End of week 5

It doesn’t seem possible that I’m typing the words “only one more week to go.” This week flew by – nothing special, just our wonderful routine of teaching every morning and enjoying the afternoons and evenings with the staff and other volunteers at the home base.

On Monday, Harold and I took a long walk, ending up at the pedestrian shopping area close to home base and stopping for a scoop of ice cream. On the way home, we went to Acima, the grocery store about a block from home base to restock the chocolate supply and buy some special spices to be used in the wonderful Moroccan dishes I’m hoping to prepare when I get home.

After his placement on Tuesday, Harold walked with some of the students to the ocean which is only 15 minutes from their school.

Harold and some of his students "downy Ocean, hon"

On Tuesday afternoon, as CCS does at every site, we met one-on-one with the CCS director to give feedback on our volunteer experience – the placement, the staff, etc. Of course, we gave and received rave reviews. Then, we listened again to a lecture on Islam. Although we heard it once before our first week, Mohammed, the CCS director, is so knowledgeable about Islam (and actually about all religions) that we sat in again and learned more. That evening, Harold returned to the hammam for another scrubbing.

Wednesday, CCS took some of the new volunteers to the Roman ruins and others of us went again to the pottery. We bought a tajine, so we’re ready to try Moroccan cooking! Most of the volunteers went out for a “fancy dinner” in the Rabat Medina, but Harold and I opted to stay at the home base, relax, plan our lessons for Thursday, and eat the wonderful dinner prepared for us here.

Plenty of tajines to choose from

On Thursday, Khadija gave another wonderful cooking lesson. Although I had already made the mint tea and two other dishes, I joined in. Afterwards, a music group gave a performance and had us all up and dancing. Then, we packed for our 5^th and final weekend trip; we are leaving tomorrow for Meknes.

The musical group plays at home base