Day 3 - Granada

Hey Eric, this one is for you! When I walked by this store I looked in and thought of the puzzle we used to do together often. Do you recall the one I'm thinking of? It looked a lot like the same scene....right down to the hams hanging down.

Catalilies growing all along side the walk way! Feels like I am in a beautiful dream!

I talked Judy into doing the Segway Tour together! We did great and had a lot of fun touring the city up and down the big hills!

Here is how we parked the Segways when we stopped. It was a hoot!!

The beautiful view from the hills in Granada.

The many hills and interesting trees in the city.

The parade this day was blue costumes.

The children were beautiful!

Families above us watching the parade from their balcony.

The floats in the parade were huge and very gaudy. They were carried by many people underneath. They would rock the float back and forth as they walked along. This float had a real tree in the middle of it. All the floats shared the Easter story theme.

Day 2 - taking a bus to Granada, Spain

I love Granada the best of all four of the cities we stayed in. I loved the hills, the mountains in the distance, the cute little streets, the people, the views, the young people (there is a college there)....

We stayed in a place called Hotel Molinos. It is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the narrowest hotel in the world! :) It was cute, but (you guessed it...) a bit SMALL! :)

This was Judy's favorite breakfast! Churros are long strips of fried bread and then a cup of thick chocolate that you dip the bread into and eat. Churros are very popular here in Spain.

We arrived in Granada on Palm Sunday. These people were just coming out of church with their big palm branches!

I'm here in touring the Al Hambra. This is is a beautiful place. It was built by the Arabs and then in 1492 the Catholics took it over. Today it is open to the public and is gorgeous!

The grounds were very well groomed and the buildings were old and huge!

This was one of the many beautiful gardens at the Al Hambra.

Three friends from school came to join us as we toured the palace in Granada. This is Judy, Linda and I enjoying the forsythia in full bloom.

Just saying hello from an ancient building.

Each night during Holy Week the city of Granada has a parade. The parade was very interesting to watch.

More of the parade...

The parade had these ladies dressed all in black and carrying large candles. The children would come out into the street and hold a ball of paper/foil under the candle and collect the wax until their balls were bigger and bigger. ( some strange rituals??)

Spring Break - Day 1 - Malaga, Spain

Okay....off to Spain on spring break! I love that part of teaching in Morocco. Flying to a nearby country is pretty cheap to do and very quick.

So, Judy and I (my new roommate) left on Sat. for Malaga, Spain. We are planning to stay in Spain for 7 days and visit 4 different cities.

First we walked the area.....

There were beautiful flowers everywhere! These birds of paradise were all along the walkway on the way to the water. I thought of you, Phyllis, and knew you would have loved them.

The beach area was full of people having a great time. We sat to have a sangria and beer along the water front. Oh, sooooo nice to be away from Africa and relaxing!

 

There were many huge, interesting buildings in Malaga. Our hotel room was nice, but there was a lot of noise on the street below. We looked out and they were doing construction at.... MIDNIGHT! :(  Really???? We got up early the next morning to leave for Granada and were told that McDonald's would definitely NOT be open yet because it was wayyyyy to early. (It was 7:30am!) So we went to the bus station and got a quick coffee and toast there and were on our way!

Sometimes we touch their lives more than we know....

This one's for you, Marcia!!

On Valentines Day this year we wrote letters to all the teachers and staff that help us each week. Ali wanted to write one to Marcia (Miss Gladwish). Even though she had left in December I told him it was fine, that I would email her a copy. Well, I'm finally getting around to it, Marcia! :)

Here is the letter to you.

Here is Ali "delivering" it to you via the Internet! :)

Do you remember him? Isn't he a sweetie?

Well, a couple days ago the child sitting next to Ali brought me this letter and pictures that Ali had drawn.....

I wish ALL the kids knew how much "beter" it would be for the teacher and for them!!!  :)

I love this part, Marica....look at his great drawings of "quiet" and "not quiet"! They are pretty amazing!

A boy sleeping and he is counting sheep!!

Then a boy playing the drums!

Guess which one our room sounds like sometimes!????!

