Morocco, Weeks Fifteen and Sixteen
I’m combining weeks fifteen and sixteen into one post because the former was action-packed and full of new experiences, while the latter was uneventful and full of work. Any week that begins with Halloween is destined to go well.1 Sadly, Halloween is not a widely celebrated holiday in Morocco. Luckily for me, I work at an international school, which means I can go to work in costume and receive admiration and smiles instead of funny looks. So at precisely 7:30am, I was sitting in the library in a reasonably convincing gypsy costume,...
read more ->Morocco, Week Fourteen
Week fourteen began with Austrians and ended with Germans. I had two delightful Austrian house guests, Sabine and Hans-Peter, who kept me entertained on Monday and Tuesday. Both of them had quit their jobs, bought motorcycles, and embarked on an around-the-world journey. (They took crash courses in motorcycle repair before leaving.) Next up: traveling down the western coast of Africa. Their trip ends, I suppose, when they get tired of traveling and move on to the next thing in their lives. We ate delectable Moroccan food, played with Loki, and...
read more ->Morocco, Week Thirteen
I began this post on Sunday morning, sitting in my underwear typing it up. Because, really, being able to lounge around the house in your underwear is one of the nicest perks of living alone. I had woken up an hour earlier, with early-morning sunlight glinting in through my window.1 Partially because I was rejuvenated from a relaxing weekend in Chefchaouen, and partially because my work week was only four days long, my week started out great. Got lots done in the library, and even managed to begin the planning stages of a new, exciting project...
read more ->Morocco, Week Twelve
“The only things they trust are the racing ships Posiedon gave, to sail the deep blue sea like white wings in the sky, or a flashing thought.” The Odyssey (Homer) One of the perks of working in a school1 is getting to hear children say all sorts of silly things. Students at AST (especially the kindergartners) are fond of exclaiming, “Oh my God!” at the drop of a hat, for instance.2 Talking about volcanoes? “Oh my God!” Finding out that a dinosaur in a book is too tall to fit on the page? “Oh my...
read more ->Morocco, Week Eleven
Another slow week, which means a short blog post this time.1 After a long work day on Monday, I took a spontaneous trip to the school swimming pool with a couple kids in tow.2 We practiced swimming, splashed, and even had a spirited game of marco polo, then headed to Wafae’s house for soup and Moroccan pastries.3 On Tuesday evening, I accompanied a couple of friends to an informal basketball game with their buddies, where–for lack of proper footwear–I sat and snickered at their warmup hijinks. Ten minutes of utter chaos, with...
read more ->
