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