Morocco Post 1

These posts from Morocco are going to be out of order, but I just have a little bit of time to hit on some important points right now.

I spent one of the evenings here in Morocco with a family. It was really cool. It was a highlight of my time in Morocco. The family consisted of a mom and a dad with three kids. The kids were Charouk (12 years), Iness (8 years) and Adam (3 years).  The two girls and the parents all spoke three languages! They speak English, Arabic, and French. The little boy (Adam) currently only speaks Arabic, but will be learning French and English soon in school. All three of the kids currently attend George Washington Academy. GWA is an expensive private school that is an American Academy abroad.  From the age of 3, when the first year of kindergarten begins (they have 3 years of kindergarten), they begin their trilingual education!  What I found incredibly interesting when I was talking with the kids is how similar they are in many ways to American students. For one, the go to school from 8 to 3:30 five days a week just like the students in America. They watch American movies (in English) and can carry on a conversation about many new releases. The little boy Adam was even watching ‘The Jungle Book’ when we arrived to his house. Charaouk hopes to study abroad on Semester at Sea one day (we gave her a tour of the ship), and plans to go to college to become a doctor!  She loves the twilight books and has read all of them and has seen the movies!  She likes roller coasters and theme parks. She works really hard in school and gets good grades.

I think meeting with the family and spending time understanding their daily life was such a unique experience. It was great to get a better picture of the similarities and differences in the families close to home, and far away!