Training, training, training! There is so much to tell, and so little time to share all of it with you!
Last week we had the opportunity to help out with the spring camp for youth at our local Dar Chebab - it was at once challenging yet easy, fun yet exhausting, and above all, eye-opening. It was a great chance to see the kind of work currently being done for youth in Morocco - and a chance to spread our wings a bit and do some real work. I'm still doing some mental debriefing about the experience, but I hope to write about it in greater detail soon. I know I keep making promises to write about this and that at a mysterious time called "soon," but I will, bear with me! :)
For now, what I'd really like to share with you is a bit about our adventure on Sunday. A group of us took advantage of our day off (they are few and far between, yet so very needed during training!) by taking a trip to visit some PCTs living in Moulay Yacoub. Moulay Yacoub is a tad touristy, but I could understand why immediately upon arriving: it is an absolutely breathtaking town built into a hillside, amongst miles and miles of rolling hills and small mountains. A walk through the town is a beautiful maze of winding stairs, and the view of the hills beyond is never father than a look over your shoulder.
A group of 8 of us - two from my CBT, four from other CBTs around Fes, and two who are training in Youlay Macoub - went on a day-long hike and picnic through the hills neighboring the town. It was exactly what I - and I think all of us, in fact - needed, especially after weeks in cities like Rabat and Fes. Everyone knows how much I love citites, but I also never underestimate the sheer power of nature's beauty in warming the soul. Training, frankly, can be exhausting at times - we are living in a new culture, staying with a host family who speaks a different language and has different customs than those we're used to, studying Darija almost contstantly, and adjusting to making new lives for ourselves here. All of that, although helpful and wonderful in many ways, is a lot to take on - and a day in the magnificent rolling hills of Moulay Yacoub with wonderful friends was rejuvenating for the mind, body, and soul. Even now, looking back on it almost feels like a dream.
It's difficult to express this experience in sentences, so I'll share with you the poem I wrote while sitting atop one of the peaks on our hike. It's about nature, wonder, and the truth that can be found in the world's beauty:
Simultaneity
Nature, like music,
Charms the soul
Truth plays like notes on the wind
And mysteries unlock
From times long forgotten
Yet still to be found
Hills, new and changing
Yet older than we know
At once rolling, yet still
Singular, plural
Unison, simultaneity
Faith, perspective
Clouds, as shadows
Roll time across hills
As sky with earth become one
Grasses, billow in a breeze
Like water under wind
Water’s waves, a sea of golden earth
Unison, simultaneity
Faith, perspective
Nature, like music,
Charms the soul
Winds blow melodies into hearts
As lungs inhale new hopes
Exhale old fears
And remember dreams once lost
Last week we had the opportunity to help out with the spring camp for youth at our local Dar Chebab - it was at once challenging yet easy, fun yet exhausting, and above all, eye-opening. It was a great chance to see the kind of work currently being done for youth in Morocco - and a chance to spread our wings a bit and do some real work. I'm still doing some mental debriefing about the experience, but I hope to write about it in greater detail soon. I know I keep making promises to write about this and that at a mysterious time called "soon," but I will, bear with me! :)
For now, what I'd really like to share with you is a bit about our adventure on Sunday. A group of us took advantage of our day off (they are few and far between, yet so very needed during training!) by taking a trip to visit some PCTs living in Moulay Yacoub. Moulay Yacoub is a tad touristy, but I could understand why immediately upon arriving: it is an absolutely breathtaking town built into a hillside, amongst miles and miles of rolling hills and small mountains. A walk through the town is a beautiful maze of winding stairs, and the view of the hills beyond is never father than a look over your shoulder.
A group of 8 of us - two from my CBT, four from other CBTs around Fes, and two who are training in Youlay Macoub - went on a day-long hike and picnic through the hills neighboring the town. It was exactly what I - and I think all of us, in fact - needed, especially after weeks in cities like Rabat and Fes. Everyone knows how much I love citites, but I also never underestimate the sheer power of nature's beauty in warming the soul. Training, frankly, can be exhausting at times - we are living in a new culture, staying with a host family who speaks a different language and has different customs than those we're used to, studying Darija almost contstantly, and adjusting to making new lives for ourselves here. All of that, although helpful and wonderful in many ways, is a lot to take on - and a day in the magnificent rolling hills of Moulay Yacoub with wonderful friends was rejuvenating for the mind, body, and soul. Even now, looking back on it almost feels like a dream.
It's difficult to express this experience in sentences, so I'll share with you the poem I wrote while sitting atop one of the peaks on our hike. It's about nature, wonder, and the truth that can be found in the world's beauty:
Simultaneity
Nature, like music,
Charms the soul
Truth plays like notes on the wind
And mysteries unlock
From times long forgotten
Yet still to be found
Hills, new and changing
Yet older than we know
At once rolling, yet still
Singular, plural
Unison, simultaneity
Faith, perspective
Clouds, as shadows
Roll time across hills
As sky with earth become one
Grasses, billow in a breeze
Like water under wind
Water’s waves, a sea of golden earth
Unison, simultaneity
Faith, perspective
Nature, like music,
Charms the soul
Winds blow melodies into hearts
As lungs inhale new hopes
Exhale old fears
And remember dreams once lost
No comments:
Post a Comment