A "Rain Day" in Casa ~ No School for TWO Days!

I woke this am at 4:30am and couldn't get back to sleep. I was mesmerized by the very heavy rain coming down outside my window. I have a street light right on the corner of my building that lights up the window a bit. There is a wire going to the light and a loose end of wire sticking out. So I was lying in bed watching the water build up and the as the water dripped off the wire I could see a spark fall down to the ground. Anyway........was just lying there thinking about the day while I was warm and snuggled under my blanket. Who knew what a FUN day was in store!

Marcia and I drove over to pick up Wayne and our little car-pool was on it's way to school. School is about 5-6 mi from our little village of Dar Baouzza.

Well about two blocks from Wayne's place we notice the first little "lake" in the middle of the road. We kept going......as we approached the highway leading to our school the "lakes" were getting bigger and deeper!

As we are driving along, we notice that the ground on the outsides of the roads is bursting through the edge of the road and water is pouring onto the roads.....bigger "lakes"!

 Next, we come up to a Grand Taxi stuck out in the middle of the "lake-highway" ......a little frightening! Should we keep going seems to be the question of the morning! Then we see that the cars are just going across the road to the other side....seems like a logical thing to do....just "share" the two lanes on the WRONG side of the road! (You know, making a four lane highway a two lane highway....without the help of any policemen or road signs, of course!)

(I'm telling you, in Morocco....there are no REAL rules....only suggestions!)

 So, now we are driving on the LEFT side of the road and oops....here comes an oncoming car..... Shortly after this scene, we come onto a REALLY large and deep "lake" ahead.....that's it...we are turning this car around and going home! Wayne says, "Hey, I'll make coffee and start a fire in the fire place if you want to come in!" ...of course, we say, "Great!" 

I'm driving, so I ask Marcia if she can get to her phone and call the school to let them know we can't make it in today. She reminds me that she can't use her phone any more....

Oh ya, I forgot that one little tid-bit from my Paris story.....Marcia got robbed on the subway in Paris!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They took her passport, 300 euros, credit cards, American driver's licence AND her secret code to open her new phone!!!  (Her last phone was stolen/dropped/lost around town a few weeks ago.) It was a pretty traumatic experience in a foreign country, but Marcia handled all the stress of it really well. The lady at the American Embassy pointed out that it could have been worse....they were about to close the office for the weekend in one hour! Then Marcia wouldn't have been able to get a temp. passport to get back into Morocco.

Okay, back to Tuesday in Morocco...they ended up canceling school for today and tomorrow! We heard that there was water in the HR Dept. and lower classrooms up to their knees! Yikes.....now I'm glad my room is on the third floor! (By the way....the way we were told there was no school was ON Facebook!)

Like I keep telling you.....there is NEVER a dull day in Morocco! :)

Who would guess we would have a "rain day" in December!

I still kind of wish it were snow instead!!

(The photos for today are compliments from Marcia...I was driving...she was photographing and Wayne was taking his shoes off getting ready to get out and push at any moment!!)

Thanks for the great pics, Marcia!

Oh Marcia is the best................she just came running in my room with this wonderful youtube you need to see!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdVRHCqslts

Lights in Paris

The lights in Paris were just.....AMAZING.....

                                  

                  There were some lights that looked very, very old and fancy..






                                      


         some had birds on top that wanted to be in the photograph as well!

Some lights were new and shiny!!

Some lights had interesting curves and curly cues....

and some were very simple.

Some of the lights made you want to stop and say a prayer.....

 

Some lights were very plain.....

others were very funky!!

Some were colored YELLOW.....



           and some were colored ORANGE!

 Some were very flashy.....






                   and some were very FUN!

 Some had little bits of Christmas hanging from them somewhere!

 

Some were very ornate and elegant! 

Some had a lot of beauty and meaning and Christmas all wrapped up together!!

Some were so huge and so impressive I'll never forget them!

And some....were very, very special!

Awwwwww...... the lights in Paris were indeed amazing!

Thanksgiving 2010 in Paris

Well, I won't forget this Thanksgiving for a long while. I spent the last five days in Paris, France and had an amazing weekend! I have tons of photos, so I'll just pick a few each day and share with you the beauty of Paris!

 One afternoon I went off exploring on my own and had a great time! I walked to the Cimetierie De Monmartre where the artist, Edgar Degas, and many other famous people were buried. I guess you have to know my Linn background and love for cemeteries to appreciate this stop. I spent a long time just reading tombstones and admiring the stones.

 Before the cemetery stop I went to see a very old church called the Sacre Coeur. It was beautiful on the outside. The architecture was different than most we saw in Paris. It was a combination of the beautiful Gothic style with an almost middle eastern style with the curved dome.

