I am now a fully fledged Peace Corps Volunteer. Today, after 63 days of constant language, culture, and basic-here-to-for-un-needed life skills training, I swore in to the United States Peace Corps. And the US Ambassador came to give us our oath; yes my friends, I'm kind of a big deal. I even had my picture taken with him, he and his wife are lovely people.
Now that I am officially a PCV I leave for my site again tomorrow but now it's for good; I don't know how often I will be qble to find a cyber in the next three months so I might not have a lot of posts until July of August. However, eventually I am going to get a small notebook type computer so after Ramadan you guys will probably hear more from me. Oh yeah, that reminds me, I had wanted to let you guys in on some of the big cultural differences here. I find them rather amusing.
1: Tide is the all powerful cleaner here. It removes tough stains from shirts, keeps the dishes sparkling clean, and some people have even been know to wash head wounds with it. That is one health concern I will be addressing.
2: Men hold hands with other men but they do not talk to women in public; parties are rather like 8th grade dances with the men on one side of the room and women on the other.
3: All parts of the body must be covered in public, this is true for men and women. But belching is completely normal wherever you may be.
4: During the month of Ramadan- they use a lunar calader so it is a deifferent time every year- everything stops and people just leave their cranky selves at home. My vote is that this is for the best.
Just some things I've noticed I'll make notes on more of them and post them as I can.
One last item of business; my mailing address has changed. Now that I have a final site I have a PO Box in mu souk town. I'm going to delete the other address so people don't try to send stuff there instead. Don't worry, anything that has been sent will be forwarded to me for the next couple of months. Although now I can get packages, dad seems to be having trouble with the US Postal system so you might see if Fed Ex or UPS is better. As far as needs I wish to impose on my dear friends to send me; books, any genre, any topic, any style. There aren't english books here so I need them from you guys. Also pictures of you guys would be nice, not to mention cheaper to send since those can be put into envelopes.
So from now on send all mail to:
Erika Pullen
BP 126
Rich 52400
Province D'Errichidia, Maroc
BP stands for Boite Postal which is French for PO Box, and to whom it may concern this is not anywhere near my home so it isn't a saftey breach to post this online.
I think that's all for now friends.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
It's just like home... only not
Sorry for the delay but not to worry I am still alive and everything is freaking awesome! So my site, hmm how to describe it... imagine Moab meets Glennwood Springs. It's totally desert surrounded by sandstone mountains; and I have a natural hot spring that's just a thirty minute bike ride from my place. My life is so hard, kind of like being on a two yaer working vacation.
I can't tell you exactly where I am for security stuff but I'm nearish a city called Rich. I will be working in the thirteen surrounding daours, too. I don't have a sbitar (clinic) in my site. The sbitar is a thirty to forty-five minute walk from my daour which makes it really inconvenient for the majority of my daours. So it seems that my next two years will be teaching people preventative healthy and basic first aid so they won't have to rely on the sbitar for everything. Also, my province (pop quiz, who remembers the name?) has a lot of PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) in it b/c it's in a part of the country that gets very little attention from the Moroccan gov. (Something about an assasination attempt on the previous king.) Having so many PCVs nearby means that we all work together to help each other with projects. I have two PCVs within a fifteen km radius of me so that's really nice.
I recieved a very warm welcome from my whole community, including the local officials. I told everyoine I will be working with the sbitar and the school and they told me they would help me in anyway they could. I could not possibly have asked for a better site or better people. Although I'm going to have to work a lot on my french b/c the big city authorities, and teachers I will be working with don't speak the Berber language I learned. They only speak Darija (Moraccan Arabic) and French. I already know the basics of French so I'm going to work on that rather than starting all over with Arabic.
There was one surprise though, I mean I should have logically realized if there is one animal the other would be here too. We have camel spiders, but don't worry there mostly small here, they don't get Iraq Camel Spider size. So far I've only encountered tiny ones about the size of a cupcake, although the other PCVs in the area tell me they can get as big as the scorpions. Oh yeah! We have scorpions too; guess who doesn't walk around barefoot. Me! And I've grown very fond of the vigorous shake I give all my clothes before putting them on, it's kind of thereputic really.
