The Morocco Report

And on a lighter note...Finally getting around to posting Ramadan photos:

Under construction...

(Hamza took this one) - a bit of growth.

The things you find on Moroccan streets...

Sunset over the Meknes medina - red sky at night, you know what they say...

To fix the old

Ramadan Day One

This is Meknes, Hamrya.

Poor man's lftour (we don't boycott danish cheeses)

I live behind Asta lady, which was recently replaced by LG lady.

Set adrift. 

More on writing - it's fine and dandy to write about how beautiful Marrakesh is, and I go so far as to post pictures of people who may or may not want their pictures posted, but there is certainly a bit of fear among the expat community, so to speak, about publishing news and other Moroccan stories.

I'm currently working on a piece about the university system here, but I'm not sure exactly what my readership ought to be.  I have a Moroccan co-writer in the wings, but she's afraid of putting her name to it.  The king could swoop down, after all...

We shall see.

I am constantly babbling on about how I'm a writer, how I love to write, how it comes naturally - so why is it that it takes getting the INTERNET at my apartment to actually get any writing done?   And is a blog really the right forum anyhow?

Regardless, this is a blessing - it's 3:11 a.m. and I can't remember the last time I was on the internet this late, never mind on the internet without someone looking over my shoulder!  It's been a long hard road getting to connection-land, but Maroc Telecom and I had a showdown (okay, Hamza and Maroc Telecom had a showdown) and here we are.

After the Halloween festivities, we had Thanksgiving at my house, Moroccan-style (by Moroccan style I mean we ate with our hands out of a big central dish, despite the fact that we were eating turkey cutlets).  I forgot to take pictures, but it was Hamza and I, a coworker or two, and two drifting bicycling Canadians (I'll post their website when I remember it), and a good time was had by all.

And the next holiday of the grand American trinity?  Christmas, that lovely commercial celebration during which I will mostly celebrate coming together with my parents...in Amsterdam.  I'm a little nervous about Amsterdam if Hamza's visa ends up rejected (which is a long story), because it means I'll be there alone for a week, but we'll see.

All for now - 3:18 and I'm not in bed?!

Halloween included drumming, pringles, and unmentionables (and a whole lot of Americans in my apartment!)

Moroccans in costumes!

My mummy and me. 

Attempted recordings...

And general good times. 

I have stopped writing; not sure exactly why, but I'm hoping that my upcoming home internet installation will fix it.

I just returned from a teaching conference in Tangier, which is a city I've always loved to hate on principle, but on second (okay, fourth) look, it turns out it's not only exciting but also much more socially conscious than I thought a Moroccan city could ever be...the number of galleries, musical workspaces, theatres, and social programs (one helps get the glue-sniffers off the streets) astonished me.  Although part of me is dying to go back to the States next year when my contract is up, another part wishes I had time to hang around elsewhere in Morocco and see what life in a larger (more involved) city is like.

Meknes is still Meknes - post-Ramadan, everything has begun to close around 9:00, so we're quite bored here.  Please send DVDs!  Just kidding, but without a TV and DVD player, I don't know what I would do...I'm not so much a TV person, but when you're reading so much material for school already, reading for pleasure becomes a daunting task.

And speaking of school - I'm beginning to research MA programs again...I feel like I've settled into a groove with teaching, and if I were able to find an MA TESOL program which allowed me to pursue my writing and publishing interests as well, I'd be happy.  The New School in NYC has one such program, but it seems out of my means, although they do offer distance education, so it may very well be worth looking into...if anyone who's informed about the program stumbles upon this post by random, please comment!

Aside from all that and counting the days until Christmas vacation (AMSTERDAM!), I'm just living.  I wish there were more time in the day.