A Week in the Life of an English Language Fellow

I realized that I haven't given a picture of how I spend my time, so I thought I would write a brief post to give you an idea.  I start every morning with yoga (Yoga With Adrienne on YouTube.)
Mondays and Tuesdays:
I go to the university to teach and get home around 2 pm.  I take a Petit Taxi there and a Grand Taxi back.  They operate in a completely different fashion than any taxi in the US or Europe.
Petit Taxis are small and red and can go anywhere.  They hold 3 passengers and will pick people up going in the same direction (somewhat) until they are full.  It's a very environmental use of car transport.  However, although they are required to have meters, some don't and this is how they take advantage of tourists.  Also, they don't let you wear a seat belt (if they have them), don't have window handles, and sometimes don't even have door handles inside.  Most drive like they are on crack.  Also, if you are female and you speak to the driver (to practice your Darija, for example), they think you want to hook up with them and will ask you repeatedly for your phone number.

Grand Taxis are bigger (a van if you are lucky, an old Mercedes if you aren't) and hold 6 passengers.  They have a specific route, but no sign telling you what it is (you have to make the correct hand gesture for where you want to go and the driver will stop if that is his destination) and they will only leave the stand when they are full.  You can be let off anywhere along the way.  They are extremely cheap (60 cents for a 1/2 hour ride.)  These drivers also drive like they are on crack.

After I return to my apartment, I eat and then do school stuff before going to conduct a teacher training class at a nearby State Department building (DAR America.)  I love this class.  It is my "secondary project" which means I invented it.  The students are so excited to get the opportunity to create a lesson plan and teach an English class and to observe 4 of their peers do the same.  They each have one week and I do a model lesson the first week, so the commitment is 6 weeks for the Monday cohort and 6 weeks for the Tuesday group.  The students they are teaching are also happy to have extra practice with English classes.  We're wrapping up this session, but I'll do it again in February/March and June with new batches of trainees.  We have to skip April and May because things really slow down during Ramadan.

Wednesdays I present 5 hour workshops around Casablanca to middle or high school English teachers on various aspects of teaching.  I am wiped out afterward even though I finish by 3.

Thursdays-Sundays are my days to catch up: grade papers, submit reports, clean, cook, study Darija (Moroccan Arabic, very different from Standard Arabic), go to events, and sometimes travel to other cities. 

contemporary art opening, Casa

When I went to the art opening (I don't like much contemporary art), I was interviewed on French Moroccan TV with another American who is teaching through the Fulbright Scholar Program.  I made her do most of the talking because she likes contemporary art.
Recently I was invited to go to a town 5 hours south of Casa (Essaouira) to visit an education project which is being started there.  The piece which interested me most was about how to have students in rural communities continue their education after 6th grade.  The public high school is only 10 miles away, but that is an insurmountable obstacle if you are walking there and back.  I started brainstorming with some of the other educators who had been invited with me about how to do online classes using the primary school after the younger students are done.  It was challenging, but exciting.
Here are some pictures of Essaouira and one of me teaching the primary students how to play Duck, Duck, Goose.

Essaouira, Morocco

Essaouira, Morocco

Gate of Tolerance with Jewish, Christian, and Muslim symbols
Essaouira, Morocco

Duck, Duck, Goose near Essaouira, Morocco

That's a snapshot of my time here.  Winter Solstice is tomorrow and the 3rd round of festivities begins.

Happy Solstice!

The Holidays Continue

I had 24 hours to recuperate before my next visitor, Brittney, arrived.  Brittney and I taught together at the center for women refugees in Athens last fall.  She arrived late Tuesday night and then we left early Wednesday morning to Meknes where I had to give a TEFL training to Peace Corps volunteers.  Brittney was a PCV herself, so she enjoyed seeing this moment in their 2 year commitment from the perspective of having finished.  It wasn't all work in Meknes though.  After Ajita and I finished the training, the 3 of us went to a hammam/spa.  It was the best hammam I have experienced!!  We were so relaxed (and clean) afterward.  We finally found the restaurant that I had read about online and ate a great dinner (except for the house salad which seemed to contain everything left in the refrigerator) with wine and good music (until they put on the country western CD.)  Thursday, Brittney and I returned to Casa and she went to Hassan II Mosque.  She took these great photos of the inside.

Meknes Medina

Theresa & Brittney, Hassan II Mosque, Casa

Hassan II Mosque, Casa

Hassan II Mosque, Casa

Women's Area above, Hassan II Mosque, Casa

Hammam under Hassan II Mosque, Casa

Friday, Brittney left for a desert trip out of Marrakech and my mom and 2 of her friends arrived.  Over the weekend we went to Meknes and Fes.  On Tuesday I had to work, but the 3 of them went to Rabat and a friend showed them around the capital.  When they returned that evening, we watched the sunset over Casa from the rooftop bar at Sofitel and then had dinner at Le Petit Rocher across the bay from the mosque.  Brittney arrived late in the evening with stories of her trip.

