This post may be somewhat long. It has been a little bit, and so much has happened since I last posted. In short, I have received my site placement, had my LPI, and also will be sworn in as a PCV in just a short 2 days in the big city as a large group.
So as I said, I have received my final site placement. Its funny how things kind of go. I remember telling a number of people that finding out your site is like Christmas. So whatever site I got would make me happy, but you always have preferences. Well, I received a site that was not really on my preference list. But like I said, there are really good things about it and then some not so good things about it.
Of course I cannot disclose my location exactly, but I can give generalities. I will be living in a town near Eastern High Atlas National Park. This town is in the Khenifera province, and I am just about in the middle between the actual city of Khenifera and the city of Midelt. While the town I am living in is quite large, approximately 8000 people, my actual site encompasses a large area, and most of the work I will be doing will be well outside my town.
My town sits at about 6500 feet (2100ish meters) above sea level. So being over a mile in elevation instantly should make you think cold. In fact, the town has very cold winters, and a fair bit of snow. Just to the south of my town lies a peak of 11,000 feet. The summers make up for it by being mild (Here in Morocco mild means 100-105F). So the negative aspect is the severe cold.
On the positive end of things, my site area is large. The reason is that during winter many of the villages I will be doing work in will be snowed in for periods of time (think weeks), and so if I were to live there I would also be stranded. So I am staying in the plateau valley below. When I am able to do work, I will be doing a lot of hiking. When reading about my site, some of the villages are a 2 days hike away!
I will be replacing not just one volunteer, but two. They are a husband/wife duo, and they have been doing some really great work. In fact, I already have proposals for projects waiting for me when I get there. One project dealing with tree planting (750 apples,walnuts), the other dealing with oversight in an installation of a grain mill. In addition, I will be trying to integrate myself into the school system, and work with teachers to provide environmental education training to them and work with students also. These all excite me, but they are a little overwhelming as I have not even seen the area yet. I am excited that I have the challenge of filling the role of two people however, and hope to pick up where they are leaving off.
Another challenge my site will contain has to do with language. Here in Morocco, each environment volunteer is matched with a counterpart from the Dept. of Water and Forest resources. Together you do work and any idea you have needs to fit with the Department’s plan of action for the area. It just so happens that my counterpart will not be speaking the language I have been learning for the past two months (Tamazight). Instead, he speaks a very small bit of English, but also Darija and French. So mainly the work I do with my counterpart will be in French. However, the area I am living is highly Berber, and therefore Tamazight is widely and regularly spoken. So I will be using both French and Tamazight on a daily basis, whether is it dissecting French documents, or translating between Forester and villager.
So as I said back at the beginning, I recently had my LPI (Language Proficiency Interview). The LPI is an oral test, and you can receive a rating of Novice, Intermediate, or Advanced. Within these three ratings are levels, for example Novice Low, Novice Medium, Novice High. The Peace Corps in Morocco states that you need to pass your LPI with a level of Novice High in order to be sworn in as a volunteer.
So the good news is I passed my LPI, and therefore can be sworn in as a volunteer. The disappointing news is that I only received a level of Intermediate Low. I was close to the Intermediate Mid, but no dice. The reason I am disappointed, is that I thought for sure I would be intermediate mid. Language went quite well, and I thought it was a realistic level to set a goal for at the end. I felt like I busted my tail with study and learning language, and wanted to have shown more for it all. So with all that said, I have to keep telling myself that I went from having no language, to a level somewhere near the middle of being proficient in a language in the span of just 7 weeks. It makes me happy to think that within the next two years, I will have a great chance to become fully proficient, not only in Tamazight, but also in French. I will be getting a tutor that can teach both of these languages.
The last thing I wanted to write about is leaving my CBT village. I am leaving the place that I have called home for the past two months. As like most partings, it is a bittersweet one. I feel as if I have become slightly immune to the all the goodbyes, and the people I part from. I have moved around a lot in the past year or so, from Oxford to Europe, Europe to Cincinnati, and now Cincinnati to Morocco. I probably have just accepted that people need to part ways, and it is a simple fact of life. It doesn’t mean that parting is easy… its not. But I have parted with so many people recently that I care so much about that sometimes parting from people is just okay. I usually do not forget people that mean something to me, so I will always have the memories.
