Taking a Break

Kendra - age 5, summer 2008

Katrina - age 7, summer 2008

These pictures were taken by our friend Barb when we were visiting them this summer. They are quite possibly my favorite photos ever taken of the girls and I love to look at them. And best of all, there was no formal-portrait stress (hair! outfits! smiles!). As Gerald says, "And how long did it take you to do their hair?" Ah, so the point is that not everything has to be perfect for a perfect picture!

This post is just to let you know that I will be taking a break from blogging for about a month. I am trying to start up a website for parents of TCKs (third culture kids - like Katrina and Kendra). It involves a lot of writing so I want to focus on that. I am also still homeschooling Kendra a bit (she is attending a local Moroccan school more now that she has finished the American KG curriculm). I have also started Arabic and French classes up again after a way-too-long break from any language-learning. Every time I really mess up in speaking to my friend, Rachida, she says, "Julie - when are you going to start Arabic classes again???" Point taken. It's time to stop talking like a cave-woman. You go now? Me go too. I like oranges. Grunt.

But Moroccans are so very merciful when it comes to language. They smile, nod, act like they understand, and help as much as possible. Of course, later, they probably burst out laughing. Then there's my friend, Fatima, who just goes ahead and does that in front of me. Once she fell on the floor laughing at something I said wrong. So it is my aim to learn Arabic well enough to not be a comedy act.

But the French are different. We Americans love accents. We think they are exotic, fascinating and delightful. But not the French. If you have a bad accent or bad grammar they will never forgive you. They might even hit you over the head with a hard baguette. We joke here that the language of heaven could not possibly be French, because the French would correct God's accent. They know they are better than us because they are so very, very cool. So it is with great fear and trepidation that I have also started a French class.

Wish me luck.

When the king is in town

New Year's Lights - or are they Christmas Lights? (Yes, those are Chrsitmas-tree shaped lights at the top right)

sorry - just can't seem to stop taking pictures of snow!

Princess Selma - the King's wife

When the king is in town –

The king was in Ifrane most of December and again in January. The gossip is that either he or his daughter has severe allergies or asthma and the doctor has prescribed mountain air. So what are some of the effects of King Mohammad VI being here?

You already know about all the flags, soldiers and lack of food in town because of all that those soldiers eat, etc. So what else goes on?

Ifrane is in a festive mood - Ifranis are very proud that the king has been here so long. Obviously he likes it. And he must like us :)

The king declared that our town square (with a lion statue and a fountain) should be the most beautiful in Morocco. So on Christmas night, the square and the entire town were covered in … New Year’s lights (looking very much like Christmas lights, but we’re not supposed to think that). I have never been so completely delighted to see Christmas/New Year’s lights in my life! The whole town sparkles and there is something very special about the twinkling under layers of snow. Conveniently, Morocco’s flag colors are red and green!

Soldiers stand out in the cold for hours and hours guarding all roads in and out of town. Two of them have died of hypothermia…

And roads close completely when the king wants to go to a neighboring location for the day. But you never know when that will be, so it’s hard to plan.

Then “M-6” as the college students call him, announced - much to the shock of the university community - that we have a new president! It is a king-appointed position, but he usually leaves it up to the board of trustees. Not this time. How did we hear this? Through the newspaper! There was no announcement by AUI and rumors are flying.

Speaking of rumors, the latest is that he has a second wife. When I asked my friend about this, she said, “Why not? His father had 40!” But he abolished the harem when he became king and the whole country is enamored with his lovely wife and children. The fact that Morocco wants to get into the European Union (never mind that they are on the wrong continent), makes me sure he would never do something that would be seen with disdain in Europe.

People complain about all the money it takes to have a monarchy. With 37 palaces and enormous preparations before he visits any town, the cost has to be huge. But most will also agree that a monarchy is the best thing for Morocco. We westerners think everyone needs democracy. But what we don’t realize is that it doesn’t work everywhere. Moroccans are worried that without the king to keep a lid on Islamists, radical Islam could take over moderate Morocco. The king even approves only one sermon to be preached each week from the Mosques – an amazing contrast to Pakistan where sermons are so violent that we were told to stay home on Fridays.

