Training and life during Ramadan...

8/16/09

I’m back! Sorry it’s taken me so long to post but I’m finally catching up! I just made it back from training and I’m adjusting back into life again in my site. Training was great. We received a lot technical information to help prepare us for launching projects. It was also good to catch up with all the other PCVs in my stage (training group). Also during the training I ran for a chance to represent my stage on the AIDS/HIV committee (SIDA) and won! I’ll be going to Rabat three times a year for committee meetings in addition to working on resources, organizing events, and working with related organizations to help with the Peace Corps Morocco’s goals regarding AIDS/HIV awareness in between meetings. Besides the SIDA election though we spent most of our time in sessions except for a weekend in between the two weeks of training during which several of us went hiking and to a Berber craft fair. The hike we did was an all day hike through a beautiful cedar forest and the craft fair we went to the next day turned out to be more of a music festival we were a little too early for but was still fun. Overall the training was enjoyable and informative but definitely exhausting so by the end of two weeks most of us were ready to get back to our sites. I actually took a detour though on the way back with Marj, Sean, and Amber to see our families from CBT again! It was a lot of fun and definitely worth the extra travel. I think it meant a lot that we came back. It worked out perfectly too because Hssna was visiting again with Dunia and Selma. We spent a lot of time visiting with our host families and reconnecting with others in the community that we knew. We only spent a night but it was time to get back to site after being gone for almost two and half weeks and hopefully we’ll be back again. So after a good visit in Ait Majdn I finally made it back to my site. Right away I was invited to a wedding so much for easing back in! It ‘s wedding season though and it turned out to be a lot of fun so I’m glad I went.

Alright…so that’s basically an overview of the last few weeks in a nut shell. There’s a health booth Meredith( another PCV friend about an hour away) is doing next week during a festival in her site which I’ll be helping out with and Ramadan starts on Friday so I’ll have lots to fill you on soon I’m sure - Take care and I’ll keep you posted! :)

8/23

After an eventful week or so I am back in site for a little bit until I’m off again for another training. So last week’s Moussum (festival) for Sidi Ahmed (the patron saint of Acrobates since most of the country’s acrobats come from the area, Tazerwalt, where the moussem takes place) was a success! The day I helped with the health booth we had over 400 people stop by for informational brochures and basic hygiene lessons! Later on after we finished with the booth we discovered candy covered chica peas (which are amazing!), camel tagine, and the clothing area where some of us found some cute Moroccan tops. After a couple nights at Meredith’s and a hard days work at the moussum I came back to my site but not for long. It was a Moroccan national holiday the day after I came back so several us met up in Agadir to celebrate. We stayed only a night since we’ve been out of site a lot lately but still needed a much needed break by beach. We even managed to find some Mexican food which was no exactly authentic but definitely tasty! After Agadir I made it back just in time to start Ramadan! For those of you who aren’t familiar with Ramadan it’s a month long period of fasting for Muslims so from four in the morning until sunset no food or water is allowed. It’s also a very social time where people invite others over for breaking fast at sunset. Then usually after the initial breaking of the fast at sunset (l’fdoor) there is another meal before bed (l’iminsen), and then the one last around three or so in the morning (l’shoor). In the bigger cities there’s a siren that goes off the let you know its time to get up and eat. So far I’ve been to a new family’s house every night except for my host family who I’ve broken fast with I guess twice now. It’s a little exhausted but it’s fun and has been a great way to meet some new people in town.

Alright…that’s all for now but I’ll keep you updated on my Ramadan experience and then next week I’ll be leaving for a three day volunteer support network training in Essaouira so I’ll let you know how that goes! Until then tahala gis (take care)! :)