The Big News

Yesterday I learned where I'm going to spend the next two years:  in a village in the province of Tata, in the very south of Morocco not far from the Algerian border on the Sahara plain.  No rolling sand dunes there, but they're not far.  Tata was what I had been expecting, but it was still far from anti-climactic.  My village has, according to the data sheet that I got which may or not be up-to-date, 541 people, and it's about an hour north-ish from the city of Tata, which has about 45,000 people.  What's good:  I'll have a site mate in the sister village next door (only 1km away), and it's Bjai (Najat) from my CBT who is going to be an absolutely stellar volunteer and that I get along great with.  What's a challenge:  both Najat and I have new sites in a pretty remote area, so people aren't going to be familiar with Peace Corps and what we do.  That doesn't mean they won't be receptive, it just adds another step to the whole process.  The nearest cyber cafe and souq (weekly market) is a town 8km away that's only accessible by walking/biking.  What's strange:  apparently, they do not usually send male volunteers at all to the Tata province.  I will be the only male PCV in Tata, among about a dozen female PCVs.  I haven't really been able to get a straight answer as to why this is, but I'm sure I'll have more to report on it as I learn more.

Site visit begins in about twelve hours, with any luck I may be able to post from there over the next week.