B'salama Casablanca

Today is my last day in Morocco. This is a bittersweet feeling. I'm so ready to be back home with family and friends but sad to be leaving the wonderful people I've met here. The last few days have been filled with fun...sushi, packing, church, packing, friends, packing, Gilmore Girls, packing, hena, packing, goodbyes... Now it's on to the next adventure (with a slight detour to Paris along the way!). I look forward to seeing what God has in store for this next phase of life. So many unknowns but in that lies excitement. I would never in my wildest dreams pictured my life turning out the way it has. It is so much better than anything I could have planned for myself! So although my future is unknown, what I do know is that God is good...all the time!

Goodbye Morocco. Thanks for this amazing adventure. You've shown me new sites...new frustrations...new things about myself. I will miss this place and these people but will forever hold these memories in a special place in my heart!

Life goal #392: Climb tallest mountain in North Africa...CHECK!

Our final horray for the commune...climbing Mt. Toubkal (almost 14,000ft tall). Leaving after school on Friday, we drove to Imlil, a small village at the base of the mountain. Along the way we were stopped by the police for speeding slightly. Here in Morocco the police pull you over for whatever reason they want but I guess this was technically justified :) He told us the ticket would be 700dh (around $90). Then when we asked him to write the ticket he said to just give him 300dh...and the bribing began. We said, "No. Just write the ticket." knowing he didn't want to write the ticket because of all the work involved. He then went down to 200dh...I love Morocco...the corruption! We said no again. So he has us pull around to the other side of the street and gets his buddy. At this point Sarah starts speaking arabic with them. They are impressed. Then Tim says to them (while pointing at Sarah, Amber and I), "Zweena"...which in arabic means beautiful. So they call the other cop over and he asks for Sarah's phone number! And in the end...no ticket, no phone number for the cop, and directions to Imlil...a productive police interaction :)

Saturday morning we began our hike to the refuge lodge which was 2/3 of the way up the mountain. Other than altitude sickness it was great. We relaxed for the evening and got ready for our big day. With Sunday morning came snow, thunder, and lightning...maybe not the safest conditions for hiking a mountain?!! Thankfully it cleared up and we were able to begin around 7:30am. We made it to the summit in 4 hours but didn't get to enjoy the scenery because the top of the mountain was engulfed in a snow cloud. As we began our descent the snow began and we were pelted with ice-like snow...exactly what I would expect weather in Africa to be like in June :) This ended shortly and we were able to slide on our butts like sleds down the majority of the way back to the refuge. My conclusion: There is no better way to cure altitude sickness than to slide down a mountain on your butt! AND the 4 hour hike up became a 1.5 hour "hike" down! Once back at the refuge, we packed up our stuff, changed out of our wet pants, headed back to Imlil, and drove on to Marrakesh.

One final night in a hotel in Marrekesh and an early morning (4am) drive back to Casablanca ended our weekend excursion. And we got back just in time to proctor exams!

Graduation, Shakira, and Yearbooking

This Saturday was AAC's first graduation! It was so exciting to be a part of this event. The kids looked great, the school was totally decked out, and we got to be a part of it :) To celebrate we went to the Shakira concert in Rabat. It was amazing to be at her concert with hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of Moroccans, in Africa, singing and dancing "Waka Waka"! This has been our theme song of the year...so we were totally in our element.
Today Amber and I spent most of the day working on the yearbook. The kids did the brunt of it but it was time for fine-tuning. 7 hours later (plus the 3 hours we spent on it yesterday) we are done! Words cannot describe how great this feels! It's like a huge weight has been lifted. Sent to the printers tomorrow, we should get it back in a little over a week...just in time for the last day of school! Yeah!!!

Prom, Escalade, Flowers, and Fun!

