IN MOROCCO

I've been here in Agadir, in the south of Morocco,  for 10 days and very remiss about not communicating with anyone.  I came here to visit my old friend Rosalia, who's been teaching drama here since 1988, and to teach playwriting and improvisation to the young people she's been guiding -- all in English.  

I have been BUSY teaching.  And, when not teaching, having long dinners with Rosalia and her wonderful friends.  And, when not meeting friends, talking and laughing for hours with Rosalia.  So not writing to you.

I arrived at the new Marrakech Airport, which just opened last year.  Had lots of time to hang out there.  It's the most beautiful airport I've ever seen!

It was designed by E2A Architecture (Zurich) to "create a space where the light comes in filtered by the arabesques that cover the windows and enriches the visual contact between the inside and the outside."

• Give the world a modern vision of Moroccan architecture, not forgetting the traditions.  
• Develop a friendly and safe space.
• Through materials and techniques of past and present, apply a new modernity.

Well, this may not be what you thought you'd read in my blog about Morocco.  But when you spend seven hours hanging around a building, you greatly appreciate that it's a beautiful building.  I have never been inspired to take photos of an airport before, let alone google the architects.  Who seem to have done nothing else interesting.  So they were obviously inspired by the Moroccan building traditions.

You know, I don't think we in the U.S. consider lattice and arabesques often enough.  It creates a boundary and beautiful patterns of light and shadow.  My hotel room has a very simple masonry lattice wall separating the bedroom from the rest of the room and the light/shadow interplay delights me.

Look, I'm sorry if this first blog is disappointing.  I am exhausted from teaching so much.  Teaching is HARD -- a combination of preparation and performance and improvisation to meet the needs of the students.  It takes a lot more energy than performing, I'll tell you that.  When I perform, everyone sits quietly in rows while I do my thing, and then showers me with appreciation afterwards, both with applause and comments.  I think teachers should be applauded at the end of every class.  Teaching is DEFINITELY a very complex performance. 

Actually I did receive applause and appreciation after every class.   But I'm still exhausted.  

Well, in a few minutes Rosalia's taxi driver -- Rosalia has a friendship with every single person she deals with in her daily life -- is picking me up and taking me on a tour of Agadir's attractions.  And then tomorrow we take a Grand Taxi to Essouera (sp?), the hippie beach town to the north which has not been ruined by beach tourism because there's a horrible insistent wind that makes the beach unpleasant.  

So maybe another day or two before the next installment, where I'll talk about teaching, which was quite inspiring. If exhausting.  So here are some photos:

Rosalia in front of the Municipal Building

Selfie with extremely talented Drama Students at the American Language Center, whose motto is "English opens doors."

ALC Students with Rosalia