July 2011
9 posts
The Road Home
With the exception of the Casablanca airport, which was noisy, hectic, slow, and a trial of my last shreds of patience for communicating in three languages at once, my journey home has been rather relaxing. The flight itself from Casa was not full, and I ended up towards the back of the plane with two seats to myself and was able to curl up on them and get some sleep, which is usually difficult...
Packing
Packing is annoying because it has to be done in advance, meaning if I suddenly have a desire to wear something at the bottom of the bag, I either have to dig through and make a mess and then repack later, or just do without.
Packing also makes my departure seem much more real.
Four more days… XD
Having a Maid in Morocco
At the beginning of Fulbright, it was suggested that we hire a maid to assist us with cleaning, shopping, housework, and cooking. It was also mentioned that it’s a good way to employ a Moroccan, which is a Really Good thing to do, but I remember being super uncomfortable with the idea of having someone clean for me. I’ve learned a lot about the practice since then, so I’m going to talk a little...
Beach Weekend Part 2: Four Days sans Refrigerator
I have a pair of friends who have rented a beach house for the month of July. It is situated on the Atlantic coast north of Asilah, in a place that is basically farmland up to the beach with very little other infrastructure. I went to visit them and beach-bum for a few days, since it was my last chance to see them before I leave Morocco.
To get to and from this place, we took grand taxis....
Official End of Grant!
Although I’ve been done officially teaching since the beginning of June, today is technically my last day as an official Fulbright ETA, as well as my 10 month anniversary with Morocco en general.
I feel like I’m on a roller coaster: I’m anxious to return to the Glorious Homeland and see friends, and am especially excited to start moving my career forward. For those of you not already in the know,...
Dollar, Dollar Bill Y'all →
Lonely Planet tells us what a dollar can buy you around the world.
In Morocco for a dollar you could get: a scoop of ice cream, or 8 eggs, or a coffee at the coffee, or 8 loaves of bread, or a cab ride to the university, or a piece of cake from the bakery, or a hilariously large amount of hammam soap, or 8 copies, or 2-3 kilos of potatoes, or a 5L bottle of water, or a Twix. Actually, lots of...
Moving On
I just went through my contact list on my phone and deleted a bunch of friends’ numbers, expats who have moved on to home or other countries. In a few weeks, I’ll be gone as well. It’s weird to think about…..
June 2011
10 posts
Wonky Ketchup
17:31 p.m. It’s hot. 108’F currently (42’C). This reminds me of when I was in Cordoba in July 2005 and the temp was a whopping 48’C, or 118’F. My office is coming in at about 81’F, and I feel sorry for my poor computer working away dutifully in this heat.
Here are the heat-escaping strategies I have been considering:
1. Going to the beach. Not too far away, but probably crowded with lots of...
Maroc Hit Parade 2011
I’m not really sure how I ended up at this music festival, except that I knew a guy who knew a girl who knew a girl who was working there and got us VIP wristbands. So it goes…
The setting was by the side of the Bouregreg River, which separates Sale and Rabat, and the festival apparently included a few hours the previous day, and then twelve full hours of music yesterday. I have never been at a...
Trains, Trams, Libraries
As a kid, my parents used to take us on vacation in places where there was some kind of train to ride. As a result, I have a healthy (nerdy?) appreciation for riding trains, and have been completely delighted that they are a convenient, inexpensive way to move around Morocco.
The Rabat-Sale tram has been under construction since we arrived, and has recently begun to operate (it’s a hip,...
Jellaba Update
I visited the tailor this evening. It was my first experience ever getting something tailored. The more I think about tailoring, the more I am attracted to the idea of clothing that is made to fit my body, rather than buying pre-sized clothing which requires my body to conform to pre-conceived sizes. I also like the fact that jellaba are so customizable. I chose everything from the fabric to the...
Review at the Coffee
I just had a review session with my students in a café. Moroccans have an amusing tendency to use “coffee” in English as the word for both the drink and the place, since in French café means both. It is part of what makes their English delightfully Moroccan-flavored.
