Friday, September 28, 2007

Well here is Sefrou I am busier than a bee in honey season so I will give a brief update. This past week has been full of language and good food (they feed me like a queen) and a trip to the public bath house. This has to be the highlight of my week. My host family does not have a bathroom per say so we packed up our buckets, towels and soap and stripped down in the Hamam. I scrubbed from head to toe by my host sister and I came out radiant as a sunbeam. We head back to Fes to meet up with the rest of the volunteers and debrief about our experiences. In between my own language endevours, the other volunteers and I are working on programs at the youth house where we spend our evenings. I am developing a poetry class that should be presented within the month. I guess I have to do some real grown up things - hoot!!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Fes encore - enshala

Today was an incredible day. A group of us stumbled our way to the “mdina” with small widgets of Arabic and a keen sense for adventure. Alas, we ended up with a guide despite our commitment to avoid such a cost. We weaved in and out of quiet to clamorous and ended on the roof of a building looking down on a tannery. While it is a sight I have seen before, I felt much more cognizant than 2 short years ago. I suppose drinking local tap water somehow makes me feel more “branche.” A friend was charmed by a snake, I bought a hijab and we all just short of died of thirst. It is Ramadan and drinking or eating in public is a major faux pas since any good Muslim is fasting.

We eat 4 meals a day. At night we get a baggy of “breakfast” so anyone fasting can eat at 5am at the call to prayer (before sunrise) or eat when they wake up for those who are not. Lunch is prepared for those who are not fasting (myself included.) At around 6:45 there is the 4th of 5 calls to prayer. At this time there is a meal called the “break fast.” We join to eat a special meal to celebrate breaking the day’s fasting. There is a soup of sorts (lentil, carrot, or chick pea thus far) special bread, pastries, dates and, of course, tea. Finally, after the final call to prayer at 10, there is the official dinner. I have made a habit of skipping this since 3 meals serves me well and I am usually sleeping by 10. As you can see, the call to prayer is a sort of public school bell system, at least throughout Ramadan.

The language lessons are amazing. Volunteering for 2 years is worth its time in language (among many other wonderful things) and I praise Allah every day for speaking French. If I were to stay in Fes (which I will surely not) I could comfortably go 2 years without Arabic, for French is enough. I bargained down a hijab 50 dirhams, in French, and helped a friend from being scammed, L-Hamdullah for French. So, besides some slight stomachal adjustments, things are still wonderful. Cell phone is soon to arrive.

New photos @ web.mac.com/nicolettaanderson

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Rabat

Well I hardly know where to start but I will say that I am finally here along with the other 66 of me. So far being a PC volunteer has only demanded that I live without a hairdryer, eat great food 3 times a day and have Moroccan mint tea and cookies twice daily. O yeah, don't forget the fresh squeezed OJ. It is tough but someone has to do it. Don't worry folks, they are only keeping us comfortable and healthy so they can give us extensive sessions on how to deal with the imminent diarrhea and/or dysentary as well as how to ward off harrasment and the feeling of living in a fish bowl. The training is extensive and incredibly thorough. They really do know how to do this right. Honestly I cannot even begin to describe what has been happening the last few days. I have met the US ambassador to Morocco (Tom Wiley), done yoga while listening to the call to prayer, walked through the medina and wanted to dive into the sights and smells of this incredibly beautiful country. I am lucky to be working and learning alongside such intelligent, articulate and compassionate individuals. And, the icing on my cake, once I get to my site, the Peace Corps pays for me to hire a language tutor for up to 20 hours a week in whatever language I wish (or 2 or 3). I am planning on doing some major work on my french and, of course, my arabic. I leave for Fez tomorrow and I will meet my host family in a little over a week. Hope all is well back aux Etats Unis.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Je ne veux pas faire une nuit blanche

In approximately 12 hours I will be an island in a sea of strangers on my first day as a Peace Corps Volunteer Trainee. I find this oddly comforting. Tomorrow I will be standing next to 60 some odd people who have spent the last month thinking far to long about packing, just like me, and who have racked their brains trying to imagine their future, just like me. I will meet them and we will all give our history, passions and aspirations in 5 sentences or less and I will race to keep them all straight. But somewhere in the waves of vapid conversation and perfunctory summations lie the seeds of profound relationships and consequential futures. So while emotions wiz haphazardly through my chest - excitment for what lies ahead mixed with fears of the same and an overall sadness to leave all those I love so dearly - there is comfort in knowing that it is finally time to go. My life has been artfully shoved into 2 bags, I have mastered 3 arabic phrases and I have no idea where I will be in a week. I'm moving to Morocco!