The second week is almost over

Salam Alaykum.

Time certainly does fly! It's almost the end of my second week here.

I apologize for not keeping up with my blog this week. The days go by so fast and we seem to be always busy doing something - usually planning the next day's English lesson. Moreover, I am one of only about 3 volunteers out of 27 that brought a computer with them, so the 3 of us are constantly being asked "can I borrow your computer?" After a couple days I just said, "hey, when I'm not using it have at it" Little did I realize that the favorite time for others to use it is between 7:00 & 10:00 PM our time, which is prime time for me to make Skype calls. But whadya gonna do?

My class continues to be an adventure and challenge. I'm learning as much about English grammar as my students! I teach the intermediate level students, who have a pretty good grasp of speaking English, but writing it is still a challenge. The mistake they make most often is putting the adjective after the noun e.g. "the car red" or "the tree green". In French - which most are fluent in- and Arabic this is common.

The average age of my students changes almost daily it seems. Last week it was around 22, this week it's about 17. However, the rumor going around is that next week I may be teaching even younger students, probably ages 10-15. Apparently the Institute where I work has developed a program for younger people who are either to poor to go to public school, or their parents keep them out of school and use them to beg for money in the Medina. Street kids are a big problem in Morocco, especially in the big cities where there are loads of tourist. Not so much in Rabat, but Casablanca is notorious for them working the tourists in the Medina. It's illegal, and if the kids are caught the parents are fined. If they agree to enroll the kids in school - any school - the fine is waived. So the Institute has developed a program for these kids. Of course the parents want the kids to learn English to help them with begging - tourists love young kids that can say "hi, how are you. Do you have a Dirham for me?'' But at least they will be learning something and off the streets for a little while. The other volunteer - Chris - who's been working with me is leaving this Saturday so I may get drafted to work with these kids. I'm not too keen on it but how can I say no?

I've also come down with a doozy of a cold. Not surprising really. Many of the volunteers work at an Orphanage and the kids there have all varying types of illnesses, colds being the most common. I think just about all of the volunteers who work there have been sick, and with 27 of us it's only a matter of time for the rest of us. At least my turn came early! Today after work I took about an hour nap then after lunch I slept for another 3 hours. Still don't feel great but the naps helped. I'll be hitting the rack early tonight.

Tomorrow I'll post some photos of some very old ruins we toured yesterday. It's a site where Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, and Muslims all had settlements. It was a fascinating place to see.

Bye for now