Life is Good! Kulshe bikheer...elhumdullilah!!

Most of you know that I am generally a very happy person. Even during my "bad weeks" I tend to out-smile most people during their "best weeks." But the last two weeks have been especially great...khsnee ngul elhumdullilah!! (I have to say thanks to god!!)

I will abide by my "no personal stuff" on the blog rule and stick to the professional side of my happiness. First, I participated this week in the 17th Annual Maghrebi Studies Forum which was organized by the Fulbright commission here in Morocco for the current Fulbright grantees to present their research projects. It was a great experience and I was interviewed on both of the major Moroccan Television channels about my research. For three or four days after the presentation, everywhere I went people would say "Hey I saw you in television!". It was an interesting glimpse into stardom :)

I was also asked to speak at the official celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Fulbright Commission (MACECE) in Morocco about my experience here. I am used to speaking in front of large groups, but I have to say that this was a rather intimidating crowd (US ambassador and all the embassy staff, head of two major Moroccan universities, and lots of Moroccan business and political leaders.) I am happy to say I pulled off the speech without embarrasing myself too much. I even managed to give part of my speech in Moroccan Arabic, although I did make one little mistake..instead of saying "Drop by drop the river rises", I switched two letters and said "Drop by drop the river dreams" You say kayhml, I say kayhlm but since its an old moroccan proverb everyone understand and I quickly corrected myself. aiwa...dakshi li kayn :)

Lastly, I was able to participate this week in AIESEC's MENA Leadership Development Seminar which took place in Bouznika, just a little ways outside of Rabat. I spent Monday with 250 students from over 20 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas facilitating sessions about the perceived divide between the East and the West. It was a very rewarding experience and I think I learned more from talking to these bright young students than I could have possibly taught them.

So, the last two weeks have been CRAZY (hence the lack of blogging) but life is GOOD, very GOOD....elhumdullilah!!!

And the feeling comes back...

About an hour after arriving in Casablanca from Rabat this morning, I found out about yesterday's bombing in Casablanca. A man walked into a cyber-cafe and started browsing through radical websites. When the owner of the cafe noticed and asked the man to leave, the two began fighting and the fight set off the explosives which the man had strapped to himself. The "word on the street" is that he was trying to receive instructions about where to go to set off the bomb.

I can't really explain what I felt when I heard this. Its funny how all those old buried emotions from NY to Sharm el Sheikh come back in a wave and give you that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. You can't live your life always thinking about it. But when it happens again it surfaces all those old feelings of disgust and fear. Its been a long time since I have been faced with that, but this morning it came back. As someone who was in NY for 9/11 and in Sharm El Sheikh the week of the bombings there in 2004, I have seen the effects of terrorism first hand. I won't accept to live my life in fear, but when those feelings come back its hard to suppress them again. Hopefuly this will be an isolated occurance and life here will go back to normal soon. For now, Casablanca is full of police and I find myself looking with extra suspicion.