أعتقد أن الأفكار وأنا عالية فوق المدينة

Hello dear friends. I hope you have had a wonderful Saturday just as I have. If you're wondering, the title of my blog is "Thoughts that I think as I'm high above the city," although I'm not sure that's what it really says--that's just what I typed into Google Translate.

Today turned out completely different than I had originally planned, and it was wonderful! My typical Saturday morning routine involves sleeping in until at least 10 to catch up on a lack of sleep from the work week. However, I had promised some friends I would meet them for breakfast at 9. What was I thinking? After rolling in 15 minutes later per my usual style, I had a great time chatting with the other teachers and Amy W. Delicious cafe au lait woke me up, and the good company cheered my tired spirit.

After a breakfast of mlaui, juice, and coffee, we were off to Fes Jedid to check out fabric. . . again!  Remember the fabric I bought two months ago (and overpaid)? Well, it ended up getting locked in the tailor's store due to some incorrectly filed paperwork--or something like that. We went back to the fabric store to try to buy more, but unfortunately, they're out! I'm not sure yet what will happen now. It appears my choices are wait out the paperwork issue indefinitely, or buy new fabric. After the discussion at the fabric shop, we taxied into the rest of the medina to look at. . .what else? Shoes, of course!  I was able to find a really cute yellow leather pair. "I give you good price!" And of course, what medina trip is complete without a stop at our friend Juad's store--he calls us all "scallywag" (real pirate, this guy) and sells us silver earrings for only 5 durhams a piece! What a steal! :)

I got back home and fully intended on vegging out in my room--catching up on tv shows from the week, taking a ridiculously long nap, snacking on junk food. However, I'm so glad that I have such wonderful roommates who invite me to enjoy life! I had already been to the Medina once today,  but Kirsten and Collette were planning to go back to visit another teacher from the school.  I figured I didn't want to hang out with a bunch of people (and 4 didn't sound like too many), and I wasn't looking forward to being home along (even if I was going to be locked in my room).  So, I decided--why not??!!  I didn't go out last weekend, and I was caught up on my lesson planning.  PTL that I went! I had such a relaxing, enjoyable evening. 

We taxied to the entrance of the Medina and walked to a Tea House just inside the gates. It was beautiful--a little haven of comfort inside the city walls surrounded by so many people!  We sat and chatted, sipping on coffee and juice (surprisingly, we didn't have tea at the TEA house!) for a while before moving on. We walked down the main alleys of the Medina, found some scarves & bracelets, looked at lots of wonderful fruit (which we bought on our way out--pomegranates! mmmmmm), and made our may to the friend's house. Her apartment, 5 stories high, is the tallest in the neighborhood. After having more coffee, we headed up to the roof at sunset to look out over the Medina, singing praises to our King & creator, and interceding for the many who are lost. It was truly amazing to look out over the miles of rooftops & buildings and to think that all (or at least most) of these people are lost and don't even know it. I was really praying for a peace tonight--that everyone in the city would have an incomprehensible peace as they went to bed, and be so curious about it that they would start searching and find the One who freely gives grace and peace that passes human understanding! 

Today was just a fantastic Saturday! I felt very much at home and comfortable in the city, especially in the Medina--a place where I so often feel so overwhelmed by culture shock and language & social barriers. It was a great feeling to actually be happy in Fes--I hope this feeling continues! 

One last tidbit--when Kirsten and I arrived back at our apartment, we had a short chat about how one great thing about living in Morocco is the fact that I sometimes feel like I'm in Bible times. It really gives me a different perspective of the Arab people when I think that they live the way our Savior lived, have lots of the same traditions & customs, a similar language, etc. It really makes some passages in the Word stand out and come alive that much more! So, anyone who wants to visit and check out what I'm talking about, Maharbabik--you are welcome!

P.S. Here are some pictures from the day out!

The Tea House

My roommates--Kirsten & Collette

My first meal from a street vendor in the Medina

View from the roof

The Medina at sunset

C'est Vendredi!!!

I've officially passed the halfway mark of the first quarter, just finished up week 6 today.  It's still incredibly weird to think that I'm a teaching, I've been teaching for 6 weeks, and I live in Morocco!  While I don't think that my students have learned that much, or at least would be unable to reproduce anything we've talked about in class, I've learned a lot. I've learned that just because they can repeat a definition, they  more than likely can't use the vocabulary word correctly in a sentence. I've learned that many students don't care that they didn't do their homework. I've learned that reading is not a high priority for most of my students (and now I need to find an interesting way to teach it). I've learned they enjoy my Friday classes (apparently they're too easy, and filled with too much singing! :) ). I've learned that no matter how many times I write certain names on the board, the talkative kids don't get the message that they need to be quiet! I've learned that candy and bonus points are big motivators!

So I'm still adjusting (a bit plateaued on the "Moroccan" side, and still working hard on the "teaching" side), but I wanted to share with you about my day--it was a good Friday (or as Rebecca Black says. . . "fun, fun, fun")! My day started off with some good prayer--two of my friends dropped by for a spontaneous 30-second prayer which was just what I needed as I woke up utterly exhausted today and in no mood to teach. My freshmen were great, and we spent most of the period talking about literature, and the other part singing my favorite song for the day--Friday.  They've gotten pretty used to me jamming in the halls the last day of every week!

Lunch was great! I mean, when is it not??? :) My two roommates, Kirsten and Collette, and I have begun preparing meals 2 to 3 nights a week--which means LEFTOVERS for lunch!!! Today was spaghetti with white cheese sauce, broccoli, and mushrooms. Also, lunch break on Friday's is 20 minutes longer than the other four days = eating at a normal speed rather than scarfing my food like there's no tomorrow . . . which there may not be. Ha!

After lunch, I had my Foundations and Honors classes.  I'm pleased to announce that I assigned 2 "complaint" papers in each class! I have started a new policy--excessive complaining = a 3-5 page paper on why the students should not have complained and why he/she will no longer complain in my class. The students try to bargain and complain their way out of lots of things (nay, everything!), and it's wearing on my nerves. Thus, a new classroom policy.  We'll see whether they turn in the papers next week or not. I'll keep you posted!

I'm free the last period of the day, and so I had a nice chat with the school's director, another teacher, and Mark Weiderwohl. We chatted about the new espresso and latte's soon to be served to the teachers in the mornings (Yay!), dance classes, block scheduling, cook outs, and the like--most of the conversation was not geared toward the male in the room (Sorry, Mark!), but it was nice to feel like I could relax for 40 minutes rather than rushing around grading papers and planning for next week. I'm pleased to announce that I've switched to doing a few Units in two of my classes, so I'm caught up on planning (for the most part) for the next 2-3 weeks!

After school, the middle school English teacher and I went to my favorite cafe, Le Carlton, which is mere minutes from my apartment. It was wonderful to chat about school, language (Arabic & French), life, traveling, students and more for an hour or so. I'm so glad that I have such a great relationship with the other teachers here. It makes my job that much more enjoyable!

Back at the apartment, my roommate Kirsten, fluent in Arabic, gave me my 3rd Arabic lesson of the week.  I can now say "I went to the school today," "I want a kilo of X (vegetable/fruit) please," and "How much for a kilo of X?" However, it takes me about 3 minutes to think of the correct conjugation and pronunciation, so I'm still in the extremely beginning stages of language acquisition here. However, it is pretty exciting to think that I'm learning a few things day by day.

Tomorrow I'm going back to the Medina to look at fabric and. . . shoes! Anyone surprised??? :)  I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend, hoping to take a few more pictures to show y'all, and be able to spend time with teacher friends outside the school buildings.  Have a fantastic week!!! xoxo