Community Based Training

I have passed the one week point and am happy to say that I am adjusting well to Moroccan life. After spending about five days in hotels where we learned more about our training and how to prepare for life in a rural community…w have finally move to our community based training sites (CBTs). I have been placed in a beautiful rural town in the Ouarzazate region that is a beautiful combination of all of the wonders of Moroccan nature. The town is situation near a trickling river that is surrounded by grassland and the farther away from the river you travel it turns into a forest of eucalypts-looking trees (which are my favorite trees) and then the trees slowly turn into sand (we are in the desert) and finally the town is surrounded by mountains (sand mountains). It is the perfect oasis in the desert. I live with a host family and I have my own room on the second floor of their house. I have a host mother, father, 2 sisters, brother-in law, and I believe two younger brothers.

It has been a very interesting first two days at my CBT. I arrive Sunday during the evening and was led to our house by my host sister, Nora. I was greeted by all of the females in the family and my two younger brothers and we sat and had tea together (mint tea is served frequently in Morocco and is a form of hospitality). The next few hours a lot of hand expression were used to communicate. I quickly learned how to say eat and drink (prior to this I was learning Moroccan Arabic but people in my host town usually only speak Tamazirt) because I was oferred a lot of food and a lot of tea. After tea, I was given my Moroccan name, which is pronounced Ha-dee-jah. Although my host family has tried to pronounce my name…it is very difficult for them so (as most PCV volunteers have experienced) I was given a new name and that is how my community identifies me. Also Ayanna (in Moroccan Arabic) means tired or lazy…so it makes for a very interesting first conversation with people.

Over the next two days at my site, my days went something like the following:

6am: Alarm goes off
6:45: Wake up after several snoozes
7am: Eat breakfast with host mom and sister. Breakfast is often bread, tea, olives, and butter
7:45: Walk to school (language courses with the five other PC trainees)
8:00-10:00: Language class with our language and culture coordinator
10:00: Tea (mint tea and bread with cheese)
10:30: more language classes
12:00: Lunch at school
12:45-2:00: Break where we can journal, play soccer, etc.
2:00-4:00: Culture sessions (either group discussion with LCF or assignments that require us to go out into the community and practice our language skills
4:00: More tea
4:30-6:30: More culture and language session
6:30: Head back to our separate host families where we have mint tea, watch Moroccan soap operas (they have them at night…not during the day) and help family cook/prepare meals
9:00 Dinner
9:30: I excuse myself to go to my room (and take some personal time after a long day of learning)
10:00: Go to bed

The days are certainly jammed packed with activity but I am excited about the progress I have made over a few days. I am currently back in the city (for two days of training) but I leave for my host community in a few hours. This time we will be there for two weeks straight. It will hard learning more vocabulary and language skills (especially ones that are related to the health sector) but I am excited to try and form an ultimate Frisbee team and learn more about the nature and environment that surrounds my time. When I get a chance…I will post some pictures of my town and tell you more about my amazing host family.