Katrina - snuggle bunny

You just can't beat a calm bunny in the lap after a good swim!

Katrina Ruth, 5

Katrina was so busy playing with cousins and new friends, that at first it seemed she didn't even notice we were in a different country! She has been completely healthy and is doing very well.

Because they only offer all-day kindergarten here, I am homeschooling Katrina this semester or year. We are working on getting her into a French class as well. In addition, a young Moroccan woman will start coming next week to play with the girls for a bit during the weekdays and speak only Arabic with them. Hopefully these things will prepare her well for first grade next year.

"Thinking of You" - Kendra

Kendra Elise (3)
This was taken by friends Dennis and Barb Petty right before we left the States.

Kendra announces every now and then, "We're in Mowocco!" She has had a bit of a rough time, but she has been completely healthy, has played well with her cousins and sister and is doing well overall.

Lesson Learned

One day as I was waking back from class, a Moroccan woman caught up with me. We attempted to talk in Arabic/French and quickly ran out of vocabulary. To make conversation, I decided to tell her the ingredients of the Moroccan soup I had just learned in language class and have her help me with pronunciation.

Before I knew it, she had invited me over for soup! She asked repeatedly and informed me that our little family should arrive at 8:00 the next night. So off we went, armed with only a few weeks of language and our language books (which they found very amusing) and had a lovely night of soup and bread in her tiny house.

That same day, Gerald had been discussing how we didn't know how to cook couscous with a friend and got invited that night for couscous.

Lesson learned: Do not discuss food with Moroccans unless you have the evening free for a meal!

(To you observant ones - This picture is actually from the meal in the "Hospitality" post - but I had to put something here!)

Hospitality

A friend of Ron's family had us all over for a meal soon after we arrived. We sat on Froshes - the ornately decorated couch/beds lining the walls, and ate at a low, circular table pushed up close. Dinner started at sunset (the host doesn't have a watch), with salads and cooked beets (around the outer edges of the table) and chicken tajin with olives (in the center). This is a full chicken roasted with mild spices. Every time we have had chicken here, we have had to ask the girls to stop eating so that everyone can get enough! That tells you how delicious it is! It is served on one plate in the middle of the table and everyone reaches in on their own side with their bread or fingers to enjoy it. Hooray for fewer dishes to wash!

For dessert we had a heaping mound of couscous with cinnamon and powdered sugar over the top in a beautiful pattern. Later, we had a huge plate of fruit. Everything was presented beautifully and artistically.

By the way - that is not a bow in Kendra's hair. Right before supper, she fell a whole 6 inches out of a hammock and gouged her head on a small rock. It has healed up just fine now.

July 15 - August 7, Living in Tileland

We spent a week with Ron and family then moved to another house where we stayed the remaining three weeks. Set in among several houses behind 5 locks, sat the tiny courtyard made completely of tile which led into a house that was classic Moroccan - tile covering the floors and walls up until about 4 feet high. My niece dubbed it "Tileland!" Of course, none of the tile matched - but it made for some good variety!

When Kendra walked into the living room, she said, "This doesn't yook yike a yiving woom - this yooks yike a bathwoom!"

The family that normally lives there is amazing - They know at least 5 languages, including the 8-year-old! Each parent speaks their language to the children. Then they have picked up Arabic, French and English as well! This also means they know three completely different alphabets.

Here was my first experience of cleaning in Morocco - the land under a layer of "permadust." Most Moroccans mop all floors daily. One day we left with the laundry on the line and returned after a dust storm... so much for clean clothes! The washing machine was temperamental at best and I gave it several lectures none of which helped. Then there was the gas - it would burst on only when we used the hot water and make a terrifying whistling sound the whole time it was being used. We could almost always smell gas especially when cooking and I was convinced the house would blow up eventually! And showers were always exciting since the water changed temperatures at least 10 times a shower - no, I am not exaggerating!

