Watkins is in Morocco

This weekend, I traveled in space and time. The second I stepped out of my vehicle I became an alien, thrown back decades, even hundreds of years in the past, surrounded by languages I don't recognize letters from. It was the most surreal experience! The only explanation is that I went by TARDIS. Or that Morocco is an hour behind Sevilla, I'm not accustomed to living in cities without modern conveniences, and I've never studied a language that doesn't use the latin alphabet. Choose your own adventure.

The crowd gathered round to watch a snake
charmer at the street fair

I've never felt more aware that I am a woman than I did in Morocco. On Saturday, we were riding back to the hotel at dusk in the bus, and I was looking for a place to eat. Almost immediately I  realized that all the cafes and restaurants still open were all filled with men. As in, not a single woman in sight. But it wasn't just men; the little kids playing on the street midday? All boys. Any women that I saw on the streets were tending children, doing shopping, or selling things. Which I found fascinating, because the tour guide was really proud of the fact that they had "a woman freed; they may have licenses to drive cars, taxis and buses, and can even go bathing!!" He was so thrilled. He also informed us that they have 60 women in their parliament, which absolutely shocked me. Apparently they reserve the seats for female representatives. Yet even with all this "liberated woman" talk, I still feel like a minority there. On Friday, we went to a street fair, and I saw maybe 3 women. Another thing he was very excited about was that there's a nationwide movement to have potable water in every household by 2015. They're also working on getting electricity to every home, but don't have a projected date.

Kids playing in the street

Experiences like these really make me appreciate how good I have it, especially in the states. I would love to get to truly experience what it's like to live here as a local someday. We get so used to our privilege, that the little things go unnoticed until they're gone. For example, being able to run the faucet on my toothbrush before brushing my teeth felt like a luxury when I got home. And I don't normally look twice at the tomato salad we have during dinner but knowing that it was safe to eat felt like a weight had been lifted. 

The point of this blog isn't to make you feel badly about having those things, or say that Morocco is in any way lacking or primitive, only different. I just wanted to highlight the differences, and encourage you to enjoy what you've got. Stopping to smell the roses and all that. :) Also, if you have the opportunity to go abroad and experience something like this, do. I was blessed to go to Tijuana, Mexico and serve with a wonderful group of people last year, and even though it hasn't even been a year, I still needed the refresher. How conveniently in time for Thanksgiving! :)

Much Love, Katie

(PS. If any of you TJ kids are reading this, I miss you and hope you're having a great quarter! See you soonish <3)