Summers Over

So I was gently reminded that I have not posted anything on our blog since May, so here I am getting back at it. We went home for a month which seems like a long time but in reality it was not. There were people I did not get to see do to scheduling conflicts and time constraints and general lack of organization on my part, my humble apologies, but we will be back next summer and if you dont hate me for not getting to see you, we can make plans then. We came back to Morocco early because a friend of mine who I did my Masters program with was traveling with a friend of hers around the world and decided that they ould stop in Morocco since they new someone there and visit.

So in early August they arrive in Rabat on a train and we showed them around our new home. It sure was nice to see familiar faces in Morocco, other than the people we know here, but there is something about someone from home coming all that way to see you and your new home that makes it easier to be here. A few days of visiting the sites, the Chellah, Haasan Tour, rockin the Kasbah and shopping in the Medina and the went on down to Marrakesh for a few days then back to London. It was great. Here are a few shots of the summer.

Princess Party

So you know that some little girls want to have a princess party for their birthday. Well, Hannah actually got to go to a real princess party a few weeks ago. One of her class mates is a real live actual princess and Hanna was invited to her birthday at the palace. The mom, also a princess, came and picked up all the girls for the party and took them there. The party lasted for 6 hours and I had the privilege of picking Hannah up after. Emma and I were driving there, following our map, not quite sure where exactly we were going. We turned right into what we thought was the palace, and sure enough we were correct. The first thing we notice, that made us think we were in the right places, were the military guards with the machine guns, not just a couple at the gate but a couple on every corner. Feeling a little nervous and not exactly sure where Hannah was in the palace, we drove up the street, noticing that we were being carefully watching, and found a place to park. I was not sure if I was allowed to park there, so I sat there for a moment, waiting for someone to come up and either shoot me or tell me to move.

Neither happened, phew, so I pulled out and drove down another road to where I thought the party might be. Emma spotted someone we know so we parked nearby, and away from the machine guns and began walking towards the guarded gate. Once inside we notice a group of men in dark suites and ties standing around at another gate, so we walked over to where they were and went through the gate. Inside was a large feild, the size of a soccer fields, with games and playground equipment and a kareoke stage, and a ice cream vendor, and tables of food, and a very large cake ... well you get the idea. Emma was overwhelmedly excited and ran off to play, while I greated the princess and thanked her for inviting Hannah. She told me ot help myself to food, the ice cream was delicious, and I watched the kiddos play for a while, while the sercet service watched me.

Finally Hannah noticed I was there and came over to greet me. I gave her a hug and asked her how the party was. In classic Hannah style she looked up at me and said, "Brilliant Daddy!"

The Cat Came Back

So we have this new pet, part two in the saga of trying to find the perfect pet, and I think we might have found him. Since we had to give away the ferocious Midnight, a part lab, part wild beast female puppy; in case you did not hear, she was quite aggressive, and we tried to train her but there was no response to any training by us or our friend who trains search and rescue dogs, so she is now living her life on a farm chasing who knows what and probably biting them, I had decided to put off getting another one, even though there was much pressure put on me by two lovely little people. Then one day, an email arrived saying we are moving to Mali, does anyone want one of our two cats. They are both fixed and potty trained, and are very nice. It had been a few months since the puppy ordeal, so I thought, well why not, let's go and meet them and see what happens.

So I emailed this family back and said I was interested. They suggested that I take Fudge, mmmmmm fudge (in my best Homer voice) who is an inside cat, very friendly and calm. Sounded good to me. So I said sure, let me meet the critter and then decide. Well, I got a call later saying they were willing to give her to us right away, since we had a week off and we could play with him and let him get used to his new home. So I spoke to the girls, and of course they said yes and Voila, we have a cat. He was jittery at first but soon warmed up to the girls and eventually me, and now he feels like the house is his, especially where there is food involved. So I think I made a good choice this time, one for two on the pet selection, and here is why. As you know, in Africa there are critters here you do not get in Canada.

Well a few nights ago, I hear Fudge playing on the other side of the house, near his food bowls. So I think, he has a ball or something and is chasing it around the house. So I go back to my work, and half-heartedly kept my ear open to listen to him. Well, I soon found out what he was playing with because he entered the room with it a few minutes later. We have since rename him the Cowboy Kitty, since he corralled and chased a cockroach clear across the house to my feet, where I promptly stomped on it. Fudge, aka the Cowboy Kitty, calmly walked away and went to lie down. So, not only do I have a nice friendly kitty pet for my girls, I also have a ferocious cockroach hunter who brings them to me to squish.

London

So one of the perks of going to teach overseas is that the Professional Development conferences are in places you have to fly to. So the technology one was in London this year, and I signed up to go. Now before you assume that it was a paid vacation, you will notice that their are no pictures on my Facebook page of the conference, which is a good sign, because I was so busy learning and exploring, that I did not have time too take pictures. There were over 600 presentation going on, from Adobe to Apple to Smartboards to 3D Printers to Microsoft. Some very cool stuff for education is there, although only endless supplies of money would fully stock a school.