We had our final language test to see if I've learned Tamazirte well enough to be on my own in Moracco and I not only passed the test but I aced it. I absolutly had to make Novice High to pass-that's roughly what you're at after two school years of education. I scored Intermediate Low so I learned roughly three years worth of language skills in two months. Yes my friends, I have overcome my language learning block and become a linguist. HUZZAH!
One last thing, I know I'm rambling. I want to play a game with you guys, I have a funny-blister-story and I want to know if any of you can beat mine. Here in Marocco we don't have laundromats or washing machines, we do all of our laundry by hand. Well this requires finding your own method and style. In my first to learn my method I gave my self a blister... on the top side of my finger. So, I want to know if anyone has a sillier blister than a laundry blister?
I can't tell you exactly where I am for security stuff but I'm nearish a city called Rich. I will be working in the thirteen surrounding daours, too. I don't have a sbitar (clinic) in my site. The sbitar is a thirty to forty-five minute walk from my daour which makes it really inconvenient for the majority of my daours. So it seems that my next two years will be teaching people preventative healthy and basic first aid so they won't have to rely on the sbitar for everything. Also, my province (pop quiz, who remembers the name?) has a lot of PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) in it b/c it's in a part of the country that gets very little attention from the Moroccan gov. (Something about an assasination attempt on the previous king.) Having so many PCVs nearby means that we all work together to help each other with projects. I have two PCVs within a fifteen km radius of me so that's really nice.
I recieved a very warm welcome from my whole community, including the local officials. I told everyoine I will be working with the sbitar and the school and they told me they would help me in anyway they could. I could not possibly have asked for a better site or better people. Although I'm going to have to work a lot on my french b/c the big city authorities, and teachers I will be working with don't speak the Berber language I learned. They only speak Darija (Moraccan Arabic) and French. I already know the basics of French so I'm going to work on that rather than starting all over with Arabic.
There was one surprise though, I mean I should have logically realized if there is one animal the other would be here too. We have camel spiders, but don't worry there mostly small here, they don't get Iraq Camel Spider size. So far I've only encountered tiny ones about the size of a cupcake, although the other PCVs in the area tell me they can get as big as the scorpions. Oh yeah! We have scorpions too; guess who doesn't walk around barefoot. Me! And I've grown very fond of the vigorous shake I give all my clothes before putting them on, it's kind of thereputic really.
We had our final language test to see if I've learned Tamazirte well enough to be on my own in Moracco and I not only passed the test but I aced it. I absolutly had to make Novice High to pass-that's roughly what you're at after two school years of education. I scored Intermediate Low so I learned roughly three years worth of language skills in two months. Yes my friends, I have overcome my language learning block and become a linguist. HUZZAH!
One last thing, I know I'm rambling. I want to play a game with you guys, I have a funny-blister-story and I want to know if any of you can beat mine. Here in Marocco we don't have laundromats or washing machines, we do all of our laundry by hand. Well this requires finding your own method and style. In my first to learn my method I gave my self a blister... on the top side of my finger. So, I want to know if anyone has a sillier blister than a laundry blister?
Friday, April 16, 2010
Just a short one
So I spent all my time putting like three pics up on mu photobucket account, I hope it works. My photobucket.com account is called Pullen_photos I think you guys can use the name to look at my pics. There aren't a lot b/c it takes forever to upload them but it's more then none. So I know my official site, I'm in the Errichidia Province and it's the eastern side of the mountains so I'm super dessert but high altitude. I think that means it's going to be like Colorado. I don't know anything more about my douar (remeber that word?) I'm going there tomorrow for a week so hopefuly I'll have more to tell you guys later. Wish me luck!
I'm super excited, I feel like I'm doing exactly what I've always been meant to do. Just thought I'de check in and let you all know I'm still in love with Morocco.
