Lounging on Leather Couches

I just returned back to site after being in Post Pre-Service Training (PPST) for about two weeks.  The health group was back in our old stomping ground of Ouarzazate, while environment spent their time in Azrou up north near Fez and Meknes.  Let’s just say a lot of our group was pretty jealous of the environment’s PPST location.  

Ouarzazate:  Also known as the gateway to the desert. Also known as cinema city.  HOT!!! Close to no other major city!!! 

Azrou: Relaxed bigger town, at the base of the mountains.  Within 2 hours of Fez and Meknes. (Have the best old roman ruins!) Great hiking. 

So yeah… we were a little jealous. Although we stayed at pretty swanky hotel with pool, air conditioning, and great beds.  I spent most of time lounging around in lobby using the free Wi-Fi.  The connection was all over the place, but that didn’t keep me from trying to download the numerous movies, music, etc. that I thought I’d need for my next 3 months in site.

But the point of this past two weeks wasn’t to download the whole It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia series (great show on FX), rather we all came together to learn about projects! Finally! Who’s done what, what can be done, where to start… all that jazz.

We had meetings from 8:30 each day till about 5:30ish with a decent sized lunch break in the middle.  It was like a normal person’s work day.  Quite exciting and new compared to the one hour shift I make for myself at the sbitar once a week when I decide to go… My definition of “work” is greatly redefined, but doesn’t mean I still don’t miss the old American mentality of what a “work day” really is.  Sure having conversations in Tamazight is mentally exhausting, just like some jobs and sure having tea with families could be considered like having meetings with potential project partners, but sometimes I still miss rolling out of bed at 7am to go work in the catering kitchen or maybe I just miss being accountable to other people besides myself.  Yeah that’s it. 

Well okay that’s not quite true.  I have some “bosses”.  I can’t just go AWOL and no one notice.  I occasionally have a meeting or two to make, for example these past two weeks.  Anyway that was quite the tangent….

So what did I learn from PPST?  First and foremost, it got me excited to be here again.  Really gave me a boost in confidence and fellow PCV’s and staff are all cheerleaders for each other.  It’s a time where we can all share the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I think like a lot of PCV’s, the whole reality of being here for two years sets in and PPST was a nice reminder of why I came in the first place.  

Personally for my site I got quite a few good potential project ideas and pet project ideas.  I don’t want to go into too many details, because the most important idea that was hammered home for me was that without finding motivated, trustworthy community counterparts no project can be truly sustainable and these counterparts can be a make it or break it for projects.  Which is another way of saying… if your community isn’t ready for change or the help, there isn’t much even the most motivated PCV can do.  This is especially true for volunteers in a new site like… wait for it……….. ME.  So I’m going to do my best to come out of my shell even more, make my identity just as present as my site mate’s, and work building the relationships.    

My pet project ideas on the other hand I’m pretty darn excited about sharing.  

1. Build a chicken coop? Buy and raise 3 chickens?

2. Start composting and figuring out how that all works.

3. Collect pictures of different foods and food groups for a potential project?

4. Start writing a book? So sure I barely write in my journal, but I’m trying to change that.

5. Raise rabbits?

Well that’s just a few of them and since Ramadan is coming up…  I have high hopes for at least the chicken coop.  Next I’ll try to start writing about my Ramadan experiences and if anyone doesn’t know about Ramadan, I suggest googling it.  I didn’t know all that much before I came here either.  I just know I’m not fasting and I won’t lie about it.  I can barely keep it together if I skip lunch, let alone not eat or drink from sunup to sundown in the summer! Also gorging myself at night to make up for not eating all day, doesn’t sound like much fun…I will hopefully be invited in to homes for breaking fast, so I’m excited to see what it’s like.  

Hope all is well in the states! I’ll have pictures up of the apartment soon.  It’s all coming together nicely.  Oh and I do have electricity and water all the time (well when it storms that’s different, just like home).  I use a Turkish toilet, I take bucket baths, I do my laundry by hand, and my refrigerator is the size of what most college kids use in the dorms (maybe smaller).  I still watch too much TV (on my laptop) and procrastinate way too much, but on the other hand I have read 6 books so far (maybe more), I’ve watched quite a few documentaries, oh and learned another language (sort of).  So it’s all balancing out and I’m hoping to kick my productivity into gear (notice how I didn’t say back into gear, not sure it ever was in gear… haha).  The above for mentioned pet projects and enthusiasm to become more social will hopefully satisfy my definition of “productive”.