Well of course I couldn't have thought of this earlier (like before I left), but I had to cut my hair. This would not have been a problem at home, since as some of you know I cut my own, but I usually have the benefit of a mirror to judge evenness, and do not here. Mirrors are in fact in short supply. All in all I think I did quite well, though.

In more exciting news, the health sector is moving to Azilal on Sunday. Azilal is apparently a "one horse town" (or donkey), but does have a nice hotel at which we stay for the first week, and internet access. We spend the first full week at the hotel and have technical seminars and language training, and then the next Sunday we move to our "CBT site" (Community Based Training) for a full week, after which we go every Sunday back to the hotel (a 2 hour trip for those farthest away) for a rest day, seminars Monday, and Tuesday, morning and then back to the CBT sites Tuesday afternoons. We are at our CBT sites with 4 to 5 other volunteers and 1 language/cross culture teacher, but each have our own homestay family with whom we stay for the last 5 weeks of training. One of the weeks is spent visiting what will become our final sites (which we find out Sept. 22), and the last week is in Ourzazate for a GAD (Gender and Development) conference and swearing in. Overall, I think the structure of training is quite good, as it allows for a somewhat gradual introduction into full Moroccan society while still teaching us most of what we need to know.

We had an interesting lecture yesterday about Berber culture. The word Berber is of Greek origin (ancient Greeks called non-Greeks Barbarians because they thought their languages sounded like "bar bar") and just happened to stick as it was also used by the Romans. I was very surprised to find out that Berbers are not considered a separate ethnicity. It is really just a language identifier. There are about 3 Berber dialects (or at least 3 in Morocco), though the similarity between them seems to be very great. Most of us in health will learn one of two Berber dialects, with only about 5 (out of 18) continuing to learn Arabic. Currently, we all have Arabic, or Darija, the Moroccan dialect, for 4 hours a day. We have also been learning the script, although Darija is never written. Standard, or classical Arabic is what is written (newspapers, book, magazines) and spoken in the media, but each Arabic country apparently has its own spoken dialect. (Apologies to Dr. Burkhart, since this is probably old news to him.)

Yesterday, we also had the Program Director (or some such title) and 3 of the Program Coordinators from USAID Morocco come speak with us. That was really interesting! USAID Morocco has had its budget severely scaled down recently because it is now considered a lower-middle income country and has shown considerable improvement in most of its statistics. Morocco is part of the Asian region (which makes no sense to me), and so has to compete with countries such as Bangladesh and India for funding. Part of the reason the Morocco "division" hasn't been totally pulled out by USAID is that while there has been immense improvement in many areas, some of its statistics are closer to those of the poorest countries. The illiteracy rate among rural women is 89 percent! Hence, its strong possibility as a secondary project for me. Sorry, I promise no more lectures for at least a few days.

Life continues to be quite good here, although some of the closest friends I've made in the last 3 weeks are not in my sector, so I won't see them for awhile. Otherwise, everything is running along, pretty much as planned. I hope you're all doing well, and school, for those of you dealing with it, is fun.

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I thought you all, or at least some of you, might be interested in what it is I'm actually going to do here. As of yet it is not totally clear to me, either, but we did have a technical session today in which we went over the goals and objectives of the Maternal and Child Health program. Goal 1 (not in any specific order): Teach couples about family planning and encourage them to go to the clinic if they have need of birth control methods, Goal 2: teach women about pre- and post-natal care so that when they are pregnant they know where to go to receive the appropriate attention, Goal 3: educate the community, but specifically children, about the transmission of diseases and about general health and sanitation issues, and Goal 4: train a variety of people (nurses, interested women, and local bigwigs) about the importance of womens health.

One of the most interesting things, I think, is that we really do work quite closely with the Ministy of Health. Our project plan is to last for 6 years, and we are the first group of volunteers. The project was approved by the Ministry and they recommend the sites to which we are sent, although Peace Corps has final say since they are interested in our safety and the Ministry isn't (or at least doesn't have to answer to the US government if we aren't safe). We will all be at or very near some sort of clinic facility and a few of us may even be near a hospital. We will each have a counterpart who is part of the Ministry, usually a nurse. We get to take part in immunization drives and health education drives, and just generally I am really, really excited about the whole thing. Its a little scary because some of the other volunteers have health experience and/or training, but Rachid (Peace Corps health program assistant) promised that by the end of training everyone will be fully qualified, and since we aren't nurses, but are really there for education I probably shouldn't worry too much.

I'm astonished to say that it is the end of the week. It really feels as though yesterday was monday, though
spending each day in class seemed hopelessly long. Health only has another week in Rabat and then on the 1st we're off to Azilal and our 7 week site training. Everything else is going well, and I really appreciate the emails you send, it makes the homesickness less important. Hope all is well and you're ready for fall (I am!).

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It occured to me yesterday as I was about a block away that I did have other things to say in which you all might be interested. Here are some of them.