I'm super excited, I feel like I'm doing exactly what I've always been meant to do. Just thought I'de check in and let you all know I'm still in love with Morocco.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Have Pocket Hanky, Can Do Anything
Quick note on comments. Totally spaced on Em's comment from two posts ago, yeah Turia and Tarie are terrifyingly similar I deffinatly thought my world had all come together at once when my Morrocan name sounded like my Elvish name and leant almost the same thing as my brother's name... do doo do doo imagine, if you will...
I've read a great many adventure books in my time and you know what? Towels are useless to take everywhere with you b/c they're bulky and ppl stare. But pocket hankerchiefs set you up on a higher branch of the evolutionary scale. They travel well, are reusable, and can do everything a towel can do but dry faster. Tolkien is smarter than Adams, sorry to break the hearts of the masses but it must be done for the good of all.
We have a free weekend this week, that means that from sat afternoon until sundown today (sun) I can leave Azrou and go anywhere within the province of Ouarzazate. For my map friends, you going to need a really detailed map to find me. Quick note about Morocco, sorry non-map-reader friedns, there is real Morocco and then there is the Western Sahara, this is the skinnier, southern part of the map. You will only hear about the adventures of Turia in real Morocco b/c Western Sahara is a disputed area (like Kashmere) and it isn't safe for westernes. I like my pretty littlke head attached to my pretty little body (I know it's a weird quirck) so I'm staying north of the quasi border. That said, Ouarzazate is in the south eastern part of real Morocco, in the Mid Atlas region (those are the mountains). OK, so n your map find the big city of Ouarazate, go north east a bit. I don't know how far but it's a two hour drive to El Klaa M'Gouda (where I come for internet etc) then follow the road north a jump, if my bitty duoar (village) is on the map you'll be looking for Tabernashte, Azrou, or Tazrout. These are neighboring duoars and they're each made up of about thirty houses. Don' be distracted by the larger Azrou that's on most maps and is closer to the sea. That's a big city and it isn't me.
Back to talking about me and adventures, yay, me!So I decided to go on a mini vacation to a duoar I'de heard about that's north of Azrou called Boutaghrar ( pronounced boo tak errar)and I thought it would be fun to walk there. So I set out after class yesterday and start walking, it's so beautiful here. The almond trees and the roses are both in bloom right now and as I was walking along I could smell honysuckel somewhere in the fields. My life is just so hard. Well that was lovley and when I got into the next village over (Tabernasht) everyone was super friendly and greeted me; people get super excited here when foreigners speak the native language in stead of French or Arabic. Btw, I can' remember if I've told you guys; I'm learning Tamazirt, it's one of the local dialects spoken by the mountain berbers. Yup, I'm cool. Also, greeting ppl doesn't just mean sharing hellos here. It means stopping to say hi, ask how they are, and what they're doing. Even though we don't know each other, and you will be invited in for tea at least half the time. It's just they way of things, I hope you guys are ready for tea and cookies when I come home, it's going to be the way of things.:) Anyway, as I greated on person in particular he asked where I was going and I said Boutaghrar, he said really? So I askzd how far it was and he said twenty five kilometers, at this point I've walked one. Hmm I think to myself, maybe I'll grab the next transit (taxi) that comes by. So I start walking again and it's still just lovely. After another kilo or so I laeve the river vally and the road starts winding through the desert. Side note before anyone worries uneccassarily, I live. Sorry to spoil the ending :) Really though, I knew I had a treck ahead of me so I bought two liters of water before leaving Azrou and I had my pocket pink pocket hanky. The only reason I wanted to mention the desert treck is to tell you about how beautiful it is. The Atlas Mountains were made the same way the Rockies were and the are I'm in has a lot of sandstone, it's looks so much like the Colorado Utah border it was amazing. Ofcourse the random piles fo camel droppings would remind me of where I was but it was cool anyway.