So as the US prepares for a complete turnover of power – not much will change over here!

Three Garden Shovels and a Squeegee

Katrina with her drift-finding friends on what could possibly be Ifrane's very first snow turtle

Fourteen inches of snow lie on the ground and more is pouring out of the sky. It's a good thing my dad (who would have been 79 today) taught me to love bad weather!

Thanks to the wind, we've been watching drifts grow by the hour in front of our apartment all day. This afternoon, Katrina and her little friends trudged home from school wearily battling the wind. Almost home, they caught sight of the 3-ft snowdrift a few feet away. Miraculously, they forgot all their exhaustion and bolted straight for the deepest part. It is as if snow drifts have a strong magnetic pull on 7-year-olds. They cannot resist them. Before they know what has happened, they are diving in.

It was not much later that we saw the snow-clearing crew. The university does have a bobcat which they drive around the parking lot now and then, clearing the road but rather unhelpfully blocking us in - this time, only a few minutes after Gerald cleared away the snow behind our car with a tray. But the bulk of their clearing is done with four men carrying - you guessed it - three garden shovels and a squeegee. It all seems quite hopeless as we watch them picking at the mounds of snow.

A while ago we had the brilliant idea to buy a few snow shovels for the university and their tired groundsmen - until we heard this story:

Apparently, an American professor in the 90s thought the very same thing. He bought 100 snow shovels and donated them to AUI. But the workers did not like them. They were odd - strange - and not familiar. And now no one seems to know where those 100 snow shovels are. They seem to have disappeared with the melting snow of that season.

What a picture that gives me of development work in general. We westerners march in, fix things and stand back to admire our work. But the people don't get it. They don't buy it. They don't like it.

What a challenge - if a simple paradigm shift from a garden shovel to a snow shovel is so hard - what about much larger issues?

To the cold, wet Sahara

Last week we headed down to the Sahara with Ron's family, their coworkers and families, and their friends from the States.

First we went over the Middle Atlas Mountain pass - about an hour from Ifrane.

Then we saw the High Atlas Mountains up close and with snow for the first time since arriving in Morocco. The highest mountain in this section is over 12,000 feet. The entire 7-hour drive to the desert is an incredible series of forests, mountains, plateaus, oases, gorges and finally - desert.

Along the way we also passed two peaceful demonstrations about the situation in Gaza. I found myself tensing up when we got close because of my memories of violent demonstrations in Pakistan, but both groups were very calm. We heard the same from friends about demonstrations in other parts of the country.

Most of our time there was spent in studies and worship times in a hotel near the desert with a wonderful group of people. Although their temperatures are higher than here in the mountains, it actually felt colder there because they do not have good heat like we do and because their ceilings are 20 feet high. We spent most of the days wearing long underwear, turtle necks and jackets while the sun refused to shine. The second day we went for a camel ride in the only classic dunes Morocco has (much of Morocco is desert, but there is only one small area of these kind of dunes and the camels that go with them). Believe it or not - it was freezing cold and pouring down rain. Lucky us - one of the only days it rains in the Sahara and we were there! I hardly got any pictures because my hands were too cold and wet to hold the camera and I was afraid I'd drop it from the top of my camel. The ride was still fun, but it was the hour drive back to the hotel in the dark over barely visible desert roads with pouring rain, and threatening floods that got the misery prize. But thankfully we made it back safely, wetly and sandily. Pictured is our group.

The happy ending is that the third day, the sun did finally come out! Sitting on top of the dunes in the warmish sun soaking up every ray I could get after a cloudy, rainy, snowy fall was a highlight of the time for me!

This is out of order - but here is a classic South Moroccan Kasbah (fortified palace) that you see all along the route - this one in the Ziz Valley Gorge.

What better to do in the dunes than to jump long distances into soft sand?

Sahara-style bread - the oven for the hotel

The visiting team from the States did all kinds of activities with the kids and also brought lots of goodies which we all enjoyed - a bit too much!

Then it was back to Ifrane. It was fun to go and it's good to be back.