My First time On The Ice - By Emma Wiebe

Here is one of Emma's poems, created as part of her Language Arts program at the school here in Morocco.

I was
Getting prepared
For going
On the ice.

I was
Frightened
Excited
At the same time.

Pulled my skates
On
Wobbled over
Entrance
Ice rink.

As I walked,
Was like
Having an
Extremely
Loose tooth.

The zambonie
On the ice
Making it
Smooth.

The zambonie
Was louder
Than
Thunder


The zambonie
Left
A rubbery gasoline
Smell
When it got off
The ice.


The crisp cold air
Tackled me
As I slipped
Onto the ice.

As I landed,
I could feel
The cold
Creeping up my back.

I t was
As cold as
The arctic.

I saw my friend
Gliding
Across the ice
Back and forth.

I wanted
To skate
Just like them.

As they whipped
Pass me,
I felt the cold air
Blow in my face.

Halloween

A friend and neighbour organized a massive trick or treat night with 29 kids and a plethora of adults wandering around our neighbourhood in a giant pack. Moroccans do not trick or treat and Halloween is one of those North American things they do not participate in, so needless to say we got some interesting looks as we passed by, all dressed up and noisy. Here are a few pictures and another home video by Emma and Hannah. I think they were going for a CLoverfield style of filming.

Hannah's View of Rabat American School

So I could say something cheesy like, look out Steven Spielberg, here comes Hannah, but I will not. Our school received their order of Flip cameras so I decided to try one out and the kids took over and filmed everything they saw. The are great fun and I hope to get one some day. For now, I will mooch off the school, and use it to play around with. Here is Hannah's first movie, maybe she can include it on the DVD of her first movie, kind of like M. Night Shyamalam does on his, Although I think Hannah will make comedies.

Sunsets in Morocco

So if you have gone to my facebook at all you have seen our view of sunsets from the roof of our house. They are quite amazing, one of the many perks of living here at the beach. I must say I will miss those moments when the sun hits the water, if we ever leave this beautiful place. Here are a few of my favorite sunset moments.

Blogger helping Blogger

So we are friends with this cosmopolitan family, the Bramers, and since I am also the computer teacher, I have been recruited to help out with creating a blog. So here I am in Morocco blogging with Pauline and our kids are playing and being crazy, a good way to spend an afternoon and evening no matter what country one is from. Her blog is found here Pauliens Blog and is regarding raising a child with food allergies in another country. The book is in the works so save your pennies and buy it when it comes out. I might be the photographer for it, which would be fun.

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!"