I See London, I See France, I See Simon's underpants!

Three weeks ago I took a trip to London.  It was great for so many reasons. I went with three other ladies. We left on Friday afternoon and arrived in Luton which is one hour north of London, spent the night there and headed into London early on Saturday morning. The place we stayed in was inexpensive and the room/bathroom was the size of a big walk in closet. It was tiny. When we got to London the first thing we did was go into a Starbucks and get coffee. I never thought that I would be so happy to be inside of a Starbucks. I never went there when I lived in America but it was one of the best things on the trip. It reminded me so much of home. We took a bus tour around the city. Where you can get on and off at certain points. So the first stop was Buckingham Palace. I stared at the windows trying to get a glance at the royal family but I couldn’t see anyone. Their loss. Then we went around to the Westminster Abby, a huge cathedral. I kind of wanted to go inside, but it cost about 30 dollars and the line was pretty long so we didn’t. We also saw Big Ben and the parliament.  It was pretty cold in London, but it didn’t rain or snow which was great. Next we took a boat ride down the ride and the tour guide talked about the buildings we pasted. I saw where Shakespeare did his plays and what pub he went to frequently. We saw the Tower of London, something else I wish inside of but again it was really expensive so I didn’t. Hopefully this wasn’t my last time in London. Then we went to lunch at Subway. It was by far the best chicken bacon sandwich I have ever had.  I wish we had gone to one of the parks and just walked around. They don’t have anything like that here in Casablanca. Then we saw the musical Wicked. It was phenomenal.  We met up with two other girls from GWA at Wicked. We were planning on hanging out the whole day but they had troubles getting into London and we left ten minutes before they showed up. At the end of the night we had to go back to Luton. Linda and Hillary booked the tickets back at 2100, but they thought it was 11:00 not 9:00, so we missed our bus back. The bus company leaves every hour but the driver wouldn’t let us on the bus even though there were 30 open seats. He said we needed to find a computer, book another ticket, and print out the receipt. He was leaving in 15 minutes so we had to hurry. We ran down to the Best Western hotel, the man was kind enough to let us use the computers and print out the ticket. We made it back just in time. If we missed it we would have had to for another hour. Sunday morning we woke up and went shopping at the mall, another personal highlight of the trip. I believe malls have a smell of cardboard boxes and plastic wrap of all the shipments of clothes they get. Well, apparently this smell is worldwide.  It was also great to see all Christmas decorations everywhere we went.

This was my first trip since moving to Morocco. I defiantly had culture shock. I understood what everyone was saying around me. I listened to people’s conversation just because I could. I didn’t get second glances from men. There wasn’t any trash lining the streets. No pot holes on the sidewalk. People were kind and friendly. I felt like I fit in.

The following week Chandel and I went to Paris. We stayed with a family friend of hers, a pastor, his wife, and their four boys. They live in a small three bedroom apartment in Viroflay which is about 20 minutes from the center of Paris. They are trying to save money so every night they heat up water and put it into hot water bottles. She even gave me one. One time right before Simon, who is 6, went to bed he came into the kitchen in his undies, waiting for the water to heat up. It was so cute. We took a tour bus here too and went to all the major sites, Eiffel tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, some opera house (I was really cold at this point and didn’t really care) and then the Arc de Triomphe. We also went to a part of town that had Christmas lights in the trees and venders on the side. I bought this hot drink because I was cold; I think it was a combination of wine and cranberry juice. The worst thing I have ever tasted.

The next day we went to Versailles Palace where King Louis XIV lived. It was amazing. We didn’t go inside but we walked around the gardens in the back. I couldn’t believe how beautiful everything was. I would love to go back sometime in the summer when there is flowers in the gardens. As far as I could see there were gardens and nicely cut grass and ponds. I’m not sure how many acres it is but I bet it is a lot.

Both of my trips were great and I'm so thankful that I got the opportunity to do them. Now I’m just counting down the days before I can go on my next trip. HOME! Sometimes it is hard to fall asleep at night because I start thinking of all the things I want to do or the people I want to see.

