Questions, comments or concerns?

No need to be worried.

Morocco? Where is that?

Morocco is like a tree whose roots reach deep into African soil and which breathes the winds of Europe through it's leaves.

Morocco is located in Northwest Africa, separated a few miles from Spain via the Gibraltar Straight. Morocco is composed of the Sahara desert, coastal land in the north and the Middle Atlas Mountains which runs through its midsection.
Arabic is the official language, however French is also widely popular as well as a few Berber dialects. Morocco also houses one of the oldest University in the world, The University of Kaureein, founded in 859 A.D. in Fez, Morocco.
The national drink: mint tea
The national dish: cous cous

The Job: Small Business Development

aiding local artisan communities, mainly groups of women in rural areas

• product quality and service control
• business planning and management
• organizational development, individual empowerment
• community leadership

Training: 11 weeks of Pre-Service Training in Azrou, Morocco (Middle Atlas Mountains), orienting myself with local resources, cultural and social contexts, learning either colloquial Moroccan Arabic of one of the Berber dialects.

Living Adjustments:

-Turkish toilets... look it up

-eating from a communal platter of food with shared eating utensils and glasses

-very different meal times

-deficiency of alone time and personal space

-lack of independent movement for women after dark

-differences in dress (no revealing sun dresses)

-prohibition of alcohol as is customary in a Muslim country

blog, blogging, to blog, blogosphere

I was apprehensive. Well no, present tense, I am apprehensive about blogging more than I am about leaving for Morocco. Communicating virtually is something which I question the sincerity of. I would rather hold your hand and talk to you, looking into your eyes, or the space between your chin and shoulder blade.

Words seem to take on further characteristics once spoken orally. There is an ephemeral nature which places an immediacy and importance to the words. They are gone and you can only grasp on to a few quick phrases if you are attentive, some which you can hold onto long enough if they ingrain themselves.

What happens to things once you put them on the Internet? Is it preserved for cultures to view in generations to come after being filed in wherever things are filed, to better be searched for in the future by newly developed search engines? The soundness of this question is irrelevant for the time being, I am doing this to keep in touch with my loved and to be loves.

With all the above placed in a box to the side, I shall venture into the blogosphere and begin another journey blogging about my jaunt on Moroccan soil with the Peace Corps. For my close and dear, I wish this new tool will aid in experiencing with you that which I wish I could be doing with you by my side. For future, former or ambiguous participants in that which is the Peace Corps, I hope I can do justice in providing an unprocessed voice of a 22 year old female from New England participating in a two year small business project in Morocco, doing what I hope to be assistance to local artisans and craft persons alike.