I have half my Sh*& back, hurray!

March 20, 2009,

I have great news, Peace Corps tracked down my bag!!! It made it out of the hotel in Beni Mellal, but not on the van to my central HUB site, but rather to the second van to the two health HUB sites. I should be able to pick it up next week when I go back to my HUB site. Only 5 more days of wearing the same three shirts.
I have never eaten so much bread in my life. My day starts with 3-4 cups of green tea (which I never drank back in the states), 3 kinds of olives, a ton of fresh baked bread, and a bowl of orange marmalade and a bowl of olive oil (which tastes like olives). I then go to my LCF Haddou’s house for language and culture lessons. Around 10:30 we have coffee (which I had never had before coming here; I know, weird that a 25 year old has never had a cup of coffee in his life), which I like quite a bit, and cookies. At 12:30 we have lunch, which is usually a tagine (lots of vegetables, since we have two vegetarians in the group, chicken or sheep, and lots of fresh bread. One of my language group member’s host mother is the cook for our class. On Fridays we have couscous in a giant bowl topped with vegetables and chicken, and no bread. But on a normal day the bread is there. At 3:30 or 4 we have tea or coffee and more cookies. When I get home around 6:30 or 7, I have 3 or 4 more cups of tea and about another loaf of bread. Every time I lean back to catch my breath from shoveling bread in my mouth, I get told to tsh tsh tsh, which means eat, eat, eat. Between 8:30 and 9:30 we have dinner, which includes, you guessed it, more bread. This time we have no tea, but there is also usually no water. The family drinks out of a communal cup, and we were told by peace corps staff that it was alright to use our own water bottle to avoid catching any colds being passed around, and to ensure that we’re getting treated water. I have been reluctant to bring a bottle in, because I don’t want to seem rude, but again I’ve never been offered water. Anyways, after I eat and am told to keep tsh tsh tsh-ing, I stuff a little more down and then say safi safi (enough, enough), and shbet, shbet (I’m full, I’m full). I think they laugh at me for not eating a lot and saying safi safi, shbet shbet all the time. Actually I know they laugh at me, because the 2 year old girl Rebab will mock me to my face and start laughing. She’s lucky she’s so darn cute, or I’d have hurt feelings. I can’t wait to be able to form complete, semi-complex statements so I can explain that my tiny stomach has not stretched out to meet the demands of the average Moroccan family.

March 22, 2009

I got my bag yesterday!!! Now my host family thinks I’m rich because they think I had it sent from the US. Gonna have to figure out a way to let them know that I originally brought the bag with me, but that it was misplaced. I came into the big HUB town today with a guy from my group, and we met up with about 15 different trainees from other sites. It was a pretty fun day, with lots of practice bargaining and getting by without using a notes. I bought a pair of bright yellow half-sandals that are apparently traditional in the Fes region. 60 dirhams isn’t too bad (think 8-8.5 dirhams/US dollar). I’m pretty pumped about that purchase. I’m going to hold off on buying a Jalaba (what Obi-wan Kenobi wore in Star Wars, for real), until later this summer. My friend bought one at souk yesterday for 250 dirhams, and apparently his host family thinks he got ripped off. I’m going to have one tailor made for 300 in a month or two. My friend gets lots of looks around our town, because apparently older men wear them, so to see a young white guy wearing one is a funny sight. I’ve told him to maybe not wear a jacket over it AND his Indiana Jones hat. He should pick one or the other, but both is just way too much. My host mother had fun teasing him this morning over tea. Well, that’s all from me for now. Oh yeah, how ‘bout them Boilers, making it to the Sweet 16? One of the other trainees is a huge UCONN fan, so I’m gonna have to talk some smack with him later this week.