Monday April 2nd

Monday started out TERRIBLY for some reason. I sent my mom a short & pathetic email about being homesick and not wanting to spend my summer abroad. Then I went to class. THEN I had my interview at the High School (which was obviously what I was freaking out about…). Class was utterly misz. I didn’t actually have to leave early, but I told my teacher I had to catch the 11:57 train (so I could leave 15 mins early). At break I got some yogurt, nuts, bananas (2) and an apple because I was missing lunch today. My teacher (is a total sweetheart and) let me leave early. I was (honestly) practically CRYING on my way to the train. I am a crazy psycho. I got on the train and listened to Hoodie Allen on my iPod, which made me feel better? IDK it was a weird weird morning. I finally got there and waited ~10 mins then called “Md (Mohhamed) Rachidi” to tell him that I arrived. He said he would be 15 mins late (um bonjour I COULD HAVE EATEN LUNCH…. ) but he was really only 5 minutes late.

Mr. Rachidi “Simo” spotted me right away. It was a really awkward hello (we shook hands twice), and then he asked if I had eaten- I think he could tell that I was kind of lying, but he didn’t push it. He bought himself and me some gum (??where is this going?) and then we got a cab to a café.

I thought we were meeting the students at the café, but actually we were just stalling. We still had some time before the students would be back from lunch (DUH. WHYYYY DID I HAVE TO BE THERE AT noon????). Anyway, we talked about language. He prefers French to English, and told me that the students spoke only Darija. I had kind of expected that, but he told me not to worry. We decided to do structure the focus group by me asking the questions in English, him asking the students them in Darija, and then translating their answers back to me in French. I downloaded a voice recorder app that morning (thank goodness) so I have all of the interviews on my awesome iPad. At the café he quizzed my tea-pouring/drinking skills, I passed the test. He was weirdly obsessed with the fact that all Americans talk about is the weather, and then he delved into his life history. I think I am making this guy out to be way less cool than he was. He rocked, and was VERY easy to talk to. He told me that he wasn’t religious, and that he got divorced after his little child died less than 2 years ago…. Definitely not a conversation about the weather. It became time to go, but he saw a student of his at the café. He said that he might be a good person for me to talk to, but upon further examination- the boy told Mr. Rachidi that he hadn’t dropped out of school, and was in fact attending classes. Mr. Rachidi told me that he knew that the student was lying, and that he would keep an eye out for him. We walked to the school.

This was my first time in a Moroccan school. We tried to go in one in Chefchaouen (just because it looked cool) and we were immediately stopped and sent out. This school was similar in the sense that it had a big gate in front, and the inside was very open. It is basically a huge courtyard surrounded by classrooms on the perimeter. We walked straight into the faculty lounge and Mr. Rachidi mentioned something about playing a card game (?? Some of the things that he said confused me). Luckily 3 English teachers trickled in separately, so I spoke with them. They spoke English well (you would hope so, right?) but I think they were a little intimidated/shy. One teacher said that he was interested in hearing what the children had to say about dropping out, and that he anticipated it being different than what he would say--- he was right. Then it was time to find the students that we were interviewing. We waited outside- apparently they were supposed to meet us around whatever time it was right then. Students were coming back from lunch (which they eat at home). Everyone was staring at me, but nobody was coming over to meet us. I think it is particularly unusual to have visitors in Moroccan schools, which is why the students were REALLY staring at me.

Finally some peeps showed up. One of them looked like a very young Ne-Yo… fedora and everything. Mr. Rachidi told him to take off the hat, but quickly changed his mind once he asked. His hair was very greasy/dirty, so Mr. Rachidi let him keep it on. It was funny- not as bad as it seems. We went to the classroom, and Mr. Rachidi put on what he calls his “mask”. He is a very different person than he is a teacher. Funny/jokey in real life vs. a pretty serious teacher. I think he had a class during the time of the interview, so he made them line up two by two and walk to another classroom. We sat down and conducted the interview. One of Mr. Rachidi’s friends (a teacher in Casablanca) joined us because he wrote his PhD on relationships in schools (I think?) and he was just curious. He wasn’t very good at English or French, but he tried hard. He also invited me to his school, but I am not sure if I will do that… It was kind of hard (not as hard as I expected though) because Mr. Rachidi’s English is not the best, and the students speak almost only Darija. I spoke English, Mr. Rachidi spoke Darija to the students, they responded in Darija, and then he translated it into French. Luckily, I had my iPad app, so I got the entire (TWO HOUR) interview recorded.

