Friday, August 23, 2013

Pictures

I added some pictures to https://happinessiswayoftravel.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

My Moroccan Bucket List

I've always felt that writing your goals down increases the chances of them happening and I'm hoping that posting them on this blog (even though I'm pretty sure only my family is reading this) will even further increase the chances that I will achieve my goals.

So, what I hope to do while I'm in Morocco:

1. RIDE CAMELS! Camels are beautiful. The kings of the desert. My favorite animal and probably one of the best parts about learning Arabic. They're also tasty. Quite the multipurpose animal and I will ride at least one while I'm in Morocco.

2. Be comfortable and fluent(ish) in Arabic. Arabic is  a difficult language and full fluency in any language usually takes more than a year. However, at the end of the year I want to be able to say that I put my best foot forward, studied my butt off, and got as close to fluency as I possibly could.

3. Send postcards

4. Consistently update this blog. Being able to find one good blog by a NSLI-Y student in Morocco was great, but I do wish I could've seen multiple views of the experience.

5. Pick up Darija ( Moroccan Arabic) and some French.

6. Disspell myths about Americans and Texans. 

7. Learn to belly dance!

8. EAT good food! ( While not gaining more than 10 kilos)

9. Learn how to cook a Moroccan dish

10. Learn about Islam

11. Eat one of those donuts that old men make in vats of oil on the street (a Moroccan told me about this). I'll figure out the name for it later.

12. Take lots of pictures!

13. Go to Jardin Majorelle 


14. Hold a monkey

15. Make an American and maybe even a Paraguayan dish for my host family

16. Learn about Moroccan music and learn how they sing/an instrument specific to the region

17. Eat pastilla (pigeon pie)

18. Shop at a souq

19. Bathe in the famous Moroccan hammams

20. Go to museums

21. Eat as many strange foods as possible

22. Get sick, but enjoy the exchange anyways

23. Get homesick

23. And get over it

24. Get some aladdin shoes

25. Use little to no English

26. Most importantly have fun!

AFS YES Arrivals Talent Show


Monday, August 12, 2013

Realizations


        I've passed the one month mark. I have 29 days until my departure for my pre-departure orientation in D.C. and I'll be leaving for Morocco immediately after the orientation. It's still not hitting me that soon enough I'll be in a completely different continent in a beautiful country and I'll be living a completely different life. This past week I volunteered at the YES arrivals orientation in D.C. Throughout the week you could sense the excitement of both the students and group leaders. As a group leader we were preparing these students for one of the best years of their lives. The students knew something big was coming and being D.C. meant it was a reality, but they still hadn't reached the stage of living with their host family or attending an American high school. On departure day the students were excited, nervous, and mainly tired because of their early flights (some had to be up at 2:00 a.m.) many had cried the previous night due to the realization that they were all going their separate ways and wouldn't be seeing each other again until June. Being surrounded by this wave of emotions made me start to think about my own departure and since getting home I've slowly been realizing that I'm going to be in the same position as them soon enough.
      Even with these realizations I'm still not sure what to expect from Morocco. I met some Moroccans while volunteering at the orientation and they only made me more excited for my departure. I will definitely say that the first Moroccans I met have been some of the most welcoming and warm people I've met and they definitely fulfilled the positive image that I've always heard about Moroccans. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to once again volunteer at a YES orientation. I had an amazing group of kids that made it a great week and they're already making me proud by sending me messages telling me of their safe arrivals and one of them has already done volunteer work since arriving in his host community! I'm wishing all of the students a great year and I know that they're going to achieve many amazing things.
     I have made a photo sharing site since I do plan on taking many pictures while I'm in Morocco and it gets difficult to upload more than five pictures. I have already uploaded pictures from the orientation and I hope this is a good format for pictures.
https://happinessiswayoftravel.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

     The students did have a talent show on the last night and it was absolutely incredible! I will be posting a video of the performances later on this week. Right now I will just post a video I took of a few of the Turkish students making music in the hallways.

    One more thing! Although there are many students that have already arrived in the United States there are still many exchange students that haven't arrived and still need to be placed with host families. My host families are some of the most important people in my life and being an exchange student as well as hosting one is an amazing experience. Here's a video made at the YES arrivals! Give being an AFS host family a try!