Thursday, September 30, 2010

CBT and Famila Moroccan

Now for some news on the host family! For my CBT (Culture Based Training) I’m living in a tiny town outside of Fes, which is comparable to those tiny towns in places like North Dakota where it literally takes 3 minutes to drive the length of the main street and if you were to blink you would miss the entire town. We’ve been told that there are approximately 200-300 people living in the town! Our main street is basically part of the rural highway with a cluster of buildings on either side, there are three salon de teas (for men only), a butcher, a veterinary, a pharmacy, a tiny town hall, a dar chabab (youth center, similar to the one where ill be working at my permanent site), one cyber cafĂ© with a really slow internet connection, two mosques and three hanoots (little stores comparable to “boutiques” in other African countries, they are normally connected to the owner’s house and sell everything from 10 cent candy to kilos of beans and olives to shampoo and batteries, basically the hanoots have everything you could ever want or need). The rest of the town is spread out behind the main street throughout the surrounding countryside. My house is about a 20 min walk from the main town center and includes walking past cornfields and olive groves and at least one if not two flocks of grazing sheep. There are also some foothill mountains and small views of nearby Fes in the background of the countryside. At night, in addition to a sea of stars, you can see the lights of both Fes and Meknes.

As for my host family, I am living with a lively all women feminist household. I have two xaltis (aunts) Amina and Idrissia and a ten-year-old girl Ghita (pronounced Rita), who is neither of their daughter but is their great niece who they have been raising since infancy. The actual house is beautiful, by Moroccan standards it’s really big for how many people are living in it (four including me), and is fairly modern. We have a washing machine, an espresso machine; satellite tv and a shower room (lots of Moroccans don’t have showers and instead use public baths called Hemmams). On the not so modern side, the shower consists of bucket baths of heated water, and my toilet facilities are of the Turkish type, but mashi muski (it’s not a big deal) I am quickly becoming very comfortable with both.

My xaltis are employed by a small hanoot that we have in front of our house, which services the rest of the people that are living out in the countryside. We also have six chickens and three cows which produce eggs and milk for the family’s consumption. In addition, our yard has olive, fig, pomegranate and orange trees and some fairly large rosemary and basil plants. Behind the house is probably about an acre of land that is filled with olives trees, all of which belong to my xaltis. I have already eaten my weight in olives, which we have at almost every meal, I drink fresh milk on an almost daily basis, and I’ve eaten fresh figs, and have had a variety of amazing food that is cooked by my xalti Amina.

So far my host family has been very patient with my language deficiency, luckily they speak French so, for now, it is our primary mode of communication until my Darija is up to par. Also, since it is only women I feel that it is a lot more relaxed then families with male members, since the mixing of genders is a lot more strict in Morocco, so far it seems that my house is a lot more at ease than some of the other PCV host families, and I don’t have to worry as much about making faux pas that wouldn’t be acceptable to do around men. My family has also given me a really good incite on the lives of two middle aged women in Morocco who had both never married but are both very educated (some of the other host moms or older women from the community that I’ve met are illiterate) and are running a successful hanoot business and seemingly living very comfortable and happy lives.

On Saturday night, after I got back from a Peace Corps meeting in Fes, Amina, Grita and another aunt (one who doesn’t live with us) had a henna party and my hands were covered in over two hours of detailed henna work. Unfortunately I’ve also gotten sick over the last couple of days and my host aunt’s have blamed this occurrence on the changing of seasons but more primarily on the fact that I go out in the morning with wet hair (from showering). So last night Idrissia told me that I would get better if I took a really hot hemmam in our shower room and that we’d do it after I got home from school today. Sure enough immediately when I got home from school she was filling up buckets and beginning to heat the water for a hot bathing session. I was informed that I would be bathing with her and my little cousin Ghita, so after the early evening tea and snack we all entered the bathroom and Ghita and I undressed to our underwear (just bottoms). Then Idrissia proceeded to brush and wash my hair for me and then rub me down with a home made olive salve type stuff and then scrub me with a course hand rag to the point where I think my entire top layer of skin was rubbed off. This experience is similar to what women do in the public Hemmans only you normally pay a stranger to scrub you down and not your host aunt, but another PCV went with her family and said her host sister did the scrubbing, so it’s all relative. I honestly cant remember the last time that someone bathed me or that I took a communal bath, but it was really nice to have someone exfoliate your entire body for you and wash your hair when your super congested and fatigued. After the shower I came out and almost got attacked with a hair dryer and a mound of blankets because my other aunt Amina said that I needed to stay away from the cold to keep from staying sick. Soon after I was fed the Moroccan version of chicken noodle soup, i.e. lentil noodle soup, which was amazingly delicious.

So far embracing Moroccan culture has been great, shweeya b shweeya (little by little) I’m getting integrated.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Shuma-tastic

Sorry I haven’t written in a while, I haven’t had very good internet access and have been to busy to deal with it.

