 Restaurant in Rabat with a wonderful singer and oud player. Thank you to Samira Idel, my friend!
 High school students in Sale at the end of the school day with Ms Sprague. I wanted to talk to them, and sort of got in trouble because the group had a tight schedule this day.
 Oranges just hanging in a tree at a teacher's preparation school in Rabat.
 Veggie cart in Rabat. MMMM...
 Country living in Morocco (central region).
 Students presenting a report on Moroccan customs. They are wearing traditional clothing for this presentation.
 Road into the Marrekesh souk - where shopping happens.
 Canal from the Atlas mountains to the fields around Beni Mellal. The water is deep and swift and the sides of the canal are very steep, which sometimes causes drownings among the workers who live near the farms. We watched a woman with a child on her back, baking bread in an outdoor oven. There was also a lady getting buckets of water from the canal, who was very close to the edge. We were holding our breath.
 A little traffic in Casablanca.
 Henna for the "tourists". A good henna artist is skilled and works quickly. To get your money's worth make sure the henna is of good quality or it will fade very quickly.
 View of the mountains from a Beni Mellal public school...so lovely!
 Mounted guards outside of royal tombs in Rabat. They and their horses stand so still (for 6 hour shifts) that they sometimes look like statues.
 Micky D's in Marrekesh.
 Beautiful mosque in Marrekesh at twilight.
 This high school girl let me take a close up photo of her design for her hijab, made by pins and folds in the scarf. Amazingly beautiful and intricate.
 This is a photo taken by one of Fatimezzahra's students. It was sent as a thank you to one of my students who gave a pencil sketch in his greeting to the Moroccan students.
 Stork on the wall of the souk in Marrekesh.
 Kitten at the roadside restaurant on the way to Marrekesh. Cats are not necessarily regarded as pets in Morocco, but more as part of nature.
 Tortoise in Fatimezzahra's backyard that the housepainters for some reason also painted.
 Duck siting in the nursery-kindergarten level play yard of the private school in Beni Mellal.
 Fatimezzahra's brother raised a special breed of Turkish dog. These are the latest batch of puppies found at their "farm".
 My cat, Elliot, who was patiently waiting for his "mom" to return from Morocco.
 This lovely portrait (not current time) is of the King of Morocco and his wife and son. The King and Queen first met while jet skiing (I was told.). The royal family is highly regarded in Morocco. I tried to take photos of the photos of the King every- where I found them.
 Here he is in the Cassablanca bus station. Sorry for the blur but we were moving through quickly.
 Here he is in Marrekesh. This was taken in a restaurant with a maritime theme and so the uniform was featured.
 The King in the district educational center in Beni Mellal
 In a computer room in a private school in Rabat.
 In the principal's office in public school in Sale.
 Most importantly, the King and his son, in Fatimezzahra's orphanage. He was to visit Beni Mellal the week after our visit and was scheduled to visit the children here. We left hoping that he would find a way to help Fatimezzahra's babies...
 During our visits to public and private schools in the Rabat and Sale districts, we were treated to an English classes rendition of Katie Perry's "Fireworks". The students did an amazing job and seemed to love singing this pop song.
 At the American Language Center in Rabat, these students were playing a competitive game to increase vocabulary and comprehension. Students come to the Center after a full day of school to learn and improve their English. I was told that many students seek to learn English because it is the dominant language of technology, one key to an education and better life.
 In Beni Mellal, my host teacher's city, my American colleagues and I presented at a district teachers' professional development. This teacher stayed after the presentation to look at and comment on our JSEC's peace flags. He even took one of the cloth pieces to create his own wishes for peace. Thank you sir!
 The following photos are evidence of a great visual art program at the private school, G.S. KAD, where Fatemazzahra Massaq, my host teacher, also teaches. She leads a very busy and full life.
Some of the pieces of art work contained topics of social concern. This piece was created for Woman's Day which is observed nationally.
In our host teacher's class, they were improving their English by producing a production of King Lear. I was honored to be asked to help with staging, revising some stage combat scenes, and adding a period finale dance (Farandole).
Every time that we met with a new class, whether in a public school, or private school, we introduced ourselves to the students and shared something special about our lives and the United States. The students were curious about the lives of teens in the U.S. and were surprised about the similarities. In all the photos, note the environment.
I have not used chalk and chalkboard in a long time. Teachers move their location for each class and therefore cannot place anything on the walls. They must carry their chalk and erasers with them. In this one particular school, there is electricity for computer run presentations (power point) in one or two rooms that could be locked. Note that the room is open to the elements. It works because of the milder climate (no snow). Everyone wears jackets when chilly. Note the white jackets that only the girls wear. I asked and Fatimezzahra, my host teacher, said that they were uniforms for modesty.
This is a photo of my wonderful host teacher, Fatimezzahra Massaq, who not only took care of us, but quite willingly let us teach and collaborate with her in her classes. As we observed her classes, we saw her accessing students' prior knowledge on the topic of her lesson, but webbed their ideas. She used authentic teaching and learning tasks, such as sending her students out to research local non governmental organizations (called associations here) and to carry out civic engagement actions on behalf of these associations.
Here I am introducing what topics we study in How the World Works course. This is the private school (more to come on this school later). Again note the environment.
Here in the private school that we spent some time in, I am presenting what topics we study in How the World Works. The students are creating their Peace One Day peace flags that I will be bringing back to JSEC. Again, please note the environment.
This is Mr. Hamdi Srissar, the teacher from Dahkla who was to be my host teacher, before I was reassigned. He and his students will be partnering with JSEC on Peace One Day next September 21, 2013.
