Two gifted paintings

I love painting.

I also love giving gifts. So giving paintings as gifts is something I've done a lot in the past few years! (This blog contains 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 instances of that!) Just last week I completed two painting projects for two different friends. Each painting was specific to each friend and happily for me both were well received.

I paint the way I cook. When I have either the need or the desire to paint or cook something, my first stop is Google. Just like I search for recipes including the ingredients I have in my kitchen, I search for a project or an idea that matches the sort of thing I want to paint. In both instances I look at many models and my final product comes out as an amalgamation of what I saw and what comes from my own head.

While the main idea for this painting came from the internet, I did it in my own way with my own reasons. I was experimenting with the background as I went along and am happy it turned out as nice as it did! I gave it to a friend who had a birthday a few days ago, and whose native country has trees that lose their leaves in the fall, unlike here in Morocco. Thus the fall-colored cut up bits of wrapping paper "leaves" in her painting.

 I found a melted-crayon version of this painting online, whose idea I loved, but whose execution wasn't the kind of project I was going for. So I made this whimsical but evocative painting with my acrylics for a friend who appreciates the meaning behind it.

Since I found my love for painting a few years ago I've been developing my craft a lot, and with each new painting I explore new techniques and themes. Going through the "my paintings" tag on my blog to find the instances of gifted paintings above showed me how I've moved from very rigid or rather sloppy paintings to being able to have more control in recent projects! It's quite satisfying to see. One way or anther, painting is lots of fun and I'm already debating what my next project will be!

On gratitude

(Note: the beginning of this post may seem overly jaded or bitter, but I promise it's not— just keep reading.)

Most of my working life post-graduation has involved me getting jipped. 

What do I mean?

As part of the systems I've worked in, I've had colleagues doing exactly the same work as me, with equivalent or identical qualifications, who get a quite different package. Housing, flights, and shipping allowances, better healthcare. They travel around the world given the smallest vacation without a second thought. Simply put, they get more. Why? Because they were hired from overseas, and had to be lured over to Morocco. I, however, already live here. 

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These policies aren't fair, but are something I've had to accept. I have a few friends in similar situations, including the one who recommended me for my current job, and they've all suffered the same fate. This discrepancy is something that our logic understands but that our senses of fairness get pissed off at. It results in our pieces of our schools' grand puzzles looking little, stunted, and ugly. 

And I do get mad. sometimes There has been some confusion at school recently regarding the different contracts which has resulted in some discontentment. Our wonderful principal is doing her best to get it resolved, and it is all turning out okay, but the unfairness does still lay heavily on me.

But then I go home. 

As I look around my apartment complex, my puzzle piece, which seems so small at work, starts looking very different. Othman and I live in a huge complex many streets wide with a very high population density. We live among the Moroccan middle class; policemen, taxi drivers, hairdressers, teachers. These are people that can make the $250-300 rent each month, and can pay roughly the same amount to send each of their kids to private schools, and still have a little left over, with which they pay for their satellite dishes and buy their groceries, lugging them up to a fifth story apartment with a toddler or two in tow. They live on top of one another, families often squeezing five or more members into two tiny bedrooms, and have essentially no safety net.

The roof of our building, six stories up.

In this context, the one I return to and witness each day, my piece of the puzzle takes on gigantic proportions. How is it fair that I live among among these people but have working conditions they could only dream of? It isn't.

This dichotomy reminds me of two things. The first are my first few months as a freshman in college at Notre Dame. The amount and the quality of STUFF—and corresponding wealth—that my classmates displayed made me feel small and inadequate in a new and very uncomfortable way. But then Fall break, coming a bizarre two months after orientation, saw me traveling home on the Greyhound bus. The many 90s-era discmans in the seats around me made my previously-laughable ipod return to seeming like the luxury it was. The payphone users made me look at my simple cellphone in a new light. The beat-up shoes I saw prompted a double take at my own feet. My puzzle piece went from tiny to huge right before my eyes, and while that was again uncomfortable, it was an easier feeling to have.

Finally, I am online quite a bit and can't escape the ubiquitous memes and quotes all over the internet. While I rarely remember any specifically, this one has stuck with me, and has come to mind many times in the past couple weeks.

