The days begin to blur. So many cups of tea on the terrace, at the garden, and kefta and French fries at the snack shop. I had planned to walk in the medina this morning and perhaps do some drawing, but Maria, the art therapist from Rabat has invited me for an 11 o'clock lunch so I spend the morning sitting in the lobby waitng for her and writing. I have been up earlier after having some elaborate and bizarre dreams. Seems the lot of the traveler to strange lands. What we need to do to make sense of our heightened awareness.
I see Toshiko off at 7:30 when the Japanese doctor comes to drive her to Fez. Slowly the others wake up. They are organizing to have lunch for Raquel whose birthday it is: March 15 - the ides of March. Maria arrives and sits down in the lobby where everyone has congregated and she is very interested to know more about research aspects of art therapy in the US. It occurs to me that maybe she should have lunch with everybody and I take the chance to invite. This becomes a little complicated in terms of where we will go because organizing a group this large to do anything together is like herding kittens.
We pass the Catholic Cathedrale St. Pierre on our way.
Marie leads us to the flower district and a wide open air plaza where we all sit down for a meal of tajine together. We toast Raquel for her birthday.
Ikuko toasts us all as head of the dept. I have a lengthy conversation with Maria, who has trained as an art therapist in Nice, France. She asks to come do volunteer work at my foster care agency in NY in the future and I agree. She works with orphaned teens in Rabat and wants to learn about American art therapy practice. As this is the original goal of the trip - an exchange - I feel good about this.
In the afternoon we travel to the Fondation and are given a new room to work in, more enclosed and with tables more conducive to art making. We are given two groups of very young children - 5 to 6 years. We see each group for one hour and Becky comes up with a directive to make hand puppets out of paper bags. This provided a real opportunity to learn communication between us using parts of the face and body, by pointing and naming. My French is good enough and the children are very sweet and correct my bad pronunciation.
After they are invited to create "petite animeux" using plasticine and this creates great excitement and lots of dinosaur and crocodile. One child writes their name out on Arabic.
The children are so little so sweet and so receptive. Their teacher was also very involved and encouraged in French becoming very animated in acting out what they should do. A very successful encounter.
Afterwards we are treated to tea and a traditional song which they all sing together. We are practically moved to tears. They are so enchanting and beautiful.
We see the children leaving the Fondation all lined up and holding onto each other for safety.
On the way back to the hotel in downtown Rabat, we witness more rioting by students. They seem to choose the 4 to 5 hour as the time when they can get the most attention because everyone is commuting home for the day. I watch the riot police and the students chase below my window from the hotel.
Ikuko has arranged a surprise cake for Raquel's birthday in the courtyard and I order tea for everyone from the snack shop across the street.
In the evening at the final night of the conference at the Villa des Artes, Toshiko presented on origami art therapy and this was very well recieved by the audience. Hilda and Jennifer presented on work with HIV clients and Substance Abuse clients. Again there was great enthusiasm for the insight provided for art therapy, which has yet to be very developed here. Raquel finished up with her work with Alzheimer's patients. which ended with a positive note showing the joy the elderly can experience making art.
Everyone is tired and excited after this. We say good bye to Hassan and Naima the director and education coordinator for the villa. Then Hilda asks, "Does anyone else feel like a drink?" and we all end up in a Spanish bar even Richard! Sangria, tapas, lots of beer. Everyone toasts to Raquel's birthday once again and our journey together.
Then we begin to eagerly discuss the next day and the weekend when plans to travel are in the works. Fez, Marrakech, the desert? What awaits us?
I see Toshiko off at 7:30 when the Japanese doctor comes to drive her to Fez. Slowly the others wake up. They are organizing to have lunch for Raquel whose birthday it is: March 15 - the ides of March. Maria arrives and sits down in the lobby where everyone has congregated and she is very interested to know more about research aspects of art therapy in the US. It occurs to me that maybe she should have lunch with everybody and I take the chance to invite. This becomes a little complicated in terms of where we will go because organizing a group this large to do anything together is like herding kittens.
We pass the Catholic Cathedrale St. Pierre on our way.
Ikuko toasts us all as head of the dept. I have a lengthy conversation with Maria, who has trained as an art therapist in Nice, France. She asks to come do volunteer work at my foster care agency in NY in the future and I agree. She works with orphaned teens in Rabat and wants to learn about American art therapy practice. As this is the original goal of the trip - an exchange - I feel good about this.
In the afternoon we travel to the Fondation and are given a new room to work in, more enclosed and with tables more conducive to art making. We are given two groups of very young children - 5 to 6 years. We see each group for one hour and Becky comes up with a directive to make hand puppets out of paper bags. This provided a real opportunity to learn communication between us using parts of the face and body, by pointing and naming. My French is good enough and the children are very sweet and correct my bad pronunciation.
After they are invited to create "petite animeux" using plasticine and this creates great excitement and lots of dinosaur and crocodile. One child writes their name out on Arabic.
The children are so little so sweet and so receptive. Their teacher was also very involved and encouraged in French becoming very animated in acting out what they should do. A very successful encounter.
Afterwards we are treated to tea and a traditional song which they all sing together. We are practically moved to tears. They are so enchanting and beautiful.
Ikuko has arranged a surprise cake for Raquel's birthday in the courtyard and I order tea for everyone from the snack shop across the street.
In the evening at the final night of the conference at the Villa des Artes, Toshiko presented on origami art therapy and this was very well recieved by the audience. Hilda and Jennifer presented on work with HIV clients and Substance Abuse clients. Again there was great enthusiasm for the insight provided for art therapy, which has yet to be very developed here. Raquel finished up with her work with Alzheimer's patients. which ended with a positive note showing the joy the elderly can experience making art.
Everyone is tired and excited after this. We say good bye to Hassan and Naima the director and education coordinator for the villa. Then Hilda asks, "Does anyone else feel like a drink?" and we all end up in a Spanish bar even Richard! Sangria, tapas, lots of beer. Everyone toasts to Raquel's birthday once again and our journey together.
Then we begin to eagerly discuss the next day and the weekend when plans to travel are in the works. Fez, Marrakech, the desert? What awaits us?
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