Tuesday
Well, it’s been mostly rainy and cold the past few days here in Rabat. We had a huge thunderstorm a few nights ago and one of the trees in the back yard fell down… luckily not on the house, but It was a really good shade tree so that’s a bummer. My class was good today, we started off really well and review was easier for them! I worked on some phonetics which they seemed to understand somewhat, then I moved on to times like weeks, months, times of day etc.. but that was too easy for most of them. I then took out a lesson plan on weather that wasn’t even for today and THAT was too easy for them as well. I let them out a few minutes early because I really had little else prepared that would work that day. I talked to a few of them who said it was pretty easy and I said I would make it harder tomorrow. Unfortunately our internet has been messing up so it will be hard to have hand outs printed :/ I will be working on more relevant things tomorrow, like workplace and classroom vocab (desk, phone, printer etc…) since they ARE here to hopefully get a job as receptionists or other jobs that could require a little English.
In other news, I’m going to Essouira this weekend! I hope the cold weather doesn’t follow us up there because it’s known for it’s beaches and I’m hoping to try a little surfing if the waves are decent. Most of all I just want some sun! Who told Morocco it was okay to be cold?? I mean, if I wanted this weather I would be in Michigan right now :P hahah, so anyway, I’ll be going with Carley, Jordan and George. Ashley, Jason and Kim leave this weekend so we will have to properly send them off on Thursday night. Kim has been talking about going to a dance club in Rabat since she really hasn’t gone out AT ALL this trip. The only problem is that most clubs are not female friendly (unless you’re a prostitute or would like to be thought of as one). I would really love to go dancing but it’s been hard trying to find anywhere that is appropriate for us to go. She found two places in the Lonely Planet guide book that have good reviews though, they are in hotels and are known to be very upscale and modern (with American themes). I’ve heard that the more modern it is, the better. So we’ll see how that plays out.
After I work on some lesson plans, I’m meeting Ashley at the orphanage and walking to the Medina with her to go shopping :D I won’t be doing ALL my shopping now since it’s so early and I really don’t want to lug everything around with me but I do want to ship a bunch of things home since shipping is cheaper than taking an extra bag on the plane I think. I wish I could just stock up and buy a ton of everything because there are so many cool things that would make awesome gifts for people or cool decorations for my apartment. The clothes and shoes are cool as well.. I may be broke when I get back ;D
Goodbye for now!
Today!
Shopping with Ashley yesterday was quite successful and even somewhat of an adventure. I got some perfume (It’s quite lovely and smelly!), a red and black traditionally decorated shirt/ tunic thing, the leather purse that I’ve been needing, and I finally got my cell phone! I only paid 200 DH (about 25 bucks) for it and I’ve been having all kinds of fun with it. It has some really fun games and a prayer reminder setting, it has an application that tells me which way mecca is (no matter where I am!), there’s also a fake call setting that lets you set a time anywhere from 5 seconds to 3 minutes to get a “phone call” so you can get out of a situation easier (hahah).
Our shopping became somewhat interesting when it started POURING rain, luckily I had a rain coat, but Ashley just had a t-shirt so we were hopping, running, skipping from stall to stall to stay as dry as possible. I was checking out some super cute Nikes when I heard “teacher, teacher!” behind me and felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see one of my English students grinning from ear to ear. He told me in broken English mixed with French that he had class that day and would be there tomorrow. It was cute :D I felt kinda famous for a second hahah.. I was also excited to find a few people who sell the hookahs made of pure brass! They are gorgeous and look hand-made, I will have to go back and get one later for sure. Ashley also bought a hookah that spins for her boyfriend, it’s very cool as well.
We finished off our shopping extravaganza with some pizza and wings at a Dominoes Pizza in our neighborhood since we had missed lunch and tea time. Note to self: NEVER get Moroccan hot wings.. at least not at a Moroccan Dominoes. The pizza was just fine but the wings were naked and served with an oil with hot pepper in it that was indeed SPICY but it didn’t taste like anything, they also gave us barbeque dipping sauce. Utter fail. We had a good laugh and fed some of it to some street cats who appreciated it immensely more than we ever could have.
In other news, the whole not having internet thing has kind-of thrown a wrench in the works. I can’t access my blog, I can’t go online to prepare lesson plans, and I can’t print anything (because I need to e-mail anything I need printed. The printing part is the worst since I have to write out all the exercises for my English class and I can’t bring them the hand-outs and activities I planned. I’m also unable to print my ballot and voting papers that have been e-mailed to me. I hope we get back online soon so I can get my vote in on time.
My english class was struck by murphy's law today. First, I didn't have the handouts I promised them (or the new ones for that lesson) because of the internet problems. Second, only a half hour into our class we got kicked out of our class room and had to move to another room. Third, the room wasn't a classroom, it was the cafeteria that had a bad echo. Fourth, I had to run up to the top floor to get a white board since I have no hand outs, we NEEDED something for a visual. Fifth, once we were all settled I realized that the white board was written on with PERMANENT marker! So I had to write between lines the whole rest of the class. I felt so bad because they had a really hard time reading it. It was a good class though other than that, I think they learned more, reviewed well, and there were even more students than before. Chad said his class has grown too, and I think Jill's looked much bigger as well, so they must be learning SOMETHING. I hope :)
All of this craziness started getting to me today and stressing me out so I stayed home from the outings and shopping trips to organize my thoughts and relax myself. I laid out in the sun for an hour on the back porch, had tea and watched Judy try to help a bird get out of the window it was trapped in, sat in the sun again while organizing my notes and planning class. I worked out a little, took a looooong shower, then organized my masses of clothing (it's kinda sad that I'm finally doing this when I have a little over a week left). I feel much better now, and ready to face the world again.
If you don't hear from me by Friday morning...
I'll be in Essouira soaking up some sun for the weekend :D
Hasta la vista baby!
*phew* I didn't realize how much you'd rely on the internet there! I'm tellin' you, next time, get them up and teach them a line dance! or make pairs practice restaurant customer and server.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you did a great job rolling with the punches and that they really appreciate your work.
hope you find a totally audacious wave!
Sounds like you have a very bright group of students. OR, you're doing an excellent job challenging them and making it fun and interesting. I'm sure they also see how much you care when you fight through all the challenges, doing whatever you have to to make the class work.
ReplyDeleteAbout your Tuesday note, now I bet you have a pretty good idea how nuts I was toting around huge quantities of STUFF with me in China and then in India, to take back as Christmas presents. Remember those wooden boxes from India? Just imagine. Did you ever hear the story about your Uncle Don at the luggage carousel in Denver, picking up the huge extra suitcase I'd bought in China to hold all my stuff? It wasn't too surprising that the handle broke off of it when he tried to pick it up, 'cause it was so heavy! :D ;}
ReplyDeleteSmart girl, you are, to ship stuff back, instead!
Dang, here you were working so incredibly hard and putting so much into teaching the English classes, and then THAT just had to happen, TOTALLY throwing a wrench in the works. You must've just been fried.
ReplyDeleteAgain it's proven true that, as Roseanne Roseannadanna always said on SNL, "It's aaaaaaaaaaaalways SOMEthing.