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Coke in Arabic
Lunch at Sierra Luna.It's a good thing I am getting to this now because I am already forgetting things that happen each day. Monday was my first full day, which now strangely seems routine. Roger and I woke up around 7:45, got ready and had a very French breakfast of baguette, jelly, and cafe au lait. Ahmine then drove us to Amideast because there was no way we were going to make the 20 minute walk and be there on time.
The first day of classes was great. I have three classes in the morning, from 9:00-1:15. My first class is a Moroccan literature class with a really smart, engaging teacher. I haven't take a literature class that I liked since high school so it has been refreshing to return to short stories and really investigate what they offer in class. The great part of this program is that we get to meet at least one of the three authors we are reading.
The second class is "Advanced Oral and Written French". The first day the teacher dictated a poem and we did our best to copy it down. While this subject matter will probably be the least interesting, it is great
Michelle and Dylan
Michelle and Dylan at lunch. practice for both my grammar and my pronunciation. I learned in this class that my name is much harder to pronounce in French than I would have thought. Thanks to this teacher, most of our group is now calling me "Terry Joggins". I like it.
The third class is taught by Mme. Bargach, the UVa professor who is in charge of the program. I am sure she will get plenty of praise on this blog over the next few weeks but for now I'll give a brief background. Majida Bargach is a French teacher at UVa who came to the States from Morocco a number of years ago. In her time she has become a French teacher at UVa, ran this trip for seven years, won some prestigious awards (the Sky Alland endowment) and has now been offered the job of coordinating international teaching efforts at the University. She also seems to know everyone in Morocco, has all sorts of connections and is incredibly smart and concerned with contemporary problems in Morocco. Like I said, I'm sure she will get plenty of praise over these posts. Her course is one on Moroccan culture, beginning with history and moving towards
At L'Oudaya
Shannon, Cristie, Roger, Michelle, a detailed picture of Morocco today, both its strengths and it weaknesses. This will probably be the most exciting class because it will include the out of the class room trips in its discussion.
After class, I went with a group to Sierra Luna, a local restaurant, for lunch. It was another beautiful day in Rabat so we decided to return to L'Oudaya and the beach there. The pictures pretty much tell the story but it was a nice afternoon, after which Roger and I returned chez nous for dinner.
After dinner, our host dad showed us some of the movies he has. Some of you might know this, but a few months before "Wolverine" came out in theaters, a pirated copy was released online. Well, we watched that copy, in French, and it was spectacular. Whenever it got to a part with CGI, it reverted to basic computer images with no color. You could also see the strings for jumping in the fight scenes and certain notes on the CGI. I'd highly recommend it if you are looking for action and adventure.
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