Wednesday, August 31, 2016

The New Normal - The First Day of School at GWA!


Today was my first day of school at George Washington Academy.  The bus arrived EARLY, and was at our stop at 6:36 AM . . . ulgh!
36 years of teaching . . . another first day!
Looking very official

Waiting at the bus stop . . . view from our 5th floor apartment

The first thing I did upon getting to school was to take a walk.  We arrive at 7AM, so I have plenty of time for a mile walk around the track before school starts.  I hope to make it a habit; I actually heard the rooster crowing on the walk!

Buses lined up, near the track, ready to go and get the students


It was great to see all the kids, very excited and looking forward to a great year.  Over the past few weeks I have worked hard fixing up my room and preparing various documents.  The next few weeks will be spent arranging our small groups; ESL, Reading and Learning Resource (me) and doing other administrative work.

Yep, that's me!

My desk area

Book shelves with various teaching items

Four small desks and one table with smaller chairs

I hung a string curtain that I brought from the States. (Watch out, Kevin, you used to get tangled up at Canterbury!)

My job at GWA is learning resource teacher in lower school, as well as head of the department.  So, about 50% of my time will be spent teaching, and the rest doing other tasks (that's the plan, anyway).

Here are some pictures from around campus . . .



View of the lower school from the track

Staff housing and administration

Wall around campus; you can see animals right near the wall; on a clear day the ocean can also be seen.

View of campus from staff housing; crane/view of new library/admin being built
Expansion:  building of the new library/admin 

Pretty campus

It was a great first day!

Sunday, August 28, 2016

The New Normal - Food continued; Scala Restaurant, Casablanca

After church today, Carolyn took Richard, Susan and I to a great restaurant called Sqala.  You'd be hard-pressed to find this restaurant at all if you didn't know it existed.  It is essentially hidden in the ochre wall of the sqala, fortified bastion built in the 18th century.  The inside of the establishment is rustic, with typical Moroccan decor and a blue theme.  What makes it especially beautiful is the garden, including impressive trellises, and a blue-tiled large water fountain.  It feels like you are sitting in a courtyard and is a most pleasant place to enjoy a meal.

The food was awesome and seems authentically Moroccan.  Richard and I both had tajine, which were piping hot and delicious.  Another plus was the friendliness of the staff and the fact that our waiter could speak English quite well.

I would highly recommend this restaurant oasis in Casa!

Relaxing Water Pool/Fountain

Is this a restaurant

Moroccan decor

Beef tajine with almonds and prunes

Seasonal vegetable tajine -  I'm not sure what all the veggies were, but they tasted great!


Susan, Richard, Carolyn

Saturday, August 27, 2016

The New Normal - Casablanca Beaches

Let's face it, there are beautiful beaches in North Carolina.  Richard and I especially love Wrightsville and Emerald Isle at the Cheney's. In addition, I think that Siesta Key in Sarasota (where my parents live) is probably the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, with its white, pristine sand.  Since I love to walk the beach, I was anxious to start exploring the shores of Casa.

The first beach I went to was Darbouzza, which is the opposite direction as our apartment from school.  This is a community where a number of GWA faculty have chosen to live.  You really need a car to live out there, as shopping is not convenient.  I got to experience this beach because our "graduation party" was held at a home there.  Danielle's place was beautiful, including a lovely patio with lots of green.

I enjoyed watching the surf at Darbouzza, but I would hesitate to swim there due to the seaweed in the water and other debris on the beach itself.  However, I did enjoy my walk with Jan and Martha.

Judy at Darbouzza


Jan at Darbouzza

Martha with a smart head cover (strong sun here)

Pretty surf
We finally got to visit Anfaplace today, a 10-minute cab ride from our apartment.   There is a nice mall there, Anfaplace Mall.  The mall is kind of American in style, with many shops and restaurants. H&M was a decent store, and I ended up buying some clothes there.

You can walk through the mall and come out onto the beach.  There are cafes and beach clubs that line the seafront "boulevard de la Corniche".  The beach clubs offer day memberships for visitors, so you can use their pool and a more private beach area.  However, I found the public area has a very nice beach and I would definitely swim there.  The water seems clean, had no seaweed, and only the random small shell.  The sand is brown and relatively trash-free.  I ran into some young :-) GWA teachers down there who enjoy surfing in the large waves.  There are a number of pick-up soccer games going on, as well as volleyball nets.  I had a pleasant walk and next time I plan to swim!


