On Friday, we had school again. Abdellatif picked us up from the Helnan Chellah and drove us to school. The drive from downtown Rabat to Temara is highlighted by passing Mohammed V University, a soccer stadium, a building that looks like an elementary school I attended many years ago and the Maroc Telecom building. The MT building is very high tech and has large antennae on the roof not unlike the Hancock building in Chicago. At night, the glass sides of the building are lit up with lots of colorful designs that look like rippling water, stripes, squares, plaid and spotlights.
Todd brought his laptop and was showing students in a math class pictures of his school and community in Ithaca, New York. The crowded around him to see while the Calculus teacher rubbed his chin between his fingers and soaked in all the information. Quick with the camera, the moment was captured digitally. The photo sums up the experiences we had at our schools and shows how much fun we had interacting with all our hosts.
Abdellatif took us to his home at lunch time and then to a Turkish restaurant in Temara named Istanbul Express. We sat on the covered patio, just off the street. Our waiter was wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap. I ordered Turkish style pizza and passionfruit soda. Abdellatif ordered Turkish bread.
We returned to school for the afternoon with students showing more and more interest in our presence. That evening, we spoke to a group of English teachers about teaching methodology and 21st Century competencies. It was a very enjoyable night. After we spoke, teacher after teacher greeted us and told us how much they enjoyed visiting the U.S. or how they hoped to visit one day. We traded e-mail addresses and it was time to go back to the hotel so Abdellatif drove us back to downtown Rabat.
Exchanging ideas was a great time.
OinM
No comments:
Post a Comment