Li Fat Mat

"Let bygones be bygones," or "What's done is done." My favorite Darija phrase of the week sums up where the last seven days have gone. It's fun to say and easy to remember: Li fat mat.

In fact, this week has flown by, and I am hard pressed to remember where the days have gone. It has been busy! With the start of my "official teaching job" looming at the end of the week, I had one of those days that every teacher dreams of - the one where you glue yourself to a chair with your computer and don't move until you've got a solid plan for the whole semester. It was refreshing. That was Monday. Tuesday would be the day that I went to the university to ensure that all of the tech equipment in my classroom would be set to go for my classes on Thursday.  Tuesday would test my cultural adaptability (and, honestly, my patience) to the limit.

I am not a big fan of wasting time. I have already had to adjust my attitude and learn to better appreciate small talk and greetings, drinking tea, and, in due time, getting down to business. I have learned that a meeting that would take ten minutes at home will probably take two hours here. I am practicing. I know I need to slow down, check in with people, expect interruptions, and eventually (in the ideal case) my questions will get answered. So, Tuesday morning I took a deep breath and took on my first challenge of the day - the solo bike ride to the university. All of my previous rides had been with Andy as a buffer - both a social buffer for the weird girl on the bike and a literal buffer for the  crazy traffic. I struck out on my own, uncertain of the route to the university, with Google maps to guide me. I channeled the inner Vietnam-biker in me that I cultivated 5 years ago, and I biked out into the world of swerving taxis and motorbike exhaust. It quickly all came back - the ability to just go with the flow and the realization that there is, in fact, some method to the madness that somehow manages to work for everyone. I found my way to the university, where the very sweet security guard suppressed his smile as he kindly took my helmet to keep it safe in his booth for me. The Moroccan gods were smiling on me.

That was the end of the good karma. I took care of the greetings, waited out a few interruptions, spent a long time talking about course content, and finally made it to the classroom to test the tech equipment. Despite all assurances to the contrary, the projector did not plug into my computer. The audio speakers did exist, but there was no cable to connect them to the computer, and there was no Internet connection. My handy little web-based semester-on-a-flash-drive that I had worked so hard to create on Monday suddenly felt useless. The little voice in my head said, "They warned you about this at orientation. Expect the unexpected, and then go with plan D." So, I pasted on my happy face (which may have briefly been clouded with my exasperated face) and decided that I had a whole day to revamp things and remember how to use a chalk board.

The sea of chairs

I decided to tackle the next practical teaching preparation task, which was to purchase index cards. The first step was to explain what I was looking for, then to figure out the word in Darija, then to figure out where I could buy this oddity. A kind professor in the English Department made a phone call to a "librairie" (which is like a bookstore stand) and determined that they could help me. I followed his directions, hopped on my bike again, and discovered that they carried card stock and would be happy to cut it into smaller pieces for me. I would need to come back the next day to pick them up. I was beginning to understand that lesson planning in Morocco could be a week-long affair.

Wednesday morning was a well-deserved morning of distraction. Our good friends, Gabi and Trevor, were in Marrakech for a work conference, and Brianna and I signed up for a Moroccan cooking class with Gabi. Together we went to the Amal Center, a non-profit helping disadvantaged women to build life skills through employment training, where they teach cooking classes and serve lunch daily. Along with three other groups, we went through the motions of making delicious Moroccan tajines. Gabi and I made a chicken tajine with lemons, and Brianna made a vegetarian tajine. We sniffed spices, chopped onions, marinated meat, measured and poured magical ingredients, and eventually had a simmering pot of of goodness cooking on hot coals. While we waited for the food to cook through, we had  a tour of the Amal Center and worked hard not to pass out from the heat. In the end we enjoyed the fruits of our labor for lunch. Gabi and I concluded that we should go a little lighter on the "fruit" in our labor next time. The preserved lemons that we cooked with were like injections of pure salt in our stew, and we consumed enough sodium for the month in our one lunch sitting. Once my blood sodium levels have returned to normal, we'll attempt to replicate the effort at home over our gas flame!

Wednesday night brought first day of school nerves and very little sleep. Thursday was the big day. It started with Brianna giving a presentation about public speaking skills at a conference for undergraduate English students. In the process, she introduced them to the magic of Ben & Jerry's. She agreed to spend the rest of the day with me at the university as my tech trouble shooter as I launched into my first classes. Armed with a different computer, my own speakers, a gigantic extension cord, power adapters, downloaded videos, and screen shots of websites, I attempted to introduce my students to online applications for language learning (without ever getting online). In some ways it was teaching at its worst. I cringe to think of the number of times every year I remind students to "show not tell." The best I could do was "tell" and try to generate enthusiasm for the potential that the Internet brings to language learning. This year is going to stretch my teaching and creativity skills in ways I had never imagined. I am learning how to teach through Facebook to students who primarily use their cell phones as a means to access information. It looks like plan D has become plan FB.

My two classes numbered 100+ students each. The students were amazing, friendly, engaged, and energized. I left exhausted and excited at the same time - feeling reassured that, despite the challenges, this promises to be a fun adventure. The weekend brought a three day training workshop for Moroccan teachers at a local hotel. Many meals, a few presentations, and lots of new faces later, I am ready for a new week which promises a day off and a trip to the mountains for a breath of fresh air Moroccan-style. Li fat mat!