American School of Marrakesh Class of 2009 Graduation, in Photos

The American School of Marrakesh, Morocco

The American School of Marrakesh held its second graduation ceremony ever on June 16, 2009.  Unlike last year’s 2008 ceremony, which was held on the front lawn, this year’s ceremony was held indoors in the Pierre Berger Assembly Hall due to rain.

Eighth-Grade Graduates' Processional

Eighth-Grade Graduates' Processional

Eighth-Grade Graduates' Processional

Eighth Grade Graduates' Processional

The ceremony included both Eighth-Grade and Twelfth-Grade graduates, as well as prize winners from the entire school.

Twelfth-Grade Graduates' Processional

Following the processional, and after opening remarks by Barbara Temsamani,  prizes were awarded to the elementary students.

Hiba Benkye Received the Audrey Riffi Prize, Directly from AudreyRiffi

The incoming headmaster, Dr. Bryan Keith Lewallen,  stood and made some remarks.  He told the graduates, “Each of you in this school will be successful.“  He read a famous poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Success

To laugh often and much to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dr. Bryan Keith Lewallen, Incoming Headmaster at The American School of Marrakesh

Dr. Lewallen went on to indicate that he is planning a long stay in Marrakesh.  He turned to the Eighth-Grade graduates and said, “We’re going to spend the next four years together, so get ready!”

Diplomas were awarded to the Eighth Grade.

Graduating Senior Yousser Amhal

Graduating senior Yousser Amhal made a speech.  Yousser pointed out he did not join the school until secondary school.  He said he found two things in particular to remark upon: 1)  the warm hospitality of the students in welcoming him in to the school, and 2)  the friendly relationship between students and teachers. Yousser also recalled a well-loved former history professor, Mr. Oscar Ramos.  Yousser said that the day Mr. Ramos left the school was the only time he ever saw two of his classmates cry. Yousser’s closing remarks were, “We’ve been through a lot together, and now we will part to follow our own paths.”  He added, “If we’ve made it through ASM alive, we can make it through anything.”

Nouhaila Chelkhaoui Received an Award

Prizes were awarded to the upper school.

A longer address was given to the graduating seniors by Robert P. Jackson, the Deputy Chief of Mission from the U.S. Embassy to the Kingdom of Morocco.

Robert P. Jackson, Giving the Commencement Address to the Graduates

Mr. Jackson offered various tidbits of accumulated wisdom from various sources.  The first piece of wisdom was from Robert Fulgham’s All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten:   “Share everything.  Play fair.  Don’t hit people.  Put things back where you found them.  Clean up your own mess.  Don’t take things that aren’t yours.  Say you’re sorry when you hurt someone.  Wash your hands before you eat.  Flush.  Take a nap every afternoon.  When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic; hold hands, and stick together. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.  Learn some, think some;  draw, paint, sing, and dance;  play and work every day SOME.”

ASM Graduates Listening to Commencement Address

Mr. Jackson continued to speak of kindergarten as a time of limitless possibilities, of boundless optimism;  a time when you can still be whatever you want, do whatever you want–the kindergarten future of being an astronaut, undersea explorer, or a professional Ninja.   He pointed out that graduation from high school is similar with all these possibilities still before you.  . He encouraged the graduates to follow their own paths, regardless of what others think.    He advised the graduates to embrace failure, as we all learn more from our mistakes than from our successes.  He quoted American President Teddy Roosevelt, who said, “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who does nothing!“  Mr. Jackson added, “Eighty percent of life is just showing up.”

Graduate Malika Layadi

Mr. Jackson pointed out, “School is something you complete.  Life is something you experience.”  He told the graduates, “Love what you do. Get good at it.  Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age.“   He added,”  Your effort is important.   Your peers, professors, and future employers will respect you for your effort, regardless of the results.“

Mr. Jackson’s advice to the Facebook Generation in our  current time of constant distcractions was, “Next time you read a book JUST read.  Next time you listen to music, JUST listen…be in the present moment, and you’ll appreciate it more.”

