The journey from Rabat to Boumia wasn't too bad. Most importantly there was a delicious Thanksgiving feast waiting for us upon arrival. There were about 15 of us in total, so it was a really great introduction to the other volunteers in the region. On Friday, I arrived in my site in the early afternoon. I put all my luggage in my room and had tea with my new host Mom, Hayat. After tea I went for a walk around town with Dan, the health volunteer here. I stopped in at the post office and picked up my very first package here in Morocco (from Granddad & Karen) and a letter from Mom. What a nice surprise and a great treat for my first day here! Thank you both very much. It was an early night for me as I was pretty tired from the past week's activities. This morning, the local gendarmes (police) called and asked me to come to their office. I have to get a residence card through them, so I was expecting their call. Hayat's husband, Rachid is away in Khenifra for business, so she is running their cyber cafe while he is gone. We had breakfast and headed into town. I made copies of my 'attestation de travail' at their cyber, to give to the gendarmes. While I was doing that, Dan called to let me know that Rebha (my counterpart) wanted to meet for coffee and to talk for a bit. So I headed to the Kahawa (coffee shop) that her sister owns and we met for about an hour and discussed our upcoming plans for the craft fair in Marrekesh on Wednesday. Dan was there to help with language, which I was extremely grateful for! After our meeting, we went to Mamaksu's house (my new host grandmother) for a delicious lunch (chicken, turnip, carrot and potato tagine). After lunch I went to the gendarmes and turned in the rest of my paperwork necessary to get my Carte de Sejour (residence card). I went by myself, feeling pretty nervous about communicating with them, when I left the gendarmes I felt extremely happy as I understood everything they asked for and said to me and I am pretty sure they understood me too. It's the little things these days...
It has been pouring with rain with extremely high winds all afternoon and evening. But, I am in high spirits, feeling very excited and anxious to get settled here in my new town, and ready for the next two years.
P.S. It snowed last night on top of the mountain, so this morning I had beautiful white peaked jagged mountain tops to take in on my walk into town...winter's a coming!
Love,
Maryeem xXx
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| My new host sister-Yasmine, she's 2 :) |
Salam Annemarie! I am quite interested in reading your journal about your experiences in PeaceCorps as I am interested in volunteering for Peacecorps as well and I would love the location of Morocco. I would like to know how long you have to have a host family, and how would one acquire their own lace while in PC is it arranged by PC or by yourself? Also how well did the 3 month training prepare you for interaction with your HF and your new community? Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon.
ReplyDeleteSumaya
Hello Maryeem,
ReplyDeleteDespite your earlier re-assurances about the post, I'm so relieved to hear that our package had arrived safely. However, if the temperature drops a lot, please don't wait to open it - and benefit from its contents.
Hope you get to see something of Marrakesh on Wednesday - but beware of all the touts! It's swarming with them. Meanwhile, we need to see pics of your new abode - plus of course, Hayat and Rachid. Fondest love from Granddad & Karenxxxxx