Infrequent Bloggers

     In March of 2011, we officially announced our plans to move to Africa. If you had talked to us back then, we would have assured you that this was a two year plan. But a lot has changed since then... and we've changed.

Our initial excitement about blogging has deteriorated, because...

• we've been sharing our life with you for five years now
• we can't think of anything new to say
• we're not convinced anyone even cares to read this blog anymore

     That said, know that we expect to update this blog even less frequently henceforth. Feel free to re-read some of our adventures if you care to be reminded about our relationships with the Muslim community, our cultural struggles, our unique cultural experiences, etc.. & please feel free to e-mail us with any questions/inquiries, or just to say hello. We might appreciate this more, actually, since it still feels nice to be connected to our "home" in America. Six years is a long time to be out of touch with all of you, too. In other words, we would rather get updates about your lives this year. Deal?

Here's a quick update from us though:

     We thoroughly enjoyed our summer in Maine this year. Highlights include seeing the joy on Aliyah's face as she played with her grandparents, picking fresh peas and raspberries from the Grudda garden, celebrating our 7-year anniversary at Cirque Du Soleil, posing for our first family photo shoot, hiking "the beehive" at Acadia National Park, and eating lots of good food. It was such a relaxing time.

7-year Cirque du Soleil trip!

Picking peas

     Our sixth year in Morocco, on the other hand, has kicked off with a rough start. There have been a lot of tears. And it's not because of Morocco (although - the new Moroccan law banning all plastic bags country-wide has complicated our grocery shopping trips even more, since alternative bag options are not consistently available). It's not because of work either (we both still love our jobs, and there have been a lot of positive changes around GWA this year). This year is just hard. Pray for us. 

     In spite of everything, we are trying hard to choose joy and to focus on appreciating the things that we are thankful for. There is so much that we are thankful for. For instance, we just spent  an entire day and a half at our old landlord's house celebrating the Eid Al Adha. While we still hate boulfaf, we felt completely comfortable and "at home" with this family. We really enjoy spending time with them.

     We also have a lot to look forward to this year. Specifically, we will be meeting Nicole's dad and step-mom in Germany for Christmas, and we are traveling to London in October. :) Perhaps we'll update again to let you know how those trips go.

World Travelers :)

-David, Nicole, & Aliyah

One Lego at a Time

The Berbers are "Imazighen" (free people). They are considered to be the decedents of the original (pre-Arab) indigenous people of North Africa, and they have been around for over 4,000 years. Millions of Berbers still live in Morocco, scattered primarily in the Atlas Mountain region. They speak their own language and maintain a semi-nomadic lifestyle. Most berbers are adept to live off the land, without the aid of electricity or running water. 

     Recently, the majority of our Sunday "house group" enjoyed a weekend retreat to the GITE TIZI N'oucheg Berber Village, near Ourika Valley. This marked our third trip to this breathtakingly beautiful Berber village (Our first visit was in February of 2013, and then we went a second time in April of 2015). The purpose of this particular trip was to tithe... by charitably purchasing 920 legos.

Photo Credit: CCR

     The GITE TIZI N'oucheg Berber village was started by three Berber families, who likely retreated to the Atlas Mountains in order to avoid the advancing Arab conquerors. Over the span of more than 400 years, those three original families have grown the village population to approximately 600 people. The village is located closer to the Atlas foothills, so it now benefits from modern amenities. Within the last 20 years, it has obtained electricity as well as a road which connects them the Ourika Valley. The village is also making strides toward educating their youth and creating outreach programs to other, more isolated Berber villages. However, in spite of these small steps toward civilization, the village people still maintain pride in their culture and their self-sustaining lifestyle.
     Rachid, one of the chief elders, organizes tours of his village and the surrounding area. He guides groups up the 2+ hour hike to the village and helps to manage the beautiful (brand new) guesthouse. Before the guesthouse was in existence, when he was mayor of the town, Rachid hosted us in his home. He is proud of his village and loves to introduce people to the Berber culture. He is also passionate about finding ways to augment their life in the village.