Here is Mr. Srissar in his traditional clothing. He wore this beautiful clothing with great pride in his culture.
This is Khadija Rahaoui posing in front of the teachers' training facility. She kindly gave many informative seminars on history, culture, and education for Morocco. She is from the North. Moroccans often refer to which section of their country that they come from North, South, East, and West.
Samira Idel is a friend of Ms. Lallo and me. I was happy to get to see her in Rabat where she is studying to be a supervisor, a lead teacher but with more duties and responsibilities. She will be in charge of teacher evaluations and teacher development. All teachers and education administrators are government employees and must go to work where the government tells them. They can however apply for postings in the part of the country that they wish. Samira hopes to be posted in the south as she is from the city of Tiznet. She worked to make Somerville, Massachusetts and Tiznet sister cities.
Fatimezzahra Massaq is our host teacher in Beni Mellal and she and her family have been above and beyond gracious! She is in the center of the group. Sorry that the picture is so dark. I am sure that I have other pictures of her, but as usual there are issues with technology...
Not on the same level with the friends in the above frames, but still interesting is the tortoise that was in Fatimezzahra's backyard today. Notice the painted shell which was a mystery to her, but she asked a child that lives with her who said that the house painters painted it. This animal only shows up once or twice a year. We were happy to see him? Her?
We were told that the bus trip from Rabat to Beni Mellal would take three hours...but it actually took about two hours to travel to Casablanca (much traffic and slow going in this city) and then after a short layover in the bus station (Here was my first turkish toilet of this trip) it then took another five hours to get to Beni Mellal. The best thing about this trip was that the land was interesting and beautiful. Visible were many people who grew, and gathered crops and raised cattle, sheep and goats. In the suburbs and even in the middle of no where there were also incredible mansions. I sat beside a Moroccan woman who is currently living in Sarasota, Florida. She gave me some French lessons as I tried to remember my high school studies. I am trying. Beni Mellal is right at the edge of the mid Atlas mountains. The view from the high school's windows is breathtaking. I told a student today that I wanted to keep looking out the window and she said that she too was often tempted.
Following are some
Ann Adams, one of the teachers with whom I am traveling, and I at the Rabat bus station. We were loaded onto one bus and then had to change busses for some unknown reason and then we were on our way to Casablanca.
The highway ran parallel to the Atlantic ocean as we traveled from Rabat to Casablanca.
Downtown Casablanca. Do you see from the name of the city how Spanish is integrated into the Moroccan culture (along with Moroccan Arabic, French, and the Amazigh language.
Flat farm and grazing land gave way to rolling hills with occasional breaks of higher terrain.
Fields of olive trees and fruit trees are visible on the way to Beni Mellal. It is to be noted that passing slower vehicles on a narrow two lane highway with oncoming traffic was sometimes nerve wracking, but our bus driver demonstrated great skill.
3.13.13 - We visited a public high school, a private middle school and an American Language Center. These girls are in an English as a Second Language class in the private middle school in Sale, Morocco. The class read a passage in their textbooks, gave us a special welcome speech and sang Katie Perry's "Fireworks". English is very popular with students now because they feel as though they can access more information and opportunities.
Dates and milk were served as a traditional welcome at the private school. Later we were served pastry and cookies with Moroccan sweetened mint tea. In fact in all but one location that day, we were served lovely refreshments as is the custom. Thank you Morocco!
Morocco is a monarchy with a parliament. This is a picture of the King, his wife, and his son. The King's picture is displayed everywhere demonstrating the high regard that the Moroccan people have for him. This very large and attractive portrait is in the lobby of our hotel along with some other historical family portraits.
 Kristin Leboe (on the left) is our IREX Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) representative who takes great care of us. On the right is Kawthar Slaitane who is the TGC Moroccan coordinator who has planned our scheduled meetings, school, and cultural visits. This was taken at one of our many amazing meals.
This is a picture of a Moroccan salad. There are all kinds of cooked vegetables, olives, with eggplant in the center, As a vegetarian I do quite well when this dish is served. The large platter is placed in the center of the table and everyone helps themselves. Bread is served with every meal. Usually after this dish is another main course usually with meat, chicken, or fish and after that is dessert and sweetened mint tea.
When the management of the hotel restaurant learned that do not eat meat, they kindly began to make me separate dishes at lunch and dinner. This is couscous (a grain that is a staple here in Morocco) with vegetables. The servings are so large that I could barely eat a quarter of it!
A two hour trip to Detroit, MI; a three hour layover; almost an 8 hour flight to Charles De Gaulle airport, France; another 3 hour layover; and a 21/2 hour flight to Morocco, but here I am. We were told that the weather has been overcast and very rainy of late, but the Americans brought the sun with them. Gorgeous weather! Our hotel is very close the the medina (old walled city), so JSEC students be prepared to be waved at from across the Atlantic Ocean because we are going there tomorrow. We exchanged some money, almost insulted a very helpful bellman who showed us how to use the ATM to exchange USD for dirhams (I tipped him too little and had to give him more money when I realized that I miscalculated the worth of the dirham! Mike and I got to meet our former host teacher as IREX flew him to Rabat for these three days of seminars and we will make partnership plans with his school and students. We had a nice dinner in traditional Moroccan style and the meat eaters learned how to pull the chicken off the platter using three fingers on the right hand. My new co-teachers and I learned that we are taking a bus get to Beni Mellal on Thursdaky And so our adventure begins.  One tired traveler who was so pleased to be in beautiful Morocco! The foreground finger was one of Mike Farmer's, but thanks for shooting the pic anyway, Mike!
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