It's official..I'm a Peace Corps volunteer!

            At last, training is over and I am an official Peace Corps volunteer! We all swore in on May 25 and after a rockin’ night in the city of Ouarzazate, we all went our separate ways to our final sites. Alex (the other volunteer in my staj in the Ouarzazate province) and I had an appointment with the Ministry of Health to obtain some papers so that we could legally work in Morocco. I spent the night with Alexa (another health volunteer who lives close to me and has been here for a year) on Thursday, and we headed back the next day to the city for our meeting at 10:00. Alex was running late due to transportation issues, and as he was calling me at 11:30 telling me he was finally in the city, we were getting told that we had to come back on Monday. When Alexa asked them why we couldn’t do it then and that Alex was on his way, they answered: Just because. Ahhh such is life in Morocco.

On Friday I arrived to my final site, Tamlakout. Apparently, Tamlakout is a big tourist destination due to its incredible hiking opportunities. There are 4 hotels in my site and I am living in one of them. Some of the other volunteers wanted to have me scalped when I told them I had a western toilet and hot showers. However, I do not have a bed, (I know, what’s the point of a hotel if there aren’t any beds?) so it evens out. The first 3-6 months of my service will mainly be me hanging out and integrating with my community. Since there are only 400 people in my village, getting everybody to know who I am won’t be an issue. On my first day I took a walk and it didn’t take me longer than 3 minutes for a large group of women to stop me while they were baking bread and welcome me to their village. EVERYBODY knows my name and tell me that I am welcome to be there. After getting told by 10 women that I should get married, I left, and the next thing I knew I was sitting at somebody’s house and drinking tea. From what I’ve been told, the people in the Ouarzazate region of some of the kindest, so I feel lucky to be here.

Since I am the first volunteer in Tamlakout, I am faced with many challenges. People have no idea what the Peace Corps is and look at me like I’m crazy when I say I will be there for 2 years. While there are volunteers who are replacing each other and are getting projects handed to them, I have to start from scratch. I have no idea what my community needs and with my VERY limited Tashlheet, figuring this out will take me months. While it is daunting having all this free time after 2 months of a rigorous training schedule, I have to admit that I like that my days are all mine. Next week I am going with a large group of volunteers on a backpacking trip in the mountains to talk to nomads about health issues. I’m still not sure of the details of what we are doing, but not only will it be fascinating, it will get me away from my home stay (which will end on July 1^st when I move in to my house!). Needless to say, it should make an interesting blog post.

I’ve been getting a lot of requests for my address and things that I need. I forgot my wish list at home (so I’ll post that list on Sunday when I get internet again) and while I feel a tad guilty posting up things I want, I think I’ll get over it once I’m eating a delicious box of Kraft mac and cheese. I know that sending stuff to Morocco is expensive so even if you want to send a card or letter, I would love it. My address is:

My address is:

BP9 Inghrom N Oudal 45253

Ouarzazate, Morocco

Hope everyone is doing well back home. I love and miss you all.

Two months in Morocco down, only 24 more to go

To be honest with you all, writing in this blog will not be consistent. After being here for 10 weeks I have come to terms with the fact that for the next 2 years internet will be slow and not dependable. That said, I will do my very best to keep you all updated of my whereabouts in Morocco.

I finish training and swear in as an official Peace Corps volunteer on May 25. My job title in the Peace Corps is a Community Health Educator in Rural Morocco. I won’t bore you with my training schedule, however I’ll give you a very brief description of what my life has been like since my arrival in March. There are about 58 of us who arrived together and were broken up in to small groups for training. Four others and I (along with our teacher) have been living in a village 20 minutes away from the city of Ouarzazate called Tazentoute. I have been learning the Berber dialect Tashlheet, which in my opinion is the most confusing and frustrating language on earth. (I mean really, what is the point of conjugating adjectives?) However, I was lucky enough to get placed with an amazing host family who has taken me in as their own. They have demonstrated an immense amount of patience and tell me I speak great Tashlheet, even though I know it’s a lie.

            A month ago our final sites were announced and we were sent to visit our assigned locations for a week. I am going to be living in a very small village (population: 401) an hour and a half away from the city of Ouarzazate called Tamalakort. Tamalakort is nestled at the base of the High Atlas Mountains, and as my new volunteer friend Alexa described, has a lot of character. My second day I decided to go on a walk and as I sat on a mountain and looked around, all I could do was laugh. Here I was, my blonde American self, alone in the middle of Morocco, and all that surrounded me were sheepherders and their sheep. It hit me that this was going to be my life for the next 2 years. In reality, I wanted to cry (and I did this once I got home), however I have accepted that I have many challenges and many more uncomfortable situations in my future, and I need to keep reminding myself that this is what I wanted. After only being in Tamalakort for 5 days, it became clear that the idea of a single 27 year old girl is blasphemy. There were at least eight women in Tamalakort telling me not to worry, they will find me a Moroccan husband. I need to learn how to say “Thanks, but I’ve already been promised to James Franco” in Tashlheet.

            So much has happened since I got here and yet I often don’t have the right words to describe to you all what it’s really been like. Moroccans are probably the most hospitable people on earth. It is difficult to walk through my village without an invitation for tea. I am still trying to conquer the Turkish toilet (for those of you that don’t know what this is, please Google image it immediately) and not a day has passed that I haven’t peed on myself. While rinsing my laundry (Yes I have to hand wash everything) I did loose my underwear to this evil contraption and almost lost a sock as well. I can’t count how many times my family just looks at me and laughs, and I laugh too, still not knowing what the hell is going on. Luckily, I have met some pretty amazing fellow volunteers, and it took many of them no time to comment on my laugh or tell me I walk like a duck.

            There are a bunch of committees within Peace Corps Morocco such as a Gender committee and an HIV/AIDS committee. I ran for the VSN (Volunteer Support Network) committee and was excited that my fellow volunteers voted for me to be their representative. The VSN committee serves as a strong support network for volunteers during their service. I will be traveling to the capital city of Rabat every 3 months for the meetings with other representatives. I am really looking forward to supporting my new friends these next 2 years, as we all know there are many challenging and frustrating days ahead of us.

            The other day my training group had a going away party for our families in Tazentoute. My host brother and his friend (around 9 or 10 years old) were sitting next to us and our cook was serving them food. We asked our cook to stop and made them get up and serve themselves. Although this won’t change their attitude of the role of women in their village, I was overwhelmed with joy as I watched them pour their own drinks without the help of their mothers. While Morocco is a progressive Muslim country, there are still many conservative families, especially in the rural areas. Being the feminist that I am, learning to live in a world where women empowerment isn’t valued will probably be the biggest challenge I will face. These 2 months in Morocco have made it clear to me how lucky I am to be American. 

            Within the next couple weeks I plan on posting a wish list. I welcome any care packages or even letters from you all. I’ve only been here for two months and I already feel terribly homesick, so even a card from my wonderful friends or family members will be greatly appreciated.