Photo Credits: CCR

    One particular project that Rachid has been advocating is the construction of a hospital. Even with the new road access, the village is still over two hours away from "civilization". The village itself, due to the lack of facilities and/or lack of education, is not properly equipped to handle complicated health issues - especially emergencies. Even childbirth has been problematic. Rachid and his wife actually lost their last baby because, when complications arose, they were unable to get to a hospital in time. The construction of a hospital, alongside better educated youth, would help to decrease the death rate in the village.
     There are several doctors who have expressed an interest in volunteering to work in the village and to train people in medicine. The village is simply struggling to fund the construction of the actual hospital building. In an effort to solicit support, the elders have constructed a lego model of the hospital. Next to it is a blank board with a box of legos. Visitors are invited to purchase legos in an effort to build a replicate of the finished lego model. Every lego "stud" costs 10 MAD ($1). When the two lego models stand side-by-side, fully completed, the village will have enough money to build the hospital!

      As a group, we donated 9,200 MAD to the new hospital. They still have a long way to go... but we know that our gift was received as a substantial blessing to their community. The GWA community has been in relationship with this village for some time now, and we hope that this relationship will continue to grow. This Berber village has become one of our favorite places in all of Morocco, and we would love to the opportunity to tour the new hospital during our next visit.

Counting up 920 legos
Photo Credit: JU

-David, Nicole, & Aliyah

Soccer Season Recap

    GWA's varsity soccer season started a few weeks before Christmas break, when Dusty and I held try outs for all high school boys who were interested in playing for the team. We could tell right away that we were going to have a strong group of players this year; however, we could also tell that the team would struggle to score goals... especially since the schools best striker, under the impression that the fitness requirements were too strenuous, decided to opt out of try outs. 

     After Christmas vacation, we were able to cut the team down to 24 players (18 players who would travel to the 2-day tournament in Marrakech, and 6 practice squad players). Similar to last year, we held very high fitness standards. The players worked up to running three miles, practiced twice a week, and played pre-tournament games every Saturday. Over the course of the season, we played 12 pre-tournament games and never lost. The most memorable of these games was against the official Raja youth club team in Casablanca. Raja scored first, but we were able to tie the game with three minutes remaining. It was a great source of pride for the whole team. 

     In April, We got ready to travel to Marrakech for the two day tournament. Several of our original 18 players had been replaced by practice squad players because of either injury, grades, or behavioral problems. We left by bus, traveling together with the girl's varsity team, on a Thursday afternoon. In order to make sure that the boys stayed focused and well-rested for the tournament, we confiscated their hotel room keys and taped their doors shut. 

     The guys played really well for the entire tournament. As we expected, defense was our biggest strength and offense was our biggest struggle. Over the course of five games, we only conceded two goals but we were only able to score six. 

     We won all three games on the first day, which qualified us for the final with one game remaining. On the second day, we had to shuffle our team around a bit because one of our starting defenders had to leave for vacation. We played Marrakech, knowing that we would be playing them again that afternoon for the final. Both teams rested a number of players, and we drew the match 1:1. GWA's only goal was my favorite moment of the tournament:

We had a free kick on the edge of the box, and two players were standing over the ball. The other team was so focused on making a good wall that they weren't paying attention to the second player standing over the ball. I turned to Dusty and said something like, "Oh man, I wish I could call a time out right now. The perfect play would be for our left-footed player to run over the ball, and then for the other player to pass it into his path where he would have a clean path to goal". I couldn't believe my eyes when they started to take the free kick and the left-footed player ran over the ball. I immediately started screaming with happiness because I could see that they were doing exactly what I had hoped. The substitutes couldn't figure out why I was so excited until the other player passed it right into his path, and then he ran right into the goal and scored. 

     As a coach, it's very exciting to know that your players are on the same page as you and understand what you want them to do... even if you haven't explicitly practiced it.

      In the afternoon, we played the championship game against the home team: Marrakech. We completely dominated the game. Marrakech didn't even shoot for the entire game. Unfortunately, our goal-scoring struggle persisted, and despite a number of clear cut chances (including hitting the crossbar) we were unable to score either. In the end, we went into a penalty shoot out. Our goal keeper saved two of their shots and they saved one of ours. With the score tied, our final shooter stepped up to the ball and confidently struck the winning shot. We stormed the field in celebration. 

     During the award ceremony we were awarded the sportsmanship award in addition to the first place championship cup. Usually the last place team wins the sportsmanship award as a consolation for losing the tournament. We were very proud that our guys were not only the best players on the field, but that they were able to play with no cheating and by respecting their opponents. We capped our undefeated season with GWA's third varsity boy's championship in a row. Spanning back to our days as Middle school coaches, this was Dusty and I's fifth consecutive championship! 

