Allies

After having a bit of a frustrating day yesterday, I decided to take today head on. The first half of the day was very good, we did the usual mass amounts of language learning. Today we did seasons, time, and the days of the week. And if you’re thinking it’s elementary stuff, yeah it is, but we need to learn it.

So after a great lunch (cous cous with vegetables and chicken, mmm!!!) the younger lads and lassies took a nap. Come on, the work’s hard here, we nee our rest! However, when we woke up, we were told some unfortunate news. Our group’s married couple, Aisha and LeHcen, announced to us that they were going to be returning home. Now, while all of us are very supportive and hate to see them leave, it brings up our own issues as well. Though we may have just met a few weeks ago, but everyone here (yes, all 60 of us) came together and got pretty close. We’re all going through these changes together and to see someone leave, well, just sucks. Especially when it’s a married couple, because we lose two [which brings our total toll of 3 people going home].

Now, unlike our married friends, when it comes down to it, we don’t have someone to turn to at the end of the day. So, after talking a bit, the four of us who remain in our CBT group have made a pact. If at any time any of us feel the tiny bit of desire to go home or anything of the sort, we turn to each other; we talk about it. No one gets left behind. Allies until the end.

So what do four twenty year old’s do when they’re feeling down- I know what you’re thinking, but we don’t have any booze- we watch stand up comedy. So after watching an hour of comedy, we call it a night, and for me- I head home to help with dinner and relax.

On a positive side, today I feel like I actually communicated more with my Mom and Aunt than I ever had. Explaining to my Mom what I was doing tomorrow and for the weekend (we have a free weekend and a few of us are going away). And then, while trying to peel a tomato, telling my Aunt how I’m not married, but hopefully one day I will be (God willing). Even MoHammed and I seem to be talking without all the hand gestures. So I’m definitely getting there.

End of the day thoughts: I’m not coming home any time soon (sorry!). This may be tough and challenging, but as I’ve been reassured a few times lately by a friend here, I can do this, (I know Dad, you’re so proud haha).

(My CBT Group: Fatima, Jawed, Myself, and Bassu)

Community Mapping

Today we met with some local men and women to discuss basically what they do on a daily basis. Then, using their daily schedule, what their seasonal calendar would look like. The main idea that we, as volunteers, are trying to understand is when would the best time of day/year be to plan events, discussions, meetings, etc. And then we discussed where in the community men and women usually “hung out” and that helps us figure out where they’ll be during a specific time a day. Just in case we’re looking for a group to interview, talk to, or just understand what they’re doing.

The basic theory behind it all is to get a basic feel for the community we’ll be living in. And to use these tools to help in our own projects and goals. And in using these practice exercises we’ll be better prepared when we’re by ourselves trying to figure it all out.

Now, what I’m sure you’re wondering is if it worked. And the answer is yes. I was completely surprised at how many women showed up for our “meeting.” I’d say about 10-15 women showed up; and I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but trust me, it is. These women were more than happy to cooperate, answer, and discuss all the questions we had for them. I think this get together even let them all vent, just for a minute about their work and hard life they live on a daily basis. The discussion then took a turn towards us American women, when we were asked what we do for work, if we care for animals, work in fields, etc. We did acknowledge that we have some things that make life easier (dishwasher, lawnmower, washing machine) but we also have our own stress’s and hardships. I did defend the LI farmers, not that I am one, but I know they’re out there.. or at least they’re out there hiring Mexicans to do it with them. Then the big question came: Why are you here? Why are you in Morocco? And we all just paused, not ready for that one. Aisha quickly recovered and answered, we’re here to learn from Moroccans; teach them about America; and integrate both cultures together and help each other. They loved it. Jeeze louise, these women are incredible. [One is actually pregnant and we learned she won’t stop her daily chores until she’s about to give birth. This means carrying pounds of sticks/alfalfa/laundry on her back to and from the fields or river].

The men were just as helpful in their daily routines, but obviously not as chatty as the women. Because of course, men are men (it’s true). We were able to get the information we needed, learned that they too are very hard workers and will find work year round just to provide for their family. These people are such hard workers and community oriented. It’s amazing to hear that they will, when needed, pull together and wo

rk together as a team [for example, if a member of a family passes here, the men will go door to door collecting money for the family]. It’s comforting to realize that communities worldwide will stick together. And though everyone in this community knows each other, it makes me feel a little better to know that even if you don’t know everyone in your town, people still come together when needed.