While I will be leaving, I will forever be grateful to my family here in O-Ville as well as all of the other people around me here. I wish them all the best, for they are all good people, caring for me, teaching me, and accepting me as one of their own (My host mom here has now called me her son, and shed tears about me leaving… So to my parents at home in Ohio, I have been taken care of incredibly here by a wonderful family that I now call my own Moroccan family.) While I have said this before to people, I feel like I am a teen again, parting ways with my family so I can go off and do my work.
I have had an incredible time here, learning about the language, struggling at times. I have learned about the culture here, and seen a communal way of life that amazes me (at some point I will talk about culture and various things I have seen and done). It has been a pleasure for me to be the first Peace Corps group here in O-Ville. I am able to see pure reactions, and all of my reactions are pure as well. There is a “learning about each other” phase, where my family has no idea what to do with me, and likewise from my end. At the beginning I knew no language, and they did not know mine. We just met in the middle and learned from each other.
I hope that in leaving, the people of the community have learned as much from us as we have learned from them, even if they are small things. The way of life here is simple, but it is filled with incredible culture and wonderfully nice people.
Much Love!
Me.
PS. I probably will have more regular internet access in my final site. More on this later.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tree Planting, and Breaking Bread
So two weeks have gone by since I last had internet. Naturally, a fair bit has happened here in my village and with me as well. Language is coming along just fine, and little by little (“imiq s imiq” in Tamazight) things are coming together. I just recently passed the one month mark with the language, and I feel like it has been so long with learning the language.
Being an environmental volunteer, we naturally do activities geared toward the environment. The other day we conducted a program and tree planting with students in the local school. It was in the local language, so having a script was good to do. Students were from the ages 6-12. Our group made a simple presentation about how you need to plant trees when you remove them. Since wood is harvested here for heating, it was important. Basically we had some of the kids stand as trees and animals in a forest. The PCT’s were harvesting the wood for various reasons, and not replanting. When the last person came to get wood, there was no wood, and we asked where all the homes of the animals went, and naturally they were gone, and the animals died. It was simple, but straightforward. We also had people littering, and we “schuma”ed them. Basically this means to give them shame until they picked up their litter and put it in a trash bin. We then planted 12 trees, 7 olives, 3 walnuts, 2 apples.
The kids got super involved, picking up trash, and helping to plant the trees. The ground here is really rocky, so digging was crazy difficult. But in the end, we planted the trees, made some friends, and when we talked to the kids after to see what they had learned, our point had gotten across. I can only hope that they spread the word and do their part, and we left a lasting impression. Overall, I think that this was a great starting point for the work I will be doing on my own. It also gives me a presentation that I can use elsewhere in Morocco. One of the most important things I learned while teaching is not to re-create the wheel, you just have to refine ideas to fit your goals and purposes.
I have also been baking bread, and cooking a little bit. It has been difficult to get into the kitchen. The reason is that in Morocco, it is a women’s place. So for me to break the norm and learn to cook is kind of an off the wall idea in the conservative village. I also believe that my father does not like me interacting with women around my age (sister is 22). But that is just the way it goes.
BUT, when I have gotten into the kitchen, I have been able to make bread from scratch, and help cook a few meals. For some reason baking bread is extremely relaxing. It is strenuous don’t get me wrong, but I suppose it is a stress relief in a way. The most entertaining part of baking bread was after I had the dough all ready, and I have to spread it out in a circle. Having worked at a pizza place for around a year, I know what need to be done. So I proceeded to spread the dough out a little, and then spin it up into the air like a small pizza. Having not seen this before, my family thought this was hilarious, and maybe impressive (not sure). But it worked, and breaking a gender role norm here was something I have wanted to do since being here. I could only accomplish this after having established myself with the men of the community, something which has been no problem. I jump into doing tasks outside, grazing our sheep, building the shed, and other laborious acts. The other day I even rode our donkey to get water, but this time rather with a family member, I was all by myself. My family was initially worried, but after all went well they were fine. I do enjoy riding the donkey, and hope that in my final site, I can be in a situation where I can have a donkey or camel to get work done. Not for recreation.
