More Details to Come later...

Hello everyone and thank you for all of the wonderful birthday wishes!

As I mentioned before, I travelled to Rabat last Wednesday (for what I thought was an allergic reaction). I ended up spending a whole week in the capitol city, as the wonderful Peace Corps doctors monitored my liver and other symptoms. To make a very long story short...I am fine! I suffered from an unexplained virus which hit me harder than I usually like to be hit...but allowed me to spend my 24th birthday in one of the most amazing cities I've ever been to.

Three is so much to tell about the city, the beach, the history, the shopping, the new languages...it was sensory overload (oh and did I mention the food!). I hope to go into much more details in a later blog post, but I wanted to reassure everyone that I am healthy and rejuvinated. I look forward to getting back to my site (today!) after two full days of travel from rabat (which included a train, a bus, a grand taxi ride, a petit taxi ride, and a tranzit ride...basically every form of transportaion...except donkey...but the day is still young).

Have a wonderful day!

My birthday in Morocco!

Hello from Rabat (the capitol of Morocco)!

As some of you may know, I am in the capitol city because I had a few health issues and was summoned to the Peace Corps offices to get a full check up. I wanted to send a quick post to reassure that I am fine, I am enjoying ALL of the luxuries of the cities (including stores-with posted prices and cash registers, sushi, hot showers, and television--with the world cup). Although my birthday did not entail the relaxing weekend in the mountains, that I originally planned, I have readjusted my plans and have learned to enjoy the city (while my time here last). My travels here took me a full day and will likely take me TWO to get home. I hope to eleaborate more about the frustrations, journeys, language, and all sorts of other details about this beautiful city...at a later point.

In the meantime, I hope that you all enjoy international free slurpee day! Visit your local 7 Eleven for a free 7.11 ounce slurpee...please drink a cherry one on my behalf (needless to say...they do not have 7 Elevens in Morocco...although they have McDonalds, KFC, and other non-slurpee serving food chains)

Back when I first started…

I can’t believe that this Thursday (July 1st) will mark my 4 month anniversary (no…I don’t think it’s been too short of a time to call it an anniversary) with the Peace Corps. Really, the journey started over 2 years ago, when I first submitted my application in January of 2008. However, I won’t count back that far…

July 1st will also mark the first night that I will spend (alone) in my new home. The house on the top of the hill, which you can see almost all of the surrounding duwars from, will be my new abode. With four bedrooms (one reserved for my future furry companion), a kitchen, a bathroom (with a shower!), and a garden in the outdoor courtyard that connects of the rooms…this is my new home. Although it was previously the former volunteer’s house…it has been transformed (literally…tons of repairs have been done) physically and psychologically to be my new refuge and safe space. It’s the place where I will likely cry from frustration, the place where I will contemplate leaving Morocco when times get really tough (I’m sure this will happen AT LEAST once a month), the place that will be filled with laughter when other volunteers come to visit, and it will be the place where I learn to truly live the Moroccan way (with a buta gas EVERYTHING…I will heat water, light my stove, warm my oven, and warm my bedroom with a butagas tank). Not to mention, this is also the place where I saw my first scorpion (I guess I’ll be living with a few more “companions” then I originally expected).

With all of that said and done, with the MANY downs and ups that I’ve experience in the past four months…I have spent a lot of time reflecting (when I haven’t been moving all of my stuff from one town to the other…via bicycle…on unpaved roads…as I weave in and out of the grazing sheep). I remember reading the first journal entry from my first day in Morocco…I always enjoy reminiscing on my thoughts, feelings, anxieties, and expectations from before. This journal entry has been my motivation to dig deeper, share more, and experience everything to a greater degree…there is so much that I had dreamed of for this experience. Athough I have already been blow away by the many things and people I’ve encountered (in good and bad ways)…I still have 22 amazing months to live in a world so far from the one that I am used to…and to become a wiser person because of it.

