MY SITE!

Hello everyone!

So I found out my site......DRUUM ROOOLLL PLEASE!....I will spend the next 2 years in Bouarfa it is the furthest site out of all the volunteers and I am on the border of Algeria. It is in the desert and has REALLY cold winters and REALLY hot summers. It has the reputation of having VERY nice people and lots of sand :)

Even more good news...I was specifically assigned to work at a NEDI NESWI vs. a Dar chebab. A nedi is a womens center and I cannot wait! I am headed out to my site on friday morning and while I am nervous about traveling, there is a current volunteer at my site who will be able to show me the ropes! YAY!

All in all this is very good news! AND its halloween! We carved pumpkins lastnite and we are having a party tonite in our dorms! It should be a blast. Tomorrow I will try to write a longer blog and update some pics....for now learn all you can about my site :)

xoxox

kris

hello family and friends!
So alot has happened in the last few days and I am exhausted from it! Due to a saftey issue (everyone is ok!) We got evacuated from our training site in Ras Lma. It was a really long day and it was terribly sad because we only had an hour to pack and say goodbye to our host families. My family took it very hard and we all cried like babies. However, I think the PC made the right descion to pull us out and we are welcome to visit any day so I will be planning a future trip to see my family. So for now my training group is in Fez, having our daily language classes and just doing some independent study.

On sunday all the other volunteers will return and I am so excited to hear about everyone elses experiences. Then on wednesday (halloween) we will find out our sites! YIKES! On the questionaire we had to fill out to give them an idea of what we want, I only requested a few things. I asked for a site with internet access near by, electricity and LOTS of work as I am not good at being bored. Also I asked for a site with a Neddi Neswi which is like a Dar chebab but only for woman. In smaller towns woman rarely leave the house and this is one of the few places where they go to relax, acquire new skills and talk with other women. I REALLY hope i get to work with one of these but time will tell.

Anyway THANK YOU so much to those of you whom have sent packages! This week I got 3! The magizines are great!

I hope everyone has a GREAT halloween...eat some candy for me! I promise this week I will write a blog worth reading lol!

xoxoxo
kris

pics

Hello FAMILY! Here are the pics finally! Its of my hike and my holiday! I started teaching english this week, 3 classes under my belt and I am still trying to find what works and what doesnt. The kids are all very good but after 6 hours of school, they are a smidge hyper. But who would want to sit and learn english unless its packed with fun?!
I hope all is well and I miss you guys tons!
Enjoy the pics!
Kris

Dear Friends and Family,
Salam! I hope all is well with you and yours! Everything here is great as always. I officially survived my first Moroccan holiday! It was quite the day! The holiday marks the end of a month of fasting (Ramadan) and it is called Leid Sgir, which translates to little feast. The morning started off with a breakfast full of Moroccan ‘donuts’ and mint tea. Then my family and I went around the neighborhood visiting 6 or 7 houses wishing them a ‘Mbrok Leid!’ Ofcourse at each house we were invited to sit and eat more cookies! At first I really loved it…but after about 10 cups of sweet mint tea and at least 25 cookies I was beginning to wonder if I would make it through the day without having a serious sugar crash. While I ate too many, the cookies were incredible! I saw homemade stuff that American bakeries would kill to be able to make. By the end of the day I think I had made it to every house in the town and with each trip the hospitality continued to shock me. Infact when the day was finally over I was happy to get some alone time while walking home and a neighbor I had never met stopped me and I ended up eating cookies and tea at their house and they were so nice! Eventually they walked me home and I got to spend the night with just my adorable grandma because the rest of my family went to visit family in another town. Then after a day of sugar, I brushed my teeth for 10 minutes and had sweet sweet dreams. A highlight of the day was when I complimented a woman on her dress and she took it off and gave it to me :) I am going to attempt to return it today but she was so happy to give it to me I may just have to keep it.


The next day was our day off and while I am battling a HORRIBLE cold, I took the day to explore a near by town and mountain with a fellow volunteer. We ended up climbing the mountain and it was incredible! The pictures are included and as you can tell I even got dirty! Lol I am trying to fake my way into becoming an adventurous person and so far so good.

Anyway I hope all is well! Ive been thinking about you guys a lot! Only 16 days left of training and then I will find out where I will be stationed for the two years! I am already dying with excitement!
PS....Yes I dyed my hair darker brown/red...hope you like it!
Love you and miss you all!
Xxooxoxo
Kris



P.S. Many of you have been asking me what I would like to have sent to me...postage is EXTREMELY expensive so I will not ask for much. So far I missing Comsopolitan and Glamour (magazines) Youd be surprised how much I can get here, so for now my list is minimal but later on I will try to think of fun things...mmmmm like kraft mac and cheese!