So I find out my final site in the coming days… by the time this is posted it will be two days away. I am really excited, and it kind of feels like Christmas. I have had interviews and stated various preferences, and I know all of the possible sites. So I have preferred sites naturally, and it feels like I know what I might be getting, but never 100% until the day of finding out.
I really enjoy this site here (O-Ville is gorgeous), but I will be ready for a fresh start, and a site of my own, where I can get to know and integrate into a community. Class everyday is never fun, and I feel that I will have the language I need to go on my own, as long as I keep studying and using the language.
I hope to post some pictures, and those of you who are on facebook have seen a few. But I hope more specific pictures come, and I can post a couple of them here.
I wish everyone the best, wherever you are, and hope to talk to you soon. I will probably have a mailing address in the next few weeks, and will let you know when that is taken care of completely. I cannot post the address, but you can e-mail me for it.
Much Love!
Me
Being an environmental volunteer, we naturally do activities geared toward the environment. The other day we conducted a program and tree planting with students in the local school. It was in the local language, so having a script was good to do. Students were from the ages 6-12. Our group made a simple presentation about how you need to plant trees when you remove them. Since wood is harvested here for heating, it was important. Basically we had some of the kids stand as trees and animals in a forest. The PCT’s were harvesting the wood for various reasons, and not replanting. When the last person came to get wood, there was no wood, and we asked where all the homes of the animals went, and naturally they were gone, and the animals died. It was simple, but straightforward. We also had people littering, and we “schuma”ed them. Basically this means to give them shame until they picked up their litter and put it in a trash bin. We then planted 12 trees, 7 olives, 3 walnuts, 2 apples.
The kids got super involved, picking up trash, and helping to plant the trees. The ground here is really rocky, so digging was crazy difficult. But in the end, we planted the trees, made some friends, and when we talked to the kids after to see what they had learned, our point had gotten across. I can only hope that they spread the word and do their part, and we left a lasting impression. Overall, I think that this was a great starting point for the work I will be doing on my own. It also gives me a presentation that I can use elsewhere in Morocco. One of the most important things I learned while teaching is not to re-create the wheel, you just have to refine ideas to fit your goals and purposes.
I have also been baking bread, and cooking a little bit. It has been difficult to get into the kitchen. The reason is that in Morocco, it is a women’s place. So for me to break the norm and learn to cook is kind of an off the wall idea in the conservative village. I also believe that my father does not like me interacting with women around my age (sister is 22). But that is just the way it goes.
BUT, when I have gotten into the kitchen, I have been able to make bread from scratch, and help cook a few meals. For some reason baking bread is extremely relaxing. It is strenuous don’t get me wrong, but I suppose it is a stress relief in a way. The most entertaining part of baking bread was after I had the dough all ready, and I have to spread it out in a circle. Having worked at a pizza place for around a year, I know what need to be done. So I proceeded to spread the dough out a little, and then spin it up into the air like a small pizza. Having not seen this before, my family thought this was hilarious, and maybe impressive (not sure). But it worked, and breaking a gender role norm here was something I have wanted to do since being here. I could only accomplish this after having established myself with the men of the community, something which has been no problem. I jump into doing tasks outside, grazing our sheep, building the shed, and other laborious acts. The other day I even rode our donkey to get water, but this time rather with a family member, I was all by myself. My family was initially worried, but after all went well they were fine. I do enjoy riding the donkey, and hope that in my final site, I can be in a situation where I can have a donkey or camel to get work done. Not for recreation.
So I find out my final site in the coming days… by the time this is posted it will be two days away. I am really excited, and it kind of feels like Christmas. I have had interviews and stated various preferences, and I know all of the possible sites. So I have preferred sites naturally, and it feels like I know what I might be getting, but never 100% until the day of finding out.