March 3, 2010
Dar Journal,

All of the buildup, the anxiety, the waiting, the excitement, and the frustration ...and I’m finally here! I’m in Morocco as a Peace Corps trainee and I’m determined to become a Peace Corps volunteer. I can never understand how I get so worked up for trips (Australia, Uganda, etc.) and once I set food on home soil…it’s calm…Peace…like a quite, serene lake. It feels so good stepping out of the Casablanca airport, it feels like I’m at home but I don’t have any memories. I’m sure that will change soon.
Today was the beginning of in-country Peace Corps training. Yesterday (two days ago, East Coast time) I said goodbye to Mom and Aunt mom at the hotel n 4th and Arch in Philadelphia. Just months ago, I had been dropped of there to attend the PAHA conference where I was nervous about the presentation I was going to give…I thought I was nervous then? As we drove to Philly and [I] felt all of the could-have-been memories between the three of us, over the next 27 months, I wondered…’what could be better than being with the people I love? Why am I leaving this?” But I knew in the back of my heard that this was something I really wanted and needed in my life. I couldn’t quite articulate it at the time but I knew it was there.
So I went through the motion at staging [in country training] and as I met ore and more people, I began to engage. I quickly found out [the other PC trainees’] names, where they were from, and where they went to school…but then I began to see an emotional/personal layer of the “human onion” that usually takes several layers[and lots of time] to reveal. I saw the aspirations, the hopes, and the fears that [we all] had for this [new] experience. We had become a family…a young one, still learning our roles and our fellow family members, but we were a group of people who never had to justify whey were doing Peace Corps [to each other]. That is what reminded me…why I’m here. Because I want to surround myself with people and [an] environment that will push me and allow me to push them. I want to improve myself and my surrounding…and do it on a global stage. I had fallen back in love with the Peace Corps…my Peace Corps experience…and I had never had a better sleep.

So today, as I rest my head on my pillow in Marrakech where I have officially been welcome by my new Moroccan family (Peace Corps Morocco staff)…I’m ready to explore my new home (the ups, the downs, and everything in between).

Good night,
Ayanna

Finding a Home in Morocco…

The past two weeks have been great for my language, but bad for my nerves. I recently began a comprehensive housing search in my community. You would think that with 40 duwars (communities) and 20,000 people…there has got to be a dream house (or apartment) waiting for me. Right?…well, things aren’t always as they seem. I guess I will start from the beginning…I’ll warn you know, this is a long story!

Two months ago, as part of my training, I visited my site for a week so that I could get accustomed to the language (which varies depending on the region) and my future community. This was also an important time for me to get as much information from the volunteer that I would be replacing. When I returned to my site, for the long haul, the previous volunteer had left and I was on my own. During that first week, I tried to learn as much as possible about the community, from another volunteer’s perspective, before I was left to fend for myself (and trust in my language skills). One of the things I inquired about was his housing search. At the time, he was living in a house that was surrounded by the sbitar and the elementary school (two important places of work for health volunteers), but was fairly isolated from the larger duwars and there weren’t many neighbors around. Although the lack of neighbors was a downer, the real let-down was when I entered the house. I was greeted by a dog, a pet, and a ton of trash and dog waste all over the garden that was in the middle of the courtyard, and a house that (in general) was in disarray. I should explain that the volunteer was 5 days away from leaving the country and had a lot of packing and cleaning (obviously) to do. So I did not see the house in its best state. Also, I quickly realized that the kitchen AND the outside of the bathroom did not have a door on it…which was concerning because the flies go crazy (in the summer) and the snow can be a bit of a nuisance during the winter…not to mention the wind that sweeps across the mountain top EVERY afternoon. As I mentioned before…I didn’t see the house in its finest state and I was not impressed.

So I left my site visit, and retuned to my training site, expecting to find my own new house for my Peace Corps experience. The former volunteer has mentioned that he had not put much energy into his house search and quickly settled on the house used by the previous volunteer (I failed to mention that the two previous volunteers had lived at this same house…so this house has become associated with Peace Corps volunteers). So I was excited (and determined) to search throughout the entire mountain top…well, really the five or six duwars, which are in reasonable distance to the sbitar, the suok, and the government buildings (schools, associations, commune, etc.). I was really excited to conduct my first ‘international housing search’ and to test out my language skills.

