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.

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) ;)

Yallah, Yallah...Lets go!

I'm packing my things, saying my goodbyes and preparing for my departure on Monday, Aug. 13th. Here's what I know so far. My job description is a Youth Developer with the Peace Corps and I will be serving for 27 months somewhere in Morocco.

As I have been stumbling through my last few weeks I have had the chance to see so many important people in my life and have reminisced about some of the most amazing moments of my past. Here are a few I wanted to share with you all...

Things I will miss:

• My bed
• The ability to drive a car (strictly prohibited by Peace Corps)—God knows how bad I will be when I get back…Beware.
• My sister dragging me out of bed every sat/sun of the summer to relocate to the beach, bright and early (once this summer even before the parking lot opened).
• Sunday nights at the Landfall with my Falmouth loves, and of course my dancing dervish of a dad.
• TV marathons with all of the gang in Voute 100.
• Nights out in Boston.
• Backyard parties with all the family… extended… adopted… whatever!

And most of all I am going to miss all of you who are reading this right now. I will miss the adventures and everyday happenings of our friendships. You have all stuck with me through crazy idea after crazy idea and you have had my back through it all. It is only because of all of you that I am able to set out on this adventure. I owe you all so much for your: words of encouragement, pep talks, tough love, letters of recommendation, bitch sessions, disagreements with me, opinions (whether I wanted them or not) and most of all your understanding and support.

I love you all and could go on and on and on… but the reality is. I AM NOT DYING, and even if I have to travel 10 hours to get internet I will still be stalking you, bugging you for updates and yes even calling you… watch out for my newly skype-ified itouch :)

Things I have to look forward to:

• Cold bucket showers
• The delights of learning a new language in umm…. 2 months?
• Bartering for...just about everything including but not limited to: an apartment, bed, appliances, food, clothes, and –oh yeah- my mail !
• 4am calls to prayer
• Turkish toilets… if you don’t know, don’t even ask.
• A TRUE ADVENTURE!

Things YOU have to look forward to:

• Calls from me complaining endlessly about one of the above situations
• Hearing mortifying embarrassing stories about me as I try to navigate a new culture here in my new blog
• And of course, a free mat/ couch/ space of my floor if you have any insane cravings for an African adventure!

So here we go, whether we are ready or not. Our adventure begins this coming Monday when I ship off for Peace Corps pre-training meeting in Philly directly proceeded by my flight to Casablanca arriving in good old el-Maghreb (Morocco) on Sept. 15^th inshallah (God willing) ;)