I really enjoy this site here (O-Ville is gorgeous), but I will be ready for a fresh start, and a site of my own, where I can get to know and integrate into a community. Class everyday is never fun, and I feel that I will have the language I need to go on my own, as long as I keep studying and using the language.
I hope to post some pictures, and those of you who are on facebook have seen a few. But I hope more specific pictures come, and I can post a couple of them here.
I wish everyone the best, wherever you are, and hope to talk to you soon. I will probably have a mailing address in the next few weeks, and will let you know when that is taken care of completely. I cannot post the address, but you can e-mail me for it.
Much Love!
Me
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Great Weather Again!!!
I hope that everyone is doing well wherever you are. I am doing pretty well here in O-ville, and other than the sinus infection I seem to constantly be fighting off, I am in good health and spirit.
Culture is a wonderful thing. I may have already said this, and certainly will say it much more in my two plus years here as a volunteer, but it truly is special. I have been placed in a very rural conservative setting. This of course has its ups (and downs). One of these ups is the maintenance of what I like to call “purity of culture.” I didn’t really notice until the other day how incredibly “pure” my village is compared to larger towns and cities.
My example is this: I have a souk (market) town approx. 7km from my village, walking of course. So this is about 1-ish hour from me. I recently met a current volunteer from that town, and he explained to me that he has had a difficult time learning the language. It may well be possible that he just is not great at learning languages, or did not put forth a good effort, I don’t know for sure. BUT, he told me that in his town 60 percent of people speak Darija (Moroccan Arabic), and the rest speak a mix of the local dialect of Tamazight. Contrast this with my village, where around 95 percent of the people speak in the local Tamazight dialect.
The reason in difference is that the souk town is the biggest town around for about 15km, and sits on paved roads that go from the big city (60 km) to smaller cities (30km from here). This allows a penetration of Darija from travelers and sellers. This particular region sits at the crossroads of the three main languages of Morocco (Tam, Tash, Darija), and since Darija is the national language, every person is taught this in school, and Tashalheet and Tamazight are not written languages.
In addition to the above, 95% of television programming in Morocco is in Darija, and roughly only 1 hour is given per day to the other Berber languages (15 minutes or so a piece). Most every family here in my village has satellite TV (the town received electricity in 2002), and therefore they see Darija whenever watching the TV.
As I said, I live in a conservative place. It is rural, and going out at night almost never occurs. This is partly because it is dangerous (dogs and wild pigs), but more-so because there is no reason to go out past dark here. Women here are covered except their faces and hands/feet. Men and women should not be alone together unless family, or if a large age gap exists. The language reflects this incredibly. The word for my friend here is “amdakal”. This is for male friends. I make it feminine by adding “T’s” to both ends creating “Tamadakalt.” If I tell people that I am talking to a female friend, it automatically turns into a girlfriend with romantic implications. So when I try to say I was talking to a female friend who is a PCV here in Morocco, it can be difficult to explain that “yes in fact I have female friends” and “No, they are not my girlfriend.”
So as I said satellite TV is ultra prevalent. I can turn on the TV, watch CNN international, Travel channel, discovery, BBC, Al Jazeera international. Every country in the NAME region (North Africa Middle East) has a channel, and I can see channels from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia to Morocco. I watch a morning show/soap opera (well my family does) that is out of Mexico (dubbed). There are also music channels with pop music from Europe and the NAME region (MTV arabiya). Needless to say, the onslaught of outside cultures and pressures exists. Sometimes I see things on the TV that are completely risqué for the culture norms here, and I wonder what my family thinks about all of this pressure. Generally, refer to the movie “Footloose” to see this is action.
So as I said, the purity of this culture, and the culture in general (language, norms) is slowly dying. I can’t help but feel sad to know that the culture is changing, but at the same time I know I cannot act innocent as if I am not a part of that change due to any sort of influence I have here or wherever my final site is located. As I said in the beginning, I feel kind of fortunate to be able to see a place that is more pure, and less influenced by the outside world. I am sure I will talk more about this in the future, because it is quite important to me.
