Thursday—

Current tunez: “Just Got to Be” –The Black Keys

Current literature(z): Fun House by Alison Bechdel, a graphic novel that is somehow more depressing than Maus. It uses a ton of needlessly big words, which normally is a huge pet peeve of mine, but I think mixing cartoon images with SAT words makes the book enjoyable.

This week is going by super fast. I’ve got a little over a week left at CBT, then the ol’ gang gets back together on the beach for a bit before swearing-in in Rabat. Intense.

Good thing: I learned today that the volunteer I’m replacing will be in town for a little over two weeks after I move in, so I will have ample time to bother her and maybe even buy some of her stuff for my own place.

After language class the other day my CBT group and I went out to kick it at a café for a bit. I ran into my host dad at the café and said hey, but my group didn’t stay much longer after that because we had to get some veggies, etc. at the market. When I got home later that night my host dad basically called me a man for being out at a café and drinking tea and then my host uncle told me I should be wearing a veil when I’m in public. Cool story, Hansel…way to wait until now to tell me my behavior is problematic. I think they were joking with me, but then again I have no idea. Either way, not really how I wanted to end my day.

By the way, if I look horribly disfigured the next time I see you all it’s probably because trying to understand how to use the conditional in Darija is like getting round-house kicked in the face repeatedly and with a level of accuracy akin to that of imperial stormtroopers. Assuming the Empire has a training sesh on round-house kicking. I’m not really sure what their training program is like.

Well that was really weird. What can I say, it’s late.

Saturday--

Currently listening to “Omaha” by Counting Crows

Happy Halloween! I’m closing in on my last week of CBT…we had a farewell/Halloween party at Dar Chebab tonight that was really, really fun. Bzaf snacks, bzaf kids and even a live band. One of the girls braided a green thread thing into my hair so now I look really cool and I received little gifts from two of the other girls! A teddy bear (we named her Melissa) from one and a little “best friends forever” charm from another. It was really touching. I can’t believe how warmly we’ve been received here…the kids in my new town have a lot to live up to!

Other news: language is coming along, swiyya b swiyya. I can understand almost everything my baby sister says, which means I’m almost able to communicate like a 7 year old. I’ll take it.

Tuesday—

A few interesting things. I made a new friend today! My cell phone ran out of credit so during lunch I ran down to the market to buy a carte de recharge. Instead of cell phone plans, you buy recharge cards that have a special number on them. You dial 555 then enter the card number and voila, you can call and text. The amount you can call/text depends on how expensive of a card you buy. The girl working in the store was really sweet, and really excited that I was learning Arabic. Out of nowhere she gave me her phone number and declared that I was her new friend in Morocco. So that was nice. Of course, the universe evened everything out by making some punk bark at me while I walked home. Yes, he barked at me.

Tonight my CBT group had our family party. It’s our last week so everyone got together to say thanks/ eat a lot. I’ve never been on so ridiculous a sugar high; I actually felt my heart spasm a couple times. Pretty sure I caught diabetes. It was really great to get everyone together one last time, especially the host siblings. Brahim has two awesome kids in his family that I only really got to see at Dar Chebab, so it was fun to hang out with them in a different setting.

Tomorrow I have the dreaded LPI (Language Proficiency Interview). It’s not technically an exam, but you find out what level you are speaking at. Peace Corps provides volunteers with funds to get tutors in their sites, but if after a certain amount of time you aren’t showing improvement from your first LPI score, they can pull your tutor funding. So it’s a little stressful. At the same time, though, I can’t study anymore. Ay caramba. By this time tomorrowwww (love me some Kinks) it’ll be over with. However, unlike a final exam in school, I’m unfortunately (fortunately?) not finished with Darija.

Mixed feelings about leaving CBT. Excited, sad, terrified, relieved, ready, not ready. I find my mood depends on how much caffeine I’ve got pulsing through me. For example, around 9:45 am (i.e., right before my 10 am coffee break) I’m about ready to burst into tears and go fetal, but by 10:45 am I feel like the Biggest Little Girl in the World. A ballet teacher once told me that no matter how small I was I had to dance like I was the Biggest Little Girl in the World, and for some reason that image always stuck with me.

Random final thought: the souk is basically the Island of Misfit Toys from the Rudolph claymation movie.

Wednesday:

Real quick, I think I did okay on my LPI, but won' t know for sure for a few more days.