Rabat in the Rain

We had another four day weekend!!

Wanting time to relax and do some work in my classroom, the roommates and I decided a day trip would be best. Rabat is Morocco's capital, it is an hour away (by train), and it has a zoo! (It also has many other things/places we were hoping to visit)

Thursday was a busy day! We went grocery shopping at the Morocco Mall. We haven't shopped in almost two weeks, meaning we had a huge list and lots to get. Thankfully, we are getting better and still had time to fun shop while the others finished getting their groceries. After a morning at the mall we went to a friend's house-warming party and to a few other stores. The laid back and chill weekend I anticipated was not so laid back!

Friday, we got up (EARLY) and it was raining. Real, big drops of rain. Megan didn't feel well and chose to stay home but Cherith and I braved the weather and her dad drove us to the train station. We met Jasmine and Jon there and caught the 8.30 train to Rabat!!

Notice the small lakes we walked thorough

Jasmine has some awesome Arabic skills and was able to negotiate a taxi ride to the zoo for us! He even agreed to meet us later and bring us back into town! The zoo opened at 10...we got there at 10:04. No one else was there. Apparently, no one else wanted to do the zoo in the rain! That meant we had the whole place to ourselves! Except for the MANY guards and cleaners we encountered hiding from the rain.


Within 5 minutes we were pretty well soaked. Things here are designed to stop sun, not rain. The paths also hold water like a jug! I had puddles in my shoes!!! Thankfully, it wasn't a cold rain and it seemed to bring the animals out.


We saw all kinds of fun creatures- lions, zebras, monkeys, rhinos, hippos, bright pink flamingos, and many more! Sadly, we did not see the giraffe or elephant...we are also not really sure how you would hide those two animals.

Warthogs hiding from the rain. They smelled AWFUL!

Jasmine and I hiding under the umbrella (and still getting wet!)

 

 

 

After an hour or so we climbed back into the cab with our soaking wet clothes! The driver took us back in town and recommended a place for lunch. We went somewhere else, because we are cheap! 7 rounds of tea, some couscous, tagine, pizza, panini, and frites later we took our still wet clothes and headed for the train station. (sidenote: 36+ hours later my boots and purse are still drying out) We even got home in time for a good ole fashion barbeque! AND a movie night with the super cool neighbor kids!

There is plenty we would love to see in Rabat...but we can save that for a not so rainy day!

The best kind of Lazy!

We don't really have a curriculum to follow for many things. The curriculum we do have is not great. (and can I say, as a first year teacher, it really stinks to not have those guides!) This has resulted in me spending a lot of time creating units and making resources. Our social studies curriculum is the worst...mainly because we don't have one. We also don't have a strong set of standards to follow. We have nothing.

Our plan as a second grade team has been to create units about each continent and connect with the Magic TreeHouse books. (Of course, half of my kids have already read all of those!) The current unit is Asia. I got a little lazy with this unit/short on time and decided it was going to be more of an 'arts-and-crafts' unit.  We looked at maps and named some countries, talked about capitals, and landmarks. We looked at some famous landmarks and what not too. And instead of doing any real research, I found a few art projects and articles on 'games played in Asia.' I'm pretty sure this has been their favorite unit!

I have a little girl who was born in Russia and spent the last few years living in/traveling around Eastern Asia. I also have a little girl who is Indian. They have both brought in lots of real artifacts for us to look at. The first one was perfect...she brought in a Matryoshka Doll (Russian Nested Doll). The kids were amazed at how many different pieces there were and at how small they got (I was impressed too!). That was the day we made our own Matryoshka Dolls. I found a pattern online and they colored them while I read stories from/about Russia. Perfect! And cute! After that, we played games and did crafts from China, Korea, and India.

Today, was Japan! We did origami (obviously!). They loved it! Writing time was silent as they worked quickly knowing what was to come once they all finished! I had three patterns and 60 sheets for us to use. Apparently, 60 sheets for 19 kids to do 3 patterns each is not enough! They were begging for more! They did so great with it, too. They followed all the directions and made creases as tight as they could (since their motor skills are not so great, the creases weren't either!).

We made the dog first. Then an angel fish. And we ended with the Samurai Hat! Then they got to decorate them- which was my favorite part. I love when they get creative and make the work their own! (this was a struggle at the beginning of the year- they always want to be 'right'). Here are some photos from our Origami Extravaganza!

 Omar LOVED the samurai hat! He came over to me, waited patiently to get my attention, and then said "Miss, can you look just for one second? WAHHH!" Until the crazy karate pose, I almost didn't recognize the kid!

Neil sporting his awesome hat! With his dog and fish friends!

