Happy New Year and welcome to my blogspot! Even though this blog is about my upcoming adventure to Morocco and beyond....I am calling it five goats at home. Basically I was blanking out on a cool travel name when five goats at home came to me. I think it's catchy, it's me, and I figured that while I am gone, it will be a good reminder of home.
Now the disclaimer, I also have two great doggies, Heather and Barnaby, and two lovely cats, Phoebe and Loomis. They are not forgotten, it's simply that five goats at home is shorter than nine pets being graciously babysat by Sam and Karen to whom I owe a lot. While that is very true, it is a lot of typing.
So what's happening in my life right now, is that thanks to Sam and Karen as I mentioned earlier, I leave for Morocco on January 11th. Why Morocco? Well, I want to experience a culture that is very different from my own and I want to be apart of that community for a while. In the past I have traveled a bunch, but as a tourist I glossed over the people aspect. Yet, when I look back on trips my interactions with different people are what I most vividly remember. Like the ladies baking bread in the Okavango, who chatted up a storm to me and I had no idea what they were saying; that fantastic Italian man in Paris, who was such a good cook I heartily overate several days in a row; and the magician who daylighted as a bartender and corrected me quickly when I called his performances tricks. It goes on and on and those memories are what make me smile and what I look forward to creating.
On this adventure, the first half I will be volunteering in Morocco. I am working with a group called Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS) which organizes volunteering efforts in many different countries around the world. I chose CCS because their philosophy is to decide with community input what issues are important, rather than having priorities dictated to them. I believe that this type of dialogue is crucial to success in anything. The way I understand it now, I will be teaching english and computer skills to women and possibly children. My gut keeps telling me though, that this is a really simplified version which I will understand more when in action.
The second part of my adventure begins March 8, when I leave Morocco and see what else the world has to offer. I have some things I would like to see and do before I head home on May 22. I will fill you all in as time evolves. Take care.
