Good times so far

Woo! I am here! So the plane ride from Phili to Casablanca was long (7 hours) and I didn't sleep a whole lot, but the scenery from the airport was well worth it. The first thing I noticed when I stepped off the plane was how green everything was! After a 2 hour bus ride, passing farmland, sheep herders, and donkey riders, we made it to Marrakech where we spent the day going over paperwork and stayed the night. To be honest, I feel like I'm on vacation right now. We had nice, warm beds, amazing food, wonderful mint tea, beautiful sunshine and nice green grass to play on :)) I played frisbee for a little bit after orientation with some volunteers and this kid who was staying at the hotel. He spoke french really well and another volunteer was conversing with him and translating for those who didn't understand. COOL! The next day, we packed up and got on the bus again for a 3-4 hr ride through the mountains to Ouarzazat. What a road that is! We had to stop a couple of times because people were throwing up. I've never felt carsick before, but I definitely didn't feel amazing on that road. But the mountains and the land made it a beautiful trip. This City is so cool. There is so much to see! I've been able to explore a little bit and converse with vendors. I am surprised how my limited french skills are coming in handy. I went to the souk (market) with another volunteer and passed an area with a bunch of spices. The vendor showed us all that he had: fresh lavender, mint, thyme, oregano, rose buds, cumin, curry, anise, too many more to write down. After I bought some almonds, he gave us some dates and a fig. Delicious!!! Today there was a panel of current PCVs (current peace corps volunteers) so we could ask questions about our training and host-family life, etc. It was so helpful to hear first hand stories from people who were in our shoes not too long ago. There are definitely some things that I have to prepare myself for, but the training is renound here so I feel I will be pretty ready for when I am assigned and go to actually serve. CBT (community-based training) starts on Sunday!! I'm excited to meet my host family!! I hope the next update will be soon! And hope to put my pics up real soon:) Internet is not working very well now (I hope to have internet for a few weeks while I'm training so take advantage!!)