 On our first evening in Paris we walked over to see the Notre Dame.....oh my goodness....It is by far my favorite thing to see in Paris. Inside and out are just fabulous! On our last night there they had completed the huge Christmas tree out in front of the building so we got to enjoy the lights and then the music inside as a mass was just finishing up! What a treat!

 Of course we went to see the Mona Lisa and it was incredible getting to see what I've only seen in books! Praising God for all of this beauty!!

 The second day we were there we went on a bike tour and had a really good tour guide to show us around the back streets and some of the famous areas too! Our group is the first four on the left...

Lynn (1st grade teacher), myself (2nd grade), Gail (the other 2nd grade teacher) and Marcia (the art teacher). This was my favorite activity of the weekend. We biked for 3 1/2 hours just looking at all the sights!

 We found this lovely little shop on the bike tour called, "Thanksgiving" and thought it was so appropriate that the next day would be Thanksgiving in America! We tried to walk to it the next day to buy some canned pumpkin, but couldn't find it again!

 This isn't a great photo, but the memory will last forever! I was hoping to see my first snow of the season (and maybe the only snow I will see this year) AND ride the huge ferris wheel at the same time and guess what....my wish came true! As I was meandering back to the Seine river and the area we were staying I wasn't sure where I would end up. I looked up and saw the ferris wheel and then it began to snow! I rode it while we had a brief snowstorm and it was SO incredible! It was cold and windy and beautiful and FUN! So, this is a photo from the top of the ride looking out across the parkway to the Louvre.

Well, I am off to do laundry and maybe a long walk on the beach to clear my head and prepare for the week of school to come! Here's hoping you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!

Blessings, Jill

A FIVE day weekend in Florence, Italy!

Wow!!! Where do I begin?? ITALY! I had the most terrific

tour guide (and I'm sure the cheapest!!)....my roommate, Marcia! She has been to Italy several times and knew all the hot spots to hit and the most wonderful place to stay!



We stayed in a little B&B right in the heart of
the city and loved it! Our view looked out across
the plaza to the Baptistery, the Brunelleschi's Dome
and the cobblestone streets! It was on the fourth floor
so we had 64 steps to go up and down each trip,
but it was well worth it and great exercise!! :)

Sixty-four steps UP!

An amazing view of the courtyard!

 Hello from Italy!

 Marcia and I are watching a movie she downloaded tonight called, "A Room With A View". Lots of scenes from Florence!!

We arrived about 9pm on Wed. We dropped off our belongings, I checked out our wonderful view (Windows have always been THE most important thing I look at in a room I will be sleeping in!) and then headed off to find a good meal. All of the food was delicious in Italy and the wine was lovely too! It's hard to find good pasta meals, gelato, wine and chocolate in Morocco!

The next couple of days we did lots of sight seeing, walking, climbing steps, eating, drinking and laughing! We had a wonderful five day weekend. And the best thing is.....we teach for two days and then we are off to Paris for five days!! I can't believe I have always wanted to see all of these places and never have gotten the chance, then in one month I see Spain, Italy and France!!!! I am enjoying every opportunity and feeling very blessed.

This was the view out our window! Brunelleschi's Dome was just magnificent inside and out! It rained most of the weekend, but the colors outside my window were gorgeous every time I looked outside. The rain didn't damper our walks and even added to the beautiful reflections on the cobblestone.

 There were artists were everywhere!  Painting the beauty all around them.

 Even the gelato flavors looked like an artist's pallet.....piled high, all the  various colors and flavors

 The night lights and rain were just beautiful on the plaza!

It was fun to see Christmas all aroung us! Another thing we were missing in Morocco.

 These two photos were also from looking out our window. Our last morning we woke at 8am so we could walk up the 465 steps to the top of the dome and were rewarded with an amazing view! The top photo is the painting at the top of the dome.

 This one is for you, Lora! Love it!

After we saw the Michelangelo's David, we went to see San Marco.



It was filled with small rooms that the monks lived in. They were very simple, quaint rooms that they stayed in and painted a scene from Jesus' life. The fresco's were all very impressive.

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The Bibles and Song Books that the monks worked on were beautiful! The time it must have taken....
The precise work the produced..... truly amazing!

Like all the other cities we have visited....the motorcycles were fun to photograph!

 Next, Marcia took me to a paper making shop that does marbling. I got a chance to work on a piece myself....well, with the help of this gentleman! It was a lot of fun!

Here is my finished piece! Thank you Marcia...what a fun
experience!

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 Florence on a rainy night.....BEAUTIFUL!

Well, I'm off to do lesson plans for the next two weeks and the next three weeks following Thanksgiving. Then Christmas will be here and my three kids will be arriving! It doesn't get any better than that!