CBT Site

I know my site – well my CBT site at least. I’d let you know where, but seeing as how the interweb is public space the Peace Corps in its wisdom has ordained that I can’t post its location. But I can tell you that it is 150 klicks east of Ouarzazate in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains. What does this information mean?

Among other things, it means that I am learning Tamazight, the most widely spoken Berber dialect in the nation. While not Moroccan Arabic, I am stoked! Why? Because, as I most emphasize, Tamazight is the most widely spoken of the three Berber dialects of Morocco: Tashlaheet, Tamazight and Tarifitt AND most importantly with Tamazight I can end up in the Mountains and NOT the 120 F desert where Tashlaheet volunteers are normally sent.

I guess at this point I should explain what CBT means, though I should explain firstly that no organization I have ever been involved in has as complicated an alphabet soup as the Peace Corps. Anyway, CBT stands for Community Based Training, which is a method of training that involves living in a rural village with a host family (more about my host family later) and nine hours of language, cultural and technical training Monday through Saturday. Also in this village are four other trainees and an LCF, or Language and Culture Facilitator, which is Peace Corps speak for a HCN (Host Country National aka a Moroccan) whose job it is to help us learn how to survive our two years of service.

So, Sunday I leave for my first CBT, which will last for five days, ending next Saturday. Over the next nine weeks I will do four visits to my CBT, each of increasing length, hopefully at the end reaching a Novice High level in Tamazight – so as to avoid ETS, Early Termination of Service.

Next time the first installment on life with 13 Moroccans and six cats…