That’s my feel good entry for the moment. On a different note, I’ve just about mastered the bun-styled scarf (I don’t think I’m describing this right, I’m sure I’ll put a picture up); which is always a plus! It looks cute and means I don’t have to wash my hair everyday, which obviously will not be happening. Tomorrow, I follow my host mom around and she what she does for the day! I wonder if I’ll get to milk our cow...

Tea Please!

So I don’t have internet for 10 days, so I’m improvising and just writing as the days go. Which means I’ll most likely have a couple blogs going up around the same time.

Today was filled with a lot of interesting and fun things. Actually, before I get into that, I have to say- Moroccans eat, A LOT. I start off with breakfast, which these days tends to be a thick, yellow soup (which I actually found chunks of chicken in this morning); followed by bread with marmalade and olive oil for dipping. A few hours after this, during our first “break” of class, we have more coffee (in shot glasses), and more bread/cookies/chips. Then, not even two hours later, it’s lunch. And today we actually had some pasta, with a pepper concoction of a sauce, a bowl of beans, and oh yeah- more bread. And if you know me, I have never complained of a solid piece of bread, and all this homemade bread is absolutely fantastic, but I’m not able to handle it at every meal. And at every meal there’s someone watching you, making sure you eat that bread.

Any-who, I could rant a bit about how much food is eaten and while I rant, I secretly love it all. Okay, so back to my day. It started off with class (on a Saturday, yeah I know), but we did convince our LCF (language and culture facilitator) to have our second half outside. Which, at the time seemed like a good plan, but we were all sweating by lunch time. After class, myself and three other of the trainees, Basu, Fatima, and Jawad (for their own privacy I’m just gonna use their Berber names) decided to go on a walk and check out our community.

The walk was absolutely beautiful. Not just the sights, but I don’t think we passed one person you did not say hello; and this is tricky because after the 20 different ways of saying hello, they go off and we have no idea what they’re saying, but they love it none the less. The children of the community were especially curious about the 3 white and 1 black kids walking through, as they followed us (asking for money of course, but that’s beside the point) and watched our every move. We managed to find a hill right on the outskirts of town that gave us a spectacular view of the valley and community. At this point I do not have any pictures, being I grabbed my case of DVDs instead of my camera case, but I will be here for a few more months so I’m sure I’ll be able to get some sweet pictures for you all.

So after hanging there for a bit, we decided to go on a quest to have a moment of America and try to watch a movie. This ended abruptly as everyone we passed invited us in for tea. We finally gave in and went to have tea with a local businessman who runs a hotel and a Rose Water business. We all felt very proud of ourselves for interacting and socializing on our own without our advisor, so even though we couldn’t convey much, it worked out very well. Plus this guy has a shower and a toilet, so we were sucking up to him in every way possible.

After that we headed back to Bassu’s house, where his host father insisted that we sit down for tea, discussed more vocabulary- was corrected a lot in our attempts. I think for a good 5 minutes I spoke with the trainee’s Grandma going back and forth on the same phrase until I got it just right. lHamdullah (thanks God). After more tea, we headed out yet again, to another household, where more tea was offered. Man, do these Moroccans love their tea!!

Finally, I gave up and figured my host mom would be worrying about me, so I headed home, escorted by a fellow trainee, who was, of course, invited in for tea. So he came in, and we taught my brother a game (a variation of ms. mary mac with numbers), which he loved. After Bassu (fellow trainee) left, I helped with dinner and got to know my Aunt and Mom a bit better, and then was questioned if I liked Bassu, which I had to explain that I liked him, but didn’t like him like him. Try doing that in a foreign language that you don’t really know. I’m really hoping they understood me, or I feel a wedding may be in the making. I guess I’ll find out.

Side note, dinner tonight was pretty damn good. I’d say it was a very creamy rice a roni thing. And it was delightful! And I’m definitely getting more comfortable with my family. Though I still haven’t met my sisters and only shared one meal with my host dad. But I do have three months...

(my village)

Some things I’ve discovered: I have a cow, some sheep and I know there’s a donkey somewhere (Mom- I have yet to find this thing!). Kids are insanely helpful and patient when learning new things, especially language. I don’t care anymore about making a fool of myself (as Mohammed and I were dancing and jumping around the courtyard dying in laughter). I know more of this language right now than I give myself credit for. And trying to watch what I can only describe a Moroccan American Idol, while a seven year old boy is shaking his booty and dancing in front of you, is INCREDIBLY hard, especially when you cannot stop laughing and then that makes him break down laughing.

