Author: Kate DiTullio
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Weathering One’s Emotions
It didn’t hit me until this week that I take Marrakech’s weather for granted. Over the weekend, I took students on a Model UN trip to Tangier, in the far north of Morocco. We could see Spain’s coast from our hotel breakfast room windows. Although it was warm, the rain and clouds were a bit…
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The Calm Before and In Between
This week, I reveled in my mornings. What’s not to love? I get to have breakfast. I get to say good morning to Adam (my friend and the head security guard at my apartment) and practice my Darija and French skills. I get to listen to my music as I watch the sun rise over…
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A Moroccan Thanksgiving and the Concept of Home
Last night I celebrated Thanksgiving with new friends. We had little in common except our homes: we all live in Marrakech. And we all live elsewhere too. Some of us live in Gueliz; some in Targa; and some in the medina. All neighborhoods of Marrakech, each with its own distinct identity. Some of us also…
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Travel Experience: A Moroccan Sunset
I wrote the following this evening while free writing with a tutoring student (hi, kiddo!). After I shared it with her, she said, “Miss. You have to post this.” So here you go…a Moroccan sunset! The colors are the first thing that grab you. A Moroccan sunset puts on a good show, what with the…
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When It Rains in the Desert
The weather has changed in Marrakech, giving us colder temperatures and undulating clouds in exchange for the heat and haze. We’ve been waiting for the winter rain for almost a month, and two days ago, it finally arrived. I was teaching my AP US Government class this past Thursday when the speakerphone piped up, informing…
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Reunion and Plans
My parents are currently en route to Marrakesh to visit me for my November break, and I couldn’t be more excited! The city is putting out the Moroccan flags for them (or for someone in the royal family who’s visiting…but I like my version better), the sky is a perfect blue dome, and the temps…
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Dreaming Dreams
I turned 30 this week. It’s a strange thing to enter a new decade of my life, and one that is neither old nor young. (To older people, I’m still a kiddo; to younger people, simply ancient.) I keep thinking, though, not of being old or young, but of being here, and of being here now. By…
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On Growing Past My Limitations
Last week I wrote about accepting my limitations, and even blessing them for what they can teach me. But limits are funny things: some of them are static, while others are wonderfully elastic. By that I mean that we can stretch them and grow stronger because we’ve challenged ourselves. Moving to Marrakesh has tested my…
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On Blessing My Limitations
A blurry view of my ride home. I took this picture on Wednesday this week. My contacts had not settled in my eyes correctly from the moment I first put them in that morning, and they bothered me throughout the day. It felt like an eyelash was in my eye throughout every class and meeting,…
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It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Apologies to my fellow Americans for that ear worm, but it expresses the feeling I have when walking from the bus stop to my apartment. My employer provides transportation via bus to and from school every day, and so at 5:15 p.m. most days, at the corner by our apartment complex, all of Gueliz neighborhood…
Kate DiTullio | Teacher. Traveler. Writer. 