Wednesday, after visiting the mosque, we all met up to do some last minute shopping in the medina before Brittney left for Italy.  We had lunch with a colleague of mine from the university where I teach.  Thursday morning, my mom and her friends left at 5 am to catch an early plane back to Paris and then to the US.  I have been recuperating since then, catching up on work and chores.  However, it's a beautiful day here, so I am off to the Corniche to spend time near the ocean (my bit of nature in this huge city.)

Nancy, Mom, and Judy with water seller in traditional costume
in front of the Casa medina

early morning departure

The Holidays Begin

November, as I mentioned in my last post, is a month with many holidays.  Since my favorite holiday is Halloween, the festivities began October 31.  Luckily, we had a mandatory meeting in Casa that day and therefore all of the Fellows had to come to my town.  After our meetings and paperwork, we went for drinks at Sofitel Hotel.  The bad drinks and lackluster service were made up for by the incredible view as the sun set over the Atlantic and downtown Casablanca.  After returning to my place to get into costume, we went to the Irish Pub.  The solo musician was good, but quit too early and many people had to catch the train back to Rabat, so we didn't close the place down; we did that on Friday and Saturday nights.  Getting home at 5 am is not easy when you have to go teach the next day.  Here are some of our outfits.

Halloween 2019

Tuesday 3 of us caught the train to Tangier to spend a couple of days there.  I loved it!  It is like Casa, but calmer and the ocean is only a couple blocks away (because the city is smaller.)  Cars stop for pedestrians and there isn't constant honking.  We spent most of our time walking around and looking at different sites.  However, I did spend a few hours at the beach.  I was the only one in a swimsuit; everyone else had winter clothes on.  A famous theater there belongs to Spain which has offered it to Morocco for free if they will restore it.  So far, nothing has happened.  There is also an old Anglican church which I visited to see the combination of Moorish and Christian ornamentation.  We had fantastic meals, Italian and Spanish, in restaurants we chanced upon.  Finally, we tried to watch the sunset from the Phoenician tombs, but it was too far south.  It would have been better to check it out from the Caves of Hercules, 20 minutes away on the Atlantic side.

Tangier

Tangier

Nuestra Senora de Africa

Thursday we went further east to visit another Fellow and go to Ceuta, a piece of Spain in Africa.  It was so nice to sit in a cafe with men AND women and be offered wine or beer as well as juice.  One Fellow started her morning with an Irish coffee.  We wandered around and checked out the cathedral of Nuestra Virgen de Africa and the fort.  There was a free art exhibit of Bertuchi whom I had never heard of, but really liked.  Finally, we did some shopping before heading back to Morocco and the mountains to Chefchaouen.

Hercules in Ceuta

Bertuchi

Chefchaouen is known as the blue city because the walls in the old part of town are painted blue.  It's very beautiful, but very cold in November.  And the riads, or traditional guesthouses, have no heat.  We hiked up to the Spanish mosque and walked around.  Strangely, the best dinner we had was Chinese; there are a lot of Chinese immigrants in town.  Otherwise, it was the quietest part of our vacation since it is much more traditional (little alcohol or dancing.)

Chefchaouen

We returned to Casa on Sunday and I had a day to recuperate, thank you Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) for having a birthday.  My next round of visitors starts Tuesday.  I'll keep you posted.

First month in Casablanca

I have now been here in Casablanca for over a month and time is flying by.  I wanted to share a few memories before November, a month of holidays when I will be traveling to many cities around the country with visitors and other Fellows.
I might have mentioned that my local grocery store (probably because it is in the embassy neighborhood) has almost anything that I could get at home: nori and pickled ginger, gluten-free products, spices for Spanish and Indian dishes, etc.  They also have meat, as you can see.  I almost walked into this one day while checking out the various cheeses.

Also, the art is not confined to the traditional.  This is another mural on a wall in Rabat.  I'm not sure what the message is, but it encourages passersby to think about nature and machines.

This architecture is part of the tower and mausoleum in Rabat where Mohammed V is buried.

I went to Rabat for the weekend (it's a 1 1/2 hour $4.50 train ride) to attend some free concerts that are sponsored by the Ministry of Culture.  They are free and this series had musicians from Europe and Latin America.  The finale was Saturday with a flamenco duet of two guitar players, one Spanish and one French.  I hung out with the 3 Fellows who live in Rabat.  We had Palestinian food (soo good!) and went out for drinks before.  Most bars here serve tapas and some places are very generous, giving you meat, cheeses, olives, etc.  Sunday we went to the beach since it was 83*.

Ajita, Margot, me and JT

One final photo from Casablanca: in the 1940s the pasha built a judicial court and it is still in use today.  Since World War II was going on, all the modern building materials were being requisitioned and he was forced to use traditional materials and methods.  The result was incredibly beautiful!  

