The LAST day of Sept!! Tomorrow is OCTOBER! :)

I came to school today and I had TWO packages in my mail box!!! Even my kids were excited for me!! They kept asking who the packages were from and if they were from America!!!! Thank you Bill and Julie!! What a treat from the USA!! All day other teachers were asking about my "mail"!.....can you tell we are all missing home?!

Well, no photos for you and not much time to write....mid-term progress reports are due the end of this week....tomorrow...so I need to do some grading and recording tonight. But, too much crazy stuff is happening lately, so I needed to jot a few of them down.

Questions I have had lately:

How does a huge cockroach end up on his back in the middle of my bedroom floor? He's just lying there waving his arms and legs asking for help......I'm thinking...."la!" (No! in Arabic!) and then I smash him!

Where would a guy take my car and then bring it back??????? Really, this happened tonight! Okay, so we shouldn't have trusted the guy enough to leave our keys with him.....he was going to move the car and wash it while we did our walk on the beach. Well, we finished our walk and they had moved the car so they could reach it with the hose and were still in the process of cleaning it. Sooooo we went back in to have a glass of wine and a bite to eat. We come out and NO car! The parking attendant was still there (thank goodness!), so Marcia started laying into him in French (remember, she does the talking....I do the driving!). He keeps telling her that the car is right there (I think he means is WILL be right there shortly) but it is NOT....so she keeps yelling at him. ( I am sooo proud of her and her language skills!) she starts looking through her purse and says she wants to talk to the police....this scares him and he is pleading...no! Then.....here comes our car.... The first guy is saying in Arabic to the guy that returns the car "Shame on you!"(hshuma).....so we KNOW that this should NOT have happened. So we continue to say, "Hshuma!", get into the car and start to check our things......no homework has been corrected and all seems to be in our backpacks as we left it.........Thanking God alllllllllll the way home! ....note to self....NEVER leave your keys with someone you don't really know in Morocco!!

French and Arabic classes are starting up next week....do I have enough energy and memory left at the end of Tues and Thurs to sign up for beginning French?? Marcia thinks I should sign up and she wants to try out the French service at church....thinks it will be good for me once I start to pick up some of the language.....she is probably right! I think I'll give it a try! :)

How many things do you think you might see crossing the road in Morocco? So far, we have seen:
men on donkey carts,
kids on bikes, roller blades, etc.
mothers with babies tied on their backs
cows, goats, dogs, cats, donkeys
wheel barrows - empty ones and ones filled with fruits and vegetables

Who would guess we would be paying for:
a home to live in (which we dearly love, by the way!!)
a car (a VERY strange car....the right front light keeps falling part way out, the right rear tire is bad, the doors only open if you have really strong muscles or if you shut the car off. Last night was the best....the landlord called and told us our lights were left on in the car. I was sure I had turned them off...but, put my pants and long shirt back on and headed out to see. Sure enough....the right front light was on....I opened the door and the switch was OFF.....I turned the car on, then off and the light went off......?????????????
a guard ( it's true! we pay the local guy that watches our little neighborhood corner about $12/mo to "keep an eye on things"!!)
a couple cleaning ladies that come whenever they feel like it! (actually I LOVE when they come...they do a GREAT job of cleaning and make us a wonderful meal)....but.....they were suppose to come on Monday and ended up finally showing up on Thursday this week! (Twice I had taken the sheets off my bed to have them washed....we had just given up and then this am we are leaving the building and there they are!!) :)

Wondering when I might get a pin # for my bank account??? I got the lovely debit card two weeks ago, had automatic deposit today, but still no pin # to be able to access the account! I went again to HR to ask about this situation and they again told me....it will arrive in 2 -3 weeks! I asked how I am suppose to get money in the mean time. She tells me I can go to the bank with my passport and fill out paper work and they will give me cash. Okay, I say....Then I ask what their hours are and she says...................9 -2:30!!!! I tell her I work!! She suggests I take an hour off over my prep period.....this would take MUCH longer than an hour, but I shrug and leave her office with my head hanging low!!

Long story short......EVERY day here is interesting, hard, challenging, frustrating, crazy, funny and ....a gift from God! :)

Love you all! Miss you all! Thanks for the prayers, the emails, the notes, the letters and the packages!!!!

xo Jill

Tuesday - Sept. 28th Happy Birthday Carol!!

