Saturday, September 17, 2011

first post in Morocco!

Hey all! so here is my first post in Morocco.

So far, so good. Mostly very tiring. This week has been a lot of basic language training (I use basic loosely though because I have a lot of Darija (moroccan arabic) floating around in my head right now.). Also it has been a lot like KP Staff Week, lots and lots of information and tools that you know are useful, but have not yet had a chance to put into practice. It's exciting, but I'm kind of chomping at the bit to get it all in motion. Patience is one of the things Peace Corps talks about as being very important to have in our time here; I'm working on it. 

My trainee group is really great! We all get along really well and a lot of us have been playing games at night such as phase 10, spoons and bananagrams. It's been nice to have sort of a touch of home in that way. In staging they called us "our new government issued friends" which I still think is hilarious. I feel very blessed that we have such a great group. I also have fantastic roommates, who don't look at me too weird while I sleep on our balcony every night! 

The most challenging thing thus far, besides wanting to magically speak the language, is probably the turkish toilet. Not the biggest deal for me, because of my work at NC I'm pretty used to popping a squat in the woods, this is just a more formal version of it. I'm trying to go in head first (or left hand first)- and so far it's been alright.  I say left hand first because culturally here you use your left hand to deal with your business and your right for everything else. I realize how that might sound, but it's actually not bad at all. The squatting is better for your digestion and in theory it saves on resources. You do your stuff then you use a little water to get yourself clean then you use either a small amount of toilet paper, a washcloth or drip dry, then you pour a small beach pail into the hole to flush it all down. Voila, turkish toilet 101. It takes a little getting used to, but it's not like it's news to me. I'm realizing though that I am not so good at squatting. I've got to start doing yoga so I have better balance. 

As part of our training we did a walk around the city of Fes the other day, to listen to the language as well as cultural observation. We got to go to one of King Mohammed VI's palaces, it was really beautiful. Fes is full of cafe's and little shops, and markets (souk's). It was nice to get out of the training center and walk around. I got a coke and it was great, I'm pretty sure they're made with real sugar here, so it tastes way better. Here's some pictures so far:

Me in front of the palace door in my culturally appropriate clothing. PS I cannot wait to get one of the tunics most of the women wear here, they look so cool and comfortable and the colors here are amazing! definitely a country after my own heart. Also there is such a variety of clothing women wear, from traditional clothing, "western" clothing, interpreted traditional tunics with jeans, to cute dresses with shirts over or under and matching scarves Maybe I'll learn how to match? I wouldn't count on that ;) 

some of the mosaic detail on the palace

All in all it is just a huge learning process, and I'm working patience, both with the process and with myself. I am so glad to be here and cannot wait to do more and more and more. At the end of the week we head out to our CBT's (community based training) where we will be placed with a host family and do more intensive Arabic lessons. I'm excited to get more immersed in it all here. 

Most of all though, I'm excited for the day off tomorrow. I'm hoping to get into the old medina (old city) of Fes and see more of the city as well as practice my language, speaking of which, I should go brush up on my numbers! thanks all! 

Saturday, September 10, 2011

before I leave

Hello All!
so I'm officially starting my blog.
I am more or less packed, leaning on the side of more rather then less. I think I've done a good job at packing. In theory (according to the highly accurate weight measuring standard of standing on a scale and peering over your luggage to see the weight) both of my bags are closer to 40lbs a piece. makes me feel good! technically just on weight limit. Which I am taking as a win for me. The one of them was 30lbs but then I added books because I have the space, why not use it and I can leave them there for other people. Very thrilling.

All in all it has been a fairly painless process. It did involve a lot of tissues (because of my allergies) and a decent amount of caffeine, but i've actually enjoyed the experience.  I got rid of 3 huge bags of stuff on my return home; A lot of what I got rid of was clothes and books and college paperwork so that was cathartic. I recycled three large boxes of paper yesterday. I love recycling. I'm also excited to pass my clothing on to new people. I have a strong attachment to my clothes, so I like to see them going to new homes. In my mind I was getting rid of a lot more stuff then I ended up getting rid of, but I ran both out of time and emotional capacity. I'm not good at letting go of my stuff. Maybe when I come back I will purge my life of more . To be fair however, a lot of it is old journals and books and craft supplies and I love living my life in a way that I can go "hmmm... it'd be cool to try and make rubber stamps/make a book/do a sewing project/make a bracelet/etc..." and be able to reach into a box somewhere and do it. I see a craft room in my future someday. My room is like a well stocked kitchen, but instead of spices and flour it's thread, paper and random art supplies. I'm bringing some of my beads with me as well as a set of knitting needles, some embroidery floss,  and a monster cross stitch I've been working on. So i'm doing well in the craft department for my adventure.

I'm very thrilled to be parting on this adventure so soon. I can't believe it's happened so fast. the summer just flew by. I feel like I showed up for work crew just 2 weeks ago, and now I'm almost leaving. I've been doing well emotionally speaking, the only time I've cried was while I was watching a video about my falcon ridge family (and how could I not? not only was there the sadness that I missed them this year, but 525600 minutes and may I suggest were on the soundtrack, those songs slay me). I think I'm more nervous and excited then sad, I'm expecting those emotions to kick in right around the time I'm on the plane or settling in for training, we shall see though.

Anyways. In theory I'd like to update this blog once every 1-2 weeks though I'm not entirely sure what my internet situation will look like for a little while. I'd also love to write letters in the next two years, so if you read this blog and want to be a pen pal send me your mailing address. for the next few months the place to send me LETTER mail (no packages please) is :


(Your Name)
                               s/c Corps de la Paix                                 
2, Rue Abou Marouane Essaadi, Agdal,
Rabat 10100, MOROCCO