Family Time

Younis got to hang out with a bunch of his cousins this weekend. He had a blast running around in the sand, water and playing with his mostly older cousins. All things considered, limited fights and battles to break up. Here he is with the group during a down moment coloring pictures.

La Carnaval chez Taimount

Today Younis participated with his class, la toute petite section de la pre-maternelle a l'Ecole Taimount, in the school wide carnival parade. The school goes from pre-k (starting with 2 year olds) through elementary school. Each class had a different theme and had amazing costumes made, really high quality. The street in front of the school was closed off so each class had a turn to go out on the street and show off their costume, do a little routine and march down the street.

Younis' class was full of teletubbies. I am so unfamiliar with that cartoon as of yet, but these kids looked pretty adorable despite the fact that their costumes looked somewhat like snowsuits and it was probably in the high 70's by mid-morning. They were hot teletubbies. I was asked by the director of the school to help as a parent volunteer in Younis' class. My first official parent school volunteer duties!! There must have been about 15 or so kids in his class. At any one time at least a third were crying or having some sort of tantrum, but somehow we managed to get them all out on to the street to parade their costumes and show off their moves. I love the look of overwhelmed, confused 2 year olds trying to make sense of their surroundings. It was adorable.

And what would a carnival parade be without High School Musical. Here they are showing off their moves. I think this is probably the oldest class, one of the U.S.' great exports.

After we paraded, we went back into the school and had to change all the kids back to normal clothes. Once we finally got back out, Younis was so excited by all the music and dancing, he couldn't resist joining in on some of the older kids' performances, here he is imitating the Bollywood dancers.

Bouznika

Yesterday we ventured south to another beach about a 15 minute drive away in the town of Bouznika. It's another beautiful beach, a little more high class it seemed with fancier houses, a golf course in a private community. We spent the morning discovering the joys of what it feels like to have our feet sink into wet sand and getting soaked running away from the ocean waves.

I love people watching at the beach. Especially at our beach in Skhirate you see all the fishermen, groups of men playing soccer, young boys doing their jumping tricks and flips, families with young children, surfers and boogie boarders, people exercising, tanning, building sand castles, girls and young women in bikinis then women wearing djellabas (the traditional Moroccan full-length loose fitting dress with a hood that both men and women wear over their clothes) some with hijab others not.

There is such misunderstanding and misconception in the US about Islam. Like all religions I know of, there are so many interpretations of Islam and what it means to be Muslim. What is so fascinating about Morocco is that there is space for a diversity of interpretations that coexist. The US mainstream media does such a poor job of presenting a realistic view of the diversity within the Muslim world. When I first lived in Morocco, people loved Clinton and there was a real positive view of America. It changed after 2001, Bush and wars in the Muslim world. People here in general seem to support Obama, but there is still mistrust, especially around Iraq, Afghanistan and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Morocco has always been an ally to the US, but it will be interesting to see more on the ground level how people feel about Americans over the coming years.

Younis is getting close to singing the entire alphabet. We were practicing writing the alphabet in the sand and jumping on each letter while we sang the song. I especially love how he sings LMNOP. He used to be obsessed with the letter X but has now moved on to the letter W as his number one favorite letter.

We brought some sand up to our patio so he could have a little sandbox, just in case he got tired of all the massive amounts of sand on the beach:)

Rock Climbing

This morning Imad and I went for a nice long walk on the beach. At low tide, you can climb on the rocks pretty far out to the edge where lots of fishermen go in the morning. The rocks are covered with sea creatures, especially tons of mussels. They are everywhere and on the main road heading out of Skhirate, people sell boiled mussels ready to eat from the side of the road. I consider myself an adventurous eater, but don't think I'll be eating the boiled mussels anytime soon.

The ocean rocks look to me like moon craters. They are sharp and a challenge to maneuver around. We were wearing our running shoes, bad choice, and eventually just gave in and waded with our shoes on through the water to get to the edge.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

GOOD: Yesterday Imad and I went for our first real swim in the ocean. We've done a lot of wading our feet in the water and running after Younis who if it wasn't for his parents running after him, would go running straight into the waves. Skhirate beach is known for big waves and yesterday they were really strong. We see a lot of surfers and boogie boarders and yesterday lots of people were out so we got inspired to take our first plunge. It was cold for sure, but it felt so good and we look forward to more ocean swimming before we head back to the states.

