wide-eyed

the weather here in Rabat has made a turn for the better, providing perfect lighting and warmer weather for photography. everyone that i work with here is amazing and well, young! i prayed that God would send me some friends my age even if they didnt speak english. funny thing, God and that sense of humour of His because while most of my co-workers speak varying degrees of english and french, the one who knows the least amount of french and absolutely no english is the guy that is acting as my guide around the city!!! its quite funny, however i find myself wishing i could have conversation with someone, especially someone who has a western perspective....basically itd be nice to speak some english wth an english speaker!!! but im not complaining....really, im having a wonderful experience so far! and the girls i live with have provided great company!

the other day we were driving to their apartment after work when the car going up the hill ahead of us put his car into reverse. it being rush hour and us having no where to go, we were left with no choice but to let him roll back into us...which he did despite the fact that our driver was blaring her horn! when the driver of the rolling vehicle realised that he couldnt have done much damage at the speed he was going to a car so old, he waved as some kind of compensation and proceeded to pick up his cell phone and take a call. because he wasnt distracted enough!

voyeurism is also something im dealing with here. more often than not i feel like the voyeur with my camera, but here the men are onlookers. i think, however, that they are not used to a woman staring right back at them! after all, im fairly used to staring at people because of my trade! on the other hand, i find myself feeling terrible for looking around at the other women here--as if i am in a sense acting like one of the men. my intent, however, is not to leer, but to smile, make eye contact, let them know that i and my camera are not a threat. its hard though, and i have no photos of women yet, except for those i live/work with. which is fine, but i would also like some insight and connection with some of the more traditional moroccan women. kids here are fun though because they stare w such innocence and curiosty which i understand because its how i find myself looking around. in salé, the city ajoined to rabat, they are so much less used to tourists, so when in the medina, the kids just stare at me wide-eyed and i smile and say `salem`(hello i moroccan arabic).

anyway, there is so uch more to say but i want to check my emails....thanks for the comments, emails, and knowledge that there are some people reading this blog! i actually have no clue who`s all reading it and i havent been able to email the address to a lot of people yet...their addys are in spain....oops. but if you are reading it, maybe drop me a line either on the blog or at my email address, just so i can get a rough idea! your efforts to connect with me so far have meant so much especially so far from home! and your prayers....thank you for them....there are times when i can feel that the prayers of others are all that is keeping my head above water! and i pray for you too, whether you believe in the power of prayer or not!!!

with so much love!

jaimes