Marrakech....Paris.....where am I?

Am now in Paris, once again at the Sheraton right in the middle of the airport.  I love my AMEX card which has given me the points to be able to stay here.  And I love this hotel.  Because I discovered today that I only have 1/2 the baggage allowance that I thought I was allowed.  Apparently if you come from the US to India you get twice the a amount of baggage than you do if you come from France (or anywhere else).  That doesn't seem fair.  Wonder if I can get a special dispensation because I am an American flying out of France....hmmmmmmm. Are American's bags fatter as well as their bodies?  Anyway, the hotel is going to store my extra bag for FREE for the whole time I am in India...over a month.  And they stored it the 10 days I was in Marrakech.

Moroccan weekend with my "sister" Latifa.  Went up the mountain to the Saturday souk which was packed with all the men and their donkeys and the smell of tagine cooking and everyone dressed in jellabas.  I love this......I felt like I was home.  It just all felt so familiar.  Then I spent a while talking long term goals with some of the older girls who speak English and that was great.  Latifa and I went to the good old Asni hammam for a few hours because she said that I had to get really clean....Moroccan clean.  After that we took the taxi to town and went to pick up her jellaba in a part of Marrakech that is very, very different than the tourist area.  There were a million people out in the streets and food cooking and children running around....and right in the middle was this white woman without a hajab...standing out as usual.  At least I am not blond.

Latifa  spent Saturday night as my guest at my hotel which was fun for both of us. She took a million pictures...the pool, the restaurant....all the rich Moroccans that were there.  She even wanted to go to the nightclub but I convinced her that that would be true culture shock!  We could listen to the music from the balcony of our room and she definitely would have been the only woman in a hajab there...and we would both have been the only non prostitutes I think.   Sunday we walked to Menara Gardens which are beautiful public gardens with a big lake in the middle of the city and all the Moroccan families were out running, pushing carriages...just doing usual Sunday things.  I've asked both Latifa and Aziz why Sunday is a work holiday here but never got a sufficient answer....shouldn't it be Friday? Then we walked to the Jamaa El Fanaa (famous Marrakech souk...snake charmers etc) to meet a friend of ours for lunch which was conducted in French and arabic and tashelhit...forget the English.

Here is sort of interesting  fact.  My friend Aziz told me that a friend of his (a Jewish Moroccan woman who taught with him in Tangier) asked him to contact a Jewish man who lives near Fes who is a fakir.  Apparently her husband left her for a younger woman so she wanted a spell put on him.  Actually a fakir is a Muslim term (also found in Hindu) that means a mystic but apparently there are Jewish ones too.  Anyway, he was supposed to check the guy out and see if he could do the job. I told him that perhaps a hit man would be cheaper but, as usual, the humor didn't translate well. We will see...I asked if the fakir just worked with Jews but was told that he was very ecumenical.  Fakirs are closely connected with Sufi Islam and perhaps there is some overlap since Muslims have their Sufis and Jews have their Kabbalists...both the spiritual and mystical side of the religion.  Will keep everyone posted if it works.  Perhaps I should think of magical spells that I want to cast too......hmmmmm

Off to bed and then to India tomorrow.  Just can't wait to see Beka.  Oh, and also anxious to remember how to speak English :-).  At least I can do that with Beka, i think.

Met with the American School on Thursday.  Bizarre experience to be in Morocco in a school where everyone is speaking English....American English and in the middle of the school there is both an American flag and a picture of President Obama.  Maybe this isn't too strange to Beka but it feels strange to me.  It is a very, very fancy school with is currently through some personnel problems.

So today, Saturday, I left the hotel in the morning and went back up to Asni.  Visited the Asni souk again which is always an experience in reality.

Another day in the mountains

Now I am in the Hotel Andalous where I have spent many nights during the last two years.  It feels good to come back to a comfortable and familiar setting.  The apartment that I rented was not what I thought and I missed having a bathtub so, they gave me a good rate here and I am back.  And I have WIFI and heat and TV at least in French and breakfast in the morning

Today i am going to the American School of Marrakech to meet with the Director and some of the teachers.  I am going there on the bus for teachers which means that I am up early because i have to take a taxi to the place where I will meet Melina, the contact from ASM at 7:20.  I wonder if the American School (ASM) follows Moroccan time or American (Western time)?  Does 7:20 mean 7:20 or does it mean 8:00 or even later.....we will see.

Yesterday, after dropping my luggage at the hotel, I traveled back up the mountain to meet with Latifa and Mina (the housemother of Dar Ourigane) to find out what they need me to do when I come back.  Already I am feeling that I will not have enough time here to make a difference since the girls will be on vacation from January 23rd until Feb 4.

Perhaps I will have a better picture of everything after today....or perhaps not

Moroccan meetings...lots of food

Today Maryk, Latifa, Anny (the current volunteer in Asni) and I went to a meeting in Asni with a variety of organizations dealing with the education system for boys and girls in the Asni and Imlil area.  The whole meeting was conducted in French and I am proud to report that I could hold my own.  Followed the whole conversation (Moroccans speaking French are much easier to understand than Parisians!) and I even got to contribute something.  I was so impressed with the dedication that everyone displayed, particularly, once again, the women.  I have met such incredible and inspiring women here.....well educated, committed to increasing opportunities for girls and women AND religious.  Seems a bit like a contradiction considering the stereotypes we have of women in Muslim societies but it is absolutely true. And the men (well most of them...the man who is the houseparent for the boys house is a very dour, very religious, young man who refused to speak in French during the meeting although he could understand everything and therefore forced the others to translate for him....didn't like him when I was here before and still don't)were very respectful and complimentary of their female coworkers.

So we all sat in a little room around a table (about 15 of us) and they brought out many, many pastries and a variety of food  and lots of tea that we were stuffed.

Then Anny, Maryk and I went to Ourigane, the home that I stayed at for a while in the spring and we met with Mina the housemother. And we had more food...tagine, pasta, cake and lots more tea.  It was wonderful to see those girls again also and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to work with them....they are so lovely and enthusiastic.  I am going to be doing some work with them when I return and Mina and I are just trying to figure it out.  When we got to Ourigane I thought....finally someone will carry on a conversation in English since Mina was an English major (like Aziz) at the University...but noooooooo we had to continue to speak French.  And the girls don't speak much English either.  

Then after many, many hours, Maryk and I drove back to Marrakech and I took the opportunity to walk back to my apartment from the famous Mamounia hotel where she dropped me off.  If you really want to be impressed with a hotel, check out the website at http://www.mamounia.com/uk/index.php .  Haven't been in there yet but I will definitely check it out before I leave.....just have to have the right clothes. Anyway it is a lovely 30-40 minute walk which takes me past the Andalous hotel in which I have stayed many times and through the most beautiful residential area of Marrakech.  And I get some exercise too.  And don't need to continue to haggle with cab drivers about how much the taxi is.......

Think I am going back up the mountain tomorrow or Wednesday and then to a meeting at the American School of Marrakech on Thursday.  Getting a bit fed up with my apartment and may move to the Andalous hotel in the middle of the week (if they will give me a good rate).

And so it goes.......

Today is my third day in Marrakech and it has been an adjustment being back.  As promised, Khalid (the manager of the apartment that I think I am renting) picked me up at the airport.  My bags arrived with no problem. I even made it through Customs with Aziz' PS3 (I was dreading the questions about it for my personal use...so I didn't have to pay tax on it...thought it was going to be hard to convince them that I had the interests of teenage boys!) But anyway, got it through and now once I drop it off with Aziz for his sons, I will be done with the heavy thing.

