As most of you know, Peace Corps loves acronyms. These last two weeks I've been at PPST or Post-Pre-Service Training. Although I was worried about being away from my site for so long, I'm so glad I got to go. It was great! We got to spend two weeks in a very nice hotel. We had heat in our rooms and hot water (almost) every morning. The food was amazing and best of all, I didn't have to cook it. There was even a sandwich shop down the street that sold amazing chocolate, pistachio, and vanilla caramel mouse for about a dollar. Oh, and of course I learned a lot about working with a co-op and will hopefully be able to implement some of the ideas here at my site and with my weaving cooperative.
Training is a little different in every Peace Corps country. In Morocco, each stage, or training group, is brought together a few months after swearing-in so that we can discuss how things have gone our first few months at site. As I'm sure you can imagine, no two Peace Corps experiences are alike. In our group, we have some people in large cities (250K) and others in very tiny villages (250 people). Some people have a plethora of associations to choose from when deciding who to work with. Others have to work to find even one. I'm lucky in that my site is kind of in the middle of these extremes. While I don't have as many options as my big city PCV friends, I do have an association I can work with that makes some beautiful, high quality products. And, while I can't get some of the food products I want in my village, I can get them by traveling the hour to Ouarzazate.
It was great hearing about everyone's sites, their trials and their triumphs. Hearing how others have struggled adapting to the language, culture, etc. really helped me keep my worries in perspective. It made me proud that I've been able to accomplish some things and pushed me to try to accomplish even more. In one of our training sessions we got to hear from a woman who's co-op started working with a Peace Corps Volunteer in 2000. That PCV helped them establish officially establish the co-op. Today, that co-op is very successful and selling their products internationally. Although I know that may not be possible with my co-op, I'm hopeful I'll be able to at least help them get started on that path. At the end of the session, all of the PCVs were pumped about getting back to site and implementing some of the suggestions from the speaker.
Training also included tips for website development, photographing artisan's products, product quality control, and training artisans in business skills. I can't wait to meet with my co-op again to get their perspective on what's important and get their input on what they'd like help improving. I am going to start building a website for them and hopefully start training on how to develop more marketable products. While my co-op makes beautiful carpets and their embroidery is top-shelf, they don't have a wide product line. Some of my fellow PCVs gave me ideas on how we can adapt the products so that they are more marketable in the international and tourist markets. I'm so glad there are people with artistic talent in my stage! Business skills I've got but I can't draw at all!
It was wonderful spending time with my fellow PCVs. I forget sometimes that I'm not alone in what I'm going through. There are other people who are struggling with the language, and making cultural mistakes and struggling to force down that new drink they've never had before and hope to never have again (I hear the sour milk grows on you, but I'm not there yet.) It was good to hear other people's stories and how they coped with some of the more difficult parts of living in a new culture. All of us had difference coping mechanisms. Some of us had a lot more difficulty with the language, while others had more trouble with the culture.
Overall, PPST was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the sessions and the hot shower every day and heated room every night were a wonderful treat. Plus, I got to see a lot more of Morocco. Azrou is a beautiful city, Ifrane really is like a piece of Switzerland in the middle of Morocco, and Fes is too amazing for words to describe. I can't wait to travel more and see more of this amazing country.
