Hallo-weenie!!

What a fun day at school! Another teacher and I dressed up as Crayons (below) and some clever 6th graders dressed as "nerd zombie" and "cereal killer". I love Halloween!

As middle school student council sponsor, I organized the "spooky games" component for our school-wide Halloween party. We created "spooky boxes" that contained Frankenstein's teeth, Vampire's blood, menacing maggots, eek! Eyeballs and Zombie fingers! Lot of work, but the kids screams and faces made it all worth it!!

9,500+ alleys: Which way do we turn?!

My first weekend getaway was a success! Great food, entertainment, lodging, shopping, atmosphere, and friends to enjoy it all with!

Fes (or Fez as the Americans would call it) is the medieval capital of Morocco and was just 3 1/2 hours northeast of Casablanca, by train that is. Way back when, Fes was once the most populated city in the world. While that may not be true anymore, it does however hold the title for having the largest car-free Medina/shopping center in the world.

All 9 of us paid 165 dirhams ($20) for a 1st class train ride to Fes. Spending a little extra was totally worth it as we relaxed in lounging and wide seats with air conditioning and a great view.

Fes is notorious for their riads (bed and breakfast lodging). We booked 2 large "suites" at Riad Fes Aicha: one for the guys and one for the gals. The riad has a large central and open room that houses as the lounge & common dining area. It was very well lit, spacious, and comfortable. Upon our arrival (they even picked us up from the train station!), they served us hot mint, green tea. Our tour guide began explaining about the history of Fes and our itinerary for the day. Needless did we know that it was going to be a very long day and night.

Our tour began with entering upon one of the thousands of streets within the Medina. Since motorized vehicles aren't allowed, transportation of goods must take other means...

Hundreds and hundreds of tiny shops selling their specialties. The picture below containing the yellow/greenish fruit on a wooden cart is prickly pear. Needless to say this is was NOT one of my favorite fruits!

 

The kiddos loved seeing tourists.



Making  blue jeans (a rarity over here). Elaborate wedding decorations.

After many shops and history lessons, our guide took us to a local's house for lunch. Here we all tried different traditional Moroccan food: Kefta Tagine (meatballs in poached eggs), Moroccan Couscous, Lamb Tagine, Pastille along with the standard hot mint green tea and fruit for dessert.

After lunch, we headed to a highly sought-after commodity that Fes is known for...LEATHER This leather tannery consists of many "vats" in which the leather is cleaned and dyed. The white "vats" (blocked-shaped barrels) are used to disinfect and clean the hides.

After they're clean and dry, the leather is stained.  You can see many colors within the vats (red, brown, black, blue).

I couldn't miss an opportunity to get an AUTHENTIC leather jacket, so I drove a hard bargain and got a jet blue leather jacket and leather house slippers for $150.

Our guide then took us to a large rug factory/shop called Dar Essaad. It used to be a large riad (house), but now they have transformed it into a large, open rug shop. A women's co-op of Fes makes the rugs and all of the proceeds go to them. They were absolutely beautiful and so colorful. Some of the rugs were thousand-strung knots made with fine wool and some were made of camel hair.

I got to watch the women tie the knots for the beautiful carpet that they were making. They even let me try it out!

There was a beautiful view on the roof of the rug shop...photo op for our group!

Next stop: a textiles shop. Here the man is pressing the strings together to make a scarf. All of us teachers played dress up in the traditional Moroccan djellabas (for women) and kaftans (for men).

 
After a long day of shopping and sight-seeing, our guide organized an dinner and entertainment for us. We were treated like royal guests by sitting on the stage to the right of the band. We listened to lovely music by a traditional Moroccan instrumental group.

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The belly dancers were a hit! The ladies decided that we teachers needed a few lessons. Above is the belly dancer with two of my colleagues (Josh Winicki and Ryan Fletcher) and below are a group of teachers including me.

 
 The following day a few of us decided to roam about the old medina on our own. We were in search of the famous 14th century Water Clock and it's counterpart Café and it took us merely 2 1/2 hours to find it in the heart of the medina. We took one too many wrong turns, but after asking almost every local at every fork in the road, we eventually found it!

The water clock was designed by a clockmaker and part-time magician. The carved beams hold  brass bowls with water flowing between them to mark the hours. Unfortunately, it doesn't work today, but it was neat to see!

Such a great, fun weekend with friends. I highly recommend Fez to any tourist who comes to Morocco! However, I do suggest that you book your first class train ticket in advance. If left undone, then you could be stuck in an non-air conditioned, second class, and over-crowded cab for 3 1/2 hours.



Escargots alive!!

So now that I've seen them so alive, slimy and crawling/slithering/gliding among one another I may think twice before I take a bite (or slurp)! 

I love the old means of measurement!

