An apple a day...

The newest updates: Last week Justin and I returned from an "In-Service Training" (IST) in Marrakesh for the newest group of Peace Corps Volunteers, where we gave a presentation about our awesome Job Skills training workshops. After IST, I participated in my very last meeting with the Gender and Development Committee in Morocco and was able to sit back and really appreciate how far my efforts have gone in the last 2 years to promote gender equality activities in Morocco.

So all in all a productive week! However, my excitement faded quickly upon getting back home last Tuesday, as that evening I managed to slip in the shower and bang my chin against our bathtub, breaking open a pretty deep gash all the way to the muscle. 

But this blog post is not to complain about the injury - Rather, I want to gush about the medical treatment that I have received in the Peace Corps, which is better than I  have ever experienced! As soon as I banged my chin, I called the after-hours Peace Corps medical duty phone. Within a minute I was connected to a doctor who told me immediate actions to take with supplies from the medical kit that Peace Corps provided us with. First thing the following morning, I went to Rabat where I met with the same Peace Corps doctor, who brought me to an amazing plastic surgeon for a quick consultation followed by stitches in my chin. All within about 18 hours of my injury.

From my fractured leg bone to now this, I have been so impressed with the medical attention that I've received in the Peace Corps. Before we left for Morocco, there was some negative press about medical problems with the Peace Corps, but for me I have had nothing but positive experiences. Even so, I have promised myself that the chin injury will be my very last medical issue, because I need to return to America in 1 piece! :)

In other news, we are finalizing most of our projects and beginning the packing process. I can't believe that our return to the US is getting closer and closer! Over the coming weeks we plan to spend lots of time with our Moroccan friends and family and do some final sightseeing too. More to come soon!

Out with the old, in with the new...

Breaking news, just in time for the new year – Yesterday, at 3:46 PM, my cast came OFF!

before photo, nervously anticipating the doctor

after, furiously scrubbing 6 weeks of dried skin off my foot!

And for your entertainment, below is a video that Justin shot of my hilarious Moroccan doctor goofing off just prior to taking off the cast.

I'm already able to walk, though with a bit of difficulty as my foot is quite stiff and sore. I'll be starting physical therapy next week but I'm confident that I'll be able to gain back the strength quickly.

All of this is perfect timing for me, because I truly view the new year as a chance to take stock of the past, shed the things holding us back, and embrace the opportunities that lie ahead in the coming year. I know that there's really no difference between December 31 and January 1, but for me the new year is a symbolic street sign along the road of life that reminds me to mentally reflect and plan.

So with that, here are some of my initial goals and thoughts for the coming year. I imagine that I will  add to/develop these as I spend more time in Morocco and evolve the type of work I do here.

1. Take better care of myself

This has been a year of ridiculousness. In February I broke a bone in my right hand while walking our foster dog, and then in November I fractured a bone in my leg. Accidents happen, and the February break was an accident, but I attribute the November fracture to being careless and making bad decisions. With that, I have decided that I will no longer wear flip flops (anyone who has seen me wearing flip flops in New York in December knows that this is a bold decision!). I fractured the bone in my leg by slipping on stairs in flip flops and I am convinced that wearing a piece of slippery rubber with no traction is more trouble waiting to happen. Beyond my flip-flop decision, I want to make sure that I maintain a healthy lifestyle in Morocco – exercising regularly, making smart eating decisions, etc. There are some fantastic things about our lifestyle here – lots of walking, great weather year-round for exercising outside, and not a frozen meal to be found for miles! 

2. Improve my language skills

I've been blown away by how quickly I have been able to pick up the language. In just a little over 4 months, I have gotten myself to a strong intermediate level in which I do a pretty good job of communicating with people in the community. But still, every day there are sentences I don't quite understand, or things I want to say but just don't know how. Justin and I have a tutor that we will be working with twice a week, but beyond that I want to devote time weekly to learning new vocabulary, studying new aspects of the language, and evaluating my progress.

3. Explore and travel – mainly throughout Morocco, but elsewhere if possible

This is an obvious one. I want to make sure to spend lots of time in my community, but one of the reasons that I joined the Peace Corps was to get to know another country and its culture, beyond just one city. So I want to make sure to plan lots of trips throughout the country, and hopefully beyond.

