Nine Days in Rabat

We have arrived! And we are officially PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) Our first day here was a long one. Many of us did not sleep well or at all on the plane, so Wednesday seemed like the longest day of our life! As soon as we arrived we were given vaccines. Ouch! 4 so far: meningitis, Hep A (some got Hep B – we both already have that), rabies, and typhoid. There are still more to come for those that are a series vaccine. Our jet lag has been manageable, some afternoons are drowsy ones when we are sitting in hot rooms for training.

Our Peace Corps training has been extensive yet concise (we still have 2 months of training to go). We have been briefed on how to manage harassment (women especially), how to be safe (don't go out at night, no riding motorcycles...), how to travel (taxis, buses, trains, camel, donkey, bike), how to eat and drink (the water here usually is safe but doesn't taste very good), how to teach English, how to use our cell phones, and most importantly how to speak Arabic (Darija - Moroccan Arabic - which is a little different).

Our PCT group was originally 120 people, but by the time we arrived in Philadelphia we had shrunk to 112. We are 1 of approximately 12 married couples. We are also some of the few older volunteers - about 10% of the group is 30+. Most everyone is in their early to mid-twenties. Females out number the males approximately 3:1. All of us come from many different experiential backgrounds (there is no trend) and many U.S. states are represented. The states that represent most are California, Ohio, Michigan, and Minnesota!, but there are only maybe 5-10 of us from each those states. Every region of the U.S. is represented very well. There are lots of interesting people to talk to and learn from.

Learning Arabic has been awesome, and we are really excited for this opportunity. Our focus has especially been on learning the script alphabet and how to read and write it (so fun to learn!). We are split up into groups of 6 students with 1 teacher, and we have lessons for about 4 hours a day, 6 days a week now and for the next 2 months. Along with that we will have immersion experience with our host families, individual time to study, and hands on learning experience in our Dar Shbab (youth/community center) and community.

On Thursday we got to meet the US Ambassador to Morocco and his wife – Sam and Sylvia Kaplan. You can refer back to a previous blog entry to learn more about them and listen to their MPR interview. They are from Minnesota. We and 3 other Minnesotan PCTs were photographed with the Ambassador and his wife, and Peace Corps will be sending out press releases to Minnesota news agencies. Keep an eye out in your local paper in case the article gets picked up.

The weather here in Rabat has been very nice. The sun is bright and strong, and there is a cool ocean breeze coming in from the Atlantic. The city itself is an interesting culture shock. There are some nice parts and some not so nice parts; we are not allowed to enter the un-safe parts of the city of course. The nice parts we have seen are well groomed and contain many embassies and diplomatic residents. The not so nice parts have streets that contain piles of garbage and litter (there is no recycling and very few public garbage cans). Sidewalks are crumbling; buildings and structures are crumbling. There are many, many street cats and some scraggly dogs. Beware of these animals – they may carry disease such a rabies – so no petting until the rabies vaccine series is completed. Beware also of cars, motorcycles, and buses. They drive fast and erratically and there is no policing. You hear a lot of honking and screeching out in the city.

The hotel is comfortable. The food they serve us is delicious – always a wide variety of fresh fruits and veggies, yummy meats (fish, goat, chicken), kebabs, spicy tangines (stewed veggies, meat, and spices). The strawberries they serve are spectacular – you can tell that they do not come from California. Our beds are nice, although the shower is quite the experience: low pressure and not a lot of hot water. We should consider ourselves lucky though to have a shower at all! There is 24 hour police surveillance at the hotel for our safety as we are 112 Americans in one location.

Sleeping to the sounds of Rabat has been interesting – early on our second morning here we heard a car accident – screeching tires and a bang, hubcap rolling away. Every morning at 3am a German Shepard barks fiercely, and around 4am begins the city-wide call to prayer (and also at other times of the day, noon, 4pm, 7pm...).

