Finally! School's almost finished

Bonjour,

Only three days of school left, but frankly, there isn't much studying going on this week. The report cards have already been distributed, and today, Anna's class (the half that showed up) played soccer, drew mythical figures, and watched a Hitchcock movie. On Thursday, the kids have a festival, and they are hoping that their Boulder friends, Sasha and Kyra, will join in the festivities.

Last Sunday, Anna's class had their end-of-the-year school performance, which focused on global environmental issues they have been studying all year, and included speaking and singing in French and Arabic and some interpretive dance.

Here are Anna and Tommy, having a little picnic before the performance.



Here's the stage, just built for the spring class performances (on the lunch recess playground area).

Here's Anna on the stage, right before she had to speak her part in French.

Here's Anna doing an interpretive dance with some other classmates.

Here's the (not large -- it's a French thing) playground.

Here are the storks that nest all year all over Rabat, including by the school, which make loud clacking sounds near the playground.


I'll post more pictures of the school (it's really a pretty building), after school gets out on Friday.

A bientot,

Kim

Dancing like a Camel

Bonjour,

So now that I know how to make crepes (and have gotten quite good at eating them), I've decided it must be time for belly dancing lessons.

I went with Marie, who after just three months has gotten quite good, to two lessons this week. Besides Marie and me, everyone else in the class -- and the advanced class before us -- is Moroccan. No, you are not going to get to see any pictures from my first two lessons. Especially since one of my classmates helpfully pointed out that I was dancing like a camel yesterday.

Despite the positive feedback, Marie and I went shopping today in the medina for long, flowing pants and the requisite jangling belt.

I figure if I have long, flowing pants, I'll loosen up a bit and suddenly become much more fluid. At least I'll look more floaty, especially if I ease up on the crepes.


Bob says that since I bought the outfit, I have to post a photo of me in it, dancing.... Or maybe not.

A bientot,

Kim

The Hammam

Bonjour,

So I was going to write up a post on my more recent hammam experiences -- I just went again today with my friend, Marie -- but then I saw that she wrote a very funny description of our trip already on her blog. So, if you want to read a summary that captures just what it's like at a fancy hamman in Morocco, check out http://www.rockthekasbahafrica.blogspot.com/.

In the meantime, here a few photos from our trip today to my favorite hammam spot in Rabat.

The relaxing area. This is where they serve you freshly-squeezed orange juice after you've been cleaned up a bit.



The inside of the hamman, leading to the steamiest room where you start out. There are marble tables like the one depicted on Marie's blog, in each little alcove. I was totally busted for taking this picture (probably the women in the alcoves didn't appreciate it so much).

A very clean me. After some debate, I still think this is a luxury more than an ordeal.

A bientot,

Kim

Jazz, Painting, Birds, Haircuts... the KBAT Update

Bonjour,

I've been fairly wiped out this week with a lousy cold, but while that slowed me down, we've still gotten out to see and do a bunch of things.

Last Monday night, Bob and I went to hear some fabulous jazz musicians from Mali, Morocco and France at the outdoor jazz festival in the Chellah. The Chellah is one of our favorite places in Rabat: it's a large, park-like area with 1st century Roman and 13th century Islamic ruins and an incredible bird population (mostly loudly-clacking storks).

Hanging out in the ruins listening to the music reminded us of why Morocco (and especially Rabat) is such a cool place to spend a year.



This week, Anna has been busy training her new bird, Petey, which she bought in the "pet souk" in the medina. She's already trained him to sit on her finger.


She also started painting lessons and has finished one painting and nearly finished another.


Since my French lessons have ended for the summer, I started "cooking lessons" with Rachida, our maid, who taught me to make her tarte au citron and her crepes.



I also went with Anna's class on a field trip to the "Hilton Forest", Rabat's answer to Central Park, where the kids all had to hunt down various codes on papers stuck on trees (kind of a weird activity, but we got a lot of exercise. Unfortunately, this was also the point at which I was getting pretty sick).



And this week Tommy (!) and I both got haircuts at a salon located near the Rabat flower market. Both of us lost about 4-5 inches.

This is Tommy after his haircut.