So the first apartment that Khalid showed me was the one at the price we had agreed to.....but in true Moroccan fashion, there is more to the story.  The first one was about 50 a night and was not very nice...very, very basic.  The second was about 62 a night and much nicer so of course, being the rich American :-) I took the second.  It is still sort of basic by American standards ....kitchen with minimal dishes, stove that works but oven that doesn't, fridge and washing machine in kitchen.  Has two bedrooms, one with a big bed (a bit more on that later) and a large Moroccan salon which is sofas up against the wall around the room and a satellite TV that I can't figure out how to work but only gets Arabic stations only.  The bathroom consists of a western toilet (a pleasant surprise) and a bidet and an open shower that has no water pressure but at least hot water. Oh, and NO HEAT but lots of very warm Moroccan blankets.  Apparently apartments in Marrakech don't need heat (it does have airconditioning though) since supposedly it doesn't get that cold.  But like Norther California...it of course DOES get cold, they just deny it). So far the overhead light in the bedroom has gone out (Khalid will fix tomorrow), the toilet has stopped working (he showed me how to fix it) and the stove needed to be lit but the matches had disappeared......hmm.  Well at least I have electricity.

The neighborhood is great and convenient to everything as I knew it would be.  I have to decide whether I remain here in the New City..Gueliz (with cafes, bars, lots of restaurants and lots, and lots of people speaking French but also lots of Moroccan men hanging out as there are everywhere) or go to the riad that my friends Maryk and Cees told me about which is right near their hotel riad in the medina (old cool city).  Choice between atmosphere and isolation (medina) and lots to do.  In Gueliz (New City) I can go out at night but in the medina it is a bit less active at night.  The riad (fancy house) in the medina is owned by an American with whom I have been corresponding so I am looking at that one tomorrow.  Also, for my Moroccan friends (both male and female) the New City is a more comfortable place to visit....no nosy neighbors wanting to know what is going on and a more Western approach to men and women fraternizing.  

On that......the apartment that I am currently renting is so much money (by Moroccan standards) because it is an apartment that usually caters to single Moroccan couples who want some privacy (hence the big bed and not much in the way of kitchen supplies).  In Morocco you cannot check into a hotel unless you show a marriage license and if you try, you will be arrested!! So much for the fact that Morocco is considered a "liberal" Islamic government.  Don't know how many people they actually throw in jail, but the threat is there.  That being said (and I may have said this the last time too), prostitution is rampant.  But friends, there are no hookers standing outside the door of my building, just private security guards which is fine with me.  It is a nice quiet building.

My activities since I got here:

• took the communal taxi to Asni yesterday and had couscous with the two Latifas, Mina and the girls.  It was so wonderful to see everyone again.  The girls didn't know that I was coming so it was a great surprise for them.
• And I brought them candy canes which, because they are Moroccan and love sweets....they gobbled up.
• in the afternoon I returned to Marrakech and did a big food shopping at the local supermarket and then walked back to my apartment
• today I met with Maryk (on the Board of the NGO...Education for all Morocco).  We also met with Melina who is EFA's contact at the American School of Marrakech.  I will be working with Melina to coordinate activities between the two schools and I have a list of things that I need to accomplish before I leave for India
• Guess I am going to be coming back at the end of January.  It looks like there will be several things for me to do involving the American School coordination (which I will continue once I go back to the US) and also helping the housemothers with activities with the girls once or twice a week.  The logistics still to be worked out.
• tomorrow I am going with Maryk to two of the other EFA houses to see what help they need and what they need from the American School to aid them. Not sure how much individual work I will do with the girls but since I already know the girls at both Asni and Ourigane (from my last visit), I should have some credibility.
• Looks like the activities will take me through the first week of March which should be perfect.

And it is going to be wonderful to spend some time with Latifa again, both in Marrakech on the weekends (hopefully) and in Asni at least part of the time during the week. Still have some personal kinks to work out but it looks good going forward...I'm psyched to be able to be of some use.

More to come........bslamma.....goodbye..my Darija has gone totally out of my head.  The girls also need to teach me Tashelhit again.....

the new trip begins

Today I am beginning my next adventure..Well, actually yesterday.  I am now in Paris and situated in the Sheraton airport hotel.  I did this for several reasons:

• it is attached to the airport and so getting in and out is easy 
• it allows me to just rest up before the rest of my trip
• I can store my luggage here while I take my jaunt to Morocco and then come back to go to India
• it allows me lots of time to figure out what clothes etc I bring to Morocco and what I leave.
• it lets me get over any jet lag after my 16 hour trip from San Francisco
• they upgraded me to a Club room so I have free internet, breakfast and a gorgeous view of the runway without any noise.
• it is a central location to meet my friends for dinner this evening.
• most importantly: I could pay for it with points (actually combination of points and money) so I am staying here for $150 for two days and when I return before India, I am staying for free...Can't beat it.

So yesterday I flew from SFO to Denver; Denver to Iceland (didn't get to see it...it was dark and I only had an hour and a half); Iceland to Paris.  And then I fell asleep until 10:30 this morning and missed breakfast!  

Tomorrow I leave to Marrakech and hopefully will be met by Khalid who will take me to my new apartment.  Supposedly I will have an apartment for the 11 days I am there but we will see.....if he shows up....if the price is as he said it would be...if it is nice.  Otherwise, I always have my favorite hotel to stay in.  Hopefully seeing Latifa and the girls on Friday if all goes well.

So stay tuned.  If there is anyone who doesn't know this yet, here is my schedule:

dec 6-17th Marrakech

Dec 17th: back at the Sheraton at CDG

Dec 18-19: travel to Chennai

Dec 19....reunited with Beka and Michael at 2 in the morning!!

Dec 19-21...stay with the "kids"

Dec 21=30...Beka and I head to Rajasthan

Dec 30-Jan 7...hang out in Chennai with the kids

Dec 8-24...OAT tour of Southern India

Dec 24-26...hang out with the kids

Dec 26th---return to CDG

Dec 26th until March 20....stay tuned!!

An update of sorts......

It has now been several months since my return to the US.  I am gathering up my pictures for a future update on this post.  But since I am reluctant to post pictures of the girls on facebook....I am posting this picture that was just sent to me so that everyone can see their lovely faces.  This was taken by Claire who is an American research intern with Education for All this summer.

Look for more info to follow...as well as info as I begin to plan my return to Morocco and my anticipated visit to India too!!!

And now Morocco again

Have been flying all over the place so much that I am not even sure what language I am supposed to be speaking.  Flew into Madrid and did a whirlwind tour of the city...the Prado, the Palace and lots of window shopping and people watching.  Couldn't figure out what they were saying half the time though.  Certainly no one here speaks either French or Arabic.  Guess English is my fall back.  It is hard to believe that Spain is having such financial problems because there were so many people filling the stores and restaurants.  I also cannot believe how much more expensive Europe is than the US, particularly Delaware.  Once again, most Americans just don't understand how good they have it.....


Took Ryanair from Madrid to Marrakesh without incident although I had been warned that there were lots of problems with this low cost airline.  While it doesn't have the humor of Southwest, it is cheaper.  On the plane were about 150 people under the age of 25 who clearly slept in the airport and me...the old lady.


