We have successfully landed and started our adventure in Morocco! But first, let's back up a little.
Sophia (my co-blogger extraordinaire) and I spent the night before the trip crashed at my brother's apartment in Manhattan. After sleeping in and lounging around a bit Wednesday morning, we started the 1.5 hour trek to the aiport via subway. I knew it was going to be a gem of a trip when upon entering the very first turnstile with her luggage, Sophia immediately became stuck. It took some fancy footwork, but she was able to extricate herself and we were on our way to the airport via three trains (on one of which a argument broke out with lots of colorful yelling). Never a dull moment!
When we finally made it to the airport and went through the sketchiest check in procedure ever (complete with dropping off our bags in a remote corner of the airport where they were promptly put in seemingly random piles) we slogged through a ridiculously long and slow moving security line. When we finally made it through, we headed down to gate one, where we met up with most of the rest of the team. Everyone else arrived shortly thereafter and we boarded the plane around 4:50pm. Loading the plane took an very long time (our flight was scheduled to depart at 5:45pm). After the doors finally closed, take off took FOREVER and I swear we taxied for at least an hour (during which I caught the few precious minutes of shut eye that I could...and thank god, they've had to last me until now!). The flight itself was just under seven hours long and pretty uneventful. The food was ok. The entertainment was ok. The flight attendants were a little crabby. It wasn't the BEST flight I've ever taken, nor was it the worst. Most of the IEP crew slept or at least rested most of the trip, but there were three or four of us who just couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard we tried.
The whole crew ready to depart from the airport, where the last member of our team (Rita) was going to meet us.
Top: Rachel, Afi, Veronika, Mike, Mark, Meaghan
Middle: Julia, Brian, Kana, Sameera, Asumi, Marisa
Bottom: Sophia, Jane
We landed in Casablanca before the sun came up and made our way off the plane to work through a slow immigration line, and a trip to the money exchange office where we picked up our Dirhams. Then it was off to get luggage, where a stir was created when we realized that Veronika's luggage apparently had not been transferred from her Boston/NYC flight to the NYC/Casablanca flight. She was understandably upset, but we're a pretty sharing crew so she's been lavished with the essentials to get her through the 1-2 days it will take for her bag to catch up with us. After making poor Rita wait more than an hour and a half after we landed, we finally made it out to be reuinted with her. Leaving the airport, we stepped out into the sunny, hazy, cool Moroccan morning. It was very exciting to see palm trees...even if they are associated with much warmer weather than we are experiencing currently (it is quite cool at night, probably around 45-50F, and during the sunny days it warms up to around 60F here in Rabat). We boarded our bus (which Rita managed to secure for free after convincing a community to sponsor our group) and made our way through the Moroccan quasi-countryside on the way to Rabat.
Palm Trees!!
While in Rabat we are being put up by the Ministry of Education at their teacher training facility. It is a nice (if very cold) base for us, and while it would be great if 11 girls weren't required to share one shower, we've been making it work! The walled-in grounds have lots of palm trees and there are a few small gardens with traditional fountains sunken into them. After having a few hours to settle in, shower, and nap, we all convened downstairs for lunch...which was AMAZING. Huge trays of delcious rice and veggies were brought out to the tables, and we gorged ourselves before realizing that another tray, just as big, was headed out covered with meat. There were seasoned beef meatballs, turkey fillets, and delicious spicy beef sausage. We ate until there was just the tiiiinest bit of room left that we filled with the fresh fruit we were served for dessert: bananas, sweet juicy little clementines, and apples. It was a meal fit for a king. We probably consumed only a little over half of the food we were served, and we ate a LOT.
Moroccan Coca Cola and a fabulous lunch!
After lunch there was a little bit more down time (during which everyone hopped on their computers and crippled the weak little wifi signal we get here) and then we were greeted here by a few representatives from the Ministry of Education and their interpreter, who ran through the week's schedule for us. This was the first (of what would be many) times when a vicious war took place between being really interested in what was going on and excited to hear about the opportunities we would have and being so absolutely exhausted that a man giving a monologue in French sounded just enough like a lullaby that your eyes couldn't stay open. After they were finished, we headed over to the actual Ministry of Education (MoE) building downtown in Rabat.
In order to get to the ministry building, you have to go through the old walled city. The wall is quite old and beautiful and on the way we passed an absolutely lovely old castle perched on a hill, which we will hopefully have a chance to explore this weekend. When we arrived at the MoE, we were ushered inside (past a group of protesters) and killed some time taking photos of the beautiful architecture and eachother before we were taken to a conference room to meet with the Director of Cooperation and Education Promotion, Chief of the Division of Cooperation, Chief of the Service of Cooperation, and a representative from the Division of Communication. After taking some time to introduce ourselves, Rita kicked it into translating overdrive and took over for the professional translator who didn't have a great deal of experience using the more technical education words that we are accustomed to. She did a fantastic job and I am sure she is absolutely mentally exhausted tonight!