-David
(Actually, this post was dictated by Dave, but written by Nicole)

Lisbon, Portugal

     It's May. The only month in the entire school year where there are no 1/2 days, holidays, or breaks of any kind on the GWA calendar. The month that always seems to drag on the longest since we are impatiently anticipating June. If only we could fast forward through May to summer... 

     So as we trudge through these last five weeks of the school year (the longest consecutive stretch of work in our entire school year, literally, since the rest of the school year was teeming with days off), we're going to reminisce about our most recent vacation in Lisbon:

     We traveled to Lisbon over the April Vacation (April 17-21). Since Prague was such a bust, we intentionally planned this get-away as a means for relaxation. We paid a little more for a hotel with an indoor pool that was situated within a 5-minutes walking distance from our chosen "excursion": The Lisbon Zoo. At the risk of sounding incredibly lame... the "big Lisbon attractions", such as the castles within and around the city, did not even cross our radar of things that were worth our time. Our plan as we boarded the one-hour flight en route to Lisbon was simply to go to the zoo, hang out in the pool, and eat good food. That's all we did. And it was awesome. 

@ the dolphin/sea lion show - Lisbon Zoo

@ the indoor hotel pool. Aliyah loved it.

@ Time Out Mercado da Ribeira -AMAZING food. 

Walking around Lisbon :)

-Dave, Nicole, & Aliyah

Istanbul

    First off, our ever-growing list of countries that we have visited (on the right sidebar of this blog) will not be updated with Turkey. That is a list of countries that WE have endeavored to together. Since Dave grew up in the Ivory Coast/Senegal, his international travel history includes a handful of additional countries...none of which I have ever been to. In an effort to "balance the scales", my recent trip to Istanbul marks the first and only country that I have visited which Dave has never been to. Also, since Istanbul is the only transcontinental city in the world, I took advantage of an opportunity to meander over to the Asian side simply so that I can say that I've been to the continent of Asia and Dave has not. Take that, Dave. ;)

My view as we were landing in Istanbul

     Istanbul turned out to be an atypical adventure, full of unexpected "surprises". In order to recount my experience, I'm going to break the trip into three drastically different parts...

The Beginning: Living Large
     Myself and a colleague (Rebecca) traveled to Istanbul, at the expense of GWA, in order to attend a teacher's conference. Prior to the start of the conference; however, we were fortunate enough to have most of the day on Thursday to explore Istanbul.
     With the recent bombing in Ankara, Turkey, we knew we had to be vigilant around the city. We were careful to avoid crowds and we were comforted by the clearly heightened presence of security. In the morning, we toured the Hagia Sophia and the Sultan Ahmed (Blue Mosque). The Blue Mosque, while we're glad we saw it, was not particularly exciting... especially in comparison to the Hagia Sophia. If you don't know much about the Hagia Sophia, it is such a beautiful piece of historical architecture. It began as a church, but was later converted to a mosque following the conquest of Istanbul by the Muslims. It is a currently a museum which showcases the preserved remnants of these two religions, side by side. Literally, there are tributes to the prophet Mohamed directly in front of mosaic images of Jesus Christ with the Virgin Mary. Adjacent to the Pope's pulpit is the staircase to the muezzin minbar.

Sultan Ahmed

Inside the Hagia Sophia:

     Following these tours, we made our way back to our hotel just in time to meet up with a GWA parent. Ironically, this particular parent is one of mine from last year and one of Rebecca's this year. She is engaged to a Turkish man and has chosen to alternate between living in Istanbul with her fiancé and living in Casablanca with her daughter every two months. Crazy. When we discovered that her time in Istanbul was going to overlap with our trip, we made arrangements to meet up for a quick lunch. We were not expecting much... until this parent arrived  at the hotel in a fancy SUV with her private chauffeur. We were treated to an incredible lunch, and then dessert was ordered to go. We were subsequently welcomed onto this parent's private yacht, captained by another chauffeur. We enjoyed some of the best desserts I have ever had while touring Istanbul from the Bosphorus Strait. It was beautiful.

The Middle: CEESA
     The primary purpose of our trip to Istanbul was to attend the CEESA (Central and Eastern European Schools Association) Conference. This was a three day conference which was was based on the theme of "personalized learning" (Re-evaulating how teachers teach in an effort to make learning more student-focused and more effective). We attended an array of sessions led by speakers all over the world. The conference was really informative and made me interested in the PYP program. Might just look into some training in that area soon...
     Following the first day of conference sessions, a spontaneous trip to the Asian side of Istanbul for dinner was planned for any CEESA participants who were interested. Of course we were. We took the 7:30 PM ferry over to Kadikoy and were directed to a popular Turkish restaurant where we devoured the best kebabs, grape leaves, and homemade pita bread.

