My Host Family

At a cybercafe, using a French keyboard, so forgive me if my spellings off, but the keys are all screwy and im not used to their positions on the board.

Been living at my first host family for a few days. I have 5 brothers and a Mom. My oldest brothers in the army and speaks a little English, the next is almost fluent... and Im pretty sure were BFFs by now, the next is cool but only speaks very little English, and then theres the twins. The twins try to help me with the Darija, but they try to explain one word by using a whole mess of others, none of which do I understand. They also talk REALLY, and I cant stress that enough, REALLY fast when trying to explain a word to me.

My mom may be the nicest person ever, though. She also gets really attached really fast. My first night, she told me Im her child. She also said shed miss me when I go back to America. That caught me off guard, I had been there maybe an hour.

Ive got my own room, which is one of two bedrooms. Theres a living room, kitchen, and one other room. We have a running water, electricity, a fridge, and a squat toilet. The kitchen has a drain in the corner by the fridge, so we hang up a curtain in the doorway and boil-up some water when I want to take a bucket bath.

Language classes are going well. Its me and 3 other PCVs in this town learning Darija. Weve all become close, theyre awesome.

In other news, its nearing the end of RamaDan, and Ive been fasting every day. Honestly, its not that hard, its kinda like every days Taanit Ester though. RamaDan ends in a day or so, and my soldier brother came back to celebrate the end-of-RamaDan holiday with the family.

What else has happened? Ive busted out the ukulele, turns out my BFF brother really like Heaven by Brian Adams, and I just so happen to know how to play that. My other brother plqyed me some Moroccan rap on his MP3, so I introduced him to some Jurassic 5 and Black Eyed Peas via the uke. He asked me to write down their names so he can download the songs. BFF brother and I were talking the other day about everything and anything. Got a little confusing when he confused Rome with Romania. He the ntaught me the Darija names for a few other countries, including Germany. Germanys name sounds nothing like the English equivalent, but the people are called Jermans, which he explained was due to Hitlers Aryan race agenda. Then I brought up how far Hitler went to make hi s country Aryan and what he did to the Jews. My brother asked me if Im Jewish, I paused for a moment then told him I am.

A few notes about that:
1) He asked me to write his name for him in Hebrew
2) He told me that they teach Hebrew at his college and he has Muslim friends who take it
3) Were still BFFs, seriously, were tight
4) We spent the next...well, it was a while talking about Jeish history, he asked me where my people come from, which for definitely is a complicated question

Salaam Auleikum, thats Arabic for Peace Out Yall
-Me

Bought Me Some Soap

Yesterday most of us new PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) went to the nearest town to buy some supplies.

I bought soap. All by my lonesome. Speaking only broken Arabic.

I also bought some candies for my host family (I meet them tomorrow), a towel, and some shampoo. I bought each item in a different store. The storefronts all had different things for sale, and apparently the soap guy didn’t have much soap in stock. After selling some to another PCV, he literally left his store (there was another guy working there, too) and walked me around all the other storefronts, trying to find me someone who sells soap. We eventually found some, and I bought it. I found the Shampoo guy myself. When I went to buy it, he asked me “Inta Muslami?” (are you Muslim?). I told him “La” (no), but it was weird being asked, and being asked if I’m Muslim as opposed to Christian or something (do I look Middle Eastern/Muslim?). I thought he gave me the wrong change after I told him I’m not, but another PCV explained that they make 10 Dirham coins (not bills), and that I definitely had it. When I bought a towel, I tried to do it in Darija (Moroccan Arabic), but the merchant switched to FusHa (standard Arabic), and then to English (didn’t know he spoke that). We had a good laugh about what actual language we were speaking.

We got back to our hotel, and I played the Moroccan version of Rummy with some Moroccan staff and some PCVs. You ever talk while playing a card game…but with some people doing it in FusHa, some in Darija, some in French, and some in English? It was a good time (and I won, which may have helped). After dinner, I hung out with some more PCVs `til the early morn.

