Blogs from El Jadida, Doukkala-Abda, Morocco, Africa
June 14th 2009
El-Jadida nad Oceanem Atlantyckim-zalozone przez Portugalczykow na początku XVI wieku. Gdy sultan Muhammad III. zajal miasto, portugalczykow przesiedlono do Brazylii. Obecnie jest to miejscowość wypoczynkowa szczegolnie dla marokanczykow. Pozostałosci portugalskiego miasta wpisano w 2004 roku na liste swiatowego dziedzictwa UNESCO. ... read more
Dirty Shoe Laces and Jellybeans
Published: November 1st 2008Africa » Morocco » Doukkala-Abda » El Jadida
November 1st 2008
Dirty Shoe Laces Ireland is in a mall craze. Malls are believed to be key economic boosters in cities. Currently, Galway plans to destroy 5 pubs, including the one me and Tara work at. The other is one of the oldest pubs in Galway. They also plan to destroy some other really great things like liquor stores, a small casino and a music venue. To go in their place…a mall!!!! Across the street from the new mall…the other large mall. Nothing says capitalism like a mall across the street from a mall. It’s funny because people visit Ireland to be part of pubs and what we think is traditional Irish life, not the fucking mall. Nobody wants to fly to Ireland to see sheep and visit the mall, we want pubs and tunes and Guinness goddamitt. ... read more
Cruising South from Casablanca
Published: February 18th 2008Africa » Morocco » Doukkala-Abda » El Jadida
January 17th 2008
After a few days of "taking care of business" in Casablanca, we were looking forward to heading south along what we anticipated would be the really scenic portion of Morocco's Atlantic coastline. The only big cities we expected to encounter along the way were Safi and Agadir, although we weren't sure just how far we would go past Agadir; the desert outposts along the coast seemed to diminish in appeal the farther south we looked on the map. Our first day's ride out of Casablanca to Azemmour started out less than auspiciously: besides getting a late start, we got thoroughly lost, since it wasn't as easy as we thought to "just take the coast road south" out of a vast sprawling city of 3 million people. While we somewhat enjoyed cruising through Casablanca's very affluent southern ... read more
January 17th 2007
10 heure ,mardi le 14 nous quittions Casablanca en direction sud à bord de notre superbe auto,une Suzuki,( au fait je ne crois pas vous l’avoir dit),voilà c’est fait.Empruntant la route qui longe la côte en surplomb nous avons fait un premier arrêt à Al-Jadida,une petite ville fondée en 1513 par les portugais pour protéger leur commerce intérieur.D’ailleur la forteresse que nous avons visitée s’appelle la cité portugaise.Entourée de hauts remparts en assez bonne condition elle fait face à la mer.Un joli petit port y acceuille de non moins jolis petits bateaux qui servent à la pêche à la sardine.On peut également y visiter une vieille citerne souterraine soutenue par plusieurs voutes qui servait à collecter l’eau.Devenue célèbre depuis qu’Orson Welles y a filmé une scène de révolte de son film Othello elle demeure aujoud’hui inutilisée ... read more
August 20th 2006
At this camp I switched from English teacher to Librarian. I get enough teaching in my work site and wanted to try something different at camp. The librarian works a slightly different schedule from the other volunteers since I don’t work during class or club time. But I am on duty during all the breaks. Out library is amazing and was stocked by the US Embassy in Rabat (THANK YOU!!!) with over 1,800 books of all levels. We have everything from simple picture books to Huckleberry Finn. We have three different kinds of dictionaries. And what the kids love most is we have lots of games. The Embassy gave us four sets of Twister, eight American versions of Scrabble, two US National Parks versions of Monopoly, five Harry Potter Uno sets, and lots of other great ... read more
English Language Summer Camp
Published: September 13th 2006Africa » Morocco » Doukkala-Abda » El Jadida
August 4th 2006
The best possible escape from hot sandstorms of the Marrakech region is the breezy Atlantic coast. I got to spend the two weeks with fourteen other PCVs and four JICAs (Japanese International Co-operation Agency) in a camp close to downtown El Jedida, and only a five minute walk from the beach. There are lots of camps sponsored by the Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports, but four are billed as English speaking camps, of which this camp was Session 3. English Language camps are partly staffed by PCVs from the Youth Development sector; there are also professional Moroccan staff and some Moroccan volunteers who work with us. A typical day breaks down like this: breakfast at 8:00. National anthem and announcements at 8:45. English class 9:00 to 10:40. Beach from 11:00 to 12:30. Lunch at 1:00 ... read more
July 31st 2006
Just like in America, Moroccan kids get a nice long summer vacation. Also like in America, many Moroccan kids go away to summer camp for various activities such as sports, music, art, and language. Just like in the springtime, Peace Corps participates in these ministry sponsored camps by sending volunteers from the Youth Development sector to run language classes and clubs. The extra bonus attached to summer camp is that the ministry provides each volunteer with three scholarships to be handed out at our discretion, i.e. each volunteer picks three kids from their town that would otherwise be unable to pay to go to camp, and the ministry covers all the costs, including transportation! It’s a great chance for a lot of these kids, many of whom have never been more than a few dozen kilometers ... read more