 SERIOUS work time! These are my non-stop chatters...please note that None of them are chatting!

 Decorating the dog face! I put a nose and eyes on mine. They totally kicked it up a notch and added spots, pink under the ears, and tongues!

SAMURAI DOG!
They're so clever!



 I guess my "lazy"lesson plans were a total hit!!

They know Japan is in Asia, it is an island, and origami is part of their culture.
Safi.

Ay Ay Ay!!

For our long holiday break, I escaped to Seville in Southern Spain with some other ladies from the school. It felt really nice to get out of Morocco for a while! My Spanish is nothing to brag about, but it is certainly better than my French and Arabic.

We stayed in a cute little apartment in Triana. The city was decorated with Christmas lights and holiday garb everywhere!!! It was wonderful!


We spent our time exploring, shopping, being tourists, eating tapas and churros, and simply relaxing!  Seville has many, many sites to see! We explored the palace, gardens, various plazas and squares, multiple bridges, and even took a carriage ride around the city! We also went in Giralda- the largest Gothic style cathedral in the world. It was overwhelmingly large! The best part was climbing up the bell tower (which was once a minaret for the mosque). The view was amazing!!!

 Our apartment wasn't far from the skyscraper being built...which served as a perfect directional tool for finding home! You can also see a little bit of the bull ring in this picture.

We celebrated Christmas with another family from the school. They came to our apartment for a 'Christmas feast'.  One of the girls has been to Seville a few times and has some friends there. A few of us went to celebrate with his family! They had heaping plates of seafood! I am pretty sure I am not allergic to seafood like half of my family is, but if there was ever something to set that allergy off, it would be a plate like that! I ate 'carne' like the kids :) Watching Kris and Shay try to de-shell, de-tail, and de-head their food was plenty of entertainment!! After lunch we went in the backyard and set off a bunch of fire crackers! We blasted oranges out of the pool, off the ground, even some out of the tree! Someone suggested placing one in the dead palm tree...but we decided that wasn't a good idea! Oh yea, and all of this was in Spanish...so I really only understood about half of everything going on! Still tons of fun!

The New Year tradition in Spain is to eat 12 grapes during the 12 strikes of midnight...if you succeed it's 12 months of good luck. If you can't do it, you have bad luck! So we got our grapes and gathered with Tons of other people in the plaza to ring in the new year!  By the way, eating 12 grapes in seconds is very similar to Chubby Bunny and quite difficult to accomplish! Especially, when the grapes have seeds...that adds an extra surprise and challenge!

Other things we really enjoyed included the Christmas video they projected onto city hall each night. It was the same video but we watched is at least 7 times! It even had fake snow (soap bubbles) that shot out over the audience. It was really cool!

 Churro Time. I don't feel an explanation is necessary for this, but if you haven't had a churro...your life is not complete! Around 5pm (Churro Time) each day a lot of the cafes and bars would fill up with people enjoying hot chocolate and churros! A churro is fried dough- kind of like an elephant ear with out all the sugar on it. So delicious!



Italica. Its a huge area of Roman ruins not too far out of Seville. We walked though the amphitheater, saw where the beasts were kept, tons of mosaics, remains of house, and a few other ruins left to explore. It was really beautiful and amazing to explore.

Flamenco. We went to a flamenco show one night and it was awesome. The dancers have a true talent! I know this because the next day we took Flamenco and Salsa lessons. We did both styles one day and then went back the next day to focus on Flamenco. I lack all rhythm and dance skill, so I was more the comic relief in the class! Moving my hands and feet at the same time was never something I excelled at! ;)  It was really fun though and we had a blast!


I really enjoyed exploring a little bit of Spain and loved my time out of Morocco. It made me excited to travel and see more of Europe! Six more weeks until Winter Break....where should I go then?

Moving on Up!

 We moved!

Our apartment was lovely but a little to big for the three of us. Another apartment was open on campus that was the perfect size for us and has a better view of the ocean! With the temperatures dropping we also figured it would be easier to heat a smaller apartment! Here's the grand tour:

 Here's my bedroom. Slightly smaller, but I have a bigger bed and because it was bigger I get to keep the flannel sheets that were on it! Yes!

 Here's the main room. Our new living room, dining room, and kitchen are all the same size as our old giant living room was. It's Much cozier and felt like home the night we moved in!
We've been hosting a financial class on Monday nights and last week the projector was left behind...we made full use of it! See that giant white wall...it was like being at the movies in my own living room! 

