My first trip to the doctor :)

My program is almost done!!!! I am so excited for it to be finished because I will be staying in Morocco for a month after. It will be so nice to be here and not have to worry about school. So what have I been up to? Well I have finally been able to complete some interviews for my project and they have all been amazing. My project is on refugees and thanks to a friend of the director of my program I have been able to make some connections with the refugee community here. I have been working with refugees since high school and the stories I have heard…well they are amazing and heart breaking. In the immigrant community here they form groups by country and this past weekend a few people from my group and I were able to meet with the community leaders of Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Guinea. We did our interviews and then just sat and talked for a few more hours, true to African culture, time is irrelevant. We were then invited to come back next week to have a dinner. They are going to prepare typical dishes from their country. I can’t wait!!! It was great sitting and talking with them. They asked us so many questions about America. I’m always so interested in their stories because they have lived through incredible things, but I often forget that they have many questions for me too. One of them wanted to know how the American school system worked, he thought we had were able to go to college for free….haha. They told us that they heard someone say there were beggars in New York and they wanted us to confirm this. We did and then explained that not only are they in New York but all over the country. They never saw beggars in American movies and thought they did not exist in America. I feel like when I tell people here the truth about America they are often disappointed. They build it up to be this perfect place and then I have to tell them we have beggars too and no not all black people in America live like 50 cent (that one made us laugh). To most people here America is what they see in movies and music videos…. It’s a sad image we are giving off let me tell you. The other day on MTV Arabia (which is what Samantha’s host mom always puts it on when I come over…she has no idea I hate MTV) there was this show on where some American college students were here in Morocco in the city of Fes. It was pretty embarrassing and we had to explain to Sam’s host mom that most Americans aren’t like them and “reality” tv isn’t really reality. Oh American media *sigh*.
A few days ago I ate something bad (I think) and got really really sick. Mom you might not like this story just to warn you :o)…. Ok so being sick was awful but I’m kinda glad I got the whole Moroccan doctor experience. So I woke up and basically couldn’t stop throwing up, so I called my friend who told her host mom (which is basically like my mom here). By the time I called my friend and her host mom came to my house to get me I was so tired and pretty out of it. In my dazed state I clung onto her arm and she dragged me through the medina. My goal was to get through the market without throwing up. I’m not sure you really know what I mean when I say medina. The market is about three feet of road filled with tons of people, bikes, motorcycle, cats, people on either side selling food, cow’s heads and other raw meat hanging on meat hooks inches from your head…it’s not a pretty place. So I made it out of the medina with out passing out or throwing up. Then the hunt began for a doctor. How it goes here is you walk around and read the signs on the building looking for the right doctor. Oh and every doctor’s office is on like the sixth floor of whatever building it is in with no elevator! I’m dragged up six flights of stairs, she asks for directions, wrong building. Next building, six more flights of stairs, doctor is gone, back down the stairs. After about two or three more attempts at finding a doctor I was so tired I had to sit at the bottom of the stair well while she ran up and down looking for a doctor. She ran up and down stairs while I sat at the entrance to random building puking into the plastic bag she thankfully brought….sometimes I’m very pitiful. Finally we found one so I made the hike up the six flights of stairs. I sat and waited for the doctor, puked some more and gave my name, age and nationality. The next hour or two are kind of blurry but I saw the doctor, he examined me, asked me some questions and subscribed me something (oh and I think I failed to mention all this is going on in Arabic and French, neither of which I am fluent in or familiar with medical terms). I remember the doctor was old and looked very kind, but I could not tell you his name or where his office is. So after another brief episode of vomiting (sry this is probably grossing some of you out) I am dragged down the million stairs and down the street to find a pharmacy, which is thankfully nearby. We picked up the medicine then got in a taxi. More throwing up in the taxi….ok I’ll stop telling you when I puked…and then I’m not sure what you would call the next place I went to, a clinic maybe? It was basically a woman sitting in an empty room behind a desk. Miriam (Sam’s host mom) handed her one of the medicines we got at the pharmacy and to my delight I saw her unwrap it and empty its contents into a syringe…next thing I know they are pulling down my pants and giving me a shot (sorry these aren’t very lady-like details but it’s the truth!). I sit and they let me rest for a minute, then it’s back out the door and back into a taxi. We arrive back to the medina, more dragging me through the medina to Sam’s house, where Miriam puts me to bed and I sleep all afternoon. Soooo I am fine now humdullah (thanks be to God) and it is funny to look back on, but at the time I just wanted to die. Sam’s host mom saved my life, she was so kind to take such good care of me, she even made me soup. So that is my fun story for now! Keep praying for my health because it is not fun to get sick here and I hope that is my first and last time! Now I am just worried about getting my project done and doing a good job on it. I met with someone from the UN this morning to interview them and they want a copy of my research findings when I’m done….I’ll see what quality of a paper I produce then decide. I hope everyone is doing well and staying away from the swine flu!