When it Rains, it Pours....Sometimes Inside Your Bedroom

If it's not one thing, it's another.

I try to keep a positive attitude about daily tasks and household maintenance while I'm here in Morocco and in life in general. But right now, it seems the gods are not pleased and they are directing their wrath at my apartment and my jewelry.

I've lost or broken 3 (count em, 3) important necklaces in the last 3 weeks. The first I brought to Morocco against my better judgment since I've had it forever and it is irreplaceable. But I decided the little gold framed photo of my family from when I was five years old was an important talisman for me while I'm so far from home. So I wore it one day when I was feeling down as some kind of upper. And then it fell off my neck somewhere on the streets of Rabat.

The next week, the small chain with a little orange stone that I never ever ever take off my neck snapped off completely and the stone rolled into oblivion. I received this necklace from dear friends from my university and wear it as a reminder of my past accomplishments and the people who care about me. The stone is supposed to keep the wearer happy and fearless. It's not that I'm not feeling particularly unhappy or fearful now, but it's not a good sign.

And then there was the hand of Fatima. My Moroccan charm that I've worn regularly for almost 3 years now also somehow disappeared mid-adorning. I wore it one day in the same way that I've always worn it, but this time when I got ready for bed, there wasn't anything there to take off and hang up. The hand of Fatima is supposed to keep away the evil eye. Crap.

I'm not a particularly superstitious person and I don't put a lot of weight on signs. But the number 3 keeps coming back and my lost jewelry was all very symbolic. I didn't lose some silly decorative necklace or something new or unimportant. All 3 were highly symbolic and personal and I wear them in part to motivate and comfort myself.

And then there's the apartment. We finally got internet working! I thought I was in the clear! I even decided to get really proactive and attempt to fix my brand new bed that's been broken since the first week I bought it. I was sick and tired of sleeping and working from a mattress settled inside of a frame on the floor. So I went in search of cinder blocks. I swallowed my pride, put on a coat and rummaged through the abandoned lot across from my apartment until I located the perfect sized rocks to reinforce my bedframe and lift my mattress up from whence it came. This was no small task considering I've seen many a passerby stop for a call of nature in this same vacant lot. But I was determined. And it worked! Until about an hour later when I was enjoying my leisurely position, up where I belong, and the frame bent in half creating a deep valley of which I was the base. It was like a Rachel hotdog. And not the delicious kind but the bitter, sour kind.

Despite being back sleeping on the floor, I thought things were going pretty well. But then my window broke. Not the window itself, but the shutters on the outside that keep out the sun and the cold and the rain. I didn't realize just how important they were for keeping out the rain until I was not longer protected from it. My room was a flood zone, and since I don't have any furniture to my name besides the bed, everything got wet on the floor. I dried it all out using space heaters and positive energy and repositioned everything to avoid future losses. After almost a week of facing the elements from what should have been the comfort of my own room, my concierge has just fixed the problem. Hamdullilah and Abd Salam.

But he couldn't fix the windows in the salon, where the shutters are broken closed. Nor the water heater which has been on the fritz and just officially went kaput. Nor the grey mold that is forming on our humid, cold walls and ceilings. Nor the headlice that our two temporary boarders may have brought in. And next week will be Eid al Kabir and everyone will be slaughtering sheep with their families in lieu of official "work". So I guess I'm up a creek for a while.

I don't believe in signs, but they all point to some pretty bad luck for me right now. I'm happy and healthy and having fun, but could really use some good home repair karma. So if you have any, please consider sending some my way. And if you have any special symbolic jewelry, keep your eye on it. Don't let it slip away.