...it was awesome. The PC staff guy laid a piece of paper on the ground with a drawing of two footprints and a hole, and then showed us how to use a "Turkish toilet," also known as a "squatty potty." ...complete with how to hand off water from right hand to left, to give a good cleansing. The "eat with the right, wipe with the left" saying is much more than a saying here! It is considered a huge faux pax to eat with the left hand (having been left handed my whole life, I'm shit out of luck, pardon the pun).
I meet my host family tomorrow. I know that I will be living with a family of 4, father works as a school teacher, mom is a house wife, daughter 21 is married and out of the house, and son is 16 and lives at home. I am very fortunate to have my own room (many of the trainees are sharing a room with one or more host family members). Although my daughter would prefer the squatty potty, I'm hoping for a real toilet. Possible because of the area where I'm going. Showers are even less likely, but hey... ya never know.
The hammam is the public bath that most everyone in the community uses, and is like a series of three large sauna/bath rooms where you relax and an attendant scrubs you (for the outrageous price of 10-20 dirham, which is about a buck and a half). It sounds pretty awesome!
There are five other trainees in my CBT ("culturally-based training") Site. A married couple, and three other girls (all 5 are under 24 years old :) We 6 trained here in Rabat and then jump on the bus tomorrow to go to Ifran and continue our training. We each live with a different host family and actually go with our LCF ("language and cultural facilitator, Nadia) (did I mention that acronyms are HUGE here). Then we meet every morning at our LCF's place and resume our language and cultural training, go back to our host families for lunch, and then back to our LCF's place for more of the same. Then its back to the host family, who are dying to talk to us, help us learn, and learn about us. Dinners in Rabat are later than at my Dad and Mom's, typically taking place between 10 and midnight. ...brutal when we have to get up at 6:00am and go right back to it. But... We get Sundays off. Woo hoo!
Okay... midnight and bus leaves at 8:00am tomorrow (and its a clusterf*** moving that many people in any direction). Even though only 6 of us comprise our group, there are 112 trainees leaving tomorrow for different places. Pretty exciting!!!
I meet my host family tomorrow. I know that I will be living with a family of 4, father works as a school teacher, mom is a house wife, daughter 21 is married and out of the house, and son is 16 and lives at home. I am very fortunate to have my own room (many of the trainees are sharing a room with one or more host family members). Although my daughter would prefer the squatty potty, I'm hoping for a real toilet. Possible because of the area where I'm going. Showers are even less likely, but hey... ya never know.
The hammam is the public bath that most everyone in the community uses, and is like a series of three large sauna/bath rooms where you relax and an attendant scrubs you (for the outrageous price of 10-20 dirham, which is about a buck and a half). It sounds pretty awesome!
There are five other trainees in my CBT ("culturally-based training") Site. A married couple, and three other girls (all 5 are under 24 years old :) We 6 trained here in Rabat and then jump on the bus tomorrow to go to Ifran and continue our training. We each live with a different host family and actually go with our LCF ("language and cultural facilitator, Nadia) (did I mention that acronyms are HUGE here). Then we meet every morning at our LCF's place and resume our language and cultural training, go back to our host families for lunch, and then back to our LCF's place for more of the same. Then its back to the host family, who are dying to talk to us, help us learn, and learn about us. Dinners in Rabat are later than at my Dad and Mom's, typically taking place between 10 and midnight. ...brutal when we have to get up at 6:00am and go right back to it. But... We get Sundays off. Woo hoo!
Okay... midnight and bus leaves at 8:00am tomorrow (and its a clusterf*** moving that many people in any direction). Even though only 6 of us comprise our group, there are 112 trainees leaving tomorrow for different places. Pretty exciting!!!
Sounds like you are having quite the experience! Good luck with the toliet situation! I look forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! I am exhausted with your schedule and activity level. Good thing you are younger than me---Ooohhh ya, you AREN'T lol. You go old man--change the world. I am living vicariosly through you :) I love your blog. Honestly, I can hear your voice saying the words as I read them and LOVE IT. Be safe xo
ReplyDeleteyou will appreciate the footprints soon enough...strengthens the thighs and now your legs are straight...should be not problem for you...except of course if you blow out your knee again,...because the last thing you want to is sit on those footprints...!
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