Sri Lanka

I've been journaling less and less with each country. Started out strong writing about each city in Morocco- down to 1 entry per country. My notes on Sri Lanka are pathetic, but only because I've been too busy having an amazing time to write. And I fall asleep immediately during any moment of free time we get. Sri Lanka was hands down my favorite part of the trip. I've never been to a place this colorful- the clothing, skin, food, mountains, plants, animals, it's like all the rain and heat soaks and bakes everything in hot colors. After being awake for over 24 hours, the gang made it to Colombo at Sarvodaya's Peace and Meditation Center. We all crashed immediately. I felt like I was dreaming when I woke up, it was such a serene place, I couldn't figure out how it was just a driveway off the road of the chaos of the Capitol city. There is a sapling of the tree Buddha reached enlightenment under on the grounds! That night, we had the honor of meeting Dr. Ari, the founder of Sarvodaya and the leader behind a service movement that started in one village and now is active in over 15,000 across the country. This man received the Gandhi Award and is widely known and respected across Sri Lanka and the world. He is so old and wise and humble and I could not believe we got to hear him speak in such a small group setting. The next day we drove an exhausting 12 hours across the country to Trincomalee, a northern coastal city that is still struggling severely from the devastating aftermath of the tsunami and civil war. While traveling and crazy driving on dirt, winding roads made for a long day, it allowed us to see so much of the country- jungles, mountains, wild elephants, tea and rice fields, tons of monkeys, and tuk-tuks, a kind of tricycle motorcycle/mini car that everyone drives way too fast here. A lot of it reminded me of Sierra Leone and the DR, the tropical beauty contrasted with extreme poverty. Palm trees standing tall and proud above hunched over shacks made of mud or rusty scrap metal. We stopped to hike to the Buddhist Golden Temple, which is built into a cliffside and offered breathtaking views. We spent the rest of the week at Trinco, doing a Shramadana in the village of Jamailia. On the first day, we were greeted by the entire village with beautiful handmade flower garlands, a marching band, and parade. Sarvodaya means "awakening of all" and believes in an all inclusive community model. Ceremonies are huge in Sri Lankan culture, and a leading representative of each religion, ethnic group, and political party was at the front table of the jam packed room. A buddhist, muslim, hindu, and christian priest gave very long encouraging speeches in Tamil that followed a lot of clapping and lighting candles. It was so wonderful to witness everyone in the village united and excited about renovating the school. I worked on the preschool building with a group of mothers and their children. We painted the outside and landscaped the schoolyard. The mothers took me under their wing and wouldn't let me paint for more than 5 minutes before offering (forcing) me to take a seat, cookie, fish biscuit, or glass of tea or hot milk. At first I felt uncomfortable and overwhelmed by all the attention they extended us, as I was here to help and work hard. But then I realized what a western "efficiency" mindset I had. It is custom for them to take frequent breaks for talking and eating and they wanted to give their guests the best they had. And I did have the best time getting to know them- we even finished our project early on the final day. "Mothers" shaped my experience in both Morocco and Sri Lanka, and I will never forget the love, warmth, and endless supply of food that was given so freely to me by these inspiring women. I got the superlative "most likely to get stolen by 5 year olds" because of the little gang of misfits I acquired at the preschool. Boys Mufit, Nadir, Doggi, and Bakhar and tomboy Lisma. At the end of the day, we played a lot of "RUN" which involved pointing at a faraway landmark, racing to it, collapsing in a pile up, and then jumping back up to point and race to the next destination. Back at the District Headquarters (sounds straight outta Hunger Games), our group hung out at the beach. All 14 of us girls shared a dorm style bedroom and a rat infested bathroom- we grew closer than ever. Sang Annie's "Hard Knock Life" on the beds under our pink mosquito nets. There was a girl's vocational school upstairs. We made friends with the beautician trainees and they practiced on us! I was able to meet with Jeeta Jacobson and Jeeva Rajah, the two supervisors of the YITP Integration Program for 350 war affected children in Trinco, Amparai, and Baticcolo. Recruitment into the rebel armies robbed children of their childhoods and this program reunited them with families and provided social support, job resources, community internships, and trauma therapy. They both stayed after work hours to answer my 100 questions and were invaluable resources for my research. We were given our farewell with a huge cultural show of singing and dancing before heading to the mountain city of Kandy for 2 days. Our contribution to the talent show was singing "In the Jungle" a capella and doing the Thriller dance. Go USA. We went to the market, visited the famous Temple of the Tooth, Helga's Folly, and the Sri Lankan International Buddhist Academy. Greatest thing about the city is the advertisements. They're in English and make me so smiley. Everything is called (positive adjective, object). For instance, you want a sandwich? Get a Happy Sandwich. In the mood for a cookie? We've got a Friend Cookie for you. How bout a cake? Nice Cakes come in many flavors. On our way back to Colombo, we stopped in the middle of beautiful nowhere at a rural mountain village to learn about a Sarvodaya water project and microfinance SEEDS bank. We spent the final 2 days at the Center for Higher Learning doing what we named "reflection boot camp". It was the most peaceful, yet learning intensive part of the entire trip and just what we needed to retreat and digest all we've learned in this whirlwind of a month. Now 2 days of traveling from Sri Lanka to Qatar, Qatar to Turkey, Turkey to France, and France to DC. We shall overcome. I feel so blessed to have had this adventure, but do not want to set foot in an airport or eat airplane food for a little while. 

