A Little Bit Lost

Can you feel homesick for a place you've only been for two weeks?

 

At nine o'clock this morning, I felt like I should be collecting my basket of craft items and tuning up my pipes for a round of "The Wheels on the Bus." The memories of this trip are still very vivid, as are the faces of the little ones that we worked with.

 

Being back home and the distance has given me time to think. And there is information that I'd like to share. One of the things that I've been thinking about is the Educational System in Morocco. Public school is free but each level operates on a two-strikes and you are out principle. Grades one through six--if you fail two times you may no longer attend. Uppper-grades the same. Fail twice and you are out. At the University too. It made me think about what might happen to the child in primary school that for one reason or another fails both first and second grade. What happens to that child? And how does this practice affect the literacy rates. (Literacy rates for adults are about 56% and for youth from 15-24 are approaching 80%). Is our system so much better when some children stay in school, but still leave unable to read? Sometimes you come back with more questions than answers.

 

I was lost yesterday so I looked on the Internet and found a recipe for Moroccan Bread (not exactly the same but close) and tried the Chicken Tagine recipe that Khadisha, our house manager, demonstrated. I went overboard on the fresh parsley and cilantro, but it was very reminisent of Morocco. I also am trying to pickle some lemons (ask me in a month how that goes!).

Homeward Bound

We had a very warm send-off from the staff at Ibny. The kids enjoyed the final craft and the teachers said good-bye with affection. I didn’t expect western-style hugs, but I collected a few along with the traditional continental-style busses on both cheeks. We did shed some tears and spent a few minutes throwing kisses to the kids on our way out the door.

If I had it to do again, I’d ask the teachers if there were goals that they had for the kids that we could help achieve, but I kids seem to learn with each new activity.

There were three of us at the placement (all Lilly) and it was a pleasure working with Michael and Sergio—two guys willing to try anything and who made sure that they spent quality time with the kids, often picking a table and just sitting there and coloring.

Nowadays I dread travel, especially travel with more than two stops…but we were able to travel to some stops with folks in the program. Our shared experiences made it a pleasure to have each other to talk to from city to city. We had no problems on the road though that 8 ½ hour flight from Paris to Detroit found me some muscles and aches and pains that I didn’t know I had.

Home isn't the same, after living with twenty others in a different culture…home doesn't seem the same. The shock really occurred when we went to the grocery. In Morocco, produce came directly from the farm, chickens were alive in the morning and were purchased, killed, dressed, and cooked by dinner time. I found myself wandering around the store amazed at the difference in approach to food in Morocco and the United States. In Morocco there were wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables (I’ve never eaten better honeydew melons) most looking better than what I saw in our grocery. I found myself vowing to choose the healthier fresher alternatives. I’m trying some Moroccan dishes, pickling lemons and baking some bread (to start).

Some Firsts--Moroccan Style

This is my first last day in Rabat. We have prepared a game for all 67 (?) children. It consists of a cup, a piece of string, and a foil ball. The object is to swing the ball at the end of the string into the foil cup. I have my doubts about this with the 3-year olds, but we always have a plan B in our basket (stickers and crayons). In the Medina in Rabat, I also found some Spiderman stickers which will drive the 5-year old boys wild. Just thinking about saying good-bye to them makes me a little teary.

Saying good-bye to the other volunteers at homebase will also be hard. There is a group of college students from all over the US who are nothing but great and an octogenarian who has traveled the world and is always ready to take on any challenge. And, of course, it has been great to get to know other Lilly employees from all over the world (including Linda who works 2 floors above me at LCC in building 88 and who I hadn’t met before).

Other firsts:

Roman Ruins—I’ve never before seen Roman ruins, this trip I’ve visited two sites, the site in Volubilis and the Chellah ruins in Rabat. The Chellah ruins mark the site of a Roman settlement. When the Romans left, the Muslims moved in and used the site as a cemetery. This is a very peaceful side of Rabat.

Storks—I never saw a stork before but they are nesting in all the high spots in Chellah. They are either building nests or feeding babies. They clack their bills together and the sound is LOUD. I don’t know if it is a warning to us or they are communicating with each other.

