Almost Morocco

I'm gazing at the Atlas Mountains in the distance, between the avenues of tall pink and coral apartment blocks, and listening to the gentle tooting of horns from the traffic that surrounds us. This is Marrakesh, home on and off for the next year or more. My name is Siobhan Graham; I work as a doctor in Northern Ireland, returning regularly to work as a general practitioner and hospital doctor and to see family and friends.

The reason I'm here is interesting, if not complicated. I could be sitting on a balcony in Saudi Arabia. That was option number one for about 4 days, until I discovered that you couldn’t socialise with a boyfriend or partner unless accompanied by a married couple. No going for ice cream dates, no holding hands. So, I'm here because I met an American man, in Costa Rica, while surfing a few years ago. This man is Jason, who managed to find a job here in Morocco, which is almost as close as Spain is to Ireland, a stroke of good luck I thought. I like the word "almost".  I have almost finished my Masters in Sport and Exercise Medicine, although I have another 10 months of work left. I can almost call myself a beginner in Arabic even though I may never be a beginner. I almost did a headstand the other day. All these "almosts" mean to me that I'm getting somewhere and that I'm still motivated to keep to going!

This is a blog about my love for medicine, traveling and my younger brother Christopher, who is also my best friend. You might have noticed from the photo that Christopher has Down Syndrome. We have had some of the funniest adventures together; there have been tears and laughter, feelings of being let down and feelings of being looked after.

I hope to share my stories and medical insights with you over the coming years. My website is 'almost' ready, so please have a look. If you would like to take part in or help out at any of my workshops, please send me an email. Thanks for reading, and I hope that you're 'almost' there, where ever that may be!