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.

Marvelous Madrid

“Marie-Therese Durand-Ruel Sewing” by Renoir

Le Prado Museo

I am having a marvelous visit to Madrid, Spain. Today, I stayed back at the guesthouse while my fellow travelers went into downtown Madrid. The small town I am staying in outside of Madrid is worth an explore as well, and I hope to do so after a morning nap. I continue to fight a cold/flu that has not completely left my body. It is so nice to be tucked under European comforters in a loving home filled with the smell of fresh muffins, coffee and bacon. (Remember, bacon is taboo in Morocco.)

Yesterday, I bought a ticket, along with my girlfriends, to ride a red tourist bus that has one of those rooftops where you can ride and see the whole city. The cool thing is that you can get on and off those buses all day long. So, for 17,50 E, I had transportation all day long throughout Madrid. 


I got on the bus in a plaza de Sol, pronounced platha de Sol due to the Spanish accent, and got off the tourist bus at Le Prado Museo. I got right in line for the Renoir exhibition, and was standing before beauty before I knew it. I so enjoy the light and brushstrokes of a Renoir. He was influenced by both the Italian masters and his impressionist buddies, so his style is one of my very favorites. 

I also saw some amazing Rubens oil paintings that were totally packed out in a couple of large rooms in the Prado. I had lunch at the museum and thought of my friends Cindy and Amy and how they would have just loved my time at the Prado. They would have loved the beautiful light bouncing off the flowers in the Renoirs. One girl he painted was sewing, but the light tones that were touching her face seemed to be coming from her sewing! Just breath-taking. (See the painting at the beginning of this blog post - “Marie-Therese Durand-Ruel Sewing” by Renoir. It is fabulous seeing it in person!)

After buying a few things to share with my students and grandchildren, I headed for my tourist bus. Grabbing a spot on the roof of one of them, I plugged in my headset and heard the history of this part of Spain. What a fight the Muslims and Christians had for this neck of the woods! In the end, Carlos and the Catholics won out, and the muslims were pushed back. Beautiful cathedrals are interspersed throughout the city.

One thing that was really, really nice for me was to be able to see both men and women out and about. Also, I could look at men and vice versa, and nothing weird happened. It was pleasant not to have to avert my eyes as I always do in Morocco. On my bus rooftop, I took lots of photos just like a typical tourist, them spotted H and M below my rooftop seat.

I dashed down the bus stairs, as I had heard H and M was thee place for cheap, good winter clothes. Since I was hoping to take Saturday off from the tourist scene, I knew this was my one day to buy the winter jacket, sweaters and boots I needed in Morocco. Boy, did I. I got socks and a Hello Kitty fuzzy bathrobe as well. My daughters would love my pink, happy bathrobe! I am relaxing in it right now!


After stocking up for the winter in North Africa with no central heat, I got back on yet another red tourist bus and relaxed for an hour seeing all the sights again from the rooftop. I ended my ride back at the Prado. My friends were waiting for me there, and we all went to dinner: tapas and Spanish wine. 

One of the many fountains in Madrid.

We ended the evening back at the Prado because it is free after 6 PM, and my friends had not been in to see beauty. After a mad dash to metro trains and buses, we arrived safely back at our beautiful guesthouse. What a marvelous day in Madrid!

Cathedral in Madrid


To see a slide show of the paintings I saw in Madrid, you can go here:http://www.museodelprado.es/en/exhibitions/exhibitions/at-the-museum/renoir-1841-1919-la-coleccion-del-clark-art-institute/galeria-de-imagenes/

Perfecto Prado!

It was a wonderful day in downtown Madrid filled with beautiful fountains, flowers and amazing art. I'll write my thoughts tomorrow. I hope to lay low and relax Saturday and share my impressions of a lovely day in Spain.

Made it to Madrid!

Easyjet's plane did show up a little late, but we made it to Madrid shortly after 6:00 PM. We are staying in a suburb of Madrid in a lovely guesthouse B and B. There are six of us here from the school having a Spanish weekend away from Morocco. Ole! 

We are planning on hitting downtown Madrid by 10:00 AM. Le Prado, here I come with sketchbook in hand! I was amazed that we found two different buses to a restaurant in our little suburb with the Spanish coming from Judy in our foursome. I kept throwing in some Italian and French which did no good at all.

It was a long day, long flight, and I was hungry. I was so hungry that, at one point, at the tapas bar of the restaurant, I asked the senores if I could have some of their chips. They were generous and let me dig in.  We eventually got some meals, although we didn't know what we were ordering. We were making mooing sounds, chicken clucking sounds, etc. to communicate with the waiter. I had steak after all.


I'm taking a siesta! Night all!

