Daily life.

Things are really starting to work into a little bit of a pattern in our small, Moroccan village (it does feel strange to call it a village when we watch sattelite TV every night and are generally living really cozy lives, but I digress). We have language classes every morning (except Sundays) with our Language and Culture Facilitator, who puts up with every question we come up with. Then we spend the afternoon learning pieces of the culture that are harder to just pick up (like nonverbal clues, etc). 

This week has been full of big events, and a few big revelations. First and foremost is how much we've learned about Moroccan hospitality. Across a decent sized region of the country, families have opened their doors and let Peace Corps Trainees (we aren't yet official Volunteers!) into their homes. They feed us, answer tons of questions, tell us how to say things in Darija, and make us feel like we've been in their families for years. Our host mother wakes up every day before we go to class to make sure there's a full breakfast, complete with tea, before we have class. Then, we pop back around 12:30 for lunch, which she has expertly prepared, and dash back to class around 2. Once we finish class around 5:30, we come back for a full tea spread. Tea time is no joke around here. 

Then, after a little more time, she brings out our dinner, which has been a lot of traditional Moroccan food and is more delicious than any Moroccan restaurant stateside. We've had tagines and couscous, but also a bunch of fresh salads and more fresh clementines than one could count. Along the way, if she learns there's a good we particularly like or haven't tried, she goes out of her way to get it. Example 1: avocado juice. It's kind of like eggnog, but a little better.  

It's hard to explain, but they've already made us feel like we're at home, and we were excited to come back "home" after being at a hotel with western toilets and heated water. Here's the lovely critter that welcomes us home:

ALSO! On a completely different note, I (Alexis) got to go to the Hammam today! It's the Moroccan bathhouse situation, and it was fantastic. It's open most of the week and, in theory, I might go other days, but Sunday is the main day for Moroccans to go. Start the week off clean and all that jazz. It's was three  sauna-like rooms of varying hotness, and there's a whole regimen for how to scrub yourself down. It's delightful. I'll skip over the finer details, but I've never scrubbed that much dead skin away and I feel like a whole new person. Needless to say, I'll be returning next Sunday (or Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Well... You get the point). 

Posts to come include: the awesomeness of tea, the different kinds of awesome bread, and the struggles of eating couscous and everything else with one hand.

Additionally, here are our names in script:

(Toby then Alexis)

Bonus picture: uno night! And proof of our awesome host-dad, Ali.