MontanaRon

An English teacher's blog about his travels and his digital art.

Month: February 2006

Yankee World and CALL Class

February 24, 2006 /

Once again today I noticed that the large number of baseball style caps that have American baseball logos on them exclusively sport the Yankee logo. I have seen no other caps in Meknes, and in the other, admittedly, limited parts of Morocco I’ve visited, that have another baseball team’s symbol represented. None. Seriously. This is also a phenomenon that I noticed in South Korea. Though there were other teams represented on caps in the Land of the Morning Calm, the overwhelming majority of baseball caps had that famous NY on them. Boston fans may wishfully and mistakenly refer to Red Sox “Nation,” but Yankee World is a reality. When my friend Karen, a Bostonian to the core and, regretfully but understandably, a devout and worshipful fan of that “other” team, reads this, I’m sure I’ll get an earful. But, dear Karen, it’s true about the caps. Red Sox fans must console themselves with their ONE World Series win since 1918. I’ll bask in the glory of the (still) Great Dynasty that the Yanks are. There’s also a young lady, Jill, from the Northeast, teaching at the American Language Center in Meknes who is a Sox fan. I showed her my Yankee cap the other night and she immediately got into “that” attitude that all of us Yank/Sox fans have. Thus, I’ll have someone to jibe at this season. I love it!! (However, if both teams end up like they did last season, perhaps we’ll be commiserating with each other.)

I started the new CALL class today at Moulay Ismail U. and it went ok. Despite the lack of access to the technology that I am supposed to be teaching, I think the course will be beneficial to my students. They’re an older group than my CPR students, but only by a few years; I would guess their average age at between 28-32 years. Some are English teachers, some teach other disciplines, and some are there to learn about the subject matter. More interesting, though, is that 6 of the 25 students are from other countries. There are four students from Mauritania (a country to which the Peace Corps had assigned me in 2002 but to which, unfortunately, I was unable to go to due to physical problems), one from Chad (information here and here) and another from Yemen. To me, that’s exciting and motivating. I gave them a short political spiel about how they should use the knowledge that they will learn and take it, from a position of authority, to their administrators and bureaucrats and push for funding to incorporate the technology into their schools and universities. It’s one of the few things that I get political about in a formal classroom setting. Too many governments, including the U.S., say that they need funding for military budgets, or for corporate tax breaks, both of which are b*ll sh*t excuses for not funding education like it should be funded. In other locales, corruption steals the money from the people. (Benin Peace Corps friends know what I’m talking about, though this particular practice is not confined to the nations of Africa.) Ok, I’ll get off my soap box now, but the subject of the paltry amount of money provided for education is really one of my pet peeves.

Still raining quite a bit in Meknes. Montanans, enjoy your wonderful weather. Where’d all the snow go? More later.

Rain and More Rain

February 23, 2006 /

I went out to get some handouts for my students photocopied and to buy a rotisserie-broiled chicken, and it was raining cats and dogs. It was coming down hard enough that the drainage system couldn’t handle all the water, so crossing some of the street intersections was quite the aquatic adventure. Yesterday morning we even got a bit of sleet/snow, which melted as soon as it touched the ground. Ah, well, I could be in Montana enjoying a winter snow advisory–2-4 more inches of snow expected in Great Falls and Glendive and 8-14 inches in the Missoula area. Fun! I wonder how much they got already. I’m sure someone who reads this will let me know. More later.

Water Heater, Thailand

February 21, 2006 /

Finally, I got the new hot water heater in today. It’s not actually installed yet; that will be done tomorrow afternoon. The heater itself cost about $145, which I paid for, but I’ll deduct that from the 3-month rent money due in the middle of March. Now I’ll have to retire my primitive living skills, meaning I don’t have to heat water on the gas range anymore. I know that for the past week I’ve been saving on my utility bill because I love to take a nice, long, hot baths, something I’ve been unable to do recently. Maybe I’ll cut back on those; my electricity bill for December is HUGE–close to $180!!! I’m not real sure what the main problem is, but I suspect it’s the ‘fridge–it seems to run 24/7. I’ve tried turning down the thermostat, but it still runs all the time. Hmmm, I didn’t have any refrigeration in Benin and I managed ok, sort of. Maybe I shouldn’t retire those skills after all. 🙄

Speaking of cold, spring has given way to winter. Cold with lots of rain today and yesterday, and the forecast is calling for more of the same into the weekend. Lucky me, though, I’m pretty sure I’m going to take three weeks off at the end of March and head on over to Thailand and Laos. The plane ticket is quite expensive, but well worth it. Those of you who know me, know how much I love that area of the world. If I’m approved for the position in Morocco for next year, I’ll have plenty of time to travel around here, but for the time being, I’ve got Southeast Asia on my mind. I’ll probably spend most of my time in Laos with my friend Nai. Right now the poor guy’s fighting a bout of diarrhea–at least that’s what it sounds like according to the description (I promise, no details) he gave me when I talked to him yesterday. Hopefully, we’ll get the opportunity to visit Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

But that’s a ways off. For now, I have to get busy and prepare for a new class I’ll be teaching at Moulay Ismail University here in Meknes starting Friday. It’s a 10-week course on Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). It should be interesting, fun and, I hope, informative for the students there. Though Internet access is provided by cyber cafes in many of the neighborhoods, I get the feeling that most people can’t afford to spend too much time and money developing their computer skills. Despite the omnipresence of computers elsewhere, there are still many places in the world, like Morocco and Laos, where they are not taken for granted. Some of my students at the CPR don’t have email addresses and, perhaps, don’t even use computers. There are times I wish I didn’t, either. More later.

