Things I'd like from home:

Peanut butter
Goldfish
Cereal
Gum / Candy
Oatmeal
Command hooks
Duct tape
Mac and Cheese
Wheat Thins
Tea (chi, peach)
Paint (puff paint, any type)
Crafting supplies
Brown sugar
Vanilla

Becoming Amina

            There is no real way to explain my new town, but I’ll try my best.  Tafraoute is a small town of about 5000 in the middle of a bowl of mountains.  Though it is a small town there is everything I could need here is way of amenities.  The town itself is beautiful there are many new apartment buildings going in around where my host family lives, they fit in well with the look of the town and even have pink walls like the rest of the buildings.  It really is in a bowl of mountains and no matter where you turn you will see rocky peaks.  There is large park in the middle of town where everyone congregates after the sun goes down and it becomes bearable to leave the house (the weather really hasn’t been that hot yet).  The people here haven been amazing and so welcoming, though they are familiar with tourists, so it will take some time before everyone knows us for volunteers not tourists. 

            Me new host family has been amazing as well.  I have 4 new host siblings, 2 girls and 2 boys as well as a baby coming any day now.  Their house is gorgeous and I’m lucky that they will be my family for the next 2 years.  They have a big courtyard with grape vines and a pomegranate tree. I have my own room that is not really connected to the rest of the house and an English toilet!!  I’ve been trying to learn how to cook a bit from my new host mom, she 9 months pregnant and still hand making all the bread that we eat.  I found an Arabic tutor who also plays the banjo and may be lucky enough to get some banjo lessons as well.  As I write my new kitten that my host mom gave me chases a fly that is attracted to the light from my computer.  Sarah and I have started teaching a few classes at the women’s association in town right now we just teach some exercises classes but next week will be starting some English classes as well and the week after that we will start working at the Dar Shabab as well.  Summer is slow time for us because things are closed and it’s hot and there is a month of Ramadan to take into consideration. 

            My new Moroccan name is Amina and I’ve really tried to embrace it.  I’ve learned to de-flea a cat with nothing more than some soap, water, and my hands, (I’m coved in flea bites) I’ve bought the traditional wrap that the Moroccan women here wear, I’ve started showing up late to things, not that I already didn’t, and expecting people to be late as well, and as of right now I’m pretty sure I’m renting a house I’ve only seen the outside of.  I’ve also become pretty scared of dogs, and have had to remove a large frog from my bed in the middle of the night.  Though I’m not afraid of frogs my reactions surprised even me and I preceded to lightly sandwich the frog between two sandals and get it our of my room.  The house that was offered looked perfect though we haven’t been able to see the inside of it.  It’s one big building with two apartments in it and we would have both of them.  This would mean we would have a private roof and our cats, which are sisters, can play together when we are gone.  So all in all things here are going pretty well!  I definitely can’t complain and I’m excited to get more work started.  This summer we have the opportunity to have summer camp at our site, go to summer camp in Agadir, and help at S.O.S camps, which is like a compound where orphaned children live in families together and a surrogate mother.  Hopefully I’ll be able to help with a few of those things and get to see some of my friends.      

 My new kitten! Her name is still to be determined, I guess she loves rainbows as much as I do

View from Tafraoute 

Taking a good tourist picture in the entrance to Tafraoute 

Mentally preparing for the HEAT

It’s been quite the whirlwind of events the past few weeks.  With classes, work in the Dar Shabab, and spending time with my host family I didn’t have much time to myself.  Most mornings I woke up at 6:50, went for a quick run, had some breakfast, and went to class for 8:30.  I would have class until 12:30 have lunch then head to the Dar Shabab to do activities for the kids after school got our around 5:30.  We were able to put on about 6 days of activities for the kids.  I taught a class on nutrition to the girls in my community, and also had a day of soccer for just girls and a day for just the boys.  My other CBT mates did classes on art, English, not smoking, basketball, and yoga.  Overall it was definitely a success and I just continue to understand more about what I’ll be doing the next 2 years and how to be successful in doing this.  We always had Sundays off so I took this time to go into Fez and check out the old medina (city).  It’s absolutely beautiful and so different from anything I’d ever seen.  It’s massive, and there are no cars, just small streets of shops and cafes.  There are 7 entrances to the medina but I only was able to see 2.  It’s so easy to get lost inside and just wonder until it’s time to leave.  That’s usually what we did.  We also got to see the tannery, which was amazing.  You can look down and see people doing each different process of making leather. 

            Unfortunately our life in our little town had to come to an end and the last few days after our LPI (language test) were spent throwing parties for the kids in the Dar Shabab and our host families and different people in the community who were helpful to us, including our cook, and the taxi driver who would cart all 6 of us around.  There was a heat wave before we left Fez and the temperature reached about 100 for a week so our party was outside, it was one of the greatest experiences I've had yet.  It was like a backyard BBQ but with Moroccan food.  It was very fun.  On the last night I gave my family a photo album with pictures I had taken of them and us during the 7 weeks I lived with them and some post cards of Boston and New Hampshire.  They loved it and were so grateful.  They gave me henna and we had a tearful goodbye. 

