The North of Morocco

I recently did a presentation over a trip we took to the North of Morocco. Here is the video that goes along with it:

Teacher?

Today was my first day of teaching at the CLC! It ended up going much better than I expected it to! I only had four of my eight students show up, but luckily everything still went well. I have a class of all girls. I recognized a few of them from the interviews. The other American students that taught on Monday and Wednesday all said to make sure to over plan because I would go through the lesson alot faster than I thought I would, but humdulilah the lesson I had originally planned was more than enough and now I have an extra lesson prepared.

This first lesson really got me excited for the rest of the semester. I have wanted to teach for a long time and now that my first opportunity to do it in a professional setting has gone well I am extremely satisfied. Inshallah next week all of my class will show up rather than just half the class, but just based off of today I have a good feeling about what the rest of the semester will hold in store. 

Well That Was Fast

Well I have officially reached the halfway point. It's scary. I have truly come to love Morocco as a country and I am so happy with my life here. Obviously not everything here is perfect and as with each country there are many ugly and beautiful things, but even with these things I have a complete desire to stay. Each time I start thinking about going home I realize how quickly these first four months have gone and that the next four are bound to go even quicker, and I am not ready in anyway to even think about going back to the States. For this post I am going to reflect on the best parts of my exchange so far and what I am looking forward to and hoping to do in the next four months.

My top ten most memorable moments so far are (not in any particular order):

1. Going to Ouzoud with both American friends and Moroccan friends and realizing that people weren't separated in groups of Americans or Moroccans and that everyone was completely enjoying their time. Plus the waterfalls at Ouzoud are an amazing view.

2. Spending the night in the Sahara and getting to ride a camel for the first time.

3. All the times when I have completely shocked people when I speak Arabic and being able to get tea or free things because of it.

4. Cooking tex-mex food for my friends and one of the host families.

5. This isn't exactly a moment, but more of a continual activity. I have loved having the opportunity to study oud in Morocco and even though at this point in my life I've realized my future career goals are not related into music in any way I am glad that I am able to keep music a part of my life.

6. Attending a Moroccan wedding. SO much food and dancing.

7.  Observing English classes at the CLC and having a teacher that allowed me to teach his class.

8. All of the times that I've gone to Jemma al Fna. Something fun always ends up happening and it's just a constant reminder of the fact that I really am living in a completely different place.

9. Spending Christmas in Essaouira.

10.  Eid Kabeer. The sacrificing of a sheep and sheep for lunch and dinner for weeks in short.

If I had known all of the things I would be doing in Morocco before coming here I wouldn't have believed it. Even though I am in a routine at this point there is still always something new to see and learn each day and I am very lucky to be here through a scholarship that provides many opportunities for more than just learning Arabic.

In these next four months I am truly looking forward to starting to teach. My first class is this Friday and I am a little nervous because this is going to be my class rather than the class of another teacher that is letting me student teach. These will be my students and teaching is something I've always had a desire to teach and I still have to pinch myself each day and realize that this is actually my life and in such a short time frame I am accomplishing more than I ever thought I would. I am looking forward to continuing to learn in Arabic, oud, and going into even deeper studies of the culture and history of Moroccan while sharing my own culture.

Time has gone by so much faster than I thought I would and I am looking forward to making the most of the next half of my exchange. 

The Amal Womens Training Center and Moroccan Restaurant

For the past few months, I have volunteered as an English teacher at an association called the Amal Center here in Marrakech. The goal of the association, which doubles as a restaurant, is to empower marginalized women in Morocco via employment and training opportunities. The center provides them not only a livelihood, but a safe haven and a support network. Besides the goal of the center itself, these women are all wonderful, hard workers. The Amal Center is currently running a fundraising effort in order to expand the outreach and scale of the association. Any contributions would be great, and highly appreciated by the women of the association. Thank you, and feel free to share this fundraising effort with those you know!
http://www.rockethub.com/projects/35895