Today we learned about transportation safety, some survival Arabic, which of us are going to what town for our host family (there are four other PCVs in my town, each of us has a different host family), and the names/members of our host family. My family consists of a widow and her five sons. I get my own room, electricity, running water, and there’s a bathroom (that bathroom part’s important). Not sure if I’ll have internet there, but I’m ready to go.

Some Things I've Learned

Since coming to Morocco a few days ago, I’ve been absorbing a whole mess of random (and some relevant) information. For the past few days, I’ve been staying in a hotel with all the other new Morocco PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) and host-country staff, it’s amazing the things you’ll learn when you’re surrounded by very smart, very open/giving people. Here’s what I got so far:

The word for “And” in Farsi is “Va” like it is in Israel, though it’s “Wa” in the Arabic-speaking world.

The Darija (Moroccan Arabic) word for “Eight” is “Tlata” though it’s “Thlatha” in FusHa (standard Arabic) and “Shlosha” in Hebrew (maybe the pronunciation I’ve been taught for “Three” in Aramaic really is “Tlata” and not “Thlatha” like I had assumed).

Impromptu jam sessions involving flutes, violins, and ukuleles are ridiculously fun.

Nobody speaks FusHa “standard Arabic,” the type spoken in the Qur’an, not even in Saudi Arabia or Mecca. I’m told it’s like Latin to the Arabic-speaking world, but most books/newspapers/news shows are in FusHa, and everybody learns it in school/uses it to communicate with other Arab countries.

Without FusHa, Darija speakers can’t understand Middle-Eastern Arabs, nor can those in the Middle-East understand Moroccans.

At least one member of the Moroccan (as in from here) staff has Israeli friends on facebook.

The acting ambassador’s wife is Jewish, and has no problems in Morocco. The last name of the new ambassador (who’ll be sworn-in soon) Kaplan, he’s Jewish.

Those last two points make me feel a whole lot safer.

The sky is just as blue in any part of the world. Not that I’ve never been abroad before, but it’s always weird to me. For all I know, I could be on some sunny beach in the U.S. with a large Moroccan population. It doesn’t intrinsically feel like a new place, just a place. that’s weird, but nice.

Grasshoppers can fly in Morocco. They can’t fly well, though, as they’ll repeatedly crash into walls.

After sunset on Ramadan, this town gets crazy. I haven’t gone out at night, but from my window I can see the lights/hear the music…and it’s loud.

Learned a new finger-picking technique for the Ukulele.

Shwarma was introduced to Morocco in the past few years. As far as I can understand, Falafel, pita, and laffa are pretty unheard of here (except maybe in a Lebanese or Syrian restaurant…except for the laffa, nobody here seems to know what that is).

Pop-ups in America are pretty much all for sex. Pop-ups in Morocco don’t show girls (let alone girls showing some skin). They’re all in Arabic or French, but I don’t think they’re for sex/hook-ups/finding yourself a girl-or-boyfriend.

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s all I can think of right now.

Landed

Woke up too early (8:00ish), showered, got my complementary breakfast, and ate/talked with some other PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers). Printed some song chords I wanted to take, and eventually we all made our way onto the bus. We got to the airport about four hours early, so we all put our stuff down (security made us move our bags a few times as we cluttered up the place). Got some lunch, chilled some more, and eventually we were allowed to check in.

At the terminal, I met a Mexican Ashkenaz black-hatter. Yeah, didn’t quite know they existed but they do, apparently there are a lot of Jews in Mexico (and frummies too). On the flight, I ended up sitting next to a Liberian (that’s West-Africa, folks) missionary. We had a very long discussion about G-d, Liberia, Africa in general, Jews of Africa, tribalism, his mission, countries he’s been to, and Peace Corps (apparently he met some PCVs growing up). By-the-by, I initiated all the topics of conversation, he’s not the preachy type of missionary (he works mostly with community development).

