Cap Spartel, Cave of Hercules, Tangier, Asilah

Picture 1: Cap Spartel - on the Northwestern-most corner of Africa, this lighthouse stands surrounded by the Atlantic, beautiful trees, distant cliffs and high wind. This area receives the highest rainfall in Morocco and possibly in North Africa.

Picture 2: The Cave of Hercules where legends says Hercules lived when he parted Africa and Europe. A reverse map of Africa with the Atlantic in the background is the wonderful sight that awaited us after passing through the large, U-shaped cave.

Picture 3: Asilah, the lovely little town in which we stayed. It is surrounded by the walls of a Portuguese fort built in 1471. Artists come here every year and cover the walls inside the city with their paintings.

Picture 4: The girls posing next to an old cannon in a Kasbah (fort) in Tangier close to the port.

(As usual, I'm having problems with layout. Suggestions welcome.)

Uncle Troy

Gerald's brother, Troy, came to visit as soon as Gerald was done with the summer session. He had a conference in London and when he was done, just kept going and ended up in Morocco!

We were delighted to have him and as you can see, so were the girls who never got enough tickling, teasing or silly stories. After showing Troy around our area, we set off for our first multi-city trip on our own to the North of Morocco visiting four cities and swimming in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. As usual, we were impressed with all that this country has to offer.

Yippee!!!

Professor Reimer is done for the year! He just finished his third term teaching at AUI and posted grades last night.

His first year teaching was like a huge, long busy season from his former life as a C.P.A., and we are all glad he made it through! He has really enjoyed his new profession and looks forward to the next year which will hopefully be more calm.

A very special part of celebrating the end of the year is that Gerald's brother, Troy, just arrived for a week-long visit! More on that to come.

Here he is in a picture taken by one of Gerald's students last semester along with a few of the many emails he has received from students. I think these two were after grades were decided, though some do write before!

· “First I wanted to tell you that your course was one of the best I ever had. The atmosphere during it was very cool, you were a very nice and gentle teacher. Teachers like you are very scarce. I really appreciate when you came with the cookies during the test it was very nice, and I like it. It was delicious :). All the students in my opinion liked the Accounting course this semester. (Mehdi)

· “On behalf of my group, I want to thank you so much for your help, understanding, and collaboration. Personally, I want to thank you for all your efforts and for your care. Frankly, this class was one of the best classes I ever had during my past 4 years in AUI. Thank you so much again, and I hope that our relation lasts forever.” (from Mohammad)

As we dropped Gerald off for his last push at school yesterday, the girls commented on how sweet and funny Daddy is. Then Kendra said, "I'm glad Daddy is almost done . . . now I won't miss him anymore!"

Can't Hide Forever

Until recently, I have been avoiding the news. Of course, I had some excellent reasons. If I heard too much, I felt a burden almost too heavy to bear. I just couldn't handle it and I knew that anything too upsetting would affect my already very fragile sleep. After a while, I think I somehow convinced myself that if I didn't hear too much, not too much was happening.

Then there is the "World News Minute" in the States which is a joke because, first of all, it is only a minute - and second of all, it is usually about U.S. interests in other countries. Again, listening to that made the world seem just as far away.

But living here, in an international community, it becomes obvious very quickly that keeping up with world news is crucial. All the expatriates here are from around the world and have lived in several countries. Then, of course, there is the news from Morocco that can be found on a few English sites and affects us, in some cases, very directly.

So a few months ago, I began a campaign to get myself informed on international news again. I started with the easiest place - the BBC front page on the Internet. I find that if I read it in the morning, I can handle the news better. There are silly and positive news reports there too that keep me more balanced. I have found the experience to be very rewarding indeed. I feel like my eyes are opened again to the rest of the world, I can at least have an idea of what some places are dealing with, and I am urged to pray.

During prayer sharing times here, there are the usual things - but there are also always requests for entire countries or conflicts which may or may not directly affect our church members. When your church body is made up of people from Sudan, refugees from Lebanon, those working with migrants from sub-Saharan countries, and when you have family in Afghanistan . . . the news becomes very real and very, very important. We are constantly reminded that the body of Christ comes in all colors and is dealing with all kinds of suffering.

Some would say praying for an entire conflict or country is useless. As one friend here says, "Hope is the beginning of disappointment . . . " Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with thoughts like this, but that is not what I am called to do. I am called to be faithful, to pray, to cry, and to help whenever possible.

The Taliban was to have a huge offensive this spring, and besides an international troop offensive which was on the news, there were massive amounts of prayer from inside the country - another kind of "spring offensive." The Taliban ended up being confused and fighting each other with no big successes. Coincidence? I know of no other country more prayed for than Afghanistan. You would think the silly people praying for that place would come to their senses and see the hopelessness of it all - but no, they just pray and cry harder.

I often wonder how the news would be different if Christians from all over prayed - really prayed - for specific situations, countries and conflicts . . . how would the world be different? Do I just assume prayer is not powerful enough to handle these situations? Aren't I supposed to hurt when one part of the body hurts? Have I given up on some countries? Are the problems too far away to be concerned about? These are some of the questions I ask myself these days.

When I was in college and feeling depressed about more bad news from Afghanistan, I wrote a song. Here is the first verse and chorus which I still sing when feeling low over news items to remind myself the burden is not mine -

My heart is so heavy, oh Lord, today - the pain in your world is overwhelming. But I cry to you, and I ask you - Why? Where are you? Where are you?
And you say - "I'm still here, I have control, I hold the world in the palm of my hand and close to my heart."

