Day by Day

This is probably the first time in my life that I’ve been content to take life one day at a time. Most of my control-freakiness has been (almost) entirely swept away by the simple fact that everything is out of my control! I don’t get to choose where I live or what my projects are, and I don’t have nearly enough knowledge to make an informed decision about those things anyway!

Here’s the dry version: We split our time between two communities, a large city we refer to as our Seminar-Based Training (SBT) site, and a tiny town we refer to as our Community-Based Training (CBT) site. The vast majority of our time is spent at CBT, where a group of six of us spend mornings learning language, and afternoons interviewing our artisan and formulating action plans. Right now I'm working on a product development project, to help our artisan make picture frames that are more appealing to Western tourists (see left). At night we go home to individual host families in order to practice our language further and get a bit of sleep. At SBT all thirty-eight of us live in one place, and attend seminars on health, security and technical training for ten hours a day.

Here’s the fun version!: Imagine everything I described above with a lot of crazy tangents thrown in! We eat candy for breakfast! I'm not kidding! Our current passion is learning the Michael Jackson Thriller dance. I’m not kidding. We’re pretty good. Beat It is next. We also spend a lot of time killing flies, avoiding wasps, recounting dreams, eating candy bars, and listening to Christmas music (Mariah Carey’s cover of All I Want for Christmas is You in particular).

Right now I’m also a little worried about my family. Due to the catastrophic fires in Southern California my aunt and uncle were evacuated from San Elijo Hills, which is near Carlsbad in northern San Diego. They are safe and sound at their best friends’ house in Orange County, but I didn’t find out until a couple days ago. My mom and grandma are safe and sound because they’re nearer to the coast and closer to the city proper. My cousins east of L.A. are also safe, according to the last news I received. But there are also hundreds of thousands of people who are scared and displaced, and many who have lost so much. My heart goes out to my hometown. Thanks to everyone who inquired about my family. I’m so isolated here that I actually wouldn’t have known about the fires if you all hadn’t shown your concern. Shukran bzzaf! And lots of love, too.

What's the funniest wrong thing you've said so far?

This is a fabulous question! As many of you know I’m learning a Berber dialect called Tashlheit, which is spoken mostly in the southeast region of Morocco. This is a multi-lingual culture, where one language is spoken on the street (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic) and another is spoken at home (Tashlheit in the case of my host family, or Tamazight in other regions of the country). French and Spanish are also widely spoken, not to mention the fact that my artisan broke out in Japanese yesterday!

As you may also know about Morocco: it’s a Muslim country and, while some secular people do drink alcohol, it is not openly consumed (except by insensitive tourists). The funniest thing I’ve said so far is “Ma tskrt?” which means: “Have you been drinking?” I’ve asked my (religious) host sister this question almost every day I’ve been with my family! The crazy part is that it also means “what ARE you doing?” So something very offensive is actually something quite innocuous.

There are two other very funny things I’ve said so far. When my host niece asked me if I had a boyfriend, I thought she asked me if I had any friends so I said, “bezzef!” which launched the entire dinner table into a fit of giggles. Unmarried women do NOT have boyfriends here (or at least none that they would admit having). Later, they brought over cousins for me to consider as boyfriends. Awkward . . . Another time I mentioned in passing that “I do not wash my friends” instead of “I don’t wash the dishes.” (imduklin vs. irukutn). This is actually only funny to us Americans, because in a hammam (public bath) one would wash her friends (or at least scrub their backs).

My training group’s favorite phrase is: is tgit ashishaw? (“Are you a chicken?”) As you might guess, we use it whenever someone is a little tentative about something. We’re constantly asking our Language and Culture Facilitator, (LCF), Amina, to translate ridiculous things. If there’s something you’d like to know how to say, just let me know.

If you’re wondering if Tashlheit is difficult, you’re on the right track. It’s insanely difficult, but after a month I feel like I’m beginning to understand the logic. It’s just that the whole language overflows with logic! I do feel ready for the language exam we have to pass in order to be sworn in November, so that’s good news.

In other news, I received my final site assignment! There's an airport nearby so there are no longer any excuses! Start pricing tickets (and setting wedding dates) so you can visit me! xo

What’s the food like?

Food? What food?

OK, I’m just kidding. They feed me constantly! I feel like I’m being fattened for the slaughter! (Before you judge my gluttony please, keep in mind that refusing food or drink is considered extremely disrespectful to your host.)

Here is my feeding schedule:

8:15 AM My host sister serves me tea (with lots of sugar) and bread with honey and butter before I leave for "school" (language and technical training).

10:00 AM We have a snack of tea (with lots of sugar), coffee (with lots of sugar) and plain yogurt with honey.

12:30 PM We have tea (with lots of sugar), a tajine or omelet, freshly baked bread, and tangerines. A tajine is cooked in a really cool looking pot made from clay. The whole dish is made in layers: first the red onions, which will burn, but in a good way. Then the chicken and lots of spices that I can’t even begin to identify. On top of that are carrots, potatoes and whatever other vegetables are available that day. (Yay! for seasonality!) Keep in mind that this meal ends at 2:30 PM.

4:00 PM Tea (with lots of sugar), coffee (with lots of sugar), and crepes or bread stuffed with olives and tuna fish.

6:00 PM My host sister often visits with her sister-in-law, whose house is on the way from "school". Occasionally, I end up in the kitchen, drinking tea (with lots of sugar) and explaining that I can’t eat the bread because I might explode!

9:00 PM Dinner! This varies widely. There’s always tea (with lots of sugar). Sometimes it’s lentils, bread and spinach. Other times it’s lamb’s heart (ul n wulli) and chicken (is tgit ashishaw?). Last night we had bread stuffed with boiled eggs, black olives, french fries and pureed tomatoes. Sometimes there’s coca-cola or freshly made orange juice.

I’m convinced that I’m made to eat more than other family members. My host sister says that I can’t return to America as a skinny girl because then people will think she didn't feed me. I hope that the record is clear from this description.

What about couscous, you ask? Contrary to popular belief (and many cookbooks) couscous is not a common dish. Before arriving I though it would be like rice in Chinese cuisine - always there! Actually, it takes a long time to prepare, and is usually eaten for Friday lunches. Many families don’t eat it at all during Ramadan, so my first and only couscous meal wasn’t until I’d spent nearly six weeks in the country.

Thanks to everyone who posted questions and words of encouragement. It makes it so much easier to be hear knowing that I have support back home!

Why haven't you written a second post?

Needless to say there have been about a million changes in my life over the past two months. I left New York; I said goodbye to all of my friends; I spent more time with my family than I have in the last eight years; I moved to Morocco; and I met about 50 of the coolest people you'll ever find. For a while it felt like absolutely everything had changed and, yet, I couldn't articulate it. So that's why I haven't written. But I plan to - a lot. And I need your help. Send me questions and tell me what you're curious about. It will help me process it all and help me share it, as well. I miss home a great deal, but really feel like I'm on the right path here in Morocco. I hope to hear from everyone soon!

p.s. Enjoy this picture of the spectacular Kasbah Ait Benhaddou! My CBT group is obsessed and we hike it at least once a week!