Arrived in Marrakesh and proudly presented my passport and said my "shukran" (thank you) to the customs agent.  It was great to get to some place where I knew my way around and promptly installed myself in the El Andalous hotel which now feels like home since I have stayed there three times in the last year.  The best thing was that it has a pool which was wonderful because it is really hot in Marrakesh.  It felt good to be able to do my laps again and after a walk through the new town of Marrakesh (where many of the Europeans live), I found: the French restaurant that we ate in on the tour last year; a real sushi restaurant and the only operating synagogue in Marrakesh (found with the directions from my always helpful Muslim tour guide).  The synagogue only has a little sign on it saying Beth el and no indication that it is indeed a Jewish house of worship.  I was also told that usually there is a policeman on guard  but there was none to be found.  This is all a lead-up to the fact that I will be returning there this weekend for the yartzeit of my dad's death so that I can say kaddish.  This is going to be quite an experience since, of course it is an Orthodox synagogue and probably conducted in French.  Stay tuned.  The day ended with several hours of coffee in a cafe in the same area and a feeling that I had been transplanted to France instead of Morocco.


Today, after a trip to the Carrefour shopping center for supplies, Gretchen (the other American volunteer) and I got into our 6 person taxi with all of our luggage in the open trunk which was of course tied down to hold it closed, and we went back up the mountain to Asni.  But it was all worth while when I saw the girls, two Latifas and Mina and we all exchanged so many hugs and kisses.  Boy am I glad to be back. Now I just have to worry about the fact that I am leaving again soon.


This Sunday is the big fund raiser (Open Day) and there are people coming from all over the world: a former volunteer from England, one from Australia, one from France and my good friend Liz from Berkeley via London.  I will be wearing my new jellaba that Latifa's sister made for me.  

Back in the USA....and it sure is!!

I have been back in the US since Tuesday night and will leave for Madrid on Thursday evening.  Coming to Delaware for the 9 days has been real culture shock.  I think that if I went back to CA during the school break (which of course I wouldn't do because of the distance) there would be less of a shock.  But here I am surrounded by scantily clad sorority girls  and lots of very white people. And Red Lobster, IHop, etc....but of course there is a KFC and McDonald's in Marrakesh train station.  


Been doing a lot of shopping and visiting and it has been great catching up with friends and ex spouse but I miss the girls and my little room up on the terrasse.  And I miss eating tagine with my hands.


Also relisted my DE property for sale.  Perhaps I will buy a place in Marrakesh, who knows or at the beach in Essouraria.  The world is my oyster...


later........

Every day brings more adventures

The last few days have been a bit crazy.  I will try and summarize:


Landslide: Sunday Latifa and I got in our grand 6 person taxi with my luggage and  I am installed in an imam's apartment in an area of Marrakesh called Mohammed (what else).  I stayed here last night with my friend Latifa and it is her sister's house. It is a very simple apartment but probably one that is very fancy by Moroccan standards: 2 bedrooms, a salon (where I slept...pictures to follow), a living/dining area and kitchen and two bathrooms (no western toilet though!).  Everyone has been very nice but not only does her sister and husband not speak English, they don't speak french either.  Her adorable 4 year old niece is smart as a whip and speaks a little french and mimics my English.  She is so smart that she figured out how to turn all my electronic devices on and what to do with them.  Then she found my makeup bag and promptly put makeup all over me.  I was a little concerned about wearing makeup since I know that wearing makeup for women (particularly fundamentalist women) is haraam (forbidden) but her father is OK with her playing with makeup for herself, just not older women. He said that at her age it is just for fun and not to entice a man (although considering the age that some of the girls get married here.....who knows).


One of her sister's friends came over and showed her wedding pictures (she looks like she is about 15 but I haven't gotten a chance to ask) which were incredible.  Even the poorest families put on big weddings and since she is also married to an imam, it is a great honor that she married him.  To get married they have about 4 caftans or jelabas made for them and then they rent others.  In the course of the marriage day or two a woman can wear 10 different elaborate gowns, ending in a western white (always appropriate here of course) gown.  I will post pictures of me in the different outfits once Latifa sends me the pictures.


Her sister is making me two new outfits which should be ready when I come back.  We went into the city center (more to follow) and picked out the material and then we came back and she measured me.  I am getting a simple lime green jellaba for the Open Day even here and then a dressier caftan and pants for whatever (hope I will wear this at home, we will see).  It is coral.


Jama El Fanaa:  At any time this square is quintessential Marrakesh.....a bizarre blend of tourists in tank tops and women in full burkas and everything in between.  Last night, with the school holidays beginning, it was even crazier than usual.  There were easily thousands of people crowded into the square and the adjoining souk.  We went to buy the material and then went to a park next to the Koutubia mosque for what I thought was an hour and turned out to be 3 hours (good old Moroccan time) while Latifa talked to her friend Saida and I looked around and observed the families etc.  Then, I thought, Oh good we are going to leave but we went back into the middle of the square, moved around the Gnouan dancers, snake charmers, orange juice stands, henna artists etc and Latifa and Saida announced that they were going to go and pray....and they left me in the middle of the square with no idea when they were coming back, how I could get back to Latifa's sister's house or anything.  Luckily I did at least know where I was and how I could get to a hotel but all my luggage was in Mohammed (see location above).  Latifa is great at either (1) not having her cell phone on, or (2) not having enough minutes in her cell phone to retrieve her calls. But all worked out....they found me about 45an hour  after they left 
Tomorrow I am off to the US via Paris.

cleaning out the house and Passover with the Imam

Haven't written for a few days because we have been getting ready for the girls vacation and things have been very hectic with exams etc.  At night the girls start really panicking about their homework and frantically asking for my help with their English assignments.  I know a lot now about how to order in a restaurant and the meaning and responsibilities of citizenship.  Very strange system indeed.....Anyway, one of the girls that I have been working with told me that she got a 17 out of 20 on her English test, so I felt that I had perhaps accomplished something.


Manou (volunteer retired French teacher from Belgium) left today.  It has been great having her as a roommate for three weeks and she has been doing wonderful work with the girls on their French.  The problem is that, for the most part,the girls are so far behind that a few weeks isn't really going to make much of a difference.  For the girls who are in the first year of the Baccalaureate program (11th grade), they take their first year exams this year, including their French exams and then their others next year.  For the girls in the math/science track (most of them) they are going to have major problems when they get to the university since all the science/math etc classes are taught in French, not Arabic.  French is definitely the 2nd language of this country but it is a first language among the most educated people.

how we eat couscous on Fridays

Today Manou and Latifa and I went next door to visit the boy's government boarding house which houses 200 boys in a house built for 80.  It was the most disgusting and depressing place I have ever been.  It was institutional, smelling of a combination of sweat and disinfectant.  The boys sleep in rooms with maybe 40 beds and they sleep three to a bed.  And the parents pay for the privilege of having their children sleep there!!!  The boys (and the same is true at the girls boarding house) do nothing to take care of the house and it was a horrible mess with broken windows and trash all over.  What a difference between that and Dar Asni where the girls keep their rooms spotless and all pitch in and help the cleaning woman with her daily cleaning.  For example, today, before they left the house for their two week vacation, we all washed all the floors, all the sheets, all the slip covers for the sofas etc.  We all got caught up in the need to return to a sparkling clean house when we get back.  I figured since I didn't have to clean my house.....why not do it here....and it felt good pitching in and doing stuff with the girls.

the wash before vacation

yup....here are their nice clean prayer rugs

After the girls left Latifa and I went to the hammam where I got most of my skin scrubbed off and then promptly went back home and fell asleep for a few hours. We are spending the night in the house among the hanging sheets and made a yummy dinner of mashed potatos and lots of onions and peppers...Tomorrow we are going to Marrakesh and staying at her sister's house.  Her brother-in-law is an Imam so it should be very interesting to go there....ironic to spend the Passover with a Muslim....just part of my experience here.  Monday I am going to go get fitted for my new lovely jilaba that I am having made for our big Open Day here on April 29th and then I am going on to Casablanca.  Leaving for PHL on Tuesday.  It will be very strange indeed to be back in the US.  It feels like I have been away a lot longer than three months.

