Monday's Pictures

In the morning we went to a nearby language school to learn a few words in Arabic. They split us into two groups and we went through two 90 minute sessions. Here is one of our teachers, Milute. The other picture is of us eating tangine and learninf proper table manners.

The Jewish quarter which is near Djellaba Street where we all bought our Moroccan outfits. Can you tell which YCEW member is in th red and black djellaba?All of us dressed up and waiting on Joel. Girls definitely outnumber the guys on this trip even with the addition of Mark and Joel.

The guys playing hackey sack with a neighbor boy. (This is actually on Tuesday)

Another of the neighbor boys.

The kelley's cat, Grant, who has provided us with a lot of entertainment while we've been here.

Henna Party

Betty arranged a henna party for the girls on Tuesday. Hessna (the house help) came to do th henna and a friend of hers, Hannan, taught us how to dance. Here are Julie and Kara getting their hands decorated.


















Here is a picture of all the girls with our henna decoration.
Our dance teacher, Hannan All of us with Hessna and Hannan

More Pictures

A view of the minaret of a nearby mosque. We can hear the call to prayer several times a day. The first two mornings I was woken up by the 3:30 AM call and found it hard to go back to sleep.



Sleeping in on Friday morning. The guys slept on the roof and the gils were in the main salon on the froshes



Getting our of the petit taxis at the old Medina. (This medina was built in 800 AD, and the new one was built in 1200.)


In the rug shop -- We all wanted one, but the smallest started at around $350.













Some of the many spices at the spice shop we stopped at in the medina. He allowed us to smell many of the spices and everyone bought something here.



Looking at the leather items made in the vats below. The smell was a bit overpowering, but they gave us sprigs of mint to smell while we were in the shop.








Eating at McDonalds on a Sunday afternoon. Ben got the McArabia pictured below.

Pictures of the Trip

At the Portland Airport.

On the plane to Cincinatti

At the camel market in Casablanca where Jedidiah ordered two and a half kilos of meat for our lunch and then had it cooked up at a local cafe. Yum!



































On the train to Fez, Amanda started up a conversation with Bouchra who didn't speak any English. However, with the help of the Lonely Planet Moroccan Arabic Phrase Book they were able to communicate a bit.





We finally arrived in Fez where we were met by Bill, Joel and Faith Kelley

Orientation Pictures

Hanging out on the lawn on Tuesday, waiting for Paul to bring us our shirts. (Kara got a bit of a sunburn.)

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Our travels got off to a quick start since for some reason our 2:30 am alarm didn't wake us. Instead we got Paul Bock walking in at 2:55 ready for us to go. But we made it to the airport and began our journey. Our flights from Cincinnati to Paris to Casablanca all went smoothly, although massive remodeling at De Gaulle, and an unexpectedly long flight to Casablanca made us a little bit tired. Our contact in Casablanca, Jedediah, revived our energy by taking us out for some camel (more on this in Ben's food report). We also received our first taste of Moroccan driving, which is fast and unceasing in movement, completely interwoven with bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Our fianl leg to Fes was by train. Crammed into a small cabin with our luggage, this trip ended up taken 5 hours, which was extremely challenging, but gave us an opportunity to practice our French with a gracious Moroccan woman. We now sit in the Kelly's home, and I'm ready to eat. B'slama!

Map of Morocco

Here's a map of Morocco so that you can see where we'll be. We'll land in Casablanca on Thursday and then take a train to Fez. The second weekend we'll be at Essaouria on the coast and ride camels. Then we'll return to Fez and spend most of the rest of the trip in that area. Most of the team would also like to see Volubulis which is an ancient Roman ruin.

Trip Itinerary

June 18 – Meet at Newberg Friends for barbeque and send off – 6pm
June 19 & 20 - YCEW Orientation
June 21 – YCEW leaves PDX
June 22 - Arrive in Casablanca. Jedidiah will be meeting us at the airport. Catch the train to Fes.
June 23 - Rest in Fes. Some orientation. Call families in states to let them know they arrived safely.
June 24 - Tour of the Medina.
June 25 - Church in Fes.
June 26 - Orientation at school for language and culture
June 27 – TBA
June 28 - Travel to Marrakech by train. Meet up with Jedidiah. Onto Essaouira.
June 29 - Explore Essaouira In Marraksh (CamelRUs)
June 30 – Explore Essaouira
July 1 - Travel back to Fes.
July 2 - Church in Fez
July 3 -8 Orphanage in Ain Leuh. Leave Fez on morning of the 3rd and arrive early afternoon at the orphanage.
July 9 – Travel back to Fes
July 10 – 14 VBS in Fes and packing of the American school
July 15 - Medina shopping for gifts.
July 16 – Swimming.
July 17 - Wash cloths, pack and get ready to leave on early morning train.
July 18 - Leave and arrive home-dinner with family. Plane arrives PDX at 11:42pm Delta Fl #433.
Team will spend the night in Newberg.
July 19 - Debriefing
July 20 - Last day of debriefing. YCEW members get to stay at home tonight if they want.
July 21 – YCEW members stay at home tonight, if possible.
July 22 – Youth Yearly Meeting beginnings at 5:30pm.
July 23-29 – Youth Yearly Meeting.

T-Shirts

This is the shirt design that Emily Smith has picked out for us. They was a slight debate about whether the camel was too touristy of an option, but it was decided that it was much better than putting the ever present Moroccan donkey on our shirts.