In Morocco

Sorry that I have not had time to update my blog. Things has been moving really fast and at times I get a bit overwhelmed with everything around me. It has been about a week since I updated you all. First of all I made it to Morocco. We have been doing a lot of moving around. I went from CA to Philly, Philly to NYC, NYC to Casablanca, Casablanca to Marrakesh and Marrakesh to Ouarzatte all within a week. We flew in to Casablanca on March 3, 2010, stayed the night and took a bus to Ouarzazette. We have been in Ouarzazette for 3 days doing in country training. It started a bit rocky for me. I was letting small things affect my mood. My laptop crashed and wasn't working so I had no way of communicating. I counselled myself and reminded myself that things are not going to be like they were in the states and I cannot depend heavily on technology. So I quickly got over it. After I was over that situation I started to get sick. My stomach was cramping and the different food was upsetting my stomach. I had some beef! I wasn't missing much for the past 6 years lol.

Overall, this is a really beautiful place and the weather right now is very similar to California. Training has been very interesting, especially listening to current volunteers talk about their experience and adjustments. The adjustments I will have to make in my life is what was tearing me down in the beginning. My days are getting better by the day. It's great here in training. They feed us breakfast, lunch and dinner!! We eat a lot of bread, tea, and honey. The food is tasty. In the beginning I was kind of skeptical on what I will be eating, but all lunch and dinner meals are served with salad, bread, and potatoes!!

The first day in Ouarzazette we received vaccinations. I received a shot in my right arm as well as my left arm. I got the H1N1 vaccine in Philly, Hep B, Meningitis and Malaria in Ouarzazette. We learned all about safety and security procedures, health training on common infections like diarrhea. So many factors play in our diet. The change in environment, food, stress, and certain fluids can lead to our body reacting badly to our food. I will soon update photos. Language lessons are fun, but a tad bit difficult.

So far we have been in hotels in both Marrakesh and Ouarzazette. Yesterday I received my PST site. I will be meeting my host family today in Tazantoute today and the language I will be learning is Tashleheit which is one of the Berber dialect. My LCF (Language and Culture Facilitator) name is Fatima. Fatima is a really common name in Morocco. There are 6 LCF's named Fatima. Today after lunch we will go meet our families and get Moroccan names. I believe my name will be Malika! I like that name. We are now moving into Community based training. The family doesn't know english and every day we will have to commute to language training. At first I was a little afraid of language but after talking with current volunteers I have so much hope and believe things will get better.

I will try and blog again after I meet my family. Until next time..... Love you all!