Cultural Misunderstandings & Moroccan Integration

Posted on 7 April 2013 by Richard Reilly

English: Extension of Moroccan Arabic (Darija). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I need to talk about yesterday. Out of nowhere, yesterday became my biggest step forward with regards to integration. At the same time, I made a mistake that will likely come back to bite me. All in all, the day was busy and worthwhile. I went to sleep unsure of how to interpret everything…but that is happening more and more here in Morocco.

The day started normal. I woke up late. I walked around town. I read at the park. That part of my routine is set. It’s perfect for what I want to accomplish here. I need to integrate, so walking around daily is a must. I meet at least one new person a day. The reading in the park is something that came out of nowhere. After being told that “I’ve never seen a person in Bhalil read in public,” I decided to do it every day.

When I got back, my family whisked me off to lunch at my mother’s parents’ house. I’m starting to get to know everyone in the family. More importantly, my Host Uncle has taken a liking to me. He tries harder to communicate with me than anyone I have met here in Morocco. After lunch, he took me to his barbershop. At first, I thought I was going to be forced to get my hair cut.

Turns out I was wrong. The barbershop is kind of a local hangout. A dozen people came and went throughout my three hours there. I met several friends of the family. We had conversations about language, indoor heating, money, and clean energy. It was fantastic. Later, the English teacher at the local high school dropped by. We had a long conversation and suddenly I have another counterpart in my work here. Those three hours at the barbershop integrated me as much as a week’s worth of walking around town.

I headed back to my family’s house. As we ate, the conversations somehow turned to how long I’m spending in Morocco (two years). That quickly turned into whether or not I would marry while in Morocco. This isn’t the first time a conversation has started about me being single. Back in Bouderham, it was an ongoing joke between the postman and I. So when the topic came up, I gave an overenthusiastic, “No, no, no, no.”

This is the first time the subject came up with my host family. They were confused why I was so adamant. It’s not that I’m adamant against it…it’s more that I can’t see it. Back in America, I really wanted to have a house and a good job and be more like 30 when I started a family. If my ideals play into it—religion, writing, etc..—I just don’t see marriage anywhere in the picture during my two years here.

Problem: How do you translate that into a language you’ve been studying for two months?

I missed my opportunity to explain myself. Instead, my host mother asked me if there was a girl back home. I said no. My mother decided my “no” was a little sheepish and interrupted it as a “YES I DO!” Before I could do anything about it, the conversation flew by me. I was only asked one more question, “Is she still studying at University in America?” Unsure of what else to say, I just said yes.

So my host family things I’m halfway to engaged. This being on the heels of me suddenly feeling single again. I want to set the record straight with my family…but bringing it up would be inappropriate. The best I can do is set the record straight if they bring the subject again. But what am I supposed to say?

Back in America I would explain it eloquently, “We never officially dated, but we were defiantly together. We never officially broke up, but we are definitely not together anymore.” In Darija, I will inevitably sound like a bubbling idiot. I live in a culture where dating is considered inappropriate. I quickly discovered that it’s not as much of a big deal as I was led to believe. Still, it is quite a strange situation.

Every day here is unexpected.

I love that.

But it’s exhausting.

Speaking Moroccan Arabic

Posted on 11 March 2013 by Richard Reilly

Day 56 in Peace Corp Morocco: The End of Training

Posted on 10 March 2013 by Richard Reilly

I am 7% done with my Peace Corps adventure. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to understand time here in Morocco. It’s only been eight weeks since I left the States. It feels like it’s been a year. The thing is, my time here feels like it is flying by. It just doesn’t make any sense. To add more to the confusion, everyone back home is now an hour closer to me since Morocco doesn’t do Daylight Saving Time. We found this out by trying to explain to our Language and Cultural Facilitator what DST is. We confused her and came away with the understanding that there is no DST in Morocco.