So the days were spent wandering and listening and learning around the Olympia conference center, dreaming of the ideal techie classroom. (Steve I thought of you) The nights, were for me though and i took advantage of them, as you wold expect any one too. Night one was spent in a restaurant for Indian food, thinking of the old neighbourhood gang as I ate butter chicken, and then a stop for a pint in a pub. Night number 2 was a chance to see my hero, okay I like Mr. Bean, the ultimate trouble maker, he inspires me, Rowan Atkinson in the play Oliver. It was fantastic, I am amazed i got tickets, but it is the winter in January so lucky for me. Night number two I went with a colleague to see Zorro the musical. It was great fun, well performed, filled with wire work and sword play and song. Night number three was a football match between Crystal Palace and Ipswitch, On the way to the game, I was asked for direction to the stadium by four teachers from Norway, which is ironic because I had no idea how to get there and was trusting my amazing instincts for direction. We all made it there, on time, without getting lost and saw the game. The home team lost 4-1, and I learned some new curse words, so overall it was an educational experience. I then went to the movie Defiance, very good by the way. There are no movie theatres where I live so it was good to be able to go.

Needless to say I am wishing to go back, and fortunately there will be the conference there next year, which I am sure I will go to. And some of you wondered why I wanted to move overseas. And you are right mom, It's really good meeting people when you travel, isn't it.

Fun in Spain

One of the goals of our trip was to do as many fun kid activities as possible, at least that was the girls plan. We found this trampoline place outside of the mall in Sevilla which the girls enjoyed immensely.



As well, we went to Isla Magica twice, we had to because two different families were joing us at different times so we had to accommodate them. It was hard but we sacrificed.

Sevilla Spain part one

So there have been two trips that I have taken one to Spain with the family and one to London by myself for a conference. really I was working during the day, although I did admittedly play at night, you know, out looking for trouble and finding it somehow. But first about Spain.

We decided to travel up to Spain by car and took the ferry over. We drove up to the city of Sevilla and stayed for nine days. We had booked a hotel (side note booking.com has no extra hotel booking charges) on line and arrived in the evening to a clean and warm room. Warm is important, since there is no heat in Morocco so houses are very cold.

An aside, having been used to BC Ferry Corporation, getting a ticket on the Moroccan side of the ferry service was an adventure. We traveled with a family, and watched as he bargained the price of the ticket. We ended up spending 1000 Dirhams less on tickets, I think. Glad he was with us. We eventually made it onto the ferry, although we almost had to pay a guy to tell us which line to go into.

So highlights from the trip included two trips to Isla Magica, a theme park ride like Disneyland, only on a smaller scale. we also visited the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world, the local palace, and did a variety of shopping for much needed winter clothes for the kids and adults. We also spent New Years Eve downtown, although I have since learned that Spaniards gather in homes and eat, then eat 12 grapes at midnight on each gong, then kiss everyone, so the streets where empty most of the night. There was a large group that gathered in the square downtown where we were, so we followed them and rang in the new year. Unfortunately though, no Spaniards kissed me. Maybe next year.

Here are some pictures, as they are worth many words I think. More later.

The Ocean

The ocean is a melancholy place for me these days. I was sick today and stayed home and slept, then got up and ate, then decided I needed to go visit it. These last days the ocean by my house has been in turmoil, there is no pattern to their travels; they crash into each other and then hit the shore. Each one travels a different distance, and hits the shore from a unique direction, traveling up to meet whatever is in its path, sometimes overcoming what lies in front of it, sometimes engulfing it. So as I was watching it, so powerful, so beautiful and so chaotic, I was reminded that while it is impossible to tame so strange a creature as the ocean, one can learn to ride it out, and to stay on top and not be suck in underneath and pulled away by its current. And I had meet such a person who was able to to do this, and who was teaching me to do the same. His name was Younes and he was the family surf instructor. We all took lessons with him, including the girls, and he was very good. He had a way about him that was sweet and gentle, I saw it when I watched him teach my girls.

You may have noticed that I am talking in the past tense, which is sad because he was killed over the weekend in an avalanche. He was adventurous and had gone skiing in the Atlas mountains, in the back country. Morocco apparently has had more snow than ever before, and this young adventurous man fell victim to the power of nature, one that he was not able to stay on top of this time, unlike the surf he knew and loved so well. I did not know him well, which is unfortunate because I got the feeling I would, and now I will not have the chance.

So I look at the ocean now with some sadness for a man (below in the white hat) who left this planet to early, for his family who miss him, and those kids lives he touched, and their parents who will not have the opportunity to learn from him anymore.