Casablanca Culture: The Oddities and The Beauty (Fall 2014)

During Christmas Break, my "Holiday Stay-cation" I was able to walk around Casablanca and see all of the sights that I have yet to visit. I had time on my hands and no agenda. 

I walked to this old, white cathedral, named Cathedrale Sacre Coeur, that has been semi-restored.

 It's wiped clean of any furniture and now stands as an enormous empty hall with long, white walls and colorful stained glass windows. It's now occasionally used as an art gallery. I have always wanted to go and luckily for me there was an exhibit there! 

This exhibit portrayed Moroccan works of art that included paintings and sculptures.

These are cigarette butts in the middle asnd I believe tar in the tea glasses.

 This is for you Kerri! -->

The cutest grasshopper I've ever seen!

This gorgeous building houses not only artistic pieces, but the creepy crawlers and pigeons as well! However, the true essence of the building wasn't captured on camera because I was too disgusted to take a picture of it. At first sight I thought the floor was made of marble, but from closer inspection it revealed to only be pigeon poop. Go figure. Such a nice building and gorgeous pieces of art had to share their space with cockroaches, pigeons and shit nonetheless. 

Throughout my "Holiday Stay-cation" I found other oddities that provided much humor to me:

A "bougie" church candle...

The extent I must take to make a latte...

This was technically in Ceuta, Spanish city in northern Morocco, during Thanksgiving...

                                 

The little girl wanted to pet the camel's head one last time...

The real butcher shop...

While there may be oddities, there are acts of kindness and beauty throughout:

The barista making my latte with love. That's an "L" and heart if you aren't able to see it clearly.

Beautiful building in Casa.

Casablanaca's new train station (Casa Port) that makes it the biggest station in Africa. Complete with McDonalds, coffee & chocolate shops, clothing stores and the Asia Restaurant (yes, it is trademarked!)

I hosted my first cookie exchange party in Morocco! 

Cats find a home anywhere...

Beautiful artwork & murals in Assilah.

Beachfront cemetery in Rabat. What an optimistic perspective for a grave site...

Rockin' colorful doors in the Kasbah!

This cat knows where to get comfy: on the sheets in the streets 

Walking around Chellah on a hazy day

United Nations Day at Casablanca American School

Casablanca American School celebrated United Nations Day on October 22. The school day began with a school wide assembly that announced the meaning and history of UN day as well as our school's representation of internationalism. All of the students in the school were encouraged to wear their nation's colors or native cultures's costume/everyday-wear to school that day.  The Lower School students then paraded around our beloved Soccer field in their gorgeous outfits.  

Spain & Germany were represented in the Middle School !

The Middle school girls wore beautiful kaftans.

Flags were draped and adorned (Austria & Lebanon). 

Peru was represented! Such an adorable, sweet girl!

Beautiful Sub-Saharan colors!

Everyone loves Futball!

Struttin' high heels!

Young boys in Lederhosen 

A proud-to-be Australian Teacher!

Adorable boys in their djellabas 

French girls

Costa Rican beautiful dress!

Proud Moroccans 

Wouldn't be UN day without representing the Philadelphia Eagles  and...

The Razorbacks!

Parents came in and held a UN Fair later that day and had booths that represented their country. It was so cool to see products and specialities from so many cultures!!

A spring break full of Belgian specialties: chocolate, waffles, fries and beer :)

The thought of savory chocolate, a variety of strong beers and waffles topped with, you guessed it chocolate,  lured us teachers to Belgium for our spring break in February.

Brussels view from the Atomium

 The Atomium was the main pavilion and icon of the World Fair of Brussels (1958), commonly called Expo 58. It symbolised the democratic will to maintain peace among all the nations, faith in progress, both technical and scientific and, finally, an optimistic vision of the future of a modern, new, super-technological world for a better life for mankind.

Riding the escalator from floor to floor within the Atomium. 

From the Atomium's website:
"The completely steel-clad Atomium is a kind of UFO in the cultural history of Humanity, a mirror  turned simultaneously towards the past and the future, comparing our Utopias of yesterday with our dreams for tomorrow." 

Cinquantenaire Park in Brussels: The Arch was planned for the world exhibition of 1880 and was meant to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the independence of Belgium. 

A really cool public art exhibit that makes sounds as you walk underneath the sculptures. 

Townhall

Our skylight view from our Air B&B apartment. This is Town Hall all lit up!

Manneken Pis: Little Peeing Boy "The famous Manneken-Pis remains the emblem of the rebellious spirit of the City of Brussels. His wardrobe counts more than 900 suits. The Museum of the City of Brussels presents one hundred of these suits. A multimedia database allows the visitors to consult the whole wardrobe of the famous 'ketje'." Read more on this website. 

Bruges is a city of 20,000 people and has 21 churches! We stayed at hotel Anselmus in Bruges. Very quaint and Victorian. Many homemade chocolate and lace shops. The locals were very friendly and stopped and offered assistance when we were looking at a map for directions. The city was small enough that you could walk around to visit all of the top "must dos" of the city. We went to the Belfry tower in the Markt and walked up the - steps to the top. The staircase was narrow and windy and was a claustrophobic's nightmare. The drum for the bell was enormous and was supposedly the largest (and heaviest, weighing 9 tons) known in existence. At every quarter within the hour, a different song is played. They switch out the songs every 2 years. We heard a few of these songs throughout the day in the city. The walk throughout the city was quiet and peaceful

Belfry Tower famous in the movie In Bruges

 Walking up the 366 steps to the top!






Church of Our Lady in Bruges houses the famous "Madonna and Child" by Michelangelo. This was the closest that I ever came to such a famous piece of art. 

After Bruges, we took a train to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. This was such a cute, quiet, and quaint city that had completely two different personas: old city and new city (very wealthy and expensive). Taking a cozy boat ride throughout the city 

Beautiful Adolphe Bridge that connects the New Town and the Old Town

Luxembourg feast

 Chemin de la corniche, Luxembourg