Graduate Jaafar El Baroudi

Mr. Jackson told the graduates that their entire life has been a “model United Nations.”  The American School of Marrakesh has seen both teachers and students of numerous nationalities and religions.  He pointed out that these experiences have opened the students’ minds and hearts.  Students and the school have embraced tolerance, because they have lived it.  He said, “Your experiences in this school make you all cultural ambassadors to the world.  Wherever you are coming from, and wherever you are going, as a result of your experiences here, you’ll be natural leaders in this world of globalization.”

Mr. Jackson finished his commencement address by saying, “This may seem like an ending, but it is just a beginning.”

Alaa El Boudali Receives his Diploma from Dr. Bryan Lewallen

Diplomas were awarded to the Upper School Graduating Seniors.

Stephen Eastman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the American School of Marrakesh, Morocco

The final speaker was Stephen Eastman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees.  Mr. Eastman kept his remarks short, and made four major points, highlighting “the best of what I’ve learned in30 years.”

1)  Find something you are passionate about.

2)  Whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability.  Don’t just try to “get by.”  Put your whole heart and soul into everything you do.

3)  Find a way to give back to your community.  Try to do some good.  Volunteer to help the needy, or those less fortunate than yourselves.  Small gestures by you can make all the difference in someone’s life.

4)  Be KIND to your friends, your family, and your co-workers.  It’s easier to be critical than to be patient and constructive.  Always strive to be your best self, no matter how difficult.

Following Stephen Eastman’s speech, the graduates threw their caps, and after retrieving them, filed out in the recessional.

Graduating Seniors Ahmed El Berdai and Yasmina Aboufirass

Graduate Jamal Eddine El Aaidi

–Madame Monet, in Marrakesh

Who Says History Is Boring? Compare Modern Life with 1500 A.D., in England…

I didn’t write this, but received it as an interesting email  forward:

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water..”

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying It’s “raining cats and dogs.”

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.. Hence the saying, “Dirt poor. “  The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance way. Hence the saying a thresh hold .

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme,  “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..”

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and “chew the fat..”

Those with money had platters made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the “upper crust.”

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock a person out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a” wake.”

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave . When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive.. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a …”dead ringer..”

Now, whoever said history was boring?

–Posted (but not written by)  Madame Monet

Facebook Games Replacing TV Leisure

 

 

Many people are no longer coming home, turning on the TV, and flipping channels to see what’s on.     Instead, they sit down in front of the computer.  

Even before checking email, many people now go to Facebook, just to see if anything is new on their home page, or to see which of their friends might be on line.  Next, a few minutes is spent commenting on friends’ posts, or taking fun quizzes that their friends have taken.

Next, they check in to their games.   In some games, money arrives every hour,  and they want to get it to the bank before someone steals it.  In other games, they want to buy items, and they only have an opportunity to earn money every six hours.  If  they already have enough money, they may now be going  shopping (in their online game) to relax after work.

There are games for all ages, from kids to grandparents (such as World War II).  Some whole extended families play on line at the same time, from different locations.  

I’ve noticed a transformation in myself taking place since I’ve started playing these games, and since I’ve been using Facebook regularly.  One of the things I enjoy personally is meeting people from all over the world who are playing these interactive games at the same time.  

I write six blogs on completely different topics, and I’ve noticed my blogging has really suffered because Facebook is using up all my computer time!   What are other people finding?      

Just when I thought I’d finally get back to blogging, today I discovered Spy Wars and found that looks pretty interesting……..HELP!!!  

–Madame Monet

What Facebook Quizzes Can Tell You About Your Life

Today I had time to take some of the fun quizzes on Facebook.  Here is what I’ve learned about myself: My dream home is a Southern Antebellum Mansion.  My Euro-Persona is French, but my International Personality is actually American. My true age is 46 (not bad for 53), and my ideal career is a teacher. The celebrity I should be married to is Brad Pitt. The secret society I should belong to is “Skull and Bones” (never heard of it). My life symbol is a Peace Sign, and I should drive a Honda Insight. The Disneyland Land I should come from is Adventure Land. The Lesson is what interests me about a lecture. Lastly, Facebook tells me that if I had a superpower, it would be telepathy (I like that)!

