27monthswithoutbaseball

This next week will be a busy one...swearing-in is on Friday. Then we move from being PCTs to PCVs. I looked at the language of what we swear; part of it involves defending the constitution of the U.S. Is that what the Peace Corps should be swearing? I will do that if called upon to do so (after all, I'm swearing) but the language seems odd. On Saturday we go to our sites. Next weekend will be Lee's last in Azrou, so I want to spend as much time with him as I can. Then next Monday the two-year assignment begins! I'll meet with my counterpart, make the rounds of artisans I've been introduced to, find a tutor and start the paperwork process of getting my working papers, but I also want to spend some time every day at a cyber, catching up on all of the e-mails and news I've missed. So if I don't get too many chances to write between now and then, I hope to catch up then!

And by then I will have my own computer! I know I have mentioned more than once that I wish I had my own. It will be very helpful for work - essential, really - and I still think the welcome book did not do a good job of emphasizing that. The TimHdit PCV is on her way home for Thanksgiving. At our sleepover last week, my friend suggested that Katie bring a computer back for me. I don't know if this would have occurred to me on my own - even though I did read in the welcome book that whenever volunteers go home to the states they are often asked to carry things (such as letters to mail) in one direction or the other. Anyway, Sultan suggested it and Katie said yes and my sister pitched in and my friends in VA have already bought it and shipped it to Katie's grandfather! I am so happy - this will go a long way towards peace of mind. I'll still use the cyber for e-mail, because it will give me alone time away from the host family (I loved the fact that they had DSL but realized that while I was on the computer at their house I was denying myself time to read or write...I don't feel I can spend all of my time there in my room...but if I'm out at a cyber for a while that's just part of being out, working or whatever I'm doing out). When I get to my own place I will look into having DSL installed.

And on the subject of mail...I got a whole bunch yesterday! Things had piled up when I was in TimHdit. When the mail arrived we were like kids at Christmas - rushing to open things and read and share comments with each other. I realized something about my priorities. Mail is more important than cake. I open everything from my sister first, then the letters, then the big envelopes. But if someone wants to play cards I am willing to put the letters down - after all, we have a maximum of one more week to play cards together (I finally had that Scrabble game today that I thought I would have when I signed off a couple of weeks ago,,,and the crochet lesson yesterday...and the somatics is tomorrow. That night I think I ended up just talking).

I had my hair trimmed today by one of the people who cut hair. It was getting a little unmanageable, and the haircut lifted my spirits. And my spirits were a bit down. Thursday night and last night I met some more friends of Lee's. They're nice, but I don't know if they will be my friends. is it the language barrier? Is it that at the moment it's just so much easier to be with the Americans, playing rummy and Scrabble and stuff? Cultture? Did we not click? Too soon to tell - but all of a sudden I started wondering if these past few months of training would be the highlight of the entire time. I don't think so, but it was something to think about. Ii love my host family and could see a friendship developing there, but will I make friends? Do I have to? I can make business friendships and have my fellow PCV friends when I see them and then be in touch with my friends at home - isn't that enough? It might be.

I also had down spirits because of the TimHdit bags that we ordered. I think we spent too much time talking about them last week when we should have been talking about the brochure with the artisans or working on it on our own or working on language. Well, it turns out they had to really rush to get the bags to us and two of them are nice and two of them are very disappointing. The two of us who are close by took the two disappointing ones and we will see what we can do. Return them? Exchange them for beautifull pillows that cost about the same? Keep them and chalk it up to a lesson learned for the artisans and for us? In the overall scheme of things they need the money more than we do, and they did work hard to get them to us, but last night I felt - well, someone suggested "betrayed" and maybe that's a good word for it. I really think they should be ashamed of themselves for thinking this was good enough. Oh well.

Another reasdon my spirits were down (good thing I had that haircut and feel like a new woman) is that we had a presentation yesterday from the ministry. It was very interesting - talking about their strategic plan and how we as volunteers can fit into it. It was also interestine because it was in French, with the training coordinator translating. I found that I understood a lot of the French - maybe that Rosetta Stone did some good after all. But also, the business language of French has a lot in common with English - things like organization and administration. But there was the fleeting thought that I understood a lot more of it than I would have if it were in darija, the language I've been studying since I got here. And the fleeting thought that - dare I say it? - in a way I would rather be learning French. Good thing that thought was fleeting, because our LPI (Language Proficiency Test) is on Monday.

We learned a lot of new vocabulary last week in CBT. When we were doing verbs and conjugations, it seemed as though we were slogging through it at times, not moving very fast. Last week was like a lightning round of new words. Clothing and colors. Words for renting and furnishing an apartment. Body parts and medical needs. Adjectives and conjuntions. There were fun games - a fashion show for the clothes ans colors, in which we each strutted while the rest of the group described what we were wearing, "Ali gal likum," the Moroccan version of Simon says, landlord-tenant role play, drawing a space alien with multiple body parts in strange locations. Also (at my request) some language for describing in simple terms what we are doing here - when I did a role play last time at seminar site and was a PCV, I realized that it was tough to explain to the trainees who were playing the roles of artisans what I was doing here - in English!! So I knew I needed it in darija. I haven't exactly been stressing about the test, but I do plan to spend a good portion of self-directed day studying and speaking.
More to say (always) but it's time to get ready for dinner. More if I can before swearing-in...but if not, more after that. Just in case, I'll wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. We do get a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner here, which I am happy about, since it is one of my favorite meals of the year. I've offered to help cook the stuffing.