My New Home

So I arrived in my new town for 2 weeks on Sunday. We took a grand taxi to my new site. Taxi drivers are a little crazy here, so after an almost crash on a turn and not being able to restart the car right away after stopping, I made it to my new home. I met my host family and so far they are wonderful. I have a mother and two sisters. One is studying to be a beautician (age 21) and the other is still in school (13). Good and bad news is, they speak perfect french. I am working very hard to learn darija, but it is not an easy language, ;).

Sunday night I experienced a private hammam. Basically I spent two hours in a sauna like area with my host family. I started by putting a hot oil treatment in my hair, then cleaning my skin with henna, washing my hair, then I scrubbed off all the dead skin on my body before soaping up again. Then after I was finally clean, I redressed and ate fruit while my host sister spoke with their friends near the hammam. It was quite the experience, but I felt very clean. Before all this I had a large "breakfast/dinner". It is Ramadan, so my family fasts during the day. Then after returning from the Hammam, we had flan, then around midnight their uncle came over and we had beef kababs, fruit, etc. Lots of food. I finally crashed near 12:30pm.

Yesterday I woke up and got ready for classes. My host mom walked me partway there so I knew the way. At our language instructor's house I ate breakfast and then we started class at 9am. We learned how to say a few things, then we visited the police station (gendarmiya) and then the mayor, but he wasn't available. Afterwards we went back to school and ate lunch. Me and my fellow colleagues went to the square to buy some food, then we had more language class until 4pm. That night my host family took me along with the aunt and cousin to a party down in the square. During Ramadan the young girls and boys who fast for the first time dress up like Indian wedding brides on the 27th day of Ramadan. So I got to see my host sister have her makeup done and photos taken. It was so much fun, we listened to arabic music and ate peanuts while we did this. Then my host mom's sister introduced me to her son, lol. Earlier that evening they had asked if I was married, they were joking of course! Then I had some flan upon my return and crashed around 11:30pm.

Today was much the same, learned language from 9am until 4pm with a lunch break in which I went to the market area for some food. Not sure what the plan is for tonight, but we will see.

So far I know how to tell time, numbers, if I am hungry or not, and much much more that I forget. I can also describe my family now. As for my host family's house, I have a western bathroom as well as a turkish toilet bathroom (though I have not seen anyone use that one). There are two bedrooms, two sitting rooms and a nice kitchen. They have cable and internet, though I can't get to my gmail there, :(. They also have the cutest puppy and a hamster. I will post some photos once I am able to, perhaps later this week.

Food hasn't been anything too crazy, we had chicken liver for dinner the first night along with a flat bread item called melowee which has some sausage/onion mixture thing in it, hard-boiled egg, salad, bread, milk and orange juice. Then last night we had bread, a rice filled tomato, eggplant thing, amazing roasted diced potatoes, and some chicken item with pomegranite for dessert. We didn't have the late meal that night. I also snack continuously during the day at language learning. Haven't learned too much of what my job will be like that, but that will come soon enough. The language learning keeps me plenty busy at the moment. I am always so tired by the end of the day!