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Published: December 12th 2005
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I'm back! Community based training is officially over and we're moving onto the next phase of training. Before I get ahead of myself, though, let me tell you about all that has happened recently.
Just before we last left Immouzzer we were treated to a royal visit of sorts. The king of Morocco, with his whole motorcade (which includes about 40 cars, motorcycles, and helicopters) passed through Immozzer and drove right past our compound. We got word of it about 10 minutes before he came through so we were all out on the sidewalk with a big Peace Corps sign waving as he went by. The king drives his own huge black land rover with red and green Moroccan flags on the side, and he waved back as he passed us at 80 miles an hour. The people here really love him so you could see the excitement on the faces of all our Moroccan co-workers.
After that we had our first oral language test (I passed!) which helped us identify what areas we still needed to work on. At this point I've received so much language training that I feel a bit overwhemlmed at times, but when I'm
out on the street talking to shopowners and other people it comes pretty easily. I still have only a very basic knowledge of vocabulary but I'm getting to where I can explain and understand more complex subjects which is exciting! After the test we had a big party with singing and dancing and a slide show of some of our best pictures.
After leaving Immouzzer, John, Amanda, Cara, Mohamed, and I headed back to Sekhinat for our final 17 days there. We taught more English (including an advanced conversation class for the older students), started two clubs (music and theartre) and participated in all the end of Ramadan festivities with our families. John and I taught some local kids how to play baseball too, and we all visited the souk several times for fresh fruit. I also made a few trips to Fes with my host family where I bought traditional Moroccan garb: a blue wool jellaba, a tarbush (red fez with a black tassle), and sbbats (the pointed yellow leather shoes). For l'eid, the feast day following the close of Ramadan, we all got dressed up and went around town visiting all the family friends, which in Sekhinat
means just about everyone! The food during Ramadan was amazing and I'll miss the long naps during the day and the activity all night, but it is nice to return to a more famailiar schedule. On days that I wasn't working I took part in the fasting, much to the delight of my family. It's much more difficult than I thought it would be, but now I've experienced it a little bit and I'll be ready for next year when I intend to partake fully in the Ramadan traditions. I did, however, make a tagine, the traditional Moroccan dish, for my family which also got them very excited! It consists of mostly vegetables, meat (beef, chicken, or fish), lots of spices, and LOTS of olive oil all cooked together in what looks like an upside down clay pot. Moroccans love to eat tagine so this was a big event.
It's something of a relief to be done with CBT since we now get to go to the place where we'll actually be living and working for two years, but I must admit that I already miss the people of Sekhinat a great deal, especially my family. I developed a
fantastic relationship with my parents and brothers and they told me that any time I want to come visit I am more than welcome. My father has many friends around Morocco (including some famous musicians who came over for dinner at the same time that we were watching them on TV!) and he is infinitly curious about the outside world as well. He and I had many conversations concerning the similarities and differences between our countries, and towards the end of my stay we were watching CNN and BBCWorld regularly, with me translating for him, and vice versa with Moroccan news channels. Probably the greatest moment of my Peace Corps experience thus far came when, on my final night there, he told me that before we came to his town he thought Americans were all aggressive, but now, having met us, he understands that America has many good people too. He called me a rajl mzyan (a good man) and I thanked him for his hospitality and friendship.
My brothers also proved their love for us when we were walking in the street on our final day and a young man made a comment to Amanda that could be termed sexual harassement. My brother Monhaim went straight up to the man and his two friends and started yelling at them. When they wouldn't back down, Monhaim slapped the offender across the face and yelled to our brothers down the street. Brothers Yassin and Aimad came running with the dog and chased the guys away. Later, when we went to the mineral water springs in nearby Sidi Harazem, the guys showed up again with more of their friends. Monhaim, like his father however, also has many friends in the area who came to our aid. We later found out that the gendarmes (local police force) arrested the men (who were from out of town), forced them to apologize, and then threw them out of Sidi Harazem.
I no longer have any doubts about the merits of living with a host family. 😊
Now we're back in Immouzzer and I finally know where I will be going! I'll be living in the village of Ouaouizarht, a Berber town in the Middle Atlas Range, near the city of Beni Mellal just a couple hours east of Marrakesh! So pretty much exactly what I wanted 😊 It's the village where my friend Tim has been stationed for the last two years and everything that he and everyone else has told me makes it sound absolutely fantastic. There's mountains all around, a lake nearby, and supposedly the most wonderful people on earth, which sounds just fine with me. Even better, John and Amanda are being stationed nearby so I'll be able to see them a lot. Sadly Cara will be on the other side of the mountains, but we've heard that a new road has been built that connects our regions so hopefully we'll get to hang out with her too! It's weird to think of us all being scattered around the country, especially my good friend Matt who I'll be pretty far away from. He and I were roommates all through the early parts of training so it's sad, but we're both going to the places we wanted so it should all work out. Some more good news is that the family that I will be living with has a daughter who is a Peace Corps Language teacher for the Small Business Sector. Mohamed says she is one of his best friends and her family is great so I'm looking forward to meeting them. Finally, I will in fact have internet in Ouaouizarht so I can easily stay in touch and keep posting about my adventures!
All in all, things are great right now! I hope you all don't mind the length of this message. In the future I will be able to post more regularly and keep these shorter, plus once I get into a routine in one place there probably won't be as many new experiences to write about. We head out tomorrow for site visit and then I'll be back here in Immouzzer in about a week to finish training and get ready for swearing in. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the stories and pictures and I look forward to hearing from you all. Bslama!
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