first post in Morocco!

Hey all! so here is my first post in Morocco.

So far, so good. Mostly very tiring. This week has been a lot of basic language training (I use basic loosely though because I have a lot of Darija (moroccan arabic) floating around in my head right now.). Also it has been a lot like KP Staff Week, lots and lots of information and tools that you know are useful, but have not yet had a chance to put into practice. It's exciting, but I'm kind of chomping at the bit to get it all in motion. Patience is one of the things Peace Corps talks about as being very important to have in our time here; I'm working on it. 

My trainee group is really great! We all get along really well and a lot of us have been playing games at night such as phase 10, spoons and bananagrams. It's been nice to have sort of a touch of home in that way. In staging they called us "our new government issued friends" which I still think is hilarious. I feel very blessed that we have such a great group. I also have fantastic roommates, who don't look at me too weird while I sleep on our balcony every night! 

The most challenging thing thus far, besides wanting to magically speak the language, is probably the turkish toilet. Not the biggest deal for me, because of my work at NC I'm pretty used to popping a squat in the woods, this is just a more formal version of it. I'm trying to go in head first (or left hand first)- and so far it's been alright.  I say left hand first because culturally here you use your left hand to deal with your business and your right for everything else. I realize how that might sound, but it's actually not bad at all. The squatting is better for your digestion and in theory it saves on resources. You do your stuff then you use a little water to get yourself clean then you use either a small amount of toilet paper, a washcloth or drip dry, then you pour a small beach pail into the hole to flush it all down. Voila, turkish toilet 101. It takes a little getting used to, but it's not like it's news to me. I'm realizing though that I am not so good at squatting. I've got to start doing yoga so I have better balance. 

As part of our training we did a walk around the city of Fes the other day, to listen to the language as well as cultural observation. We got to go to one of King Mohammed VI's palaces, it was really beautiful. Fes is full of cafe's and little shops, and markets (souk's). It was nice to get out of the training center and walk around. I got a coke and it was great, I'm pretty sure they're made with real sugar here, so it tastes way better. Here's some pictures so far:

Me in front of the palace door in my culturally appropriate clothing. PS I cannot wait to get one of the tunics most of the women wear here, they look so cool and comfortable and the colors here are amazing! definitely a country after my own heart. Also there is such a variety of clothing women wear, from traditional clothing, "western" clothing, interpreted traditional tunics with jeans, to cute dresses with shirts over or under and matching scarves Maybe I'll learn how to match? I wouldn't count on that ;) 

some of the mosaic detail on the palace

All in all it is just a huge learning process, and I'm working patience, both with the process and with myself. I am so glad to be here and cannot wait to do more and more and more. At the end of the week we head out to our CBT's (community based training) where we will be placed with a host family and do more intensive Arabic lessons. I'm excited to get more immersed in it all here. 

Most of all though, I'm excited for the day off tomorrow. I'm hoping to get into the old medina (old city) of Fes and see more of the city as well as practice my language, speaking of which, I should go brush up on my numbers! thanks all!