This has certainly been an eventful week!
Monday - Yearbook...Tuesday - Bible study...Wednesday - Yearbook...Thursday - Yearbook and coffee with a good friend...Friday - Prom and dancing til 4am...Saturday - "Going Away" dinner with Jodi...Sunday - Breakfast at Chez Paul's, church, and taco dinner with friends...
I've been trying to fit lots into my last weeks without going crazy. Some of the best moments of the week were being picked up in an Escalade for prom, getting flowers as a going away present from one of the school drivers (I almost cried), and laying out on the roof soaking up some good Casablanca sun!
My only prayer at this point is to finish well and in all one piece!

Morocco Poem for Grandma

Dear Grandma,

Sorry I haven't written in a while. My life hasn't been very interesting lately. Having Hannah here was great but when she left, life wasn't as good :( It's made me miss home and want to make the most of my time left here all at the same time. The result...no new blog. So in honor of your birthday I've written this blog for you (and the other people who read this regularly)! I hope you enjoy this...

Love,
Laura


Time

My time here is flying by
Yet it drags more than I can bear
Living my life here
And my mind over there.

Wanting to know what the future will hold
Thinking and stressing until I explode.

But then I remember the reason I'm here
And I realize again just how good life can be
God has blessed me greatly this year
Great friends, my kids, and new places to see.

My life isn't boring (most would agree)
Walking down the street hearing, "Hello pretty lady!"

Where else do you feel sexy in sweatpants or a dress
Or constantly watch out for the donkey cart
Morocco is a place like nothing else
But will always hold a special place in my heart.

3 countries...6 cities...2 weeks...I am blessed!

Life has been crazy for the past few weeks. Sarah and I enjoyed our spring break in Spain and Portugal. We began our adventures in Barcelona with Sarah's roommate Alli. We rented bikes to explore the city, went to the beach, spent a night on the town, and enjoyed some good spanish tapas. Next we went to Granada (where Alli had studied abroad). Here we enjoyed visiting Alhambra (spent 5 hours there), shopping and flamenco dancing! From here Alli left us to go home but we went on to Lisbon. Since there were no cheap flights/trains/anything from Granada to Lisbon, we decided to do an "overnight" flight to save on a hotel. This flight was an hour to Barcelona where we had a 9 hour layover before we could go on to Lisbon :) So we found a quiet corner restaurant in the airport and slept in the booths! Surprisingly we got a good 5/6 house of decent sleep. The only real interruption was the woman who came to clean at 2am. Once we arrived in Lisbon we hit the ground running....saw the sights...drank Starbucks...napped in a park...it was quite a day. Our last day was spent in Sintra (40 minute train ride outside Lisbon). Here we went on a Castle tour. Why so many castles were in one small area was beyond me but it was very cool to see.

Then back to reality...but only for 4 days! This weekend I went to Britain to visit Hannah while my mom was there!!! We had our first "Girl's weekend" (minus Lydia and Maria). My dad made it pretty clear that we weren't to get used to this ;) Hannah and I decided we just had to start planting seeds in Lydia and Maria's heads to study abroad so we can do it again...sorry Dad! It was wonderful to see York (where Hannah is studying) and London too. We had an amazing weekend!

AND the fun isn't over yet! Hannah is coming back to Casablanca with me for a week!!! I am so excited to show her my world.

I truly am blessed...

Exciting things!

So this morning we woke up at 6am to go to Bouskoura to cheer on our friends running a 15K race. We wore our workout clothes so that we could do a few miles as well (but definitely weren't in shape enough to do the full 10mi)...or so we thought :) We began running and after the 6th km thought..."Well, if we turn around now we will do 12km. So why not just do the whole race!" haha. So we did...without training...without being officially in the race...we completed our first 15K and didn't die!!! I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow but I'm feeling pretty good right now :)

Other fun things to look forward to...only one more week of school before spring break! Then Spain and Portugal here we come! After spring break I only have to teach for 4 days and am then meeting my mom and Hannah in London/York for a girls weekend! THEN Hannah is coming back to Morocco with me for a whole week!!! I can hardly contain my excitement for all the fun these next weeks are going to hold :D

Just another day in Morocco

In the words of Sarah (about our evening last night), "Water pipe just burst under our kitchen sink...sprayed everywhere...half hilarious, half really not after a long day. Hung the soaking carpet out to dry....and it starts to rain. We would wash the towels but, oh, our washing machine is broken. Hmm..."

