Fez

The city of Fez is beautiful. The Old Medina where I am staying is super confusing! And every time my roommate and I, a girl from Northwestern University, go some place our host family takes us a different way so we never know where we are. But I'm thinking by the end of 6 weeks I'll have it conquered.

I'm excited to start Arabic. I have it 8-10am and 4-6pm Monday-Friday. I'm nervous but excited to start. My host family is super sweet and loving. The only problem is our room smells like mold and the girl I'm with has asthma so it's irritating her and I've felt it irritating me even after one night. I hate to be the one who complains but every single person living in the house breathes like they have junk in their lungs. I don't want that to be me after 6 weeks. We still have to talk to the housing director of the school to figure stuff out and see if it's even possible for us to find a different home. They were limited on homes as it was, to the point that they couldn't respect requests that we put on our housing forms. Many of us wanted to be in the New town, or Ville Nouvelle, which is really close to the school so we could walk to and from the school and not have to take a taxi. It was really frustrating when they told us that we couldn't and wished they had been able to tell us earlier instead of the day of. The squat toilets are also something I'm having to get used to, they're not as bad as I thought, just interesting.

Throughout all this I'm trying to be flexible and take it in stride but it's been really hard. Homesickness set in really bad the day we got here, on my birthday, it was hard to be away from home and not have friends and family around me on a special day. Then getting to my host family and having to adjust really quickly to different things was like the icing on the cake. I've been close to tears for the past few days all day long. I'm hoping it's culture shock and I'll be able to adapt fairly quickly.

So, things you can be praying for.
- Homesickness, that I would cling to Jesus as He is always with me and in Him I am truly at home.
- The mold situation, how to go about it, whether that means we have to move or just get used to it. And if we do have to move that the family would not be offended as it can be taken the wrong way. I really love them and would like to keep in contact with them throughout my stay if I do have to move.
- That I would dwell on the special, beautiful and unique things about this experience and be reminded of how amazing this opportunity is.
- Studying Arabic, that I would be diligent in my studies.

Thank you all for your love and prayers!