Shwarmas in Meknes

February 18, 2006 /

Not that I spend a lot of time at Label Vie anyway, but on the second floor a Lebanese fast-food restaurant opened, complete with shwarmas, hummus and other goodies! But, that’s not all. There will be future openings of Domino’s Pizza, the Bangkok Cafe, Tex-Mex Cafe, an ice cream parlor and many others whose brand names aren’t posted yet. Watch out waistline!

Bike Ride, High Speed Chase and Explosion

February 18, 2006 /

There, now that I’ve got your attention . . .

Sorry, I haven’t posted in a while. Busy? Lazy? A combination of both, I suppose.

I took a nice bike ride last Sunday into the countryside, pedaling about 6 or 7 miles outside of town. It was a gorgeous day, warm (hot, going uphill), with blue skies dotted by cumulus clouds. It was more like a late spring day than the middle of February. A lot different than Montana weather right now. I see that they’re “enjoying” sub-zero temperatures, at times reaching -25F (that’s -31C). I don’t miss it a bit.

Here are a few shots from the trip.

So, I rode around for several hours, stopping to take numerous photos of the interesting cloud formations that sailed across the deep blue skies. I probably had a total ride of 20-25 miles and was getting pooped when I started to return to Meknes. I decided, however, to take a short journey down one of the back roads to Rabat. It’s a two-lane highway with wide, paved shoulders, so it’s not a problem to ride a bicycle–lots of traffic, though. I had gone about 3 miles down the road when I decided to turn back because of an approaching storm.

I got about half way to the outskirts of Meknes when I heard a police siren ahead of me at the top of a hill. It looked like he had pulled someone over, perhaps for speeding. All of a sudden a farm truck peeled off the pavement and started barreling down a dirt track to the right of the main road, heading right toward me. I was on the pavement and in no danger. Right behind him came the cop car, siren wailing, lights flashing. I caught a brief glimpse of the truck driver’s face and he looked frightened, but determined, as they raced passed me. I watched them speed down the hill a ways, then the truck zoomed onto the pavement hell bent for leather and sped away in the distance, the squad car right behind him. Then, two police motorcycles joined the chase, zooming past me. Off the high-speed chase went over the top of the hill behind me, disappearing from view. Crazy.

I resumed my ride to the top of the next hill. All of a sudden, one of the motorcycles sped past me, heading for town, probably to get reinforcements, I thought. Then, I heard the police car siren again, and I got off the bike and turned around to see the farm truck careening up the road with the cop right on his tail and the other motorcycle not far behind. Away they raced toward Meknes and I thought it’s going to get pretty hectic trying to maneuver through the busy streets of the city. I never did see them again, though. What was the guy trying to hide? Smuggling, perhaps? A wanted criminal? I suppose I’ll never know, but it was a strange experience, like a Moroccan version of the Key Stone Cops. With all the traffic it would have been difficult to block him, but I still wonder how the guy ever got the truck turned around. Since it all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to take my camera out of my pack and snap some shots. Maybe the fellow will end up in the prison I stumbled upon earlier in the day.

You’re not supposed to take photos of this kind of subject, but I was at a distance and used my telephoto lens. Yes, there were guards in the towers, but I didn’t see any barbed wire surrounding the place as I rode past. I assume it’s a prison. Maybe it’s one used by the CIA for “rendition” purposes? (That should get a few page views from the NSA!)

Explosion? My water heater kind of blew up, gushing water all over the bathroom. It made a loud pop when it blew, sort of like a champagne cork. I couldn’t find the main shut-off valve and I was getting kind of frantic. I ran downstairs and got Brahim, the building super, to come help me, and eventually we found the valve. I’m lucky I was home when it happened. It hasn’t been fixed yet, but the nephew of the lady who owns the apartment (she lives in the Netherlands) is coming over sometime this morning to see what’s up with it. A fellow already came by and said that I need a new tank (obvious); now the only question is who’s going to pay for it. It should be the apartment owner, but I hope I don’t have to get into a hassle about it. In the meantime, my Peace Corps experience is coming in handy–I heat water on the stove for doing dishes and taking “bucket showers.” Not an undue burden, but a nuisance nonetheless. More later.