So, once I came back to site, to officially begin my service, I took a few weeks to get accustomed to the people and my new schedule…and then I got down to business. I began to ask anyone and everyone that I knew about houses that were available on throughout the mountain. I quickly realized a few things about my community that never quite struck me before.

1.) To my surprise, a lot of the women that I asked has no clue about housing option in their duwar (town) or outside of their duwar. At first, I thought this was strange, but then I realized that the work of the women (for the most part) is in the house (preparing meals, doing house work, harvesting crops and storing them so that they can be used to make bread or other meals, etc.). Also, women spend a large chunk of time, each day, in the fields. During the summer months, the women in my host family go to the fields three times a day to weed upcoming crops, harvest wheat and barley, and to help prepare the newly harvested fields for the next crop (corn…yum!). There isn’t much time for the women to travel from one duwar to another, unless they are going to visit family or (on a rare occasion) are going to suok. On the flip side, men are typically the travelers who go to suok to purchase food and products for the family. Also, it is perfectly acceptable for men to take tea breaks to go to the nearest hanut (local store) to sit and chat with other men about…well, stuff. Also, in Morocco, families are based on the paternal lineage. When a man and women get married, the wife moves into the house of her husband and becomes a part of her husband’s family unit, which likely includes the wives and children of her husbands’ brothers (who also incorporated their family into their family unit. Therefore, when looking for houses…it is almost certain that the house will be owned by a man, even if the head of the family is a widow. Does it sound odd? If so, take a second look at the typical family (and work/family balance) structure in the U.S….you may find more similarities than you would have expected.
2.) I learned that there is a completely different concept of knowledge in my community (granted some of my perceptions of this may be blurred by my language skills). As I asked around if people knew about available houses and homes, I realized that I had to be very clear about what I wanted. I quickly perfected the phrase, “ihssa ad kruie yat tadart, digs lbit lma, lbit n lhit, lbit n tefeza, d lkuzina. Awd, digs aman d bula. Is imkin?” (I want to rent a house that has a bathroom, a bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen. Also, it should have water and electricity. Is it possible?) The first time I asked about a house, I failed to mention my need for doors on rooms or privacy, not having other people come in and out of the house, etc. So, as the weeks went on, my “renting” vocabulary became very polished. Anywho, each time that I would ask someone if they knew of a house (with my running list of necessities), people would say “yes, I know of a house”. I would get exciting, we would arrange a time to see the house (usually the next day), and then I would come and would realize that there actually wasn’t a house, or it didn’t have electricity or water, or that it was a group house and I would be sharing it with five other people…more like a dormitory (no thank you…2 years of being an RA and I’m over dorm life!). To get to the point…I learned that people are very willing to give information…so willing to help, that it may not actually be the type of help that you need (but the effort is appreciated).
3.) I also learned that things don’t always happen as they do on the home&gardening channel. Just because you set out looking for your “dream house”…it doesn’t mean that you will find it (or find it for the right price…and trust me there is a “right price” according to Peace Corps).

So…where does this leave me. Well, it leaves me without a house (as of yet). I’ve searched around the mountain top for houses, apartments, and even caves (just kidding, I’m not that desperate). Ideally, my “dream house” would be a house that is surrounded by lots of neighbors (that I can get to know and can call on for help when I see my first scorpion…which hopefully won’t happen), a house that has a lot of windows (so I can absorb the sun in the cold cold winters), and place that I have enough space and privacy that I can have a refuge. In some ways, I don’t think I’m asking for too much…but then again, I have to put everything in perspective. There are over 100 teachers that are renting houses in the mountain top (that’s for over 20 schools) and that’s a lot of houses that are already full. There isn’t a huge real estate market in rural Morocco…so houses aren’t exactly built to sell/rent, I have to rely on someone having an extra abode. And, the concept of privacy is very different here…so me finding a place of refuge (just me) is going to be tougher than expected.

