Me: Smitee Nikki, shnuu smitk ?

Cute little girl: SmiteefatimazarauminnFmintaka……..

Me : Shnuuuuuuuu?!?!?!?

And so it goes! I and four other Peace Corps volunteers have found ourselves in *Atown where everywhere I turn there are people ready and waiting to talk, walk, greet and mainly stare at me. From the moment we arrived in *Atown we have been a spectacle. In a small countryside town of 300-450 people we are the only foreigners who have ever lived here and we cause quite a scene everywhere we go.

Over the past few days, as we have been exploring the city, I have tried to say hi to everyone we pass and slowly the stern stares are turning into smiles. As I walked the streets today I could hear my name being whispered between groups of kids. The brave ones were even coming up and slapping me five… a move I taught 3 little girls on the side of the street this morning and which has been spreading faster than wild fire.

Everywhere I go my smiles, “hellos” and simple phrases of “how are you” are getting me into linguistic calamities, which usual end in me, completely red faced, cracking up over my inability and confusion. I am living in a world of confusing expressions, questions and comments that follow me everywhere. Language and culture classes are for about 9 hours/day but that’s not where it ends… then off I go to the streets of screeching boys and giggling girls and eventually to my cute house on end of the street where a whole other sector of learning takes place.

My host family here is completely different from my study abroad family in Rabat, however they are perfect in their own way, and are really helping me advance my skills. The relationship definitely isn’t as easy as my bi-lingual family in Rabat, but the challenges here are definitely pushing me and making me appreciative of the small amount of Darija I already know.

This family consists of a father: who is a soldier (still haven’t determined what this means for sure… I need a few more military vocab words to explore it further J) A mother who is from the country-side and actually speaks one of morocco’s other 2 Berber dialects (which makes communication even more of an adventure). She is also illiterate so I think that she is intrigued by my countless Peace Corps text books and literature that seem to becoming glued to me everywhere I go.

Then I have three adorable host siblings; Mohamed (14), Fatima (10) and Marouan (1). They are always smiling and playing and they make the stressful parts of my day melt away with their games and laughter. They are constantly wandering and/or tottering into my room and my adorable, techno colored comforter is becoming the hub of afternoon games!

No one in the household speaks either French or standard Arabic so it really forces me to try to use my Darija (Moroccan Arabic) and the kids are in love with teaching me words and phrases which expands my ever growing vocabulary… who would ever have thought that within the first 3 days of classes I would learn the word for worm….dooda. You have to love that, and man is it easy to remember such a fun word J

Over the past few days the community has opened it’s arms to us. It is pretty crazy to think that so many people are pulling for us to succeed at what we are doing here! They are teaching us new words and crazy cultural customs everywhere we go. Neighborhood girls are literally barging into my room to help me with my Arabic, do my hair, paint my nails and even teach me how to cook! One week down, and although it has had it’s challenges, like getting back into the swing of going to the bathroom in a Turkish toilet without peeing on myself, I am so lucky to be in this rural, 1 street long, no internet, no restaurant, town of mine! Can you even believe that just came out of my computer?!?!? I know, me neither !

*Peace Corps has asked us not to disclose our exact town names, for security reasons.