So the weather has finally broken, and we got our first nasty spell of rain, hail, and cold weather. (Cold being about 50ish degrees during the day.) But I did wake up to see a rainbow today, and seeing pea-sized hail falling for 10 straight minutes was pretty nifty as well.
The language learning continues, and is going well I feel. I feel like I have gone from being a newborn to being about 5 or 6 now. Hopefully the rate of growth continues, and by the time I leave I can be on my way to becoming mostly fluent. As many of you know, I am hardest on myself, and constantly am asking myself what else I can be doing.
My family is adorable. They treat me so well, the food is great, and they try to make me feel at home. Sometimes they try to help too much, and really kind of smother me, for example when turning the light on for the toilet outside or getting the water kettle to wash my face/ brush my teeth. I have come to learn that Moroccans have little, if any, private time, and for an American who has their own bubble and personal space and distance it can be difficult at times. Sometimes I really do feel like I am 5 all over again and cannot go places on my own without a battle and most certainly an escort. So as I said my family is adorable, and my host sister and mother seem to always be happy and chipper. This is always good to see. My brothers are at school during the week 30 km away, and so it is just my father, mother, and sister. My father is ill so much of the typical work done by males is done by my mother. I try to help out where I can by getting water from the spring, or helping to graze the sheep/goat, or feed the hens/rooster.
Overall, it is still funny to think that less than a month ago I was back in Ohio doing the complete opposite of what I do here.
Oh yeah, on April 15th I find out my final site placement. It is determined by the following:
- Interview about technical skills
- Adaptability in training
- Language Learning
- Technical Background
I am quite excited. While I am open and receptive to wherever I might be placed, I certainly enjoy the seclusion and experience I have had here in O-ville. So hopefully the match my program manager makes is a good one, and I look forward to that day. I like training and all, but am ready to be out on my own.
I leave this post with a quote from the autobiography of David Attenbourough, which I am currently reading (Thanks Danielle for this book!). For those that do not know D.A. by name, he is a famous British naturalist, and pioneer of television nature shows (like going to places and filming). He narrates many a nature show, including the famous BBC version of “Planet Earth” (the American version has Sigourney Weaver narrating… same video though). This man is probably one of my heroes, and this quote just says a lot for me (specifically the final portion):
“I did not make them (videos) because I had some premonition of an eco-disaster. I did so because I know no pleasure deeper than that which comes from contemplating the natural world and trying to understand it.”
Much Love!
Me!
Culture is a wonderful thing. I may have already said this, and certainly will say it much more in my two plus years here as a volunteer, but it truly is special. I have been placed in a very rural conservative setting. This of course has its ups (and downs). One of these ups is the maintenance of what I like to call “purity of culture.” I didn’t really notice until the other day how incredibly “pure” my village is compared to larger towns and cities.
My example is this: I have a souk (market) town approx. 7km from my village, walking of course. So this is about 1-ish hour from me. I recently met a current volunteer from that town, and he explained to me that he has had a difficult time learning the language. It may well be possible that he just is not great at learning languages, or did not put forth a good effort, I don’t know for sure. BUT, he told me that in his town 60 percent of people speak Darija (Moroccan Arabic), and the rest speak a mix of the local dialect of Tamazight. Contrast this with my village, where around 95 percent of the people speak in the local Tamazight dialect.
The reason in difference is that the souk town is the biggest town around for about 15km, and sits on paved roads that go from the big city (60 km) to smaller cities (30km from here). This allows a penetration of Darija from travelers and sellers. This particular region sits at the crossroads of the three main languages of Morocco (Tam, Tash, Darija), and since Darija is the national language, every person is taught this in school, and Tashalheet and Tamazight are not written languages.
In addition to the above, 95% of television programming in Morocco is in Darija, and roughly only 1 hour is given per day to the other Berber languages (15 minutes or so a piece). Most every family here in my village has satellite TV (the town received electricity in 2002), and therefore they see Darija whenever watching the TV.
