I’ve reached the final day of my 10-day orientation in Morocco! The days were packed with lots of sessions on a range of topics from Peace Corps approach to development to transportation safety to breakout language groups and common health issues.

We are the second group of volunteers in country after the COVID evacuation, with a large cohort of around 70 people. The hotel was beautiful and was a slow transition into the real Moroccan way of life. It seems overwhelming with the massive amount of information they provide in the first days. Most days seem to blur together. But honestly it was good, a way of keeping everyone focused on the excitement of the work and not so much homesickness.

 A  side trip to a nearby town  only emphasized how little Darija I have retained and showed me just how much more I need to practice. It also gave me a little taste of real Morocco and reminded me of the excitement and reason I wanted to serve abroad. PC also does a really great job providing resources and addressing those language learning concerns as shared by most of the volunteers.

Tomorrow, we have a few sessions but the real exciting part is that we all find out what permanent language groups we will be in for the 3-month pre-service training as well as who are host families are. We pack up and then all separate and head out for the real taste of PC life. We will be spending the days with our language and culture facilitator doing lessons and activities as well as working at a local youth center or women’s center to get a taste of the work we will do at our final sites. Every couple weeks we also gather as a whole cohort for in service training and further checks on our progress. Eventually we will all gather one last time for our permanent site announcements and swearing in ceremony. I’ve even heard that there will be a fake Moroccan wedding we attend in preparation for all the future events we are invited to.

In the future I’ll make a post on the adventure in itself of just making it to the country 🙂

Views around the hotel and countryside