Looking back, it’s something I never would have done at the beginning of my time here. American professors are much more...
A Brief Pre-Bedtime Entry
It’s midnight. I would dearly love to go to bed, but Morocco just won against Algeria 4-0. I say “just won,” but the game ended an hour ago and the Moroccans are still carrying on in the streets, honking horns, shouting, and singing. No end in sight. Two points to be made here:
#1 Soccer is srs business, and can be quite political.
#2 I have yet to figure out when Moroccans...
Imaginary Money
One of my favorite things about Morocco is how money works. It seems simple enough: Moroccan dirhams (or “dee’s” as we like to call them) come in .10, .20, .50, 1, 2, 5, 10 dirham coins and 20, 50, 100, and 200 dirham bills. Small stores and taxis frequently round the centimes (.10, .20, .50) up or down, depending usually on the guy’s mood and/or how Moroccan you seem. The conversion rate is...
1 tag
Anonymous asked: How did you feel when you finally received your placement? Were there other cities you were hoping for?
May 2011
8 posts
Last Class
It was a quiet ending. I taught my last class of the semester today, and we spent the day discussing the Civil Rights movement and contemporary issues in discrimination (where I got to teach microaggressions :D:D:D:D). We mainly focused on how Americans use the discourse of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence to continually examine ourselves and try to fix social problems. Many...
3 tags
Questioning the Questioners
The subject of questions has come up more than once in the past few weeks, in multiple ways, and it has proved to be a really fascinating study in cultural mentality.
“George Bush is a Satanist,” one of my students tells me.
I pause a moment, blinking to absorb this crazy piece of information, then cautiously reply, “No, he’s a Christian.”
His counterattack? “I read it…”
At this point, I...
A Slice of Life
Lunch was a homemade Spanish tortilla and a “Maghrebi Mocha,” a shot of espresso ordered to go from the cafe next door (I brought my own glass) so I could add my own milk-free chocolate powder at home. My meal was delicious, quick, convenient, customizable, environmentally nice, and cost a grand total of ~$2.50 USD. If there was a harira establishment near my house, I could get a...
4 tags
Women 101: Attire/Dress and Harassment
This whole issue is a can of worms that I am reluctant to open. However, before I left for Morocco, the first question out of everyone’s mouth when I told them where I was going was, “Are you going to have to wear a headscarf?”
To me, this is a painfully ignorant question that shows a misdirected focus on women’s issues in Islamic countries. Scarfing is a deliberate choice and is usually not...
Happy National Teacher Appreciation Day!
This day is somewhat ironic for me since I expected to be fulfilling the duties of a graduate teaching assistant this year instead of acting as an independent professor, so I would like to thank Fulbright for the opportunity to be on the giving end of teaching. I would also like to extend my thanks and respect to my fellow Fulbright ETAs for the Middle East and North Africa region with special ups...
Obligatory Post Re: Osama bin Laden
When I get up, the first thing I do is check my email. Today, there was a message from my mother, the first piece of news I saw about Osama bin Laden, and since then, I have been watching news sources, but also the reactions of the masses on Twitter and Facebook. For many, this is relieving news which brings closure to the many victims of violence he orchestrated.
Obama rightly pointed out that...
Sociolinguistics 101: The Quandary of the Moroccan...
It’s funny, every time I write about language, the post goes for paaaages. There’s so much to talk about! But I apologize for the length… :S
This week, I attended a book talk by Fouad Laroui, a Moroccan writer, discussing the issue of language in Morocco, especially in connection to identity and literature. I want to summarize and comment on the rather lengthy discussion, and in...
April 2011
10 posts
3 tags
A Few Thoughts on Today’s Events in Marrakesh
When I left around 2 p.m. for a lecture in Rabat today, Al-Jazeera English was calling the explosion at a café in Jamaa Lafnaa an accident. Since my own butagas (propane) makes me wary, but is really the most economical way to cook and heat water, the idea that several of them exploded due to an accident was not strange to me.
While I was at the lecture, my phone rang with an unknown number. I...