On Sunday we did some sightseeing around Rabat. We walked to the Chellah Necropolis Roman ruins (see photos, wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chellah) and over to the old Medina to check out the Kasbah (see photos - wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasbah_of_the_Udayas) and the Atlantic Ocean. On the walk home we stopped at a grocery store and purchased some nuts, chocolate, peanut butter, and Tabasco sauce. Yumm yumm. Our cravings have not been too bad yet – we would like some cereal and some wine. Morocco actually has some vineyards, but we will have to wait to buy wine when we get to our work site in June. Alcohol free has been nice actually – maybe we will drop a few pounds? ;)

The espresso here is delicious – thick, dark, and rich, and it only costs approximately $1 (8 Dirham) a cup - Arie approves. The street food looks amazing (we hear the sheep heads are good), and since we've had our Hep A shot we will be experimenting soon. Kate has officially made her first purchase at the Suk, or market, and of course it was a pair of shoes (bright teal, soft-leather flats for 7$! - 60 Dirham - see photo). We have discovered a good 3 mile jogging route and have found space to do yoga. We also purchased the service of a laundrymen, and Kate did her “load” of delicates by hand in the sink.

This coming Thursday morning we depart from Rabat and make the journey to our host families. We are going to be placed in the city of Azrou in the Atlas mountains region with 10 other volunteers. This region is known for its natural beauty – waterfalls and caves - and monkeys. No camels yet, but monkeys will do. In Azrou we will continue our Arabic language training and begin our youth development training. We are anxious to get started!

We are so thrilled to be in Morocco and so far this experience has been an exhilarating roller coaster ride that will continue for the next 2 years, Inshallah. Bslama!

a Light at the End of the Tunnel!

Finally! Finally. Finally, we have gotten more information from the Peace Corps that answers so many of our questions.

Here is our known time-line:
Sunday, March 18th we fly from MSP to Philadelphia for a 1 day training.
Tuesday, March 20th we depart JFK
Wednesday, March 21st we arrive in Casablanca and take a bus to Rabat
For 9 days we will be in Rabat 

March 29th we will move with group of 40 to a training site in another city TBD.
May 23rd we will be sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and will begin living and working at our site.

Here we go!

Packing our life away...

Moving is a lot of work.  This is something we all have experienced.  We collect boxes and bags and containers that serve as portable spaces to transport our belongings from one home to another.  Oftentimes we save things that we don't really like or want because we think that one day they might come in handy.  These things are easy to just throw in a bag and stash in the basement.  Things like 10 second-hand champagne glasses...in case we host a New Year's Eve party (maybe in 2015?...)! Or extra measuring cups and mixing bowls...for the day we want to bake a cake, some muffins, and a loaf of bread before we do any dishes. Wrist guards? Just in case we want to go rollerblading or snowboarding...yea right! But when you are storing things for 2.5 years, the last thing you want to do is store away needless junk.  So Arie and I have been sorting through EVERYTHING into very selective piles.

Pile 1 - things for my little sister who will be getting her first apartment in Winona in June. Iron and ironing board - check. Hand mixer - check. Crock-pot - check. She is getting some good stuff!
Pile 2 - things that will go to Goodwill.  We have decided that we are not going to spend any time trying to sell things on Craigslist...that's just one more thing to do that we don't have time for.  Goodwill will be happy to get a load from us!
Pile 3 - books, CDs, DVDs that we will take to Half Priced Books. We should be able to get some good cash. Cha-ching! $$$$
Pile 4 - garbage.  Some things are just not even worth giving away.  Like old socks.
Pile 5 - stuff that we need while we are staying with our parents that will not go in our Peace Corps suitcases. Like olive oil and winter boots.
Pile 6 - things that will go in our Peace Corps suitcases.  We are limited to 2 checked bags a-piece.  Each cannot exceed 50 pounds, but their total weight cannot exceed 80 pounds. 
Pile 7 - this is the BIG pile of about 50 plastic bins (of various sizes) and other such containers (no cardboard though) that hold the things we want to keep.  Sadly it is a lot, but we don't want to arrive home in 2.5 years needing to buy another stereo, sewing machine, record player, dishes, sheets and pillows...