Please pray for safe travels!

Love you all.

Eid Al Kbir

When I woke up last week Wednesday, I had no idea what I was about to experience.

The Eid Al Kibir is the biggest holiday for Muslims. Think of Christmas times ten. They close down shops for days, travel to see family, and eat, eat, eat. It is a time to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac before God provided Abraham with a ram instead. So… families get together and slaughter a lamb. Most kill a lamb, but the more wealthier families kill a cow or a lamb, or both.

Since I spent the night at the Deboer's house, we decided to go for a walk in the morning. People have to wait until the king kills a lamb; he is suppose to be the first one. So we are walking down the street and we see their neighbors waiting for the butcher to come down. So we talked with them for a bit. Well, they talked French and I stood there and tried to look interested. We said we would walk down the street a little farther and then come back when the butcher showed up. A couple houses down there was a big family, probably 20 to 30 people, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, and they had a cow.

Yes, a large cow was in their front yard, butcher ready to slaughter it. They were renting the house for the holiday and invited us in to watch. Just think about Christmas day, sitting around about to open your presents and a family wants to sit in your living room and watch you. Anyways, the butcher was there and he killed the cow and blood was everywhere. Two or three of the men were helping out as well. The women and children stood by us on the steps and watched. They first cut off the head, then they skinned the cow, and then gutted the thing. It was so bloody and gross. I took a lot of photos. I might post some of them. So that whole process took about 40 minutes. They invited us in to eat with them but we said we had to go across the street with the other family. Thank goodness, we would have been there all day if we stayed.

This family got the sheep one month ago and kept it in their front yard, it was a husband , wife, and son, no extended family. They were still waiting for the butcher to come when the men of the family across the street came over and said they would kill it for them. The families had never met but the men said they wouldn't mind killing the sheep. Afterall, they just got done killing a cow. I was so surprised how clean the killing of the sheep was compared to the cow. There was hardly any blood. It reminded me of Issiah 53:7, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” It was almost like the sheep knew what was going to happen and didn’t move or make any noises

While watching the sheep die, the wife invited us in for tea. After refusing for about 10 minutes we gave in and went inside. The kitchen was on the ground level, right inside of where they killed the sheep. Then they decided to hang it right in the doorway to the kitchen. I have never had tea in a place that had smelled so bad. It was worse than the petting zoo at John Ball. But we didn’t want to be rude, so we sat there and drank tea while watching the men gut the sheep. Two hours later, we left.

Later on we drove through one of the poorer parts of town. Street corners had fires on them because the men were burning the heads of the sheep. I think they burn it and then eat it. The people eat everything of the sheep. On the first day they eat head parts, the liver, and other gross things.  Then they eat other parts on the second and third day.

It is moments like this that make me so glad I’m living in Morocco. When will I ever get a chance to see a cow and sheep slaughtered? I will never be able to do something like that in Allendale, MI. It is an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Grand Marathon International de Casablanca

Ran my first race in Morocco!

A lady named Danielle and I decided to run the 1/2 marathon right here in Casablanca. When Danielle (who is from Grandville, MI) and I were talking I asked her if any one was going to run the race and she said no so I decided to run it with her because it is no fun running a race by yourself.

So on Friday we went downtown and picked up our race packets. Now in the US, these things are full of adversitments for running gear, time chip, sports drinks, or energy bars. This packet had our race number, one page pamphlet about the race (in French), a sponge, and a t-shirt. That's it. We didn't get any time chips or any free samples. Bummer. We were a little confused on what time the race started. When we picked up the packet, the lady said the 1/2 started at 8:00am. But in the pamphlet, it said it started at 9:45. So we decided to show up at 8:00 and just run it no matter what. One we had lunch plans we other women and we wanted to get the race over with. The marathon went in  two big loops so we thought we would just stop running once we finished one loop, which would be 21 km, or 1/2 marathon.