Turkey

The Blue Mosque

On the Bosphorus

Grand Bazaar

Cappadoccia

 I am writing in the Qatar airport! The man next to me just bit into his apple from the top- stem and all and went to town on the core. I'm typing away trying not to crack up. Qatar airlines is fancy shmancy. Economy class never looked so good. I accidentally sat on my cup of water and it looked like I peed myself, they brought me an extra pillow and hot towels to sit on. Felt like a queen in my wet pants. Our time in Turkey felt much longer than the week we were there, but I see that as a good thing. I am feeling much better- I had the flexibility to eat vegetarian so my stomach is back to normal and was able to run everyday! I think that's why I couldn't sleep in Morocco, my legs and mind aren't used to not running and get too restless without one. Each morning I did five miles along the Bosphorus. Turquoise water on my right, the Old City wall on my left and the Istanbul skyline ahead. It was such a cool way to get to know the city. I am absolutely not a city person, but I loved Istanbul. For one its a coastal city and I love anywhere near salt water. Two, it is gorgeous. So colorful, the architecture was different than anything I've ever seen. Three, the food. Even just the street food. Why don't we have stands of watermelon bowls, spiraled apples, cashews and pistachios, gelato and sesame twists instead of corndogs? And the fresh seafood- whole fish with scales and eyeballs. I went native and ate a fish eyeball for a year of good fortune. Not worth it. And the baklava... I've come to terms with the fact that I'm gaining weight on this trip. I ate a lot of baklava. Our days consisted of Turkish development discussions from 9-1 at Kadir Has University, where we debated issues such as Turkey's undecided identity and standing in the world, as well as issues it must address if they hope to continue to rise as a global power- the Armenian Genocide, the Kurdish national struggle, the potential danger of a single, extremely powerful political party. It was so interesting. We spent the afternoon doing as much sight seeing as possible- there were too many beautiful things to be seen. We often stopped for apple tea and coffee in the Taxim. I loved how you couldn't get anything to-go. It's not an option. It is expected that you'd want to sit down, outside under the lanterns, to enjoy the tea and the day and the company of your friends. The highlight of Istanbul was the Turkish bath. Six of us girls went and together we shed our clothes and any barriers between us. We got totally naked, herded by another naked, extremely large and in charge Turkish woman into a furnace of a room where we sweat our body weights, then taken by the hand and told to lay flat on our back as we got scrubbed- more like sand papered, head to toe. When they say full body they mean Full. Body. No part of me went unscrubbed. Rolls of black, dirty, dead skin came flaking off- and I'd showered that morning! When she was doing my arms she kept yanking them, and as a result, my face into her very prominent belly and chest. Definitely full cultural immersion. Afterwards she sent me to rinse myself with buckets of cool water and then laid me back down for a full body massage. Quite possibly the best 30 minutes of my life. Then you go to a large communal bath, the sauna for a second time,and then back to the bath. I've never felt so clean or comfortable in my own skin. There was no shame or vulnerability in it at all. We were just a group of women bathing together. No one was looking, judging, comparing- everyone has a body and bodies are beautiful because they are different and not perfect. My lady gave me a bear hug before giving my towel and sending me to change, really topped off the experience. We spent the weekend in Cappadoccia, which is in Central Turkey. I never imagined such a place existed on the world. Google image it, my pictures and words can't do it justice. Only description is it looked like valleys of drippy sand castles. Or Atlantis, except not underwater. We explored underground cities from the 6th Century, visited ancient Christian sites, and hiked and climbed the huge rock formations. Shan- everyone was so weirded out by me hiking barefoot, I said this earthy Dominican girl rubbed off on me. I hope to come back to Anatolia someday. I haven't mentioned how much I like my group. Everyone is funny, low maintenance, and scary intelligent. They're the best. Doha, Qatar, tonight and Colombo, Sri Lanka by morning!

