Super powers

One of Ezra's many secret abilities is taking huge bites of corn dogs

Going deeper - podcasts and reading

For those of you who are big nerds with lots of extra time, boy, have I got the website for you! 

Podcasts and links:

The Friends of Morocco Website is put together by former Peace Corps volunteers and it includes lots of good links, including several podcasts called '27 Months' about recent Peace Corps volunteers experiences in Morocco.

http://friendsofmorocco.org/

Some good insights into life here. I recommend the episodes on integration and culture.

Recipes:

Page 82 starts some great Moroccan recipes, but most of it is helping Peace Corps volunteers cook simple recipes with the food ingredients available. 

http://friendsofmorocco.org/Docs/cookbook2007.pdf

My favorite is the pastilla - soooooo delicious. 

Photo from figandcherry.com

Send us pics if you make any of the recipes!

Bonus! Here are some beautiful pics from across Morocco http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/04/156653/pictures-moroccos-world-heritage-sites/ and the blog of a study abroad student who lived with a Moroccan family https://ramblingsofanarabicstudent.wordpress.com/

GWA reunion - seeing 4-year-olds who have suddenly become 16!

12 years ago, I taught preschool for a year in Casablanca. It was such an amazing year and each and every one of my colleagues and students was a huge part of it. So I started counting and realized that those little 4 year olds are now in high school and that I could have the chance to see them again! Since we arrived back in Morocco, I have been so excited to get back to see them and ...

Today was the day! 

It was a couple of hours to arrive there, first by train and then in our friends Tim and Katie's car (thank you guys!)

When I was a teacher, the school met in a Casablanca neighborhood with houses across the street from each other. Now they have built a huge sprawling campus about 10 miles south of the city on the beach. When I was there, they had just bought the land, so it was pretty amazing to see how it's new site has taken shape. It's gorgeous!

    GWA stands for George Washington Academy, an international, trilingual, American-style school.

   The basketball courts, put in by our Oxford friends Ken Baker and his team, are still going strong.

   Those are the on-site staff apartments in the background. Foreground are the Moroccan, GWA, and American flags.

I started with a stop to the kindergarten team where I got to see my kindergarten colleagues Gael and Amal!

    Such amazing ladies and it was so wonderful to see them again!

Then Cory, Katie, and I stopped by to see a few other staff members who are still going strong 12 years later! And also got to meet some of the new team. Such a joy :)

Then it was time for lunch with the high schoolers to see if I could find any of my old students. Cory and I bought lunch and sat down at random lunch tables and started watching. We started seeing them. I'm like 'Oh my gosh, Hachem just passed us! He looks exactly the same! And there's Mehdi!' So wild being in a time warp and seeing all these 4 year old eyes and faces now in 16 year old bodies.

We finished lunch and then started to make the rounds to introduce myself as their preschool teacher :)

   Looking at their class pic from the 2002 yearbook

They helped me track almost everyone down for a preschool reunion - it was so much fun! I had a great time hearing little bits of what they are up to now and what they're hoping to do after graduation. 

Such delightful people to reconnect with, and I hope to see them all again soon!

Language politics

Very thoughtful article about language prominence in morocco, a very multi-lingual country. People having been writing about whether english should be taught above french for more opportunities in a globalized world. He focuses on making better education available in the indigenous languages. 

http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/04/156792/spectrum-language-choice-moroccan-education/

Love his orientation toward making sure families with fewer resources have strong opportunities for their kids. 

Working with people with handicaps

The junior-league-equivalent here (at least one of them) has been a really fun thing to be involved in. We lunch and fundraise and visit community-based organizations across the city. 

Since I arrived, I have joined visits to a preschool for abandoned children, a juvenile diabetes center, and most recently a center for youth (maybe ages 12 to 30?) with mental handicaps. 

The center is named 'the Future' (al Mostaqbal) and it was started in 1983 by - as with almost all special needs centers in the  world - a mom who wanted better for her own son who has special needs. 

Many of the students have Down syndrome. This is their literacy class.

Students at the center learn lots of great life skills, including hair styling, cooking, wood working, and computer skills. 

The Center also runs 2 social enterprises that employ students from the center - including a hair salon and catering business/snack shop. Super cool!

Our friend Abigail volunteers here 4 days/week, helping the kids improve their computer literacy. The center relies on volunteers and token-paid staff. They are looking for a physical therapists if you know anyone!

The woodworking guys looked like they were in heaven! All smiles and they have a waiting list to get in :)

Thank you for all your great work for these young people and congrats to the students on all your success!

Daily bread

Tried a new bakery this week and yummm!

Fresh bread with figs and nuts baked in

I have several favorite breads at a nearby bakery - one is a really moist, delicious white bread and the other one is a wonderfully dense wheat loaf. Ate one of each this weekend. 👏🏽

Strong social fabric - lots to learn

One of the comforting things about living in Morocco is the strong social fabric. People expect to take care of each other. No one is expected to be an island and completely self-sufficient. 

It's pretty typical of lots of countries outside on the united States and Europe:

http://www.clearlycultural.com/geert-hofstede-cultural-dimensions/individualism/

As a newcomer, this is comforting in so many ways.

- People are not passive. At least in public settings, people do not seem to look the other way or get scared to get involved and leave people to take care of their own issues. I especially love tha men are willing to step in and take care of issues. On one long city-to-ciy bus ride we were on, there was a drunk guy flirting with a mom and her little girls. As soon as the men found out about it, they pulled the bus over, yelled at the guy, took him to the back of the bus. When he kept being obnoxious, they pulled over at the next police station, kicked him off the bus, and took him to the police. I love that people are looking out for each other and willing to get involved. 

That also means people do not hesitate to get up in your business!!

- I feel like I don't have to worry as much about doing the wrong thing. I trust people to speak up and tell me when I've done something wrong, culturally or otherwise. Part of the strong social fabric is everyone giving their opinion about your life :) People ask me if I'm lazy since I don't have a job. I met a neighbor yesterday who after the first round of pleasantries, asked me 'what, you don't have children??' People correct my pronunciation in Arabic and French ALL the time. That takes a lot of pressure off of wondering all the time if I'm messing up. I'm sure there is plenty that people think and don't say, and that I get a lot of passes as a foreigner, but I'm grateful for the people who say - 'oh, you should never ask anyone that!'

- I feel cared for here, which builds even stronger trust. Moroccan (and Arab) hospitality is famous - rightly so. People invite us over for dinner all the time and offer to do whatever they can to help us. The wonderful thing about our community is that we have found the 'expat community' (fellow foreigners) from church etc to also be welcoming and wonderful, with the added bonus that we can communicate fluently with them :) 

I am learning patience and kindness and amazing graciousness from our interactions here and want to learn more about being a part of the strong social fabric for others. I have a LOT to learn and am glad for lots of great everyday teachers.

(Also, if you live in a place where you have the chance to meet people who have moved from a country that has a strong social fabric, please invite them over to your house! Many people who move from elsewhere to the United States are NEVER invited into an American home. Culturally, they may feel it's polite to decline, but keep insisting a few times to make sure they know you are sincere.)