Moving is one thing, but packing your life away for 2.5 years is a whole different monster.

 

Bins and more bins.  

We have been to Target 3 times this week to buy more bins.

 

Making progress.

 

This kitchen was the most work and required the most bins.

 

Thanks to the peer pressure of Arie and Amanda I was able to get rid of most of my CD and DVD collection - Arcade Fire and Belle & Sebastian stay, but Beirut goes (and I love Beirut).  The Royal Tennenbaums and Fargo stay, but Stranger Than Fiction goes (such a cute film!). Oh well. Goodbye! Now all the discs surrounded by plastic fit into 3 small bins. Nice! Who really needs CDs and DVDs anymore - things have really changed, but I still need to hang onto some for nostalgia's sake.

Calamari Knit Valentine

Hi everyone! This is not really a Peace Corps update post, rather it is a crafty post (Pinterest and me are good pals right now).  Not much to update - we are still preparing to leave in March.  Right now we are busy wrapping up our business, packing, and getting ready to move out of our cozy home in Saint Paul.  We are VERY excited! To keep myself busy and distracted I have been knitting.  I decided to knit a heart pillow with old T-shirts.  Below are the steps to make it!

Here is the final product!

First you need to find a few old red and pink shirts.  I had 4 that were nice and worn, stained, and full of holes - perfect for this kind of project!

Second you need to cut the bodies of the shirts into rings (like calamari).  See photo below.  I do not use the neck or sleeves - they are too small for my liking, but you could use them.

Now you will have a nice pile of calamari loops that look like this:

Link the loops together in any combo you like.  I linked one of each color: red, magenta, dark pink, light pink...repeat until they are all linked. Then roll them up into a ball:

Now you are ready to knit with you chunky T-shirt yarn! Instructions are below:

Knitted Valentine Pillow Steps:

I used T-shirt calamari yarn and size 15 needles. Using different yarn weights and needles will produce results in a variety of sizes. The instructions use standard knitting abbreviations; refer to the key for clarification.
Abbreviation Key
St= Stitch
K= Knit
KFB= Knit into front and back of stitch (to make 2 stitches where there was 1)
P= Purl
K2Tog= Knit 2 stitches together
P2Tog= Purl 2 stitches together
BO= Bind off
Instructions to knit 1 heart:
Cast on 2 St.
Row 1: KFB, K to last St, KFB.
Row 2: P.
Repeat these 2 rows until there are 14 St (12 rows total).
Row 13: K2Tog, K5, and turn work; leave remaining 7 St on needle.
Row 14: Working with the 6 St closest to end of needle, P2Tog, P2, P2Tog.
Row 15: BO 4 Sts and cut yarn to start on other side.
Row 16: Working with reserved 7 St, K5, K2Tog.
Row 17: P2Tog, P2, P2Tog.
Row 18: BO 4.
To assemble 2 hearts:
1. Stack hearts with right sides out. Using a mattress stitch and a needle threaded with yarn, sew hearts together along perimeter, leaving a 1 or 2-inch gap on one side of the hearts.
2. As you stich around, tuck in loose ends.
4. Tuck stuffing inside heart. I used leftover shirt material.
5. Sew the gap closed, and weave yarn up inner side of heart. 

How cute! Good luck!

The original instructions and inspiration can be found here at Martha Stewart's site.

Countdown: 3 months to go!

The holidays are upon us...and once we are past them I know that time will really fly.  Today marks our 3 month countdown to our departure day! We are getting excited - reading books, studying Arabic, thinking about what and how we will pack our suitcases...

Reflection on Leadership

Reflection on Leadership:
The Challenges of Change and What is Made Possible

This blog entry is a part of and a start to my final reflective, course-work integration paper for my Leading Organizational Change course at St. Kate’s.  It may seem a little self-indulgent to some, but I felt like it was worth posting.