Two pieces of good news: (1) Tommy can still tuck most of his hair behind his ears, and (2) it seems likely we won't be asked about his gender again for at least a couple more months.



After Tommy's haircut, we went to the flower market, and while Bob watched the Swiss soccer team upset the Spaniards, I bought a dozen long-stem roses for about $4.50.



We've been social too (doing my part to spread my cold to other families): Over the last week, we have had lunch, dinners and coffees with our Moroccan friends,which has been great.

Finally, Bob is squeezing in a four-day trip to Finland this week. Alas, no photos, as he went tout seul, sans camera.

Only two weeks left of school for Anna and Tommy! Only one week until Anna's birthday! Only about 11 days until Don, Sheri, Sasha and Kyra arrive for their visit! Lots of fun things coming.

A bientot, and Happy Father's Day to my Dad (Pop Pop), John (Gramps) and all the other Dads out there.

Kim

Hangin' in the 'Hood

Bonjour,

I thought you might be interested in seeing a little more of our neighborhood.

Here is what I call the "Pearl Street Mall in Rabat" (really, the "Mahaj Riad"): it's a pedestrian mall with high-end shops and good restaurants, like a Spanish tapas place, a French Patisserie, our favorite ice cream place ("Venezia Ice") and the best pizza place in Rabat. It's about a 10-minute walk from our house.

The kids usually take their scooters to the Mahaj Riad, because all of the marble at the top of the mall is perfect for biking, roller-blading and "scootering." We often meet friends here, both American and Moroccan, for some scootering and ice cream or pizza.





When we walk to the Mahaj Riad, we pass other nice restaurants, banks, and lots of new, fancy buildings that are going up in our neighborhood (there's clearly a lot of money being invested in this area and Rabat as a whole).

The city has also planted beautiful, full flower baskets that hang from the street lights -- not just in our neighborhood but in a number of neighborhoods throughout the city. It's another one of those things that impresses me about Rabat (although, of course, I do love flowers).

The restaurant below (Ocube), which is close to where we live, is rumored to be a favorite of the King's brother.

Finally, many folks have asked about the weather here. It's been spectacular. For the last month, with the exception of one day, the weather has been sunny and in the 70s or 80s during the day (although the sun is intense) and about 60 degrees at night, usually with a light ocean breeze.

I'll take some more photos and post them soon.

A bientot,

Kim

Essaouira

Bonjour,

Last Wednesday, Anna, Tommy and I traveled to Essaouira, a lovely coastal city about a seven-hour drive south of Rabat. The three of us were selected to participate as extras in a movie, Hanna (in theaters in 2011!), which stars Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana. They were filming the movie just outside of the city, at a Moroccan campsite that was supposed to be somewhere in southern Spain. You'll be hearing a lot more about that experience from Anna, so I'll limit this post to giving you a glimpse of Essaouira.

After a hot and dusty drive via Marrakech, we arrived on Wednesday night just in time to see the fog roll in off the windy sea and feel the temperatures plummet. Anna and I made a quick trip into the medina, where we bought a large, hot crepe filled with warm Nutella.


This gives you a sense of the Essaouira medina (fyi, I can't claim credit for all the medina photos in this post. Some of the better ones were taken by a friend).


Wonder what kind of music you can buy here...?


Or what might be for dinner here...?


Apart from the quick trip to the medina on Wednesday evening, we had very little time to see Essaouira until after we finished with the movie (after a 14-hour day on Thursday). So Anna, Tommy and I stayed an extra night and didn't return with the rest of the group on Friday morning. Instead, we moved to a charming riad in the medina, with great views from the rooftop.


Since the kids, especially, were pretty wiped out from the long day on Thursday, we played it pretty cool on Friday: After a slow morning, we went to a fabulous beach-side restaurant for lunch, visited the very windy beach (briefly),

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then relaxed in our room at the riad before joining a friendly family from England for dinner, Alan, Carla and Laura. Anna and Tommy had a great time hanging out with Laura, with whom they played a fairly hysterical game of jenga that night and had breakfast on the rooftop terrace the next morning.



After some power shopping (power buying) the next morning, the three of us headed to the bus station -- while checking out the street soccer en route -- for the long combined bus/train ride back to Rabat.

A bientot,

Kim