Welcome to Rabat, the capital of Morocco.  Follow the signage to the souk- covered market!

Only private school students get to ride the school buses!  Public school students have to walk or ride public transporatation. Some boys drive motorcycles or mopeds.  Younger students have their parents drive them.

The first and last things I did in Morocco was drink mint tea.  Cafes are really popular for  men- but I went there too! Here I am with Simohammed and Steve a math teacher from New York.

Mint tea is the drink of Morocco.  It's hot and sweet and poured into narrow glass cups.
The cookies are almond and pistachio, delicious!

Here is "my" school, the Lycee Othane Ibnou Affane.Classes got from 8 to 12 every morning then the kids go home for lunch from 12- 2 PM. Afternoon classes are from 2 to 6 PM. Phew!

High School students in Morocco work very hard.  They take important test which they have to pass in every subject in order to go to college. A lot of the girls where lab coats or djellebahs over their street clothes to protect them.

Simohammed, my Moroccan co-teacher and I got along great.  He is a very hard working English teacher.
He was a great teacher about Moroccan culture and a wonderful tour guide of Casablanca!

Chellah, outside of Rabat is an archeological sight and park.  The ruins go back to the Phoenicians and then the Romans.  Elementary school kids were there on class trips.  The herons were nesting in one part of the area and making noise as they came and went from the treetops.

This is the me at the huge mosque in center of Rabat.  When we arrived the king was there saying prayers and we had to wait outside the gates. 
This area contains a beautiful white mosque, a piazza with many columns set up as a sort of prayer labyrinth and lastly the mausoleum of the king's father, grandfather and uncle. The mosaics were awesome!

The oldest part of town in Rabat is the casbah.
The homes and shops were built into the walls of the city and it was painted blue and white.  
Every twist and turn in the road had another exotic view. 

We flew to Morocco via Paris on Air France!

                                           The adventure started when after 3 attempts to land in Rabat, Morocco, the pilot finally gave up because it was too windy.  The plane flew on to Casablanca.  From there we went through customs and rode a bus to Rabat.  It seemed to take forever! It was wonderful to finally be on  the ground in Morocco but at long last when we finally got to our hotel after about 24 hours of travel without sleep it was a dream come true!

Preparations

Here we are at the pre-travel IREX Seminar in Washington DC with Chantilly's own Mr. Frank.
It was a great Teachers for Global Classrooms experience. 
I met all the participants, teachers from all over the country.
Our cohort is off to Morocco!