SITE VISIT WEEK!

So I finally know where I’m going to be living for the next two years! It’s a small mountain village up north about an hour outside of Fes.  There are about 600 people that live there and it’s close to a waterfall, river and some springs. It’s really beautiful but I can tell already winters are going to be really cold (but I prefer that over a summer in the desert). Everyone is really nice too, I’m really excited to live there!

This week was filled with traveling because we went up to our site to check everything out, which was cool. I ate a lot of MCDONALDS, paprika flavored pringles, and snickers -  the essentials. Here's a breakdown of my week:

Monday: 8:30 am left Ouarzazate for Marrkech on a bus ride that is 4 hours long and literally goes through the Atlas mountains... people ALWAYS get sick..7 people threw up this time...it was disgusting lol then got to Marrakech at we and got MCDONALDS!!!!!!!!! it was so expensive but SO EFFING GOOD hahah then we took a train to Rabat; then we go to the hotel and there were no rooms; we barely speak enough to get us to the bathroom but we some how managed to get directions and find a new hotel. Then we got some food at a restaurant called magic chicken. WIN.

Tuesday: up at 5:30, at the bus station at 6; got on a bus from Rabat to Fes. From there got in a cab to Sefrou and I met up with the volunteer I'm replacing (thank god for him or else I would have been completely lost all week/when I move up there) We took a ghetto rickshaw van out to through mountains to my village, it was legit and the vans kind of look like the mystery machine with wood benches in the back. 

Wednesday: just worked on figuring out what paperwork I need to turn in to live in Morocco legally. We also hung out with some other volunteers in the area, they were really cool

Thursday: Tatiana and I were there for the current volunteers to open a library at a girls dorm at a town near by. That was cool to see that after two years it is possible to learn the language and to get something done lol always inspiring.

Friday: just hung out.

On Saturday morning Tatiana and I met up in Sefrou and took a taxi to Fes. From Fes we took a bus to Rabat and stayed there Saturday night. We also got some MCDONALDS!!! 

Sunday we took a train from Rabat to Marrakech and got MCDONALDS again in Marrakech! From Marrakech we took a bus to Ouarzazate..at least 3 people got sick, typical.

Were still in Oz for training and are going back to our CBT sites Wednesday. In less than a month we are going to be sworn in and be OFFICIAL volunteers, not trainees! YAYAYAYA!

I'll post pictures soon! I forgot my camera cord but I did take some! 


Also here are some lost in translation moments (not too many this week though because the volunteer I'm replacing was with me a lot and translated what was happening): At the hotel I meant to say goodbye (bslama) to the guy working the front desk, but instead I said a God phrase people use before you eat (bismillah), he was really confused. Then in a cab ride Tatiana tried to explain to the driver that we were going to live in Morocco for two years to work with the environment, but the word for environment sounds like Libya - so our cab driver thought we were refugees from Libya and that's why we were living in Morocco for two years!