When Arie and I found out that our Peace Corps service was going to be delayed by 6 months, I was devastated.  We had been working so hard on our paperwork – bugging people for references, ordering transcripts, making appointments to see doctors and dentists, running (well, actually biking and busing) all over the city to make things happen… We had been making plans and preparing ourselves for the inevitable goodbyes.  And then, we get the message that we have to wait longer.  NO!  I was upset and frustrated, especially because I had just been laid off by the Saint Paul Public Schools.  I had no job to go back to in September; my last day of work would be July, 19^th.  What was I going to do?

As the strong feelings of upset diminished, I began to look at what might be possible within the new amount of time that was now available to us and me in particular.  As I began to put the pieces of my time together they began to fall into a perfect place.  I contacted St. Kate’s to see about re-enrolling back into the MAOL program (to learn more about MAOL click here).  I contacted my dear, dear friend Noelle (she gets 2 dears!) to see about working with her in Washington D.C. in the month of August. 

All that came to be after July 19^th was nothing but further growth and self-development to enhance my Peace Corps service.  In July I enrolled in my first graduate class at St. Kate’s since winter of 2010: Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Leadership.  This class was led by Josef Mestenhauser – a man who has been a leader in International Education at the University of Minnesota since 1951.  He is a refugee from Communist Czechoslovakia, was a friend and colleague of Hubert H. Humphrey, is a multi-Fulbright scholar, and has studied and worked in Indonesia, Japan, the Czech Republic , and the Philippines to name just a few places.  I thought I understood culture well, but this course broke down the framework, ideas, thoughts, and observations in the field even more deeply that I have ever considered.

Following this course I then went and worked in Washington DC with two best friends (Noelle and Patrick! :).  We were leading orientations all month long for incoming high school exchange students from nearly 40 countries, many of them Muslim (during Ramadan!).  They were coming to study on the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange Study (YES) scholarship program (learn more about YES here) for the school year.  Working with these young people, the alumni of the program, and all of the other teachers and leaders was a not only a heart-warming experience, it was also one of the most exhilarating and life-changing moments of my career thus far.  I now have new friends all over the world. 

Back home in September it was time to start back at St. Kate’s.  This fall I have been taking two courses: Leading Organizational Change and International Trade and the Global Economy.  Never have two courses ever been so relevant to my path in the Peace Corps.  They are invaluable additions to my knowledge and skill set. 

Today as I reflect back on the past 6 months I can see how such a seemingly devastating set-back was really an opening of space to allow me to really create new and relevant possibilities for myself.  This is a path of leadership.  Leaders, especially during challenging times of change, must be able to face the challenges not only with courage, but also with creativity.  In a book from my Leading Org Change class, Guiding Change Journey: A Synergistic Approach to Organization Transformation by Rebecca Chan Allen, we explored the Archetypal Change Journey map.  This map explains that Leaders must first endure and then transcend trials and tribulations and the lowest place of dissolution in order to enter back into a space of discovery. This is the point of producing possibilities that hold great value.  Leaders must find what is possible in the most challenging of times.   

In reflection I understand now that this path that I am on, that both Arie and I are on, is not a path we can always dictate.  While the path ultimately guides us, we must also guide the path.  I am forever grateful for the fact that our Peace Corps service was delayed.  Had it not been, I would have missed out on some eternally valuable experiences that will only enhance my Peace Corps service.  Being delayed allows both Arie and I to spend more time with friends and family; it allows us to save more money and plan more thoroughly.  Being delayed allowed me to get 12 credits further into my MAOL degree, allowed me to be mentored and taught by some amazing professors, and allowed me to meet and lead some of the most amazing young people on this planet.  I am so thankful for this extra time and all that it has made possible for Arie and me.

Arie and Kate with YES students and alumni from:

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mali, Pakistan, and Palestine

Countdown Time

Today is November 19th!  4 months from now, on March 19th, we will be leaving for...somewhere....  We think it might be Washington D.C. first for some initial training, but we are not sure until we are issued plane tickets.  We are already starting to say some goodbyes to a few people.  Most of our paperwork is complete - Arie just needs to get his Yellow Fever vaccine and we should be done.  We have been working on paperwork since June 2010!