12 March 2013

Welcome to Morocco

I met a colleague and new friend, named Marty, in the Detroit International Airport.  If you've never been to Detroit, I strongly recommend that you fly into the city.  The airport is worth the trip.  It is loaded with artwork of any kind, water sculptures, bronze sculptures, paintings and a lighted tunnel that felt like a mix between a disco and a space-age walkway. As I walked through it the walls lit and the colored moved to the beat of the synthesized Broadway hits playing.  It was very entertaining.  Marty and I got to hang out for a while before the long crowded flight to Paris.

Charles De Gaulle is not nearly as entertaining as Detroit, which I have to say is disappointing since Parisians they proclaim Paris to be the Western art capital of the world.  No artwork there.  Pas du arte.  Just stark beige colored walls.  The boutiques were very chic.  A cup of mediocre coffee cost about 9 dollars.  It would have been nice to have the time to leave the airport.  I'm sure the airport must not be representative of France.

Now, the Rabat airport is small, colorful and lovely.  

Morocco is a beautiful country.  It had been raining here so everything is lush and green.  The bougainvillea and trumpet vine are in flower.  The city reminds me of some of the places in southern Spain; whitewashed walls, modern apartment buildings and lots of small cars driving quickly.  There are various kinds of palm trees and pine trees and trees that look like a cross between a palm and a pine.  

We are staying at Hotel Rabat.  Look for it online.  Go to hotelrabat.com for photos.

The greatest thing about this country has been the people with whom we are working.  We are in Rabat for a couple more days in conferences of different sorts learning about Morocco history and Moroccan customs.  An English teacher from Morocco is named Khadija Rahaoui.  She had spent a semester learning how to teach English in Dodge City, here in the states a couple of years ago with a program called ILEP.  She is a fantastic source of information as are our two other Moroccan guides, Kawthar and Hamidi.  They are interested in responding to all our questions.  They have organized seminars on the history and culture of Morocco and offering us tours of interesting places and monuments.  Today we explored the Medina, which is the old walled city of Rabat.  .

The big problem with my experience so far is the functioning of the Internet here.  I have not being able to upload any of the photos I took.  I'm sorry about that.  I wish I could show you pictures of what I am experiencing.  Sadly, the Internet connection keeps quitting out on my and so I am having no luck with photos.  So for now, I'll stick to the simple blog.  Maybe the internet in El Jadida will be improved.