Mahkama du Pacha, Casablanca

I'm off to pick up visitors and get ready to travel.  I'll have lots of new photos in a few weeks.

Bits & Pieces of Morocco

Here are just some of the things that I have seen and learned so far while living here.

Traffic: I mentioned before the insanity and here are some pictures to give you an idea:



This is the traffic that I see from my balcony Monday through Friday.  There isn't an accident; this is simply how they get ready to turn.  At first glance (and second and third), it looks like complete chaos, but they actually all know the order in which they will be making the turn.

I see this every time I ride to work.  This is a major road and the egg sellers drive their donkey carts right with the other traffic.  I am constantly imagining the disaster that will happen, but I haven't seen it yet.













The first purchase that I made was this child's caftan.  The seller kept trying to get me to choose a woman's size, but as you can see this fits perfectly.  The women's caftans remind me of mumus.  I love all of the bright colors, for men and women.  As I mentioned, in Casablanca women wear almost anything that you would see in the US.  I have now even seen some shorts, but only on tourists or women with tennis rackets in hand.








I went to a hip hop demonstration at DARAmerica, another project of the US State Department.  A Moroccan had gone to the US on a cultural exchange and then came back to teach this to other young adults.  Notice the two girls, one in hijab, participating.

A Fellow in Rabat sent me this picture of the fast-food joint near her and a sample on the menu.





Drinking alcohol in a cafe is legal here; it just has to be out of the public eye.  So, restaurants and cafes that serve alcohol are on the second floor or inside a building.  My tiny local grocery store has every alcohol that you could possibly want to throw a raging party.





Yesterday a friend and I went to El Jadida, a former Portugese outpost about an hour away by train.  We checked out the walled city and then, on our way to the beach for lunch and sun, we found this tiny cafe with a group of musicians playing traditional music.  We had to stop and have a glass of mint tea and listen for a while.  Everywhere in the world the musicians play different music, but the appreciation of the onlookers and that bond that forms between them, especially in intimate settings like pubs and cafes, is the same.

Ahlan wasahlan Casablanca!

We left Rabat on Wednesday after 4 days of meetings during the day and exploring at night.  Even though it is the capital of Morocco, the center of the city is fairly calm and easy to walk around to see the many historical sights.
Casablanca, only an hour down the coast, is completely different.  It is the financial powerhouse of, not only Morocco, but much of Africa.  The traffic is insane.  It reminded me of Turkey and some parts of South America; if there is room for another car, then an extra "lane" is created.  Drivers usually drive down the center of two lanes because they don't want to commit to one or the other.  Honking is constant and usually unnecessary.

My balcony

We checked into our hotel and, while the others explored the city, I went to get my apartment keys and then see the university where I will be teaching, Ben M'Sik.  My apartment is in the embassy area and on a main street.  It is very safe and women wear almost anything that you would see in any European city, except shorts and extremely short skirts.  There are cafes, grocery stores, and bars as well as small specialty shops.  The apartment itself is large and has a tiny balcony off of the main bedroom.  I usually eat out there and at night I sit with a glass of wine and watch the traffic and all of the people. 

Fellows, department head and vice-dean at Ben M'Sik

The neighborhood around Ben M'Sik, however, is very different.  As we rode out there, it became rougher and more conservative.  On the streets, most women wear the chador.  At the school, the dress tends to range from covered legs and arms (jeans and a shirt are okay) to the chador.  I wear a longer skirt and cover my shoulders, but I am probably wearing the least conservative outfit.





Thursday night we went out to dinner at a lovely restaurant across the bay from Hassan II Mosque which was built 30 years ago and is the 3rd largest in the world.  It is hard to see how huge it is, but I included people to give a sense of scale.  At sunset it is incredibly beautiful.

Since it was Margot's birthday, we had to get cake and each feed her a bite.  I'm not sure where this tradition comes from, but you can see the mosque in the background.  A strange thing about this restaurant is that the smoking area is inside and the nonsmoking is outside on the covered patio.

Friday we had more meetings and then went out dancing.  We found a place, Back Stage, right down the street from my apartment that had a band playing American covers, Bruno Mars, James Brown, etc. the first half and then Moroccan pop the second half.  There wasn't a dance floor, but everyone was dancing.  We didn't leave until 2 am, but there were lots of people walking on the streets, including groups of women, so it felt safe.  Saturday morning everyone else left and I settled into my apartment.  I have spent a lot of time walking around the last week, getting to know my neighborhood and the sea front promenade.

Cathedral near my apartment

Sunset on the promenade

On Thursday, I went to visit Hassan II Mosque.  The tile, stone, and wood work inside are incredible, very intricate.  The only items not from Morocco are the glass chandeliers from Murano, Italy.

Door with man cleaning

Afterward I went to the museum and there was a gallery of students' work from the Academy of Traditional Arts and the cool thing was that many were a combination of modern and traditional themes.  They were also very reasonably priced.  Luckily I have no place to put them; I might have been tempted otherwise.

o

I