Photos from CBT Phase I

I'm back to my CBT site for three more weeks of training. And in typical Joy fashion, I'm behind on uploading pictures, writing blog entries, sending out emails etc. So here are some goodies from CBT Phase I.

The town is tiny. I can walk from either end in less than 30 minutes. There are only two paved roads. No one really owns a car. Those who do jump out of their cars every now and then to push it up hilly roads. It's great! My house lies near the outskirts of town. It overlooks mountains and fields where sheep graze. I wake up a rooster's morning call of a rooster and painful weezing sounds of a donkey. At night, there's always a battle between wild dogs and cute/nervous chickens. I've never witnessed these epic battles but they sound painful.

When you walk into my house, there is a long hallway which leads to the backdoor. The bathroom, bedroom and kitchen are on the right-side. The salon (my room) and family room are on the left-side. The house is tiny but there's to be room for everyone. No one really has any stuff. No one really has their own space. Thank goodness my host family is wonderful or I'd be pulling out my hair.

I've been hiking as much as possible. Two weeks ago, my group walked about two hours out to a lake. The best part of the hike was getting free apples. On the way back to our town, we saw apple pickers on the side of the road waiting for a truck to come. We asked if we could buy some apples. Instead, they lead us into the apple tree grove for some cross-cultural fun. So in exchange for 20 minutes for apple picking, I took home three wonderfully delicious apples. Here's my CBT group on top of a plateau (hiking part II), eating apples!

The town's souk happens on Saturday. And the whole town seems to be out and about. This past Saturday, our group wanted to buy the week's worth of fruits and vegetables at the souk before saying hi to our host family. But I ran into mine anyways! It was a great welcome back along with a somewhat awkward "How are you back already?" hahahaa. The souk has EVERYTHING you could possibly imagine. And people are everywhere. On the group's first souk visit, I lost the others. But it was fun meeting vendors and bargaining on my own! And I learned a thing or two about souk visists. That Saturday, I confidently went up to an apple seller and asked how much for a kilo. When he responded "120," I was outraged thinking he was trying to take advantage of me. I dropped the apples and left his stand somewhat annoyed. Little did I know he was responding in terms of rayls and not dirhams! That would have been a reasonable price. hahaha.