Okay, we're pretty lucky.

Every day we find ourselves laughing at any number of things going on. Sometimes it's actually funny like a joke, other times I'm moderately convinced we've lost our minds. But either way, we've also realized that we're lucky to have the ability to laugh. 

Here are some of the things we consider ourselves really lucky to have (in no particular order):

Our site: Taounate. It's awesome here. We requested being in a big city, that isn't too cold or hot, to be close to a very big city, and to be in a replacement site. We have... Okay well we got all of those things. Alexis also wanted to inherit a cat from another volunteer, but I guess you can't have everything. 

In Taounate, we also have a lot of amenities that we didn't expect. We have big Hanuts with soy sauce, ramen, and hot sauce. We also have crosswalks! Who would have thought we would miss the crosswalks in DC?

We have each other. Okay, sure, this is super corny. But real talk, we're really lucky to have another American around all the time for whatever. We can plan lessons together, we can remind each other how to actually speak English, and we can just hang out. Plus, because of the whole marriage thing we've already decided to hang out together all the time, and now we just get to keep that up. 

We have an amazing support system outside of Morocco. Our friends and family let us talk about everything here (both the good and the less than great) until we're blue in the face, and they have yet to get so irritated that they stop talking to us. They also send us things that we miss (food, dental products, nice sheets, and a ton of other stuff) or bring us stuff (cheese. From France). It's nice to temporarily get away without actually getting away. 

Jessica just came from France! Yay friends and food!

Here's the French cheese that we savored. 

This has been the week-o-goods. These are our two most recent care packages!

A support system within Peace Corps. Our Staj is more than 90 other volunteers and there are about 100 or so still here from groups before ours. Needless to say, whatever problem we're having, someone else has either already been through it or is going through it at the same time. One of the joys of Peace Corps is our phone plan. At any point in time, we can call each other and just talk. Sure it can be about something important, or it can be to literally discuss how much we miss brunch and delivery (special shout out to Grub Hub). 

We have an awesome house. It's huge. It's significantly nicer than anywhere we've ever had in the states. We don't really have much furniture, but we have enough stuff, a well-stocked kitchen, and an awesome roof. We also have a great landlord (mul dar). Whenever we have any issues, he's there in a heartbeat to try and help. Sometimes we have problems communicating, but we can always get the point across! He also decided to just bring us a huge thing of fresh olive oil and olives, just because he's an awesome dude. 

We are also extremely lucky to be in a country with such amazing people. All of the Moroccans that we have encountered have been so hospitable that it's hard to stay frustrated for prolonged periods of time. Whether it's our cousin coming to help us with a power outage or broken door or our neighbors bringing us food randomly or whatever. We know that our Darija is very far from perfect, but people are always willing to work through any problems we have until we can reach the final point. 

This is Siham. Her family invited us over for couscous a few weeks ago.

Another snack from the neighbors. 

This is after a hike we took with some students from the Dar Chebab. 

Coffee! Again, it seems silly, but we have access to really well made coffee. There are literally more than 50 cafes in Taounate, and a cafe creme (basically a small latte) is 6 dirham. It's pretty convenient. 

Coffee, pastries, and a post card!

Access to Internet. We have wifi in our house and at our cafes and a few other places about town. Generations of Peace  Corps Volunteers before us still find this shocking, but it's awesome. 

Okay, I think that's a good overview. We have a whole lot more other things to appreciate, but that's the main jist. 

An unexpected perk

As we said before, every volunteer's service is different. Our Dar Chebab is open the same days and times as most of the others, but the hours at which our students like to attend are pretty different. We only ever have classes in the afternoon here. And really, never even before 4:30. That being said, we have our classes in the afternoon, then we can spend the rest of the night planning the following lessons for that group of students.

So, what I'm getting at, is that we never really have to wake up to an alarm. It might sound ridiculous, but between all the sun coming in our windows, call to prayer (one at 4 AM and then one at sunrise), and the heat, we wake up around the same time every day.

And it's never a disappointment. Here are the views out our bedroom windows when we wake up:

Four months in!

Today officially marks four months that we've been in Morocco! It's crazy to think about how much has changed since we walked off the plane, excited and bleary-eyed.

