In which Alisa is officially all sworn-in:

It's been another month or so since I've posted and honestly it's because I'm not really sure what to say. That and I don't have internet yet in my site. Mainly it's the internet.

Anyway, so some big things that have happened in the past month:

• finished CBT 
• passed my Tashelheit language exam (woohoo!)
• was officially sworn-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer (no more PCT!)
• and moved to my site (my new host mom is amazing by the way)

I think that's about it for the big things... so some little things that have happened:

• got epic food poisoning (fyi: PCV girls, there is a new PCMO and he sounds young and is American. I'm just saying).
• a cockroach crawled on my arm
• finally ate bacon, but it was just a little piece and very expensive
• went to the beach twice (Sidi Ifni and Agadir!)

More things have happened, but honestly I can't remember right now. So just know that I'm trucking along over here, but am also counting down the days to my favoritest Britany's wedding. I'll be seeing you all in DC this October!

And here, more pictures!

CBT girls all dressed up in traditional Berber wedding gear

Peace Corps Morocco's very last Health and Environment Staj

The view coming down my mountain

In which Alisa decides her future career:

Let me preface this by saying this post has almost nothing to do with Peace Corps. 

But I was talking with a girl in my CBT (language training group) and she has a friend who is in hospital administration. I had sort of thought about that as a possible career (in the back of my mind kind of way), but never taken the thought further. Until I heard about this girl's friend. She has a NY apartment for the weekends and makes insane money and loves her job and she gets to wear scrubs! That's my dream: work in a hospital, make lots of cash, and get to wear scrubs all without actually having to go through med school. 

I think there might even be one or two Peace Corps Fellows schools that offer MBA's with hosp admin concentrations. 

And mainly I'm putting this in my blog because I tend to forget my best ideas, which explains my life really. Also, so I can remind myself to start studying for the GMAT. 

The end.

In which Alisa drove through a cloud (THROUGH A CLOUD):

Site visit has been completed and it was a crazy week. CRAZY. I'm not even sure where to begin...

So my site is in the south of Morocco but on a mountain in the Anti-Atlas, so we get the best of everything? Like crazy hot summer weather and crazy cold winter weather (SNOW even). Also, hence the title of this post: I'm like 90% sure I drove through a cloud coming down the mountain on my way out of site to come back to Oz. 

I like making lists, so here's the good and the bad of my site:

GOOD:

-It's really, really pretty on top of the mountain.

-There is a mini super market in my town, which is probably where the majority of my money where will be spent. 

-There's already a ton of work for me to do. 

-The town officials are nice and I have good connections already in place.

-My site-mates are super nice and I couldn't be more psyched to actually have site-mates. I couldn't imagine being on top of that mountain by myself.  

-My host mom might be the nicest Moroccan I've met so far. I LOVE her, even if she calls me Elise.

-I learned I can travel to Portugal for about the equivalent of $8 USD. EIGHT DOLLARS. EIGHT DOLLARS!!!

-I'm about 4 hours from Agadir, the best place I've been to so far in Morocco. I ate McDonald's, chilled on the beach, had Indian food, and went to French Target all in one day there. 

BAD:

-I'm in a pretty remote location which I'm honestly not that psyched about. 

-There is no internet in my site. I know this is Peace Corps and all but when fellow volunteers have DSL in their houses and I have to take a scary souk bus to a town 45 kms away just to check my email, I can't help but complain a little.  

-There are known scorpions, snakes, and camel spiders (!!!!!!) in my area or at least that is what I was told. 

-I'm about 4 hours from Agadir, why can't I be cloooooser???

-There may be no available housing in my site, but this needs to be investigated a little more. 

-For some reason transportation always seems to go horribly awry when trying to travel out of the Tiznit province. 

-And my town is pretty conservative. The women almost never go "downtown" and my host mom and her daughter-in-law won't leave their house. 

So all in all, my site is pretty good and I'm excited for June. Also, I now have an address. You guys can send me things! I'll be emailing it out soon. And I think that's it...

