After landing in Casablance, after an 8 hour flight from JFK, and quickly got through customs. We were created by the in country PC staff and we all loaded onto two busses and drove another 2.5 hours to a town on the coast. I can't tell any names now of where we are but ill describe them. For out Pre Service Training (PST) we are in a hotel/inn that over looks the ocean and there are many small shops around! The first day here was busy with unpacking and settling in and orientation. The second day began at 8 am with breakfast and then classes started at 9. we were in classes all day with small breaks during and an hour for lunch. When we finally ended at about six, a bunch of us raced to change and headed to the beach. The beaches hear are a little dirty with trash everywhere, but the water is gorgeous. We swam until 7, at which time we had to return to the hotel because it is Ramadan and at sundown (or 7) is those celebrating Ramadan break fast and we want to be respectful and be off the streets. Our dinner was then served at 8 and the rest of the evening was filled with a lot of hanging out, computer use, and goofing off!!

Last night Alex and I decided to sleep outside on the terrace at our hotel and that was soooo nice. There was a nice breeze, no bugs bothered us, and the waves sounded amazing.

Today was much like yesterday. More classes. We focused on more language skills, commitments to PC, more of our daily dose of shots, medical interviews, and a panel of current PCVs. Listening to the info that current PVCs could tell us and advising us on what we were in store floor was the most informative info so far. Listening to first hand stories and hearing that everything would be fine and just have a sense of humor about everything was encouraging. Classes finally ended at about 530 and again we raced to the water, this time with a larger group, and swam again until 7. The weather is so nice. Sunny all day and then a little cloudy at night. High 70s during the day and low 60s at night. It is amazing here.

Tomorrow we are heading into a nearby town to do some shopping with the money they gave us for walking around and I am going to get a cell phone!!!

Tuesday we head to our community training sites and meet and live with our host family. I can't wait!!

Thats all for now. Keep writing to me and I hope to have pictures up soon!

Our room at the hotel (Alex, Me, Linda)

Let me start by talking about what has happened in the past two days. I flew out of grand rapids at 620 yesterday morning to milwaukee and then to philly and then i took a cab to the hotel in dtown to the hampton inn. I met other volunteers right away at check in and Alex (here aunt is my neighbor and we met before this) got there at the same time so it was nice to know someone. then we have STAGING. between noon and 7 we did icebreaker activities, we went over policies, and even did skits!! It was a very long day of information. But it was nice to finally be there. All the anxiety i had before went away when i met everyone and realized that we all were worried about the same things. Did i bring the right stuff? did i bring to much? how am i going to learn arabic? we all were worried but it was nice to be able to share the worries. After staging we were given our extra money for travel and food and broke up to go to dinner. i went with a group of eight and we went to a nearby Italian restaurant. The restaurant took great care of us. we want to sit outside but the said that they didnt have it open but i told the manager we were going to Africa with the Peace Corps they set up a table for us outside. They then continued to hook us up with food and wine. Our dinner was really nice. we got to know each other better and just relax before our long day of traveling. After dinner some people went back to the hotel, but some of us decided to continue our night and enjoy the nightlife in philly. we also ran into more volunteers so we all spent the rest of the night enjoying beverages and laughing!

we are all ready to get there and find out what were are going to be doing for the next couple weeks. once we land in casablanca we will be getting on a bus and traveling a couple hours to a beach town and spending 5 days there learning what is going to happen and going over more policies.

So now we are at the gate just waiting. But this is going to be awesome!!!

Here is my address in Morocco:

Sarah Hollemans

s/c Corps de la Paix

2, Rue Abou Marauane Essaadi, Agdal

Rabat 10100, MOROCCO

When i move to my final placement after my first three months then the address with change.

Ok, i am going to look at my luggage one more time and take another walk around my house to make sure i have everything i will need.