Apartment Crawling - The New Tradition

Everyone needs a tradition, right? For those deeply routed in American holidays we all have the tradition of stuffing with turkey in November, or making delicious Christmas cookies and throwing flower at each other so that it's snowing inside and out. But when the temperature is over 100 degrees during the day, there is no air conditioning in the school you teach at, and it's Ramadan therefore meaning no bars open, what's a group of teachers to do?

Last year, the new teachers decided to start a tradition called an apartment crawl. Just like a pub crawl where you hop bar to bar possibly "crawling" your way to the finish. So this is similar, but a little less hardship to your knees. We decided to continue the tradition and invite the sophomores along for some bonding. So to celebrate the end of the first week of school, we busted out the beer pong cups, the awesome jams, and our walking shoes.

We had four apartments spread through the downtown area of Casablanca where we all live; the positive thing being that they are all within 15 minutes of each other. We made our way around, getting to know each other, kicking back, relaxing, and of course busting out the games. It was an awesome night and a really nice way to feel like this is home.

Why are traditions so important to people, not matter what the culture? Because traditions are what make you feel a part of something bigger, whether your with your family or they are thousands of miles away. So you make new traditions with new faces, and hope that they will be carried out by the next generation, or in our case next batch of eager American teachers. I think that as we settle into our daily routine of going to school at 7 and getting back at 5:30 if you aren't coaching, it is incredibly important to do such crazy outlandish things and make them part of our tradition. Some of the girls have been talking about doing family dinners every Sunday night, another way to feel like you have a home that isn't just temporary.

Another tradition can be our beach/surfing trips, a way to start our own community of surfing teachers!

If there is one thing I have learned so far from the Moroccan culture, it is the importance of family and ritual. Surviving 30 days of fasting would be impossibly for many people including me, but I see the students I teach preserving each day. They are helped by each other, and especially since most of the students are family or have grown up since preschool together. I still know a lot of kids I went to kindergarten with, and I know that when we were in Elementary school we would had each other's backs like these kids do today. I like to think that every time I move to a new culture, or back to one that I already love, that I am making lasting traditions that help make life just a little better. When we have stressful days, what is better than having a great group of people to do silly things with?

I really enjoy getting to know my new "family", even as much as I miss the old. There is so much in this country that makes me amazed, and lots more to come. As I am almost at the one month mark I marvel at our sense of home already. And it makes me just that more excited for whats to come.