"Crash" strikes again

My New Years Resolution is to keep my blog updated inspired by all the e-mails, Facebook messages and wall posts urging me to update it. So, I am trying to be better.

Last week I was playing a game of keep-away with a few of the kids at the Dar Chebab, which turned into boys vs. girls and realized that I am really out of shape. I lived up to my nickname (Crash) when I managed to bruise my foot and jam my finger but I had a lot of fun doing it. I kinda was wishing they had some ice though.

Things at the Dar Chebab are constantly up and down. I have some students that come on a regular basis and others who just show up when they have a dire question or the power is out and there is nothing else to do. Since most days both classrooms at the Dar Chebab are occupied I am often left sitting in the office with kids crowding my desk, which is not an ideal teaching situation. Last Tuesday I though I would try something different, Tic-Tac-Toe! I had 3 separate games, one to review past tense irregular verbs, one for irregular plurals, and one for opposites. In order to put an X or an O they had to give the correct past tense, plural form, or opposite. It was also a good review of vocabulary. Hicham (one of my students) wanted to take my Tic-Tac-Toe boards to play with his friends. Overall I think it was a very successful activity and I actually found something that I could use while sitting at a desk that doesn't involve me being a walking dictionary! I was very excited and actually felt accomplished! I used it again the next day with a group of beginner students using numbers, I taught them the numbers as we played and it was a lot of fun.

A few days ago, I was talking to my parents on Skype and my neighbor Zuhir came in. He is a very sweet eight-year-old boy who is also the cousin of my host family. After admiring my computer, he noticed that he could see himself in my Skype screen. At first I think he just liked seeing his face on the screen and made some faces but then my dad started making funny faces back at him and that continued for about 10 minutes while my mom and I were talking. It was really cute. When I was leaving the cyber, I ran into him again and he made me play hopscotch with him.

A Blog Entry for the New Year

I am still a Peace Corps Volunteer and I am still in Morocco. I’m terrible at updating my blog. So what am I doing? I work Tuesday thru Saturday at the Dar Chebab from 2:30-6pm. Some days I teach English, other days I play ping-pong, soccer, or volleyball with the kids. I like tutoring at the Dar Chebab although lately with most of the girls it feels like I'm a walking dictionary. I tried teaching English classes but with the school schedules and my limited access to a classroom with a whiteboard it is hard to set up a schedule.

At the end of December I was walking the post office and I see all the gendarmes (police) in front of it. I didn’t really think anything of it but then the post office was closed for a week and I began to wonder because I was hoping for some packages: two from Peace Corps (one with books and the other with the always important prescriptions) and one from my mom (was really craving some gum from the US it just isn’t the same here). I started to ask questions and found out the postmaster had gotten arrested for stealing over 4 million dirhams. After a few more questions I found out that all the mail was stopping a few towns over, a town that by public transportation is not all that easy to get to. So don’t worry, I still get mail so please don’t stop sending it. I love getting mail and it makes the trip to the post office worthwhile.

In the beginning of January, an association (Youth for Youth) from a nearby city came with the Delege of Youth and Sports and put on a program at the Dar Chebab. The great thing is they were all in their early 20s and although we spoke a mix of broken English and Darija I actually felt like an adult. In my site, I'm usually with a group of old women or groups of 13 year olds. At the end of the day when they were handing out the prizes I got to be one of the "adults" handing to the kids and congratulating them (the others were my acting mudir, the presidents of the associations present, and the delege) I felt important until they wanted me to say a few words and I completely froze. I finally had gotten better at public speaking in the states but here being unprepared in a different language I was not ready for it. It all worked out and the delege talked for me.

I am hoping to move into my own house soon. It’s a small apartment above an internet café with two rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. I’m excited but now I’m just waiting for the landlord to fix the roof before I can officially start moving stuff in. I can’t believe that the first time I will be living on my own I am in a different country.

I have a small notebook that I write down new words or phrases I learn. I was reviewing my notebook with one of my counterparts at the Dar Chebab when she pointed out that my notebook was a compilation of 5 different languages if you include English. Most of the words were in Darija (Moroccan Arabic), then French, then Tashelhit (the local Berber dialect of Arabic) and finally Modern Standard Arabic. It’s times like these I really wish I could find a tutor to help work all of this out, so I’m not mixing languages every time I talk.

And that's it!

Officially a PCV

Okay, it has been requested so I am updating my blog-Jeff and Sarah’s mom.

I was officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and moved to my permanent site November 13th.

My new town is relatively close to Marrakech. The main stretch of town is about a mile long (not much bigger than Mary Wash) and there is one main street running in and out of the town. The buildings on the side of town with the Dar Chebab were all built after 1998. They are beautiful buildings. The Dar Chebab is smaller than the one at my CBT (Community Based Training) site but has a much nicer soccer field and it is much newer. I have a fairly active Dar Chebab, there is a woman who teaches a class for women every day to teach literacy in Arabic. The languages here are spoken languages (Moroccan Arabic and the Berber dialects) but anything written is in modern Standard Arabic. So in addition to not knowing the script these women are also learning a different language. There is also a music club. Every afternoon there is a large group of boys who come the Dar Chebab to play soccer. I have been tutoring English to random groups that come in and this week I am starting to officially teach classes at the Dar Chebab. I am very nervous.

My new host family is wonderful. There are three girls 13, 15, and 17 who all speak English pretty well which helps a lot. Our house is a lot like an ancient Roman Villa. It has an open courtyard in the middle with 2 olive trees and an orange tree. I have made friends with a women who lives across the street from my host family-in part because she is a great cook! Not really but she has made me pizza and she makes the best cookies.

A Thanksgiving without turkey, mashed potatoes, my grandfather’s famous salad, green bean casserole, or family, which really reminded me where I am and made me miss home. Now it’s December and it is weird, I haven't seen a single commercial or seen Christmas lights, or heard Christmas music anywhere.