On Saturday I went over to her house and she made me dinner. Her husband picked me up because their kids were at birthday parties close to my house. I think that kids have birthday parties every weekend. She made a ton of pasta. She also gave me one of her Gatorade packets for the race. Which was really nice of her. When some one gets something from the states you really treasure it, especially food items.  

Sunday morning and I'm ready to go. While driving down there I have no idea what to expect. Danielle ran the 10K in Casablanca last year and said it was really unorangized. I didn't even know if they would have a starting line or anything. But I was really surprised when we pulled up to it. It looked just like the Riverbank Run back in Michigan. They had a big starting line, gates to keep people out, some tents were set out, and tables for snacks and water after the race. Now it's about 7:50 and we are about ready to start. There was probably about 200 people running the marathon. We looked around and everyone was really intense. Wearing all the right gear, having water bottles around their waist, and ipods ready. Danielle and I are standing in the back, wearing just cotton t-shirts, not knowing what to do. This guy comes up to us and tells us that we are in the wrong race. He said this was the marathon and the half started at 9:45. We acted like dumb Americans, like usual, and said ok but we are just going to run it now anyways. Then I got the urge to go to the bathroom one more time before we started. Nothing in Morocco starts on time so I thought I would be ok. But when I got out of the port-a-john, everyone was gone! So I ran to where Danielle and I were standing and she was waiting for me yelling at me to hurry up. It was ok, we weren't that far behind the other racers.

So we are running and I'm noticing all the signs are in kilometers. 1 KM, 2 KM... how many kilometers are in 13.1 miles? I didn't know and neither did Danielle.  So spent the majority of the race thinking about that. We didn't know if it was 21 km or 24 km. That is a big difference when you're running a race. We ran right past my house and I saw some of my friends who were waiting for a taxi to go to church. Then a little farther Danielle saw her family in their car driving to church as well. It was crazy. They were trying to cross the road but waiting for racers to pass and they honked at us and her husband and kids were all waving at us. So it was really nice for Danielle to see her family. They had water every 5 km but around 15 km they were all out of water bottles. I did see one guy in front of me bend down and pick one up that was laying on the road. I was never that desperate. There was either a policeman or military at every intersection or road. So about every 50 feet stood a person. I would always say merci or thank you and they would say something back to me and I had no idea what they said. But my favorite part of the whole was when I was at km 17 and a man yelled "good job" in english to us. That made my day. Because every one kept saying things but I didn't know what they were saying and here this guy yelled something and I understood it.

So we are getting towards the end of race, only 1 more km to go. As we are running I'm looking around and I don't see any other racers. No one. I'm about ready to die I'm so tired and then all of a sudden a guy just sprints by us. Then a little while later another guy sprints by us. We then looked at each other and just started laughing so hard. We never thought to think that by the time we were finishing running 1/2 marathon, the speedy guys would be finishing a whole marathon. We can now see the finish line and a lot of people have come to watch the finishers. We knew that we couldn't finish the race because only the really fast people were done and they wouldn't let the 1/2 finish. So literally we just stopped running, jumped on the sidewalk, and walked behind the crowd of people cheering. It was really anticlimactic. We just looked at each other and laughed some more. We didn't cross the finish line and nobody cheered for us. Maybe we should have thought of our plan a little more.

But all in all, it was a great experience. I will probably do another in January. About 10 girls are training for that one.

Weekend

So I had a pretty busy weekend:

On Friday night my friend Chandel and I went out with two of her Moroccan friends. We got picked up by her other friend's "driver." Yes, Chandel's friend's driver came all the way to school which is about 20 minutes outside of Casablanca and picked us up and took us to where we wanted to go. This is how the time went. We were supposed to get picked up at 6:00pm, didn't arrive until 7:00pm. We were suppose to meet her two friends at 8:00pm, didn't arrive until after 9:00pm. Drove 1 hour and ate at a restaurant around 10:00pm. Left there around 11:30 and got back to my apartment around 12:30 or 1ish. That is a pretty typical Moroccan time for dinner. They usually eat around 10:00, on the week days! Um... I'm usually in bed around 10.