Happy birthday Carol! Hope your Dubuque friends are treating you well today! xo

It's another day here in Casa! Mornings and evenings are really cooling off and it feels wonderful....great sleeping weather! I'm listening to the big waves crashing in this evening...well, in between the wild dogs barking and the muffler-less motorcycles!! :)

Well, another challenging day in my tech life....the blog photo gallery changed and I just got the last version figured out....so, I'll check with a friend and figure it out so I can add photos again....frustrating to say the least!! Whoever came up with "it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks" was so right on! :)

I had a really tough day yesterday. Today was a bit better. Seems we are all going through high and low days.....good thing we are hitting the lows on different days to be able to help each other out. The group of new hires is a wonderful and very supportive group!! I feel very blessed for each one of them!

We had a staff meeting yesterday and basically, the board has changed the "vision" of the school. Lots of concern and disappointed people. Please, pray for the school and it's vision of where it is headed in the next couple of years.

Cute saying from the day: (My class is suppose to stay on a "green" card all day. If they do something naughty they change the card to yellow as a warning. Second time is to orange and they miss some recess time. Third time is RED and they are in trouble with home and the office.) So...a little girl in my class that had to change her card to red says..."Miss.....red is like orange??" my response...."No it is not like orange!" I spend SO much time disciplining......the culture here is LOUD and VERY chatty....and the children are no different! It is VERY tiring by the end of each day!

I did get away last weekend again with my three girlfriends that are my age. We drove to a small town two hours south of here and spent Saturday night. On the way back I got my first speeding ticket. The HR staff had warned us about getting picked up and that there are corrupt police.... the advice they gave us helped a lot. The advice was:
1 - Don't speak anything but English. (If they think you know French they won't feel sorry for you.)
2 - Don't pay them ANYTHING....ask for a ticket. (They will try and get $$ and then pocket it.)
Sure enough, they told me I was speeding and fined me 400 dirhams ($50 US $$). When I asked for a ticket they said "No, pay us!". I said, "I will pay you later. Give me a ticket now. I have no money." We argued a bit, he asked what nationality we were and I told them American, he smiles and says, "Washington?"  I said, "Yes!" He says, "Go slowly.." I say, "Okay!" and off we go. Yip....he was trying to pocket the $50 rather than give me a legit ticket that I could pay later...!!!!!

I'm busy working on grades for mid-term reports, so I'd better get back to them. More in a night or two! Hopefully, with photos! :)

Thank you all for your prayers this week! They have helped!
Love you, Jill

Belated Rabat Group Photo!

                        The gals in Rabat! Having a wonderful weekend at the Roman Ruins!

Thursday - Sept. 23, 2010

Wow! I can't believe it is Thursday already! I guess that says a lot right there.....things are getting a little easier.....finally!



I'm really not all together sure why I say that, other than I am not feeling the stress and saddness I had a week or two ago. I'm not sure if I have just lowered my expectations of the school/students or if I'm just getting used to this crazy way of life. But, whatever the reason, I am happier for it! :)

Another busy week at school. Seems we have had meetings almost every night after school this week! ick!! Reminds me of public school vs. christian school.....toooooooooooo many meetings!



The weather has reallllly cooled off (yeah!) and the days are getting shorter (boooo!). Marcia and I did, however, get a long walk on the beach tonight. It was later, so the tide was low and the sun was going down.


























We saw an awesome sunset and then the heavy mist roll in....beautiful and amazing! Marcia took some great photos tonight. I left my camera behind. We didn't see "our dogs" on the beach tonight, which is just fine!! Only a couple fishermen, a very few soccer players and the two of us!

Sept. 20 - Monday - He says he loves me!!

What a great day! My first Moroccan student (7 years old) that told me today, "Miss, I really love you!" :) I was so touched....especially when a couple other boys heard him and chuckled and he just pushed them away and smiled up at me!! :) Kids....they make me smile every time!!!! The kids call all of us "Miss"....it is so funny....Miss this and Miss that.....hard to get them to call you by your real name....I have kind of given up....at least it sounds respectful and sweet!

Long day though and the last 20 minutes of the day we stand out in the hot, hot sun while we wait for the kids to be picked up. So, Marcia and I came home, dropped off our things and headed to the beach for a long walk. Well......we didn't think it would happen so soon, but I think we have officially gone off the deep end....we were both YELLING at some dogs at the beach! Maybe I'm not making this clear enough....two stray dogs (they are ALL over the place) tagged along with us the whole walk! Like they were pretending to belong to us!! Well, twice at opposite ends of our walk we ran into other stray dogs. The "other" dogs started barking very violently at "our" dogs....like they were on "their territory". So, the second time this happened, Marcia started yelling at the "other" dogs to leave "our" dogs alone.......it was hillarious! I knew what was really going on and after she was done yelling she admitted it....she was really yelling at her 7th grade students!! :) They had given her and every other middle school teacher a hard time today, just like every day.....she just needed to release a little of the tension. "Our" dogs followed us all the way to the car!

