A day in the life of a boy in Azilal

This is Salah Eddine Ait Chitache. He is a 16 year old student in Azilal. You can read his student spotlight here. This is what a typical day of school is like for him:

At 6:00 in the morning I wake up and pray. My mom fixes me a breakfast of tea, milk and bread. I get ready for school and if I have time I read a little before leaving the house. 

At 7:30 I walk to school. It is about a 20 minute walk. I like to walk alone instead of with friends because it gives me time to think about my day. 

At 8:00 my first class starts. My school schedule is different everyday, but sometimes I begin with math. My math class is given in Standard Arabic, which is different than the local languages I speak outside of class. For two hours we have math. It seems like a lot but I like it! I want to be an astronaut so I know math is important. 

After two hours we have our first break from school. I usually stay in the school and talk with my friends about our homework and how the math class went. It is nice to have a break after two hours of math.

My next class on some days is Arabic. This class, and my French class, are very serious this year because at the end of the year I will be taking the first part of a very important test called the bac. So we practice for this big national exam during our two hours of Arabic. 

At noon we are released from school to go home for lunch. I take this time to hang out with my family, do any homework and preparations for the afternoon, and I pray. My mother makes a delicious lunch and we all share it. After two hours I have to go back to school.

In the afternoon I have two hours of French. I like my French teacher a lot, he creates a really welcoming environment. As I said before, this class is important because of the upcoming national exams. 

When French is over my schoolday is finished at 4:00. I usually stay at school for some time, hanging out with friends or playing football on the school fields. Then I go home.

My family eats cascroute, which is like a snack in the early evening. I don't like cascroute though, so I usually skip it and work on my homework or read. Instead I have a small dinner prepared by my mother later in the evening, like a pizza or some spaghetti. Then I pray again. Muslims pray 5 times every day. I don't usually go to the mosque to pray, I like to pray at home.

I read a lot, sometimes until 2:00 in the morning. I also have a lot of preparations to do for school, especially my homework in math and physics. The rest of my family goes to bed before I do. But I like to stay up late chatting and reading.  2:00 is a late bedtime but I drink lots of tea throughout the day to keep me awake!!