More From Rabat

10MAR2006 It's Friday morning, we're about to load up for our training sites. The Health volunteers are headed to Azilal, it's about a 4 hour bus ride. Rabat has been cool. We've been in training sessions all day, but there are usually a few hours in the evening to go out and do stuff. We have a curfew, otherwise it would be like herding cats to keep all fifty or so of us in line. Sometimes it feels like herding cats anyway. I went out through the medina to the seawall two days ago, it was really cool. I love how there is so much detail in all the architecture. America has very boring architecture. Orange juice will be forever ruined for me. I will never be able to drink anything but fresh squeezed Moroccan OJ. It's like nothing I've ever tasted. Mint tea is pretty good, too, but the OJ is indescribable. We've been getting a European spread for breakfast every morning, and I'm seeing what people mean about the yogurt. Mmmm..... Croissants.... Croissants with chocolate in them.... We've had some harira at dinner, but I think it's just generic buffet table stuff. Mom's is better. I think harira is the kind of thing that someone's mom has to make to make it taste right. I'm using my French a lot, and it comes back surprisingly well. We try to use the little Arabic we know, and that's going alright, too. When we get to our training site we will begin the real intense language training. Depending on what area I end up in I will learn Moroccan Arabic, or one of two Berber dialects. Even if I learn a dialect, I think I'll try to learn as much Arabic as I can. It looks like there will be a lot of down time while we assess our sites and figure out a project. I will be working with a health center every day, and I'm excited to see what nurses do in Morocco. I am not officially allowed to do any nursing stuff because even though I am licensed, I am not authorized to practice in this country. But, I am allowed to do all the teaching I want. I hope I can learn the language fast so I can start getting to know the nurses at my site. I bet we could swap some stories. I think I've adjusted to the time change, but I can tell I'm stressed. I sleep, but I have been wide awake at about 4am for the last couple of days. It's ok, though. I know how to live with stress. When we get to Azilal we still won't be situated with a host family for a few days. We'll be in another hotel, but we also get to go for about a week to stay with a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) in the health program and shadow them. I'm excited for that. I'm really excited to meet my host family. It will give me a chance to become really immersed in the language, and I think that will quell the anxiety if I'm just forced to do it. We had a little lesson on Islam yesterday, and I think I will be very comfortable in this society. There seem to be a lot of similarities in Islam and the Gospel. They're really drilling us on being respectful and appropriately dressed. I think there are some people who just don't get the idea of modesty as an issue of reverence and respect instead of oppression. I think it is such an issue with PCVs because we are there in a position of semi-authority. Or at least, we are there in the hopes that people will respect what we have to say and listen to us. I don't usually wear long skirts and long sleeved shirts, but I realized that to show up in tight jeans and a t-shirt at some function might be like wearing a bikini to sacrament meeting. I think it's hard for some of the other volunteers, though. We've got a lot of fresh out of college kids who think they know everything. I feel so old saying that, but that's the way I feel. Anyhow... time to go sit on a bus for a few hours. I'll try to get some time and post the rest of the pictures I've got from Rabat.