            Saturday morning we headed to Fez than back to Rabat. Once back in Rabat and reunited with everyone it was time to find out our final sites.  So I finally know where I’ll be spending the next 2 years of my life.  I leave here to Thursday morning and travel to Agadir, about a 7 hours trip, and on Friday I go to Tafraoute, about a 2 hour trip.  You can probably look up more information about it than I know right now, but from what I understand it’s a small town that is surrounded by even smaller towns.  It’s the biggest one within a few hours.  It is a tourist destination though because of its’ beauty and availability of rock climbing, mountain climbing, and mountain biking.  There are colored rocks and the buildings are pink.  This is all I know about my site for now but I’m extremely excited.  It sounds amazing and just can’t wait for Thursday.  I also have a site mate, which I am excited about.  So if you are planning on coming to visit plan on hiking and being HOT.  Though I’m in the mountains it’s going to be hot.  I’m in the second most southern site available.  I thought it was hot in Fez when it was 100 but that's nothing compared to where I'm headed, exciting!  Next time you see me I’m going to be melted into the Moroccan sand.

    As of right now I don’t know my new address but I know it will be changing so hold off on letters and all those packages you will be sending until I figure out my new address.  I should have this figured out within the next week though.  Once I get into my new site I will be living with a host family and doing my best to integrate into the new community.  I’ve heard that my town is rather conservative so it will be interesting to be make sure to my dressed correctly when it’s 140 degrees, but I’m just so excited to get to know everyone and become part of a community that I can stay with and see change happen.  As I mentioned I have a site mate, we are very excited to have each other since there aren’t many other volunteers within a few hours.  I’m extremely excited for the different lifestyle that I’ll be entering; it will even be different from living with my host family near Fez.  I hope to hear from everyone soon!!    

 This is a picture of the tannery. It smelled terrible but you could see them soaking the skins and dying them, it was pretty amazing. 

        This is my CBT group and I.  We all just got ready for a wedding and decided to take some senior photo style shots! 

Livin It up in Rural Morocco

Community based training is going really well, my host family is extremely nice and they try to accommodate me the best they can, though I’m learning a lot of language skills every day I’m still struggling to communicate with my family like I would like to. I’m in a tiny town just outside of Fez that can only be defined as rural.  With one paved road and a population of about 1500 people we are already local celebrities.  The population is by far more than 50% children, and they tend to run to us in the street and follow us around.  It’s rather endearing but gets tiring after awhile.  Our training group has a lot of fun and we get along really well, though we spend about 10 hours a day together we haven’t gotten too sick of each other yet.  We are all hooked on a Turkish soap opera, and we talk about it every morning, trying to figure out what’s going on.  Our teacher is already sick of our shenanigans in class and continually makes up new rules for the classroom to keep us in check.  It keeps us sane and he loves it though he would never admit it.     

            Our usual schedule from Monday to Friday is class starting at 8:30-12:30 lunch then back to learning from 2-6, and Saturday we have half days.  It’s very tiring but I’m learning the language quickly and enjoying doing it so as tired as I am it’s worth it.   We are already forming sentences about what we have done and what we like to do.  Though this week has been a bit of a change, we have been helping run a spring camp for the kids in our town while they are on spring break.  In the morning we teach small English lessons to a group of about 30 kids, then play games with them.  We are there until 12:30 then we go back to school for lunch and a few hours of language lessons.  This week has been far more tiring then I thought possible.  It’s so much fun though, the kids are great and they are so invested in learning English it makes it easy to teach them.  On the other hand, the language barrier does not make it easy.

            This weekend we all went to a wedding.  It was amazingly long and quite a production.  On Friday we had a half day of class, we were all invited to lunch at the grooms house.  After that we went to the Hena party.  During this we ate cookies and watched the bride get henna.  It’s definitely a different experience than a wedding in America.  The bride and groom don’t interact with the guests and are there to be looked at more than have a good time.  After the Hena party were went back to have dinner and dancing at the grooms house.  Most of us left around 11 that night though the party lasted until 3.  The next day we went back to the grooms house around 8 to get ready before the wedding.  At 10 we went down for dinner, one tradition I love is the wedding chicken, it’s one of the most delicious dishes I’ve had here so far.  After dinner it was time to dance, I definitely can’t dance like the Moroccans; we tried to bring some American moves to the floor.  The wedding that night went until 5 in the morning.  We were exhausted by the time 3 came around and started to go a little crazy around 4.  It was quite the experience but I’m not too eager to repeat it in the near future.   

Besides that I’ve pretty much just been eating a lot.   I don’t get how the people here do it they eat like 6 times a day.  There are the three main meals then three ‘snacks’ that are the size of meals but with tea.  Most of the time I try to not eat too much but the women always tell you to eat more and it’s hard to say no. 