On the train....again

I am certainly getting to know the Moroccan train system.  Right now (thanks to my handy/dandy 3G) I am on the train back to Casa.  Unfortunately I could not do the trip up and back in one day because the schedule wouldn't allow me to do everything that I had to do.  So, I am staying tonight in the hotel that I stayed in last time which is two blocks from the embassy.  Then I go there first thing in the morning.  Grab my new and improved passport and meet a friend who is coming to visit for the weekend from Rabat.  Then back to the house for dinner with the girls and to the mountains for Sat night. Then Gwen will go back to Rabat Sunday.


I have spent the last three days at another house in Ouirgane which is about 15 km from Asni.  While I was not looking forward to the change of venue, it actually was very nice and the girls were sweet.  Perhaps if I come back next year I may stay there for a little while since there won't be any room for a volunteer in the Asni house because it will be overcrowded with girls. I will see....it is still a while off.  Anyway while at Ouirgane (which is even more isolated than Asni), I worked with the other American volunteer, Gretchen.  Today we picked up trash outside the school that the girls go to.  It was lots of fun and they were all singing and the sports teacher had them doing cheers.  It was great.....meanwhile the place around the school is the pits....the children buy snacks from a little vendor outside the school and then they just dump the trash. Then they burned all the trash we collected. A little different than the US certainly.


Next week will be in Asni again until the 7th when the girls leave for vacation and i leave to go back to the US on the 10th until the 19th.  Then back to Asni until May 11th, at which point I head to Paris for a few days before flying back to SFO.  

Life is crazy and other stuff

To update those who are following the continued drama that is my life.  I will try and be brief.


Passport:  I have received notice that it has arrived and I will pick it up next Friday during an extremely long day which will involved a very early train to Casablanca, grabbing the passport out of their hands, turning around and getting back on the train and returning here.  Hopefully all will go well and I won't have any more crazy stories to tell.


Living arrangements:  This has been changing hourly.  I was informed the other day that I am going to be sent to another house for several days because there are problems  in that house and somehow they think that I can solve them.  Feel like I am getting in the middle of another situation where people are afraid to give someone the bad news so they want me to do it.  At least before I was being paid for it.  I was really bummed about the idea of leaving the girls for a week but I am trying to remind myself that my feelings aren't important, just helping the girls is.  And perhaps I can do something in a few days to help those girls, who knows?  


Then I was informed that I could not come back when I was scheduled to come back because there were going to be other volunteers here.  Then I was told that changed.  Then I was told that I could stay until the end of April.  And finally I was told....never mind, they would like me to stay until May 11th (at which time I am scheduled to go to Paris for a few days to see the Nogrets). A lot of needless drama.


Teaching and other assorted volunteer experiences:
There is now another volunteer in the house and her name is Anne also.  She is a retired French teacher from Belgium and she and her husband also have a house in Marrakesh. She's only going to be here for three weeks until the girls go on vacation.  I like her very much and she has been doing really great work with the girls.  It is wonderful to have the company although I am no longer able to speak English to anyone since her English is pretty much non existent and now that she is here, Latifa has stopped speaking English.


Today we had a crazy day which tested my ability to multi-task.  Latifa went to Marrakesh at 8 in the morning and didn't come back until 7 at night.  Of course everything happened while she was gone. 


I had a girl suddenly develop a fever and pass out and then when I called Latifa she said that I was NOT to go to the hospital with her so her sister came and carried her on her back  through the town .  Then her father showed up (speaking no english but thankfully French) wanting to know what happened and where she was.  After I directed him and settled down the hysterical girls, we just began to have lunch when a tour group of 16 high school students showed up unannounced and wanted to do activities with the girls (all of whom have exams) and wanted a tour of the house and explanation of the program.  I, of course, had couscous all over my hands because Friday is couscous day and now that I am truly a Moroccan I am eating it with my hands.  So I washed my hands, grabbed the girl who speaks the best English and off we went with the group.  


Then the crazy French woman Colette who lives down the road showed up and berated the girls about how they didn't have proper manners and I had to literally shove her out the door.  Then the cook whose name is also Latifa got upset because I had called Latifa (the housemother) about the girl who was sick, so she was angry with me but I couldn't explain to her what went on because she speaks no English,or French and fluent Tashelhit.  So again, I pulled in Khadisha, my trusty best English speaker and asked her to explain in Tashelhit what had happened.  All was smoothed over.


Then the electricity went out.  Then it came back on in several rooms and I attempted to show a movie that I had but the DVD player wouldn't take the American DVD.  So I promised the girls that when Latifa (the housemother...are you getting it all straight? ) got back, and if they did their homework early, they could watch the movie on my computer with the projector from Latifa's office.  So they all did their homework diligently.  Latifa arrived and told them that they couldn't watch the movie and that they had to study.  So much for my credibility. And then I was helping the girls with homework until 10 including sitting in a powerless computer room reading English with girls by flashlight.  And now the wind is blowing so hard that the door to our bedroom keeps flying open.


Tomorrow Anne and I are going to a restaurant that she knows in the next town and I am going to have a stiff drink. No more of this Islamic teetotaling stuff.


One more thing.  I met a woman in town who is living in a smaller town down the road and who is an American and has been living here for 8 years.  Married a Moroccan man who wooed her (something that they seem to be good at) and then turned out to be a drunk and a womanizer (big surprise) but she remained here because she got out of town when Bush was elected and is never going back.  Told her that she could go back to Berkeley though :-).  Anyway, she lives down the road from the house that I will be staying at for several days and we exchanged phone numbers so, who knows, perhaps I have a new friend.  And there is also Hassan who is the local older Moroccan man who is her friend and has already befriended me in town.

Got to go to bed.....I am wiped out.

my own house in Asni

I realized that I haven't written in a few days so here is an update on everything so far......I am alone in the house for part of the weekend and it has been great.  Moroccans have no concept of "alone time" and so I think that Latifa thought that I was a bit nuts when I said that I just wanted to stay home, cook myself some pasta, make chicken soup and chill.  Only thing missing is the TV which I now haven't seen for almost 3 months.  Went yesterday with Latifa to the hammam for a few hours and also refreshed my hair henna rinse.  Perhaps I can build a hammam in the backyard of my California house...hmmmmm.