3 tags
Sakura-con-sickness
This weekend, for the first time in 4 years, I am missing Seattle’s yearly anime convention. Sakura-con is more exciting than Christmas for me.
Yes, I just said that.
There are many reasons. When con action kicks into gear, I’ve spent a year working on costumes, ordering high-quality wigs from China, altering clothing, and making props from scratch with obsessive attention to detailed accuracy....
Technology, Information Access, Education
One of the things I’ve struggled with since the beginning of my time in Morocco is dealing with the reality of inequality, and in particular, unequal access to information and technology.
The reality is that, for most of my students, there is no access to online academic databases; there are no computer labs in libraries; and “public” libraries have questionable hours, may be poorly...
Close Encounters of the Taxi Kind
I’ve felt the need to blog as often as possible lately. It’s probably due to the fact that my time here is rapidly dwindling, and in the face of that, I want to get some ideas “out there” for anyone who has been reading my blog or has stumbled across it.
I’ve mentioned before that I am frequently mistaken for a Moroccan by taxi drivers. As you go further and further north, you find an increasing...
On Knowing a Lot about Everything
I certainly don’t know everything. One of the keys to being successful as an English-as-a-foreign-language teacher, I’ve found, is knowing a lot about a lot. Why is this helpful?
Well for one thing, it helps me know which questions to ask in order to provoke interesting discussions, which are ultimately better for students to practice speaking and critical thinking.
Another thing is that you never...
A City Under Contruction
Here, like many cities in Morocco, there is much construction in the works. “Developement,” my students would tell you. To illustrate its effect on everyday life, please enjoy an excerpt from a recent conversation between me and a friend:
…
me: true
i’d have to do some searching
i think tefl certification is next for me
or mayyyybe celta
tefl seems to work just as well though
and is...
"Modernity" and "Tradition" in Morocco: Insert...
I attended the Fulbright Morocco Research Symposium this weekend. It allowed me to contextualize a lot of anecdotal experiences of mine, as well as place those experiences into a wider conceptual framework. There are several forthcoming entries which will attempt to tease out some of these ideas.
Big words aside (or maybe not), I want to start with the ideas of “modern” and “traditional,” which...
Sojourn in the North
For Spring Break last week, I went up to Tetouan (te-twan), which is located a few miles south of the straits of Gibraltar and about 40 miles east of Tangier. The north of Morocco is very beautiful, and hosts wide sprawls of green green greeeen mountains, known as the Rif (reef), which are home to the Rifian Berbers (the ones that everyone says I look like). The woman wear a distinctive type of...
What Are the Most Difficult Languages to Learn? →
Surprise! Time Change, Why the Trains Slow Down...
So I’d heard a rumor from a fellow ETA (who lives in a more rural part of Morocco) that Morocco was going to move ahead an hour on Sunday, and then would move time back sometime in July. Due to the environment in which she lives, and having heard nothing else about it, I dismissed it as a rumor. After all, phones in the U.S. automatically adjust themselves when time changes occur.
Moroccan phones...
March 2011
8 posts
A General Update
In terms of teaching, things have been normal. I have more students showing up this semester than last semester. We talk. I talk. I listen. I give them stickers, which they attach to their notebooks. We joke around and laugh.
My method has been to start with a subject. Sometimes I bring it up, sometimes I respond to a question that someone asks. I explain things. I write important words on the...
Trying to Teach the Declaration of Independence
Know what?
My lesson was bomb.
Know how I know?
#1. Students. Were. Literally. Hanging. On. Every. Word. Seriously, I’ve never had such an intensely focused audience. Don’t worry, they were participating too!
#2. They told me so after class. “Teacher, we finally feel that we are studying!” “You will still be here?” [This is an Arabinglish-ism; the translation is, “Are you teaching us all...
3 tags
Guuurl, Let Me Tell You, the Price of Eggs Just...
Eggs in Morocco are were cheap.
I get them at my local hanoot.
(Non-Moroccan audience: a hanoot is what happens when you take the contents of a convenience store [コンビニ] or gas station store and stuff them, sometimes very high up the walls, into a store that is maybe 10x10 feet. They have fresh eggs and bread, packaged snacks, cough drops, cigarettes and lighters, cleaning supplies, laundry soap,...