Got to Morocco, and had to go through customs. I said “good morning” to the guy behind the desk in Arabic, and we ended up having a conversation. I understood maybe 30% of what he said (and he said it fast), but whenever I responded, he seemed to smile and would carry on the conversation from the point I just said, so I assume I was actually part of it.

Bus ride from the airport was long. We eventually made our way to the hotel. I’m in a small room with three other guys, and will be for five days. We had lunch, then a meeting (about the Peace Corps Morocco staff and some medical stuff).

Afterwards, we chilled some more. Made my way to the lounge where there was some (British?) movie on TV with Arabic subtitles. From what I saw, it seemed to be about a Holocaust survivor who finds the Nazi responsible for his family’s murder. Crazy theme for a Muslim country, maybe I’ve misjudged. A Jewish protagonist, vilified Nazis, and no Holocaust denial from that channel. And they had Arabic subtitles, so it’s not like the network just didn’t notice: someone had to go through translating it. Went to the beach with some other PCVs after a few minutes of that. We met a Moroccan surfer who went to college in L.A. He was nice. Morocco’s kind of rainy, I didn’t expect that.

Dinner (break-fast, it’s RamaDan after all)’s soon. Not much else. The other volunteers are all cool/nice. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Staging

Today was staging. From twelve `til sevenish, we were in the meeting room of a hotel. First was the ice breaker. We had to find twelve people, ask them their names/where they’re from/a question. The questions had to do with Peace Corps (such as what have you done to prepare? what do you think’ll be most challenging? When was Peace Corps founded?). After, we split into groups and had to draw representations of what we’re most anxious about and most excited about. Then we split into new groups and each group was given a potential problem we might face. The groups had to write a list of how to prevent and/or reduce the problem. We then split into new groups again and had to act out a scene demonstrating one of six Peace Corps policies (mostly dealing with social interactions and potential obstacles). Afterward, we went over the schedule for tomorrow (waking up, going to the airport, a little bit of what’s gonna happen once we land).

All in all, there are 63 of us, ranging from mid-twenties to senior citizens. About half are working in Youth Development, and half in Small Business Development. Splitting into groups was good, definitely helps with the name-learning, though I’ve still got a ways to go.

Then we went out to dinner. Peace Corps gave us money to cover it. I went with a few other volunteers to a pub, got a burger. Really, we all had a good time there. All the volunteers seem pretty cool, looks like we have a good group going to Morocco.

The Hours

Staging begins in roughly twelve hours. Staging is the final step before all Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) leave for our assigned country (Morocco for my group). We all meet at a hotel, go over a few things, and leave for our country one day later. Twelve hours, It’s soon, but I’m ready. Like I’ve said earlier, I’ve been preparing for this since my sophomore year of college.

More recently, though, I’ve started jogging more (figured there won’t be a gym in my village, so I should get in the habit of jogging for exercise).I’ve been reading other Peace Corps Morocco blogs for months now. I bought/read a few books on Morocco (the language, the culture, etc.). I finally bought that watch that’s also a Super Mario World LCD video game (it’s awesome, it’s like having a really cheap Gameboy on my wrist at all times). Bought a hard-case for my ukulele, and a couple of songbooks. Bought new shirts (haven’t done that in over 4 years, all my old ones were free and most say something Jewish on `em). And you remember the Sonic the Hedgehog comic where Sonic gets roboticized? No? Well, I do. My parents bought it for me before we went on a road trip years ago. I must have read it a million times over…but it was only part I of a two-part story. Well, I was in Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago, and they had this Sonic the Hedgehog comic book collection. Lo and behold, they had part II (and only part II) of that story as part of that collection. It wasn’t that good, but it’s nice to finally know what happens (they roboticize Knuckles, he beats up Sonic, then they both go through the roboticizer again and return to normal).