4. Continue to develop a support network in my community

I'm really proud of the integration that Justin and I have already done in the community – we have an amazing host family who think of us as one of their own and will be so important to have over the next 2 years. Beyond that, we have developed friendships with youth in their 20's who go to our Youth Center and I expect that these will develop even further with time. I also want to be sure that Justin and I develop our own friends in the community – and the natural gender divisions that occur in Moroccan culture should make this fairly easy to achieve.

5. Consistently evaluate my work and what more I can do

We've only been in the community for a short time, but as we start to really settle here, it will be important for me to not just get into a routine of teaching classes, but to constantly be talking to youth and other members of the community about issues that are meaningful to them, things they want to learn, and activities that they want to do, and making sure that I am always looking for ways to address all of these. 

6. Maintain communication with everyone back home!

Whether that means letters, emails, phone calls, Skype conversations, Facebook, smoke signals, whatever... just making sure that I am still a part of everyone's lives back home. And keeping up the blog of course – I plan to continue posting new entries at least once a week. And I want to try to potentially develop a communication network between my classes in Morocco and classes in a U.S. school. More to come on that soon.

That about covers it. I'll be sure to write updates on how I'm doing with the above goals. Tonight, our host family is throwing a big party for 30 of their closest friends and family, to celebrate what Moroccans call Rass L'Ԑam (“rass” meaning “head” and “l'Ԑam” meaning “of the year”) and I'm looking forward to ringing in 2012 Moroccan style!

From Justin and me, wishing everyone a wonderful year filled with new plans, adventures, experiences, and relationships. I look forward to continuing to chart our journey in the coming year!

 

Tiflet and bum foot update

For those who have been following updates on my Facebook page, you may already know the news of my latest adventure in Morocco; for those unaware yet, I have had the unfortunate luck of learning firsthand about the Moroccan medical system:

Yes, that is my foot. Last Wednesday - on our last day of training in Fes before leaving for Rabat the following morning - I bounded down the stairs into the breakfast area and managed to skip the very last stair and land with my left foot twisted underneath me. I heard a crack at the time and while I tried to convince myself that it was a sprain, I was pretty sure it was worse than that.

Fortunately, our medical staff was walking into the building at the same time as my little fall and they were put right to work. Within 2 hours, I was taken to a medical clinic, where x-rays indicated that I had fractured a small part of the tibia in my left leg (a bone just above the ankle), and I was immediately put into a cast and given crutches. It was a FAR quicker process than I have ever dealt with in the U.S. (and completely free), so I was pleased about that! But as you can imagine, it has caused a lot of challenges in dealing with day-to-day life (as it would in the U.S. too, but I would know a lot more about my surroundings back home).

Justin and I were taken to Rabat a day early with our medical staff and I met with a specialist there who confirmed the fracture and gave me some medicine. The following day (last Thursday), we were sworn in as official Peace Corps volunteers! We met the U.S. Ambassador to Morocco and his wife; he asked me where I was living before joining the Peace Corps and I told him Brooklyn – he looked down at my cast and said that if I’m a New Yorker I shouldn’t have any problems dealing with a broken leg :) I took that as a compliment!

Our full training group and staff at Peace Corps Headquarters in Rabat

The U.S. Ambassador to Morocco and his wife at our ceremony

We all tried to wear traditional dress; photos of me coming soon I promise!

On Friday, Justin and I left Rabat for our new home, Tiflet. We are only a 45 minute taxi ride from Rabat, so fortunately the travel was fairly easy. We met our new host family and they welcomed us into our home where we will live until the end of the year while we look for a place to live permanently. And I breathed a sigh of relief that our bedroom is on the first floor of the house!

Since then, we have been moving pretty slowly given my casted leg. Fortunately, the expectations for us between now and early next year are not too major - mainly to get to know the community and the Youth Center where we will work, to look for a place to live permanently, and to find a language tutor. Even so, it’s been really frustrating for me to not be able to fully explore my new community. I am excited to be in a new place and it’s hard to not just be able to walk around and see as much as I can. I’m trying to remind myself that we’ll be living here for 2 years and I will have plenty of time to see and learn everything.

And Justin has been a saint in the last week, amazingly patient and understanding and willing to walk slowly next to me as I hobble along in the crutches. I hope that in the coming weeks I will be able to put some more weight on my foot which will allow me to walk further, and based on the current calculations, my cast should be off by December 30th (fingers crossed!!). So I hope to enter the new year healthy and excited to fully learn about my new home. I imagine that the next month or so will be both physically and emotionally difficult for me, but like I said I’m trying to remain as positive as possible. More to come soon!