Clean water at Anfaplace

Foggy morning and not many people around

Judy at the front of the Anfaplace mall area

Great surf

Pick-up soccer game

Rocks near the edge of the beach area

Judy beach selfie

Looking left

Looking at the buildings from the water

Water wan't too cold; felt good on my toes.  I'll be swimming the next time!

Friday, August 26, 2016

The New Normal - Eating in Morocco

Some days it seems that I do nothing but eat!  The food in Casa can be unbelievably tasty, while other dishes I might describe as, well let's say, "mysterious".

Breakfast spread at GWA
School lunches at GWA are generally tasty, and very reasonably priced at only 25 Dh, about $2.50.  They are definitely not what you would typically think about when you imagine a school lunch.  Most days I buy lunch and bring half of it home for Richard to eat the next day for his lunch.  There is always salad and fruit, along with a beautiful (usually Moroccan) main dish, and, of course, some sort of French patisserie for dessert. Also included is French bread and a choice of water or soda.  There is almost always some ingredient on my plate that I can't identify (for better or for worse)!  Below is a typical lunch at GWA and one of the breakfasts provided for orientation.  Eat your hearts out, Canterbury and GDS!

The salad usually has unusual ingredients


Yet more GWA food at Danielle's party

There are hundreds of restaurants around the city, so we've barley scratched the surface when it comes to eating out.  There is a place called "Leo's" right next door to us; they serve mostly Italian food. I've eaten spaghetti and pizza there, but Richard is usually more adventurous, ordering tajine and other Moroccan dishes.  

Tajine at Leo's
We discovered another Italian place called Luigi over by St. John's church.  We went there with some new friends from church last Sunday.  There are also many little places around the city, most of which I really don't trust the food.  After getting food poisoning my first week, I will only eat at very nice restaurants, at school, or at home.


Luigi's Italian Restaurant
You might not think you could get a dish like this at an Italian place; like I said "mysterious".
Coffee at Luiji's
Coffee is an interesting phenomenon in Casa.  There are coffee cafe's on every corner.  You mostly see men there, but I have seen the occasional woman as well.  Generally they drink the coffee out of small glasses.  Richard has ordered black coffee a few times, but really ends of getting served a drink more like espresso.  Luckily, we were able to find a great coffee maker for the house, and Richard is able to buy ground coffee at the local grocery stores.  There are also a number of Starbucks shops in Casa, unusual for Africa.

Tea is also a big deal here.  Very sweet mint tea is widely available. During orientation GWA's kitchen staff presented a traditional Moroccan tea ceremony, which was very nice.  I have been able to find regular black tea here and I still enjoy a cup each morning. Unfortunately, I can't find decaf black tea, and I really miss not having a cup in the evenings.

Tea ceremony at GWA

There are French boulangerie's (bakeries) on every corner, which specialise in French pastries and other treats.  They also serve French pastries, and other awesome treats in most of the restaurants where we've eaten.  Fruit is also a typical offering for dessert, along with ice cream.  The ice cream tastes less sweet to me than what you would typically get in the U.S., and it is very creamy.

Susan ready to eat ice cream and fruit at Luigi's
Dessert choices at Luigi's



I wonder which looks better!

Yummy pie
You can actually eat at McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King and KFC!  We walked over to Pizza Hut for fun last weekend, and had lunch there.  The food was comforting somehow, and they have a very unusual "Moroccan" salad bar.  Outside the restaurant were the delivery motor cycles.



Pizza delivery vehicles


Meat lovers, of course, but what kind of meat is the question.

There are a number of informal restaurants around that look more like butcher shops.  You walk up to a meat case, pick out what you want and have it weighed.  They hand it to the cook, who prepares your meal.




One thing I miss when eating out is the ice in drinks.  Soft drinks and water are served cold (sort of), but you never see ice.  One of the first things we did when we arrived was to buy ice cube trays. But, you have to make the ice using bottled water.  Speaking of water, we buy bottled water for everything and use it for drinking and cooking.  It feels so wrong throwing out all those plastic bottles, but that's just the way it is here.

Something that has not changed, I absolutely prefer the delicious meals prepared by my husband.  He has scoured the city looking for our favorite ingredients.  Richard has found such delicacies as barbecue sauce, a facsimile of Texas Pete, grated Parmesan cheese, popcorn, and even Pringles!  He has prepared ginger chicken (poule), turkey (dinde) pie and massive amounts of cooked veggies. Richard is bummed that he has been unable to find a slow cooker anywhere, but we are making do for now.  And, alas, no pork (but, working on getting to the commissary.)

Slaving over a hot stove!  What he does for love!!