Well.. The weather is schizophrenic (whoa... I wondered why my spell check didn't underline that word in red, and then realized I actually spelled it right the first time; that's like winning the lottery). We've had some pretty warm and beautiful days surrounded by cold, rain, and snow. It is so f***ing cold going to sleep that the number of blankets I need to keep warm could actually crush me to death.
Buds came up from Azrou last weekend and we had a great time! Even better, a few of us are going to Azrou on Saturday and actually staying the night in a couple of hotel rooms, and meeting some other buds from Fez and Immouzar. It should be awesome!!!
I haven't blogged in a bit because of a lack of internet, and now I'm freezing my f***ing butt off in a ciber (internet cafe), and so I'm abbreviating much of what's happened lately.
We filled out our "site placement preference" sheet and turned it in a couple of days ago. Basically us telling PC where we want to locate for our two-year site. Morocco has such diverse topography, climate, populations, etc., that its difficult to even decide where I might want to be (not that its guaranteed, but they pay lip service to trying to place you in your preferred setting). There's the coast, which is, of course, awesome, whether its the Mediterranean or the Atlantic (there are some unbelievable spots, as you can imagine), but everyone and there brother wants those sites, and when you list your site preference, you're supposed to be explaining why the site fits your skills or otherwise benefits the PC, and trying to find a PCPC (Peace Corps politically correct) reason why the coast is going to benefit the PC is pretty difficult.
Then there's urban vs. rural, and desert vs. mountains. Rural can be pretty rural (no running water, electricity, etc), and urban can be pretty crazy. Desert sites get up to 130F in the summer and mountains get down to.... well, shit, pretty much what I'm experiencing right this minute. Obviously, my thinking right now is to get someplace warm, but if I'm sitting in 130 degrees, I'm going to be begging for this weather!
...so anyway. I asked for moderate climate and a more rural setting. I didn't even pretend that those choices would somehow benefit the PC, other than to say at my age, extreme temperatures could kill me :)
The teaching has been interesting because it gives a little insight into what I'll be doing in a few short weeks. Really, though, its quasi-teaching at best because there are a bunch of us "co-teaching" and its spring camp, so mostly pretty informal lessons. But, we have three PCV's (Peace Corps Volunteers; we're just lowly PCT's or Peace Corps Trainees) come up from various sites to help us (one guy came from near the Algerian border, which is a 20+ hour bus ride). But it does help to talk to these guys who've been in-country for 19 months. They have very different sites and different ways of teaching at their Dar Chabab, but I'm glad to have had a chance to talk to them. ...and the kids are great and really like us.
The particular Dar Chabab in Ifrane, is super-nice, as you can imagine, with a soccer field (with artificial turf), pool, ping pong, aerobics, tai kwan do, etc., so it totally spoils us for our ultimate site, which will most likely be a sh... well... not nearly as nice.
My language is getting better, but the thought that I will be "language-ready" in 5 weeks to go out and run my own Dar Chabab is pretty funny. If they want to know my name, where I'm from, how to by candy at the Hanoot, and how to say mom and dad, I'm set! One of the PCV's who's been in-country 19 months seems to have even less Darija as me, if that's possible, and he says he just relies on the stronger english-speaking kids in his language lessons to pretty much keep things flowing, so I guess it all works.
I'll post a picture of me so you can see how awesomely young and cool I look. Gonna sign off.... I came in here to Skype Lex, Ry, and Mia, but Skype (or my computer) is having a definite problem).
Needless to say, I miss everyone and wish many times that I was there, but it really is pretty amazing here, and I'm so glad I'm doing this!!! I'll be in touch!
Bslama!
Buds came up from Azrou last weekend and we had a great time! Even better, a few of us are going to Azrou on Saturday and actually staying the night in a couple of hotel rooms, and meeting some other buds from Fez and Immouzar. It should be awesome!!!
I haven't blogged in a bit because of a lack of internet, and now I'm freezing my f***ing butt off in a ciber (internet cafe), and so I'm abbreviating much of what's happened lately.
We filled out our "site placement preference" sheet and turned it in a couple of days ago. Basically us telling PC where we want to locate for our two-year site. Morocco has such diverse topography, climate, populations, etc., that its difficult to even decide where I might want to be (not that its guaranteed, but they pay lip service to trying to place you in your preferred setting). There's the coast, which is, of course, awesome, whether its the Mediterranean or the Atlantic (there are some unbelievable spots, as you can imagine), but everyone and there brother wants those sites, and when you list your site preference, you're supposed to be explaining why the site fits your skills or otherwise benefits the PC, and trying to find a PCPC (Peace Corps politically correct) reason why the coast is going to benefit the PC is pretty difficult.
Then there's urban vs. rural, and desert vs. mountains. Rural can be pretty rural (no running water, electricity, etc), and urban can be pretty crazy. Desert sites get up to 130F in the summer and mountains get down to.... well, shit, pretty much what I'm experiencing right this minute. Obviously, my thinking right now is to get someplace warm, but if I'm sitting in 130 degrees, I'm going to be begging for this weather!
...so anyway. I asked for moderate climate and a more rural setting. I didn't even pretend that those choices would somehow benefit the PC, other than to say at my age, extreme temperatures could kill me :)
The teaching has been interesting because it gives a little insight into what I'll be doing in a few short weeks. Really, though, its quasi-teaching at best because there are a bunch of us "co-teaching" and its spring camp, so mostly pretty informal lessons. But, we have three PCV's (Peace Corps Volunteers; we're just lowly PCT's or Peace Corps Trainees) come up from various sites to help us (one guy came from near the Algerian border, which is a 20+ hour bus ride). But it does help to talk to these guys who've been in-country for 19 months. They have very different sites and different ways of teaching at their Dar Chabab, but I'm glad to have had a chance to talk to them. ...and the kids are great and really like us.
The particular Dar Chabab in Ifrane, is super-nice, as you can imagine, with a soccer field (with artificial turf), pool, ping pong, aerobics, tai kwan do, etc., so it totally spoils us for our ultimate site, which will most likely be a sh... well... not nearly as nice.
My language is getting better, but the thought that I will be "language-ready" in 5 weeks to go out and run my own Dar Chabab is pretty funny. If they want to know my name, where I'm from, how to by candy at the Hanoot, and how to say mom and dad, I'm set! One of the PCV's who's been in-country 19 months seems to have even less Darija as me, if that's possible, and he says he just relies on the stronger english-speaking kids in his language lessons to pretty much keep things flowing, so I guess it all works.
I'll post a picture of me so you can see how awesomely young and cool I look. Gonna sign off.... I came in here to Skype Lex, Ry, and Mia, but Skype (or my computer) is having a definite problem).
Needless to say, I miss everyone and wish many times that I was there, but it really is pretty amazing here, and I'm so glad I'm doing this!!! I'll be in touch!
Bslama!
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