I finally connected with an old friend tonight on skype! It was wonderful to see you and Coco, Jane! Thanks for the call!! Sometimes it is hard to connect because of the connection and other times it is the time difference....soooo glad we got to chat tonight! :)

Life in Morocco is going well. Our ladies came to clean and cook today. They hadn't been here for two or more weeks. They made a very yummy chicken, apricot, almond, rice, cinnamon, cumin,.....dish for us for dinner!! Love those gals!

Blessings to all of you!
"Miss" :)

Part II of Friday night!

These are a few photos I stole from Marcia's blog...she got some good ones tonight and last night. I left my camera at school....rats! (Hope it doesn't get stolen!)


This first one is our deal of the evening....we stocked up on wine....the store is WAYYYY across town!

The next photos are of the restaurant next to the gas station that we went to for Marcia's b-day dinner last night....pretty fancy! :)


Lastly, we have the great find at the grocery end of the store....camel meat!! Some kind of spread or something! We didn't end up getting any tonight...enough new things for one week....maybe another time!

That's it for Friday!! :)

TGIF!!!!! Friday - Sept 17th

Wow....what an emotional, exhausting, busy week! There were two new High School Teachers this year, quite a few Middle School and nine out of the 12 Elementary Teachers are new.....plus a new Director of the school, a new Middle School Principal and still waiting on an Elementary Principal......tell you anything??!!??

The middle school students are quite a handful. The two people I commute to school with teach middle school, so I hear a lot of complaining from them....like: "It's a war zone in there!!" and so on....

So, it has been a hard week for a lot of teachers. We are all having to be MUCH firmer teachers than we are used to and that wears on you by the end of the day. Please pray for all the new year teachers here.....lots of young and older gals that are struggling. They are missing home, missing normalcy and feeling like they are having to be grumpy in the classroom all day. Actually, I started to feel a little better later in this past week....finally feeling like I'm getting used to the new curriculum and some-what getting a handle on the kids. I think my turning point was meeting the parents again for curriculum night. Parents are the same everywhere...they just want the best for their child.

Then after school Marcia and I heard a couple of teachers say they were driving to a "mall" to get groceries and supplies. It is across on the other side of Casa, so we asked if we could follow them. Oh my.........we are SO happy to live in our little village of Dar Bouazza. The city is stuffy, sticky and VERY crowded! The traffic is horrible....let's see, where do I start? There is ALWAYS 5 or more vehicles in 4 lanes of traffic! The cars weave in and out like crazy and the motorcycles....I'm not even going to mention them....it is SOOOO dangerous! Marcia and I have an agreement....she does the talking (French) and I do the driving.....we both struggle at times, but it works! :)

Then we are at the mall. Well, Marcia and I finished earlier than the other gals (but had to wait to follow them home ......too many turns to learn it the first time!). I'm standing outside of McDonald's watching the carts full of odds and ends while Marcia goes in Macs to order us a to go meal. There are two kiddie rides next to me and all of a sudden I notice the song that is going along with the merry-go-round....."We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"???!!!!!!!! Didn't have my camera or I would have taken a video for you!!!!

So, we are pulling into our parking lot at home and I slam on the brakes.....in the stall I'm about to pull into a guy is kneeling on a rug and doing his "prayer thing"!!! Marcia has the camera out right away (I drive....she gets to take the fun photos!)....but she decides that maybe wouldn't be a good idea in our own neighborhood and all!! :)

We come upstairs (it takes two trips apiece) and open a bottle of red wine.....ahhhhhh....it's FRIDAY!!!!! LOVE it!!! Tomorrow the plan is to go to a luncheon at some American Club that the school is sponsoring and then to hit Sunny Beach for the rest of the day! I am soooo looking forward to Saturday!

Hope this finds all of you well and looking forward to the weekend as well. ENJOY!
Hugs,
Jill

Sept. 16 - Thursday - My roommate's birthday today!!

Hello from Casa!

