Ifrane, Morocco

In the distance are the three hills of Ifrane! This is like traveling into Central Oregon and seeing who spots Black Butte first! We are about to enter into the cedar forest--where the cow sign is... Ifrane is at an elevation of about 5,600 feet. It is on what I would call, a plateau. When you descend to travel to Meknes or Fes, you immediately drop about 4,000 feet.

This is the view from my livingroom window. We are looking toward Azrou. Perhaps if you enlarge this you can see some sheep herders at 12 o'clock. I took this on the day I arrived.

This is my school--from a window in my flat. The building to the left is EC, PK and K; the center building is Administration and the teacher work room and a building behind that is the rest of the school. Music--along with p.e.--is way back in a corner!

A look at the Early Childhood, PK and K center out a window from my flat

--as well as one of the hills of Ifrane.

These teachers and I had fitor together: Linda (English/History), Fatima (French)

and Maha(Art).

In this photo, you can sort of see where I live. It is the building straight ahead and farthest away! The other buildings that you see are empty. They are either summer residences or they are buildings that are unfinished.

This is some of the Early Childhood class! There are 15 students in all. Ms. Rachida (L) is the helper and Ms. Mammah (C) is the lead teacher.

My buddy Zouheir.

This is a wall the workers built in the Early Childhood classroom.

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The next two photos are of the traveling souk--which is located a mile or so down the road from where I live. Again, it's improper to blatently take photos, so I pretended to take photos of my friend Julia Reimer --who speaks fluent French and Arabic. Hopefully, you can get an idea of what the souk is like.

This is Al Akhawayn University. The building to the left is the main building. Faculty and student residences are straight ahead.

This is the theatre where the choir rehearses each week. I will perform here as pianist several times this fall. Great facility! The ceiling is incredibly decorated.

I took these photos early one morning and the sounds of the birds were amazing. You can see the top of the mosque and the third building down is the library.

Casablanca (October 07)

The hotel where I stayed is posh and richly decorated --unlike this view from my hotel balcony! There are several typically Moroccan things about this photo. The streets are narrow and the buildings are high; wires hang down the outside of the buildings; and clothes are hung to dry on the tops of the buildings.


Here I am at Hassan II Mosque. The following photos are of the outside of the mosque.

Walking the streets, I came across this interesting theatre....

Food

Ski Resort Outside of Ifrane

My first hike in September was to the ski resort outside of Ifrane. A fellow teacher--Julia--drove. (See the September newsletter for the full story!)

On the way to the ski resort, right outside of Ifrane.

This meadow is where apes come down.... Right over the rise (about 11.00) is where men were digging a new well.

This photo is for Grady. Here I am standing in front the the ski club building!

Sitting a on sled with "Dino" --the only dog in the residences.

Hopefully, I will get up here when there is snow and will then take photos of the ski areas!!!

Tarmelat

Tarmelat is a community that is a stone's throw from the royal palace! The people are obviously poor. A couple of years ago, the Christian church associated with Al Akhawayn University, began the Rugs to Riches project to help these people earn an income. Moroccan women from other areas were brought in and they showed these women how to make rugs.....

This is the hut where the rugs are made. Because the women have other chores, they only work on rugs when they have the time. It may take one to two months to make a rug. These are foreign students that attend Al Akhawayn University and attend the Christian fellowship. Robert Cotten (L) teaches guitar at my school every Monday during lunch.

I bought a rug from the woman in orange (C). Her name is Zohra Amawi. She is in her 30's, is married with four girls and takes care of the sheep.

Ito Jerradi--the oldest woman at Tarmelat--is 72 years old. Other women make carpets of earth tones but she likes to use colors. I bought a carpet for Grady that she made. It has purple, red and white camels on it!

The custom is for people to take off their shoes and to sit around the room next to the wall while carpets are shown one by one and piled in the center of the room. At the end of the showing we all got up. I grabbed this carpet because it was unusual and then found out that this is one of two carpets that is NOT in the Berber style of this region. At least you can see that I was there....

The women invited us to fitor because we were there during Ramadan. Again, we sat around the room on the floor and they brought in various courses. This was the first course.

"No hands, ma." Everything we ate was eaten with our hands--or slurped as in the above example. I now know the polite way to eat a chicken that is plunked down in the center of a table!

Folks play the violin on their knee. The boy on the right played a mean "drum."

I have been to Tarmelat twice and have enjoyed the hospitality of the people. They treat you like a relative! In late October, a school was opened on their land for the first time. This was another project led by the Christian community.

Barbary Apes

In Ifrane, the homes in town come right up to the forest. People do see apes in their yards in the mornings probably in the same way that folks in Oregon see deer. Apes do get on to the roofs of houses and do damage.

I went to see apes outside of Azrou, which is a town about 20 miles from Ifrane. I thought the landscape was pretty interesting (volcanic) as we drove there.


Walking amoungst the apes was NOT a comfortable feeling! This was so different from being in a house watching them or being at a zoo!

I didn't mess with these --or any-- photos on this blog, so you may have to enlarge them to see the apes more clearly.

I got many photos of this little guy climbing UP and then DOWN this tree..... The next four photos are of this same ape.

A beautiful tree in the ape habitat.