So last time I wrote something I was still doing my initial PC training in Medhia, I am now with my host family in a small town outside of Fes. A lot has happened over the last week and I’m sure you want to know all the details. During the two days of training we had some other volunteers, from the youth development, health, environment and small business development, come visit use to share their experiences and brief us on what to expect with our host families stays during the next three months of CBT (Culture based training). The three main topics where 1) dealing with Turkish toilets, living in a culture that doesn’t use toilet paper (i.e. you use your left hand) and how to deal with the gastrointestinal problems that you definitely will have, 2) dealing with the language barrier and how to communicate with a family that you’ll be living with for three months when you don’t speak the same language 3) the main cultural barriers and how to deal with the many faux pas that you (again) definitely will make, such as forgetting that in Morocco you don’t use your left hand for most things, like eating or handing things to people, or even covering your mouth when yawning, this is because from now on the left hand will be the bathroom hand and if it’s used for anything else it will be shuma (shame).

After the briefing the volunteers stuck around for a while and would eat meals with use and hang out and such in order to have more informal conversations with all of use new volunteers and to answer any questions we may have. The one thing that was said to me by a certain environmental volunteer that I will never ever forget, was that he told our entire dinner table that during our 2 years and three months in Morocco we will join the “I have shat in my pants club” and that we need to remember “don’t trust your farts”. HAHAHA! There is nothing like that to get you excited for 2 years of hands on intensive development! Later, in another briefing session that we all had before we left for our respective CBT sites/host communities, when we were all talking about our biggest concerns and worries (i.e. not knowing how to use the Turkish toilet or how were going to live with a family that we couldn’t really communicate with or how we were just going to walk into a community with the title of peace corps volunteer and have the patience to deal with/wait for everyone to get over the stereotypes of Americans and accept us) one girl said to all 90 something of use new volunteers that if ever anything is hard or we begin to doubt to just “suck it up and love it”. I couldn’t agree more and feel that all of us immediately accepted this as our PC mantra… just suck it up and love it!!!!

Next post will be all about the new fam. Hopefully I can get back to the internet sometime soon.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

In Morocco!


So I'm finally in Morocco!

Just in case any of you were wondering, I totally could have packed up to 50 lbs in both suitcases (a lot of people did)! But oh well, guess I'll just have to have to stuff that I left at home shipped over.

So far we've just had a lot of training, policies, securities, health and safety, got a typhoid shot this am, tm we start the rabies vaccine and i think one other shot. Also the first Arabic lesson was this morning, was really fun, I don't think it'll be impossible to learn the language.

Everyone here is really awesome, there are about 5 married couples, a bit of retirees, and the rest are in their mid to late 20's, everyone is interested in international relations, travel, helping the developing world etc, it's really nice to be back with my own kind.

Our hotel is AMAZING! It's in a beach town named Mehdia, about an hour north of Rabat. The hotel is actually a Red Cross building and is right on the beach, a bunch of us went swimming yesterday and today. There was a guy at the beach that had four camels that you could take pictures with. It’s also super hot and humid so its great to swim!

Food’s has been really good, last night there was this amazing soup made of lentils, garbanzo beans and egg. SUPER GOOD, there’s also fresh baguettes at each meal and really sweet mint tea for breakfast and the 4 am coffee break. We’ve also had lots of dates and olives with our food YUM! No couscous until Friday, but I can t wait!

All of the staff is super nice, the country director for the Peace Corps Morocco is here helping to train us, there is also a full medical staff, security staff, staff for the youth development and small business development programs, and some other staff members. Also, the ambassador and his wife came today to greet us and they might also be at our swearing in.

We have two more days here, and then it’s off to Fes and our respective host families, where we’ll be until the end of February.

I’m so glad I’m here and cant wait to meet my family and fully immerse myself in Moroccan culture!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

SUCCESS!

So last night I was instructed by my father to just "forget about it" and that he'd help me take care of everything today or tomorrow. Then we went to a bar and both had a drink in an effort to ease my stress. While we were there I also looked up the weight limit for Delta airline, which I'll be taking to Philly on Monday to start my PC training. Their limit is 50lbs! YES! But Peace Corps has limited at 40lbs... we figured it was probably the limit for Royal Air Maroc, which I'll be taking from NYC to Casablanca on Tuesday. I tired to look it up with my phone but couldn't find their limit.

I woke up this morning panicked because I knew/thought I'd never get this packing thing accomplished. Plus take care of the minor yet annoying things I still had to do like calling my credit card companies and filling out a few more forms.

In an effort to help me calm down my mom went with me on the last few errands that I had to run to get stuff for my trip, like my favorite hair tonic from Aveda that makes my hair really shiny... I know this sounds extremely impractical for the Peace Corps BUT after trying to figure out my head of curly hair since I was in grade school and finally having is mastered I am just not ready to "let go" yet. Thus hair products are coming with me while I attempt to "go native" in Morocco.