Sorry for the sabbatical. Studying is intense in the first few months of Peace Corps. The thing is, it works. I’m holding full conversations with my host family now. I’m sure it’ll be easier to keep updating once I get to my final site. Below is my first full piece of writing while in Morocco. I am still doing a lot of writing–just not anything I can put on here. I write in my journal on a daily basis. I’m also doing well on the script I started a few weeks back. It’ll be a long process, but it is definitely coming together.

Here’s my full Peace Corps Update:

Saying Goodbye to Mom and Dad

on Writing in the Peace Corps

Posted on 23 February 2013 by Richard Reilly

As the weeks pass, I feel that I may be among the lucky volunteers here in Morocco. We have all be told a dozen times that we will have long stretches of down time. This isn’t a Peace Corps thing. It is a cultural thing. Our job is to work with kids. When it’s raining all winter or approaching 130 all summer, it is inevitable that whole communities forgo activities for extended amount of times. Many of the volunteers that I have met fear this. I understand their fear, but don’t share it. There is an incredible feeling of purpose that comes with being busy. To complement that, however, there is an incredible feeling of uselessness that comes with not having much to do.

I’ve experienced the uselessness before. For me, however, I have an inexhaustible hobby that can take up hours or fit into the small crevasses of free time. Currently, during training, my writing has fallen into the latter category considering learning a new language (and culture) comes first. I’m well aware that this will change. When the activity level dies down and I am sworn in as a volunteer, there will be days where it’s obvious not much can be done. For that, I am thankful for my hobby. I have five writing outlets in place at this moment. First, I write in my diary everyday. Secondly, I write a letter several times a week. Those are the two that I currently fit into the small moments of free time. Thirdly, I have this blog. Fourth is a script I’ve been hoping to write (This will be a long term goal that will probably take off in the heat of the Summer). Lastly, I have a short story I desperately want to write (even though it’s still in the theoretical stage).

With all these outlets, I am not afraid of the free time that comes with two years of service. Writing is my way of untangling the thoughts in my head. The more I write while in Morocco, the more I’ll understand about the people and the culture I encounter. I’ll already spend two weeks realizing that the construction of a culture in sci-fi novels is one of the most fascinating and exciting elements of pre-writing….just because I’ve landed myself in a new culture. I love the realizations that being in Africa are giving me. They will make me a stronger volunteer and a stronger writer.

Today’s short story comes from my teenage love for zombies. After seeing “Land of the Dead,” I was fascinated with the differences between all the zombies movies. I wanted to give another take on the zombie story. This story came out as a set of diary entries. It is quite short. Enjoy.

Day to Die

Day 39 in Peace Corps Morocco

Posted on 21 February 2013 by Richard Reilly

I went without decent internet for more than a month here in Morocco. Now that I have a steady connection, I’m going to try to update on a daily process. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Fes (a pretty big tourist city) for training. We got back yesterday evening. Today, I went back to studying. Our teacher decided to step things up in class because we now have only four weeks of training left before going to our final site. After the first hour, all five of us were thinking the same thing: Oh shit. It’s not like we don’t know the language…it’s that every question or phrase can be worded so many different ways…and it’s difficult to recognize what is being asked sometimes.

I decided to make it one of my personal goals to get to an advanced or better speaking level during my two years here. I know that means a tutor later. But right now, that means an hour or two of studying each night. Since we do 4-6 hours of class, the amount of content we cover requires that of me. I learn a bit differently than how I am taught…although the classes do give me a good overview of how the language works, I need to drill in order to memorize verbs and nouns and adjectives and everything else. It is difficult, but I am getting there. I want to prove myself in these four weeks before we get sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers.

In other news, having the internet is a strange change. My relationships with everyone back home are changing now. I can talk to my girl whenever we are both awake–which is difficult but great. The distance is hard but I didn’t expect any less. With regards to friends, it is much easier to keep in contact with several people. I like being able to talk to everyone rather that figure out who I can talk to in my precious small amount of time on the internet. One of the best parts about having the Internet has turned to out to be staying in contact with family. With aging grandparents parents who are nearing retirement, and a sister with three girls in school, I miss a lot if I’m out of touch for just a weeks. It’s nice to be back in the loops.