Shwarmas in Rabat

February 8, 2006 /

I took the morning train to Rabat today to try to find an ink cartridge for my printer and to pick up some teaching books that John had for me. It was another beautiful day and a pleasant ride down to Rabat. (Note to self to pose this to my students: Why do I say down to Rabat when Rabat is north of Meknes? Often, we say I’m going down to “somewhere” when it is south of us and up to “somewhere” if it is to the north, as if everything is downhill from the North Pole? Would I say I’m going down to Ifrane, which is south of Meknes but at a higher elevation, or up to Ifrane? How about the Charlie Daniels Band song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia?” From a Christian point of view, the devil wouldn’t go “down” to Georgia (unless, of course, you’re of a certain opinion about Georgia.) A prize to whoever, including non-students, can give the best answers.

Ok, sorry to get off on a tangent there. Anyway, I finally found a cartridge for my printer, something I have been unable to do in Meknes and I got the books. As an added bonus, I was able to eat not only one shwarma, but two. They are described by this website as the “Arabian Taco.” Yes, Adnane, if you read this, I did have another one after you dropped me off at the train station. You see, John, Adnane (who works at the Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the Embassy in the same building as John) and I went for lunch at an international food court in one of the malls near the PAS. Quite a number of vendors are there, including Mexican, Thai, Domino’s Pizza, Southern Fried Chicken and others, as well as a sandwich shop which sells shwarmas. Not a bad variety and I had a good lunch. But then, since Adnane needed a computer part also, he was kind enough to take me on my search for the ink cartridge. We finished that a bit early, about an hour and a half before the train departed for Meknes. He wondered if I had anything special I wanted to do, but I asked him to just let me off near the train station and I would wander around. When I first arrived in Morocco, Hakim, John’s former assistant, had taken me to Grill 23, a small, sidewalk restaurant across from the station, that has great shwarmas. I (sort of) joked about stopping there for another shwarma, even though we’d had lunch only two hours before. Well, Adnane, no joking, I had another shwarma! I can get them here in Meknes, but the shops I’ve seen are waaayyyy out by Marjane. However, Label Vie, my home away from home, has advertised that a Lebanese fast food restaurant will be opening very soon in the mini-mall the grocery store is located in. Shwarma’s close to home???!!!!! Yummmmm. More later. Many more.

Fes, Bike Ride and Cartoons

February 6, 2006 /

Yes, I did go to Fes last Thursday to do the workshop with the Peace Corps volunteers. There were 10 participants, all sharp and eager, as most PC volunteers are. I do enjoy working with them whenever I can. It was my first journey in a Moroccan taxi, and it reminded me quite a bit of my bush taxi adventures in Benin during my time in the Peace Corps. Six passengers were crammed in, 2 in front (plus the driver) and 4 in the back, but it wasn’t bad since it’s only about a 45 minute drive from Meknes to Fes, and it only cost about $2. It was a beautiful day and I would have liked to stay in Fes for a few hours after the workshop, but I was lugging around 40 pounds of books and I had to get back to Meknes, since I was expecting a fax from the Embassy in Rabat concerning reimbursement for my trip to Marrakech some time ago to do a similar workshop. Below are a few pictures of the volunteers, and if any volunteers or friends and family want to see more, click HERE.

After a couple of days of cold and rain, yesterday was gorgeous–mild temperature (about 55) and fluffy clouds cruising across the blue sky. For some reason, when it rains and I stay inside, I find that my pants start shrinking. Perhaps it’s something in the water when I wash them (or in the pastries 😉 ). At any rate, I decided to get some exercise and take a bike ride into the countryside. With all the rain, the vegetation is greening up very nicely. I got kind of a late start, leaving around 2:30 p.m., so I didn’t go a long way out, perhaps 3 miles beyond the edge of the city. That’s not counting the 5 or 6 miles from my apartment to the edge of the city. I brought along my small, somewhat crappy digital camera, not my good Canon, so if the photos are not up to snuff, that’s my excuse. Here’s a few and there are a couple more on the Photo Gallery. This week’s weather is forecasting sunny skies and temperatures approaching 70 degrees, so I plan to make a more extended ride soon.

This young man is watching over his family’s flock of sheep. He looks pretty serious. There are quite a few people here who don’t like getting their picture taken. This kid was ok with it, but I gave him a couple of dirhams anyway.

According to an Indian newspaper, 4,000 Moroccans demonstrated in Rabat over the “cartoon crisis.” I’ve also read that one of the Rabat papers printed an editorial that slammed the French and called for boycotting their products, but another one actually published one of the cartoons and is now under investigation. I also saw this quote on the BBC News website:

“They want to test our feelings,” protester Mawli Abdul Qahar Abu Israra told the BBC. “They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and to their newspapers,” he said.

No comment necessary. Meknes, though, has been quiet, as far as I know. There has probably been as much outrage over the football team’s early exit from the Africa Cup. More later.

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