I am now in my little room on the roof of the house in Asni, having arrived yesterday to freezing cold weather. The house is lovely but so cold that I have to wear long underwear and a vest or coat in the house. At night, I am snuggled in my bed with all my wonderful Moroccan blankets and am very toasty...and the water in my bathroom is hot, so who could want anything more? The girls here are wonderful and enthusiastic and love to babble in whatever language they want to try (usually Tashelhit or sometimes French) and they are just like teenage girls everywhere....they sit in corners and giggle with each other and they love Facebook and music (although mostly Berber music). Many of them dress very modern without their hajabs but when they go home they always wear them. Many of the girls take our their rugs and pray during the day, but most don't. They work very hard on their studies and go to school from 8 am until 6 at night with breaks in between for lunch and some other activities. I have sessions scheduled with different groups throughout the day and while we are just at the introductions stage, I can see that it is going to be very challenging to adjust to the different groups. Some of the girls who are 12 and 13 are just beginning English and the older ones who are 16 and 17 have studied it for a while. I even had to review the present perfect with a student.
I brought material for friendship bracelets which are a big hit as are the two versions of Bananagrams that I brought. Still not sure how much English I will be doing and how much french. They work so hard in school, I hope that we can just have fun with some of the language classes. I am scheduled with the girls for 1/2 hour blocs in French/English and computer. I think that the computer is mostly going to be Facebook related but we will see...perhaps I can have them research some things.
The other American volunteer, Gretchen has arrived from Ohio and will be staying with me here for a few days and then going on to the other house in which she will be working.
In the next few days I will write more about things here and what life is like for these girls who live in a house with running water, their own bed, their own bathroom and TV and computers and then return to their families on the weekends wear their life is so different. One big issue remains what they will do after they complete school...still for many of them, getting married is what they dream of..it is hard to break habits. Anyway, more in the next few days
I brought material for friendship bracelets which are a big hit as are the two versions of Bananagrams that I brought. Still not sure how much English I will be doing and how much french. They work so hard in school, I hope that we can just have fun with some of the language classes. I am scheduled with the girls for 1/2 hour blocs in French/English and computer. I think that the computer is mostly going to be Facebook related but we will see...perhaps I can have them research some things.
The other American volunteer, Gretchen has arrived from Ohio and will be staying with me here for a few days and then going on to the other house in which she will be working.
In the next few days I will write more about things here and what life is like for these girls who live in a house with running water, their own bed, their own bathroom and TV and computers and then return to their families on the weekends wear their life is so different. One big issue remains what they will do after they complete school...still for many of them, getting married is what they dream of..it is hard to break habits. Anyway, more in the next few days
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