I experienced my first Moroccan L3id Kabir. The holiday began the Saturday after Thanksgiving and lasted 5 days. The holiday remembers the act of Abraham when he offers Isaac for a sacrifice but at the last second God switches Isaac with a sheep. Here every family gets a sheep and it is sacrificed on the roof of their home. The day before I saw a man riding with a sheep on his motorbike, I really wish I had my camera then because it was quite a site.

I still can't belive I'm in Morocco!

One Month In

The first thing about the Cyber Cafe...the keyboard is in French. After figuring out how to change the keyboard to an American keyboard life has been so much better. A boy in my group left after the first and now we are down to four PCT (Peace Corps Trainees) in my CBT group.

Lots of things are happening here. I can now speak entire sentances in Arabic, I can successfully buy things from the stores, I mae bread from scratch, I learned how to peel potatos with a knife (which is a skill). All the small things I do feel like huge accomplishments. Just being able to wash my clothes is a big deal. I have been washing my own clothes since I was 13 but here washing your clothes is a skill. The women here have this awesome ablility to hand wash clothes and get them cleaner than my washing machine at home ever did.

They don't form lines at hanuts (stores) here. The hanut owner waits on you based on how well you are friends with him. I go to the same hanut every morning for bread for our lunch and breaks and now I am one of the ones who gets waited on first even if there were other people there first. :) We have a converstation every morning in darija(moroccan arabic) and he gives me the price VERY slowly in rubals which I then have to convert to durhams in my head. I am getting pretty good at it. But he is very patient and is helping me learn.

I love my host family. Last Sunday they told me that when I first came here all I could say was "hello, how are you, I'm fine, my name is Rachael" and now I can understand them when they talk to me and I can speak in full sentances (granted I only know the past tense but it's a start).

The food here is amazing! So much fresh fruit..a little too much bread. My host family has a garden with peppers, tomatoes, mint and sheba (for tea), olives (I didn't like olives in the states but here I love the plain green olives), and cucumbers.

In Morocco

I am finally in Morocco. I spent a week for an orientation with all 63 people in my training group. It consisted of a few shots and lots of paperwork. I am now at my CBT (Community Based Training) site in the mountains of Morocco. It is such a beautiful view. The 4 other people in my CBT group are a lot of fun and it should be a good 2 months here. I have learned a lot of Arabic in the past two weeks. It is very intense with Arabic classes for at least 5 hours a day. My host family is awesome. The two daughters teach English and have been a great help in learning Arabic. The first day with the family was overwhelming with a lot of Arabic spoken to me at once. I am finally starting to understand what they are saying to me--hand motions help a lot along with pointing to things. Learning to use a Turkish toliet was definitely an experience. Now I'm off to dinner with my host family.

Staging in Philly

I am sitting here at the Staging hotel for Peace Corps Morocco, feeling much better about my decision to join the Peace Corps. There are 63 in my training class of Youth Development and Business Development Volunteers, and everyone is excited and nervous. After hearing everyone here had the same concerns/anxieties it definitely helped. Knowing that we are all going in knowing very little Arabic and having no idea if we will be able to wear the clothes we packed. Tomorrow will be a busy day of shuttles and the plane ride to Morocco. It is amazing that I will be in Morocco in a little under 30 hours.

The Process

Why did I join the Peace Corps? I don't even remember the reason anymore. I have always liked helping people and traveling. The Peace Corps seemed like the perfect way to combine the two. I kept reading articles about Mary Washington alumni joining the Peace Corps and I knew that that is what I wanted to do. I had a lot of support from the faculty at Mary Wash, my boss, and my family who encouraged me through the process. Two years is a long time, and it is the main reason that deters people from joining. However, it is a once in a lifetime experience and two years is not really that long. I spent four years in college and it seems like a blur now.

My Peace Corps Time Line:
The whole process was exhausting, full of anticipation, waiting, and lots of forms. Overall it was the most lengthy, time-consuming "job application" that I have ever endured. In the end it was worth it...well I hope since I don't leave for a week. It has been over a year since I started this process:

July 21st 2008:
Submitted Peace Corps Application.

July 31st 2008:
Received an e-mail from my recruiter.

September 2008:
After a lot of phone tag with my recruiter I FINALLY had my interview. After a lengthy, two hour phone interview I was nominated. She told me I had been nominated for the Caucus Region of Eastern Europe (including countries such as Azerbaijan and Armenia). I was stocked!

Then I received my medical paperwork and began making doctors appointments-doctor, dentist, and eye doctor.

January 2009:
Finished all the doctors appointments and mailed in my medical paperwork.

February 14, 2009: Dentally Cleared!

March 2009: Medical Clearance!!

April 2009: A placement officer called. I had officially been offered and invitation to serve in the Peace Corps, however she did not tell me where I was going, I had to wait for the mail. 5 days later it came! A huge envelope. In it my invitation to serve as a Youth Development Volunteer in Morocco!
--Morocco, I was so surprised since I had been nominated for another region entirely. However, I was ecstatic with the news.

April 23, 2009: I accepted my invitation for Peace Corps Morocco.

And you that that was all?? Once you accept your invitation there is much more to do.
-Fill out a Government Passport application (which is different than a personal passport) and take new passport photos.
-Then send in an aspiration and motivation statement. I thought the essays were over after the application, apparently not.
-Send in a resume and my transcripts.
-Every so often the Morocco Country desk will send an e-mail with a questionnaire. It is to help them with placing you with a family and the structure of training.

August 2009: Recieved the information about staging. I finally knew where the first leg of the journey was. I will be going to Philadelphia, PA September 8th then on the 9th we will be bussed to JFK and will fly out that night.