Third Time's the Charm (A Story of a Christmas Hammam)

After going to a hammam in Morocco you feel reborn. I barely consider myself clean after a shower now just because it is nowhere near to getting you as clean as a hammam trip does. Now my first two hammam trips weren't great. There's a reason why I have only been three times in three months, but after the third try I have finally had an experience that has me planning to make going to the hammam a weekly habit. The first time going to the hammam I was shocked and couldn't quite figure out how to handle being in a steamy bath house room filled with naked women. In reality my first experience was a pretty good one, but it was slightly ruined by having to rush out early after realizing I was several minutes late for an appointment. The second time I went was unpleasant to say the least. I had several old women yell at me for laying down on a bench (that's what they're meant for) and after that trip I wasn't left with much of a desire to go back.

As it has continually gotten colder showering has also gotten quite a bit more difficult. Taking a bucket shower in 10 c weather isn't exactly an appealing idea. Since the plan for tomorrow is to go with my family to a big fancy wedding I decided it would be a good idea to pick up and go to the hammam. To make it even better my host mom surprised me with treating me to the fancy hammam next to my house. She also paid for one of the hammam ladies to scrub me. So the basics of the hammam are that there are three different rooms. A super hot room, a medium hot room, and a mildly hot room. In the fancy hammam the process was that your set up in your own personal area where you have your own sink and bench all set up in the medium hot room . You put on the beldi soap which is a blackish green oily soap that is always used in the hammam and then go and lay down in the super hot room. You're supposed to stay in the super hot room for at least five minutes in those five minutes you sweat more than you ever think you could and you just feel like a limp boiled pasta noodle. Next you move into the medium hot room and fill up your sink with hot and cold water and wash the soap off. Once you wash the soap off you get on a cot and a lady scrubs your body. Just imagine a lifetime of dead skin being completely scrubbed off your body. You honestly don't know how dirty you have been living your entire life until you go to a hammam in Morocco. Many people repeat the process a few times or you can continue on to just wash your hair and body until you are satisfied and then move onto the mildly hot room for a final rinsing. Afterwards your super clean and your whole body feels like a babies butt. Bam! A whole new person just because of a hammam trip.

Marrakesh International Film Festival

Two weeks ago Marrakesh held an international film festival. Each night I went with my friends to watch the free films at Jemma al Fna and we also got to go to the red carpet. There was also a random sword fighting event at the opera house that we saw after the red carpet. Here is a video we made for my class.

http://youtu.be/w15KIJbdAGo

Pieces Fall Together

Many times as I am walking to the bus stop each morning I see the bus coming and I realize that I need to start running or else I won't make it. This generally has a few varying results: 1. I make it on time for the bus 2. It blows right past me without stopping 3. It blows right past me, waits at the stop for a few moments, and then decides to leave right before I arrive 4. It stops right next to me (This only happened once). However, today was quite different. Today I got up around the time I usually leave, but I still managed to leave with good time. Of course today was one of those run to the bus days, but as the bus passed me I realized that there was no way I was going to make it to the bus stop on time so I started walking. I noticed that after the one person at the bus stop got on the bus wasn't moving. Wait, the bus was waiting for me? I started running again and thanked the bus driver profusely. I pulled out my bus pass to pay, but it wasn't working for some reason. On the way running to the bus my card had fallen out and I was just left with the hard plastic case for my bus card. The bus driver told me to look outside I stepped out and didn't see it anywhere near the bus so I got back on ready to pay with cash, and he told me to go back out and look farther down. I felt terrible for delaying the bus schedule and was wondering how much time I would have to find the pass, but as I was getting off a man ran up to me and handed me my bus card. The bus was still there and I managed to get where I needed to be on time.

Honestly, my morning really could not have gotten any better. Everything ended up working out in ways I never would have expected them to work, and at this moment I really couldn't be anymore satisfied with the way things are going and the things I'm experiencing.