With all of that said…I’m up for the challenge. I’m ready to start week three of the housing hunt. I don’t know how it will turn out, in the end (which will hopefully be soon), but I do know that it takes more than a couple of windows, some privacy, and neighbors to make a house into a home. The home is a place …where the heart is (just kidding, that’s a little too cliché). A home is what you make of it…and Morocco is already my home…I just have to find my own mini-Morocco (and add a little bit of USA). I’m exhausted from biking from duwar to duwar (sometimes realizing there is no home to be seen), but my language has improved greatly and I have met some amazing and extremely helpful people along the way. This isn’t the way I would have planned my housing search…but God’s plan is always better than my plan…that’s why I’ve come to expect the unexpected.

Hopefully, in my next email update, you will get a chance to see a picture of my fabulous new home! Until then…wish me happy house searching.

Sidenote: It is not a Peace Corps requirement that a house has running water…however, there is a river nearby that has varying levels of water each year and would require water treatment (by moi) and I would like to go without constantly carrying my water to my house (every day)…call it “Posh Corps” but that is my personal requirement.

Moroccan Recipe

Food tastes great all over the world! Everywhere I have been, I have found a favorite dish. In Australia, it was crocodile…in Uganda, it was goat…I haven’t found a favorite dish yet (it’s too soon to tell), but this is a dish that is certainly in the running.

I thought that I might share it with you, in case you want to experience a small piece of Morocco. This recipe was taken from the fabulous Peace Corps Morocco cookbook, which was put together by dozens of PCVs (past and present) and is written from a U.S. native perspective. So keep in mind that the Moroccan version of this dish would not involve a lot of measurements and cooktimes because the recipe would most likely come from family tradition (and not a cookbook). None the less, enjoy!

Cookware Needed:
Couscousierie
Sifter
Grader
Knives/cutting board

Recipe for Cous Cous
Prep time- approx. 3 hours
1 kg semoul gros (lg grain semolina)
1 kg beef, lamb or chicken (be sure to keep some bone and some fat)
salt, pepper, smen(fermented butter)
fresh coriander
3-4 med onions, coarsely chopped
4-6 med tomaoes, peeled and grated
1 kg carrots (or a little less), cut in half lenghtwise and cored
4-6 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
½ o ¾ kg pumpkin, peeled and cut into med chunks
handful chickpeas-soaked overnight and skinned

Chop meat into med to large pieces. Wash to clean away sm bone chiops and dry. Begin cooking in bottom of couscousiere with ¼ to ½ cup oil (don’t use olive oil). Add aprox. 2 tablespoons of salt and ½ to ¾ teaspoons of pepper, sm bunch of tied cilantro, onions, tomatoes. Stir and cover. In approx 3 min, add 3 litres of water-when water boils, add carrots and chickpeas. Sift and clean couscous grains. Work enough saltwater into it (with your hands) so that it begins to swell. Sift again and throw out any course pieces. Put into top portion of couscousiere and place on tops of meat and vegetables. Tie a clother around where sections fit together to block escape of steam. Steam for 30 to 40 min.

1st Fluffing: Work in water and fluff with hands until grains fall seartately. Return to steam for 45 min.

2nd Fluffing: Work salted water into couscous and 1-2 tablespoons oil and fluff until grains fall separate again. Return to steam for 20 min. Add zucchini and pumpkin and couple of whole peeled tomatoes on top. Add a few whole cloves.

3rd Fluffing: Add 2-3 tablespoons smen (fermented butter) and fluff again. When vegetables are done, take out cloves and pile couscous into cone shape on a large plate. Push down center of cone and arrange meat and vegetables putting the meat on the cous cous first (vegetables to follow). Place vegetables, in a decorative pattern, on top of couscous. Spoon some sauce over all and serve addition sauce on side.