Imik s imik, little by little. This has been and will continue to be our motto. And now everyday when that moment comes when I think, “what the hell am I doing here?” pops into my head- I’m just gonna think of Mohammed breaking it down in the living room, and I think that’ll set me straight.

The Birth of Zahra

So I've spent the last couple of days getting to know my family and learning the language and lifestyles. It has been challenging, exhausting, and intensely fun. Getting to know my community and its surroundings has been enjoyable. My CBT group and leader went on a few walks, one through the community and one down by the river, which was absolutely beautiful. I don't have pictures just yet, because that walk was on accident due to the wind blowing our door shut & we were locked out of our "school" house.
So, my family!!! I have a younger brother, who's 7- his picture is below- who has been my savior at home. He has been so patient with me and has been more than helpful with teaching new words. Though as soon as he teaches me, I think he expects me to remember them and is surprised when I don't. I enjoy watching his facial reactions when I'm trying to pronounce a word. After drawing an array of different things and having him teach me them, I wrote them down in English for him- then I taught him tic-tac-toe!! Which he seemed to really enjoy and wouldn't stop harassing me to play!

 

My Mom is a sweetheart. She's quite, but is so excited to help me learn. She's making sure I'm doing okay and is very kind. I can tell she is so proud when I finally can speak the word, even though I forget it 10 seconds later and make her repeat it. She's finally allowing me to help her, I made chicken kebabs with her last night for dinner. Or, for an appetizer- jeeze louise they eat a lot over here!! (though I'm pretty sure I've lost a little bit of weight, thank you no alcohol policy!)
I have and Aunt and a Grandma who are funny and constantly force me to eat. My Grandma is a sweet old thing, who just keeps talking to me and I think expects me to understand what she's saying. She'll just keep repeating herself louder, as if it helps... it doesn't. But I know she means well.
I also have a father that I just met last night, who seems very nice and keeps to himself, at least for the bit that I met him. I have two sisters also- but I haven't met either. They're a little younger than me so I'm waiting to meet them. I can only hope they'll be as helpful as the rest of their family, which I'm sure they will be.

So! I'm sure you're wondering about the title of the post. The first day I got to my CBT site, my mother gave me the name Zahra, which means flower. Sometimes American names are too hard to pronounce, so we're all given Berber names. A dialect of Berber is the language that I'm learning. It makes me laugh and think, these people will never know me as Caitlin. Just Zahra. My little brother will never think of me in any other way, and I think that's so fascinating.

What else.. hmm... it's definitely been a challenge to adapt to the lifestyle here. New food, new language, hardly drinking water, not showering every day, and all of the volunteers favorite- the turkish toilet. Just all some things that will take some serious getting use to.

Ohh!! My and my female CBTs got some Henna at our friend Joe's house, one of his "sisters" did our hands and feet- here's a picture:

If you haven't realized already, I do not have internet at my CBT site, only at my hub site. So tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, I'll be headed back to my site for 10 days. Lord knows how I'm gonna handle my first bucket shower because I know I cannot go without showering for 10 days. My family knows how much I love my showering, especially Patrick and Conor, so this bucket thing does not sound as glorious as my steam shower back in Wading River. But it is what it is and I heard they're not that bad.. so I'll let you know how it goes.

Ouarzazate

So, I've finally gotten my Community Based Training site. Apparently it is a gorgeous mountain side village with rivers running through it. It also has fig trees, walnut trees, corn, wheat, and is very known for it's roses. There is even a rose festival in May, so that will be insanely cool to see.

Tomorrow myself, and 5 others of will be off to train and meet our homestay families! We are all excited to meet them, see where we'll be living, eat until our stomach's burst, (we've been taught phrases to help us say when we're full) and learn the language. We won't be learning Arabic, well, we will be in the long run, but we're going to be studying a Berber dialect, called Tamazight. My goal is to be fluent in Tamazight, learn Arabic and then brush up on my French. Peace Corps pays for tutors if you want, so I'm definitely going to look into that.

Sorry this is quick, I'm going out food shopping with my CBT (community based training) group and LCF (language coordinate facilitator). They have so many abbreviations here it's hard to keep track!