And so, I am called to pray, to cry, and to kneel at the feet of Him for - as crazy as it sounds - entire countries. We may never know until heaven what is really happening out there.

www.bbc.com - click on "News" tab at the top.

Big Month

July is a big month for our family - with nine birthdays or anniversaries in just our immediate families. Today I'm featuring the three who have milestone birthdays this year . . .
Gerald's dad, George, who may or may not be trying to hide his age - will turn 75 very shortly! A great dad to Gerald and Troy, and a loving and accepting father-in-law, he is also the adored tickling grandpa of the girls. George has pure magic with little children and can win over the toughest of kids with his charm . . . and a high tolerance for endless peek-a-boo games!

Then there is my oldest brother, Stan, who turns 50 today. I have been in shock about this all year, but have finally come to accept the fact that my brothers are no longer in their 20s. As Mom says, "If my eldest is 50, that must mean I'm older than that!" Talented in graphic design, being a fantastic brother and a silly uncle, we wish him a happy day today. To celebrate, he and Diane are currently climbing the seven highest points in seven eastern states around NY where they live. "Bravo!" As we say here.

And at exactly half his age (in a few days), is his wonderful daughter, Heidi. Closer in age to me than my two oldest brothers, Heidi is like a sister to me. I think she was more mature than me at thirteen than I am now, but she puts up with me none-the-less, and we always a splendid time together. We will see where her theatre and nursing major leads her in life - how about Morocco?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all, and to all a good year.

Graduation

Al Akhawayn's 10th Commencement was held June 16, 2007. Here are some of the seniors posing for pictures before the ceremony.

Here is the School of Business Faculty and graduate students - Notice the handsome guy on the bottom left!
The massive windows of the gymnasium were covered in maroon and white cloth making the setting elegant and like a Moroccan celebration tent used for weddings and other special events.

Al Akhawayn's website: http://www.aui.ma/

Doin' the Dunes

With six adults and eleven kids, the road to the Sahara is long! We made six hours into nine, but had a wonderful time talking along the way. The road covers the tree-covered Middle Atlas Mountains where we live, a rugged valley, a High Atlas pass (with some snow remaining in the distance), one massive plateau after another, mountains that looked as if they were cake batter poured into a pan, a gorge and a river-oasis . . . palm trees in a distinct river shape hugging the sides of the stream that give them life as if they are trying to hide from the brutal rocks and sand on either side of them.

The farther south we got, the more "Kasbahs," or Moroccan fortresses we saw. Hotels and restaurants like the one above were considerably more decorated than the average home, but they all had the same shape and color. Literally at the end of the road, we settled down for the night in a simple Kasbah hotel with mud walls as Ron so helpfully proved when the shower went crazy on him the next day, washing down clumps of the bathroom wall and knocking down the mirror which had been securely nailed into the mud!

Arriving at night, we could only assume that there were dunes close by. Early the next morning, I peeked out and saw them for the first time. A short distance from me and distinct in color from the drab gray/brown of the rocky soil I was standing on, stood one massive dune after another. Drawn to them, I began walking until I could touch that amazing sand - so pure and fine that it slipped through my hands and slid down the dune behind my footsteps like water. Through the day the sand changed hues depending on the light- from orange to pink to yellow to rust.

Covering nineteen miles, these silent hills loom up as high as 820 feet and amazingly, stay about the same height and shape over the years. These are the only true Moroccan "erg-" a huge drifting expanse of sand dunes mostly found in Algeria. Though there is more desert to the south and east, it is mostly the rocky, pale sand that makes up that area. But here, in the stillness of the morning, the beauty was striking.

In the late morning, the hotel owner drove us out in a four-wheel drive truck over the dunes. The man had one leg, so we never did figure out exactly how he managed this with a clutch. A roller-coaster like ride over one dune to another left us all howling with delight. Another ride with the kids later was so exciting that several kids ended up howling in fear! Stuck and suspended on the top of a dune with a steep descent on the other side, the kids and I decided we would meet the driver on the next dune!

In the evening after the heat of the day, we went out to our camp site in the middle of the dunes taking turns in the truck and on the camel train. That is Katrina at the back of this group. Both girls loved riding camels, though getting up and down scared them. A camel ride is not exactly a comfortable experience, especially when he is going down a dune, and you are trying hard not to fall off or squish the little person in front of you. Gerald and I had the "camel walk" for a few days which is the very distinct way that you move after riding a camel! But it is exciting to be traipsing through THE desert on one of these amazing creatures behind a "blue man" (the desert men so-named because when they sweat, the blue of their turbans runs onto their faces), over the immense sand to the campsite provided by our hotel.

When we arrived, I thought I could never drink enough water to satisfy my thirst. Later, we had a lovely meal outside of the Berber tents and under the stars. We bedded down outside and settled in for a poor-night's sleep. It was the best bad night we've had, though, because every time we looked up, we could see the desert sky in perfect clarity. Also entertaining, the night was filled with the sound of one of the camels munching, swallowing, and burping. I never knew camels could have acid reflux, but I guess they can! I actually got to watch a bubble travel all the way up his throat and produce a lovely belch :) Camel Tums, anyone?

Early in the morning, we were woken to see the sunrise over the sand. I climbed as high as I could on a dune and was rewarded with a wonderful view. Then our guide got out the snow boards, and the guys experimented sliding down the hills. I was content to take flying leaps down the dune with only one out-of-control somersault mixed in. The girls loved playing in "the biggest sandbox in the world." Then it was back to the hotel and then home where we all took the longest showers we possibly could and shook all that glorious sand out of our suitcases and clothing!