The Ministry building was gorgeous! Here is Team Morocco (plus our interpreter) posing in front of a beautiful tile mosaic. You'll see more of this wall in the future!
The MoE representatives told us that this is a time of great change in the Moroccan education system. Over a longer term, education and the way it is implemented and assessed has come a very long way in the last few decades. On a much different level, the MoE is currently undergoing massive changes as a new Minister of Education just took office two days ago. As he settles into the position, those working below him are learning about potential changes to policy and their work that may be coming down the line in the upcoming months. In fact, we had been scheduled to meet with the Secretary of Education (just below the Minister of Education) this afternoon, but he was unexpectedly called into a meetibng with the MInister and was unable to attend ours. The representatives were very knowledgable, however, and spoke candidly about the strenghts and weaknesses of the Moroccan education system. They noted, as we had during our research, that one major problem is that schools are not providing students with the skills necessary to obtain employment upon graduation. This has inspiried a lot of displeasure amongst young adults, many of whom have also seen the revolutionary changes made in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region during the Arab Spring. The King has made it a priority to respond quickly to concerns that are raised, and although some might think that the Arab SPring had little effect on Morocco, a closer inspection reveals that it did have effects even if they were less visible to outsiders than those in other countries.
High school drop-out rates also remain a problem, and Morocco has few natural resources outside of human capital, so it is very important to them that students be supported and encouraged whenever possible. One of the strengths of the system, as noted by the MoE officials, is how far Moroccan education has come over the past several decades. Although many challenges remain, Morocco has become adept at identifying her weaknesses, and attempting to implement innovation solutions, or transfer successful policies from other countries. This forward momentum provides hope for the future as Morocco continues to grow and strengthen as an international leader.
Our next meeting was with the Director of the Department of Strategy, Statistics and Planning, who was a truly fabulous, passionate, knowledgable man. He was very forthcoming with data, and obviously knew exactly what he was talking about. Although some (namely me) were concerned that a 4:00-7:00pm meeting with a statistician the day after an overnight flight would be a death sentence, he managed to hold all of our attention and really impress us with his insight into the best ways to play for the future of the Moroccan education system. During this meeting we also had some interesting and important conversations about quality, which Sophia discusses in the next entry.
At seven the Director had another meeting, so we said our goodbyes and left the ministry for the evening. We stopped and ate delicious Moroccan food served in traditional tajines at a local food court. Then it was time to drive home through the thick fog and (update the blog before we) bid our goodnights.
Unfortunately the internet is moving exceedingly slowly at the complex, even when there are few people on it. Hopefully in future posts we will be able to include more photos (those of you who read my other blogs will expect it by now!!!) as soon as we are able to upload them. We are glad you're able to virtually come on this trip with us, and we would like to give your imagination as much to work with as possible.
Good night from north Africa!
Sophia (my co-blogger extraordinaire) and I spent the night before the trip crashed at my brother's apartment in Manhattan. After sleeping in and lounging around a bit Wednesday morning, we started the 1.5 hour trek to the aiport via subway. I knew it was going to be a gem of a trip when upon entering the very first turnstile with her luggage, Sophia immediately became stuck. It took some fancy footwork, but she was able to extricate herself and we were on our way to the airport via three trains (on one of which a argument broke out with lots of colorful yelling). Never a dull moment!
When we finally made it to the airport and went through the sketchiest check in procedure ever (complete with dropping off our bags in a remote corner of the airport where they were promptly put in seemingly random piles) we slogged through a ridiculously long and slow moving security line. When we finally made it through, we headed down to gate one, where we met up with most of the rest of the team. Everyone else arrived shortly thereafter and we boarded the plane around 4:50pm. Loading the plane took an very long time (our flight was scheduled to depart at 5:45pm). After the doors finally closed, take off took FOREVER and I swear we taxied for at least an hour (during which I caught the few precious minutes of shut eye that I could...and thank god, they've had to last me until now!). The flight itself was just under seven hours long and pretty uneventful. The food was ok. The entertainment was ok. The flight attendants were a little crabby. It wasn't the BEST flight I've ever taken, nor was it the worst. Most of the IEP crew slept or at least rested most of the trip, but there were three or four of us who just couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard we tried.
Top: Rachel, Afi, Veronika, Mike, Mark, Meaghan
Middle: Julia, Brian, Kana, Sameera, Asumi, Marisa
Bottom: Sophia, Jane
We landed in Casablanca before the sun came up and made our way off the plane to work through a slow immigration line, and a trip to the money exchange office where we picked up our Dirhams. Then it was off to get luggage, where a stir was created when we realized that Veronika's luggage apparently had not been transferred from her Boston/NYC flight to the NYC/Casablanca flight. She was understandably upset, but we're a pretty sharing crew so she's been lavished with the essentials to get her through the 1-2 days it will take for her bag to catch up with us. After making poor Rita wait more than an hour and a half after we landed, we finally made it out to be reuinted with her. Leaving the airport, we stepped out into the sunny, hazy, cool Moroccan morning. It was very exciting to see palm trees...even if they are associated with much warmer weather than we are experiencing currently (it is quite cool at night, probably around 45-50F, and during the sunny days it warms up to around 60F here in Rabat). We boarded our bus (which Rita managed to secure for free after convincing a community to sponsor our group) and made our way through the Moroccan quasi-countryside on the way to Rabat.