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Gratitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. One leads to the other, but first we have to choose them. A sure way to short-circuit that cycle is comparing our piece of the puzzle with those of others. They've followed a different road—one we can't ever really know—and the outcome is unique to them. A puzzle can't be made if every piece is the same, and were mine different, it would belong to a totally different puzzle. I do fit in, in my own way, and have to find contentment in that. And with some practice, it's getting easier and easier.

Sunrise at School

This morning Othman and I took a new route to get to my school, one which cut the travel time almost in half. This meant I got to school before the rest of my teaching team and was locked out of our shared office space. It only took about 2.5 minutes for someone with a key to arrive, during which I walked out onto the roof and took out my phone to photograph the sunrise over the silent and serene school grounds.

Only about 10 minutes later, hearing the clamor of children's voices, I went back out to photograph the difference.

The change was palpable as the silent and peaceful fields became what they are meant to be...

...places where children can run and play, laugh and cry, learn how to solve problems and develop into little global citizens! I have after-lunch recess duty almost everyday with the Kindergartners (called Pre-Firsters here) through Second Graders so trust me, I know what I'm talking about when it comes to giggles and tears.

I'm just so happy to be working at CAS and so grateful for the opportunity to work at school that is truly a well-oiled machine and makes good educating seem easy! Today, for example, I watched some of the fourth and fifth graders' Student Council speeches in the auditorium (they had to give it up on the big stage with a microphone in front of the entire two grades!) and it was such a lovely experience. The students were so full of enthusiasm and big ideas, and managed to be big-headed and humble at once while promoting themselves for the coveted spots. At the end of the day the voting is mostly a popularity contest, as it would be anywhere, but the process of running has some serious character building hoops to jump through, and all in all I was pretty impressed. Plus a fourth grade girl who is brand new even got elected as an alternate above at least eight other students. Clearly, something right is happening in our school.

The trip that wasn't meant to be

Last week I excitedly told both friends and family about the long-weekend trip Othman and I were going to take to Ifrane, a lovely little town in the mountains about four hours away. It has spectacular scenery, being surrounded by woods and lakes, and the last time I was there was in February 2011, just after we moved to Morocco. 

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Once we were packed up and totally ready to go yesterday morning, we made our way down to the car parked on our quiet residential street. And found this:

The first words out of my mouth were understandably not blog-appropriate, but within five seconds my shock and anger turned into bitter disappointment. So much for our trip. I turned around and lugged everything back upstairs again.

It was immediately obvious that the perpetrators weren't thieves given that Othman's leather jacket, the only thing worth any money at all, albeit being worn and weathered, was still under the broken glass. So thankfully we still have that in addition to still having our car.

Othman spent a big chunk of yesterday talking to the police and the neighbors, and learned that our car was the casualty of a fight between some neighborhood drunks, and that it wasn't the first. Today he spent most of the day driving around a deserted Casablanca (the holiday that took place last Thursday is equivalent to Christmas, meaning everyone abandons this economic capital (just as we wanted to...) and rejoins their families in their hometowns) looking for a garage that could replace the back windshield. It took him a few hours, but he finally did, and luckily they did have the appropriate windshield given the popularity of our model of car. It cost rather more than we expected but the insurance should cover the cost 100%.

So instead of travelling I had a new maid come over, and my spirits lifted as she cleaned the apartment from top to bottom (the first good cleaning it's had since I've been back in Morocco). I painted some (more on that to follow), cooked a bit, and relaxed a lot. It has been a quiet day, and while it certainly can't compare with a Saturday wandering the forested mountains, it hasn't been too shabby either.

Happy 6 months Noor!

Can you believe that this tiny little newborn, pictured exactly six months ago today...

could turn into this big ole chunky boy in such little time?

With this adorable protruding tummy?

And those big ole eyes?

Even uncle Othman is in love!

Happy six months of life sweet Noor! So happy I get to be your auntie Claudia!

Moroccan month

Once tomorrow comes, I'll have been back in Morocco for a month. And I can tell.


How can I tell? Well for instance the "sheep Eid" (see here) is next week, and because it's still pretty hot, their pungence pervades. Read: it reeks of sheep pretty much everywhere, down to INSIDE our apartment. 

BUT, can I complain of the heat that brings the reek when I see my family at my little sister's color guard performance bundled up because it was 40 degrees Fahrenheit? After all, the smell comes in on the cooling breeze through our open windows.

stinky...

vs

brrrr...

Nope.

Why does the smell bother me so much? Because I'm stuck on the couch, sick for the second time in a month. My allergies are at their worst since spring and my allergist even doubled my Zyrtec dosage yesterday.

