Merry Christmas from Morocco!

Today is Christmas Eve, although it sure doesn't feel like it. While much of the U.S. is having a white Christmas, its in the 50s here in Ouarzazate province. Unfortunately, that's true inside and outside the house, so its a little chilly. Its strange not being at home for Christmas, although my family sent me a package to open Christmas morning, so I will be able to keep some traditions alive :) I have created a tree of sorts, stockings, and wrapped presents to put under the tree for my host family. Since the tree and stockings are made from blue construction paper, they are utterly unique. I'm looking forward to seeing my host family's faces when they open their gifts tomorrow.

Overall, things are going well here at site. I move into my own place in a week and have slowly been collecting all the things I need to make it "mine." I was able to buy most of my furniture and kitchen supplies from the previous volunteer, which really helped out since we only have about $500 to furnish our whole house. Getting things second hand from Mia was great. Otherwise, I've heard you have to choose between getting a refrigerator and getting a bed. Lucky me, I have both. Once I get a dresser and a few chairs, I should be totally set! I even found thick plastic to cover the open window in my dining room.

Work wise, things are slowly getting rolling. I have restarted the English classes that the previous volunteer taught. I teach a group of local women, ages 13 to 32, for a few hours a week. I'm so glad I started the classes again, because these women are wonderful. They are all very welcoming and positive people. I love sharing some of my culture with them and really appreciate their willingness to share (and explain) Moroccan culture with me.

I'm also met with my weaving association a few times and really hope to get their needs categorized within the next few weeks. Then I can get started on whatever project is most important to them. My tutor has offered to help translate their answers, since my Tashelhit (Berber) is still pretty primitive. The group seems pretty highly motivated, so I hope we're able to get some things accomplished these next two years. My tutor thinks they may want a website, which would be a pretty awesome project. We'll see what they need.

Marrakech

The snake charmer in the central square in Marrakech.

Me in front of one of the movie screens in the square. It is the Marrakech international film festival this week and the place is packed at night.

Me with a viper around my neck.

The famous mosque just off the square.

The cobra that danced for the snake charmer.

My New Home

As promised, pictures from my new village.

Me with the volunteer I replaced, Mia.

My living room.

My bathroom. If you can see the tiny hole in the wall behind the toilet, that is where the kitchen sink drains too. The bucket is what I take my "showers" with.

My kitchen.

One of the "streets" in my town.

Swearing In

I'm changing acronyms...I'm officially a PCV! Training is over and I took the oath in Rabat on Thursday to become a Peace Corps volunteer. I got to meet the ambassador and dress up in my fancy kaftan (it had sequins!) Then we had couscous and went to our hotel. Unfortunately, Rabat's hotels were all super full because of a karate convention, so we were packed a little tightly in our rooms (8 of us in mine with me sleep on the loveseat.) Oh well, at least I got a wonderful hot shower.

After swearing in, Kat, Erin and I went out to explore Rabat. We were craving Mexican and Kat found one in the guide book, so we went to check it out. Since it didn't open until 7:00pm, we explored a bit and had a snack at TGIF. The manager spoke a little English and told us that Papa John's is going to be in Rabat in a few months. How cool is that?!

Anyway, we went to TGIF, then walked around for awhile. Rabat is a really cosmopolitan city. They have everything! I can't wait to take a trip there for a few days when I can really explore. At 7 we went back for Mexican. As many of you know, Mexican is my favorite type of food and I'm having withdrawal. Somebody eat some chips and salsa for me! It was a great treat and I'm really glad we were able to find a good restaurant, even if it was expensive.

On Friday morning, Linda and I took off for our sites. (She's stationed about 10km from me.) Luckily, we took first class because the train from Rabat to Marrakech was very full. I'll be fine with standing normally, but it was nice to have an actual seat when I was hauling a bunch of stuff with me. We got to Kech (as the PCVs call it) and then five of us shared a taxi. We paid too much, but it was worth it for me. We had more room and he was great about stopping at each of our sites and dealing with our mounds of luggage.

I got to my site about 4:00 and the PCV I'm replacing met me at the taxi stand and took me around to introduce me to everyone. My host family for the next two months is almost exactly the same as my training site host family. My host dad works in Casablanca for most of the year. I have 4 host siblings. Zahira is 20, Kauotar is 15 (she lives at school in Ouarzazate), Hajar is 13 and the lone boy, Muhammed is 8. My host mom is part of the weaving co-op I'll be working with, which is great.

Its getting a little chilly here already, which is quite a change from my training site. I hear it gets very cold in the winter so I'm really happy to have a heater, gloves, hat, etc. I also think I'll be drinking a lot of tea!

I'll post more soon, hopefully with pictures of my new home.

More pictures....

Jacks, Moroccan style with rocks. I wasn't very good, but the girls were. They thought it was hilarious I couldn't do it.

Four of the wonderful pre-teen girls in the community. They are always helping us out...shopping with us, bargaining with the shopkeepers for us, etc. They are all wonderful kids.

As promised, a picture of our pigeon that lives in the kitchen! That's my host-dad, Brahim, holding him.

Ali, me, and Kat in front of the famous waterfalls in Ozoud. They are normally white, but we had a lot of rain the day before this picture.

Pictures from Morocco

My host sister, Hanan, making a delicious pasta sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

Me with my host sister, host mom, and host dad in front of the new Hamam.

Hafida and Hasna (host mom and sister) getting the henna ready to put on my arms for the holiday.

My host cousin, Sana, with Nebil, the cute baby that lives next door.

Ali (Alicia) one of my co-trainees with the neighborhood kids in front of our school

Language, Language, Language

My language training is going well, although I get exhausted very quickly trying to speak in Berber so much. I had a practice session with my language teacher today and she said I was probably at an intermediate low level, which is above what I need to be at this point!!! Yea!! I’m happy all my studying is paying off. Hopefully I won’t bomb the test in next week and I’ll continue to improve quickly. Being immersed in a culture certainly helps you pick up language quickly.

I think my biggest hurdle with the language is the lack of written literature. Berber is a spoken language only, so there are no books, dictionaries, manuals, etc. I hadn’t realized how helpful those were when I was learning German. I’m trying to create some of my own, but it’s difficult. The language structure is entirely different than any other language I’ve studied. For example, you rarely ever use personal pronouns, and possession is shown by adding a specific ending to a word or verb. For example, to say my house, I say “tigmi” and add the ending “inu”. Her house is Tigminm.

And of course, I find the prepositions very confusing. In Berber, you hang something in the wall (not on the wall). I hope I get them figured out eventually, because right now its all very confusing. I think once I get to my site, and can spend as much time as I need studying, I’ll get them figured out fairly quickly. Maybe I’ll try developing an exercise like my high school German teacher had as do. We’d have to take an object and put it in a box, on a box, next to the winder, etc. and say the phrase in German. It helped a lot in memorizing the correct way to put everything.

My host family has been great about helping me learn the language. Every time I get out homework, at least two of them will come and sit by me to help me with whatever I’m trying to do. They try to teach me the appropriate responses in every situation and yell at the little kids when they giggle at my poor pronunciation (of course, I’m totally clueless about most of my faux-pas, but its nice that they are looking out for me. )

I think I’ll start studying French as well, since Berber is only spoken in certain parts of Morocco. French is the official language used by the government and would probably be very helpful as I travel.