Hamamm, Habousse and Rabat

After the first long week of school, I felt I deserved a little pampering :)

 

A new pampering experience that I tried is the Hammam. This is a Moroccan-style spa that has a menu of a different pamperings to get, but I stuck with the basic for my first time. First, I into a large steam room and was instructed to lather my body with Argan oil (black, silky soap) while sweating profusely through your pores. There were buckets available so that you pour cool water yourself and wash off the oil while you wait. When it came time, a Moroccan lady led me into this large tiled room that had multiple marble-slabbed, body-length tables. The Moroccan woman used an exfoliation glove (hard as sandpaper!) and started sloughing off the oil and dead skin off my body. She scrubbed from shoulders to feet, front, back and side. Once she was finished sandpapering my entire body, she doused me with cool water. I paid extra for a "soap massage" which literally that was exactly what it was. I was rinsed again and pointed to a shower in which I could wash my hair. After it all, we were led into a lounging area to relax and dry off. Overall, it was a little awkward, but everyone else in the Hammam was having the same experience! I was sparking clean and soft for the rest of the week!

 

 

So I'm still very much enjoying going to the Market every Saturday morning. Buying fresh and dried fruit, nuts, leafy greens, delicious French-style cheese and seeing sights like these:

I wouldn't know a single thing about buying & cooking meat prepared like this, so I stick to just ordering it...

 Yummy pesto hamburger at a favorite local restaurant of the CAS teachers!

 

 

At least each town in Morocco has a Medina which is a huge marketplace that sells all sorts of vintage and new clothes, pottery, home furnishings, food and many, many other knickknacks. Casablanca has an "Old" and a "New" Medina. The newer medina is called the Habousse. It's a walled marketplace that has many "stores" throughout the area.

        

 

 

                                                                                          Parking is a bit intense!

 

 

Olives galore!!!

 

One store owner really wanted me to buy a rug from him so much that he offered to take a picture of another teacher and I. Needless to say I now have a picture to remind me where his store was so that I can go back and buy a rug from him.

 

 Walking back from the Habousse (a 40 minute walk through Casa) we found a beautiful, large park. Walking to and from friend's apartments, grocery, gym, restaurants, etc. has become a normal routine for me. Everyone walks everywhere. There are plenty of "petite taxis" to take you, but I hate the hassle and would rather walk. During a 7-mile walk/run with another teacher we encountered some friends along the way...

 

             

 

 

On Friday, September 13, our PTA hosted a party at one of the CAS faculty member's house. The owner lived outside the hustle and bustle of the city and out in the "country"...very quiet and empty of honking cars.

 We were greeted with entertainment from some locals, red-carpet style (literally)! If you were tapping your toes or making any inclination of keeping a beat to their music, then they'd grab you and make you dance in the middle of everyone. Luckily I wasn't caught!

 

 

The capital of Morocco is Rabat. It's only 45 minutes away by train. King Mohammed VI and his family resides here. Interesting fact: Morocco gained independence from France in 1956, and since then Morocco has had only three kings to date (Mohammed V, Hassan II and the current king, Mohammed VI).

 

 

 

Rabat has been inhabited by many countries, including Rome. There are many Roman ruins in the city and has since been remodeled by Sultans.

Roman built walls

 

 Roman entrance to Chellah (the roman ruins)

 

 

 The arched-doorways were gorgeous! Roman bath

 

               

 

 

 Banana Tree! That dark chain-looking thing is the flower of a banana tree.

 

The US Embassy is in Rabat. Some teachers and I went to the American Club to eat  some American-made grub.

Rabat's Medina (marketplace) is huge and was a bustling place on Saturday afternoon.

 

Everyone drinks bottled water and here's a "pump yourself" station, haha!

Escargot is being sold off carts on the streets. They give you a heaping bowl for 5 DH ($0.60)  and a cup of their soup (shown to the left of the bowl of snails). They give you toothpicks to dig out the snail of his shell. This was a new experience!! 

   

                                                           Evidence that I ate it!

The Medina was full of street vendors selling all different types of food. The pictures below show a man putting sugar cane, with a lime snagged to the end of it, into this machine to grind it into a drink. It tastes like a limeade, very sweet and with a twang!

 

 

 Quite delicious & filling!

 To walk off all of our delicious eats, we walked to the Kasbah of the Udayas. This is a vintage Moroccan-style neighborhood surrounded by white walls. Many homes and apartments are inside this little village along with a Mosque, market, hammam and the famous terrace that overlooks Rabat, it's sister city Sale and the Atlantic Ocean.

Apparently the terrace outlook for closed for renovation and we were devastated. However, a local Moroccan woman allowed us to observe the ocean and city through her private terrace. She then invited all of us into her home and served us mint tea. Her daughter was in high school and spoke English and we had a great time talking with the family. The pictures below are of the family's view of the ocean and city as well as their humble

 

 

What a great 4 weeks it's been so far. Many more weekends and trips to plan...upcoming weekend trip to Fez then Prague for Fall break in October. Let the countdown begin!!