Volleyball Weekend

This weekend was our school's first volleyball tournament! We have just started putting together a sports program, so being involved in this was very exciting for our students! The tournament was all day Friday and Saturday. Sarah and I had originally planned on going for the Saturday games but when we found out there were Friday afternoon games, we found people to cover our classes and set out for Rabat...
Our train was supposed to leave at 2:03. So when a train pulled up at 2:02 and the sign said Fes (Rabat is on the way to Fes), we assumed it was our train and got on. About ten minutes into the ride, the conductor came around to check our tickets and told us we were on the wrong train...we were heading south! SO we got off at the next stop which happened to be the VERY small town of Bouskoura. We waited and waited for another train to come through and finally after an hour and ten minutes one arrived. By the time we got back into Casa we realized there was no way we were going to make it to the games.
Not wanting to go back to our apartment, we decided to play Casablanca tourist. We walked from the train station to La Scala (a restaurant) and ordered banana juice and mint tea...took pictures with the canons...and tried to forget how stupid we felt. We continued walking toward the mosque...taking random pictures with trees, flowers, archways, etc. We arrived at the mosque around sunset and stayed there for a couple hours talking, taking funny pictures, eating cookies that were meant for the players...trying to figure out what we wanted to do next. We called our friend Simo and he came and picked us up and we went out to dinner at TGI Fridays. Yeah for cheese broccoli soup, boneless wings, and real salad! And that concluded our lovely day in "Rabat".
On Saturday we actually made it to Rabat. The kids played well for only having had about 10 practices total and no prior sports experience. Both our girls team and our boys team finished last (4th) but they did not lose by much. We were quite proud!

Winner Man :D

At the end of our church service today, the pastor called the praise team up to close out the service with a song...their choice...Winner Man! Now imagine these words being sung by sub-Saharan Africans to a reggae beat..."Jesus is the winner man, the winner man, the winner man. Jesus is the winner man, the winner man all the time. Winner man, winner man , winner man, winner man, winner man, winner man, winner man, winner man. Jesus is the winner man, the winner man all the time." In case you can't imagine it, what you actually hear is..."Jesus is the weener man, the weener man, the weener man. Jesus is the weener man, the weener man all the time. Weener man, weener man, ...." You get the picture :) When the praise team had finished, our paster got up and said, "For all the Americans who were confused during this last song, no we were not just singing about Oscar Meyer!"

To stay or not to stay...

...that is the question! Every day I change my mind. Yes...no...yes...no...yes...no...ahhhhhhh!!!!! So if anyone is wondering what's new in my life, thinking about that questions pretty much consumes my non-teaching moments :)
On a happy note though...my dance class is going amazingly!!! I finished my ballet unit a week and a half ago, and have now moved on to jazz. The girls are loving it! I usually have stretching and conditioning days on Fridays, but last Friday the girls begged me to dance :) They are enthusiastic and motivated and are practicing...I am really seeing positive changes in them. It has proven to be my favorite class and a great way to start the day!

Life Updates...

After talking with my grandma, I realized it had been a very long time since my last post! So here's the synopsis of my last few weeks...

-Started tutoring 3 students
-Had sushi, thai, and indian food
-Back-to-School Barbeque
-Watched 3 movies in a row
-Finished LOST season 6...anyone figured that show out yet?
-Started a book club with teachers at school
-Found out I can buy bacon here!
-Saw my first movie in Megarama (movie theatre)...a bit bloody but in English :)
-Had tea with friends
-Busted 7 students for cheating
-Finished my Ballet unit and began a Jazz unit
-My dance room is now equipt with a ballet bar and mirrors...and it was done before the class ended...I wasn't sure that was going to happen ;)
-Booked tickets to Belgium for our week-long November break (also to visit Amsterdam...my motherland!)