beach on the atlantic. no big deal.

duk taught some english.

communication

How do you communicate with someone that doesn't speak your language? How do you teach them the language? Today was all about figuring that out. We threw in some sign language, used common phrases such as hello, goodbye, Nadal and Federer. But the most efficient method of communication was body language. When a student hit a tennis ball really well over the net, there would be a thumbs up or a pat on the back. When they wanted to go swimming, you would start to do the breaststroke. And when you wanted to break the ice, you pushed them in the pool. It was definitely a fun day of getting to know the kids w/o speaking that much english towards one another. Even though some may not have learned english, at least we got some of their attention.

Teaching English - DAY 1

Today was our first day teaching english. It started out pretty chaotic, we had no idea what to expect and we were somewhat unprepared. During our hang out time we were really able to connect with kids and throw them around. That definitely broke the ice. By the end of the day we brought out a guitar and taught them Lean on Me by Bill Whithers. The kids all love the guitar. A bunch of them wanted to hear Michael Jackson songs (RIP), too bad non of us know how to play them :P

It was over 100 degrees today, so everyone is super exhausted. It didn't feel like we did that much but we're completely out of it. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I think we'll do a LOT better at teaching. It's still suppose to be hot, but I think we'll be more prepared and less jetlagged.

Here's a Picture of Oscar. He's a crazy little brat. He's 5 years old, probably like 3 ft tall and he's insanely good a tennis!

This is Moroccan Tea. It's made with Mint and a ton of sugar :)

-Tim

extreme happiness!

we visited the third largest mosque in the world

over the ocean

Sunday afternoon I said goodbye to a friend who was about to head out to Europe to pursue a carreer in international law. This morning I said bye to a friend leaving to start med school. Right now I am somewhere over the Atlantic, about to teach English to some kids in Morocco. It is an odd sight, but special and very fitting to see dreamers chase after dreams.

This little adventure of ours started with a thought, or a feeling, to fly some Pulse students overseas to serve somewhere different and far. Then Tim said to me, "I want to go to Africa, but not to Kenya. Everyone goes to Kenya." So I looked up at my old map of Africa and said, "Morocco?" Nearly six months later six of us are headed there.

This is the wage of dreamers. Without dreams, people would not cross oceans to change the world, teachers would not inspire, and heroes would turn away from adversity. You might see it as irresponsible, but this sad, dying world cannot change if you don't dream of change, and be abandoned to those dreams. It is painful to say goodbye to certain comforts, like friends, or carreer plans, or a nice car, but there is a treasure that everyone can share.

jdh