Letter to Flu

Dear Flu,

We’ve been together for four days now but it already feels like I’ve known you my whole life. You make me warm when it’s cold, and makes me shiver when it’s hot. You make my knees feel week and my head throb. I don’t know anyone who has managed to do that in just a few days!

Be sure that I really appreciate that you thought of me and I will be forever grateful for the time you have sacrificed for me. Never the less I feel it’s time for us to part. It’s not you, please don’t think that, this is totally my own fault and my own decision. I feel that I have to do this to move on with my life, to not feel stuck in bed like I’ve been these past few days. There is a world for me to explore out there and it lies in my greatest interest to do so. But to accomplish that, we need to be seperated.

Please do not despair, for I am sure that you will find another companion, one who is more worthy your presence than me.

Take care of yourself.

Yours sincerely,

Red Saga

The Revival of my own Moroccan Garden

The pain continues but at least I got to sleep for six hours last night, which is the longest sleep I’ve had without interruption in weeks. Still, I’m not feeling too well so it’s a pity that I probably won’t be able to go to Immouzer to the Rainbow Gathering there tomorrow. But I suppose there will be other opportunities.

Today I’ve started the process of reviving my mostly dried out tomato plants. They went sad after our trip to Tafraout but I still got hope for them. So this morning me and Rachid set off to the beach to collect pieces of old Moroccan ceramic tiles to cover the soil with (so that it won’t get dry after an hour of sunlight). It looks great by the way, but I won’t upload any pics until the plants are fully recovered so that you can see how beautiful my mini garden is (when it’s healthy) : )

My visa will expire on the 12th of March, so I’m planning to go to Ceuta (this small part in northern Morocco by the Mideterranean that belongs to Spain) just to get a new stamp in my passport. Might stay away for a few days, see Ceuta, Chefchauen and perhaps one or two short visits to a city like Tangier, Fez, Meknes, Rabat or Casablanca. There’s just too many places here that I want to visit. Morocco is truly a gorgeous country and wherever I go I get stunned by the beauty and diversity of the landscapes and culture. I’m looking forward to collect more research and experiences for my small book project.

Sheila came over this evening and told me about the court case. Seems like she will at least get her money back next Monday, but who knows about the Moroccan authorities. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for her and darling Tiernan!

It’s starting to get a bit warmer again, so Jimmy and Elias will hopefully be lucky and get some sun in their faces before returning to cold Sweden. I’m really looking forward to having them over. I just have to fix the ”outroom” which got pretty much destroyed in the rain, but I think I’ll let Rachid handle all the dirty work and I’ll concentrate on selecting beautiful candle lamps, curtains to shield the room off the rest of the yard and other decorative stuff. I know, I know, I’m starting to sound like a housewife, but believe me, I’m really not, which you would see if you could see our apartment right now. My angel Rachid is taking care of most of the household things these days, but hopefully I’ll be recovered in a not too distant future and can act as a more ”normal” person.

My First Hammam Experience

Today me, Sheila and Tiernan went to the hammam for the first time in Aourir, a neighbouring village. For those who don’t know what it is, it resembles one of those Turkish baths where you enter a tiled building containing of a set of rooms with different hot temperatures in it and buckets of water which you use to scrub yourself clean with several times. And trust me, even if you think you’re clean, you’ll get surprised at all the brownish water running off you when you rinse yourself. It was a great experience though and a bit strange to see all the naked/half naked Moroccan women showing everything with no shyness at all, compared to seeing them in public. When I came out of the hammam, I felt cleaner than I’ve done in years. It’s highly recommended to try it if you ever go to Morocco, but go to one of the local ones and not a touristy ones (that charge you 10 times the price) to get the full experience out of it.

Pain and Herbalism

I can’t seem to get rid of this damn tension/headache/toothache. During day I press my teeth together and at night I grind them, always walking up with an exploding skull. Thanks to it I’ve missed two assignments in school, but I hope I can redo them within the next week or so, but this headache/tension has to stop, so at the moment I have developed a new interest and hobby; herbalism. Morocco is full off unique herbs and plants with medical purposes and I’m striving to learn more about them, the process of becoming a certified herbalist. How cool would that be! I could travel the world just selling essential oils and organic teas in mine and Rachid’s stylistic future Wolksvagen. If anyone knows of an English speaking practicing herbalist in Morocco, please let me know, otherwise I have to take the course through correspondence and I don’t think that’s the way to learn about important practical stuff like that. Sheila is sharing some of her information and might be interested in joining me for a course if we can find one, which would be great.

As in many developing countries, herbalism is a very common way of treating illnesses and other troubles, so here I wouldn’t be a wierdo wannabe-wicca-witch who is into rituals and stuff. I’ve just learned to respect the power of what the nature has to bring us. It’s basically the same as ”modern medicine” anyways; all compiled of chemicals in different combinations to suit the needs of the customer. Some herbalistic medicines even seem to have a stronger and better affect than all the pills we put into our bodies these days.

Good news is that my darling baby brother Jimmy and his friend Elias is coming over on the 17th. Being a bit emotional at the moment my eyes start to tear when I think of seeing him again, although it’s hardly been five months since we met last. He’ll bring snus too. Then I finally might be able to quit smoking once and for all and not do the same mistake to start smoking when i quit snus, or I’ll simply make the mistake of continuing with snus. Hm…