Now, we've also been in Taounate for over a month. Without a doubt, the one thing we keep hearing from everyone in America (and France, and just not Morocco, actually...) is: So what are you actually doing? HAHA. Jokes on you! We don't know! Just kidding. We've been doing a lot of things and having a wonky schedule for a while, but we're finally starting to get into something of a rhythm around here.

At some point in the near future, I'll keep track of what a full day looks like, from the time we wake up until we go to bed, but today is not that day.

Monday: Dar Chebab is closed. This is part of our weekend. Monday is usually spent keeping up with our chores (squeegeeing the tile floors, laundry, showers, etc) and random preparation for the week to come. There is also a small souk close by to keep our fruits and veggies at peak freshness.

Tuesday: We go to the Dar Chebab from 4:00 - 7:30. Alexis has English for High School students and Toby does Intro English and games with a group of Middle School aged boys. Then, we mosey on home and entertain ourselves for a few hours and make some sort of dinner.

Wednesday: Dar Chebab again. Toby has a High School level English class, Alexis teaches a Middle School level class, and we co-teach a Baccalaureate prep class.

Thursday: The biggest of the small souks happens right near our neighborhood. We generally go walk around even if we don't need anything. Then our classes are the same as Tuesday.

Friday: This is normally the day we decided to do laundry. Then we, hopefully, have some couscous, and a small nap (have you ever tried to do anything on a full belly of couscous?) before heading to the Dar Chebab. Our Fridays mirror our Wednesdays, as far as classes go, except without a Baccalaureate class.

Saturday: We spend our afternoons are the Dar Chebab. Alexis teaches a class on Conversational English and American Culture class and Toby has a Baccalaureate prep course (mostly on interview skills and spoken English).

Sunday: It's our day off. And let's be real, we take the day off. Of course, we're sure to go out and see people in the community, but we don't have any classes planned. There is also the big souk for our region on Sundays. It's about 10 minutes away in a taxi, but we've haven't been able to make it over yet. (I think we will in a couple weeks!)


And, there you have it. Right now, we're in the build up to the end of the school year, so things are tapering down to the summer. We'll have a different schedule in the summer, and we'll have camps, and we'll start branching out to work with more associations. Then, when school starts up again in the fall, we'll really have a full schedule (we think).

It should also be noted that every volunteer's service is different. Taounate is a bigger site, and we have a really nice/new Dar Chebab, and we're serving as a couple. Another volunteer will have a completely different experience. There are about 200 Peace Corps Volunteers in Morocco right now, and none of us will come away with the same experience.

I hope that answers some of the questions that you have for us, but feel free to ask for clarification if we've missed something!

Is it open?

There are currently 93 other new Peace Corps Volunteers in addition to us around Morocco. There are also over 100 from previous groups, but I think of them as much more experienced folk at this point.

Naturally, there are also a ton of other blogs from other people in our exact position. Today, another couple serving with us, Thomas and Erika, posted a wonderfully accurate chart that depicts a conversation that we have on a daily basis.

I believe that their town (near Errachidia) is decently smaller than ours, but this is still how it works in Taounate, too. (Especially with the Hanut closest to our house.)

Here is Thomas and Erika's blog - The Amusive Relationship - take a look! They're pretty great.

Visiting Karim's family (look how pretty it is here!)

One thing that Peace Corps repeatedly tells us, in reference to integrating into our new sites, is that we should never pass up an opportunity to visit families either for just tea or whatever they suggest. To preface this a little, there's some information about Taounate that might be necessary. We are the provincial hub for our region, meaning that the head of local government is based here, as well as all the important government stuff. We're essentially in the state capital. Because of that, we have a decent number of people from the smaller towns nearby who have homes in Taounate, too. Anass' best friend, Karim, is in this situation. His family lives in a little duwar (kind of like suburb) called Bromile.

Anass, Karim, and Zakariah (another friend) were planning a trip out there to visit his family and go swimming in the river on a particularly warm day, so we were pretty excited when they invited us along. We left at about 7 AM last Monday to take a grand taxi out of town. They warned us that there would be some walking to get there, but we didn't know really how far they meant. We took the taxi for about 15 minutes and got out to start walking. This is where the fun starts!