*Eating Instructions*Now that you are finished, enjoy your cous cous with a spoon or with your hands. Most Moroccan dishes that I have experienced, especially cous cous, is eaten communely. So sit around the table, with the dish in the middle, and be sure to eat only the food in the triangle in front of you. When eating with your hand, use your right hand (only) to gently mash and toss small amounts of cous cous so that they are molded into balls (slightly larger than a golf ball). Toss it into your mouth and enjoy! If you make a mess and look ridiculous, then you are doing it right…it takes lots of time and practice to eat couscous quickly and properly (without making a mess), but enjoy the experience!

Communication

I just wanted to say a few quick words about my communication in Morocco. Now that I am finally settled in my lovely site, I have been able to establish a more routine schedule. As many of you know, I do have a Moroccan cell phone, which was basically mandated by Peace Corps so that I can get in touch with them/vice versa in the case of a medical emergency, if an important message needs to be sent, or if someone is just checking in with me. The cell phone coverage in country is very good…about 95% of Morocco is covered by a cell phone network. Although cell phone companies often offer internet services in areas where they are covered, I have not looked into potential internet access in my site (for several reasons).
1.) I don’t have a yearning to check my email or the web everyday. It has been a huge relief to be able to spend more time having personal interactions with people or receiving snail mail from family/loved ones.
2.) I am afraid that internet access (if it is possible at my future house) may hinder my community integration…forcing me to spend more time on gchat or downloading tv shows…then working on my language or learning about the everday lives of my neighbors and friends
3.) Internet is expensive and I make enough to live, but not enough for the luxuries I am accustomed to in the States (which is fine by me)

Although I don’t have regular access to internet, I am in the closest town (it would be a stretch to call it a city) every Wednesday for my language tutoring sessions. There are internet cafes here and I am able to send emails, get updates, etc. So I hope to be able to update the blog on a more regular basis and respond to emails and mail (since there is a post office in this town) on a more regular basis.

A New Site, A New Life

This week marks the end of my second full week at my final site. On May 6th, I left the city of Ouarzazate to travel to my final site. In Ouarzazate, I left many comforts behind, including…the comfort of my fellow trainees (who I can share experiences with and relate to, the comfort of having a language/cultural coordinator (who could always translate for me if and when I got into a bind)…and (most importantly) I left behind the comfort of being a novice to this language and culture.

I’m now officially a volunteer, on my own, and am expected to act as a representative of the Peace Corps and our country. The time for making mistakes (language mess-ups and cultural faux pas) has come and gone. Although, there are still many mistakes that I have yet to make (and surely will in the future), it’s up to me to live with the consequences of those mistakes (whether it is accidentally drinking un-treated water or miscommunicating a meeting time because of my lack of language skills). I’ve found that I have to be on my ‘A’ game all of the time. I have to pay close attention to every word that is said to, always think about what I’m doing/wearing and what impression that gives to other people in my community, and I have to try to look through the lense of another culture. I often ask myself, what would I do if I were a child that had never left the mountain top before and I saw someone from another country, who speaks a different language, and looks nothing like me. I would probably stare in silence as well. The same goes for adults, if I had only ever heard my native tongue and I meet an adult who is only able to talk at a fifth grade level, I would probably expect them to know more and would become frustrated easily.

I’ve never had to think quicker or react calmer than I have in the past two weeks. It’s tough, but the rewards are immeasurable. I live by the motto that everyday has its downs, but they can never outweigh the ‘ups’. I have learned to value the small successes and to try and put the failures/frustrations into perspective. For every person that I meet who is unwilling to listen to my broken Tamazirght, there are three people who are more than happy to welcome me into their home, drink tea with me, and help me learn more about their town, culture, and language. These past two weeks have been a delight. For the next three months, my job will be to perform a community assessment and learn what the health concerns, needs, and resources of the community so that I can formulate a plan (along with the sbitar staff and other community members) on how to address some of these needs. It’s hard to think about what my everyday life will be like after I have performed the community assessment…I imagine that my language will be much better, I will know all of the bike routes between towns (like the back of my hand), and that I will have a much better bearing than I do now. But it’s hard to look that far ahead in the future because everyday poses a new challenge and a new lesson…so I try to stay near-sighted and focus on the here and the now.