Saturday
The sad truth about kids is that they don't understand the joy of sleeping in on the weekends. 6:30 A.M. is when our day begins... Every. Single. Day. Often, we try to resolve this problem by alternating which one of us gets to sleep in while the other gets Aliyah. Dave usually takes baby-duty on Saturday, giving Nicole an extra hour or so of sleep. Beyond our regular morning routine, Saturdays are always different... but they always start the same way: Soccer.
At the start of our first year here in Morocco, Dave took the initiative of organizing a staff soccer game. What started out as his idea for a little weekend fun between colleagues has evolved into competitive practices (and occasionally a few official games against local teams) every Wednesday and Saturday. There is a pretty consistent crew of men (GWA and non-GWA related) who show up each week to play. Even our former landlord, Said, altered his work schedule simply so that he could maintain a commitment to being part of the team. Arguably, Dave's league also played a role in making it possible for GWA to complete the construction of a brand new, mini-turf field.
The turf field has been a huge benefit for the team, as well as for the school, because using the main field can be complicated. All grade levels (K-12) compete for field use during the day; and ASA (GWA's after school activities program) and the athletics department compete for field use after school hours. Then, when the field is not being used to fulfill GWA's needs, the maintenance department must work hard to maintain the grass since there is hardly any rain here in Casablanca. When it does rain (which has only happened twice this year), there is an automatic 24-hour shutdown of all field use so that the ground has time to drain before getting trampled on by hundreds of feet. But the turf field never closes... so the men's soccer league can play rain or shine every Saturday from 9-11 A.M. (or later...because the game can never seem to end until there's been "one more goal").
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| This aerial picture is seriously outdated (since it was taken, the turf field has been built as well as a huge climbing pyramid and playground structure for elementary students)... but it at least gives you a decent visual of the GWA campus. The field certainly is as huge as it looks in this picture, but it doesn't seem so big when it's being shared between 700+students and staff. *Photo credit: www.gwa.ac.ma ;) |
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| the new mini-turf field |
At some point in the afternoon, once Dave has rested from soccer, we usually end up taking a walk around Dar Bouazza. Our walks are not always long and leisurely... sometimes we just need to walk to our local hanut to buy bread for supper, or to our neighborhood dumpster to take out the trash. Regardless of the length or direction of our walk, we are always encouraged by how much we have grown to be a part of this community. The hanut owner across from our house knows that we only like the freshest hubs with belboula, and he's started to gift Aliyah with free chocolates whenever we stop by (Don't worry, we only let her lick the chocolate to be polite... and then we eat it once we're out of sight). The tailor behind the mosque, who remembers Aliyah by name, always waves to us when we stroll by. One day, the "Back-Bim" vegetable guy recognized us while driving through the neighborhood on his moped and immediately slowed down to say, "Labas?" (How are you?). We have become familiar faces around this little town of Dar Bouazza. And we love it.
What's even more impressive is that we have the ability to function easily within this community, where Arabic is even more predominant than French (Absolutely no English). While it's true that Nicole has been known to throw out a sentence here and there which contains four different languages (i.e. "Je necessito wahed hubs aafek"), the people here are incredibly gracious and understanding. They appreciate our effort to communicate in their language... so, as a result, we have increased our repertoire of French/Arabic vocabulary words immensely.
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| This is the "hanut" across from our house (it is literally part of the mosque building). All hanuts carry a stock of basic grocery essentials (i.e. bread, milk, butter, yogurt, cleaning supplies, shampoo, coffee, etc.). The only real difference between a hanut and a store is that you cannot peruse around and grab what you need at a hanut. Rather, you walk up to the counter and ask for what you want, and the cashier will get it for you. Right next door to this hanut there is also a small vegetable stand. The apparent "owner" of this stand looks like he is maybe 13 years old; and he always keeps a stock of raw, disgusting chicken parts behind the counter for purchase. |
Like we said before, Saturdays are always different. What we do between soccer and strolling around our town depends on what our needs happen to be: A social outing with friends, Dave working on his graduate work, Nicole getting pampered at the hammam, a shopping trip in the city, Skyping with family etc.. We try our best to reserve Saturday as a day for relaxation... before returning to the craziness of our week. We need more Saturdays.
-Dave, Nicole, & Aliyah
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