My favorite chore was to spray down the tile courtyard in the afternoons which meant lots of water and lots of fun with the children of the guardian (guard) who lived just below us. (See the picture above.)

The guardian's family was so open and giving. The girls played and played with their kids and seemed to need no common language. Their kids started calling me "Mommy" which is what they heard our girls using for me! Katrina and Kendra loved to sit in the windowsill and watch the guardian's sheep come in at night - cute!

The house was wonderful and gave us a place to be for several weeks. What a blessing!

July 7 - August 5 - Children's Haven

Ron and Laurie's house is a children's haven with an above-ground swimming pool, a lawn (it is hard to find green space in Morocco), a tree house, a slide & swing (handmade by a local welder), rabbits, geese, turtles (whom we have only seen twice), a dog, a cat, a puppy, a hamster, a secret play room, a garden, and of course - a multitude of toys and girls. Here the younger cousins put on a tea party for the older ones which included rocks, leaves and muddy water.

The girls spent the afternoons here while we took language classes. They played and swam every day and complained on the weekends when it was just Mom and Dad!

July 7 - Arrival in Meknes

In two cars, we made our way to Meknes, where Ron (the very cool driver you see here) and family live. How wonderful to arrive at the home where they have spent the last 6 years!


The view from their house is of the Medina (old city) of Meknes. It is 1000 years old while the walls are "only" 300 years old. Ron and Laurie's house is in the newer part of town which the French built during their colonization of Morocco. Most cities here are set up this way.

July 5-7, 2006 - beach

For a wonderful recovery from the packing, moving and flying, we all went to the beach for two days. The first night Kendra slept 15 hours and the next day I fell asleep standing up holding her and then again while eating supper. Needless to say, we were very appreciative of the rest. The beach was lovely, the crowds were few, and the body surfing like a massive massage from the ocean!

Gerald and I just kept looking at each other and saying, "Can you believe we're here???"

Thank you, God!

July 5, 2006

My brother and his wife, Ron and Laurie, along with their five daughters, foster daughter, and a girl helping them for a month - welcomed us to Rabat on July 5, 2006. How fantastic to see them all!

It was with a rather sinking feeling that we watched the conveyer belt stop... with not one piece of our luggage retrieved! I remember thinking that if I had known we would end up with no luggage, I could have saved all that shopping and packing! Thankfully, it all came in the next day.

Being only a day after July 4 and Ron's birthday, he needed his American fix...so our first meal in Morocco was at Pizza Hut!

The first thing we noticed about Rabat was how modern everything is - including the very fancy mall we visited. We were surprised to see quite a few women wearing tight pants and halter tops - too bad I left mine at home :). There is tremendous variety in what the women wear here - outfits I just mentioned (though no shorts), more conservative western clothing, capris, flowing skits, long tops, matching loose pants and flowing shirts resembling traditional Pakistani/Indian clothing, jalabas (full-covering tunics) with or without tightly-wrapped head scarves, and a few head-to-toe veils showing only the eyes.

Arrival

We have arrived! Stepping off the plane, I felt as though I'd never left Morocco although I had never been here! OK, so that doesn't make any sense, but seriously - so much about this country seemed so familiar from the first moment.

It was only with an incredible amount of help that we even made it. Our family and friends in Kansas were (and still are!) simply amazing. From childcare to cleaning crews that moved so fast we had to run ahead to pack things, to errands, to meals, to heavy lifting, to taking us to the airport...we are forever grateful for the love and help that sent us here.

Really New African Proverb: "It takes a village to move the Reimers."

At the airport, we only had to move a few things around to make each bag exactly 70 pounds - 25 pounds over on each totaling $200.00 - exactly what we had planned. The lady was merciful and did not charge us oversize on several of our items. The trip went well, though the girls did not sleep as much as we had hoped over the ocean. By the time we reached the crowded Paris airport, we were all quite cranky! The 3 -hour nap we all took from Paris to Rabat and the excitement of getting to Morocco revived our bodies and spirits in time for arrival!