My feet had just started to hurt and I had just stopped having fun, after about three kilometers when the transit showed up, yay! So I went the rest of the way in style, ant the whole ride cost about a buck and a half. When I got into Boutaghrar I was the only person there so the hotel owner made me tea and we sat and had tea together; I tried to talk to him but I was tired and my tam skills run and hide when I get tired so I excused myself for a nap. After my nap the Bulotel (hotel owner) took me to tea at his friends house (don't fret, this is very normal) and we sat and I asked about the few things I could think of, one of which was if they have a sbitar (health clinic. They said yes and asked why I asked and I told them when I was done with my trainig I was going to work for the minister of health in a sbitar. After tea I went back to the hotel and had a lovely evening with the bulotels whole family; they insisted I join them b:c I was the only hotel guest and they didn't want me to be lonley. This morning I caught a trznsit here to Klaa, it was pretty uneventful comparitivly. Well, that's life here, I'm off to the market for a coffee and some fruit. All my love!
I've read a great many adventure books in my time and you know what? Towels are useless to take everywhere with you b/c they're bulky and ppl stare. But pocket hankerchiefs set you up on a higher branch of the evolutionary scale. They travel well, are reusable, and can do everything a towel can do but dry faster. Tolkien is smarter than Adams, sorry to break the hearts of the masses but it must be done for the good of all.
We have a free weekend this week, that means that from sat afternoon until sundown today (sun) I can leave Azrou and go anywhere within the province of Ouarzazate. For my map friends, you going to need a really detailed map to find me. Quick note about Morocco, sorry non-map-reader friedns, there is real Morocco and then there is the Western Sahara, this is the skinnier, southern part of the map. You will only hear about the adventures of Turia in real Morocco b/c Western Sahara is a disputed area (like Kashmere) and it isn't safe for westernes. I like my pretty littlke head attached to my pretty little body (I know it's a weird quirck) so I'm staying north of the quasi border. That said, Ouarzazate is in the south eastern part of real Morocco, in the Mid Atlas region (those are the mountains). OK, so n your map find the big city of Ouarazate, go north east a bit. I don't know how far but it's a two hour drive to El Klaa M'Gouda (where I come for internet etc) then follow the road north a jump, if my bitty duoar (village) is on the map you'll be looking for Tabernashte, Azrou, or Tazrout. These are neighboring duoars and they're each made up of about thirty houses. Don' be distracted by the larger Azrou that's on most maps and is closer to the sea. That's a big city and it isn't me.
Back to talking about me and adventures, yay, me!So I decided to go on a mini vacation to a duoar I'de heard about that's north of Azrou called Boutaghrar ( pronounced boo tak errar)and I thought it would be fun to walk there. So I set out after class yesterday and start walking, it's so beautiful here. The almond trees and the roses are both in bloom right now and as I was walking along I could smell honysuckel somewhere in the fields. My life is just so hard. Well that was lovley and when I got into the next village over (Tabernasht) everyone was super friendly and greeted me; people get super excited here when foreigners speak the native language in stead of French or Arabic. Btw, I can' remember if I've told you guys; I'm learning Tamazirt, it's one of the local dialects spoken by the mountain berbers. Yup, I'm cool. Also, greeting ppl doesn't just mean sharing hellos here. It means stopping to say hi, ask how they are, and what they're doing. Even though we don't know each other, and you will be invited in for tea at least half the time. It's just they way of things, I hope you guys are ready for tea and cookies when I come home, it's going to be the way of things.:) Anyway, as I greated on person in particular he asked where I was going and I said Boutaghrar, he said really? So I askzd how far it was and he said twenty five kilometers, at this point I've walked one. Hmm I think to myself, maybe I'll grab the next transit (taxi) that comes by. So I start walking again and it's still just lovely. After another kilo or so I laeve the river vally and the road starts winding through the desert. Side note before anyone worries uneccassarily, I live. Sorry to spoil the ending :) Really though, I knew I had a treck ahead of me so I bought two liters of water before leaving Azrou and I had my pocket pink pocket hanky. The only reason I wanted to mention the desert treck is to tell you about how beautiful it is. The Atlas Mountains were made the same way the Rockies were and the are I'm in has a lot of sandstone, it's looks so much like the Colorado Utah border it was amazing. Ofcourse the random piles fo camel droppings would remind me of where I was but it was cool anyway.
