Wow! Just returned from the roof of the inn we are staying at after watching the most amazing lightening storm. It all began in the distance lighting up the entire sky and over an hour rolled past the hills towards our little sanctuary as bodies peered over the walls in amazement. It was fantastic.
Anyway, tomorrow is a big day for everyone in our stage. Big how you ask? Well, it is the beginning of our CBT (community based training) and introduction to our first host families. This all came about yesterday with the revealing of the languages (I was assigned to Darija, yesss!) and placement in our CBT sites. This was a mighty moment as it confirmed the language which I was hoping for all along. The CBT is done in two phases, the first lasting two weeks and the second for three weeks, with a week hiatus back at our little inn in between. The purpose of this is to help us begin to integrate into Moroccan society, improve our language ability, and familiarize ourselves with the technical aspect of our job. The family I was placed with had six members: one father (a mason), a mother (housewife), three daughters (aged 20,21,23) and one son (aged 26). The had requested a male PCV (seems like they are trying to marry off one of their daughters, right?), but this evening, the night before we are to arrive I find out they have guests and can no longer host me. So, a last minute recommendation from a current PCV stationed at the site has provided me with an emergency family half the size of the original one. It will all work out in the end, inshallah.
There is one more experience I wanted to share with those of you out there, and that is the experience of going to a hemmam. To begin with a hemmam is a bath house and gathering point which is quintessential of the Moroccan social interaction. Six of us went: Two of our LCF's, J.L., S.S., C.H., and myself. The hemmam, separated by sex, is where one goes when they want to relax or, more likely, clean themselves. There is a whole ritual behind the process of a hemmam visit and it is well advised to go with a local to fill you in on the details the first time you go. It begins by undressing down to you underwear and grabbing yourself a bucket before disappearing into the steam. There are three rooms: warm, warmer, and warmest. You begin by choosing an open piece of ground and washing it off with EXTREMELY HOT water. Next you lay on the ground and stretch out while switching positions from back to side to stomach. The whole while you are doing little exercises and sweating out all the dirt and impurities. Then, once nice and relaxed, you lather up with soap and then continue to sit there while the soap seeps into your pores. Now the fun part comes. You pick a partner who proceeds to scrub the top layers of skin from your entire body with a sandpaper like glove while continuing to stretch you out. This routine can be taken as a bit homoerotic in the States but here it is just another way that people bond and spend time together. Emerging red as a lobster and clean as a whistle you return to balance in the changing room while soaking your feet in a cool bucket of water. I can see this becoming a regular thing as showers become few and far between.
So those were a few of the great experiences over the past week which have forever been burned into my memory. I am sure there is more to come. Talk to you in two weeks after we get back from CBT. Be well!
