Midnight in Rabat

The entire cohort assembled in Atlanta, Georgia Saturday afternoon before flying to Rabat, Morocco via Paris, France.  Our traveling TGC facilitator, Kendra navigated our flights and spare time flawlessly, creating a smooth day of travel.  After three pleasant plane rides, the tired but positive group exchanged currency and boarded vans headed to the hotel.  Meriem, our in-country contact and instructor, greeted us and guided our drivers to our accomodations.

After a nice nap and some cleanup on Sunday afternoon, we gathered for a walk to dinner along the picturesque Bou Regreg River where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean.  The smell of salt air, fish and popcorn was in the air as we passed vendors and took pictures.  One man on a bench said "Welcome to Morocco" and I replied "Shkra, shkra" pronoun show-krawn, which means thank you in Arabic.

Meriem told us Sunday evenings are very busy times for this river walk.  Many people were there with their friends or families.  A group of dancers was making local music and dancing.  There was a snail vendor, peddling fresh snails, a fresh juice kiosk, a cotton candy stand and other sellers of snacks and drinks.

Dinner was a relaxing time during which Meriem gave us a tutorial in Arabic and the group laughed a lot attempting to pronounce the cononant heavy dialect.  We were all relieved to be in the country and excited about the next two weeks.

When we learned about how to tell a host or seller, "I don't eat fish.  I don't eat eggs.  I don't eat meat.", we were taught how to say "I eat everything":  kan-akulkulši (can-uh-cull-cull-she), I raised my arms in the air and said "I just found my catch phrase!"  The humor wasn't wasted on this group!

Of course, conversation turned to how school is done in both countries.  We described our common perceptions of our technology hungry 21st century students to each other.  It was very interesting conversation.  After the great food gave way to fatigue, we all walked back to the hotel to rest.

Just wanted everyone to know the Okie is safe in Morocco and has video chatted with the fam back in OK.  Looking forward to learning much more about schools, teachers and students in Rabat as we conduct team meetings and tour the capitol city over the next 3 1/2 days!  Photos later!  Thanks for reading and have a great evening back home.

OinM