Pigeon Pie—There is a French term for this that I can’t remember and if I try I won’t spell it right. This “pie” has a crisp, light dough and a meat filling with almonds and is generally topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon or honey with almonds.

Medina—It is impossible to get the flavor of Morocco without visiting the old part of the city and shopping in the Souks. There are displays of spices and aromatic oils, carpets, inlaid wood, and even products from the west and there are people all shapes and sizes.

Hamam—This experience is not to be missed. It is the Moroccan steam bath. Buy a black soup at the Medina and an exfoliating mitt. You walk in the door, shed your clothes and turn yourself over to an attendant who scrubs 10 years of dead skin off. I have enough soap left to try this at home.

I think if I had a few more minutes I could make this list a lot longer. This has been the experience of a lifetime.

The Clock is Ticking

Wednesday 5/22/2013 It struck me today as I was working with the kids that I will see them only two more times. It is not very often that I am welcomed the way those kids welcome us. Huge smiles, high fives, and sometimes a handshake. They just enjoy whatever activity we introduce. The results don't have to be complicated, fancy, or flashy. Sometimes the simplest things absorb them completely. They are affectionate and seem to bloom with the attention. They mobbed Michael yesterday when they found out that he would draw Spiderman for them.

Ibny provides alternative care for parents/children who have been picked up by the police for begging. The children have homes and parents, Ibny provides two meals and a preschool education (and the family received a stipend for sending the kids to Ibny. They also provide clothing as needed.

As I write this there are about twelve of the group here in the "living area" at homebase. The younger folk (college students) are playing banana gram, there is conversation and some skyping going on. Feels very comfortable with questions about how to spell the occasional word filling the air. I will miss this too. We leave for home on Saturday morning.

Weekend in Morocco--Part II, Volubilis

Taxi from Fez to Volubilis? We figured that with the seven of us two taxis would suffice, but our Fez tour guide would have none of it and strongly argued for the services of his van (and his services). The fact that his charge would be more expensive than two taxis didn’t phase him AND when you have seven individuals with a couple of different opinions and Moroccans who
love a good dispute…consensus building moves to an entirely different level.

We did eventually take the van to Volubilis, but at a lower rate than first quoted.

Our destination was a Hotel about a mile from the ruins of the Roman town of Volubilis. We now know that if you are traveling by car in Morocco assume that it will take you twice as long to get there. The hotel is quite a lovely place…in the middle of nowhere within sight of the ruins and the holy city of Idriss. (If you visit Idriss five times in your life, you don’t have to visit Mecca.)

This part of the country is rural with rolling hills of ripe grain, dotted with olive trees. It is not unusual to find cows, sheep, or donkeys grazing by the side of the road. We saw some baby donkeys and a farmer plowing his field with a horse. There was not much traffic on the roads, but there was the occasional truck packed full of onions, or hay and livestock…all running with only two gears.

It is spring here. We see bougainvillea vines, jaranda trees, and hydrangea bushes all in bloom. There are olive trees past bloom but with the start of fruit appearing. On the side of the road…sometimes like hedges marking boundaries is prickly pear cactus (also in bloom)…just like the American southwest.

The hotel was lovely light yellow with white trim with balconies and a swimming pool. It overlooks the ruins and rolling hills. It is picture perfect. Not many guests in the dining room, at least as early as we were eating, but after dinner many had congregated in the lobby. We found out that it was a wedding party when the band began playing at 11:00 that evening.

We were up early and walked a mile to the ruins. The sun was shining brilliantly and it was very comfortable. We walked around smiling at the tour bus of school children and a small group of French tourists. There is a large stork nest at the top of one of the columns with four babies. Great picture opportunity.

We travel to Meknes by taxi and catch the train to Rabat (again, not on time). But we do have a place to sit. It was great to share our experiences with the two other groups of travelers. One group traveled to the desert and rode camels, and the other went to Marrakesh and Fez.

We are happy to be back at homebase for dinner and wonder when it started to feel like home.