Fez

Fez

Missing 2 more brothers!

I am writing this from the Paris airport on the way to Istanbul. Trying to think about our last four days in Morocco is very difficult. Everything is blurring into one endless day. I am exhausted from not sleeping and got really sick ever since my host family fed me lamb tongue and dates for dinner Saturday night. I'm so surprised!
Despite the tongue, my second host family was equally wonderful as the first. The Benlamleh family reminded me of my own- four kids, 3 crazy brothers and my littlest princess, Aischa. I didn't know what was going on most of the time but my favorite moments in Fez were spent playing with them. On Friday we spent the day touring the city, stopping at amazing buildings and traditional metal, carpet, leather, and clothing workshops. It was interesting but since it was our first day of doing touristy things I realized what a big, loud group of Americans we are and that meant people trying to sell you anything you made eye contact with.
That night Emily and I went out with my host family's oldest son and his best friend, Anouar and Achraf. They took us downtown to a cafe and then some bars. We stood out even more. For one, we were blonde Americans, and two, we were women- you don't see much of either in Fez at night. It was a good time, I am glad the guys were with us because we were still harassed quite a bit even in their company. We helped them practice for an upcoming interview in English and they gave us some good insight on the Moroccan view of Americans. Anouar had never met an american and admitted he was worried we'd be "cold blooded". He thought I would not like his house. But he said "Kathryn, I do not understand half of what you are talking to me. But I know we are good friends. Polite and big smile all the time. I worry for nothing".
Before I left, a friend of mine asked out of curiosity if I was scared about going to two Muslim countries (Not in a judgmental way at all). I hadn't thought about it. Unfortunately, atrocities committed by extremist groups have caused some to view the entire Islamic population in a negative light. Just like problems caused by US interference has led some Moroccans to view Americans in a negative light. When it comes down to it, Islam is a religion that teaches how to be a good person. And I am not exaggerating when I say that every single person I have gotten to know personally here, all of which are Muslim, have been nothing but good to me- kind, welcoming, generous. Calling me daughter and sister, insisting they sleep on the floor so I have a bed. We need to experience people before we judge them, their religion, their country. Because people are good.
Anyways, on Saturday we went to an artisans workshop. I was in heaven. They even let me take a try at the wheel and lay down tiles while everyone was shopping! That afternoon we had another discussion about US/Moroccan relations with university students. In class discussions at Tech, no one wants to offend anyone by disagreeing. I always start an opposing view point with "You know, I totally see where you're coming from and you made a great point, but I kind of sorta have a slightly different perspective..." I never want to offend anyone because it makes me uncomfortable. But the Moroccan students would straight up fight. Instead, they would say "I completely disagree and I think you're wrong." They weren't afraid to raise their voice or make angry gestures. They didn't hesitate to call us out either. Big fan of that.
That night I watched the annual fashion show. Asmae, the mom, and Meryem, her neighbor, are both seamstresses. They held my hands the whole time and oohed and ahhed over all the beautiful, colorful dresses while little Aischa braided my "barbie" hair (daps to barbie corrupting perfect little girls world wide). It was such a fun girls night. Then they brought out some of their most fancy dresses for me to try on. I could not believe Asmae made them! They proceeded to take approximately 900 pictures of me in each dress, in every room, in front of any large piece of furniture. It has been decided that I will marry in Morocco so they can make my wedding dress. Have I mentioned how much I love them? Yesterday we said goodbyes and saw some Roman ruins, a huge demonstration, and Casablanca. I was sick and delirious most of the day but it was cool.
Some final thoughts about Morocco that shouldn't be left out: Touching is healthy. Here, everyone gives kisses on the cheeks, walks arm in arm, and gives pats on the back. It's the best. It is also perfectly socially acceptable for random strangers to hold another random stranger's baby for a quick snuggle before handing it back casually. Families stay together. Both my families were so close and had lived in the same community, with the same neighbors, for generations. There is great respect for the elderly. The Benlamleh family treated Fatima, their deaf and handicapped grandmother with a love and care that was really beautiful. Last, the call to prayer happens five times a day, reminding everyone to give thanks for God's constant presence. My host dad, Mohamed, said "Just like you need food for your health, you need prayer for the spirit". So true. You can tell from how long this is how much I loved my 11 days in Morocco. On to Istanbul in a few hours!