–Madame Monet

“Guess Which Country” Red Wine Tasting

Last night’s wine tasting was lots of fun.  Our host had five reds, all of different prices and different countries.  He asked us to try to guess which country, after tasting each.  We started the tasting with deveiled eggs, pita bread and cheeses  to nibble on with the first bottle of wine.

  

 Here was our first.  To me it had a very slightly sweet aftertaste, reminicent of the flavor of Porto (but not the body of Porto).  I guessed Portugal.  I don’t think anyone guessed correctly.  As it turned out, it was Italian, from the province of Verona.   Tasting it again, the sweet aftertaste reminded me of some homemade sweet dark red Greek wine I used to drink in America (nothing at all like Retsina)……

 Our host announced that he would not tell us the grape variety of our second wine (below) because he thought that might give away the country of origin.   It turned out to be Spanish, from the Castilla region.

Our host brought out a lovely platter of meatballs.

The third wine (below) was my least favorite.  It turned out to be a French Syrah.   I’ve foudn in the past that Syrah is nota wine I liek very well.   The fourth wine Bonassia (below) was a Moroccan wine, and the only one for which I guessed the country correctly, having drunk it often.   

Beni Mtir Wine-Growing Region of Morocco

Bonassia Cabernet Sauvignon ($4.75)–rich and smooth; black currants with floral finish (especially good value, and a personal favorite).

The last was everyone’s favorite (below), a Western Cellars 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon.   The taste is full and smooth, with a spice and vanilla bouquet.

 

Photo by Thorn Elkjer

The last was everyone’s favorite (below), a Western Cellars 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon.   The taste is full and smooth, with a spice and vanilla bouquet. —-Madame Monet

YoVille Beats Mafia Wars

YoVille

After trying both Mafia Wars and YoVille, I find that YoVille is SO much more fun.  Both are online games through Facebook that many people of all ages are playing now.

Mafia Wars

A freind in America told me how much he enjoyed Mafia Wars, so I decided to try it.  I didn’t like the jobs or fighting, and there is no way to personally interact in real time with other on-line players.  He said it gets more fun at the upper levels, so I gave it a good try for two months.  But what I don’t like about it is that everything in the game is negative.  It doesn’t make me feel good.  I have two good friends who really enjoy Mafia Wars, and I have found them to be positive people in real life.   But I’m having trouble understanding what makes the game fun to others.  I actually found the higher level I got to, the more negative I began to feel about the game, and for me, it did not become any more fun.

Another friend told me about YoVille.  This is such a fun and positive game and it fits my personality much better.  The other thing I like about it is that you can meet new people and have real-time interactions with other online players.

YoVille beats Mafia Wars hands down, in my opinion.  What do others think?

Madame Monet

Moroccan Comments on “Moorish Courtyard,” by John Singer Sargent

Moorish Courtyard, by American Oil Painter John Singer Sargent (painted in 1913)

I asked my Moroccan husband to take a look at this famous painting and tell me whether he thought it actually looked like Morocco.  According to Christie’s auction house,  “Moorish Courtyard was probably conceived in Granada in the autumn of 1912 when Sargent visited Spain.” But having lived nearly two decades in Morocco, I wondered whether he actually came over here to Morocco, and painted what he saw here.

My Moroccan husband looked at it carefully and said that it indeed looks like the old “foondooks” (inns) where people from the countryside who came into town riding donkeys could stay.  However, he said if you look closely at the details in the picture, the details betray the painting as actually being in Spain, as Christie’s has indicated.

The most important detail is the top of the columns (but under the floor above), where the decoration is not Moroccan, but Spanish.