I'm going to try to upload a few videos that I took on my flip (thank you girls!). The first one I believe is the windy road through the Atlas Mountains from Marrakesh to Ouarzazate. It was amazing and one of the most beautiful road trips I've ever taken. The video does it absolutely no justice. I mean we're talking palm trees one side of the bus and snow capped mountains on the other. There was nothing like it. Plus one car lane roads and a police escort.
The second video is just a view from the rooftop of our hotel. Hopefully I can get them up soon!

Marrakech

Day two in Marrakech. Yesterday was a fog of bus rides after the plan, some meetings, some fantastic food (sorry, I didn't take any pictures), meeting tons more people (and trying to remember their names), and then popping two glorious tylenol PM and snuggling into my sleeping bag.

Today, more meetings!! But by broken up by breakfast, interesting lunch, more meetings, and then TEA AND COOKIES!! First, there are four options for beverages- amazing pulp filled orange juice (however doesn't hit the spot when you're craving some Tropicana), coffee, mint tea with sugar, and mint tea without sugar. Then, an amazing array of cookies, to which I'm pretty sure I've tried every one.
On a more exciting note, we were brought to the Medina in Marrakech today, and got to see all sorts of stuff, (don't worry, pictures will be up soon!). How can I describe this place, it was like.. if ChinaTown and Bryant Park (in the winter) had a baby, and then that baby took steroids. Add in some street performers as well. It was quite an experience. Especially after hearing all these lectures about how we will be harassed and forced to buy things. However, not much more than the usual 'buy this, buy this' and 'where are you from?' was heard. Thankfully. I guess I should prepare myself for some more intense situations.

Tomorrow we are here for half a day and then head off on an apparently insanely windy, bumpy, road to the city of Ouarzazate (pronounced kinda like.. OhWhere'sItAt), where we will be staying for the next couple of days and will also will be what is called our "hubsite". Which is basically the place we'll be going back and forth to from our Community Based Training site (where I'll be staying with my host family & which I'll find out in the next few days). So basically for the next 3 months I'll be traveling back and forth from these two places. Joyous.

So! All in all it's been good so far. Gimme a few days/weeks and I'll probably have my weak moment (but that's what all the movies, robin eggs and chocolates are for- thank you friends!!!)

Until next time!! Salamu Alaykum (peace be upon you)... I'm tryin' here haha

Staging

So, getting up at 5 AM is usually a challenge, but when need be- I deliver. And although I was made fun of the night before, (because I was seriously concerned), the parentals and I stopped at Bagel Buddies, got myself a sweet bagel (side of cream cheese, the bagel was too hot), and we were off.

After a quick bag check and life lessons from Mom & Pop, I headed to the security line. And being myself, I completely forgot that I had put a pocket knife in my toiletries bag, so what happened? Oh, yeah, Laguardia security staff ripped open my bag, throwing everything this way and that- I was actually handed multiple things from strangers- and disheveled my bag. So, while trying to put everything back in my bag, and in a rush, what do I do- oh that's right, I shove my hand into my bag and gauge my finger on my razor. Yes folks, only me. So, now I'm gushing blood on the security bag check thingy, looking at the lady, (cursing her in my mind, because obviously it's her fault), and in pain. So she goes out of her way and gets me a tissue, followed by the head lady getting me a tiny bandaid. THANK YOU SECURITY GUARDS.
Needless to say, I spent the next half hour pressure holding my finger instead of eating my glorious everything bagel. Only me.

So, once on this tiny little plane, I start to relax- I have a cute Canadian sitting next to me, (though the 15 passenger plane I was on was clearly not full & he could have moved- I like to think it was me), and we have a gloriously short plane right to Philly.

Finally, I arrive at my hotel after a confused cab driver, I check in, and I hit the bed, hard. NAP TIME! I have meetings all day in about 2 hours, so some serious shut eye is needed. My roommate comes in right as I'm about to rest, we exchange hellos, she goes to smoke (I don't see her again to right before we head down). I don't care, I'm tired.

I'll skip a little bit through my staging meetings. Chalk it up to, I met a lot of cool people, I'm not the only one going crazy and completely nervous, and I'm insanely pumped to finally go.
After it all, and not eating for 7 hours, I am STARVING, along with about 10 other girls, so we all decide to go across the street to TGI Fridays for our last meal. Which all in all, probably a mistake, due to the lack of service. But after 2 large beers (for everyone mom & dad, not just me), we all had a great time, getting to know one another and exchanging stories.

I'm only skipping so much because I'm absolutely exhausted! But, it's only the first day- there are a lot more stories to come.

BED TIME - MOROCCO TOMORROW!!