We're in Morocco!

I don't even know where to start. Our flight to Casablanca, and short bus ride to Rabat were uneventful (which is good). We met with our Country Director and other staff, and got a chance to ask all sorts of country specific questions we'd been dying to ask at staging, but, understandably, they were unable to answer.

Following our initial day of general intros to the staff and program, we've been getting acquainted with the medical procedures and staff, learning Morocco specific and general safety techniques, learning about resources and procedures, etc. We had a visit from the U.S. Ambassador Riley and his wife Nancy as well on well, someday...they are sort of all jumbled up. :) They have been very respectful of our jet lag, etc. but there is still a lot to get done in our short training time -- so we are moving quickly!

This morning we separated from the 24 or so Environmental sector volunteers, and the 27 or so of us Health people drove to a smaller town that will be our training base for the next 11 weeks or so. The drive was amazing. We took some pictures, and will try to get them posted...but right now just figuring out the whole internet cafe and currency and language thing might be enough. There was just a huge variety of landscapes -- green prairies, cacti (is that right?), palm trees, beautiful mountains. So yeah, we drove up into the mountains and if you know me (Jana), I'm a little afraid of heights. Picture steep mountain roads and a nice tall bus....I just looked the other way. :)

This upcoming week will be, I think, lots of culture and beginning language training. We haven't found out yet if we'll be learning Moroccan Arabic, or one of the two local Berber languages, so we're eagerly anticipating that. The week after this we are going on a "field trip" to visit with a current Health volunteer and check out what life is really like. We're all looking forward to the chance to get a handle on what we'll be doing, how we'll be living, etc., although this will not be our site, just an example site.

I should get back and get ready for dinner. We had our first couscous dish this afternoon and it was WONDERFUL. So, we have lots to look forward to in the next couple of weeks, and the food for the next two years!

Take care! Jana