In which Alisa moves back to the dirrrty south:

Disclaimer: Okay, so Tennessee isn't technically the dirty south and I don't think my permanent site is dirty (in case PC is reading this), but I like my title for this post and I'm keeping it.

Anyway, May 26thish I'm moving to Ait Ouafqa, a small town of about 4500. I'm about 45 minutes from Tafraoute (which you can actually find on google maps) in the Tiznit province. All this means I'm in the Anti-Atlas mountains next to the Sahara. So I can look forward to 125 degree weather in the summer and below freezing weather in the winter. Also, I'm in one of the more conservative areas in Morocco and according to wikipedia the residents are not known for their hospitality. I'm going on a one week site visit on Monday, so I'll let you know how it really is when I get back. Fingers waaaaay crossed.

Ait Ouafqa (according to google images)

My home for the next two years...

In which Alisa is officially in Morocco:

Hey.... so I realize it's been like a month and half since I last wrote in this and I had good intentions, I really did. But then I got to Morocco and things have been go, go, go the entire time. So let me set some realistic expectations. This thing will probably only be updated once every month or so until I get to my final site at the end of May. Maybe even until July when I can finally get my own place. OMG my own place. If I can just make it until then I think I might just survive this PC craziness.

So I should probably fill you all in on what happened since the last time I wrote... ummm... lots of stuff? I honestly don't even know where to begin. Maybe highlights, lowlights (gotta keep it real) and what my timeline will be for the next few months? I'm being lazy, so yeah, that sounds good.

Highlights!
-Police escort through the Atlas Mountains (so b.a.)
-The views. Of pretty much everything.
-Holding a baby lamb
-Conquering the Turkish Toilet
-Coming to hub once a week or so to shower. I think I might see god when this happens.
-Learning a new language (Tashelheit!) and sometimes even having people understand what I say
-Getting a host family with a super nice, clean house
-Meeting some amazing fellow volunteers
-And of course, living in MOROCCO.

Lowlights :( 
-Conquering the Turkish Toilet
-Dragging my 100+ (counting carry-ons) lbs of luggage through JFK and half of Morocco
-Shots. So very many shots.
-Moroccan doors
-Getting harassed by a Moroccan soccer team. I really need to learn some Tash curse words.
-All the bread and sugar. Seriously all meals consist of bread and sweet tea.
-Getting a host family that doesn't really talk. Kinda weird here in Morocco.
-The PC stomach issues presentation: giardia and pinworms. Enough said.

So all in all, the experience has been pretty even so far and I think that's about as much as I could ask for.

My schedule for the next few months looks like the below:

• In my wee little village of Amerzgane until May 20ish
• I'll only have internet access when I'm at our hub site (Ouarzazate - aka Oz, the land of showers and internet), which is once every 7 or 8 days.
• Find out my final site on April 16, but don't travel there until the end of May
• Live in final site (tbd) with another host family (lets keep our fingers crossed for a better one) from end of May until mid-Julyish.
• Mid-Julyish: I get my own place and can receive packages!!! Internet access should also be pretty regular or at least on a regular schedule
• September 1st, I can travel and get visitors!
• May 2013 - I come home! Just saying...

Also, so many of you have been extremely thoughtful and asked for my address so you can send me stuff. Trust me, I would LOVE to take you up on it, but there's no way for me to receive packages until at least July this year. What you can do though is get dropbox (www.dropbox.com and you can find me there using my email address) and send me music you think I might like, or movies, or tv shows you have downloaded. It's free and it would me make love you forever and ever, not that I don't already, of course.

And lastly, but not leastly: I MISS YOU ALL SO FREAKING BAD. EMAIL ME EVEN THOUGH I WILL BE SLOW TO WRITE BACK. AND SEND ME PICTURES OF YOUR FACES, PLEASE. I MISS THEM.

Oh, and have some pics too (the majority are on fb though):

Oz (Ouarzazate)

Amerzgane (my home for the next two months)

My CBT (language training) group minus our one guy