Blogs from Sefrou, Fès-Boulemane, Morocco, Africa

From Wednesday I hang out in Morocco. It's way different than Spain but what surprised me most is that the countrysides very much remind me of those from Poland. It's about 300 km from the desert, however I want to stay faithful to my plan and go back to explore Spain... Africa is definitely something else and I'll definitely have to return here maybe a little more prepared. Right now I sit in the internet coffee in Bhalil (light of the night:) with my friend Hassan, who lives in a cave :) a really cool accent. Tonight I will transport myself back to Fes and Tangier and in the morning catch a ferry back to Tarifa. Check back later ;) Since I don't have a constant e-connection the updates will follow randomly... I'll try to organize ... read more

One of the things that most of the CBT groups do before they leave their site is to throw a party for the families they’ve been staying with. We were going to have it at my house, but since somebody close to the family had died it would have been Hashuma. I actually heard that the small “party” we had for Asmae was considered hashuma by several neighbors, and I hope Asmae doesn’t let them get to her. So, we had the party at Nada and Michael’s house, which was next door to mine. We ordered all sorts of food made, from millefeuille and msimin (also called millewi) to sheet cakes and little pita breads stuffed with pizza makings. I popped popcorn and helped make the mint tea. I’m very excited that they have popcorn here, ... read more

"You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to offer." - Eleanor Roosevelt I doubt Eleanor could have imagined some of the situations I've been meeting with my best lately, but her advice still works. My camera has decided it doesn't like computers anymore, so I can't upload photos until I figure out another way to get them off the camera. On the bright side, I got to travel to Fès on Sunday with Asmae and spent the night there with her at her aunt's house. It was almost creepy how much her aunt reminded me of my mom's sisters. If my grandmother had had another daughter, she could have looked just like Asmae's aunt. I would post a photo to prove it ... read more

Just don't give up trying to sdo what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong. - Ella Fitzgerald Phase 3 sounds so official, but all t really means to me is that I have less than two weeks left in Sefrou with all the friends I've made here. Training is hard and busy, I'm working 12 hour days and my brain is overloaded with the language and everything else I'm learning here. So, it will be a relief for this phase of training to be over, and yet I know it will be very hard to leave. I still don't know where my final site will be, but hopefully they will decide soon. One thing I have to add here is that when I arrived ... read more

Yesterday I went home for a break from class, since there is no lunch break during Ramadan, just a very long afternoon. I was hoping to take a nap but I hadn't been there for five minutes when a small white pick-up drove up outside and Malika's husband appeared. So, I have finally met the whole family. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about the possability of him showing up. Not only do I not know enough Darija to really ask much about him, but I also got the impression that Malika didn't know when he might come home. Also, I had really gotten used to the relaxed atmosphere of an all female house. Things aren't too different now, but there is a more formal feeling in the house now. I have to ... read more

Teaching is going very well. Since Sefrou is a training site for us and not our final community, we can focus more on what we’re learning than what the students are learning. Of course, we do our best at teaching and take it very seriously. It’s not a one-way parasitic relationship: they’re getting free English classes out of the deal. It’s not like my student teaching either, since the Dar Shebab is not a school. Classes are in the evenings, since most kids get out of school around 6pm. Dinner usually isn’t until 9 or even 10 pm, so we have time to teach a couple hour long classes before we go home to our host families. The Dar Shebab is run by the government’s Ministry of Youth & Sports and is a bit like a ... read more