The beginning...

Day 1- June 1, 2014

Sunday started at 9:30 with orientation and training which consisted of rules of the house and more detailed information about our placements. The placements are an orphanage for impaired children where they wash, bathe and play with the them, Ibny which is a school for homeless children to the age of 9 where they provide a 45 minute craft and projects with 3 groups of 30 children each, Children's Hospital where they play with the children, Feminine Pleurial which is a center for women where they teach English to adults and the East West Foundation which is where Dustin and I work. East West Foundation is a adult education center for refugees from areas like the sub-saharan countries (Congo, Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania). The center has many classes such as sewing, cooking, computer, business and ours which is English of all levels.
We then had the afternoon off where we went to the Mahaja riad which is a smaller shopping area and had ice cream with the other volunteers.

Day 2- June 2
Monday was our first day of placement at the East West Foundation. We were unsure of how many people were going to come so we planned our class together which was great because we only had 6 people of very different levels show up. This class is a free and is only offered when CCS has volunteers to teach it so the  curriculum is not aligned from volunteer to volunteer and the students can come and go each day as they want. Talk about differentiated learning...thank you PD days :) We teach the class from 10-12 and take a taxi back to the home base and have lunch together at 12:30 each day. We then have classes each afternoon at 1:30 and Monday half of the volunteers went on a tour of Rabat. On the tour we drove to the Medina (oldest part of the city with a wall around it) and there was village shopping area where you can barter and find local items. We then walked through to a the Kasba- on the outside it looks like a castle but on the inside is a small park with a cafe and an overlook to the river between Sale and Rabat. We then got back in the bus and went to the Mausoleum where the coffins of the kings grandfather, father and uncle are. Each entrance to the area has 2 guards on horseback and guards on each entrance to the building.

Day 3- June 3
Tuesday. Placement went well, and we again planned to teach together which started alright until more people started coming in late and we ended with 16. Our class for that afternoon was Morocco Woman where Khadija (the lady in charge of the house) talked to us about the past, present and future of women in Morocco. The following are some quick facts: Morocco gained its independence from France in the 1956 and have slowly built its own society. Woman gained the right to divorce in 2004 and before that it could only be initiated by the male. When divorce is initiated, the couple has 3 months to work on the relationships before its final and usually during that time the families intervene and it works itself out. Dating is not allowed before marriage and the celebration is usually 3 days long including henna and lots of tea.
That afternoon Hayley (another volunteer), Dustin and I took a taxi to the Medina and went shopping. We followed the shops to the Oudaya which is the area around the Atlantic Ocean. There is a peninsula which peaks out to the entrance of when where the river meets the ocean.
There is a cultural music festival going on in Rabat this week called Mawazine. At 5:00 each afternoon there are different acts or music performing at the Mahaja riad and on Tuesday, we saw an Indian show with drums, trumpets, trombones and dancers. There are also 5 stages set up around the city with big name bands of all cultures performing each night. Tuesday night was Kool & the Gang which performed in front of the Soffetel hotel, which is the International stage. They had Justin Timberlake last Friday, Jason Derulo Saturday, IAM Sunday, Stromae Monday, Kool & the Gange Tuesday, Ne-Yo Wednesday night, Robert Plant Thursday, Ricky Martin Friday and Alicia Keys Saturday.

Day 4- June 4
Wednesday placement went much better as we ended with about 20 students, and we were able to split them into advanced and beginner/intermediate. The afternoon session was a feedback discussion about our placements.
That afternoon we hung out at the home base and went to the 5:00 show in the Mahaja riad which included a show that reminds me of an unorganized, crazy Cirque du Soliel show :)

There are 16 volunteers here right now and in those is an awesome Alaskan family of 6. All of the volunteers right now are from the US and are ages 14-50s. Most will leave after 2 weeks which is when we will get another group. The home base is split into the guys room which is on the first floor and the women's which is on the second floor. There are 3 ladies, Fatiha, Aicha and Saida who cook and clean, Khadija is the house manager, Hassan the day guard, Mohamed the country director, Abdelouahed the driver, Abdellah, program officer and Hanafi the night guard. There is a guard on the grounds 24 hours a day. Morocco is also very well guarded as there are many police and guards on the streets, intersections, in front of buildings and in the more populated areas. We are learning so much and am still feel very fortunate to have been able to take this trip. Thank you all!!