 Here's the kitchen. It's only a little bit smaller, but still plenty large. Even after a week here we are still trying to remember where things are! Megan is doing in the dishes in this picture which is ironic because I feel like since we've moved ALL of us have lost the motivation to do dishes. Every time I blink the counter is full of dirty dishes again! Today, I've been working on them in shifts, because there are so many!

The dining area. The sliding glass door leads to the balcony which has a great view of the ocean! We can even hear the waves!

 Another shot of the whole room! We really like our new apartment! We have plans to paint and hang pictures and make it even better!

 This is a terrible attempt at the panoramic view we have from our balcony:

celebrate!

We have finally had some full weeks of school! It feels really great to be back into a routine and busy again! Of course, with all the work we've been doing we also had to take time to celebrate!!!

First, the kids got to have an Art Party! Their good behavior in art class earned them a party that they were so excited about it! They wanted to bring in snacks on Monday for the party which wasn't until Friday! On the day of the party, they all brought in snackS. There was a full cake, cute little 'paint' cookies, and tons of chips. I ventured up near the end of their party to see how it was going. They had to make a picture using the food and then they could eat it. I saw a lot of eating and the occasional picture!  

 They had a great time and that's what really matters! Plus they each got to take a goodie cone with them...I'm pretty sure that was their favorite part!
 Right after the art party where they all ate too many sweets and goodies, I took them to Arabic class; where they run around, jump, and do flips on a trampoline! (It's like gym class only in Arabic) Thankfully, there was no puke!


After the art party, and Arabic class, they had French class.  They have been making castles and finally finished them up!
 This is Adam, Othmane, and Tarik with their lovely chateaux.

 Yesterday, it was time to celebrate good behavior in our classroom! They have been working to fill a jar with cubes which they only get when the whole class behaves well. After filling it we took a vote and they all wanted to have a pajama party! Any day I get to teach in sweatpants and a t-shirt is totally okay with me! I got permission and Friday my kiddos looked like this....

 Well actually, more like this! They were Crazy, Out of Control! But we had a great day! They Begged to bring in stuffed animals also, and I told them they could only bring it in if it fit in their bag. One of my boys says "Wah! Has to fit in my bag? Okay, I will bring two bags." And that's what he did....note the giant Spongebob... Mohamed!

We read to our stuffed animals in the morning, played some math games, and then we watched (part of) the Lion King! (we just finished a unit on Africa/the savanna so it was fitting) (Mid-term grades were also due and our 'fun' afternoon gave me lots of time to get that done! Call it what you want...I call that good planning!)

Here are my boys. The little guy in grandpa pants near the front...it's funny that he's screaming because he often makes me want to do that. He's also the one who puked on me. I will never forget that. Also, Adam on the far right, his pajamas say 'super hero' and have a cape. So adorable!


 And, if you thought the boys looked crazy...here are my girls! Imane, far left in the blue, her bear burped. If you hugged it, it would make a burp/fart sound. That didn't get old at all.

We combined with another 2nd grade class for our Lion King movie because she also planned a reward party for the afternoon. Great minds (and busy teachers) think alike! So we went from this...




To this...

The kids had to go to art and weren't able to finish the movie. But we did watch the part with Timon and Pumba and they all sang Hakuna Matata...which might have been my favorite part of the day!

P is for Marrakech

Pretty lights, pottery, prices, paintings, pants, poulet, pretty scarves, plants, Poms, people, people watching, pizza, parks, perfume, perfect weather, palm trees, panoramic views, petite room, and many other things can describe our spur-of-the-moment trip to Marrakech!

Once again, our travel plans fell through. Poor Megan (roommate/Band director) has Bronchitis and was out for the week! She didn't want to overdue it by traveling and Cherith (other roommate) and I understood. But we didn't want to waste another long weekend either. So Cherith and I took an early train to Marrakech on Friday just for the night. We didn't really start planning the trip until we were on the train! But the trip was great! Here's the breakdown...

Prices. Everything is negotiable in Morocco. To be honest, this can get exhausting! And, we get ripped off a lot. We are learning what the fair prices are but we don't always get that price. Especially with taxis! We got Super ripped off on our first taxi ride, but we had pretty good luck, with taxis and other things, after that!

Pretty Lights! One of the biggest tourist attractions in Marrakech (and all of Morocco) is the Djemaa el Fna. It's a large open market in the center the medina with tons of cart vendors and it looks Beautiful at night!!! We spent pretty much all of our time there exploring the hundreds of shops and enjoying the sights and people.

Petite room. The first hotel we went to tried to rip us off- again, every price is negotiated. We went to another hotel and found just what we needed, for half the price! It was maybe a third of the size of my college dorm room and we had to share a community bathroom. But we hardly spent any time there anyways! The nicest thing- DARK curtains! We planned to sleep in, which is usually about 8:00 because of the mass amount of sun pouring into our house. But the dark curtains blocked so much light it was almost 9:00 before we woke up. Perfect. 

