Not So Easy EasyJet

Things aren't always easy with EasyJet. A gentleman on my return flight from Madrid to Morocco would not comply with safety regulations as we were preparing to take off. He was asked repeatedly to turn off his laptop and cell phone so we could take off this afternoon. He would not do so. The crew decided he needed to be removed from the flight, the plane was turned around, someone looking like his mother seemed to be trying to intervene to no avail, and he was finally removed from the plane. 

As his removal was taking place, another man decided to involve himself, the typical Moroccan way, and he said, "If the gentleman removed was European and not Moroccan he would not be removed." That started no small brouhaha. It became noisy in typical boisterous Moroccan fashion, but two hours later, we successfully took off. Our landing was uneventful, and calm seemed to be restored as we deplaned in North Africa.


I wondered how it would turn out as things seemed to escalate; of course the Americans chatted about needing the police....but, where would they be? A police presence, well, lack thereof, is something seemingly vastly different in this neck of the world.

I am heading for bed after having my nerves somewhat frayed by the return trip from the airport....Moroccans hate to stay in their driving lanes; they straddle the dotted white lines on the roads. I try to wave people over into their appropriate lanes, sending my travel mates into squeals of laughter. It's always unnerving to drive around here. Spain seemed so civilized in contrast because they at least seem to know how to drive.

I took some pictures of fall leaves in Madrid yesterday; it was just lovely to look up in the sky and see that Italian blue with the contrasting yellow leaves. That's something we just don't have in Morocco! So, I enjoyed every moment of watching the brightly colored, fall leaves spin and flutter to the ground.


Nostalgia swept over me as I thought of my pretty neighborhood in Seattle. I seem so far away from all I know to be familiar, and yet, here are some golden leaves just like home. My home. 

It is time once again to prepare for a new week at school; I have an additional drawing class of 19 ninth graders. I have asked to be relieved of teaching K3 and K4. I just feel too stretched at this point. As I continue the Moroccan adventure, I see I will need to work on pacing. Racing down the path of this journey without good pacing won't work on a number of levels. For me, taking breaks and seeing God's beauty, whether through creation or through beauty made by His creatures including me, must be part of my journey. 

All photos are from my last day in Spain when I went on a walk in the little Spanish town where we were staying. The humility and gentleness of creation on my walk was restorative. I just pray I can keep the memory of these treasures in my mind as difficulties happen this week. My verse to hold onto this week: Paul said we should walk in a manner “worthy of the Lord” (Col. 1:10). And he also said that being worthy means that we will be humble, gentle, bearing with one another in love, eagerly maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:2-3). The call to worship has begun blasting....help me Lord.