What a special day!! It was Marcia's birthday AND the FIRST day it has rained since we got here!!
It was soooo hot and muggy the past few days, so when the storm came rolling in this afternoon, we heard thunder and the whole place cooled off it was



WONDERFUL!
Several of us took Marcia out for her dinner. It was quite a delightful surprise.....we were told it was a restaurant behind a gas station on our way home that wasn't much to look at, but had good food! Wow!!! It was like a banquet hall....chandeliers and all!!

As usual, we weren't sure what we had ordered, but after a long day....we were game for most anything and it was a terrific meal! The first course was yummy flat bread and Moroccan salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and lovely spices). The second course was "chips" (french fries) and a large plate of "meat" (a little of all kinds...when the menu says meat.....they just mean literally ALL kinds of meat!!) and popcorn shrimp.

There is Marcia doing a wonderful job of pouring the "Moroccan Tea" for all of us!

The last photo is of my little friend, McKenna. Marcia and I were kid-sitting earlier for McKenna and her brother, Sawyer. They are kids of a wonderful couple in HR that were out of town. McKenna came to my room (that's where the photo is taken) every morning to help me out until the bell would ring.....wonderful young gal!

Wed. - Sept. 15th First mail from "home!!

First mail from the US arrived two days ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was wonderful to receive something....anything from the USA! My favorite was a letter from a teacher friend that included a photo of she and her hubby....what a treasure! I will hang it in my room and think of them often. Thanks, Linda!! :)

Well, tonight was "Curriculum Night" where the parents come to hear about what their children are learning in my class. It went really well! I had 20 out of 24 parents there!! One of the fathers offered to translate in French for me, so it all worked out very well. That was my first time ever having to give my "talk" and wait for the French translation to happen.

The parents seemed very sweet and asked great questions. They wanted to know how I would compare these children to a 2nd grade in the US.... I told them I thought each have pros and cons....American children know their language very well, they read and comprehend what they read well, but the Arabic children know three languages. These children struggle a little with the English language and understanding all the words. So....both have strengths and weaknesses. All in all a good day!!

What I didn't share with the parents was that most of us new staff at the school find things there VERY disorganized and backwards.....everything takes a long time to do and nothing is orderly or even really thought out.... There has been a lot of complaining and frustration this week, so on the way out of school today I had to laugh when one of the teachers came up and shared that she finally just figured out something important! We have been seeking the answer lately to "Why did God send us here??" She's pretty sure there was a mix up and God was really telling us all to go to Maui instead of Morocco....just a small mistake!! :) ...anyone could have made it, right? But...how long did we sign on for?????????? :)

Well, it is late and tomorrow is another day of school (even though Marcia thinks we should have it off because it is her birthday!!). I'd better go to bed and be chipper for the am!

Blessings to all my family and friends in the USA!
Jill

Part three of Sat. Sept. 11 - Rabat Weekend

A few random fun photos from the weekend!

That's it for the weekend report!

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend as well! Miss you!!

xo Jill

Sept. 11 - VERY cool doors in RABAT!!

Check out these amazing doors of Rabat!
I loved them all!

Sat. night - Sept. 11 - Ramadan has ended!

Hello everyone!

Wow....where do I start? Well, thank you all for your prayers! I started on some Cipro right away on Thursday am and was not 100% by Friday am, but better, so I did get to go on the girls trip to Rabat! We had s WONDERFUL time!! We are wishing that GWA was IN RABAT! We found Rabat to be MUCH cleaner and prettier than Casa.


Ten of us gals from GWA took the train to Rabat and spent the night in a cute little hotel close to the train station. There were five of us over 50 yr olds and the rest were the "younger" group. We all enjoyed each other and had so much fun!!

We saw everything from the King on live TV (he was across town at some formal celebration for the end of Ramadan) to some pretty ugly cats, to a very cool Roman ruins to a beautiful area called Casba that reminded me of Greece!!! Oh...AND we went to a "real" mall!!! Everyone loved the shops and the food court.


Now, we are back in Casa and feeling a bit down. So, four of is went out for dinner....quite an adventure....The first place closed right as we got there (6:45 on Sat night!!!), the next place there was no room on the second floor where the women and men were sitting, so we tried to sit on the first floor where only men were sitting and the little waiter guy told us we should go to the restaurant next door.....we went to the next door place, the guy said he would bring a menu and we never saw him again. So....we tried a fourth place and it was lovely!! We had a great meal and now are home and relaxing!

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of the week Marcia and I are kid-watching two kids of parents in the HR Dept. The kids are great and they are in 8th and 10th grades, so it should be a fun time!
Then we have "Curriculum Night" on Wed. So, off to a busy week again!