I Dig this place!!!

They say that Morocco is “The cold land with the hot sun.” Today was a prime example of that. I saw the sun and clear skies for the first time since being here in Morocco. It was amazing how when you are in the sun’s rays, you stay very warm, and it is a great source to warm up from the cold. When out of the sun, and especially in the cement buildings (most of the buildings are cement), it can be quite chilly, and you need to dress in layers.

Training here in the foothills of the High Atlas mountains, it has created a number of good photography to test out the new camera. You will be seeing pictures eventually, but not right now. I was able to get great shots of the sunset, mountains, and city where we are training. It was quite stunning.

As far as training goes, it is nice to be getting questions answered and learning things all at the same time. Everyday lessons are about language, culture, and what our specific plans are here in Morocco. We are still somewhat in a bubble here at the training center, as we are all in one place, speaking English, and not really having the time to go out and see the city and interact with the people. At the same time, most of us do not know the language enough to really interact. But learning about culture firsthand is much better than from a book.

Language is interesting. That little sentence means so much. I have never thought of myself as a language person, but I feel like the language is coming to me. Maybe this has to do with knowing some German and French, and teaching ESL and American culture back home. We haven’t learned much of the language yet, just numbers and greeting and a little bit of shopping vocab. But I feel good because we are all in this here together, trying to learn the language, some better than others. For those of you curious, the main languages of Morocco are Darija (Moroccan Arabic), and French. So right now we are learning survival Darija. There are also two dialects of the Berber languages, which we call Tam and Tash (they have much longer names than this).The survival Darija will only be for the next two days, as we are going to our community based training site (CBT). This training will consist of five volunteers in the same sector as me going and living in a village outside the “Hub” city. We all live in separate host families, and meet daily as a group along with a language and culture training person to learn well… language and culture. Being in the environmental sector, we have groups in all three languages (Darija, Tash, Tam), and so there is a chance that I might be learning any of them. BUT… the language that I learn at the CBT will be the language that my final site placement will be. So tomorrow I find out which language group I will be placed into, and this somewhat narrows down possibilities for the final site placement. I am very excited to dive more into the language, because I know that it is my ticket to a good 2+ years here in Morocco. I am also surprisingly confident in myself for learning a new language. (I always always did poorly in language classes). But immersion is the best technique, and living with a host family who does not know my language (and likewise) is the best way. Naturally this will produce what are to be awkward, humorous, and crazy moments. I am sure I will have a few interesting stories to tell.

Some of you may want to know about my “sitash,” or training group. We are 61 strong, 34 from the Health sector, and 27 from my sector, Environmental. The average age is probably 25ish. We come from all over, the northwest (7 from Wash/Oregon), south (3 from NC), and most everywhere else. There are folks that are fresh out of college, a few with the some work experience, one returning peace corps volunteer (3rd time in PC!!), and two lovely older ladies, one in her 70’s and the other (get this!!) in her 80’s. To me this is somewhat inspiring, and I can only hope this is possible when I get to be that age. When I see them learning language, asking questions, and doing their best, I just get a good feeling inside in the inspired sort of way. We also have two married couples, both in their late 20’s. Its pretty rad, and being isolated with all of these people, you get to know each other and of course bond with everyone.

We had interviews for final site placements, and there is the possibility that I could be placed in either the mountains or a valley, or in the south or middle. Really it is kind of up in the air. The only preference I made was that I was somewhere where the winter wasn’t super harsh. I can deal with days of snow for about a week. But those who know me understand that I love the warmth and can stand the heat, but cold just shuts my body down and makes my feet and hands cold!! But, all at the same time, I am open to whatever, and I actually said I didn’t mind being somewhere without running water or electricity. When I think about it, the thought of isolation in that since kind of makes me feel like I would be more in tune with the community where I live, and also be able to focus on the language and actual reason why I am here!

So training site here ends on Monday, and after that I am sure the e-mail and blog postings will be spotty. Sunday is kind of an off day, and some fellow PCT’s (Peace Corps Trainees) with go to a nice garden, casbah (I will rock it), and waterfalls. It will be a nice break, and I am sure after we will go to the market and walk around the city we are staying. I will try to stay in good touch with you all, but I once again will be really busy.

I leave you with the following. 73% of Peace Corps Volunteers in Morocco who serve at least one year get diarrhea. This is both humorous and not.

I also leave you with this quote by Lao Tzu, which I think describes my thoughts perfectly about getting things accomplished here in Morocco and what is important:

“Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and he can eat for a lifetime.”

Much Love,
Eric