Now that I’m in the Peace Corps, I’m going to alternate between uploading old writings and Peace Corps writing. I’m starting with some old writing because I used most of today studying Moroccan Arabic. Today’s update was an assignment from 11th grade. We had to write a horror story that followed a few steps for the genre. I really like what came out. I don’t know if I’ll ever write more than short stories in this category, but it is fun.

Isabel’s Ballroom

Halfway through Peace Corps Training

Posted on 19 February 2013 by Richard Reilly

I know I’ve been uploading mainly pictures. So here’s a real writing update. Today marks five weeks in Morocco. Only 109 weeks to go =). It’s strange thinking that this much time has already passed. Like the rest of humanity, I’ve been fascinated by the passage of time since I was a teenager. But this is the first period since high school that time has felt extremely fluid. Like high school, each day is jam-packed with class, social interaction, frustrations, and excitement. Unlike high school, each day is a massive cultural experience. That’s not even mentioning the speech barrier.

Despite these busy days, these five weeks have passed by in a snap. At times I can’t believe that I’ve been in Africa for five weeks. Other times, it feels like I’ve been here a year. That’s why I’ve always been so fascinated with time. It is going by so quickly and so slowly at the same time. I’m quickly realizing what is difficult to be away from and what is easy to be away from. Being away from my girl makes it feel like years have passed. Being away from the entertainment world of America makes it feel like no time has passed at all.

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I was certain I was going to Early Terminate in the first two weeks of training. It was a strange mixture of circumstances that brought me to that conclusion. I even told my father I might be able to watch some Broncos games with him next season. Then we started taking a little time out of our language lessons to start teaching English to the children in our community. That changed a lot for me. Being able to genuinely help students was exactly what I needed. Then, during a free weekend, I had a long conversation with a close Peace Corps friend. Now I have a hard time seeing what would make me go home.

It doesn’t feel like an emotional roller coaster…but that is because the days stretch on for vast amounts of time. The truth is I experience multiple ups and downs in a day. I have overall amazing days and overall sucky days. In the end, in the past two weeks, little has brought me down for a long period of time. Once I got settled into the idea of spending two years here, I started making plans. I know what my plans are for my Peace Corps service—but there are going to be long periods where I need to just fill time (like during the summer when it’s 120+ degrees outside). For that, I made a list of personal goals. This includes many writing goals—including finishing a film script I started working on last week. Having a set of personal goals was exactly what I needed.

We’ve talked to a lot of current volunteers. All of them have advice. All of their advice is simple. But there’s this strange feeling when I am around them. It’s like walking into a movie at the theater and seeing other people walking out. You know that they just experienced what you are about to experience. You want to know, but you don’t. I have this strange sensation that I have important questions to ask the current volunteers….but I can never figure out what to ask. It’s rather amusing.

I am continuously reminded of something I wrote while in Tacoma with my girl. It was about home. It was then that I realize I did not have a home. It isn’t with my parents. It isn’t Tacoma. It isn’t my grandmother’s old condo. It isn’t my host family. It won’t be my final site. What I realize back then is that home isn’t a place—it’s people. No matter how I look at it, I feel the tether to those I love. I know where my home is. Although I love this country and I’m dedicated to spending two years here, I know my home is safe in Tacoma.

A Week into PCT

Posted on 29 January 2013 by Richard Reilly

Blog Update for Fes Training One (January 29^th)

So my training site has zero internet. Period. Even with an internet stick, it would take about an hour to load Google. So my updates will be few and long until late March when training ends and we are sworn in—finally changing from Peace Corps Trainees to Peace Corps Volunteers. We have to two months until then. That time with be jam-packed with Darisha (Moroccan Arabic) lessons, culture lessons, working with kids at the Dalshabob, and the like.

Our adventure truly started when we left Oscar Hotel in Rabat. After a week of training, we were truly on our way. Three bushes took us from Rabat to Fes. This two hour drive included a 20 minute break in which I got to experience Moroccan candy and impatient Bus drivers who wanted to leave even though there were people going to the bathroom (lucky for us, Peace Corps facilitators are amazing).