BUT, can I complain when I have a lovely and attentive husband who is making me soup as I speak? And a fabulous, caring doctor? And new medical insurance that covers all costs 100%? 

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Nope. 

Why are my allergies so bad? Casablanca is on the sea, so it's humid, full of mold spores and pollen and pollution all throughout the year. Read: my closet is so humid that my folded, clean clothes get mildew on them if I leave them in there long enough. My allergies have been generally between unbearable and ugh since my arrival in 2011.

BUT, can I complain when I live in a country that allows my husband and I to book a place like this for 40 bucks a night for a weekend trip next week, to escape the city?

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Nope.

Why am I sick on top of being extremely allergic? Well, I have a new job working as the English Language Learning Specialist at an International school here. I have busy days that leave me exhausted, plus as a teacher in a primary school one gets sick a lot.

BUT, can I complain when I'm LOVING the job, my principal, my colleagues, the school's professionalism and high standards, the lovely campus, and the kids? And that's not even mentioning the perks (see aforementioned new insurance) and the salary. Or the fact that I'm walking so much around campus all day that I've lost eight pounds in a month. 

Can I complain? No, no I can't. 

Can I complain about missing my family when I have my husband here, my cozy little apartment, wonderful friends within walking distance? When I have Whatsapp and Facebook and blogs and Skype to close the gap? No. 

That's one happy me in the middle of my fam AND hubby.

No, I can smile. I can be thankful, and smile again.

Two photoshoots on campus

In this post I'm combining two photoshoots I did, both not even a week before I left the USA. Both took place on the campus of South Dakota State University, which provided a great location for both building and greenery backgrounds. It's interesting how although we went to many of the same places, the pictures didn't turn out very similar at all.

The first bunch of pictures are of the lovely Sheila:

She's the daughter of a colleague of my dad's and a friend of my mom's. I have to say I definitely felt a certain kinship with her given that she's also half Brazilian!

She was so natural and easy going right from the very beginning of the photoshoot. It ended up being a pretty short one since I had gotten so many good pictures we simply didn't need to continue!

Though these look like senior pictures, Sheila will only be a junior this year, though you'd never know it from her poise and elegance. 

I look forward to seeing her again the next time I'm in the US!

These next photos are of a beautiful family: Ukrainian Val (another colleague of my father's), Brazilian Paolla, and their sweet little boy.

Plus a bonus family member!

Little Igor was extremely active, running all over in the wide open spaces, but he was so joyful while doing so that it was simply adorable.

Family love is such a beautiful thing to capture! Thank you Val and Paolla for letting me document your growing family!

Leaving for Morocco...

A week ago today I left the US to come back to Morocco and rejoin Othman here who had made the journey ten days earlier. It was a long trip, routing through Doha again, and since I've been back there's been lots going on here, so I don't have much time to blog. Big, big things that are happening here (think: job change) which deserves a proper post! As soon as I do have the time and energy for that, it'll come, but in the meantime, here are some pictures of my last days in the US.

Out to lunch with (part of) the fam:

Having a delicious homemade dinner, with siblings' friends of course, on a recently unpacked Moroccan tablecloth gifted by my in laws two years ago:

Cool phone pictures on one of my last evening walks with Bia:

And even an apt fortune!

Leaving was my family and their small Midwestern town was hard, I'm not going to lie. But my first almost-week here already seems like so much longer with all the things I've done and friends I've seen– longer in a good way! It's great to be gearing up for the school year surrounded by great people!

A family photoshoot

Not long after I arrived in the US I met a family at my parents house who I just loved--Marisol and Raul are really the nicest couple. 

They're Mexican, and are the parents of Raulito...

and Olivia.

They were at our house for a potluck when I met them, and later on in the summer, once I started doing more photography, I asked them if they wanted to come over to our place for a photoshoot.

It actually rained heavily and was very dark at the time we meant to do the shoot though, so I took some pictures inside, despite the less-than-desirable lighting.

Luckily the weather broke not long after, so all of us headed outside and looked at a rainbow.

The kids liked the rainbow, but they loved playing in the puddles!

These four are the loveliest little family and I'm so happy to have met them!

Marisol is a Pre-K Spanish teacher and we really enjoyed swapping teacher tips and experiences of teaching foreign languages to kids.

I absolutely loved photographing them and hope to see them again soon!