            My living accommodations here are pretty great considering I’m in the Peace Corps.  I have my own room, electricity, I can drink the tap water, and our bathroom is inside.  I do bucket bathe, there is a shower but it’s only cold water, I do my laundry on a wash board but was told the other day that I was no good at it and it was taken over by my much more capable sister.  I use a Turkish toilet, which isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  It’s a new experience but I’m loving it.  The town we are in is absolutely gorgeous, hills and mountains surround it and the town is filled with poppy fields.  Every time we go to the Suke for food I can’t believe how different it is from America.  The Suke is like a huge farmers market.  There is stand after stand of fresh vegetables, fruits, spices, and meats.  You can order 2 kilos of chicken pick the live chicken you want and come back in 10 minutes and it will be killed, plucked, and ready for you to take home.  The other thing about Morocco that I love is their since of time.  No one cares if they wait in line for 10 minutes or an hour.  They’re never in a rush.  They are never on time, and can spend all day doing the same thing and not care.  It’s such a change from our fast pace lifestyle.  It’s also a great excuse when we’re late for class, sorry but we’re on Moroccan time. 

Greetings from Africa

It hasn’t even been a week since arriving at staging in Philadelphia and it feels like it’s been months.  I have been so busy it goes by quickly but it seems like the amount of work for months in 2 weeks.  It’s been quite the whirlwind of activity since I arrived in Philadelphia.  I got into town on Monday morning and after arriving at the hotel and finishing paperwork, we were spit into groups where I met about 1/3 of the people who would be in youth development with me.  It was exciting to meet a bunch of the people who I would be spending the next two years with.  Everyone in the room was going through the same things as me so we all talked about our fears and what we were really excited for over the next two years.

            Moving on, the next morning we took a bus to JFK, where we preceded to sit around for a few hours before checking in.  After all 110 of us got through security, many of us met at the airport bar to relax before the flight.  The flight over was rather uneventful.  We arrived in Casablanca at 7 in the morning Moroccan time.  We got straight onto a bus and drove for about an hour and half to Rabat.  Monday was maybe one of the longest days of my life, with the time change and all the travelling we travelled for about 28 hours.  To off set the jet lag we were kept up until about 8 that night when we all promptly passed out. 

            Since then it’s been a lot of learning about how to be successful in our new jobs, learning the language, meeting new people, and exploring Rabat.  A new thing that Peace Corps Morocco is doing, is they are removing all other programs for the country and switching all to YD.  This means instead of meeting 40 new volunteers in my program I’m meeting 110.  It’s very exciting and very overwhelming. 

            We were split into our small language groups the other day and got right down to learning.  It’s easy to learn the language when it’s everywhere and everyone is speaking it to you.  It definitely reinforces the words you learned during the day.

            Today I had the day off so some friends and I went to explore the city.  There was so much to see.  The old city is beautiful and the markets are such an incredible experience.  The market was full of clothes, food, spices, jewelry, and soaps.  Pretty much everything you could want, it’s amazing.  Everyone is extremely nice here it’s amazing.  We also walked around the former palace, which was turned, into walking areas and gardens.  After that we were able to walk down to the beach.  Such a peaceful place, huge waves and kids running around.      

            Currently I’m sitting on my friend’s bed listening to some other volunteers play the ukulele.  I’ve been having a great time meeting people since I got here, and getting to know people really well is so much fun.   I found out that the hub where I will be doing my community based training will be Fes.  I will be in a smaller community outside of there though.  I can’t wait to get to my host family’s home and start having language class everyday.           

Saying goodbye, and getting ready to leave

I sit here realizing how much I really am going to miss everyone here and the lifestyle I've been able to have here, be it in New Hampshire, Maine, or Boston.  But it's time to start something new and I'm sure, though I'll miss a lot during my 27 months away, I'll be having the time of my life.

I'm sure I'll have more to talk about once I get to Morocco and start my training but for now I'll try to share with you what little I know about my travel plans.  Though it's frustrating how little information we receive about our service and where we will be, it will be a fun surprise once things get started.

We start with a staging day on Monday the 19th in Philly.  This is to turn in paper work and meet people on our trip.  From there we are bussed up to JFK where we fly to Casablanca in the middle of the night.  Then we take another bus to Rabat, the capital of Morocco, and we get right down to business.  There is medical and paper work to get done.  After this is when we get split up to smaller groups and go to a different city to start our real training, these are the details we have no idea about, like where we will be and who we will be with.  This will be extensive language training with a small group of other volunteers.  This is where I will be spending my first three months.  That is all the information I have right now and some of it may not even be correct.

In the mean time I've been packing, or at least trying to.  Most of the time I get half way through then realize it's not going to work and give up.  Which usually leads to me eating, something I've been doing a lot of, trying to get a taste of all my favorites before I leave on Monday.

Besides my awesome friends and family I'm going to miss: family gatherings at my Grandma's house and playing trivia pursuit to end the night, crossword puzzles with my dad, my mom's cooking, loud punk concerts, Bull Feeneys, Easter!, playing summer league with a cold beer after, kayaking on hot summer afternoons, Thursdays at the Pig, my cat, and my dog who is sure to be gone when I get back.

Thank you everyone for your love and support since my decided to join and your continuing support while I'm in Morocco.  Missing everyone already, and can't wait to see you all when I get back!

~Emily