Trip to Casablanca: Another saga in the passport story.  It was a very long two days.  At 8 am went in the Grand Taxi, sitting in my usual place on the gear shift (the best but certainly not the safest place in the taxi) for the hour ride to the staging area for the taxis in Marrakesh.  Then took petit taxi to the train station.  Because, of course, I arrived early at the station, I broke down and had coffee and some sort of wonderful cheese balls for breakfast at...YES...McDonald's! At 11 Aziz and his van driver whose name was Omar Sharif arrived (Moroccan time..they were supposed to be there at 10) and we set out for Casablanca.  As we neared the airport we stopped for lunch at a true Moroccan dining experience.  I feel that I have become very acclimated to Morocco, I can

1. Wash my hands from the communal water supply
2. Eat everything with my hands (I pretended to be insulted when Aziz offered me a fork)or bread
3. Say Bismillah before I eat
4. Drink the water without any problems
5. Try unusual foods.  This was the first time that I went to a barbeque where we went around and picked out the meat which they then cooked and brought us.  So I had liver brochettes which were yummy and calve's legs (which were more interesting in their appearance than taste..not a lot of taste) and then, yes....sheep's testicles (good taste but, understandably, a little fatty :-).  Would have been nice to drink it all down with a beer but whoops...no alcohol here.
6. Feel very comfortable surrounded by men all speaking a tongue that I have yet to master. Ofcourse they still spoke to me in pidgen French...and Aziz spoke in English and Omar the driver spoke to me in Tashelhit.  What a multilingual society I am living in.

Then we get to the airport and Aziz and Omar wait for Aziz's tour group and I hop on a train to the city (another 45 minutes) and then get a cab to the hotel during which I get a proposal for either marriage or a night that will change my world......I could understand what the cab driver was proposing in French just wasn't sure how far he wanted me to go with it :-).  Anyway, I just pretended that my French was not good enough and I couldn't possibly understand what he was saying.  We then drove through the most insane Casa traffic for another hour and I finally arrived at the hotel at about 5.  Long, long day.  Walked to the American consulate which was two blocks away to scope out things for the next day.  Had a drink in the bar (yeah....my first since Rabat).  Dinner at a wonderful hole in the wall genuine Moroccan only place down the street from the hotel which cost me 37 DHM....$6.00.  So since I saved so much money, I bought a big box of french pastries for the girls on my way back to the hotel and then carted the box all the way back to Asni the next day, including sitting once again on the gear shift in the grand taxi. 

Next day I went to the Consulate and that was fairly anticlimactic.  I waited in the line across the street for about a half hour (of course I arrived early for my appt) with all the people, primarily women, waiting for their visas to go to the US.  Once inside the compound and through all the layers of security, they went their way into a big waiting room and I went through the door into the very empty American citizens room.  Only snafu was that the pictures that I had taken in Asni and had told them that I needed for an American passport, were too small so I had to go to another place in the city to have them retaken.  So now I have two passport pictures.  All seemed OK and the passport is supposed to be in in a week or so, at which time I have to go back up and get it which I will probably do in a very, very long day instead of staying over again.  

Then waited 2 hours for the next train to Marrakesh.  Got on the train.  Checked my e-mail etc with my trusty 3G connection.  Three and half hours to Marrakesh.  Petit taxi to the staging area.  Waited for a hour and half for 5 other people to show up to share the grand taxi to Asni.  The box of pastries, gear shift and I drove the hour to Asni.  Arrived back home at 5 PM with lots of hugs and kisses from the girls.  Almost made the trip worthwhile.

I promise I will now hold on to my passport with my life.  Never going through this again.  It definitely could have been worse and it was a long way to go just to eat sheep's testicles!!

Life at the house: The week with the girls has been hectic.  They are starting to have their end of the year exams and they are even more wound up than usual.  Trying to get them to come in for French and English review has been like herding sheep which seems an appropriate analogy for this area. 

We also had a visit from a school in London (we get visits at least once a week).  There were 5 girls, five of whom were Muslim...two from Libya, 1 from Pakistan and one from Somalia. The fifth girl was half Ukranian and half Nigerian.  They played music with the girls and games and we all danced the Macarena and sang We are the World.  It was a great afternoon.

Party for International Womens Day

Thursday night  we had a big party and event for International Women's Day.  First Latifa talked to all the girls about the Mudawwana, the  2004 law which gave women additional rights and protections.  Latifa attended an event in her hometown, Moulay Brahim on the 8th and was given an award for the most outstanding woman in her town.  Throughout this country I have met women who are the face of the new Morocco....islamist and feminist.  


Anyway, back to the party......so Latifa talked to the girls about the importance of having pride and respect for themselves.  She talked about the opportunity that they have being in this house and working so hard to try to be an example for themselves and their families and communities.  She talked about the need for women to be able to support themselves.  All of this I was told through one of the girls since she did it totally in Tashelhit.  All of the girls participated in the discussion and it was wonderful to see.  But it wasn't all serious.  One of the older girls organized the younger ones to put on skits which seemed to be surrounding a girl getting married and her husband not treating her well and then returning to her home.  There was a lot of hitting going on and even though the girls were laughing hysterically, I wonder how much abuse does go on at home.  Anyway, it was fun to watch the girls in a different way...just acting like silly teenagers. The older girls then gave out awards to the girls for things like best marks in the house etc.  One girl got an award that all the girls voted on for being the best girl that had come through the house in the 5 years that the house had been in existence.  She, ofcourse cried mountains.  Then they gave me a present which was a huge surprise.  They all stood up and applauded and I cried buckets ofcourse.  Then I told them in French what amazing women they were...and I guess I must be getting through, because most of them even understood what I said.


We then ate the macaroni and cheese that the girls and I had prepared early in the day.  While it certainly wasn't all American Mac and Cheese (with powdered milk, farina, no Parmesan Cheese) the girls thought it was great.  We also had artichokes which they weren't that crazy about.  They eat artichokes here but put them in tagines and don't do the silly thing of peeling them and putting them in butter.  Oh, and we had LOTS of Coke.


Then we all played music (Berber rock....bet you didn't even know that it existed) and we all danced for hours.  It is amazing to me how much the girls love to dance....and they dance well.  They are such normal teenagers sometimes, it is hard to remember how restricted their lives are outside of our house. And they LOVE the macarena, particularly the swinging hips part.  At night between end of the school day and dinner, we all go up on the roof and listen to music and dance and sing...it is a great way to unwind.


Tomorrow I am off to Casa to get my passport.  I even bought a new pair of shoes for the trip since I haven't been out of my clogs and hiking shoes and boots since I got here.  Hopefully no surprises. With either the passport or the shoes.

Moroccan police adventure and Moroccan jails

Today I got to see the inside of our local jail/police station/grade B movie set.  Luckily there were no convicts there.  I DID NOT tell them that I worked in a prison. 
After receiving a call from someone in the station that finally the Chief was going to be in the office for a few minutes, Latifa and I rushed out of the house and walked again the 1/4 mile to the station to hopefully finally get my document of perd (loss).  First the Chief looked at me very sternly and asked me in French if I was sure that I lost it and that someone didn't steal it and then he said was I sure that I lost it in Asni (to which of course I answered yes because if I didn't he would send me all the way to Marrakesh).  He then proceeded to ask me questions about my residence, my parents names (which seems to be a big thing here) etc.  After about 20 minutes he handed me over to someone else and Latifa went outside because she said she was not allowed to be with me.  I started to get a little concerned.  It was feeling a bit like my rug experience and I was taken to a half empty room with a 50 year old typewriter on the desk and a laptop computer that had seen better days.  The computer wasn't even used during the interview.  That man just asked me questions that were already on my passport like where I was born and when I was born etc (the date of my birth generated some sort of conversation between the two men working on my document but I couldn't tell if it was "wow, she doesn't look that old" or "how is this woman still standing at her age?".).  The man interviewing me spoke a little French and lots of Arabic so we did some sign language.  I did manage to get from him that he loved California.  Needless to say, we did not have a discussion about earthquakes.  You don't joke with these guys.  He then proceeded to ask me again about my parents first and last names and paused over the name Scheinbaum.  I thought that I was gone for...but apparently it is not as obvious what sort of a name it is....I just had to try and explain why I had a different name than my parents etc.  And when I said I was retired they looked envious and when I said I was divorced they once again looked suspicious.  And everything was written by hand into a notebook that he kept on the desk. Then the two men took me into another room with another man who began to actually type something and...voila, my document finally appeared after about and hour or so.  When I then looked at the document it said Ann Puth Lopata which is obviously the name that I am staying with because they insisted that the copy of my passport looked like Puth and they couldn't change it without filling out some more forms and questions.  Hopefully the American consulate will be understanding.  Or I will just have a name change.