BAD: Younis is having a rough time with sleep these days. He's been fighting a cold and we can see how exhausted he is, yet it takes a good one to two hours to put the kid to sleep. He just fights it and fights it and rolls around, up and down and kicks and screams and eventually finally falls asleep but it's a painful process. He's been through so many transitions over these past 6 months and I know it's not easy changing beds and environments so often, but in the moment, it's not easy to keep our calm. Younis is a strong-willed boy. He doesn't let down easy. I often just wonder how he can function with so much energy on such little sleep, but he just keeps going and going. Hopefully one of these days he'll have a nice long 12 hour night sleep and make it all up, that's what we keep hoping, gotta keep the hope alive!

UGLY: The first day at the beach, I started seeing lots of friendly little creatures roaming around the house. There are about a million ants in and around the house, they are everywhere! As far as critters go, ants are relatively harmless as I've learned from Imad who has a soft spot in his heart for these hard-working little wonders. I'd prefer they stay outside, but on the positive side it's forced us to stay extra tidy. However, yesterday things got uglier. I woke up (bright and early, thank you Younis!) and wandered into the main room to find a BIG cockroach dead on it's back. Don't want to know how it got there, just hope it's a one time occurrence. Now, for the ugliest, this morning I woke up. My eye was feeling a little funny. I go to the bathroom look in the mirror and take a double, triple take. Check out my eye! I tend to have pretty intense reactions to bug bites, not sure what kind of bug this was but hope it doesn't come back to visit me.

More Beach Bliss

Ok, this might become my title for every post the next 2 months. The beach is so beautiful and as promised in the forecast, is beautiful!! Some friends came over with their almost 3 year old son to play in the sand and ocean. Younis and his buddy had a blast throwing rocks, kicking the ball around and running away from the waves. For lunch, we ate delicious fresh from the ocean sole. So good.

Since it's the weekend, more people are at the beach than during the week, especially since it's sunny, but it's still pretty quiet. During the summer, it gets totally packed so it's nice to be here when it's getting warm, but not as crazy as it could be. I wanted to share some of the fun activities we've been watching from the sidelines. I love watching these kids who are literally right in front of our house where I guess the perfect jumping rocks are located. Just hope they don't give Younis any ideas.....

Beach Bliss

On Sunday, we moved for our last two months in Morocco to a beach house in Skhirate, just a little south of Rabat. The house is not anything spectacular, but it is literally right on the beach with a big terrace and amazing view. Plus the house is bigger than our one bedroom apartment so Younis has ample space to run around and he has his own room. Of course with a 2 year old, adjusting to sleeping in his own room and own bed is not a simple feat, but we're getting there and I'm proud to say he slept alone all night in his big boy bed (no more crib) last night!!! May not happen again, but at least it happened once, hooray.

The fishermen go out to sea early morning. We saw them heading out about 6:30 am. It has been pouring down rain most of the morning, here we see the fishermen coming back with their load. The ocean is pretty agitated today, but I love the sound of the waves, it's like a natural white noise machine for Younis. Yesterday we went for a long walk on the beach. That boy loves water and sand. We had to hold him back from running into the ocean, still not quite swimming weather but the forecast says 70's next week!

Laundry has been the challenge of Morocco for me. Now, we don't have any machine, washer or dryer, so it's wash by hand. Not so fun with a 2 year old who like all kids spills every other bite or drink. But, Younis is a good helper, he could not stand to see his baba washing his clothes all by his lonesome. And here they are hanging out to dry. I won't lament on the fact that since the sunny day yesterday, it has been pouring rain and those clothes are still in their same spot on the line outside.... oh well, as I already said, sunny weather predictions around the corner (fingers crossed).

We're Going to the Zoo, Going to the Zoo, Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo Zoo Zoo

A few days ago, we took our first trip to the Moroccan National Zoo a little outside Rabat. First off, it is so green and beautiful right now. It's been a very rainy winter, but then these days of amazing sunshine and nearly 70 degree weather come out and all else is forgotten. Our trip to the zoo was one of these full of sunshine days. We got there around 10:30 or so and not a person in sight. The ticket vendor was hanging out in his car and slowly got out and wandered to the ticket booth when he saw us. Once we got inside we did see a few families and in a way, the less crowded pathways were nice. We saw monkeys, tigers, lions, panthers, flamingos, elephants and more. The zoo is actually a lot nicer than how I remembered it when I last lived in Morocco and they are currently expanding it to twice the size so better things to come. I had memories of totally depressed, lethargic tigers in these cement boxes. There's still a bit of that, but it seems like the animals are being better cared for and they just looked healthier.