End of the Quarter

Just remembering a fun spot in Rabat.

So, one fourth of my teaching year is completed. Today, I had fun with the children reviewing all they have learned this year so far. I put a star on the bulletin board by every art element we had gone over this fall, and each class did an awesome job of remembering the terms. It was so nice to see how far the children have come this year.


Today, we continued doing value studies, and I taught the word "gradation". I also showed them going from dark to light with one color and one oil pastel. I showed them how to blend the oil pastel so they could go from dark to light. Today's subject matter was lions.

Ready for another 25 students!

When I am thinking back over my long day, I worked well into the evening, I think my favorite part was when we were reviewing color during art class.


It was lots of fun when I reviewed, and when we got to the word "color", I asked them what the first book of the Pentateuch recounts God spoke into existence first. It took a bit of doing, but we got to, "Let there be light." I reminded them that when He spoke light into existence he was also speaking color into existence. Without light we cannot have color. He gave us color!

Tomorrow a new adventure begins as we have a long weekend....I am traveling out of the country to see some art at the Prado museum and drink some coffee at Starbucks. Can you guess where I am going?

Bunny Business

The demo.

When children have never drawn a pumpkin before, and they want me to start it for them, I begin to tire of pumpkins altogether. After about the third or fourth class of pumpkin value drawings, I needed new subject matter. Tigers? No, too hard for them. Dogs? Nope, dogs are considered bad, dirty, foul here, maybe even demon possessed. (Sorry to all you dog lovers out there.) OK, how about bunny rabbits? Kids like bunny rabbits, don't they? (I don't think people think they are demon possessed:-)


I had some amazingly odd shaped bunnies this afternoon, but I did have a great deal of one on one time with many students. I sat with them and tried to have them really "see" the bunny drawing I had given them as a sample. I had also drawn it before they had started. I tried to break the bunny into ovals for them. 

As I wandered around the room, I'd draw a head or fix the feet or the back on one of the student's drawings. After I quickly drew one bunny lightly on a student's paper, the student said to me, "Miss, you are really intelligent." Now, that's the first time anyone ever said I was intelligent because I drew a mean bunny! Now if I could get paid for drawing bunnies......


I said, "You are just as intelligent as me, and God has made you to be an artist too. You just have to try and practice a little." The students were so excited when they actually drew something that slightly, slightly, slightly resembled a bunny, that they'd run up to me while shoving their drawings in my face. This, unfortunately, is no exaggeration. Moroccan children are very physical and verbal. They could knock a teacher over in their excitement. Seriously.

When children have never drawn a bunny before, and they want me to start it for them, I begin to tire of bunnies altogether! Let's see....tomorrow? Maybe a lion. They seem to like lions, too. This is Africa after all!


The adventure continues!

"Value" drawings continue!

Troubled Pumpkins With Value

Today, I decided to go where no man or woman has gone before in art class at my elementary school. I made the decision to teach the element of art termed "value".  It's a bit sketchy as far as being easily understood by American students, let alone English-as-a-second-language students. I cleared off other definitions from their minds besides the one I wanted to use for art. What is something of value? We slowly came up with answers; money, gold, etc. 


In art we use the word "value" to mean something different than "the worth of". Value, in art world, is the lightness or darkness of black as well as colors. The gradation of black was my focus. I asked the students to convey three dimensionality of a pumpkin by using darkness going into lightness, then white, in their pumpkin drawings.  I had laid out only white paper, an eraser and one black oil pastel at each student's place. With the fourth graders, I added salmon colored paper for use after the black and white drawing.

Fourth grade value drawings.

I demonstrated drawing a pumpkin, and that is where the trouble began. Since these students had never really drawn a pumpkin before, they didn't quite know where to begin. I asked them to copy me, and I drew slowly. I pointed out the shape of a pumpkin, the stem and the vine to which it might be attached. As I glided around the room, I noticed deflated basketballs with heavy bases seemingly imprisoned behind bars. Well, it's a start, I mused.


Actually, I carefully asked the students with prison bars on their pumpkins to try again, and to curve those bars a bit. I zipped around the room making homemade nubs for blending. They seemed to enjoy the blending process, as if it was magical. I always love seeing that excitement.

Second grader's value pumpkin.

I've decided to post the best work from second grade and then fourth grade, so we can all cheer these new art students on, troubled pumpkins and all!


I think they had a good time, because, once again, it was all new to them. They all wanted to take their nubs home. But, as I gathered up the mostly spent oil pastels, I wondered from where my next batch of pastels would come. I guess I'll have tomorrow's group use brown. One has to be flexible in Morocco:-)

That's the way the oil pastels crumble!