A lot of the things from the interview were expected, but there were some eye opening things. They were very open around their teacher, which was surprising. They spoke freely about their drug and alcohol use, and their disdain for the education system. I think that this is because they respect Mr. Rachidi, and that they might not have disclosed the truth in front of other teachers. After speaking with the focus group, I went to an English class. I had no idea what level they were or anything about it- I was kind of just thrown into it, but it was cool. I introduced myself in Arabic (VERY elementary level) and they were like over the top impressed by me. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes a little bit, but I think they were actually genuinely impressed because they do not expect Americans to have an interest in learning Arabic. I asked them why they thought students dropped out of school and they shouted out reasons (in English). There were definitely some class clowns- someone said “WE LOVE TO SMOKE THE HASHEEEEEESH!”. But the other answers were appropriate: family problems, fed up with school, bad company, working to support family, education is a waste of time because there are smart people who have degrees protesting out in the streets right now, bad/boring teachers etc. The teacher that was running this class was the one who did not think that he knew the real reasons why they drop out- he could only guess. He said that there were a lot of things that he would not have guessed on the list that we made.

After the English class, I was able to interview two other English teachers. I can tell that the first one that I interviewed was a teacher that might lead a student to drop out. She wore a white lab jacket (??? I had to remind myself that it probably wasn’t weird, and that I am in Morocco, not America). She was incredibly soft spoken and even I got a little bored speaking with her. I didn’t record our conversations, and I took VERY sloppy notes. She seemed disturbed at the fact that students drop out, and she says that she does everything that she can to get them back into school (blah blah). The second teacher that I spoke with was amazing. He was a Samuel L. Jackson (with longer hair) look-a-like. He worked at the school for 31 years, AND is an alum (what I want to do at Friends Seminary…). He definitely got it more than the last woman. He made the comparison of books to computers. He said that youth today want to drop out of school and sit at home on their computers or cell phones, and suggested that we bring new technologies into the classroom to fight drop outs & encourage kids to stay in school. That’s obviously easier said than done, but it makes sense to me- especially after seeing how much more time Imane spends on her cellphone while pretending to be looking at her books.

Then it was time to go (~6:25). SUCH A LONG DAY. Once we walked out of school I realized how exhausted I was. There was NO way that I was going to make it back to Rabat. I was still with Mr. Rachidi and his friend (who BTW was very annoying and pushy- definitely just wanted to talk to me to pick my tired brain & practice his terrible English). Mr. Rachidi asked if I was hungry (I was, but wanted to have my own home tea-time, so) I said I wasn’t. He didn’t really believe me and asked if I had every had something that I have never heard of. I said no, and then realized that he was talking about donuts (which I obviously HAVE had). WE went into this teensie weensie café/hole in the wall. There were no spaces to sit period, but the “seats” that were there in theory, were taken. One veryyyy old man got up veryyyy slowly and gave us his seat. He said that he was in the air force and was stationed in Virgina, North Carolina, etc. and I was confused because he was very much a Moroccan man. I didn’t ask questions though because I was so tired and hungry- I could only smile and nod my head veryyy lightly. We had tea and FRESH FRESH FRESH donuts with sugar on top and fried dough-type things. Obviously I was in heaven and ate way more than my fair share. So scrumptious. After teatime we walked to the train (the long way…ughhhh). They quizzed me about American History and annoying things that I made up the answers to (terrible, I know) SAVED BY THE BELL. Mommy dearest called me. I quickly remembered the last time that I spoke to her was the cryptic email that I sent at ~8:30 in the morning (it was now about 7:15 pm) about being homesick and not wanting to study abroad anymore blah blah (aka I was incredibly scared for my day ahead). She was definitely freaking out all day, which is kind of funny now (because I was having a great day), but I feel bad. I talked with her a little and then got to the train station. They bought my ticket (good bc it would have meant I had 0 dollars left) and we got on. We found a seat and talked for the entire ride. Mr. Rachidi invited me to go to the exotic gardens on Sunday (with a friend- hi Sara) so I agreed. It was dark once we got to Rabat, but they walked me to my doorstep (R U HAPPY, ELLEN??!?). We said that we would talk later. I was literally SO HAPPY to be home, and I have never been as tired as I was on Monday. I always like being tired at night because that means that I had a long and fun-filled day, which was definitely the case today. I expressed my exhaustion so dinner came out quickly, and I went to sleep without doing the Arabic homework.