This Week's Marrakech Moments

We've been getting down to business in Marrakech this week with lots of exams, writing, and school work happening on rue Zellaqa (don't you just love that street name?) with a couple of cultural excursions squeezed in between. I presently am staring at an enormous pile (400) of exams which need to be graded, and I have decided that blogging is the better option. Since the exam experience is fresh in my mind, however, that seems like a great spot to start.

After a seven week hiatus from our last class, it was time for my first-year students to take their final exam. I was slightly (okay, largely) stressed about how exactly that would unfold. Two classes of about 200 students each would take the exam at the same time on a Saturday afternoon. All I knew was that I had 400 exams (all stapled by Nolan for a small fee) and my job was to show up. Given the rare threat of rain on Saturday afternoon, I opted for a taxi instead of my bike, This turned out to be the best choice of the day. Normally, when I try to take a cab to the university, it takes me about 5 minutes to explain where I am trying to go - testing all of my French, my few phrases of Darija, and my poor knowledge of area landmarks. I eventually get there, but it's never easy. Saturday, however, was my lucky day. After the usual challenge of trying to explain where I was headed, the driver said, "You need to say 'quartier amasheesh," and I was like, "Well...thank you very much!" I felt like a new woman. Naturally, I had to write this down, given my ability to hear Arabic, repeat Arabic, and then totally forget Arabic in lass than two minutes. Now, however, I am set for all future cab rides to the university. With that nuisance resolved, I was able to sit back and contemplate how I was going to monitor an exam for 400 students.

As it turned out, the exam kind of just gave itself. I showed up. My students were spread out among six different classrooms in different parts of the campus. I ran around handing out piles of exams to graduate students who had been recruited as exam proctors. I stayed in the last classroom and watched things unfold. Two proctors handed out tests, rapped on desks when somebody talked, passed around an attendance sheet (the first one I have seen), transferred "white-out" from aisle to aisle for students who needed to make corrections, called out time warnings, and wrapped things up at the end. I don't know exactly how things transpired in the other five classes, but, at the end of two hours, I had my 400 exams back in my bag and a gargantuan correcting project ahead. With Lady Luck smiling down on me, I only walked about ten minutes before a taxi passed by and picked me up to take me home. Check the first Moroccan university exam off the list of experiences to be had.

In other day-to-day updates, Nolan continues to home school himself. The opening of a new juice bar near our apartment has made for a good morning excursion for reading and math time. Brianna's life is all Spanish all the time right now (given her habit of letting something build up  to crisis point and then cramming it all in at the last second). This week's goal is an entire semester of Spanish in eight days. She did take a break mid-week for a two day excursion out of Marrakech to visit the hometown of some friends she has made here. She returned with wonderful stories and tasty treats of fresh olive oil, olives, pickled vegetables, bread, and cake. We all benefited from her little adventure!  Andy, continues to plug along at learning English through the eyes of second language learners. He's taking a TEFL course to learn to be an English teacher and is busy discovering every day that English is not as easy as it looks.

On the fun front, we finally made it Badi Palace, a ruined sultan's palace from the late 1500's and one of Marrakech's must-do tourist attractions. A sunny day, extensive ruins and courtyards, and lots of Moroccan tile made for some fun parkour obstacles for Nolan. The palace also houses a 12th century minbar which once stood in Marrakech's largest mosque, Koutoubia Mosque. A minbar is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons. Unfortunately, when we first read about the minbar at el Badi Palace, we understood there to be a famous "minibar" at the palace which used to be housed at Koutoubia. Naturally we spent our time looking for a tiny refrigerator and trying to imagine why there would be a minibar in a mosque. Sadly, there were no overpriced snacks to be found in the minbar. We left enlightened and thirsty.

Badi Palace Fun

Hello Sunshine, my old friend!

Today the sun rises on a new week in Morocco. The temperatures are starting to climb again. Yesterday we experienced our first sand squall as the weather tried to decide which season it was. Hot sun, heavy wind, sand, and, then, drenching rain all took turns throughout the day. The  rain and howling wind arrived as we headed out to find dinner. We made it about 200 yards and sprinted back to the apartment, soaking wet, with three broken umbrellas that had been ravaged by the wind. Fortunately Nolan's calamari craving was strong, and he and Brianna ventured out into the flood waters to get take out food for all of us and save the day. Ah...city living...calamari on every corner. Stay tuned.

A bike ride in the countryside to balance things out