Visit From PC Bulgaria

So the past few days have been a lot of fun. It all started with a random email entitled “RPCV’s
in Morocco”. It was from two returned Peace Corps volunteers, Tim and Andrew, who have recently finished their service in Bulgaria. In this email they explained that they were conducting a post PC project, which involved traveling across the world and conducting work similar to that which is conducted by the Peace Corps. Furthermore, they explained that their partner in Morocco had fallen through and that they were in search of a way to make use of their time while here. I told them to come on through, and that they were more than welcome to present in the Dar Chebab. That they did, and I was pleased to find out that they are both in fact very cool and very serious about their project. While they were here I introduced them to my community, explored with them like a tourist, exchanged similarities and differences from PC Morocco to PC Bulgaria(which forced me to convince myself that I'm better off here, living an alchohol free, celebate lifestyle), and conducted one hell of a discussion with my students on stereotypes. This was also a great opportunity for me to gain some confidence in my Moroccan Arabic, as being around people who don’t speak a word of it made me feel much more skilled than I actually am (teaching English has the same effect of my English confidence at times).

About 25 people showed up for this discussion, and on time (first time that has ever happened). I arranged for there to be translators, as I assumed many audience members would not be able to understand English or Bulgarian. We began the discussion with a simple statement of “all women are good cooks”, and asked the audience weather they agreed or disagreed with this statement. The majority of participants caught on quickly, which allowed us to promptly illicit heavier stereotypes from them, such as “all American’s are rich and selfish”, and “all Muslim’s are terrorists”. It worked out amazingly well, and was relieving in a sense, considering that these were things that I have always wanted to talk about but needed the proper setting to do so. I do feel lucky that I was assigned a site where there are many educated and seemingly open minded youth who are eager to participate in such discussions.

Having Tim and Andrew here for a few days also allowed me to explore activities that I would probably not have pursued if it were not for their presence, such as Tae Kwon Do lessons on my roof (Andrew is a 3rd degree Black Belt) or a trip to the Hammam which is right around the corner from my house. As for the Hamman, it is essentially a Moroccan bath house which has three bathing rooms, each of which has a different temperature. There is also water offered in three different temperatures (cold, warm, and burning lava hot). The hottest of these rooms, which one might nickname “the chamber of fire water”, is where the majority of the skin scrubbing and soaping takes place. There are Moroccans there are available to lend a helping hand with the peeling of “dead” skin. I figured that might be something to save for when I’m a bit more integrated.

For more information on Tim and Andrew and their project, you can visit their website at www.supercross08.com . I am actually now on their partner page for my courageous contribution to their work.