I feel like I’ve wrapped up most every loose end. I’ve visited/said goodbye to most of my friends in Chicago and Maryland (sorry to those I haven’t seen, my schedule’s been more than a little crazy as of late). I’ve caught up on just about every movie/show I’ve been meaning to watch. I’m not seeing anyone (yet again, crazy story there). I’ve got a whole lot of art supplies for my time in Morocco. I know some Arabic. I should be okay.

Then there’s the matter of leaving everyone/thing I know. People have asked me how I feel about that. Weird as it is, that just doesn’t factor into my mind as a problem. I think I’ve done it so many times that it just seems normal by now. I’ve lived in three different cities in my life, and went out-of-state to college (though my family kind of moved twenty minutes away from me after about a year). I’ve been on my own before (Uganda, working at an overnight camp in New Hampshire) in places where I knew no one. Really, this is all standard issue for me.

Am I nervous? No. I realize I’m going to a country that doesn’t really like Jews. Yeah, Morocco’s more tolerant than most Muslim countries…not hard, Jews left Muslim countries first chance they got once the state of Israel was established. Most Moroccan Jews left too. Still, a few thousand remain (way more Jews than any other Muslim country has left). I’ve read other blogs and talked to people who’ve been. There’s a lot of hatred out there for my people. Some Moroccans call others “Jews” as an insult, others unapologetically profess their hatred for Jews, still others are okay with or even fond of us. The king especially is tolerant of Jews, that goes a long way. Still, I’ve got to be careful not to let on that I’m Jewish. Not a fun thought, as I’m very proud of my heritage. Still, considering my reasons for going, it’s worth it.

Eleven hours left. Preparation’s finally over. Let the real work begin.

Prologue Part V: Summing up

With my paperwork finally done, I was good to go. I’d been planning on Peace Corps since my Sophomore year of college, so I’ve had a lot of time to prepare for it. Here are some things I did when I just wanted to join Peace Corps, not caring about what country:

I took courses in

1. History of Sub-Saharan Africa since 1800
2. Elements of Nutrition
3. Music cultures of the world
4. Cross Cultural Psychology
5. U.S. Latina/o Studies
6. Music Fundamentals

I also volunteered in Uganda (ended up teaching Hebrew, crazy story there). I volunteered with America Counts, an organization that goes to public schools and tutors math after school to children who could use some extra help there. Two of my three Letters of Recommendation for Peace Corps actually came out of that, one being my America Counts team leader and one from a member of Kulanu (the organization that sent me to Uganda). I took up the ukulele, but had never played an instrument before (learned via Youtube and the Music Fundamentals course). The ukulele’s portable, non-electronic (ideal for wherever I might be), and if you’ve never heard the great Mr. Jake Shimabukuro play While My Guitar Gently Weeps, please stop reading this blog, watch it on youtube, and then continue your reading experience.

After Albert (Amihai) was murdered in Iraq, I decided to go to an Arab country. The way I figure, it’s just been too much fighting over there. I’m hoping to do the opposite, hoping to learn Arabic and about Islam in order to work towards peace. Hopefully once I come back from Morocco, I’ll be able to use my newly acquired language/cultural skills to work towards peace. Idealistic? Sure. Naïve? Yeah, yeah it is. But I’m tired of the guns, I’m tired of the bombs, and I’m tired of all the Albert’s being murdered. So in memory of Albert (zekher l’Amihai), here’s what I’ve done.

I took courses in:

1. Arabic (two semesters’ worth)

2. Basic Helping Skills Psychology

3. Introduction to Counseling Psychology

4. Urban Studies: The Challenge of Cities

5. Teaching English to Non-English Speaking Natives

6. Psychology of Language (which I dropped, also a crazy story there, shouldn’t have been able to graduate on time without that course [it was a 400-level and I needed another one of those if I wanted my diploma])

I also went to Salat Al Juma’a (Arabic for “Prayers the Friday”) every Friday with the Muslim Student Association on campus. I studied some (though really not all too much) Quran with a Muslim friend. I worked two summers at an overnight camp (requested an older bunk my first summer there, Peace Corps apparently likes it better when you work with older kids). I tutored English to several grad-school students on campus (again, older kids). I worked at the gym on campus (they got me CPR certified, my recruiter told me that’d be a good idea). I volunteered at the University Health Center. And that was about it.