The weather here in Rabat is pretty good. Its cooler than it is at home, so about 70s to mid-80s, but much more humid because its on the coast. What worries me is that there are some volunteers who spend their summers in Rabat or Tangiers because their sites are too hot (130°). They do summer projects, which would be fine, and so are obviously in the desert for the permanent sites, but I don't think I really want to deal with that much heat.
Maybe because of the weather, the food schedule is similar to Southern Europe; they eat late. Our family eats at 9 which is fine, but there are horror stories at school about host families not eating until midnight or later (especially a problem when most of us have to be up by 6:30). Bedtimes are also adjusted accordingly, again not a problem for Moroccans since most places close between noon and 2 or 3.

Driving is a huge problem here, especially if you're a pedestrian! Papa said once that the general observation was that the farther south you drive in Europe the worse the driving gets (in terms of traffic laws being obeyed), so if you think of North Africa as an extention of Europe, the rule still applies. I'm sure there are traffic laws here, and I've even seen road signs and I know there are lanes, but no one seems in the least concerned with any of it. All cars drive in the middle of multiple lanes, horns are used with great abandon, pedestrians are fair game, and the
bigger your vehicle, the more lax you can be about the whole thing. Never, ever walk in front of a bus, even
if it has a red light! One of the most amusing aspects is that cars actually speed up when they see you walk into the crosswalk.

Stuff is really cheap here. The exchange rate is about 11 dirhams to the dollar. This cafe costs 12 d per hour, so its about a buck. Toilet paper costs .25 (and yes, I bought some, because I am not quite prepared for the alternative), air mail stamps to the States are expensive at 10 d each. We have yet to buy food, but are assured it is equally inexpensive except meat and eggs. I bought a small bottle of water this morning and it cost 3 d. This can be a problem if you only have large bills (like a 200), because some owners of small stores will refuse to sell to you if they don't have change, which can be very frustrating.

Water is another issue here because there has been a drought for several years and at the present rate of
consumption, Morocco is due to be out of water completely by 2020! I don't know what is being done about it, but I certainly hope something. The new king is generally seen as very progressive and modern (though I don't think you're allowed to say anything bad about him or you could go to jail) and it was his birthday Tuesday. He was in Tangiers for the celebration, but there was a parade here and I did get to see some of it.

School is actually a school. Peace Corps rents out a girls boarding school for the summer, so there are places to stay (dorm style) and showers and squat toilets. Coming from the States I have a hard time believing that anyone would pay to send their daughter here, though. The paint is peeling, the beds sag terribly, and more importantly, there is a severe leaking problem from the upstairs bathroom, through an electrical socket. Of course despite all this, we now think of it as home.

There are lots of other things I could say, but this is probably already taxing in its length so I'll sign off. I hope you all are doing well!

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First things first, if any of you get tired of hearing about Morocco, or just tired of hearing from me, send me an email and I will take you off the list (and maybe not even be offended!). Also, due in large part to Morocco's colonial history, I am typing this on a French keyboard and many, though not all, of the keys are in the "wrong" position, including the a, w, and m, as well as all of the punctuation marks, so if there are any huge errors I apologize in advance.

Life here is pretty good, well at least for me. The flowers are huge and beautiful and the fresh fruits and vegetables are plentiful. The most difficult aspect at this point is probably school (homesickness not withstanding). We're in class by 8 am with 1/2 hour for Arabic script, 8:30-10:15 for language which is taught in the conversation style (not really the way I learn), 10:30-12:15 for technical training or administrative stuff, 1:45-3:15 for language again, and then 3:30-5 for cross cultural training or health sessions. Peace Corps is incredibly thorough and has meticulously planned the entire training period. We are currently in our first home stay (there will be three in all). My family is very nice, but extremely Western so Meredith (my roommate) and I aren't really getting the "traditional" Moroccan experience. They don't eat with their hands, have a flush toilet (which was very useful on Sunday when I was ill) and a shower. They also don't seem to serve very many traditional dishes. So far we've had pasta, homemade pizza, a really good creamed potato soup and some sort of rice dish. Meredith is a vegetarian and they know I don't like seafood, so I'm sure we're not the easiest people to cook for, but they seem very good about it. My only real complaint is that we're their third set of PCVs (Peace Corps volunteers) and they have the American concept of space and privacy down a little too well.

Rabat itself is very European. There are people in all sorts of dress style, including women in "provocative" clothing, which we were strictly told to avoid. Most of what we learn in cross cultural class isn't even really applicable in Rabat or Casablanca (which I found out, is a corruption of Spanish for "white house"). It will all come in extremely useful in the bled, though.

Everyone (all the volunteers) is in the process of getting sick (really intense stomach cramps) and going through the required breakdown. I had mine on Monday and was lucky enough for it to be in public. (Actually it was during a safely lecture within my "sector" which is health.) No one has left yet, and at this point it doesn't look as though anyone will, although last year there were 93 trainees (there are 80 of us now) and now there are only 59 from that group. Sorry, that all probably sounds really pessimistic, but we're all really interested! No one wants it to happen to them.

I can't really think of anything else that you all might be dying to know so I'll sign off. Internet cafes are all over the place here, and even in Azilal, my next site starting Sept. 1, I should have very regular access, so if you, feel free to send messages.

I miss you all! Hope all is going well for everyone.

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