Last Days in Tétouan


After my opening the final days in Tétouan went by at lightening speed.


With slaughtered chickens hanging from hooks and cats and kittens literally lurking around every corner and always under foot, my youngest daughter, Naomi was deeply affected by the plight of the animals of Morocco.  She decided that last week to get some footage to make her own documentary about the cats. I went with her hiking around the city to help her find as many cats as possible. The people there really do help the cats. The guys in the fish market give them fish heads all day long, and different people have set up little shelters, but there's just so many of them!

Anyway she's going to bring the footage to film camp later this summer to see if she can put the film together then.


During the final week, Mike and Chloe and Phoebe all took a ceramics class to learn some of the traditional tile making we observed over at the artisan school.


Learning about design.


This is the instructor, Ali, working on a complicated looking pattern.


Pieces drying in the studio.


Phoebe and Chloe cutting the clay.


Cut clay pieces.


The pieces fitting together.


Phoebe, Mike, Ali and Chloe on the final day of class.


They also finished up their language class. Here they are with Jamal their Darija (Moroccan Arabic) teacher.


In the mean time my installation had some more visitors and they told me it would be on view for a couple more months.


On our last night in town we had our own little celebration with this ice cream, chocolate fondue.

Just outside our house in the medina
Leaving Tétouan was harder than I'd imagined. On the one hand we were off to explore Tangier for a couple days, but Tétouan was Morocco for us and where we connected with this country. Two days before I left I made this list:

Things I will miss....
1 the call to prayer echoing into my window and on out on the streets.
2 The neighbor children who give me hugs and kisses just for stepping out my door.
3 The kindness of strangers, over and over almost every day.
4 The talented and friendly artists I have met in this country and from abroad.
5 The stunning and intricate art and design that surrounds daily life here.
6. Vendors who make sure I have chosen the best of their products, be it a melon or a carton of milk, they will not let me leave with sub standard product.
7 The storks flying over head and the cats literally everywhere (though not their poo)
8 Feeling like I could buy nearly everything because I have $20 US in my pocket.
9 Sitting on my rooftop in the evening breeze and looking out over this bustling city.

Posted on the wall at Green Olive Arts

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