On December 5, my small training group of six finished our three months of training. Despite having to avoid aggressive sheep and watching way too many soap operas with my host mom, we all managed to score one of the highest Arabic proficiencies thanks to our rockstar goddess teacher. On December 6, we were all … More First Steps: An Update
Background: In our hashuma (cultural taboo) session, Peace Corps emphasizes very strongly that we should wash our own underwear. We should expect that our host mom will demand to do our laundry, but we should keep our underwear separate and wash it on our own. Easier said than done when the bathroom is a concrete … More Don’t Die Proud
My new home is a small 1000-person village thirty minutes outside of our training hub of Meknes. It’s a small and dusty town surrounded by fields and named for the croaking frogs in a nearby river. Fun aside: there are a few flocks of sheep that wander around town that are pretty cute from a … More Meskina
Let’s talk about flus. Morocco is a cash-only country, and though I’ve heard that currency in Morocco is ridiculous, I’ve been able to avoid it by staying in the city. Now that I’m living in a village, the money madness is unavoidable, and I need to share my struggle. Let’s break it down. The cash … More Dirhams, Ryals, and Franks…oh my?
There are two stages in Peace Corps service, and they are completely opposite of each other. The first stage is CBT which lasts three months and is our formal training where they attempt to cram as much information into our heads as possible. As a result, it seems like every minute of every day is … More A Day in the Life
**First, I want to apologize for the delay in posting. I didn’t realize that my internet access would be so incredibly spotty once I made it to my training site. There’s only one main café with wifi and it…is…slow…. So I think I’ve gotten my life in order to prewrite posts and publish them when … More Posh Corps
On September 19, 2016, I had the privilege of being judged at Greenville/Spartanburg Airport for having way too much luggage and an incredibly unsubtle sob fest as I said goodbye to my mom in front of security. And, because my ticket said Philadelphia, I didn’t even have the satisfaction of waving an African destination in … More On My Way
I moved into college with four suitcases. While other people roadtripped across the states with SUVs stuffed with belongings, my mom and I were dropped off on a street corner in front of my dorm by a taxi. I am not a stranger to packing my entire life away in a few suitcases. In fact, I … More Packing Madness
Krysten Bray 