Perfume. We ventured into the never ending world of shops and were pulled into a little spice shop. The cute little old man working was very kind and spoke pretty good English. He showed us a lot of Berber make-up and cosmetics. He allowed us to sample many of the different soaps and perfumes including jasmine, amber, and others I don't remember! Needless to say, we smelled great!

Pottery and Paintings. We have been attempting to decorate our apartment for some time now. We found some cool paintings and searched for quite a while to find the right plates to hang on the wall! The crafts, especially plates and pots, are gorgeous and very decorative here. We bargained hard for the plates and were very happy!

Pants and Pretty scarves. Cherith has been searching for a certain type of Moroccan pants and finally found a pair (or several) she loved. She was Determined to get a great deal and I thought she was going to bring the poor kid to tears before the deal ended! She got Two pair of pants for less than half of his original price! That was our win of the weekend! We also saw tons of beautiful scarves, another common item. We could get better deals in Casa for essentially the same thing so we just looked at the scarves.

Poms, Pizza, Poulet (chicken). We ate dinner and later had some tea at rooftop cafes where we could overlook the square. We stayed on the roof until it was dark and all the lights came on! I wish my picture-taking skills were better because it was truly amazing!

People and People watching! By far, one of my most favorite things to do! The rooftop views worked best for this largely because we got hassled a lot when we were in the midst of everything. There were storytellers, musicians, monkeys, henna, and so much more. The other tourists were also fun to watch! We were hoping that we didn't look as ridiculous as they did, but I'm sure we probably did!

Palm trees, Plants, and Panoramic views. Before dinner we walked around the Koutoubia Mosque. It is right near the Djemaa and had a gorgeous garden around it. We ventured through there enjoying the sights and snapping some photos. On Saturday, we went the Jardin Majorelle. A large garden with plants from all over the world. It felt a jungle at some points!

Marrakech was the perfect destination to break up another (and our last) long weekend! Now we can start planning our next adventure....

Action Packed!

We kicked off yet another three-day weekend with a trip to the IMAX! They only show the movie in English on Thursday nights, so it's usually packed with people from our school! The current movie is Skyfall- the 007 movie! The perfect way to start a great weekend!

Friday, really wasn't very action packed, but it was productive! I got all kinds of work done in my classroom and for the class I am taking. We watched a movie and then moved out to the patio to watch the storm roll  in over the ocean! I am usually terrified when a storm is coming, but they're not potentially dangerous like storms at home, so I can relax and enjoy the beautiful light show! 

Saturday, we went grocery shopping. In three hours, we managed to hit four stores and finally have food in the cupboards again! That may not sound 'action-packed' but if you've ever witnessed the driving here, you know how intense it is! After unpacking the goods, we took off for the CIRCUS! 

I don't think I have been to the circus since I was seven...? So, it was time to go again!

I'm not sure if we were allowed to take photos or not, that information was given in French! We did manage this one before the show; and look who joined in...

One picture I wish I had...goose herding (geese herding?)!!! You know you're in for a good show when it starts with a man on a huge black horse chasing four geese around a tiny circle!


I didn't really think about or remember all the things that take place in a circus, but many of them fall into the death-defying or 'you could get seriously injured doing that' category...Sister, you have successfully brainwashed me and I can say without a doubt you would not have enjoyed it!

The tight-rope walkers performance was quite possibly the scariest thing I've seen in a very long time. No net and of course one slipped/fell. A few times. He caught himself on the wire and climbed back on so he never got hurt but we could see him clearly struggling on the platform. Even the other circus performers looked scared!

The circus was pretty cool and included all the things that make you gasp, smile, and squirm in your seat! Giant snakes, fire-breathing, crocodile wrestling, crazy strong people, sea lions, mini-horses (one had a monkey strapped to his back. We never figured out why), zebras, "super bikers," pantomime clowns, feisty tigers, and so much more! One of the tigers was pretty chubby and we didn't think he would make it through the hoop but he did it! Once.

After the circus we toured around the carnival next door and of course bought Cotton Candy!!  What is a trip to the circus without cotton candy?!

Sunday, was nice and calm. Sleeping in, church, work in the classroom, and calling home! Gotta prepare for another tough (short) week ;)

Parents

When I was student teaching we had to submit weekly reflections. Part of that reflection included describing the week in one word. My word of choice for this week: parents.