On the ferry en route to the Asian side

The End: Suicide Bomber
     Toward the end of the conference, our sessions were interrupted with an announcement that a small explosion had occurred just two metro stops away from where we were. A suicide bomber. Terrorist attacks have been in the news a lot lately, but the news affects you in a different way when you're there. We were hours away from the CEESA tour into the Grand Bazaar; and we had plans to visit the Basilica Cistern and the Topkapi Palace before flying back to Casablanca. Instead, we were being advised by two DC special agents to remain in the hotel because there were rumors of additional terrorist attacks through the weekend. So we did. We sent emails and Skyped our family in order to inform everyone that we were safe. Then, we ordered room service, got a hold of some junk food, and watched way too many movies in-between conference sessions.

Hotel lock-down

     On our last day, we left for the airport way earlier than we needed to because we felt it would be even safer through airport security (The recent attacks in Brussels, in retrospect, prove that even airports are unsafe...). During our taxi ride to the airport we saw police personnel everywhere. The stretch of highway connected to the airport was being halted in both directions so that police officers could examine every single car. Security at the airport was tight...and we were anxious to leave Turkey.
     To heighten our already shaky sense of security, twenty handcuffed men were escorted into our gate and onto our plane. Apparently, these men were being deported back to Morocco after attempting to illegally escape to Germany. Comforting, eh? We breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived safely back in Casablanca... but, in all honesty, nowhere is "safe" right now. It's a scary time.



     Dave did a fantastic job taking care of Aliyah for the five days that I was gone. In case you missed it on Facebook, he created a photo album entitled, "How to cope when Mama leaves for five days". It's hilarious. These were some of my favorite pictures:

"Getting some experience choosing her own wardrobe"

"Load up on protein"

"Always stay hydrated"

"Ride up front to keep Dada company"

We all survived ;)

-Nicole

Thursday

Thursday:

     This is the last of our "seven daily" blog posts... and it's the easiest to write ever. Why? Because we already wrote it. Our Tuesday and Thursday routines tend to be pretty identical, so you can just re-read our Tuesday post. ;)

& then enjoy this pictorial tour of our home:

Our two cars parked in front of our fancy little villa :). It's a split-level house... so even though there are technically "four floors" (and a rooftop terrace), the floors are staggered which makes the house marginally smaller than it sounds.

This is the front courtyard. There's also a car port to the right of this picture...which isn't actually big enough to fit either of our cars so we don't use it.

The main floor entering into the house is a spacious living area, which is just barely split into two "rooms" with a half-wall. We use the side with the fireplace (which doesn't work) as our primary living room. The other side is currently just an empty space since we haven't found the time to fill it with a dining room table yet... so we're not posting a pic. Although, you can kinda see it through the front door in the picture above. ;)

This is an aerial view of the backyard, which you can access through the back door in our living room. We still need to hire a gardner at some point to help us fix it up a bit... but we're so excited that we have grass! Patio furniture will have to happen soon, as well. ;)

Let's be honest...this picture depicts what our kitchen looks like most of the time. :) The kitchen is located just a few steps down from the living room. Even though this is technically the "basement", there's a large window over the sink which overlooks the backyard. We love it. It's pretty spacious, as well (you can't even see any of our appliances in this picture!).

Across from the kitchen there is a half-bathroom as well as another "room", which has recently evolved into our storage/laundry area. We hope to renovate the room into a play area for Aliyah... 

This is Aliyah's room, which is located on the third floor - just a few steps up from the living room. 

Also on the third floor is the guest bathroom and bedroom, which currently belong to Steve. There is a small balcony within the guest bedroom. 

Our master suite encompasses the entirety of the fourth floor. We have a huge bedroom (this picture literally only shows half of it). Within our room is a small balcony which overlooks the backyard. 

The "master suite" also grants access to another large, private balcony (again, the picture only shows half of it).  The master bathroom is centered between our room and this larger balcony. 

Finally, this is just one half of our rooftop terrace. The terrace is actually quite large. We have clothes lines set up on one side (you can see a picture of this side on our Friday post), and we'd love to put a hammock on this side. We like the fact that the terrace is very baby-friendly, all the way around. :)

-Dave, Nicole, & Aliyah