AND the "new" washing machine that was supposed to be dropped off today...not working? All you can do is laugh!

Life lesson 267...always pay your bills on time!

So apparently someone in our building did not pay their bills this month. The result...elevators turned off!!! Now if we lived on the first floor this wouldn't be so bad. However we are on the 5th floor. It really makes you think about whether you really need something or not! Thankfully they were only turned off for 3 days. I think this could be defined as passive aggressive behavior :D

Other funny story...I asked for juice-to-go today and watched a women rinse out a used water bottle for it to be put in...haha. Good thing I have a strong stomach!

A camping trip to remember!

As I said in my last post...camping was not my first choice activity for our days off :) However, I was putting on my best face and trying to be positive. Then the rain started! And the 5 day forecast for Ouzoud was...
Monday - Sunny
Tuesday - Sunny
Wednesday - Heavy rain
Thursday - Heavy rain
Friday - Sunny
Why the universe was out to ruin our days off I wasn't sure. So we left rainy Casablanca and stopped for the night in rainy Beni Mallal. Since we arrived at night, we did not notice the mosque right down the street from our $5 a night hotel. We were startled awake by the call to prayer at 5:30am. We all had a good laugh and fell back to sleep. When morning actually came we packed up and headed for the waterfalls in Ouzoud. We saw the falls, started our hike, forged a river, and set up camp overlooking the river. Dinner time rolled around and our "guide" Tim asked us where our forks, bowls, and cups were. Keep in mind he had said to us..."When I'm with people who don't camp I tend to overcompensate and take care of everything." And since my camping experiences involved hot dogs, I hadn't thought to bring one. Simo saved the day by wittling away chopsticks for us! The rest of our evening in the wilderness involved someone peeing behind our tent, Amber and I mistaking her breathing for an animal, and rain leeking through the seams of our tent and dripping on Sarah's face :) In the morning we packed up camp and hiked back in the rain. I think it will be pretty hard to top this camping trip!

Lunar Holidays, Traveling, and Valentine's Day

In Morocco some of the holidays depend on the moon. On our school calender, we had a break scheduled for this upcoming Monday and Tuesday. This was great because Sarah and I have a student we tutor who lived in Egypt and was going to let us stay at his house! However, on the day we were going to buy our tickets...the protests and demonstrations began. So plan B...the Western Sahara! Then on the day we were going to set up the rental car, the moon told us that the holiday was no longer Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday and Thursday! Thankfully we hadn't booked anything :) So now out current plan is to go camping near some beautiful waterfalls around Marrakesh.
And, since we were supposed to have school off on Monday, we celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday. According to the number of flowers, chocolates, cards received (all a part of a fundraiser)...I am the #2 most popular secondary teacher. However I'm pretty sure the fact that I'm young and single is one of the major reasons for all the love :) A student told my principle the Thursday that his girlfriend's initials were LS!!!*

*Note to reader: I am NOT dating a high school boy...just in case you were concerned :)

Exams

Exam week...yeah...or yuck...depending on how you look at it :) I spent my morning running between 7 classrooms answering questions and all afternoon grading and I'm not even a quarter of the way done (that's the yuck part). But, on Monday my dance class presented their final choreographies...and they were awesome (that's the yeah part)! Working in pairs, I had them create their own dance for their final exam. It has been so cool to watch them develop as dancers, become more physically fit, and see their confidence grow as well. On one of the in-class work days, one of my more quiet students was "strutting her stuff" and offering suggestions to another group. This would have never happened at the beginning of the semester. It has been such a great experience for the girls (and for me)!
Well, off to grade more exams....

The BIG Decision

After a long, emotional, and prayerful process...the decision is to move back to Michigan! My time here in Morocco has been one of the best of my life. I have learned so much and made so many wonderful relationships. I will greatly miss this place!