Then when I got home I decided to suck it up and just throw everything left that I knew I wanted/NEEDED to bring with me into my two large black Samsonite suitcases (if any of you watch Mad Men you'll appreciate my usage of this luggage brand!) and put them on the scale. The larger is 44lbs and the smaller is 40lbs.... I weighed them and then my dad did. He told me that I should just leave them because it probably wouldn't matter. So, I only needed one more fact to seal the deal, what was Royal Air Maroc's weight limit? I just found it on their website andddddd it's 50 lbs!!!!!!!!!!! So I figure as long as I wont have to pay extra for it being over 40lbs for my two flights I'm golden and I just wont tell the PC that one is slightly over weight.

SUCCESS!

Who would have ever imagined that packing would be so stressful.... especially for me since I've traveled so much in my life time. I finally feel semi relaxed for the first time in a week.

So from now until I leave here's the agenda:
1) Try and remember if there's anything left for me to do/pack and do it before I go.
2) Go out to eat with my mom and dad for Mexican food, a cuisine that I know will be hard to find in Morocco.
3) Hang out with my bff's from highschool and have some sort of going away celebration. Champagne anyone?
4)....... not really sure I'm sure I'll think or something
5) enjoy my last moments in America and start preping for my 7am flight to Philly where I'll get to meet all the other people that have decided to volunteer their lives for two years in the Peace Corps Morocco.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Getting Ready

Here goes my first blog post... EVER! Exciting? Yes, no, kind of? I guess we'll see how it goes.

I leave in about three days. I've spent the last week rushing around the twin cities area to several stores, some more than once, to get all of the recommended supplies for my trip. It's been exhausting! I probably shouldn't have waited to do everything until the last week! What's worse is now I have to pack! Yikes! I have so much stuff, bags and bags of stuff for "roughing it" like a sleep pad, camp shower, hiking boots, journals and books for documenting my trip, tons of products like my favorite shampoos and face washes where i know the same brands wont be available in Morocco, and then there's my clothes. Since I am about to leave for 2 years I, naturally, want to bring everything I own, but there's a luggage limit, 2 bags at 40 lbs each, not including the sleeping bag and back pack I'll be carrying on. The fact that Morocco's a mostly Muslim country has helped cut down on the clothing selection, goodbye short shorts and cute sundresses that I covet during periods of warm weather, I will miss you dearly. After living in NYC for the past two summers, and going to a "hip" college where style was sort of a big deal, it's been really hard to remind myself that I am not packing to look good, but for Peace Corps service. I've had to take out a few of my favorite items after accepting that they just aren't practical. I'm already over the weight limit with one suitcase and have yet to finish packing the other... it'll probably be overweight too, then I'll have to cut down even more :( boo! In an effort to comfort me on the pains of packing my mother is repeatedly telling me how glad I'll be once I get there because it'll be easier to carry around. In addition, my dad, who went to Morocco in the 1970s keeps telling me how modern it'll be and I really don't have to worry because I'll be able to get everything while I'm there. I know this is true, but it's hard to accept that I am leaving so much behind and that its just going to sit around for 2 years for me to come back to it.

After all this talk of packing some of you may wonder about why exactly I am doing the Peace Corps if I care this much about what clothes and shoes I am bringing with me, or some of you may be thinking that I may not be cut out for this. Honestly, my mind just isn't there yet. I've never been to Morocco, I only know a handful of people who have served in the Peace Corps, I'm trying not to have expectations and I just don't think I'll be able to transition until I walk out of my air plane and am finally on Moroccan soil. I'm mean I don't think anyone can easily prepare to move to North Africa, or any other foreign country, while they are sitting in the comforts of their home. Since leaving NY two weeks ago, I've had to say goodbye to my family's beach house in NJ that I've been going to since I was a newborn, I visited both sides of my family, had to say goodbye to my boyfriend, have been trying to hang out with my best friends from high school, whom since I left for college I only get to see once or twice a year, spending time with my parents, plus shopping and packing and constantly reminding myself and counting down the days until I leave. I also had planned to finish the final edits on my senior thesis so I could archive it before I leave.... another thing that I have to accept probably isn't realistic. This past week has been a true testimony to the fact that things are generally a lot easier to accomplish and deal with if you don't wait until the last minute. But, I personally am often motivated to do things that I know will be harder to do, like packing or homework, when I get stressed about them and stressed I am, VERY stressed.

But I guess it's not all stress, I'm excited to get out of cold Minnesota that is begging to take it's rapid leap towards winter, I'm excited to take a break from the stressful life that I've been living for the past year or so, I'm excited to serve in the Peace Corps and cant wait to eat couscous, learn Arabic and see what my new home is all about. At this point I really cant imagine what it'll be like, but I guess that's a good thing.... no expectations, I just want this limbo to end, and for packing to be over and for the 7am flight that I am taking on Monday to be over and to finally just get there. Granted I only found out that I was going to Morocco about a month and a half ago I've know that I would probably be serving in the Peace Corps since last December and the anticipation has been building ever since.

Wish me luck for these next few days!