We made it!

We survived our first “Community Based Training.” More than survived, we really enjoyed it. :)

Here’s how it works…we split up into groups of 5 or 6, and each group has a Moroccan staff person called a Language and Culture Facilitator (LCF). We spend our days doing lots and lots of language learning and practice, as well as training on the work we’ll be doing …right now mostly the vocabulary we’ll need and how to familiarize ourselves with the resources in our community. We also have some cultural discussions about what we’re experiencing and things like non-verbal communication…what gestures we’re seeing mean (and which ones not to accidentally make!) In the evenings we stay with host families and experience daily life in Morocco and have lots of opportunities to practice our language. We learned more about laundry Moroccan style and a lot about food traditions and family. Our family was VERY nice. They had hosted a volunteer two years ago and so they knew how to utilize non-verbal communication to be very hospitable. There are 2 parents, a daughter around our age, and a 10 year old son, as well as a grandma and a young woman who is staying with the family because her family lives far from the secondary school she attends.
Some things we are learning about Moroccan culture: Moroccans drink oodles of tea. Mostly mint tea. We did have some amazing orange blossom tea, made from orange trees growing in the area. You just pick the blossoms and wash them and add them to the tea…wow. :) (We learned tea-making Moroccan style in our training because it is a vital skill in these parts!) Couscous is usually made on Fridays. Moroccans eat it with their hands, as they do much of their food. Most food is dipped from a communal dish with bread. Couscous, though, is made into little balls and then popped into your mouth. I attempted this for the first time this past Sunday and it’s a little messy for a novice like me, but fun. Evening meals are generally later than most of us are used to. Depending on the family they are between about 8:30 and 10ish. Religion is essential to daily life in Morocco. From greetings to compliments to hearing the prayer calls from the Mosque 5 times a day to how it influences ideas of appropriate dress, it is integral. That was a wee bit random, but we’re learning so much each day, it’s hard to even realize all of what we’re absorbing…definitely let us know if you have questions about something!
The week passed quickly. We had “school” from 8 to 5:30 or 6 and then spent the nights studying and playing soccer or watching TV with our families. We had Sunday off from school and spent the day with the family. The larger towns in the area have a market day each week, called the souq, where all the meat and vegetable and clothes and teapot and spice and other vendors bring their goods and people come from a large area to stock up for the week. Sunday was our town’s so we went in the morning with the father and kids from our family, because going to the souq falls usually within the man’s duties. Our town is on a mountainside which leads down to a river, so we spent the evening walking down to the river and around the area and it was BEAUTIFUL!
Now we’re “home” in our seminar site, doing some more training in our big group. We will go back for our next CBT phase next Wednesday. I am going to sign off and go make some flashcards now, but I'll try and post again soon!