The Weather, Critters, and Kids

The weather here has been unseasonably cool. Not uncomfortable for us generally. Our work at Ibny with the children takes place in a very narrow room with 4 tables. It has no cross-ventilation so this cooler weather has been great for us. The sky clears and the shines and it warms up, then clouds come along with a cool breeze. Temperature has been between 60 and 70 F cooler at night.

We are enchanted by the small land turtle that lives in the back yard, the stripped snails that climb in the greenery, and the grey cat with the cropped tail that visits at meal time. He is fed at the kitchen door, but tries for food at the sliding door by the dining room. He is quite small, but looks healthy.

The kids have gotten to know us and we can hear a swell of sound when we walk into the building. They keep saying "morna," "morna," and reaching for whatever I have in my hand. So I asked their teach if "morna" meant "more" in Arabic. "No," she says, "the children think it means teacher, because you greet them when you come in by saying, "Good Morning (Morna). So they call you Morna. So now we are telling them to call you Teacher."

Weekend in Morocco--Part I, Fez

The plan for our weekend in Morocco

1. Travel by train from Rabat to Fez on Friday afternoon
2. Tour Fez on Saturday
3. Taxi to the Volubilis Hotel (near the ancient Roman ruins of Volubilis) on Saturday afternoon
4. Tour the ruins on Sunday morning
5. Taxi to Meknes (lunch)
6. Travel by train from Meknes to Rabat on Sunday afternoon home in time for dinner

Our plan changed only slightly when the train to Fez was late by an hour. We bought first class tickets but there still was a scramble for seats--some multiple tickets were issued for the same spot.

We were met at the station by the manager of the riad where we were staying. The riad was just inside the Fez Medina and the entrance was on a dark narrow alley. We entered through the door into a lovely courtyard where we were given Moroccan mint tea while we filled in our registration cards.
We were the only guests so we were allowed to roam and look into unoccupied--beautiful scroll work, metal work around the windows, cushions for comfort, and an interior garden open to the sky. We were provided with a traditional tagine dinner of meatballs in tomato sauce and fried eggs, bread and selected fruits for dessert. (You know that there are some fruits here that have no English translation.) A breakfast of Moroccan breads, soft cheese coffee and jam started our morning.

The riad arranged a guide for our tour of Fez and he took his job seriously. Twice he took us to high spots outside the city to look down on the streets below. We were able to walk around the Merinid Tombs and check out the view from the outside of the armament museum, Musee des Armes. (I read that they have 16 rooms of different types of weapons. We did not go in.)
The Fez Medina is famous for its age, size, and complex layout. Our guide trotted us through to Bou Inania Medersa (a student residence and school combined). He also told us that the first University in the world was founded in Fez, by a woman.

The Fez Medina is believed to have over 9,000 passages. There are no motorized vehicles in the media-donkeys transport heavy loads so you have to watch your step. Light is from the sky or from bare light bulbs…and there are some neon signs. Even during the day it can be dark in there.

Look around there are stalls of fruits, vegetables, spices, fresh and live meat, leather goods, silk clothes, traditional robes, classic Moroccan slippers and silver platform shoes.

Our guide took us through the a ceramic studio and we watched pottery being made from clay to the finished product. (Fez is famous for their blue pottery.) And we saw artisans making mosaic table tops and fountains. The last stop was the pottery store.

We visited a small cramped shop that makes brocade (the old way). The pattern is guided by a bundle of string that our guide called the first computer.

We visited the tannery (impressive) and were invited to try on some jackets or try bag or two. (Beautiful work). We walked through the metal worker market and a family owned arpet coop. It was hard, but I walked away without a Moroccan wool carpet.

I’ve been told that the guide gets a cut of whatever amount his tour group spends. Our guide was surely disappointed because we bought almost nothing. However he eventually we agreed to let him drive us in his van to Volubilis—there were seven of us in our group so a van was convenient.

I would end this blog with a description of lunch at the restaurant our guide took us to, but I think I’ve been blogging about food too much—so I will end here.

