What Ramadan Means to Me

Happy Ramadan!

In Azilal and all over the Muslim world people are celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. It is one of the 5 pillars of Islam. The month is observed by fasting from food and water throughout from sunrise to sunset and then celebrating with family and friends in the nighttime. 

The teachers fast even while giving lessons, and the students fast too!

We talked with the students about the challenges Muslim Americans face while fasting in the USA. Can you imagine not eating or drinking when most of your friends and coworkers are snacking away? 

Ramadan, though, is more than just fasting. The Azilal students each got a chance to share what Ramadan means to them.

These are some of the things that they said:

Ramadan is about connecting with the poor, and feeling their hunger and thirst. 

It is also about tolerance for others, praying and reading the Koran. 

Ramadan is about cooperation and generosity, and sharing what you have with people who need it.

Ramadan is abot charity to others and helping your community. It is a time to do good deeds. 

Ramadan is about patience and love.  

Snack Time!

In small towns like Azilal, there is no such thing as a big supermarket. Instead, people buy their groceries and other necessities at little shops called hanuts.

Most hanuts are so small that in order to buy things you ask the shopkeeper, called the mul hanut, for what you want and they will take it from the shelf, bag it up and give you your total.

One of our favorite mul hanut's in Azilal is named Mustapha. He has a hanut with many various snack foods. 

Here he is with his favorite snack, paprika pringles. 

Today with the Access students we went on a trip to the hanut and each student picked out their favorite snack to buy. 

They all asked Mustapha to help them get their favorite things. Lets see what they picked!

Bouchra Taghjanout, 16, decided on a bar of Nestle chocolate. We asked her why and she said that chocolate is more healthy. This big chocolate bar costs 10 dirham, which is just a little over $1.

El Habib Bibih, 16, chose a small bag of M&Ms because he says they are "very tasty!" This treat costs 8 dirhams, which is about $0.80.

Hmad Bahhou, 16, said that he likes spicy food. His favorite treat is a bag of Red Chili Crunch brand chips. At 15 dirham they are the most expensive thing anyone picked, about $1.50.

Finally, Khadija Assou, 16, likes original Pringles the best. "Because I like chips!" she said. $1 is the price, 10 dirham.

Did you notice everyone picked something you might like to eat in America? 

For the American Peace Corps volunteers working in Azilal, the favorite things at the snack hanut are the fresh roasted nuts you can buy. The mul hanut has a big roaster outside and sells almonds, peanuts, cashews, pistachios-- anything you can imagine! You simply tell him how many dirham you would like and he weighs them out for you. Then he wraps them in used schoolbook pages and sends you on your way! 

Brandy likes the salty roasted pumpkin seeds the best and picked a 3 dirham package, $0.30 of snack. Emma likes most the local almonds wrapped in a crunchy, cheesy coating. They taste like almond cheetos! She picked a $0.50, 5 dirham, paper cone of them. 

Thanks for going on a trip to the hanut with us! What is your favorite snack and what kind of store do you buy it from? 

Lycee Ouzoud English Presentation Show

Today the Access students put on a great show! They did dialogues, sketches, creative writing, and songs all in English! Here are some photos from the show:

Good job Access students! Your commitment to English language and American culture is inspiring. 

What's happening in Azilal?

Azilal is in the Atlas Mountains, where the mid-Atlas meet the high-Atlas. The high Atlas mountains contain the highest mountain top in North Africa! So even though it gets very hot in the summertime (sometimes over 110*!) in the winter it gets very cold.  Now we even have snow:

Did you know that it snows in Africa? Just like Mr. Leventhal tells you, Africa is a big continent made up of all different climates and landscapes. Morocco has the humid seaside, the soaring mountains, and the dry desert. 

The students in Azilal braved the cold to come out and participate in a competition held by Peace Corps volunteers all over the world called "Write On!" They were given choices of prompts to write about and then wrote for one hour in English about their choice. Here are the students in action:

Have you ever written a story in a language other than English? It can be hard to be creative when you are writing in a second language. For some of the Lycee Ouzoud students English is a 3rd or 4th language! Maybe you can try to sit down and write a story in another language this week and see how you can express yourself differently when you are not using your mother tongue .

The competition is judged on creativity and the students have an option to win prizes for the Azilal region, all of Morocco, and internationally! Good luck Lycee Ouzoud!!

Class time in Morocco

ElHabib and Khadija helping us write for the blog

ELHabib in Mr. Said's class preparing for an English play. It is very funny! 

Photo time in America!

 Katie, Micah, Mason, and Makaila in Mr. Leventhal's Social Studies class.