My feet had just started to hurt and I had just stopped having fun, after about three kilometers when the transit showed up, yay! So I went the rest of the way in style, ant the whole ride cost about a buck and a half. When I got into Boutaghrar I was the only person there so the hotel owner made me tea and we sat and had tea together; I tried to talk to him but I was tired and my tam skills run and hide when I get tired so I excused myself for a nap. After my nap the Bulotel (hotel owner) took me to tea at his friends house (don't fret, this is very normal) and we sat and I asked about the few things I could think of, one of which was if they have a sbitar (health clinic. They said yes and asked why I asked and I told them when I was done with my trainig I was going to work for the minister of health in a sbitar. After tea I went back to the hotel and had a lovely evening with the bulotels whole family; they insisted I join them b:c I was the only hotel guest and they didn't want me to be lonley. This morning I caught a trznsit here to Klaa, it was pretty uneventful comparitivly. Well, that's life here, I'm off to the market for a coffee and some fruit. All my love!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Life...and Stuff
So I just want to give a quick shout out to everyone who gave me stuff at any point in my life before I left. It is so wonderful having little reminders here and there of people who love me and know what I'm saying most of the time. I have pictures from Jessi in my journal and notebooks that I get to see all the time; and there are a ton of songs on my Ipod that were gifts or suggestions from Daryl and Ashley. But one thing I use constanatly is a handkerchief Orion gave me years ago that I doubt he even remembers giving me. Thank you everyone so much, it's really nice to have those things whenever I feel homesick. Also, thank you Daryl for the b-day message, it was really touching. It's amazing the number of reminders I find of all of you through out the day. Different situations where I'll have to stop and think, now if I were (friend's name) I would totally know the answer to this.
Although I am finding myself feeling more and more self-confident. Just now I used three different languages to find a store that sold what I wanted, help some American tourists, and borrow a pen from a frenchman. I don' t care if this sounds cocky, I'm talented.
I was thinking about it I havn't really told you guys about my everyday life here, just anecdotes. I'm living with a family that's one mom and dad who are really nice, two sister-in-laws. One's 23, pregnant, and moody; the other is 19 and as sweet as the day is long. I also have a nine yearold sister who couldn't care less about my presence. I suppose that's better than not wanting me around or annoying me, right? This is just for another month for training until I go to my real site. I'll find out my real site in a week or so; I'm nervous and excited. On the whole my language skills are growing rather quickly, I' m surprised, languages have always been hard for me. yay! Well, I have to dash, we're in Ouarzazate now but we're headed back to Azrou in 45. Love you all!
Although I am finding myself feeling more and more self-confident. Just now I used three different languages to find a store that sold what I wanted, help some American tourists, and borrow a pen from a frenchman. I don' t care if this sounds cocky, I'm talented.
I was thinking about it I havn't really told you guys about my everyday life here, just anecdotes. I'm living with a family that's one mom and dad who are really nice, two sister-in-laws. One's 23, pregnant, and moody; the other is 19 and as sweet as the day is long. I also have a nine yearold sister who couldn't care less about my presence. I suppose that's better than not wanting me around or annoying me, right? This is just for another month for training until I go to my real site. I'll find out my real site in a week or so; I'm nervous and excited. On the whole my language skills are growing rather quickly, I' m surprised, languages have always been hard for me. yay! Well, I have to dash, we're in Ouarzazate now but we're headed back to Azrou in 45. Love you all!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A wonderous wonderland, oh look, a camel
So this is an answer to my brother's rehtorical anwer, the name Constellation was completely random and chosen by commity of women who don't know a word of English or thqt my brother is named after a constellation.