Lobby of the riad (guest house) where we stayed

 

Riad lobby a second view

 

The Blue Gate to the Fez Medina

 

In the Medinan

 

Tannery dye vats

Final leather product

 

A Pint is a Pound the World Around

Friday -- May 17 When Mike, my husband, packs for a backpacking trip, he recites "a pint is a pound the world around." And now, since I've been working at Ibny, I can say that kids are also the same the world around. There is nothing surprising about the behavior of these 3,4, and 5 year olds that I have seen here. They are open to the songs we sing and the other activities...no one says, "I don't want to!" Some are a little naughty sometimes. But they are all eager to slap hands, "Give me five." They are full of smiles. I'm smitten.

We always begin with three songs and then on to a craft or activity. Today we made pipe cleaner bracelets, and tomorrow plan on going outside to play kick ball and hot potato.

We have also been getting to know the teachers. We trade information about ourselves, where we are from and pictures of our families. They also share their stories. The three classrooms that are used by Ibny are well equiped with age appropriate toys and books. The rooms are brightly painted with Disney cut-outs and other cartoon characters.

Our afternoon program was made up of the Mansour Band--traditional Moraccan music that is played at weddings. Drums, etc and two long horns--what a blast.

To Fez for the weekend.

Pictures: Musicians and Musical Instruments

 

 

 

Food, Spices, and the Sacred Grain

 I didn't know as I was learning about this trip, how varied and healthy our meals at the homebase would be. At lunch and dinner there is soup and some kind of pasta, sometimes with a light sauce, sometimes not. The entrees might be chicken with a pastry noodle, eef with apricot meatballs with egg and cheese. At lunch and dinner usually a hot vegetable dish and one or two salads (remember there are 20 of us here). Dessert here is always a delicious serving of fresh fruit (watermelon, honeydew, and some un-identified yellow melon that our house staff only knows the Arabic name for). Unlike at home, I am not the cook. I can just relax and enjoy...and learn

We have been asked to help with the dishes so there is a rotating cleanup schedule. Everyone pitches in cheerfully, carrying dishes to the kitchen and scraping their plate.

Dishes are flavorful, but not as salty as in the US--seasoned differently that I am used to. During our afternoon today we learned to make Chicken Tangine (a Tangine is a specially dome-shaped casserole dish). Besides the usual onion and garlic, there was tumeric, ginger, cumin and a hearty dose of fresh parsley and cilantro.

We have been asked to separate any food dish made with flour, from the other garbage. Khadija, the house manager at homebase, explained that flour is sacred and is not discarded, it is set aside and recycled or used to feed animals, or other uses.

In the evening we plan our work for the next day, arts and crafts for those of us who work with the kids, lesson plans for our English teachers. We are gradually venturing out into the neighborhood, to the convenience store, the neighborhood "mall," and the supermarket. There has been a lot of planning about how we will spend the weekend. Some are taking day-trips to some scattered cities, some are taking a weekend trip to Fez (the spiritual capitol of the country), Meknes and Volubilis.

It seems like we have been here forever and it has only been 4 days. We have our meals together. We share stories about the people we have met and the conversations that we have had at our placements and we share ideas.

In short, having a great time...wish you could be here!

Pictures: Rabat Medina and View of Rabat (city)

 

 

 

Hello from Rabat. Morocco

 

I have been priviledged to be chosen to participate in a program at work called Connecting Hearts Abroad. My employer sends 200 individuals each year around the world to participate in service/cultural exchanges. I applied for two years in a row and was lucky enough to be selected this year for my first choice, Rabat Morocco.
The experience started on May 10, when Mike and I left Indianapolis for Rabat and the actual placement began on Monday.

I am posting blog entries at work and will be copy and pasting them here for others to enjoy. (I hope)

We've gotten our assignments now. Posted May 6, 2014

I will be working with an association called Ibny whose goal is to improve the lives of underpriviledged children. I'll be working with 3-5 year olds organizing activities, including games, songs and crafts. I have a 4 year old grandson and teach a pre-school Sunday School class so I feel like I have some working knowledge of the age group.

