Earth Day celebration!

This last week was such a whirlwind! Oh my goodness!

Our CBT went to the local elementary school to help teach about Earth Day and to do some fun activities with the kids. This was a three day long event, about an hour and a half each day. Each day we got a new…ish group of kids, anywhere form 60-75 each day. Now, when there are 7 instructors, this would be easy, but since 6 of us only speak broken Tamazight (the Language… referred to as Tam), it was really like there was only 1 teacher. Things got a little chaotic. But I think overall the kids had SOOO much fun, it was good to see them getting excited about learning and the environment. DAY ONE we made a song in Tam and sung it to them, and then we all sung it again together. It was about helping to save the environment and working together… a good song J After that we played some environment games that I had learned when I taught at outdoor school. Then we drew some pictures of the environment. DAY TWO we mad a skit about a woodsman who chopped down all the trees for firewood, then all the animals left. We then gave the kids different situations that were environmental based, which they did a short skit on. After that we planted six trees on their school grounds. We wanted to do more, but the Principal said that it would be hard to water too many more trees. It’s good to keep in mind the sustainability of these projects after things are donated. DAY THREE it was mural time! We had them paint two murals on their walls at school. One was of a field and flowers, on the larger wall, it turned out a little chaotic, but pretty adorable. The other wall turned out really well, it was of a field and mountains in the background and a river… a typical Moroccan sight. It was so much fun to work in the school! It was kinda stressful because I didn’t know how to convey to them most instructions.

Overall it was a tiring week. This next week I find out my final sight placement (where I will be for the next two years) and I get to stay a whole week there with my host family! This will be some time to really practice how much I know my language and to really experience some awkward moments, one after another.

April Goodness!

Last week, I was able to go with Fatima, Siham, and Abdlhadi (my host sister and brother) to go see Fatima’s mother and father, who lives up in the mountains an hour and a half away. It was I tried to spend as much time away from my notebook and see if I could rely on my wits, and I did and okay job. There were several brothers who were still living at home with the parents, because they were teenagers, and one new couple with a son that is also around Abdlhadi’s age. It was the funniest thing to watch them play together. The town was gorgeous and the drive over was SOOOOO cool. I think it would be so interesting to go see it with a geologist (hint hint uncle Garrett!) so I can know what the heck was going on. I got to see the Monkey hands as they are described, look em up.

This week was a little bit relaxed in terms of motivation; our LCF noticed and had a little disappointment chat with us. It was a little aggravating, but I am glad that he did it. Our group has split into the three people that are struggling with many of the concepts and then the three of us that are ready to move on to the next thing. I try to realize how far we have come in a month and a half of training and I am really surprised at my and the other people’s ability to communicate. I didn’t think that we would pick it up this fast.

Two girls in the group and I decided to go see the gorge for our days off. It was an hour and half taxi ride. It has been so nice to get out for our days off. We were able to wander all over the souq and go see the gorge! YAY! It reminded me so much of Zion Canyon in Southern Utah. So “gorge-ous”!

I have had some questions about what I wear. I am more conservative in what I wear than some of the Peace Corps girls. I will typically wear jeans, T-shirt, a scarf, and a sweater that is long enough that it hangs over my butt. I also wear dresses that are short and I pair it with jeans. I have been just wearing my clothes from America, but I might buy a couple of dresses during my time here.

Hope everyone is doing oh so wonderful wherever you may be!

Mellow

To my dearest family, friends, and other anonymous blog readers:

Hey!

It has been a pretty tame week. More language lessons galore and becoming more involved in the community. There is a really awesome women’s center here. They have sewing machines, embroidery classes, women’s literacy classes, various plays and other events to get people in the area aware of how women are treated in the area and Morocco, and more recently all us PSTs have taught English and a “sport” class. The sport class is mostly some yoga stretches and abs, but it is nice to be a little active. The women that run the center are very motivated and fun people, it has been good to see a functioning women’s center and to have these contacts, because, more than likely I will be starting one in my final site, or at least I hope to!

Last Sunday, I helped Fatima, my host mom, make some stuffed bread and do a bit of laundry. I also swept out my room did a bit of organizing, I needed it. We had some guests over; I think it was one of my Mohammad’s sisters. I ended up having three sets of afternoon tea in a row because we had various guests over, I was so full. I also invited some class mates over to watch Zombieland, which was fun to hang out and just chill with everyone outside the classroom.

I have a new invigoration for the language. This past week was a bit of a plateau week, and I didn’t feel much like studying outside the 7 hours of class a day. The LCF noticed that most of us students have started to plateau, so he gave us some good words of encouragement, along with a whole list of words to memorize, and I feel like I am back on the track for learning way to much for my own good! YAY!

Being at the hub site: Basically it is a time to debrief and hear about everyone’s time out at their CBT site. It is good to see all the other PCTs and to see how the training is going for them. Each site has pros and cons. I feel very fortunate to have a site with running water, electricity, an active women’s center, and a family that is really nice and also understands me getting my personal space (a concept that is mostly lost in morocco), oh yes, and a lush green riverside fields that are amazing for taking walks on. One of the other sites has plumbing, but the water has been out for the past month, so the PCTs have been using irrigation water to bucket bathe in, if they are lucky enough. Another site has a women’s center, but no electricity to the site so the center is unable to use the computers and sewing machines that have been donated. One PCT has had as she describes “pack of women” waiting for her to finish school and they ask her questions and such. Now, I sometimes feel frustrated when it is two or three women that are talking to me and I don’t know what is going on, and I don’t want to imagine what it would be like to have that many women waiting for you.

Well that is all for now, keep in touch and let me know if there is something specific you would like to hear about and I will try my little darndest to touch on the subject.

Pictures to come soon to my facebook… the internet connection is slow so it takes a little while to upload them, sorry J.