The drive was beautiful. I became very close with Carrie and Amanda during the drive. We spent most of our time talking about TV shows (Doctor Who and Breaking Bad). We frequently stopped to ohh and ahh at the changing scenery.

We got to the Dalshabob in Fes in the afternoon. We went out for a nice lunch (I got cheeseburger). Then we all went back and started saying our goodbyes. There are so many Peace Corps volunteers in our group that we won’t see a lot of people that we got close too until we are sworn in two months from now. Our group was the last to leave because it’s hard to get a Taxi on Mohammed’s anniversary—especially when you are going to the middle of nowhere.

The taxi drive was very exciting. Apparently the name of my town is the name of a neighborhood in a large town nearby. The driver thought we were going to neighborhood. When we got there, our facilitator told him we needed to go to the town. They all got out of the car and argued for nearly ten minutes. Lucky for us, our personal facilitator is amazing. She made it so we weren’t left on the side of the road. We got into town, divided, up, went with our families, and were shown to our rooms.

The first few days in this town have been all over the place. In the end, however, I have become very comfortable. In just three days I went from feeling like a guest to feeling like a part of a family. I still can’t speak with them very well (no one knows English). I live in a house with a father (Hadima), a mother (Fatima), two sons (Sofian and Mstaffa), Mstaffa’s wife (Miriam), and their four month old child (Aness).

I was not among the lucky PCTs who receives a Western toilet. Luckily I stocked up on toilet paper in Rabat (I just can’t do the left hand thing…………I just can’t).

We have language lessons every day at the Dalshabob (and anywhere else we go). My brain in saturated with Darisha. I am taking it a little at a time. The sun even came out a bit the last two days…which allowed us to come out from our classroom for our Saturday lesson).

On Sunday we explored the village and its surrounding area. The snow-capped mountains were finally visible. I honestly feel like I’m back in the Rocky Mountain. There is no indoor heating, so that does mean these months will be cold. But I came prepared. I wear three layers days and night and sleep under four wool blankets. It is worth it to be somewhere so beautiful.

I am now 2% done with my Peace Corps service. I hard to think I was still in America only two weeks ago. This had already been the experience of a lifetime. I will keep you—my faithful readers—updated as often as I can. Make sure to subscribe so you can see every time I update. If all goes well, there should be 26 months of experience ahead of me.

Video Blogging and Heading to Fes

Posted on 23 January 2013 by Richard Reilly

Tomorrow we head off to Fes for the start of our Pre-Service Training. From there, I will head to the Atlas mountains to start working with children in a building called the Dalshabob. It should be amazing. I am having plenty of up days and couple down days. It is all culminating on tomorrow when we meet our host family. Once I get through tomorrow, I think my worries will start to wane. I’ve been told I will live in a home owned by a Moroccan solider with two adult sons.

Today I will be uploading one of my most popular pieces from when I was a teenager. I called it Imminent Death. I used people I know in short skit crazed situations. This was a way I got in touch with the side of me I didn’t realize I had until my first really close friends brought it out of me. Here is the first one. It is very short. I am having problems uploading the other nine. I will try to upload more the next time I am on (I have no idea when that will be).

Imminent Death: Problem With Furbies

End of my first Week in the Peace Corps

Posted on 20 January 2013 by Richard Reilly

The orientation week for the Peace Corps has been tiring. We have full schedules everyday (except today–that’s how I explored Rabat). The pictures should be below. I have three more days in this city until I head off to the Atlas Mountains to start my Pre-Service training….which includes some extreme 4-hours a day language training. I already got a hold on basic Moroccan Arabic. I hope I can continue making this kind of progress.

I finally found an Internet Cafe that has stable internet. I was able to Skype with my whole family plus my girl. It’s been great to catch up with everyone after a week with sketchy internet. I hope you enjoy the photos. I am going to continue posting old writings while I get settled here in Morocco. In honor of President Obama’s second inauguration here is a piece about the Presidential Election of 2004. Enjoy my first attempts at political writing (from back when I was 15).

November 2nd, 2004