The complete description by Christie’s is available here: (also given below)

Lot 102, “Moorish Courtyard,” by John Singer Sargent, oil on canvas, 28 by 36 inches, 1913

The catalogue’s cover illustration is a detail from Lot 102, “Moorish Courtyard,” by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). This 28-by-36-inch oil on canvas was executed in 1913. The catalogue notes that in this work, “the artist examines the juxtaposition of the intricately carved ornamental details of the building’s architecture, with the rustic function that it serves and with the two donkeys that inhabit the space.The painting is an intricate, delicate web of textures.Moorish Courtyard was probably conceived in Granada in the autumn of 1912 when Sargent visited Spain with his sister, Emily, and close friends and frequent traveling companions, Jane and Wilfrid de Glehn. One of the most striking aspects of the picture is its unusual perspective. Here, Sargent is clearly interested in the formal aspects of painting, and by skewing the perspective he has made the composition as important as the subject that he depicts.As one of Sargent’s finest realizations of his abstracted architectural subject pictures, Moorish Courtyard ranks as a monument to his achievement outside of his brilliant oeuvre of portraiture and establishes his work at the end of his career as among the most innovative of his day.”

It has a modest estimate of $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. It failed to sell.

–Posted by Madame Monet

“Lost” in the South Pacific…

On a chain of beautiful deserted islands in the middle of South Pacific, the following people are stranded:

Two Italian men and one Italian woman.
Two French men and one French woman.
Two German men and one German woman.
Two Greek men and one Greek woman.
Two British men and one British woman.
Two Bulgarian men and one Bulgarian woman.
Two Japanese men and one Japanese woman.
Two Chinese men and one Chinese woman.
Two Irish men and one Irish woman.
Two American men and one American woman.

One month later, on these absolutely stunning deserted islands in the middle of nowhere, the following things have
occurred:

One Italian man killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together in a manage-a-trois.

The two German men have a strict weekly schedule of alternating visits with the German woman.

The two Greek men are sleeping together and the Greek woman is cooking and cleaning for them.

The two British men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the British woman.

The two Bulgarian men took one look at the Bulgarian woman and started swimming to another island.

The two Japanese have faxed Tokyo and are awaiting instructions.

The two Chinese men have set up a pharmacy, liquor store, restaurant and laundry, and have gotten the woman pregnant in order to supply more employees for their stores.

The two Irish men divided the island into north and south and set up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is in
the picture because it gets somewhat foggy after a few pints of coconut whisky. However, they’re satisfied
because the British aren’t having any fun.

The two American men are contemplating suicide, because the American woman will not shut up and complains
Relentlessly about her body, the true nature of feminism, what the sun is doing to her skin, how she can do anything they can do, the necessity of fulfillment, the equal division of household chores, how sand and palm trees make her look fat, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her nicer than they do, and how her relationship with her mother is the root cause of all her problems, and why didn’t they bring a damn cell phone so they could call 911 and get them all rescued off this forsaken deserted island in the middle of freaking nowhere so she can get her nails done and go shopping…….

–Written by Unknown Author

I thought this was very clever.  However, having been out of America for sixteen years, I just HOPE this isn’t really representative of what American women have become!

–Posted by Madame Monet

How Tall Are the Obamas, Really?

President and Mrs. Obama with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, on April 1, 2009 (G-20 Summit)–[Photograph: John Stillwell/WPA Pool/Getty Images]

This wonderful photo makes the Obamas look like giants.  Are they?  Barack Obama is reported to be 6′1″, and many websites report Michelle Obama to be 5′11″ without heels.  Queen Elizabeth’s height is only 5′2″.

Oddly, numerous websites claim Prince Philip’s height is 6′2″ (two centimeters taller than Barack Obama).  So what is going on here?  Does anyone know?

Madame Monet

Amazing Dancing Bird Loves Ray Charles!

Check this out, a bird who dances right in time with Ray Charles music!

Madame Monet