We took about a 4 kilometer (2.5 miles) hike to get to his house. First of all, it was gorgeous. It was through the Rif Mountains and you could see olive trees and the river and all sorts of pretty plants along the way. It's also worth noting that it was just hills the entire way. And like 95 degrees. But look how pretty!

Anass, Zakariah, Karim, Toby, and Alexis (pre-"walk") 

"A small walk" they said.

These cacti are everywhere - and huge! (Alexis for comparison)

After getting to the house, we promptly collapsed for a few minutes because, well, we spent our first three months in country not doing any physical activity and eating four huge meals a day. But it was still gorgeous. (At this point, we weren't yet thinking about the walk back...)

We were then treated to a big ol' lunch, prepared by Chef Karim. His house is much different than any of the city style houses we had been to, thus far. It was really more of a compound. They have a bunch of chickens, a donkey, a cute puppy, and probably some other critters that I never got to see. There is a big, old-school, wood-fired oven. The house itself was more like four or five individual rooms built surrounding a courtyard. They also already have their sheep for Eid Kbir (end of Ramadan feast)! We named him Johnny.

At this point, it was reading midday and getting pretty hot, so when Anass suggested that we go down to the river, we assumed it was a good idea. As soon as we started the walk down to the river, we knew that coming back would be a little bit of a struggle.  Regardless of the walk, the river itself was amazing, It was cool enough to be cold, but warm enough that walking in was clearly the right thing to do. We spent a few hours there before heading back up to the house. Here's the impressive walk to the river - it was about another kilometer each way.

After returning to Karim's dar (house), we were able to spend a little time with his brother, mom, and aunt. They gave us plenty of cold water (to follow the completely vertical walk) and then made us a lovely tea time.

And finally, we walked the four km back to the taxi, but this time it was significantly more downhill than up.

Toby likes to call this one "Dinosaur Amputation"

These little dudes asked if we would take their picture. So cute.

1. We never get tired of donkey pictures. 2. Ugh. It's so hard to find good parking.

Thanks again, Karim!

Serving as a couple

As a couple serving in the Peace Corps, we are together basically 24/7. For anyone who knows how our relationship started, spending this much time together is just our thang (if you will).  

In light of today being our anniversary, we've decided to do a massive list of all the pluses and deltas (good things and things we would change) of serving in Peace Corps as a couple. 

Many of these things probably apply to Peace Corps every where, some are Morocco specific, and some are just Toby and Alexis situations. 

PLUS:

We always have someone to speak English with. This is nice because our Darija isn't good enough to express complex thoughts yet. 

If one of us gets stressed out or is just feeling less than great, we have a built in sounding board/therapist. 

Cooking for two can be easier than cooking for one. 

If we want to do a big project in our site, we have someone to work with. 

We don't have to worry about our Moroccan mamas trying to set us up - families really want their kids to get married and we've got that one taken care of. 

For Alexis, there is significantly less verbal harassment than single volunteers experience. It would seem that teenagers respect that we are married, and it's very rude to be rude to a man's wife (this is helpful for Alexis, though it does cause concern that the boys don't just respect women anyway, but that's another blog post).

We get to share our living allowances. 

DELTA:

Because we can speak English with each other, we don't practice our Darija as much as other volunteers. 

We have to spend all of our time together. For us, this has yet to be a problem. But who knows what this will be like after two years. 

A lot of people want to know about when we'll have kids (though this isn't much different than America, to be real).

Other volunteers assume that everything is easier for couples, so they take your complaints less seriously. (Okay this also hasn't happened to us, but we have heard this from others. We've had nothing but support from everyone in our training group, Peace Corps, and basically the rest of the world. )

To sum it all up, we're pretty stoked to be serving in the Peace Corps, and we're even happier to be able to do it together. Now here are a few pictures of us around Morocco. 

At the Royal Palace in Fes.

Lookin' fly on our last night in Ribat El Khier. 

Casual. 

At the reservoir in Taounate. 

In the entryway of our new home. 

In a river!