to be looked at in this way! Anywhere you go there is a constant stream of comments, and several of the other female volunteers have been offered money for sex, or been randomly hugged and kissed by strangers. Mostly you just have to laugh, as i did when a friend was coming home recently with another volunteer - a male - and was refused a lift by a taxi driver, who kept insisting that she was a prostitute and he wouldn't have her kind in his car! She was wearing jeans and a jumper with a turtle neck - nothing that i would call provocative at all, but like I said, you just have to laugh. In Australia I rarely consider my gender to hold any real importance for me - aside from helping me to multitask of course! - so this has been quite an experience for me to feel so defined by both my gender and my nationality.

Most of the group of volunteers who arrived at the same time as me left last weekend, and a new group of about 9 have arrived. I was really sorry to say goodbye to many of my old group, I've made some fantastic friends here. Although the new group are all nice, I really feel like I'm ready to move on. I can't wait till Damien gets here - 9 more sleeps to go! We have a fantastic 2 weeks planned, including mountain climbing and camel riding and hammaming. Then it will be back to sunny Darwin, where I can thaw out at last. I am very much looking forward to having a beer in the sun (after which i will probably duck for airconditioned cover). Hope everyone is well, look forward to seeing you all soon!