.... its been a long day....

Ok, i am going to walk you through my day.

I woke up at 8 AM. took a bucket shower ( fill a bucket with water and use a smaller bucket to shower yourself) ate breakfast ( a large piece of bread with butter) walked about 15 0r 20 min. from my house to Babchalla which is on the other side of the medina and where i pick up a taxi to go to work in Takadoum district. Walking through the medina i see at least one hundred ( no joke) stray cats, 6 cow heads cooking on a grill, 3 mosques and many other stands for water and cellphones. once i get to Babchalla I have to go to the correct taxi place and make sure i am getting in the right taxi, to do this i say Takadoum and nod my head. if he says oui or nam ( arabic for yes) i then say Nokata ( the stop where i need to get off) . I then get in the taxi, but with a slight twist... this is a taxi that is more like a bus.... in a normal sized car, 4 people jam into the back seat, and 2 in front next to the driver. Once we drive the 20 min. all crammed together i think each person has lost about 5 lbs in water weight from sweating. There is no AC in these taxis and most of the time the handles for the windows are broken off. Right when you think you are about to pass out from the heat and overall intense lack of personal space we arrive at Nokata. From there it is about a 15 min. walk to the place where I am teaching. This is on the 3ed floor of a old building in a back street of what i found out the other day to be the slums of Rabat.... hey, it keeps things interesting... as if they wernt before just from the cow heads.... so i go to my class room which is about 20 feet long by 10 feel wide with 9 desks and about 15 chairs. i sit down at my small desk at the front of the class, i was told to be at work at 9:40 for my 10 o'clock class.... the students showed up at 10:45... now here is the fun part.... on the first day.... i showed up at the school knowing nothing other than how to get there.... i didnt know how many students i would have, how old they would be, or what skill level they would be at... well today i taught 3 different classes.... the first one i had , was about 6 students.... um... ok english... well like.... had studied for one year before... so.... they understood about 1/5th what i was saying... there was one though who had studied for about 4 years.... he helped say what i was trying to say to the other students.

the second class... 2 students who spoke 2 years worth of english.... so they understood about 2/5ths.... the third class.... well they are apparently the beginners from what i was told ( WOOT!!! INFORMATION) well if by beginners they mean 3 students one who spoke NO english... the alphabet.... we are still working on it... the other two... why they think they need to study english... no idea... we were having conversations.... after class ends at 830 at night, i am leaving to go home, and the director of the center hands me some books and said this is what i will be teaching from.... um.... why i couldn't have been given these sooner... no idea... having several more questions i tried to ask, and with his lacking english skills and my remedial french i decided it would be best just to say thank you, put on a smile and take that 15 min walk through the slums, find the correct taxi, cram in with 5 other people, and walk past the now devoured cows heads... i am now sitting in my kitchen with my room mate ( Matt from Canada) thumbing though these books that i was given and thinking... what have i gotten my self into...

At the same time.... i cant imagine being anywhere else...