Then on Saturday morning I had a great run with a lady following the shoreline. We ran about 10.5 miles. I'm getting ready for the 1/2 marathon that I'm doing on Sunday. (say an extra prayer for me!). Then I went bowling at that place again. Great times. After that I went to a Moroccan birthday party for a 5 year old. It was crazy. The party started at 2:30 and I got there around 5ish. umm.. how can i explain it. Well, the family rented out a tennis club for it. When I walked outside it sounded like I had just stepped into a club the music was so loud. There was a bounce house and other blow up toys I'm not really sure what they were. When I was there they had a magician, clown, and an announcer guy that sang songs with the kids. They had cotton candy and a popcorn machine. A table with tea, coffee, pop, and snacks. Oh yeah, they also had a big poster of the birthday girl, Malak. At the end of the night we all sang happy birthday to Malak with firework candle things. And i was only there for the last two hours of it! Then at night I was kind of tired... so I just watched a movie with some friends.

On Sunday morning I went out to the beach with another couple, their two little kids, and another girl my age named Jenni. The couple, Zach Hillary and I went surfing while Jenni watched the kids. Well... Zach and Hillary went surfing while I splashed around in the water on a surf board. I have gone 3 times now and I can't surf for the life of me. But it is nice to be out on the water. Afterwards, I had lunch with the Deboers and another Moroccan family. They had lived close to the Deboers but a couple of years ago the husband lost his job and now they live in a one bedroom apartment. A husband, wife, and two teenage girls. This apartment has one "bathroom," a hole in the ground, with three other rooms on the floor that all have families living in them. I might be doing a conversational thing with one of the girls. She teaches me French and I teach her English. After lunch the two girls and I went to campus and we played ultimate frisbee with some other people from school. They didn't speak any English so there was a lot of hand motions. But I think they had a good time. Then on Sunday night I just crashed in my apartment.

Crazy weekend but it was a lot of fun.

Missing you all,
Kaylee

Bowling!

Monday and Tuesday were in-service days so there are no kiddos but I went to the school on those days and did some paper work. It was really nice to get caught up on some things.

And afterwards we went bowling! It felt like I stepped back into America. When you walked in they had arcade games and bowling on the second floor. There was TV screens with little animations when you bowled a strike or spare and automatic scoring. We also had tables and chairs to sit at. For a moment I thought I was at Hudsonville Lanes. It was kind of expensive though, about 7 dollars per game, but that included shoes.

I think I loved bowling so much because it was something I did back home. It is such an American thing to do. I can't just go to a mall or a movie theatre (even though they have one here, but they only play movies in French or Arabic) and eat an Auntie Ann's pretzel. It was great to just get away and enjoy doing something different. I'm so glad that I get the opportunity to do things like that. There are kids that live 100 yards in shanty towns that will never go into that building. These families can't even afford to send their kids to school for 3 dollars a month. Often you see situations like this on one side of the road and mansions on the other. I think 80 percent of kids that go to GWA have a driver, house maids, and nannies. It's sad because here either you are really wealthy or realy poor.

Fun Fact:

A lot of people here drink tea, not coffee. And they have a ton of cafes along the streets. There is usually tables and chairs outside of these cafes, like on the sidewalk. The chairs are all on one side of the table facing the street. And do you know who goes to the cafes? Men. So everywhere you go you see these men sitting at cafes, drinking their tea, watching everyone walk by. Some of the cafes are men only. I have seen like 3 women drink tea at a cafe. Sometimes I do see women but they are usually inside on the second floor. It was really crazy to get used to it at first. When I think of coffee shops back home I think of women getting together. Here, it is the opposite. It is just a male thing to do. I don't think I will ever go to one. Women here just don't do that.

Well, that is all for tonight! I will try to write sooner next time.

Love you all!

