My first Moroccan Thanksgiving!

Hello Family and Friends!

Happy belated thanksgiving! I hope you all had a really great holiday! Things here are going great! This is my last week of training and everything is going off without at hitch! It has been a crazy 2 weeks and I will be sad to leave all my friends when I head to my site on Tuesday.

Thanksgiving was great! All the volunteers got to take over the kitchen and cook a huge feast! We received Stove top stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie mix straight from the American Embassy. With lots of help and tons of food we spent hours cooking. While we had access to a kitchen, most kitchens here don’t have ovens. So every time we needed bake something, we had to drive to the local public oven. As you can imagine, it was quite the mission and turned out to be a really awesome experience. There was a car full of Moroccans and Americans, and about 15 pumpkins pies, 3 huge turkeys and so much more. We had a great time and even though it was kinda stressful we pulled off dinner for 90 people. For some of our language teachers it was their first thanksgiving ever! Even though I wasn’t with my family, I felt right at home and loved.

Tomorrow I will finally be sworn in as a volunteer! I cant wait! We have the largest stage (group) of volunteers Morocco Peace Corps has ever had and we are the FIRST group to swear in all the volunteers…usually by now someone has gone home so its something to be proud of. We started as 67 and tomorrow we will officially be done with training and hopefully never see another powerpoint presentation in our lives! J My old homestay family may come to see me get sworn in which will be great! Other than that we have had a lot of fun around here lately, dance parties, a talent show and lots of last minute bonding before we are sent off to live on our owns. Its really nice to be around tons of people who all feel the same and we all share similar fears. Christmas is in just a few weeks and it will be our first real holiday alone. Luckily everyone is really supportive and I know I can get through it with the love of my friends and family. The other day I won a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for having the furthest site! Lol…small price to pay for some delicious American food!

Speaking of Americans…the other day my roommates and I were walking through the park in Fez and an older man with a New York Yankees sweatshirt walked by and he stopped us and asked if we were American. We talked to him for a while and it turns out he lives in Bablyon and he was just in Morocco visiting his mother but it was so funny cause he has an New york accent while speaking some Arabic to us. SMALLLLLL WORLLD HUH?

I always have so much to say and then the minute I sit down to write my blog I just forget everything! Some random things:
-The other day on the bus ride to my site I saw 5 camels
-Another bus ride I saw like 50 monkeys just chilling on the side of the road in the forest
-The Congressional Liaison for the Peace Corps came to visit Morocco and we got to talk to her about Congressional Support for the Peace Corps etc. It was really interesting!
- We had a talent show and I danced to Souja Boy with some other girls (for those of you who know what Souja Boy is you can imagine how ridiculous it was lol..pics included)
-Its getting REALLY cold here…winter without heat should prove to be an interesting journey to say the least.

Anyway I am sorry I don’t have exciting stuff to tell you guys! I will be posting more soon! December is a very special time in Morocco because of a holiday called Leid Kabir so I will be sure to have more stories next month! MISS YOU ALLL SOOOO MUCH!

XOXOO

Kristin

ps. Thank you to my uncle mike for the wonderful thanksgiving phone call! Here is my phone number for anyone who wants to use it! 01121250527461

PS. these pictures are of thanksgiving dinner, me and my roomates, transporting the pies, the community ovens and my ridiculous talent show costume!