I was gone last Friday to turn in my papers at the police station. That was the first time my students ever had a sub, and sadly, I think it ruined them! They were doing so great, especially with all the time off we've had. But Monday and Tuesday were not good days. I saw those same old behaviors...until I pointed out that Wednesday was parent teacher conference day and I would be talking to each and every parent about how their child behaves. Things were a little bit better after that, for about 5 minutes!

Wednesday was another day off for the students, but for the teachers it was a day full of parents! I was nervous going into the day all day. There is no way to know how a conference will go or what will happen. Fortunately, I do have good students- even though they don't always show it! I was able to brag about how great each kid is and what progress I've seen. Even with my more troublesome students their parents were not surprised and very understanding. We were able to discuss the behaviors or difficulties and what could be done to modify or help them.

The other nerve-wracking part was the language barrier. My French is embarrassingly awful and really not helpful at this point. And Arabic...yea.  Each teacher was assigned a translator to help, but mine was sick and didn't come to school. I had another one "on-call" but, thankfully, most of my parents were okay with English. I felt that all the conferences went well, but I do wonder if some things were lost in translation.

On a sidenote: I also walked away from conferences with total shoe envy! The women here have gorgeous shoes!!! Boots, to be more specific!

Wednesday night, we had to wait until 9:30 to find out if we would have school the next day. Islamic holidays are determined by a lunar calendar. So the date can be predicted, but not known for sure until right before! We were scheduled to have Thursday off in honor of the holiday, but since the holiday was moved to Friday we had school on Thursday and now have a three-day weekend! I guess the anticipation of waiting for the decree was something like checking to see if school is canceled for a snow day!

A few of my students were absent on Thursday. For the first time in quite a while I had to count heads when we went places because I couldn't believe how small my class looked; I thought for sure someone (or a few) got left behind! The highlight though was receiving a package from MY Parents!!! These packages have just been chilling at the post office for one or two Months. I never got a notice about them, and even if I had, picking them up is a challenge because the post office is on the other side of town and closes shortly after school lets out. I passed the tracking info on in hopes the mail courier could get them for me. And He Did!!! It was full of all the essentials: warm mittens, fuzzy socks, yummy food seasonings, a fantastic candle, books for my kiddos, laminated leaves (that they will totally love!), and of course some shoes! essentials.  ;)

So my lesson of the week, parents are pretty great. No matter what language they speak or how far away they are! Love you Mom and Dad!  

The Lazy Weekend

Four-day weekend #2 was originally going to be another get away. First it was Spain, then London, then Marrakesh, and it turned out to be nothing but a lazy (and awesome) weekend at home! Marrakesh almost happened until my poor travel buddy got the flu and instead spent her weekend in bed and regaining health.

We had time off for a huge conference being held in Portugal that a lot of the staff was headed too. I don't think the school could operate with that many staff members gone, so we had the weekend off!

It started with a PD/half day on Wednesday (Halloween). There was a Halloween party at another staff members apartment so I to figure out what to wear! I ended up stealing the idea from my sick roommate and went as blackmail...I wore all black and pinned a postage stamp to my back...get it?
Jasmine was Ginger Spice along with her other spice girls/posse. John was a Ceiling Fan (thus the "go ceiling" poster)...were so punny! 


My favorite and the best costumes went to Chris and Carolyn. Chris was a Sidi Ali (Aquafina) bottle and Carolyn was a Tajine...traditional Moroccan dish, kind of like a stew. Clever, cute, and cultural!

On Thursday, I went with Chris and Carolyn on a little Casablanca adventure. We were searching for the black electronics market. We searched for as long as we could and then of course, on our way back to the apartments we found it! Unfortunately, we didn't have time to look around, but now we know where it is!

We got back to campus just as another group was heading out to the Haboose. Its the best-known market in Casa, where you can find all the cultural souvenirs and what not! Note the jewelry, plates, lanterns, lamps, and thousand other things packed into a tiny room! I bought some earrings...they're cute! We found all kinds of interesting and crazy things there.


The most intriguing were the animal hides. Like the lime green pelts and the tiger stripped fox. It was pretty interesting. I also saw a cow hide rug complete with tail. But honestly, how could a bear rug ever compare to a camel rug, complete with hump.



Friday, three of us went on a day trip to El Jadida. We got on the wrong train- easy to do when Nothing is marked! But we still made it! We explored the old Portuguese fort and the cisterns there.  Saturday and Sunday was spent mostly working in my classroom- getting things cleaned up and organized! We have recently gotten hooked on the television show Downton Abbey...it's a British show that follows a wealthy family and their house help in the early 1900s. We watched an entire season (and maybe a little extra) over one weekend. What are lazy weekends for right!?