Holidays, pt 2

I am in Morocco now. It is totally crazy and I keep having moments where I can't believe I'm here.

I arrived Friday in Casablanca, squished on the train, and got into the city just before sunset. I found a spanish woman at the train station (or, rather, she approached me and asked me if I spoke English) and we split a cab to her hotel (luckily she was a good bargainer) and then I walked to my hostel. I think one of the craziest and most different things qbout Morocco is the driving--there are crosswalks and traffic lights in a few places, but for the most part they are ignored, and you just sort of have to find a local and stick with him or her as you weave through speading cars, bikes, and mopeds). We met back up and wandered around a little bit and then ate dinner, and then I went to bed early because I was EXHAUSTED.

Saturday I walked around the city a little more by myself, stopping to drink some mint tea, and then walked out the coast to the mosque, which was huge and amazing and beautiful (and also an oasis of calm in the chaos). I walked back towards the hostel and stopped at a random laterie where I got the young guy working to make me a cheese and egg sandwich for 4.6 dh (.46 eurocents). And then I engaged in my first successful bargaining and got a taxi to the train station for 12dh (the bus would have been way too chaotic).

Luckily, trains to Marrakesh come every hour or so, so I bought a ticket and only had 30 minutes to wait. The train was so completely packed, though, that I only barely managed to get on, and then spent the whole time standing or crouched on my pack in the hall between the door and the bathroom, with about 10 other people (two girls actually rode in the bathroom; luckily there was a draft from the open space between the steps and the door or else it would have been stifiling). I got to Marrakesh 3 hours later and managed to find a bus to my hostel, where I met up with Brook and her friend Chiarina, and we got a dorm room (it is 100dh a night per person, which includes breakfast AND dinner!), and then waited for Sara, the third member of our party.

Have to go now, more later!

Holidays, pt 1

I am on vacation! Yay! My last few days before the break were pretty mellow--I finished on a good note with my bad class, and then at my Thursday/Friday school I gave a test and then they colored Santa Clause (it was actually a more relevant activity than it might seem). Also they gave me a calendar from the school in an envelope signed by all of the students. Cute!

I celebrated the end of work with the other assistants by drinking mulled wine and going to the ice skating rink (I didn't actually skate this time) and then Saturday involved a massive amount of cleaning.

Then, Sunday, I got up early (the sun still wasn't up at 8am when I left my house) and came to Paris, where I met Brook. We had a lovely afternoon hanging out with Nathalie and her family and then went to walk down the Champs Elysée, which was all lit up with shooting-star lights. Yesterday we went to the Centre Pompidou, which I think is now my favorite museum, and then got delicious falafel in the Marais, and then (a little too soon afterwards) ate dinner with Jacques and Janine and the other Blancs. And now we are having a lazy morning, which seems fitting for Christmas day. (French people give gifts and do all of the traditional Christmasy stuff on Christmas eve, but everything is still shut today).

If only there were snow...

Today was a very wintery day. It barely made it above freezing, so I wore many layers, including long underwear and fuzzy socks. I went ice skating downtown with another assistant and her friends who were in town, as Blois has a little Christmas village set up in front of the chateau. Then, when our feet got numb, we drank mulled wine and ate chi chis, the French version of churros. When I came home, I drank milky coffee and made potato soup. Mmmm!

Oof. I've been a little negligent in updating this. I guess life just isn't that exciting here. Or, rather, it is, but it is exciting in the same way all of the time, which doesn't really make for interesting blog entries.

Anyway, the teaching continues to go well, though right now I can't imagine doing it for another year. I have one really awful class, one that is totally all over the place and hard to teach to but generally wants to learn, and all the rest are good. As far as I can tell, the teachers and students continue to like me.

I haven't really found a lot to do with my freetime, but I also haven't been bored out of my mind. I'm volunteering doing catering at the concert venue near my house. The people there are are really nice, and its been a good way for me to meet French people. Unfortunately, I've been so busy serving food to the other volunteers and the artists that I haven't gotten to hear much music, though.

I'm also traveling. This weekend I'm going to Bordeaux with another assistant (or maybe many other assistants) and for winter break I'm going to Morocco! I have about 10 days, and we're going to do as grand a tour as you can do in that amount of time. (For the first part, Brook is visiting me and we're either going to go to Paris, if we can stay somewhere, or be in Blois). Now that I've actually gotten paid, my trips/ bank account is not suffering from the weakness of the dollar.