Now I’ve been in my permanent site for… god, is it only two days…?  I was thinking a week!  I’m getting ahead of myself, though.  I and 109 other Trainees were sworn in on Wednesday, and said our tearful good-byes that night and the next morning.  Several of us were on the same train to Marrakesh, because they were either heading to that locale, or were on their way to destinations further south, so we were the last to say good-bye to each other.

I went from staying in a killer hotel in the capital of Morocco, to a town where you can throw a Frisbee from one end to the other.  After 8 weeks in Uber-Euro. Ifrane and a couple of weeks in Rabat, I have found the “real” Morocco.  I think the side roads were once paved, but now decades of dust have made everything dirt paths.  As I type, I can feel the grit on my palms from the dirt on my laptop.

With that said, it certainly could be worse (okay… it probably will be, as the temperature averages over a hundred degrees in the summer months, but we’re at a balmy ninety-something right now J).  For a guy who was just as happy going to a mud hut in sub-Sahara Africa, I sure can complain about the fact that I’m not staying in the Ritz Carlton.

The reality is that my host family house is very nice, clean, has a sink in the bathroom (which neither of my earlier host family houses had), unbelievably delicious food, etc.  …and they are the absolute bomb (two parents my age with 5 children ranging from 10 to 27) and treat me sooooo welll!!!!!  The 27 year old (Tarik) is f***ing believable, treating me soooo respectfully (“Mr. Charley”), taking me around to meet the people of Sidi Boutman (oh yeah… I forgot to mention the name of the town), introducing me to the Mayor (the law in Morocco is that a new resident must report to the “Comissariat” and produce their carte de sejour (resident card), work permit, etc.), and generally being an awesome host.  Now I feel sheepish for even complaining at all!

Tarik and I went to Mroksh (which is “Marrakesh” to you and me, but everything is said with a minimum of vowels in Morocco, so that gives you an idea of how hard everything is to understand) yesterday.  We met his older sister and some friends, and walked around.  What a beautiful city!  The old medina (the walled city from centuries past) is absolutely amazing!  We walked around for several hours, and I don’t think we saw close to all of it.  Narrow lanes and alleys filled with sellers of absolutely everything, just like you see in the pictures and in the movies.  So cool!

Its just a 10 Dirham grand taxi ride (about a buck), so “do-able” anytime.  I have a regional meeting in Marrakesh the 6^th and 7^th of June, so I’ll get to hang there, and see Lee and Ryan, and the other 20 or 30 Volunteers (because of course, in addition to our staj (which is a term for our 2012 class), there are other Volunteers in this region that have been here from 6 months to almost 2 years).

…and I’ve been to the Dar Chabab several times already and have started to develop a relationship with the Mudir, and he’s excited to have me there, teaching English.  Next step, finding a place to live.  My host family wants me to stay with them, so I’m not sure how motivate they will be to help me find a place, but we’ll see.  My host dad showed me his “rental unit” which I wish I had a picture of, because it is a 4-wall cinder block building with no windows, no kitchen, bathroom… well, nothing but four walls actually.  As we walked in to a dirt floor, he made “broom-sweeping” motions to assure me it would be tidied up before I moved in J  His pitch was that he would actually build it out for me, but somehow I don’t see that happening in the two weeks I have available to find a place.  I guess his plan is to have me live with them while its “under construction.”

…did I mention that my best bud Ryan was our valedictorian, being the highest (or tied for the highest) language proficiency of the 110 of us, and was selected to give an approximately 10 minute speech (in Darija) to not only all of us, but to the U.S. Ambassador, the Moroccan Minister of Youth, and a slew of other attendees (including two RPCV’s [which I think is “returning peace corps volunteers] that were in the first group that went to Morocco, in 1962)!  I’m pretty sure it was an awesome speech, but because I was at the other end of the language proficiency spectrum, all I really understood was “salaam alikum” and “bslamma.” 

Okay… enough for now.  There’s tons going on but I’m tired of writing and you’re tired of reading.  More later.