Week 3 - Halfway there!
This past week flew by and I can’t believe I only have three more weeks left. This week we covered vocabulary relating to government, shopping, and the house. We ended up having an extremely shortened week at work because we had a meeting on Tuesday which we had to leave early for and then we had a picnic on Thursday and no class on Friday. We didn’t do any real quizzes this week due to time constraints but we’re hoping to get back on track this coming week.
PICNIC!
Last Thursday, we had a picnic with our students as a farewell party for one of the volunteers who was leaving. I thought it was just going to be a sandwiches and fruit two-hour tops kind of shindig with blankets and normal stuff. Nope! Our students went all out, they brought rods to build a canopy/tent thing, they brought chicken to cook tagine in the forest, they had a soccer ball and most importantly they brought along a ton of energy and enthusiasm. I’ve never had so much fun in my life.
Plus, interacting with the students in a non-school setting really allowed us to know them on a more personal level. I would have never guessed that our students were so musically inclined (aka...they sang the entire time! or at least 75%). It was cool trying to communicate with them using broken English, Arabic and French. I still feel proud when they use vocabulary words and it’s kind of cute when they work out what to say with the limited words they have. The cutest was when one of our students was complimenting one of the volunteers on her eyes, instead of saying you have very pretty eyes; he said: you have very expensive eyes!
In the back of a truck with our students.
FEZ
Fez is an incredible city...if you do it right and with the right people. Unfortunately, I might have done Fez all wrong (or mostly all wrong). We didn’t have a real tour guide and the person who started off showing us around turned out to be a fake and he left us stranded in the middle of 9000+ streets and we didn’t know what to do. The police came and told us they were there for our safety and that the “tour guide” we were with was a fake. We managed to only see the tanneries and the market, nothing else. Only had one day to explore but we tried to make the most of it. 
Cowhides in the process of becoming leather
Got legit saffron at an apothecary!
Argan nuts
Kinza,
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the title like you did- Name, Location, Week #. It's really helpful!
You are so passionate about working with the students. I can just "feel" it in your posts. Teaching vocabulary is difficult, but you're right, it's so rewarding when a student uses one of the words in conversation (even if it isn't exactly right!). Chatting with the students outside of academia is really helpful. They open up and take some risks in the conversation because they feel more comfortable. I'm glad that you are enjoying your job so much!
Oh no- a fake tour guide is never good. I'm sorry you had that experience, but it is something you will never forget. A party hostel!? How crazy is that. That's an interesting concept...
The pictures of the tannery are really great. I actually just Googled "tannery" to read more about the process because I have never looked into it before. All of the sites said that the smell is horrible.
Best,
Tammy