January 31 -- Today I had a very informative meeting with Dr Jim Miller, the director of the Moroccan-American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (MACECE), which is the Fulbright host organization. I am amazed at the linguistic complexity of this country, and I am excited to learn more about which languages people speak and why, and I wonder just what exactly I'm likely to see happening in schools. I also met the rest of the MACECE staff, and Moustafah accompanied me to purchase a cell phone. The most challenging part of the day was when I had to hail a cab and ask the driver to bring me back to my neighborhood in the medina. I memorized how to pronounce it in Darija, and surprisingly, I got here! I am really convinced that I need to learn Darija ( Moroccan Arabic) as quickly as possible. My host family has been helping, but tomorrow I'm set up to start some real tutoring. In the afternoon, I ventured out to explore the "quartier" or neighborhood. Simply put, once I walk the one block to exit the medina, I am one more block from the Kasbah (the word for a fortification), which sits at the mouth of a river and right on the Atlantic coast. The photo above shows the Kasbah Ouyada (not sure what that means yet) from the protected beach below it. From street side, it looks like a giant fort. I walked out on a stone jetty into the ocean and took this picture of the beach and lighthouse just south. Then I climbed the path up to the kasbah and wandered a bit. The fortress was built in the mid-twelfth century, and there are houses where people live now that have their dates from the 1300s carved above their doors. The oldest mosque in Rabat is there, and a castle with a lovely garden where the orange trees are in full fruit. There are cats everywhere: cats on the jetty, cats in the kasbah, cats on the river promenade waiting for the maquerel or sardines or whatever to come in on the fishing boats. Perhaps one day I will devote a day to a photo montage to the Cats of Rabat. They are everywhere. (By the way, "cat" is the second word I learned to say in Darija.) After the kasbah, I strolled along the quai beside the Bouregreg River, and watched kids riding small cars, flying kites, and eating cotton candy. The fishermen were coming in for the day, so I saw many cartons full of their catch. There is a restaurant on a corsair anchored at the quai that celebrates the Pirate Past of Rabat-- apparently there were centuries in which Rabat's primary economic engine was piratry, and ransom money from the countries that could afford to buy back their sailors. So now you can go enjoy a lovely mint tea or "plat de fruit de mer" on the deck. My favorite sign of the day though is for a french fry stand, which advertises pick-up and home-delivery. Wow. Home-delivered fries. I'll document this sign on the For My Students page.
1 Comment
Faith Stouffer
1/31/2017 04:37:17 pm
What an amazing adventure for you, Marcie! I look forward to reading your blog and hearing about your experience. Be safe and have a great time! ~ Faith
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Marcie StutzmanTeacher, Researcher, Adventurer, Explorer; Maybe crazy; Possibly too old for this Archives
October 2018
|