So here I sit, at a cyber cafe in the City of Roses glad to have made it here alive. You see taxi drivers here want to make as much per trip as they can. That means that they will continue to pick ppl up off the side of the road until the doors stop closing. Yes my friends, we had 11 people packed into a forty year old Mercedes Benz station wagon. All the taxis are ancient Benz or Peugots. It reminded me of high school... until we had to stop to let the herd of wild camels cross the road. That just doesn't happen in Denver. So that was fun.
But the buthanuts- shop keepers- are really kind and honest which is nice. I was trying to buy veggies and I thought the guy aid 60 DH so I handed him a hundred for change and he said 16 -in english. I was so glad he didn't rip me off. e is officially un wolfpoo. Well ppl are waiting on me and I still need to buy kefta.
bye friends!
p.s. Yes jessi, thqt edward is rediculously cute, btw I show everyont the Edward in my moleskin all the time
So here I sit, at a cyber cafe in the City of Roses glad to have made it here alive. You see taxi drivers here want to make as much per trip as they can. That means that they will continue to pick ppl up off the side of the road until the doors stop closing. Yes my friends, we had 11 people packed into a forty year old Mercedes Benz station wagon. All the taxis are ancient Benz or Peugots. It reminded me of high school... until we had to stop to let the herd of wild camels cross the road. That just doesn't happen in Denver. So that was fun.
But the buthanuts- shop keepers- are really kind and honest which is nice. I was trying to buy veggies and I thought the guy aid 60 DH so I handed him a hundred for change and he said 16 -in english. I was so glad he didn't rip me off. e is officially un wolfpoo. Well ppl are waiting on me and I still need to buy kefta.
bye friends!
p.s. Yes jessi, thqt edward is rediculously cute, btw I show everyont the Edward in my moleskin all the time
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Life WOTP -Without Toilet Paper
Salam alleyqum friends.
So I have moved to my cite based training and I'll be here for the next three months; it is so gorgeous! BTW I'm still rocking the french keyboard so please be patient. OK so here is where I make all you people who ove me stop loving me because you're jealous. the village I'm staying in is 6 km away from the city of roses and my house over looks the whole rose field AND the roses are going to start blooming in a couple of weeks. Woot!
I am having a blast but the classes are intense. I have less than three months to gain an intermediate low speaking ability in Tamaziert. EEK
LOL the weirdest thing to adjust to was the lack of western toilets and toilet paper. We used to think it was funny that they think the left hand was unclean because thats the hand they use to wipe with. I totally get it now... I think the left hand is unclean too.
So my Moroccan family -the people I'm living with- are absolutly fantastic. They gave me like three massive blankets to keep me warm at night and they feed me so much food it isn't funny. I kind of miss feeling hungry I'm not going to lie. But they gave me a Morocan name because Erika is too hard for their accent. My name is Turia! It mans constelation. Well I have to run, we have an appointment to meet the Jean d'Arms -Police.
qim g L_man: Stay in peace
So I have moved to my cite based training and I'll be here for the next three months; it is so gorgeous! BTW I'm still rocking the french keyboard so please be patient. OK so here is where I make all you people who ove me stop loving me because you're jealous. the village I'm staying in is 6 km away from the city of roses and my house over looks the whole rose field AND the roses are going to start blooming in a couple of weeks. Woot!
I am having a blast but the classes are intense. I have less than three months to gain an intermediate low speaking ability in Tamaziert. EEK
LOL the weirdest thing to adjust to was the lack of western toilets and toilet paper. We used to think it was funny that they think the left hand was unclean because thats the hand they use to wipe with. I totally get it now... I think the left hand is unclean too.
So my Moroccan family -the people I'm living with- are absolutly fantastic. They gave me like three massive blankets to keep me warm at night and they feed me so much food it isn't funny. I kind of miss feeling hungry I'm not going to lie. But they gave me a Morocan name because Erika is too hard for their accent. My name is Turia! It mans constelation. Well I have to run, we have an appointment to meet the Jean d'Arms -Police.
qim g L_man: Stay in peace
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