While in Rabat we are being put up by the Ministry of Education at their teacher training facility. It is a nice (if very cold) base for us, and while it would be great if 11 girls weren't required to share one shower, we've been making it work! The walled-in grounds have lots of palm trees and there are a few small gardens with traditional fountains sunken into them. After having a few hours to settle in, shower, and nap, we all convened downstairs for lunch...which was AMAZING. Huge trays of delcious rice and veggies were brought out to the tables, and we gorged ourselves before realizing that another tray, just as big, was headed out covered with meat. There were seasoned beef meatballs, turkey fillets, and delicious spicy beef sausage. We ate until there was just the tiiiinest bit of room left that we filled with the fresh fruit we were served for dessert: bananas, sweet juicy little clementines, and apples. It was a meal fit for a king. We probably consumed only a little over half of the food we were served, and we ate a LOT.
After lunch there was a little bit more down time (during which everyone hopped on their computers and crippled the weak little wifi signal we get here) and then we were greeted here by a few representatives from the Ministry of Education and their interpreter, who ran through the week's schedule for us. This was the first (of what would be many) times when a vicious war took place between being really interested in what was going on and excited to hear about the opportunities we would have and being so absolutely exhausted that a man giving a monologue in French sounded just enough like a lullaby that your eyes couldn't stay open. After they were finished, we headed over to the actual Ministry of Education (MoE) building downtown in Rabat.
In order to get to the ministry building, you have to go through the old walled city. The wall is quite old and beautiful and on the way we passed an absolutely lovely old castle perched on a hill, which we will hopefully have a chance to explore this weekend. When we arrived at the MoE, we were ushered inside (past a group of protesters) and killed some time taking photos of the beautiful architecture and eachother before we were taken to a conference room to meet with the Director of Cooperation and Education Promotion, Chief of the Division of Cooperation, Chief of the Service of Cooperation, and a representative from the Division of Communication. After taking some time to introduce ourselves, Rita kicked it into translating overdrive and took over for the professional translator who didn't have a great deal of experience using the more technical education words that we are accustomed to. She did a fantastic job and I am sure she is absolutely mentally exhausted tonight!
The MoE representatives told us that this is a time of great change in the Moroccan education system. Over a longer term, education and the way it is implemented and assessed has come a very long way in the last few decades. On a much different level, the MoE is currently undergoing massive changes as a new Minister of Education just took office two days ago. As he settles into the position, those working below him are learning about potential changes to policy and their work that may be coming down the line in the upcoming months. In fact, we had been scheduled to meet with the Secretary of Education (just below the Minister of Education) this afternoon, but he was unexpectedly called into a meetibng with the MInister and was unable to attend ours. The representatives were very knowledgable, however, and spoke candidly about the strenghts and weaknesses of the Moroccan education system. They noted, as we had during our research, that one major problem is that schools are not providing students with the skills necessary to obtain employment upon graduation. This has inspiried a lot of displeasure amongst young adults, many of whom have also seen the revolutionary changes made in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region during the Arab Spring. The King has made it a priority to respond quickly to concerns that are raised, and although some might think that the Arab SPring had little effect on Morocco, a closer inspection reveals that it did have effects even if they were less visible to outsiders than those in other countries.
High school drop-out rates also remain a problem, and Morocco has few natural resources outside of human capital, so it is very important to them that students be supported and encouraged whenever possible. One of the strengths of the system, as noted by the MoE officials, is how far Moroccan education has come over the past several decades. Although many challenges remain, Morocco has become adept at identifying her weaknesses, and attempting to implement innovation solutions, or transfer successful policies from other countries. This forward momentum provides hope for the future as Morocco continues to grow and strengthen as an international leader.
Our next meeting was with the Director of the Department of Strategy, Statistics and Planning, who was a truly fabulous, passionate, knowledgable man. He was very forthcoming with data, and obviously knew exactly what he was talking about. Although some (namely me) were concerned that a 4:00-7:00pm meeting with a statistician the day after an overnight flight would be a death sentence, he managed to hold all of our attention and really impress us with his insight into the best ways to play for the future of the Moroccan education system. During this meeting we also had some interesting and important conversations about quality, which Sophia discusses in the next entry.
At seven the Director had another meeting, so we said our goodbyes and left the ministry for the evening. We stopped and ate delicious Moroccan food served in traditional tajines at a local food court. Then it was time to drive home through the thick fog and (update the blog before we) bid our goodnights.
Unfortunately the internet is moving exceedingly slowly at the complex, even when there are few people on it. Hopefully in future posts we will be able to include more photos (those of you who read my other blogs will expect it by now!!!) as soon as we are able to upload them. We are glad you're able to virtually come on this trip with us, and we would like to give your imagination as much to work with as possible.
Good night from north Africa!
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