We've also been given the names individuals who have worked at our placements. We are encouraged to contact them. I sent a short email to the five names on my list and received an answer from one person this week. Some good advice, I think ... including . "The kids LOVED arts and crafts- so bring lots of craft ideas and materials with you that you can leave behind. Try not to do crafts that involve dried macaroni or other food type items. The kids were sad that they couldn't just take the dried beans and pastas home for food instead of gluing them onto an art project." A different world.

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!  Rabat, Morocco May 12,

Living/dining area at homebase, Rabat

The title of this post is so Indianapolis! I had a better one last night right before I went to sleep in my alotted bottom bunk. (I was happy to find out that CCS had not skimped on mattresses and mine was NOT two inches thick. It was very comfortable.) So I slept, and forgot my clever title.

What a group we have here. A mix of college students, Lilly folk, and a retiree or two. A good mix of male and female as well (almost 50-50 which is unusual..usually there are significantly more women than men.)

We begin our assignments tomorrow and there is a lot of planning and collaboration going on in the groups going to the Children's Hospital and Ibny (two groups working with children) and Feminine Plurel and the East-West Foundation (two groups teaching English). We've shared stories about ourselves at several meals and taken a walk or two.

The staff here is great and very enthusiastic. We had our orientation this morning and a lesson in Arabic. I made sure that I learned how to say "Stop That" and I practiced several times in totally inappropriate situations. I've also been saying Shukran (Thank you) often, because we are well taken care of. I will be at Ibny with 2 others. We will be working with 3, 4, and 5 year olds divided into age-specific classes. We don't know what to expect, but thanks to advice from previous volunteers, we have a plan. Simple songs to begin with. Some impromptu music with some rhythm instruments, and coloring. (Colors and numbers in English with the 5 year olds.) I CAN HARDLY WAIT!

First Day--Ibny Rabat, Morocco May 13, 2013

I am tired and my feet hurt. What a day. Sergio, Michael, and I spent the morning in half hour slices with 20 3-year olds, 20 4-year olds, and 27 5-year olds. The 3's were shy and whispered when they told us there names. During coloring, they were content with 2 crayons, one in each hand. The 4's each tried to accumulate as many crayons as they could and when twarted would punch each other. The 5's could speak French AND count to 100. They were also willing to repeat some numbers in English after us. With the 5's it was safe to put the crayons in the middle of the table and they would (usually) just take the colors they needed.

The Center is in a Public School there is a classroom for the kids at each age level. We had a small area in a hall way that just fit 4 tables. We abandoned our plan for a rhythm band when the classroom beside us didn't want the noise. Singing was allowed and we belted the "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes;" "When You're Happy and You Know It;" and "The Wheels on the Bus." Good thing that every age group enjoyed coloring. All the kid's wanted to "high-five" and Sergio learned how to say it in Moroccan. We've got a plan for tomorrow. Oregami Kites and Paper Airplanes--Keep your fingers crossed.

Pictures Below. Homebase Rabat and the surrounding neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

 

De-decorating

Mike and I spent Sunday packing up the Christmas decorations. Mike took care of the tree and the ornaments and I managed the rest. My part was not necessarily an easy task given that we have at least 5 nativity sets and some decorations in almost every room of the house. The large mantel over the fireplace holds a collection of Santas (some fragile, some not), and I’m always worried that the stuff won’t fit in the available boxes. (Good news. It all fits!) I still have the outdoor lights and the mini-tree in the kitchen to pack up, but that should be no problem.

Instead of carrying everything in the attic, we store the decorations in a large closet in the garage. We keep the wrapping paper there, too. It is pretty convenient, but sometimes I wish that I had that closet for the gardening stuff as I try to find spaces for the terra cotta pots in the fall.


I also managed to send out the Christmas note on the back of the card that we sent. This year it was a photo of all of us in Maine where we spent our late summer vacation. (Check an earlier blog entry for more detail.) The text of the message is copied below.

I hope you are all well. Sometimes it seems like a lot has changed sometime it seems that nothing has changed.