Tomorrow we are having our fete for International Womens Day and having macaroni and cheese and artichokes and coucous and dancing the Macarena until dawn, at which point we will break into the Education For All Morocco version of We are the World.

A fish story

Today I cleaned a fish. Not just any fish but some small nameless fish of which there were probably 50.  The girls showed me how to scale it and chop off its head. And my hands still smell of fish this evening.  Not sure how I avoided doing this previously in life although it may have something to do with being married to someone who never allowed messes in the house (ok Roy, now you can comment about this :-) I violated my own rule of not allowing my food to look at me but it was fun doing it with the girls.  And now we will have these little guys for lunch tomorrow....... 


Saga with the passport continues.  Today the police station contacted Latifa about my certificat de perd which means (for those of you not fluent in French), the official note that they have to give me which says that I lost my passport and that I should be forgiven because I don't have the official Moroccan entry number on my passport.  I also learned that it is an extremely big deal to lose your passport in Morocco. Not as serious as losing your identity card, but almost.  Since all official documents in the country are in French and Arabic, everything has to be translated. So the police wanted two pictures of me.  Why?  Perhaps they wanted to recognize me on the street, who knows?  But I found a place in town that would do it and also give me the pictures that I need for my passport so I don't need to go running around Casa on Tuesday when I go into the city.  Hopefully the police will have my info tomorrow when I once again walk through the town to the police station and wait around while the policeman chats with his friends.  Ah, Moroccan time...I love it.


Also, I had to register with the government office here since I am a foreign national living in a boarding house.  I filled out the forms.  Told them that I didn't have a Moroccan entry number because I lost my passport and all seemed fine.  Today the man came to the house (it is next door) and needed my parents names.  So now the secret is out....they know I am a Jew.  Can't hide behind Lopata any more....the Scheinbaum is out there.  


Today I was in charge of the house since Latifa went into Marrakesh which is a whole day adventure.  That threw a wrench into my teaching plans because I had to be pulled out of sessions constantly to deal with some incident or another.  This is where all those years of being a mother helps...whether it was tending to the girl who I thought might have appendicitis but instead she probably has an ulcer or GERT, to the one with the incredible migraine.....I just went from one to the other giving water and blankets and lots of TLC until Latifa got back in the early evening.  


Lastly a comment about men and women and Moroccan culture.  It stinks.  Yesterday I had the girls outside the house playing football (soccer of course), their favorite activity. It is so much fun to watch them interacting so spontaneously and having so much fun.  The house next door is a boy's government boarding house which was built to house 80 and now houses 300 (at three to a bed) and about 50 of the boys came out and were watching and making comments to the girls.  So we went in the back of the house and they followed us. There was nothing threatening about it but it is just that these girls have to be so very careful about appearing to be flirtatious etc.  And they, of course are. They are so innocent that they don't realize the implications of what they are saying or doing. I brought them all inside and today we played within the walls of the house until most of the boys had gone to school.  It is too bad that it is that way.  They are all friends at school (all classes are co-ed)and in a different environment they could interact normally.  But, particularly in the rural areas, if one of the girls gets involved with one of the boys, she will suffer incredible consequences.  This is isn't Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan...no one is going to stone her but they would probably take her out of school and try and marry her off to anyone who would take her. And in Morocco, Berber women have the reputation of being "lose" anyway...not sure where that comes from but it may have something to do with the fact that the majority are poor and uneducated.  It is so important for these girls to have a sense of self-respect and pride in all that they are accomplishing. 


That provides a nice segway into International Women's Day.  Tomorrow I am going to talk to the girls in French and English classes about women they admire and Friday we are going to have a party after I spend the day with the girls making macaroni and cheese (after they have their Friday couscous for lunch)and artichoke and then Latifa is going to talk to them about the law in Morocco which was passed in 2004 which reinforced for women their social and legal rights to property, divorce etc.  We are trying to do our little bit.

Passport stories and hikes in the mountains

This will just be an entry to update the last two days.  Saturday when I went into Marrakesh, I must have dropped my passport.  I didn't discover it until one of the girls jokingly took my wallet yesterday and I told her that she now had an American passport but when I looked in the wallet....no passport.  After going though all my stuff with the wonderful help of the girls, no luck.  So now I have to file a lost passport form at the little police station in Asni and then go to Casablanca next week to apply for the new passport at the Consulate.  Casa is 3 1/2 hours from Marrakesh and therefore 4 1/2 from here.  Luckily my friend Aziz is starting a tour group in Marrakesh on the 13th so I am hitching a ride in the van that is going up.  All the girls are much more upset than I am about the turn of events.  I just told them that now I could have a better picture with my slimmer self :-).  Anyway, I am not leaving the country until at least April 10th (need to leave after 90 days and then return) so there will be no problem getting the passport I hope.


Yesterday was a pretty amazing day though.  I walked with the girls that had remained for the weekend into the mountains so that we could visit one of the girl's aunt.  Little did I realize that we were going to spend hours wandering through this very poor area with sheep and goats all over and lots of kids running around, while we went from house to house seeing both her relatives and another student's.  Gave me a taste of what I might be experiencing this upcoming weekend. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera so there are no pictures.  Just look at pictures of quintessential Berber High Atlas villages and you will see where we were.  Sanaa's cousin asked the girls why they brought their grandmother with them and we all had another good laugh at my expense :-).  I am going to Chaima's house for the weekend but we are also going to spend time visiting two other girls.  I am very glad that Chaima agreed to "share" me since there is only a limited about of time that I can spend in each girl's house.  I have another home visit next week. I think that that one will be a lot poorer than the one this weekend.


So we all spent Saturday and Sunday night curled up on the wonderful Moroccan couches that serve as beds in most families, watching Hawaii 50 and the Good Wife.  Strange, strange.....and of course they were reruns.  Two of the girls, Hadija and Samira made dinner both nights and I washed the dishes.  The girls couldn't believe that I was helping clean the kitchen...they said that their mothers tell them to do that.  I pointed out that I no longer had daughters at home to do the work for me (although I didn't point out that American teenagers certainly don't have the home responsibilites that these girls have.)


Now Latifa and I are planning some event for International Womens Day and she wants to encourage the girls to think about their experiences as women representing their families and their villages. She also going to talk to them about the law passed in 2004 which increased the legal rights of women in this country. She is passionately committed to this home and is such a wonderful mother to the girls (although she is in her thirties).