Keep in mind I just need ONE person to send me this month's issue. THANKS SOOO MUCH IN ADVANCE! It will help ward off homesickness!

PS these pictures are of my family and fellow volunteers during the Holiday and also my mountain climbing!

1 month down 26 to go :)

HellO eVerYoNE. Things are great...too busy to write but heres some pics of a party I went too for my neighbors new baby, some friends of mine, and some of my kids from the Dar Chebab!
Enjoy! Love and miss you all!
xoxo
Kris

Here are the pics finally :) In order they are....My town Ras Lma(i LOVE it!), some goats and sheep passing by my house, my host mother and sister, The sunset in Ras Lma, My family picture, My little brother and host dad, Me dressed in my Host Moms wedding dress, Me dressed up in a Jellaba going to a baby naming ceremony, my little brother dressed up in my moms clothes (sooo cute!) , a local farmer, me and my ADORABLE grandmother, Me learning how to hand wash my clothes, driving in the back of a van full of cleaning supplies when my I met my Host dad for the first time, The Dar Chebab (Youth center I work in),

Me and Grammy :)

10/03/07
Life is good!
I swear this week has just been down right amazing. Normal things seem so outrageously great when you have time to slow down and enjoy them.

For starters, I am really feeling at home with my Host family. My boss came over for dinner and translated a little for me and my ‘Grandma’ told him that she told the Peace Corps that she only wanted a girl that smiled and laughed every day and that she thanks God that their family received me and that she is going to cry all day when I leave. (She’s too cute) THESE PEOPLE ARE AMAZING! Its crazy that I can be in a completely different country, with a language barrier, and only be in someone’s home for a week and feel like that’s exactly where I was meant to be. My little sister and brother are too cute for their own good! I am so happy to finally posts pictures of them! Also the novelty of me being in the town has worn off a little and people are starting to view as just a neighbor.

However the funniest thing happened the other day. When I walked home from the Dar Chebab and I arrived at my house a small crowd started to form. 2 people quickly turned into 10 and they were all peaking over my fence trying to see me in the backyard. I shrugged it off and didn’t get upset. Well apparently my Grandma wouldn’t have it…so she walked outside to the gate and in Arabic yells ‘Shooo…shooo….What you’ve never seen an American before?’ She said it so seriously and she was just trying to protect me but then it occurred to us that YES infact they hadn’t lol or why would they be crowding in front of our house to get a peek at one. Needless to say we had a good laugh and I just went outside to greet them as there was no mal intent involved.

Another highlight this week was a 10 kilo hike that myself and 2 other volunteers went on. We set out to reach the nearest mountain although it was much further than we thought so we just explored a near by town. The weather was beautiful, it was nice to get away and we had a few good laughs. By hour two of the walk we were hungry and thirsty so we found a hanut (store) and bought some cookies and coke. Well it’s quite rude to eat in public because people are fasting all day so we tried to find a place to hide. We ended up in a small construction area that was a man made alley with two cement walls that were very close to each other. We were sitting down eating when a cement truck quickly turned the corner into the alley way in which we were sitting. So my friend chris who was sitting closest to the oncoming truck springs up and jumps to safety and the driver throws he break on and starts to laugh at us. So we were all freaked out and laughing and when we finally calmed down we realized that it wasn’t the thought of being run over that scared us it was the thought of the driver seeing us eat lol.

I am getting increasingly more and more excited about my actual job. Its funny I was sitting in a training session about teaching English as a foreign language and it kinda hit me that I am on my way to being an adult. Its easy to get wrapped up in the whole ‘Im going to the Peace Corps’ thing and forgetting that I am one day allowed to call myself a teacher. My official title is something I love ‘Youth Developer’ so while I am more than just a teacher, its funny to think that I have a title. (Or than student finally J)
The kids here are great we played freeze tag at my job the other day and they just loved it! Daily, our Arabic classes are interrupted with a knock at the door and it will be ANOTHER person coming to ask if they can learn English. Their eagerness is such a source of motivation and in the middle of October we will begin our 2 weeks of intense English classes!

Time is flying by in less than a month I will find out where I will be stationed for
the next two years! YAY! Then we have a few weeks in November to go check out our sites and visit with an older volunteer. Then before we know it we are back here in Fez for Thanksgiving and our swearing in on the 26th! That will be the day that I officially receive my title as ‘YOUTH DEVELOPER!’

Thanks again for all your kind words, letters and packages. I could never be as sane as I am without people like you in my life. I am sorry if I ramble in my blog I wait to long to write them and then I cant get it all down on paper fast enough.

Special Shout out to Aunt Vera who was offically the first person to send me mail! The crystal light is delicious!

Miss you all!

Xoxoxo
Kris