Kaylee

Volleyball

So today, Saturday, there is a volleyball tournamnet and GWA is hosting it. That means that I have to be here all day, from 9 to 6. That's just what I wanted to do on my Saturday. Normally I wouln't mind but this morning I woke up with a cold. It is all those sick kids that come and see me everyday. "Miss, miss, I have a cold." They call all women miss and all the men mr. I don't know if it's because they don't take the time to learn our names or because there is such a high turn over. They know their teachers name but sometimes I still hear them say miss, miss to her.

So yesterday was interesting. Every Friday the middle school has physical fitness day in PE. It is the last hour of the day. Well, four boys had fallen on the stairs when they were on their way to PE class and "sprained" their ankle so they came to me. I looked at them and nothing was wrong. I gave them a note and they left limping. Well, they went up to their PE teacher and told her that I said that they couldn't do PE because they sprained their ankle and then gave her the note. The note was to excuse them from being late, I had never wrote on there that they didn't have to do PE. So they came to me and then lied right to their teacher. I was so mad. I'm not sure what's going to happen to those boys.  Did they we weren't going to find out? I think they should do the fitness test everyday next week. To Moroccans, lieing is not a sin. It says that in the Koran. So kids come to me all the time and just lie straight to my face.

I have become really good friends with a lady names Chandel. She lives on campus and I have spent the past two Fridays at her place. She is such a blessing to me because she feeds me home cooked meals. Last night we had this chicken with raddish, carrots, and garlic. She also made this mexican ranch stuff and we had green and yellow peppers with it. It was fantastic. We are going to coach the soccer team in the spring. I don't really know the first thing about soccer but I will just encourage the girls out there on the field.

Well, I hope all is well! I miss you and love you.

Kaylee

ps. sorry if I spell any words wrong, the spell check isn't set to English so all the words are highlighed.

30 September 2010

Hello from the other side of the pond!

It has been three weeks now that I have left little ole Allendale, MI. I'm sorry that it has taken me this long to put something together. My internet wasn't working for the past week if that makes it better, I don't know.

So my life:

I live in the middle of Casablanca, Morocco. It is a city of 6 million people. I live on the second floor in an apartment complex. There is about 6 floors with 4 apartments on each floor. It is a lot nicer than I was anticipating. I live with one other girl named Megan. When you walk in the door to my apartment there is the dinning area and living room. We have a TV that gets two Arabic channels on it. So I spend most of my days watching the soaps on it. (but not). We have a full kitchen and our washing machine is in there too. No dryer, every one just hangs their clothes to dry. I have my own bedroom and bathroom which is really nice. She gave me the master bedroom. I also have a walk in closet as well. So I really can't complain at all. If you want to google to area where I live, it next to a street called Ghandi. It is about 2 miles from the ocean. I have ran there a couple of times and it is beautiful.

My school, George Washington Academy (GWA), is about 20 minutes away. I ride with other teachers from school which is really nice. Some girls have to catch a taxi every morning. You can see the ocean from the school. It is so beautiful.  There isn't a gym but they have a multi purpose room where they eat lunch and have gym. Today they had a volleyball game in it.

My job:

"I save lives everyday, one band aide at a time."

Becca, who is a RN, has been training me. She is awesome. She has lived in Morocco for eight years now and knows a lot of the people and a lot about the culture. She has been such a blessing to me because I missed all of orientation but Becca has filled me in with a lot of things. At first we were seeing about 50 kids a day but now it is more like 20-30 kids.  Moroccans are huge in treating anything and everything. If I were to go to a doctor I would walk out with 5 presciptions, even if I had a cold. But I'm trying to do the "Jan Kuzee method" of medicine. "Let's see how you feel in a couple of days."

Last Sunday I went to a Spanish circus. I think they might be on a tour or something. It felt really old fashion because we sat inside a tent. There was lions, magic, motorcycles in a cage, and a clown. I had a lot of fun. I also went surfing on Wednesday which was pretty exciting. I never "rode a wave" but  I did stand up a few times. I going to try to go once a week if  I can afford it.

Well, I'm going to try to write once a week.

Love you all and miss you like crazy!!