Escape to Morocco: February 2014

Monday, February 17, 2014

One month down, 26 more to go....maybe

WOW! I can't believe it's already been a month since I've come to Morocco. This officially is the longest I have ever been in a foreign country and boy has time been flying along. It seems like yesterday I was back home at my mom's place trying to figure out what to pack and now I have to start deciding on my final site placement. Should I go for the the mountains, coast line, near Spain and the Strait of Gibraltar, or maybe the desert (Sahara) and more exposure to the Berber communities of Morocco. Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions. Though there are plenty of variables that I'm uncertain how they will play out, one thing I know is that I would like to have a site mate. Basically that means that I would work in a town, city, or village with another Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) assigned to the same location. I think this would be a great asset for me and hopefully for that volunteer as well. We can share ideas and continue to help each other improve on our Darija (Moroccan Arabic) daily, and also to have a support person in close proximity without a 10 hour bus trip.I think my personality would best be complemented by someone that I could speak to face to face versus on the phone if I have a rough day. Even though this is a not guaranteed this is definitely my most important request and really anywhere in the country will be fine in terms of living for me. Sure I don't want to be in 135 F weather, but if I have a site mate we can constantly pour cold water on each other. haha.

What else is going on? Let's see. My host family is still amazing and I definitely got the best setup I could have and one that is great for my needs. The food here just keeps getting more tasty and even though we are now cycling through some of the things I've had multiple times I'm still not tired of the tasty goodness of Moroccan cuisine. My former restaurant reviewer self is overjoyed. And in spite of all the food I am served quite regularly, my waistline is still slowly shrinking. Being down one belt loop, though minor feels awesome. For now I am still focusing on proper diet, but soon I will be implementing more exercise strategies to my routine.

I still thoroughly enjoy my CBT (Community-Based Training) group and everyday I get stronger and more confident with the language though continued practice is still needed much more than I'm currently doing. Lol. I joked today that for a language that is considered "slang" in Morocco, it is awfully complex.

Well as most people who know me know, There is so much more floating around in my head that I definitely am not getting out in text so I think soon I will start a audio blog/podcast that I can link or embed into this blog. Be on the lookout for that maybe in my next posting. Inshallah (God Willing)

As always I leave pictures of things seen and done.

bslama (goodbye)

My first visit to the Souk (Outdoor Market)

An old fortress in my town (The water here is rumored to heal your body)

The big door in Meknes

Shopping in Old City (Meknes)

Another beautiful view of my town

A program at my Dar Chabab (House of Youth/Youth Center)

Posing as a group after a great day of traffic safety programming

A view of my Dar Chabab and the traffic safety course setup

Friday, February 7, 2014

Almost a month in Morocco and it's awesome!!

Greetings from Morocco! I am Anas. Haha. That is my Moroccan name given to me by my host family actually.

I realized I haven't added a new post in quite sometime and I figured I'd take advantage of WiFi for a posting. Well goodness where do I start? I just I'll start with food. Man it's so much food here and I don't know how well Operation Weight Loss is going thus far, but it's okay. I walk around so much and so far that I am probably doing better than I think. I have started using a smaller belt loop and that's great! But back to the food....its amazing!!! I have had goat, beef, sheep, and chicken in the two plus weeks I've been here. I have tons of potatoes, carrots, and peppers. All veggies I'm cool with. There have been tasty desserts, amazing Moroccan pizza (Can't wait to make that in the states!), and stacks on stacks of xubz (bread).

In regards to everything else, it's been good to okay. The host family I'm with is pretty cool. I have three sisters and one brother and I brought a gift for the children and they love it! Who knew Moroccans loved puzzles so much. My sisters love it and out it together like 20 times since I gave not to them. There have even been some speed competitions between family members, myself included. Here at home it's great. My family essential lives in a mansion, by Moroccan standards, which is awesome. We have a nice place and I have my own room downstairs. Can't complain. The language and cultures classes are good and I'm taking in lots of information. Now I just need to translate all this information into actually knowledge retention so I can speak with my family and the youth at the Dar Chabab (Youth Center). Its tough being somewhere and somewhat feeling like a baby. A baby in the sense that I don't know the language and have to rely on others to communicate for me and I have to use gestures sometimes to convey my thoughts and desires. That's rough. I am currently trying some new strategies for memory retention so for those of you that have had to learn a new language please share your strategies with me.

What else? Hmmm..... Oh yeah today I went to my first souk, which is basically a big outdoor flea market full of food, gear, and randomness. There was a man selling doors next to a man selling chickens next to a man selling cellphones and of course a person selling popcorn and sardines. Yeah that's souk to give you an idea. It was great though and I bought some chocolate and we had beef! And made made hamburgers with it of course. That's Americans for ya.

Jumping back to the language classes briefly, my group of fellow trainees are awesome. They are five other cool cats that I get to spend nearly all day with. Our teacher, Ayoub is awesome as well and we truly are lucky because he actually went to school for linguistics and got his Bachelors and Masters in the subject as well. How cool is that?!

Well that's all for now world, but here are more pictures for your viewing pleasure. Some of my family ; some of my surroundings. Be sure to post comments and ask questions and I'll do my best to respond back.

bslama (goodbye) for now