It's interesting seeing the gates, which are not much compared to American zoos. Not much of a barrier separating you from those lions and tigers. It's also very clear that the animals are used to being fed by visitors. Pretty much every animal would instantly come greet us at the front of their living area and wait a few minutes to see if we had a treat, then when they got nothing, seemed to give us the cold shoulder and move on. Especially this one elephant who came slowly walking to the front, lifted its trunk waved it around for a few minutes then wandered off back to the others. We also couldn't help but laugh at the image of massive construction behind the elephants. Goal of this zoo is not to hide the city life happening around it.

My favorite part was the little lake with beautiful birds. The color of the water was amazing and perfect place for a picnic. Oh and by the way, if you go to the zoo, don't expect to eat at the cafe/restaurant. Not currently open:)

Live Music

A couple nights ago I went out to the theater with Imad's mom to watch traditional live Moroccan music. There were three different styles of music: Andalusian, Isawa of Rabat and music from the north mountainous region of Chefchaouen. The video below is the Chefchouen and Andalusian musicians playing together at the request of the audience.

The theater was sold out, but in true Moroccan style, the performance started about 45 minutes latae. We arrived at 7:30, a half hour before start time because there weren't assigned seats so we wanted a good place. There were probably about 20 people max in line when we arrived. Finally, they opened the doors at about 7:45 and it was hilarious to me because even though very few people were there waiting in line, everyone was still pushing to get through the door and running to the theater to get the best seats. A line is not a line in Morocco without pushing and forcing your way to the front. Imad's mom told me to run run run to get to the theater first because she overheard another woman saying she was going to get the best spots and reserve a bunch for her friends. So I ran and I was probably the 8th person in the theater so needless to say, we got good seats!

I loved how lively the performance was, people singing along to the music, clapping and enjoying every moment. The music was religious, it was recently a Muslim holiday celebrating the birth of the Prophet Mohammed, so many songs paying homage to him. Music, as in most cultures I know of, is so important to Moroccan culture. People love music and dancing. For the most part, you would rarely see men and women playing music together which is why I loved this performance the best where two of the groups came together and for this song it really felt like everyone in the entire theater was singing along.

Paris Transport

I love Paris public transportation. It was freezing in Paris, but we thoroughly enjoyed metro, bus, tram and taxi rides.

Au revoir la France

Younis and I made it back to sunny Morocco after a long 9 days on our own traveling in France. I must say that the travel days were a challenge, but Younis charmed everyone along the way and had so much fun once we reached our final destinations. Just to make sure I had enough stories in my pocket to share once we got back to Morocco, our flight in Paris was delayed due to the Air France strike, but luckily only by an hour. However, Mr. Younis was so exhausted by this point and wound up, he started playing a fun game of running away from me at the airport. A parent's worst nightmare!! Especially with my ridiculously heavy backpack full of valuable items. Thank god the delay was short. I had mentally prepared for the worst and just knew Younis wouldn't sleep which was accurate. He finally passed out about 20 minutes before landing. He was so exhausted going through customs, he didn't even want me to hold him and just sat on the ground, yuck. When we finally got through and saw Baba, Younis was so excited. He gave him lots of big hugs and kisses and just to make sure we all knew kept saying "Baba there."

On our last day in St. Galmier, we went to a zoo not far from Lyon where they had tons of monkeys, Younis was most excited about the "baby monkeys" and made friends with one monkey who looked particularly lonely and eager for some attention.

We ate extremely well in St. Galmier and enjoyed fresh baked goodies. A young Swiss woman staying with my host-family for a week was an excellent baker and helped me make cinnamon rolls, yum! Younis also got to eat his first French crepe which he of course thoroughly enjoyed.

Back in Paris, we spent our last couple days with good college friends, Ashleigh and Amber and Ashleigh's adorable daughter Stella. It was so wonderful to see good friends and spend time together. Younis was especially excited to meet Stella's papa who became "daddy". I think Younis was missing male energy so gravitated towards him when he was around.

Now we're back in Morocco and settling back into our life here for the next couple months. We move to a beach house for our last two months here next week. We're really excited to spend time right on the beach, definitely feels like a once in a lifetime experience to wake up right there, pictures to come.