Immouzer

19 September 2006

Hello everyone!

So much has happened since I posted last. I am now in the town of Immouzer for training. We are learning the language Darija, which is the Moroccan dialect of Arabic. I have learned basic greetings, numbers, and a few other helpful phrases. My friends and I enjoy trying out what we’ve learned on the locals in town. We have become friends with the local Bolhanut (shopowner) where we buy bottled water, Coca, and regretfully, candy bars.

We are all adjusting to the food here. Most of us have been sick at some point, so we all are in this together! Where I am staying, there are nine girls sharing one flush toilet and two Turkish toilets. There is no escaping the sights, sounds, and smells of sickness. There is also a major scarcity of toilet paper here. The training group split up into two groups yesterday and the girls had a demonstration by the Moroccan women on how to use the Turkish toilet. The previous day I had tried the toilet and the results were hilarious. Now, I am getting better, but it will take some practice before I master it.

Back to the food: there is some food here that I have really liked. We had couscous our first day in Immouzer and it was very delicious. There was a tasty soup the other night that had rice and vegetables in it, that is traditionally served during Ramadan. Of course, there’s been food that immediately you realize was a big mistake as you run for the Turkish toilet. We were all delighted to see the mini pizzas the other day, but the combination of tuna and olives didn’t go over so well. Last night was the most exciting by far. Chicken nuggets. Why? I’m not sure, but I gobbled down five of them.

Communicating with people back home has really been a problem for everyone here. We are in training all day until 6:00 pm. At this point we have free time, but we have an 8:00 curfew, so it is a busy time trying to run errands and visit the cyber café. Some of the volunteers have bought cell phones and so they have an easier time talking with their families back home. I have not bought one yet, but I plan to as soon as I can. Most of the volunteers have not actually spoken with their families yet, me included. Hopefully, by this weekend, I will have a cell phone and you all with have the number.

This weekend we will break off into language learning communities and leave Immouzer to begin our homestay with a Moroccan family. We will be in small groups of 5-6 volunteers and each group will drive with their Language Coach to their new village. We will stay there for I think nine days and then all the groups will come back to Immouzer for more technical training. Until our swearing in ceremony at the end of November, our time will be broken up into language learning/homestay and technical training in Immouzer. I am anxious to see who will be in my small group.

Today we were given our third shot total, and second shot in the Rabies series. There are a lot of stray dogs and cats around here with that glazed over look in their eyes, so I’m willing and happy to have this vaccination. I think by the end of training I will have had nine shots total. This morning we have had self-directed learning while the doctor administered the shots and after lunch we will begin more language learning. Actually, looking at the clock, I think it is almost time for lunch! So, with that, I hope you all are doing well and I must mention this again, please don’t be shy and send me an email or letter!

Love,
Jenny