9-11-2007
We landed in Casablanca today, all 67 of us who are going into PC training in Morocco (half doing youth development like me, and half working in small business development) We got off the plane down some stairs on the runway, celebrity politician style. But there wasn’t a huge camera crew waiting for us at the bottom. It was mostly just a bunch of security guards—they had extra security around because it was 9/11 and, as the short, business dressed security administrator bragged to the PC staff member who was picking us up, they had scheduled extra officers to come and make sure everything went well for us. As the Peace Corps requires that countries have to request a program in their area, we’re official guests of the King, whose picture hangs in almost every room I’ve seen in Morocco, though not in a big robe and crown like I pictured. The pictures are usually of him looking quite GQ in a nice suit and tie.
Anyway, we got straight on a bus and drove to the capital, Rabat. Our bus pulled up to the small Peace Corps Morocco headquarters, and we were shuffled straight into a speech by the PC Morocco director and staff. I’m finding that PC has this habit of pulling us straight off of planes and into important meetings—always prepared I suppose. Our director gave an inspiring speech about us being an integral part of world history at the moment—Americans volunteers in a Muslim country at this point in world events is a bit of a rarity, and we truly are cultural ambassadors. Our primary goal is the Peace Corps Mission, laid out by Kennedy over 45 years ago: “To spread world peace and friendship.” Sounds like a HUGE mission to me. But it’s good to be a part of such a noble goal. The Peace Corps is the only publicly funded agency who’s goal is “world peace and friendship,” it’s a pretty cool deal.
Hope everybody back home is doing well!
~Chris
9-13-07
For the last few days, we’ve been staying at a pretty posh hotel in Rabat, mostly us and a bunch of European tour groups. They’re REALLY easing us into this Peace Corps thing. With my pressurized hot shower, air conditioned room, and continuous supply of crepes, it’s kind of feeling like “the continental breakfast corps” right now. We spend the day sitting in a conference room getting educated on Peace Corps policy. Since there’s heightened security in the Morocco program, we have stricter rules than other countries dealing with how many of us can travel in a group at once, how late we can travel at night, talking to media, and especially about what we say on things like BLOGS. Still, they’re taking VERY good care of us in terms of security—not to the extent of badges and metal detectors and the like—mostly just common sense and A LOT of checking in with higher-ups when we’re leaving our sites.
As far as Rabat goes, Morocco is very urban and advanced from first glance. There are cars all over the place, cyber cafes, and a lot less conservative dress than we were led to think. It reminds me a lot of North India. In fact, it’s almost identical (except there’s a lot more Arabic writing). The feel of it is very similar—white, flat roofed buildings, mosques all over the place, the sound of prayer calls, vendors on the street—so I feel quite at home!
A few of us (me and two of the three other people named Chris in our program) took a jaunt to the cliffs that rise over the ocean to watch the sunset this evening. It’s trippy to look out over the ocean and realize I’m looking at America. On the way back, we started discussing ways to differentiate between all of the people named Chris in our group. Since my last name is Bacon, and pork products are forbidden in the Muslim diet, we decided I would be “Haram Chris” which is the Arabic word for things that are prohibited. So I basically translate to “forbidden Chris” which I think sounds pretty darn awesome.
In a few days, we’re splitting off from the business development people, and 27 of us are headed to Fez, the old capital of Morocco to REALLY start pre-service training (PST). I’m sad that we have to leave the business folks, we’ve all really bonded the last couple of days, and we won’t see them again until we swear in 3 months. I AM excited to leave this swanky hotel though, and to stop feeling like a euro-tourist every day, but I know in a few months I’m going to be praying for that hot shower like crazy, so I’d better enjoy it while I can.
Somebody needs to pet my cat for me back home. They’re all scary strays here!
~ “Haram” Chris
9-15-2007
We made it to Fez, which feels a lot like Rabat, but hotter, and the old city center is wickedly medieval. Seriously, the guidebooks say that the winding roads look just like they would have thousands of years ago, but with electricity and a few motorcycles. It’s a very exciting place. So exciting, that two other volunteers and I got lost in the winding streets in the middle of the evening. I mean, pretty darn lost. Two little kids who only knew two things in English (“Welcome to Morocco” and “David Beckham? GOOD football!”) offered to guide us out (at least I THINK they did). The other guys got sort of nervous when the kids started leading us down increasingly dark, narrow, and empty alley ways—but I remained optimistic. Well, I was searching my mind for any remembrance of the karate I learned in elementary school just in case they were bringing us to meet a bunch of their big brothers—but in an optimistic way. Thankfully, the kids DID end up bringing us outside the city walls (and requested a small fee), but it was the opposite side of the city that we wanted to be on. But we were just glad to be OUT at that point, so we struggled to find our way back with joy. And we even made it back in time for Peace Corps curfew! (Yes, we have one of those.) Though the other guys told everybody else back at our center that “Chris made us follow these two kids down dark alley ways,” I was quick to point out that we DID make it back, and that we got to have our first Peace Corps adventure in the process!
Life is an adventure if you let it be,
~Chris
9-16-07
We started hard core language training today, which is tougher than I expected. Arabic has at least 6 sounds that have NO equivalent in the English language. You know the “Hhhhhh” sound you make while you’re trying to fog up your glasses? Just air, no vocals. Try putting it in the middle of a word, like “Welcome.” try it “WelcHhhhome,” now make the H sound really quick. It’s like you have to derail your vocal chords for a second. There’s also a sound where you have to make a sound in your throat like you’re gargling water, but without water, without your head back, and in the middle of a word. There are some REALLY fun phrases that combine both too. Really COMMON phrases that EVERYBODY always says too. Rock on!
It’s a very religious language too. People throw in phrases like “thanks be to god” and “God willing” all the time. In America, you’d ask someone what’s up and they’d say, “Not much. I’m doing good. I’m gonna go to the mall today. I hear your brother just had a baby. Congrats!” But here it would end up being “Not much. I’m doing good *thanks be to God.* I’m going to go to the mall today *God willing.* I hear your brother just had a baby. *Thanks be to God*” It’s fun to learn the little catch phrases and tag them onto every sentence I speak. Seriously though, people here are very mindful that God gives them their blessings and that there will is secondary to what God wants for their lives.
We’ve gotta soak up as much language as we can, because next week we go to stay with our homestay family. Then I’ll be bouncing back and forth between my homestay family’s nearby town and Fez for the rest of my training period. Today, it’s been a week since I left. The initial excitement is wearing off, and homesickness is starting to set in. I know that the ups come with downs though, and vice versa, so I’m doing all right. I love hearing from people though, so keep the emails and calls coming, it truly makes my day. Well, back to more language study. *God willing* I’ll be able to pick up more of this language today!
~Chris