As you can see from the picture the family spent a week in Maine together. It was a relaxing week together. Many thanks to Libby and Allen Harville for their hospitality.
Mike is still at St Francis at the Heart Hospital on the south side of Indianapolis. The commute is farther than he would like, but the work is engaging. It is great to be part of building an organization.

I’ve been working at Eli Lilly for 8 years and last year began working as a training project manager. I work on a variety of training development projects with a number of different departments.

Mollie and Joel live in Chicago. Mollie works for the Feds at the Government Accountability Office as a senior health analyst. Joel works as an environmental engineer for a consulting company. They have a two bedroom condo in Lincoln Park that is a little crowded since Nolan was born. The baby was born in November of 2008 and is now a toddler. Everything is new for him. He’s a cheerful little guy. He laughs and we all laugh along.

Dan spent a couple of years in retail and decided it wasn’t for him. So he is now working for a catering company as a bartender. His passion is travel. This spring when his tax refund arrived, he traveled to Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti.

Nora is working as an office manager for the modern language department at Florida State University in Tallahassee. She gets to take two graduate classes a semester free of charge. Plans are to move back to the Midwest when Ben, her boyfriend, finishes graduate school.
Please let us know if you travel through Indianapolis. We’d love to have you stop by.
Happy New Year! Jody and Mike

For me, the most exciting thing about sending the card is that it went out before Easter. There are so many ways to stay in touch, I’m very grateful for those friends who still send out Christmas cards.

My favorite gift...

That's a LOT of Pizza

My brother Joe says that his family has a joke. After they share a huge home-cooked meal, someone will push themselves back from the table, look around and say, “Well, should we order a pizza?”

Nora and her friend Ben and their dog, Finnegan, were the first to arrive. I had some meals planned including Pumpkin Lasagna, roasted chicken and homemade rosemary stuffing, as well as beef tenderloin on Christmas Eve. Pizza take-out seemed like a good idea for one evening. We needed a night out because we were not as ready for Christmas as we had hoped, there was still a lot of shopping and wrapping to do. So, we ordered pizza from Bazbeau’s one evening. The kids were happy to drive down and pick it up. The Bazbeau’s in Broadripple is a favorite haunt of theirs. When I first went to Bazbeaus for pizza, we were new to Indianapolis. The restaurant was in a converted house…including the garage with the door that opened up to the back yard in the summer. My first introduction to a bucket of beer, Amstdel Light, and barbeque chicken pizza. They moved into a fancier building, but the pizza is still good.

We also had pizza on Christmas day. Can you believe it? We spent the day eating at the Hertel’s beginning with variety of appetizers and continuing on to a dinner that included. Barbeque pork, roast beef, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, chicken salad, chicken and noodles, warm rolls and fresh bread…(and salads that I’m not even going to begin to list). Dessert also included Christmas cookies, and candy with everybody contributing their favorites. By the time we got home from Batesville, Mollie, Joel and the other kids decided that they were hungry again. No pizzerias open! After calling around, the men went out and came back with Red Baron frozen pizzas. Joel spent about 10 minutes prying the pepperoni and sausage off of one half of a pizza so that Mollie, the resident vegetarian, could eat it. It wasn’t home made, but it was what they needed.

I didn’t expect to eat pizza again until 2010, but a trip to Milwaukee early in the week found us in Balistreri’s an Italian restaurant across the street from our old house. We arrived early enough that we could go there for dinner. Mike and I shared a half order of their deep fried eggplant strips (served with marinara sauce). We also ordered one of the popular thin-crust pizzas that we enjoyed so much when we lived in Milwaukee. We looked around the restaurant expecting to see someone we knew, no luck there, but Mike and I shared some special memories. We parked across the street from the old house and looked at it wondering how we ever managed to park two cars in that driveway?

Thought that was that…but our visit to Mike’s uncle Chuck and aunt Ellie in Watertown Wisconsin found them carrying the Papa Murphy’s pizza in the house as we pulled into their driveway.

Well, so, tonight, (New Year’s Eve) should we order a pizza?