The wolf and the hen

As most of you know, Tashelhit (Berber) is not a written language. For someone like me, who has only studied written languages like German and French, this makes learning the language much more difficult. I had no idea how much I relied on dictionaries and stories to learn a new language. Lucky for me, my tutor found a few websites with stories written in tashelhit. I’ve been working on translating them with my tutor. Its really helping my vocabulary and I enjoy learning the Berber folktales. One of my favorites is called “The Wolf and the Hen”

It goes as follows:

A hungry wolf went walking in the forest until he came up next to a small tree, in which a hen was sunning herself. He said to her, “ Peace to you” to which she replied “And peace to you.”

The wolf said, “Did you hear what the town crier announced? Its no longer allowed for the lion to eat the gazelle or the tiger to eat the mountain goat. Also, the eagle can no longer hunt the hare. To top it all off, democracy will spread in the forest! So come down from the tree!” The hen wanted to come down out of the tree but she was afraid. The wolf said, “ Come down! The era of dictatorship is over! Come down!”

Meanwhile, the hen saw two hungry hunting dogs coming towards where she and the wolf were standing. When the wolf saw the hunting dogs, he wanted to run away. The hen said, “Hey Wolf! You just said all that about what the town crier announced!”

He replied, “It seems these jokers didn’t hear the announcement!”

Pretty funny, huh? I love folktales. And translating this one meant I got to learn how to say “to top it all off” in tashelhit (Its “awal n ufella” for those of you who wanted to know.)

My language is progressing slowly but surely, but I wish it were faster. I’m very lucky in that I get tashelhit “lessons” when I tutor some local women in English. We speak in a mixture of Tashelhit and English, so its improving all of our language skills in both languages.

Home Sweet Home

I'm writing from the couch in my very own living room here in rural Morocco. I moved in seven days ago today and have slowly been changing the place around to make it mine. I live in a traditional adobe house, with neighbors on both sides. My neighbors have been very welcoming since I moved in, bringing me cake and always stopping by the say hello. They are all very nice people and I'm lucky to have moved into such a great complex. There is even a toddler next door who is cute as a button and loves to say hello... maybe I'll practice my Tashelhit with him. We're probably on the same level!

Its been a challenge to get the things I need to my place, but I'm persevering. My house is on top of the hill in our village, about a 20 minute walk from the center of town. I'm lucky in that my town has fairly plentiful commerce, so I'm able to find almost everything I need without going into Ouarzazate. Of course, I've still got to cart it up the hill. I had no idea how heavy a plastic dresser could be after carrying it for 20 minutes. Whew! I'm lucky the wind wasn't too strong that day!

I'm almost set with everything I need. I have a dresser in my bedroom, a foam pad for my bed, plenty of blankets, a beautiful wooden table with plastic chairs (they were lighter to carry up the hill), and a refrigerator, stove, and oven in my kitchen. My place is 5 times as large as the apartment I had studying abroad in Germany, which is great. I've even been able to cover the open window above the dining room, so not as much dust is blowing in off the mud roof when its windy. If only it were a bit warmer, it would be perfect! (Its freezing cold today, with snow for the first time. I can't wait for spring. As those of you who know me know, I handle being hot a lot better than being cold!)

Everyone in the village has been so welcoming. I'm lucky that I'm not the first volunteer in the village, so villagers are somewhat used to seeing a strange face around. I'm even called by the previous volunteer's name sometimes. I just answer... I think its nice they are greeting me, even if they are calling me Mia. Today, when I went to the post office, a nice woman in the taxi went out of her way to make sure I got there okay then had the taxi wait until I got finished. I am always so thankful when people go out of there way to help me out. Its a wonderful part of Moroccan culture.

My tutor, the local English teacher, has been meeting with me a few times a week to help me with my Tashelhit (berber). Its going fairly well, but the Berber language is unlike any other language I've studied. Its helping that I'm teaching English several times a week. I use a mixture of Tashelhit and English to teach, and the girls I teach speak to me in the same sort of mixture. I think its helping my language skills a lot and I think their English is improving as well. (At least I hope so.)

My tutor also helped me with come up with questions for the local co-op, then helped me interview the president. Part of Peace Corps goals is to create sustainable development, so volunteers are supposed to concentrate of those improvements the co-op wants. These may not line up with what the volunteer thinks is most important. Luckily, the questions we came up with exactly mirrored what the president is hoping to accomplish with the co-op! I was very impressed with all he wants to accomplish and said I'd help in any way possible. He has specific goals in mind to make the co-op more profitable, train more people, and even get the younger generation involved. I'm so lucky to have been matched with such a motivated counterpart! I hope my language improves quickly enough that I'm able to be of help to them.