Got to go.  Will keep everyone posted on the events of the week and what we do for Womens Day.  And how many times we sang We are the World!!!


To everyone in California....glad the quake was not super strong but glad that I am here instead of there :-). 

Souks and Marrakesh

Because we are expecting some visitors tomorrow who want to meet the girls, 5 girls stayed at the house this weekend.  Each of the girls went to the souk to meet their fathers who came in to do the weeks shopping.  I went with them and met some of the fathers.  It is a pleasure to see that these fathers feel proud of their daughters and the more that I am able to to understand what the girls are dealing with, the better our relationship can be. 


Then, spent the afternoon driving with a friend into Marrakesh with a stop along the river at a cafe, lots of philosophical and political discussion, shopping in the modern mall outside of town, more cafe and coffee (expresso now, the Moroccan tea is rotting my teeth) and back to Asni in the evening in another six person rickety taxi. Came back to the house and the girls were watching Greys Anatomy!! Interesting.


And the weather is warm and sunny and beautiful.  Life is good.

Visitors

Today I was both  a host and a visitor.  For four hours today I had to entertain some nurses from England who were doing some immunizations in the town of Imlil (home of Kasbah du Toubakal...pictures will follow on Facebook).  Unfortunately that meant once again that the time was taken away from the girls for PR activities.  We seem to be averaging about 2 groups a week here and I conduct the tours, make jokes (mainly British/English language jokes) and introduce the girls etc.  Since we haven't had any French visitors, Latifa defers to me......One day last week we had a student group from England who did crafts with the girls for several hours which was great.  Most of the people just walk through and have minimal interaction with them.


This afternoon, after deciding to accompany some of the older girls to the lycee for a special English class that they were having, I was invited into the school and into the classroom.  The English teacher is Moroccan but studied for a year in the US.  He asked me to speak to the class and I think that the girls were really pleased that the students seemed to be very interested in what I had to say...they just told everyone when we came back to the house.  The students in the class asked great questions: one asked if I was Muslim because I was wearing a headscarf which I had just had one of the girls put on me that morning...I forgot I had it on; one asked me about US views of Muslims and another asked me if, since I had been to Morocco twice, I was going to move here permanently. And they wanted to know a lot about California...oh and they wanted to know my age.  It was a wonderful hour and I hope that I am invited back.


The hour before dinner has now become singing time.  We practice We are the World over and over again.  I thought that it was a good song for them to learn, talked to them about the significance and some of the older girls translated the English to Arabic so that all the girls would understand what they are singing.  I hope that we can perform the song at the big fund-raising event at the end of April.  They are so enthusiastic that they practice it over and over again and during the day I will go up on the roof (the hangout) and hear groups of girls practicing without music. I even walked into town with some of the older girls yesterday and they spontaneously broke into song. I am going to try some other songs with them too...one of the girls suggested a Cat Stevens (he lived for a long time in Essouraia) and a Simon and Garfunkel.  They love any Indian music so much but I don't think we will be singing anything from Slum Dog millionaire.  Tomorrow we are going to do Makarena....then Electric Slide.  Staying away from Bollywood dancing.  I am just too old for that.


Tomorrow is another school visit, this one from the American School of Marrakesh (I'll check it out Beka), then back to the hammam for the afternoon. Saturday is souk in the morning and meeting a friend who is coming in from Marrakesh to get goat meat (apparently it is the best in the area...who knew?)and drive me back to Marrakesh for some major purchases.  Basics like scotch tape and cheddar cheese for the American meal that I am going to have the girls make next week. Back to Asni crowded in the 6 person taxi and Sunday another visit from some donor and time with the couple of girls who will be returning early.

Update of everything from the last week or so.....time flies

Forgive me friends...it has been 9 days since my last post.  Mea Culpa.  I will try and condense these crazy days into as few words as I can.  If I am able, I will also try and post some pictures.


The days with the girls:


Went to the hamamm with the older girls on Friday and they were wonderful about walking me through the paces and they even gave me back rubs since I managed to do something to my back.  Got my hair hennaed.  My facebook page has pictures.


This continues to be an amazing experience.  The week flies by and I crawl into bed each night feeling exhausted but so fulfilled.  My day begins at about 9 and I now see girls for English and French (we have dropped the computer stuff) throughout the day.  In addition, in the evening from 8-10 I stay around and help the girls with homework.  They all gather in the little salon around 4 tables and do their homework.  It gets very loud and animated as you would imagine. We also have been practicing We are the World each night from 6-7 as a way to wind down at the end of the day.  Tomorrow I will post stuff on the singing stuff.

Asmaa,Khadija and Souad

Mouna and Sabira

Their schoolwork: Very strange.  Their French work is easy reading and have questions that bear no resemblance to the reading.  Also, they all have workbooks that have been written in so it is hard not to use the answers in the book even though they are usually wrong. They have NO conversation in class and never get to hear French except from the teacher, so I have been trying to get them to speak to each other and have downloaded some French audiobooks for them to listen to.  However, they HATE French so much it is hard to keep them motivated. For some of the girls, they are so far behind on their French, they cannot even answer basic questions let along read the texts.Their English books are full of grammatical mistakes and vocabulary that is needlessly complicated.  They also mix British and American spellings and word usage. But they plug along and most of the girls are doing pretty well.  We even have one or two that have gotten the highest marks in the school!


The girls:
It is impossible to describe all of them so I will just start to give you a flavor.  Two of the girls, Khadija (there are 6 with this name here) and Chaima  have invited me to visit their families for a weekend and i will be going in the next two weeks.  It should be an amazing experience and I am honored to have been invited.  Several other girls have also indicated that they want me to come too so we see.

Chaima: This girl is an amazing French and beginning English student and is in her third year of college (middle school) here. Aside from being beautiful and wonderfully outgoing and affectionate, she is one of the best students in the school.  Unlike many of the parents of these girls, Chaima's parents are very supportive of her education and she may even be able to fulfill her dream of becoming a French teacher instead of being married off to some old guy.  It is really difficult to teach her in the French class because she is always on top of my grammar!
Khadija Ait Hmad: 2nd year lycee student, Khadija has been with EFA since it opened in 2007 and she is amazingly good in English and bad in French.  She lives in a little town up the mountains so I guess that I am going to see real Amazigh life when I go there. Her mother died last year and her father has remarried and she and her step mother don't get along so we will see.
Asmaa: 12 and a budding movie star....she loves anything that will bring her attention and she is cute as a button.  She won't begin English in school for another two years but she is already speaking it in franglais.  She has received the highest marks in the house and the highest marks in her grade.


The greatest hope is that these girls, all of whom say that they want to go to University, will do so.  If not, then at least they will be able to go home, get married and educate the next generation.  It seems so hard to believe looking at them that some of them will be married in a few years.  A girl who was here last year didn't come back (she was 15) because when she went home for the summer she was told that she was getting married and moving to Casablanca.  She calls the house often and talks to the girls about her exciting life with her 48 year old husband.  He apparently has enough money to help the family and so they are very grateful and by all accounts, he seems to be a loving husband. Legal marriage age in Morocco is 18 but in the rural villages where child brides have a long history, it is hard to break the tradition.  And so the parents just lie about their child's age on their birth certificate in anticipation of an early marriage.

