Friday, September 2, 2016

Our Host School - Larbi Doghmi High School

Thursday of our first week in Morocco, our cohort was divided into partners after lunch and we all bid a temporary farewell to the Golden Tulip Farah Hotel.  My partner teacher, Todd, and I were assigned to Larbi Doghmi High School in Temara, a suburb just south of Rabat.  Larbi Doghmi was a famous Moroccan actor in the 1960's and 1970's as the Internet Movie DataBase notes at this link:  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0488015/ .  His picture hangs in the teacher break room at the school.


Todd and I found our new space at a place Abdellatif had suggested, in downtown Rabat called The Helnan Chellah Hotel.  The Helnan Chellah which still deals in metal keys and doors locked by key from within and without, has a charm all its own.  The woodwork and furniture were extravagant.  There are many paintings and artworks on display to add to the mansion-like atmosphere.  The stairwells are marble.  Just off the lobby is an ornately tiled tea service area.  As we became accustomed to the historic decor the amenities, such as the 6th Floor Boys Club, we liked the place more and more.  The location was near the Ministry of Defense, not much further from the train station and numerous local eateries.

Our host teacher was Abdellatif El Merced (Obb-dell-uh-teff).  He is an English teacher.  His classes are full because learning English is very popular in Morocco.  Students believe learning English can help them connect to English speaking countries Morocco benefits from economically and socially.  The El Merced family consists of Abdellatif, his wife and two daughters.  Abdellatif is always working to improve his teaching skills and methods which made the conversations we had in transit to and from school and during the lunches he invited us to lively and meaningful.  He went out of his way to make sure we had access to some very good homemade food in the break room during down time.

We were introduced to the office staff and shown some classrooms.  The Principal was a friendly gentleman who made us feel at home in his office.  He proudly showed us his security measures and the student attendance software he had recently received.  He indicated it was making his life much easier.  There was also what looked like a card catalog with student photos stapled to each card which were in the process of being phased out.  He could read written English and spoke French well enough it didn't take Todd and me long to understand his ideas.  We enjoyed a couple of visits in that office during our time in his school.

As we walked across the school courtyard, which was completely enclosed by 3 floors of classroom buildings with gates on the ends, it was time for class change.  As Todd and I walked along the sidewalks with Abdellatif,  Students were smiling and waving from the upper floors and all around us at ground level.  Some had bewildered looks on their faces and many turned to their friends to whisper about what they were seeing.  The students in each class were instructed to stand when we entered the rooms as a show of respect.  It was humbling.

We visited the science lab and storeroom as part of the grand tour.  I had brought along a box of Oklahoma rose rocks.  They are barite stones which are shaped like roses and colored rust red.  I had been offering the small stones to the administrators and staff members during the tour.  As we were greeted I explained to each person, with varying amounts of interpretation, there are only two places on Earth rose rocks are naturally formed:  Oklahoma and Australia.

When we met a physical science teacher decked out in lab coat and glasses, I held the box up to him and he looked inside.  He picked up a stone he liked and then quickly snatched up two more.  It was humorous and I felt a wide-eyed smile crossing my face.  As a result, there are now genuine Oklahoma barite rose rocks in the Larbi Doghmi High School science geological sample inventory.  I was enjoying sharing gifts, culture and science with our neighbors.

The afternoon flew by and Abdellatif took us back to the hotel.  There were two graying Japanese couples who had arrived on a tour bus wheeling their luggage down the hall together when it was time to go back to the room for the night.  They seemed so content to be there together and I saw their love for international travel in their eyes.  It was like I was sharing their joy to be in a historic place like Morocco and I appreciated the privilege even more.  A couple of revolutions of the old metal key and I was in for the night.

Trail wasn't even half explored yet!

OinM

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