"Rain Days" and other exciting things

It has been a busy few weeks since I last wrote. After our long break (Belgium and Amsterdam), we had school on Monday and then torrential rain that caused houses to flood, people to die, and school to be canceled for two days! Then for the weekend, the "young ones" went to Essaouira. A beach town, Essaouira was peaceful and relaxing. The days passed slowly and we had lots of fun enjoying the sunshine and 75 degree weather (in December)!!! Back to school Monday but wait, Tuesday was the Islamic New Year so NO SCHOOL again :) I didn't quite know what to do with myself with so many little "weekends". They were greatly appreciated but have made it difficult to really get anything done. The kids (and I) just want the holidays to be here NOW!
Back-to-back middle school and high school dances kept me busy on Friday...Three parties took up my Saturday...a combined Christmas church service today and a quiet afternoon at home were in order today...Now only 5 more days of school and I'll be back in Michigan in the cold and snow (but loving every minute)!!!

How to cure a sore tongue

On our last night in Belgium, Alec and Chloe came down asking for medicine. Alec was complaining of a sore thoat so he was given something. Chloe had a sore tongue. Her dad explained that he didn't have anything for sore tongues. She suggested the pharmacy :) Since it was late, the pharmacy wasn't an option...so Sarah said, "I've heard tickling helps cure sore tongues!" Before Sarah could attack, Chloe started tickling her tongue with both hands! It was possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen :D

Visiting the "Motherland" (and other nice places!)

Last week Sarah and I had a week off from school for Eid AlKhbir (comparable to Christmas). Our adventure for the week...Belgium and Amsterdam!
We flew into Brussels on Tuesday, spent the afternoon walking around, then headed to Lueven to stay with friends of Sarah's. Wednesday we went out for coffee in Lueven, then headed for Amsterdam. Short detour along the way...Antwerp. After some shopping, waffles, and a few pictures, we were back on the train to Amsterdam. It was crazy how much the Netherlands reminded me of Holland, MI. Although Thursday was overcast and a bit rainy, we had a wonderful day. One of my favorite parts was touring the Anne Frank house. It was really interesting to see the secret bookcase and the rooms where her family had been hiding. We finished up sightseeing and shopping on Friday and headed back to Lueven. Detour #2...Brugge...quaint, medieval city already decorated for Christmas! Relaxing Saturday...saw Sinterclause and Black Pete...served spaghetti at the kids' school...and went to bed. Sunday we journeyed back to Casa, rested and ready to go!

First Dance Performance!

After weeks of practice, hours of shopping for costumes, a few tears, and many words of encouragement: my dance class had their first performance! We performed for the elementary awards assembly as a dress rehearsal for our secondary assembly. I was so proud of my rhythmically challenged students :) I would have never guessed how difficult it would be for them to count and dance to a beat...but they did it! I received so many compliments about their performance. My favorite was from one of the arabic teachers (who teaches PE during my dance class)...he said, "Good job Laura. I guess you really do work when those doors are closed." This experience was a great confidence booster for so many of the girls. They are already asking me about doing a holiday piece!

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!