My daily life in Asni so far

Today was the first day of a regular week for me and I am exhausted already.  Here was my schedule:

• up at 7:30, breakfast (with my new french press coffeemaker purchased in Marrakesh) and the usual breakfast of bread and Vache Qui Rit cheese (which I will be sick of by the time I get home) and some Nutella that Gretchen purchased in Marrakesh.
• Met with girls in 1/2 hour blocks from 9-12 with breaks to take Gretchen to the taxi (she is going to Organane which is a place even smaller than Asni), to put up a wash (and dry the sheets in the wind on my rooftop home). 
• Lunch at 12:30 during which I reread Antigone (Jean Anouih) in French in preparation for my 1:30 meeting with the 11th year girls. Lunch is always the big meal and we had a beef tagine and more bread and lots of tea.  Oh, and a banana. These girls are getting ready to take their Baccalaureate exam in a fe.w months and have  been with the program since its inception in 2007.
• 2-6 continued meeting with girls in 1/2 hour blocks with time out to pee and to check e-mail on my 3G connection because once again the internet was out.  
• 6-7 I crashed on my bed in my little room and tried to figure out what I was doing here ...only kidding.  
• 7 pm dinner of pasta with butter and a hard boiled egg.  Dinner and lunch without Latifa and Gretchen, so I sat in the kitchen with Latifa the cook and Mina the cleaner and we just smiled at each other but couldn't communicate.
• 7:30: --whenever I get to sleep: while I usually spend time with the girls checking to see if they need any help with homework, I was too exhausted so I just went up to my room. Need to figure out the schedule for tomorrow and adjust the work that I am going to be doing with the girls.

My teaching/coaching/helping:  I work with groups of girls, supposedly all in the same grade on various things.  One day we will schedule French review and another English and another time on the computer.  We also play games and they just come in to the computer room and hang out. So I have a sort of schedule for the week and the girls scheduled to come in but this is Morocco and everything changes and everything is disorganized so some times some girls show up at their appointed times and sometimes they don't and sometimes they show up with their friends.  But they are always smiling and happy and anxious to interact in some way.  There is such a variation in their preparation level that it is difficult not to have to do a plan for each group but I think that is going to be overwhelming so I think that I will just try and gear my lessons to each class...there are 5 levels.  Tomorrow or the next day I will write about the girls to try and give a picture of what their life is like.

Right now I have to go to sleep but only after I have reviewed the present perfect tense again (had to do it for my students in Rabat too)in English and verb tenses in French.  Oh, and I have to revise the whole schedule for tomorrow since it changed again.

Also tomorrow we are having a visit from The International School of Berne Switzerland.  Apparently I have to make a presentation to them about Education for All and the homes and the girls so that I can make a begging pitch.  No one told me that this was part of the job but anyone who know me knows that I can talk anytime and anywhere :-).

A quiet weekend

My first weekend in Asni and the girls are all gone.  They go home every weekend after school on Saturday.  After working so hard during the week, they go home and work all weekend cleaning the house, helping with the cooking etc.  Their parents pick them up when they come into town for the weekly souk (huge market) in town.  As they all left the house there were lots of kisses...left cheek/right cheek and then a little giggle.  One of the girls, Asma, who is the best student in the school and is 12 always calls me Ann Lopata.  When I told her she could call me Ann, she said that she liked Ann Lopata better.  I will post pictures of this cutie pie in a later blog.


Speaking of pictures, I am going to post most of them to Facebook because it is much easier to post them and I don't want to be double posting (is that like double dipping? ). Those of you who aren't on facebook....send me an e-mail (if you are 21st century enough to do that) and I will send you the link that will enable you to view the pictures.  May figure out a better way to do the pictures in the future.  I will see.


So Gretchen and Latifa and I stayed in the house for the weekend. We went to the souk in the morning with everyone else.  A souk is somewhere between a farmer's market and a flea market.  The one in Asni is famous and people come each Saturday for their vegetables etc.  Everyone gets dressed up in their jellabas and meets with their friends etc.  Interestingly, mostly men come to buy the food.  The women stay home and cook I guess and the men have the money anyway. Gretchen and I were the only non Moroccans among hundreds of people and Gretchen's blond hair makes her stand out even more.


For dinner, Latifa made Moroccan pizza with tuna (yes Roy...they even have tuna here) and of course we had the obligatory mint tea.  For most of the day we just hung out...I sat on the roof in the sun and read.  It was all very relaxing after a busy week.


Today the three of us went into Marrakesh to do errands.  There isn't much that you can buy in downtown Asni where there is now a bank (opened two days ago), a cafe, two little groceries, and mobile phone store, a butcher and not much else.  I will take pictures at some point.  We even now have sidewalks which have been installed the last week.


The journey to Marrakesh began with the three of us cramming into a taxi with 3 other people and the driver.  Although seat belts are required in private cars, apparently we are allowed to sit on top of each other in taxis.  For 15 durham (about 1.75 dollars) we went about an hour into the big city of Marrakesh. We went to a large mall which, like the Margane mall in Rabat, could have been anywhere.  Wifi was free throughout.....there was a modern Carrefour department store; a Benetton etc.  I very happily bought a french press since we have only been having Nescafe instant each day.  


Then we went to the city center which, since I have now been in the medina in Marrakesh three times, I have now mastered.  Latifa had to go to a fabric store to buy new slip covers for the sofas in the salon.  Everything in Morocco takes about 3 hours longer than you would think that it would so we waited about 4 hours for the fabric and the payment etc. Meanwhile we had....you guessed it.....mint tea. Bought an arabic children's writing primer so that I can learn to write the beautiful script of the language...now if I could speak more than a few words i would be so happy. The weather was beautiful and it was Marrakesh at its best....


Tomorrow I will write about Latifa and the daily schedule in the house. My roommate Gretchen is leaving and will be moving over to one of the other houses in an even more remote area about 15 minutes away by taxi...everything is by taxi.  So I am losing my other American but have been schooling Latifa in American ways so perhaps that will do.
Here is a picture of Latifa at the fabric store, studying her mobile phone which everyone clutches in their hands at all times.

The elegance of rural life

Today I got to experience rural life in Morocco.  We lost both electricity (hence heat and lights and most importantly, internet) and water.  So we were freezing in the house and I was supposed to do computer work with the girls and Gretchen and I couldn't check out e-mail or wash our bodies or even see down the several flights of stairs from our rooftop room to the kitchen (to have a cold breakfast).  When we got downstairs, all was calm.  There is where inshallah comes in handy. We just waited out the day in our gloves and coats and ofcourse, it came back on about 4 PM. But it will probably go out again tomorrow.


Today was wonderful with the girls.  They are so enthusiastic, particularly about English that they wanted extra time scheduled.  I felt so loved :-).  Being here is already so much more than I imagined.  The girls are like sponges and each one is sweeter than the next. It breaks my heart to think that some of them will be married off to some old guy when they finish school....such a waste.

It will be hard when they are away for the weekend though, and I am not looking forward to long periods of time in the house by myself since Latifa (the housemother) goes to Marrakesh each weekend.  Met some of the Board members today and they invited me to visit them in Marrakesh where they run a riad so I might do that.  Also thinking of a possible revisit to Essouaria for the weekend.  We will see.


Gretchen and I went for a walk up to the incredible Richard Branson hotel about 45 minutes up the road.  When I hit the lottery I am coming back to Morocco....an apartment in Essouaria and a weekend at this place.  Elegance beyond belief.  For some reason can't post pictures to this blog....will look for other options.