Creating a community in another language starts with the little things like saying hi to one another and hopefully by the end of my stay here, I will be able to interact with him more in his language.
Another way that I interact with my community is I frequent the same locations often enough for people to recognize me. I get my coffee from the same cafe, and now the staff at the cafe recognizes me. They help me order in Arabic, and one barista has asked me to help him with his English. Becoming a frequent customer at this certain cafe has allowed me to create a community around me in my neighborhood!
Another way that I integrate into my community is to hang out with the local staff and teachers at the study abroad center. This is an extremely helpful way to integrate into my community because it combines the ease of speaking English with meeting people who live in my community. They are super fun to hang out with because not only can they speak English, but they can help me learn more words in Arabic. Some fun things that we have done together include learning how to make Moroccan food, going to the movies, having coffee together, and even organizing a game of soccer between the Moroccan study abroad staff and the American students.
The reason why I came to study abroad is to interact with a different culture than my own. Sometimes while I am here, all I want to do is hang out with my fellow Americans in my program, but I realize that it wasn't the reason why I chose Morocco. Integrating into a community is difficult when you don't speak the language. It is difficult because you feel awkward about not being able to talk to people.