Ali is a very quiet boy and I'm sure the noise bothers him as much as me. I think I may have finally figured out what I need to do about the noise level in the class room.

EITHER:

Grow two heads - one to watch the kids and catch them the minute they talk and punish them and one to actually teach and be able to look down and help someone without the class all starting to talk the minute I look down.

OR:
To hire a bouncer that would sit in the front of the room. When he sees someone talking he would deal with it and I could keep on teaching!!

The first idea probably isn't possible and I probably can't afford the second one, but I'm tempted to start saving my dirham!! :)

Meanwhile, I'll do my best to keep the kids around Ali quiet and working! He's a great kid and very artistic. We MISS you Marcia!! Blessings to you and your work in Nicaragua! xoxo

Thinking of Aunt Carol today....

Judy, Lynn and I took the train to Marrakesh this weekend. One last trip, the three of us, before Lynn heads back to the states to be with her new grandbaby!

The weather was awesome and we visited the most beautiful gardens called the Marjorelle Gardens. I thought of my mom, because she loved flowers and my aunt Carol because she is such a wonderful gardener! You would have loved it, Aunt Carol!

I hope you'll enjoy these photos....

Leaving a new friend is harder than I thought....

This photo was taken on Valentines Day 2010. Mariama is one of the many cleaning ladies at our school. She cleans mine and Gail's rooms at the end of every day.

Mariama and I have become very good friends, even though I speak very little Arabic and she very little English, we seem to manage to communicate and have developed a special friendship.

I just made the connection and found out that her three year old son is at the school every day. She took Gail and I over to meet him the other day after school was out. He is adorable and just as cute as she is!

Well, today I took a bag of clothes in to school to give to Mariama. They were things from the winter season that I didn't want to take back to the US with me. I thought she or someone in her family could use them. Somehow I got across to her that I was leaving to go back to America in June. Then she asked if I would return again for school in the fall. When I said no....we both had tears in our eyes. She asked for a photo of the two of us and I promised I would give her that. 

She left the room with the bag of clothes after thanking me and giving me a huge hug. I stood there crying, surprised that it hit me harder than I had expected. Some things in life just can't be explained.....the bond of friendship is one of them. 

I know in my heart that I can't come back here for another year, but I also know it will be hard to say good bye and tough to jump back into my old world. I'm praying God will help me do both of those things without too many tears!

A Valentine gift Mariama made from real flowers!

I'm so thankful to have had this year to add to my life journey. What an incredible, challenging, awesome experience I have had here in Morocco! Thanking God for SO many, many blessings.....for keeping me safe, for bringing so many wonderful people into my life, for allowing me to travel to places I thought I would never see, and for letting me learn more about myself!

Well, this Friday is the end of our 3rd Quarter, soooo 9 weeks to go! I'm busy with grades this week and making lesson plans for the coming weeks. We have our spring break in two weeks. Everyone is reallllly looking forward to the break. I am headed to southern Spain for the week with my new roommate, Judy. I'll send photos! :)

A new roommate moving in today!

This photo was taken several months past. It seems like several years ago!! At the beginning of the year Lynn (on the left), Marcia (my first roommate - in the middle) and Judy (the one on the right) and I traveled together on weekend trips and had a lot of fun together. Marcia and I were roommates and lived off campus. Judy and Lynn have been roommates and lived on campus.

Marcia left in December and Lynn is leaving the end of April. So, Judy decided to move off campus and come live with me. I think we will have a lot of fun together and it will be nice to have someone to split utilities and the car rent.

Judy is the only one of the four of us that will be returning next fall. (Crazy girl!) I admire her strength and determination. So, she is busy now trying to locate housing for the fall. The school has raised the rent for the on campus housing by 100%....so all those people are quite unhappy and rightfully so! I'm telling you, this school has made some very unwise and unfavorable decisions this year!

Well, one of Judy and my goals is to walk a lot and eat little....we are off to a great start today.....but I am wiped out and ready for bed! Plus the King has declared that daylight savings time shall begin tonight. So, I'm headed to bed! 

Blessings to all of you back home!