Thursday, April 19, 2012

Update on PST

Hi Everyone,

Wow, I can't believe that the last time I updated was from the airport in Philadelphia.  So, I've been in Morocco for about three weeks now and am finally getting a small grasp on what to expect from day to day.  Training in Rabat lasted for 9 days and was great.  I sat through a lot of powerpoint presentations about food, safety, culture, Peace Corps policies, had a few language classes and got a lot of shots.  Luckily I haven't gotten sick yet despite the lack of nutritious food or communal cups, plates, spoons.

Okay, so Morocco is a country of diversity.  One minute you will see a billboard for the new iphone and the next minute you will see a donkey cart pulling today's vegetables to the market.  The language is quite diverse as well.  Most people speak a dialect of Berber in the home, Moroccan Arabic (darija) in the street, learn Modern Standard Arabic and French in school and high schoolers learn English or Spanish as well.  Most people speak to me in French and are surprised when I utter a few mangled darija words back at them.  It's lots of fun trying to mime what I want and understand any of what is being said to me.  With that being said, I am currently able to form very short sentences and questions using my limited vocabulary, but have not idea what is being said back to me in response!  Its a fun process lol

One big change for me is the food.  As a vegetarian, I have been lucky enough to be able to eat around the meat with no issues.  With that being said, I have never eaten so much bread, sugar, mayonnaise or oil in my life.  I am starting to adjust to the carb overload and know that it could be a lot worse in another country.

I have done a little bit of traveling.  I have gone to Azrou, Fez, Meknes and Ifrane so far.  The bigger cities are very modern.  I am currently in a semi-urban one with about 20,000 people and almost anything that you would need is here.  I have had trouble finding a winter coat, but I am sure that I will spot one soon.

One of my favorite parts has been starting to teach English.  We taught for four days, three hours each and it was a wonderful opportunity.  My lesson planning skills still need a lot of attention, but the experience was extremely uplifting to be around teens that voluntarily came to english class and were eager to be around an American.

My typical day includes waking up, eating breakfast and going to language class for four hours.  Then I eat lunch, go back for three hours of cultural discussion/ community integration and come home for second lunch (lol).  Then I usually go with my host sister to the market or other local stores, sometimes we go to aerobics class or the Hammam (public bathhouse.  Basically a big sauna room with faucets around the room.  It was hot. I loved it!) and then we make dinner, eat dinner and watch Turkish or Mexican TV. Then I study darija for as long as I can before falling asleep.  Its and exhausting process but it has been great so far.

Sorry I haven't been updating lately.  I only get the internet twice a week and it usually takes about twenty minutes to check my email.  I will try to post again next week!

Thanks for reading!!!!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Kels,

    Thanks for sharing a small piece of your experience with us! I am sure everyone is eager to hear about the transitions you have been and are currently going through. Good luck with the last few weeks you have with your host family and I look forward to hearing more from you.

    Love you and miss you,
    Ryan

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  2. Hi Kels,
    Beautiful pictures. It must be such a relief to know that you only have to worry about speaking fifty or sixty languages there. You know I too had some trouble adjusting to a high carb diet but with perseverance and will power I've been able to stick with it. Please, PLEASE don't tell me we'll see Chris wearing any of those shoes in the future :)
    Looking forward to hearing more about your awesome adventure.
    Janelle and Mike

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