Hello Again!

This post is actually from J.

Hello again!

It’s amazing how much has happened since our last post – we’ll definitely be trying to stay a bit more on top of the blog in the future. To briefly sum up:

1. Meknes remained awesome.

2. Due to complicated logistical issues with our university, we had to return to the US. For the spring semester, rather than stay for the entire school year as we’d originally hoped.

3. The upside to that is we both graduated! Yay!

4. Over the summer, I worked as an Arabic tutor, which was by far my most favorite job ever. The students were fantastic, and I’ve become good friends with many of them.

5. A got a job at a local health food store. It’s full time, offers benefits, and his coworkers are fantastic. It’s not really what he wants to be doing long term, but it’s a good job for now.

6. So, for a long term goal, A is working on getting his teaching certification so he can get a position teaching high school in the fall. We’ll see how that goes – we certainly know jobs in the public sector aren’t easy to find right now – but we’re hopeful that it could work out well.

7. I’ve entered a two year master’s degree program in international studies. The fall was rough, but the spring went much better and I’m pretty excited about how next fall is shaping up.

8. A and I have made some drastic changes to our diet that I’m betting he’ll want to write about more later. The short version (for me) is:

No wheat. Little gluten. Few grains. Limited meat. All organic. No corn. No tomatoes. No potatoes. No added sugar. No added ingredients or preservatives… and I’m probably forgetting a lot. On the other hand, we’re both MUCH healthier, many of my fibro symptoms have disappeared, and the food we do eat is delicious.

9. Today, I left for five weeks to intern with a human rights group in Morocco. I’ll be working with sub-Saharan migrants, most of whom have no legal status in Morocco and are trying to gain entry into Europe. None of my coworkers speak English. A will be staying behind, so I’ll be alone… and I’m simultaneously terrified and really, really excited. I don’t know how reliable my internet connection will be, so it’s likely that most of the updates will be coming from A.