It is exactly 11:17a.m. and I am already saying,...
Here’s what I did today:
I woke up to my alarm, turned it off and lazed about for 20 minutes before actually getting out of bed. Normal.
I made pancakes and sat down to watch some anime. Normal.
I went to the hanoot to buy a 5 liter jug of water and some Halls. Mostly normal.
I went to university, and found out that the English Department students are on strike. No classes, again.
NORMAL.
To...
Homemade Cold Control
You know, in the good ol’ U.S. of A., I never used to get sick. It has been years since I’ve had to skip school on account of illness (injuries, however, are another story; friends might remember my butternut squash splinter, or when I unintentionally crushed my hand in the table joint at work, haha). It is to be expected, however, to get sick when one leaves one’s home country,...
1 tag
“One thing I want to know more about is cowboys.”
So I showed up to campus on the “first” week of classes, and I saw professors are still giving exams from last quarter. Meanwhile, the students didn’t come until the second week, and we have entered the third week of the quarter, and I just got room numbers for my class sections today, but there are no students today or tomorrow because they are on strike! Luckily the teacher strikes got canceled,...
jasmineeeeeeeeee asked: Hi!
I stumbled across your blog as I was googling Morocco ETA stuff. I'm a finalist for next year, waiting for the final answer and keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for posting this!
I stumbled across your blog as I was googling Morocco ETA stuff. I'm a finalist for next year, waiting for the final answer and keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for posting this!
February 2011
6 posts
日本とモロッコ
変なタイトルかも知りませんが、最近私はモロッコで日本の物をたくさん会いました。
まずは電車でマサコさんと言う日本人に出会いました。ハンドバッグの中で、日本語で書いたモロッコガイドブックがあって、私はそれを見ました。そして、日本人ですかと彼女に聞いて、それから三十分間ぐらい話しました、日本語で。彼女はすごいビックリしましたと言いました。私の日本語がまだなく成っていないかも知りませんね。笑～
それから、二週間後カサブランカの年会書市で年上日本人一人と日本語が話せるモロッコ人三人と 少し日本語で話しました。日本語が出来るモロッコ人は 毎年タンジャにコミックスの年会があると言いました。この人は私にメールアドをくれました。カサブランカでアニメ部があるらしいから、メールしなくちゃだめでしょうね。カサブランカはケニトラと言う私の住んでいる町から電車で九十分掛かって悪くないと思います。
ウワー、日本語で書く...
A Recipe for Couscous Cornbread →
I made white bean chili yesterday, and just ate it with normal wheat bread. But as I was considering my projects for today, I had a hankering for corn bread to accompany my chili. The only issue was cornmeal, and I wondered what would make an effective substitute. My answer was…maybe couscous? It kinda looks the same and has the same texture.
Instead of attempting to change a recipe, I went...
Eating My Way through Morocco
As an earlier entry indicated, I’ve spent the past two weeks traveling throughout Morocco, accompanying a friend and fellow ETA, Eric, who teaches in Oman, on a tour of my host country. He was on break from teaching. We’ve all been experiencing long breaks; mine, in part because I did not have to be involved in giving and grading finals, has lasted nearly two months. In this time, I’ve celebrated...
Typos in Morocco, or How I’ve Had My Very Own...
Anyone who lives in Morocco knows that you have to pay attention to any and all important documentation that gets handed to you. Typos and errors (misspellings, etc) are common, and it is up to the consumer, rather than the producer, to make sure all the details are in order because the authorities, understandably, mistrust documentation with errors.
Case in point: the receipt I received for my...
3 tags
Bargaining, Laundry in Trees, Road Rules, and...
Taking any bus in Morocco always results in a hair-raising adventure. As I write today’s entry, I am sitting on a CTM bus, a coach bus company, as we wind our way around extensive sets of switchbacks and hairpin turns in the High Atlas. The driver honks to warn drivers on the other side of the turns, honks at children walking on the side of the road to warn them of his presence, honks at eighteen...