My COS (Completion Of Service, or Close Of Service) date is two weeks from today. Consequently, I've been working on transitioning out of my service. I've been preparing to leave the town where I've been living here in the Sahara for the better part of two years. I've been looking ahead to the adjustments I'll be making once I finish my Peace Corps service.
Of course I'll be adjusting to life after Morocco as a result of how I've been living here in Morocco. While I've lived here in Morocco, I've gotten used to operating in certain ways. For one thing, I've been speaking English less than I did in the states. It is true that many people here in Morocco know enough English that a good deal of the time, people speak with me in English, and, consequently, I speak with them in English. Nevertheless, much of the time I'm speaking Darija, that is, Moroccan Arabic, or French. Thus I've been speaking less English than I did in the states.
As a result of speaking English less often, PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) sometimes stumble when they try to speak English. Yesterday I had exactly such trouble, as I was on my way back from this cyber, when I crossed paths with one of the students who often comes to the dar shebab (Darija for "youth center"), where I've done most of my volunteering as a PCV here in Morocco.
He asked me, "You was in the cyber?"
I corrected him, "You were in the cyber."
He posed his question rephrased, "You were in the cyber?"
I replied, "I was in the cyber," but then I immediately doubted whether I had correctly conjugated the verb "to be"! Hopefully I'm not going to have trouble speaking English once I'm back in the US!
Of course I'll be adjusting to life after Morocco as a result of how I've been living here in Morocco. While I've lived here in Morocco, I've gotten used to operating in certain ways. For one thing, I've been speaking English less than I did in the states. It is true that many people here in Morocco know enough English that a good deal of the time, people speak with me in English, and, consequently, I speak with them in English. Nevertheless, much of the time I'm speaking Darija, that is, Moroccan Arabic, or French. Thus I've been speaking less English than I did in the states.
As a result of speaking English less often, PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) sometimes stumble when they try to speak English. Yesterday I had exactly such trouble, as I was on my way back from this cyber, when I crossed paths with one of the students who often comes to the dar shebab (Darija for "youth center"), where I've done most of my volunteering as a PCV here in Morocco.
He asked me, "You was in the cyber?"
I corrected him, "You were in the cyber."
He posed his question rephrased, "You were in the cyber?"
I replied, "I was in the cyber," but then I immediately doubted whether I had correctly conjugated the verb "to be"! Hopefully I'm not going to have trouble speaking English once I'm back in the US!
No comments:
Post a Comment