Family Invasion of Kenitra

Well I am heree :)

The past few days have been crazy busy with all kinds of "summer camp" icebreakers, bonding with my fellow 67 new volunteers and an overload on information about the next few years! During this process I have splashed around on the beach in Morocco, introduced my amazing and giggly roommates to snails and also to their first Moroccan cafe experience and have been asked countless questions about Morocco from my fellow site mates (having been dubbed the resident American-Moroccan "expert" around here after studying abroad here). Unlike many of my counterparts who are freaking out about turkish toilets, host families and other oddities of Moroccan life, this time around I have the pleasure and privilege of calm nerves, relaxation and pure excitement for what is to come! I just can't wait to get out there :)

Tomorrow I leave for a CBT (community-based training) site about an hour southeast of Fez. There I will be living with a host family and studying Moroccan arabic about 5 hours a day and technical lessons for the other 3 or 4 hours of class a day. Then in about 9 weeks I will be assigned my very own, Moroccan dar-chebab (youth house) in a community where I will not only teach english but also create and execute youth and women's activities in the area.

So far I have been loving being back in el-maghreb! I know there are rough times to come (they have told us this only about a billion times these past few days) but I also have already found such support in my Moroccan connections here! Today my old host family from study abroad surprised me and everyone in the family came to say a quick "hi" to me in Kenitra! We were quite the scene... I sprinted across the busy souq (market street) and flung myself at Amine, Soukaina and Simo when they arrived, and then when my moroccan mama arrived right outside of the bus we PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) were taking, I caused quite a spectacle cheek-kissing, hugging and shrinking into her amazing motherly warmth. I was so happy to have them there and just the ability to give them all a hug and feel absolutely at ease, knowing they are people who truly know me and love me made the hugest difference in this week of adjustments. Just hearing my mom call me "habiba" (sweetheart) and ask if it is okay for her to call me once in a while, or Soukaina hugging me every few seconds saying how excited she is to have her sister back makes me beem with an unstoppable smile! I truly am one of the most blessed people having them in my life!

I will write a longer, more appropriate, detailed and entertaining entry later when I get to my CBT but until then, know I love you all bezzzzzzzaf (a lot, duhhh) ;)