As I said, I live in a conservative place. It is rural, and going out at night almost never occurs. This is partly because it is dangerous (dogs and wild pigs), but more-so because there is no reason to go out past dark here. Women here are covered except their faces and hands/feet. Men and women should not be alone together unless family, or if a large age gap exists. The language reflects this incredibly. The word for my friend here is “amdakal”. This is for male friends. I make it feminine by adding “T’s” to both ends creating “Tamadakalt.” If I tell people that I am talking to a female friend, it automatically turns into a girlfriend with romantic implications. So when I try to say I was talking to a female friend who is a PCV here in Morocco, it can be difficult to explain that “yes in fact I have female friends” and “No, they are not my girlfriend.”
So as I said satellite TV is ultra prevalent. I can turn on the TV, watch CNN international, Travel channel, discovery, BBC, Al Jazeera international. Every country in the NAME region (North Africa Middle East) has a channel, and I can see channels from Saudi Arabia to Tunisia to Morocco. I watch a morning show/soap opera (well my family does) that is out of Mexico (dubbed). There are also music channels with pop music from Europe and the NAME region (MTV arabiya). Needless to say, the onslaught of outside cultures and pressures exists. Sometimes I see things on the TV that are completely risqué for the culture norms here, and I wonder what my family thinks about all of this pressure. Generally, refer to the movie “Footloose” to see this is action.
So as I said, the purity of this culture, and the culture in general (language, norms) is slowly dying. I can’t help but feel sad to know that the culture is changing, but at the same time I know I cannot act innocent as if I am not a part of that change due to any sort of influence I have here or wherever my final site is located. As I said in the beginning, I feel kind of fortunate to be able to see a place that is more pure, and less influenced by the outside world. I am sure I will talk more about this in the future, because it is quite important to me.
So the weather has finally broken, and we got our first nasty spell of rain, hail, and cold weather. (Cold being about 50ish degrees during the day.) But I did wake up to see a rainbow today, and seeing pea-sized hail falling for 10 straight minutes was pretty nifty as well.
The language learning continues, and is going well I feel. I feel like I have gone from being a newborn to being about 5 or 6 now. Hopefully the rate of growth continues, and by the time I leave I can be on my way to becoming mostly fluent. As many of you know, I am hardest on myself, and constantly am asking myself what else I can be doing.
My family is adorable. They treat me so well, the food is great, and they try to make me feel at home. Sometimes they try to help too much, and really kind of smother me, for example when turning the light on for the toilet outside or getting the water kettle to wash my face/ brush my teeth. I have come to learn that Moroccans have little, if any, private time, and for an American who has their own bubble and personal space and distance it can be difficult at times. Sometimes I really do feel like I am 5 all over again and cannot go places on my own without a battle and most certainly an escort. So as I said my family is adorable, and my host sister and mother seem to always be happy and chipper. This is always good to see. My brothers are at school during the week 30 km away, and so it is just my father, mother, and sister. My father is ill so much of the typical work done by males is done by my mother. I try to help out where I can by getting water from the spring, or helping to graze the sheep/goat, or feed the hens/rooster.
Overall, it is still funny to think that less than a month ago I was back in Ohio doing the complete opposite of what I do here.
Oh yeah, on April 15th I find out my final site placement. It is determined by the following:
- Interview about technical skills
- Adaptability in training
- Language Learning
- Technical Background
I am quite excited. While I am open and receptive to wherever I might be placed, I certainly enjoy the seclusion and experience I have had here in O-ville. So hopefully the match my program manager makes is a good one, and I look forward to that day. I like training and all, but am ready to be out on my own.
I leave this post with a quote from the autobiography of David Attenbourough, which I am currently reading (Thanks Danielle for this book!). For those that do not know D.A. by name, he is a famous British naturalist, and pioneer of television nature shows (like going to places and filming). He narrates many a nature show, including the famous BBC version of “Planet Earth” (the American version has Sigourney Weaver narrating… same video though). This man is probably one of my heroes, and this quote just says a lot for me (specifically the final portion):
“I did not make them (videos) because I had some premonition of an eco-disaster. I did so because I know no pleasure deeper than that which comes from contemplating the natural world and trying to understand it.”
Much Love!
Me!
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