Apparently it worked, I’m going to Morocco. I’ll be working in Youth Development, which as far as I know entails teaching English, working at a Dar Shabab (youth center) during the school-year and an English camp over the summers.

For those who want to join the Peace Corps, here’s my advice: Make sure you really want to go. When I first heard about Peace Corps, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Despite my interview story, I’m told it’s really hard to get in. Go to a recruiting event, learn more about it (go to their website to learn where/when the closest one to you will be). Read up on what jobs they do in each region (as you do get to have a “preference” of region, though that’s no guarantee). And get some experience in the area you’ll most likely work in. I’m not saying volunteer abroad, but volunteer for sure. Get some experience: it shows Peace Corps you’re motivated, and gives you the chance to know if you really enjoy it. `Cause two years and three months in a foreign country, away from everything/one you know/love with few pople to speak English to, doing a job you don’t care for while working for an organization you’re not too crazy about…that’s gotta suck.

Prologue Part IV: More Forms

So, my electronic Peace Corps account says that I’ve been cleared by medical, there are no legal holds, and that I’ve been nominated to Morocco. Problem is, still haven’t been cleared by Dental. They sent back my x-rays and such with a note that said I have to get my wisdom teeth removed (which, to be fair, my dentists have been saying since I was in high school and which I don’t want to have done in my future Moroccan village anyway). So I get that done over spring break (definitely was not the kind of spring break you see on TV). I send my forms in with a note from my oral surgeon that the teeth are gone. They send back the forms, and I need to get a note from my normal dentist that it’s been done. I send that in and they send me a letter back. Apparently there’s a new problem: I have two baby teeth. That’s not a new problem, that’s not even new, they’ve been there since I was first teething. Apparently the X-ray shows some dark spots around the roots. Now, that could just be “reabsrption” (from what I understand, it means that the grown-up teeth next to the babies cleared away the roots in the areas where they popped up) or it could have been something horrible. So I go back to the dentist, and he’s just pissed at Peace Corps, and writes them a note saying my teeth are fine. He’s so annoyed with the ridiculosity of Peace Corps that he does this for free. Awesome for me, because my dental insurance ran out a day or two before.

No Idea what he wrote in that note, but Peace Corps dental finally accepted my teeth as okay.

Other things I’ve had to do for Peace Corps since: Send in my passport (I’ll be getting a special Peace Corps passport during “Staging”). This had me nervous. Not because I don’t trust Peace Corps, but because they took too long. Me living in Silver Spring, and Peace Corps national headquarters being in DC, I usually just take the metro (train) in, walk to their office, and hand over my documents to the mail-room guys. I figure why risk it getting lost in the mail, right? So I handed in my final (strongly worded?) dental note in one envelope and my passport (along with the special forms needed for my Peace Corps passport) in another. Dental cleared me within a few days, the passport guys...not so much. I got an email from them saying I haven’t sent in my passport yet (and it had to be done soon). But I handed it in along with my dental forms, and those got cleared already, and both dental and passport offices are located in the Peace Corps national headquarters.

That can’t be good. I kind of need my Passport. While there is a way to get a Peace Corps passport without having a valid normal one, it requires a bunch of forms. The forms were at home and I had just gone to New Hampshire to start camp counseloring for the next two months. Not enough time after camp to get those forms in (I got back from camp about 2 weeks before “Staging”). I’m screwed. Again. What is it with Peace Corps and needing so many forms from me? Luckily, a week or two later, they found my passport.

Afterwards, I had to fill out a few questionnaires about my in-country home stay preferences and language-learning style. Filled those out online. Hopefully Peace Corps has got all the forms they need from me, `cause “Staging” is only five days away.