Meeting in Waupaca

Yesterday we met at the lovely Waupaca Public Library for our second team meeting. Here is a short video snippet (sorry for the shakiness, should've used the tripod!) We spent most of the day doing team-building exercises with Thom Cody, and also talked about our DISC results. We also spent some time talking about the materials we need to get to Dianne just before January1st.

I will be emailing everyone the items Thom downloaded on my jump drive.

Our next meeting will be an overnight, Jan. 23-24, location TBD.

Big thanks to Thom for spending the day with us and sharing his expertise on helping us become a stronger and more unified team! :)

Morocco Blogs

I've been ready a variety of Morocco-related things both online and in print. One thing I've been using is the Peace Corps Morocco blog directory. There are more than 3500 Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco and several are documenting their journeys on the internet.

I've been going back to check out their experiences with things like weather or festivals in April and May and some are more helpful and interesting than others.

Check it out: Worldwide Peace Corps Blog Directory: Morocco

Now if I could just find some Moroccan Twitterers to follow, I would be set!

Moroccan Christmas

I don't know if any of you saw "The Office" last night, but for their staff Holiday party they did a "Moroccan" theme. I'm a pretty big fan of the show, so I liked the episode. :)

You can watch it on NBC's website by clicking on "Moroccan Christmas."

One of my colleagues also came across this in Budget Travel News.

Enjoy!

Women in Morocco

I thought this was an interesting piece about women in Morocco. It comes from a European point of view but I think it delves into some important issues. I don't know that it's cocktail conversation but it's good to think about.

I was at my parents' place this weekend, celebrating an early Thanksgiving with my family, and I had my brother take some photos. I thought these might be interesting to include in my album of photos or in the presentation.

Rotary Meeting

Dennis invited Lori and I to attend the Green Bay West Rotary meeting on Tuesday morning. The meeting began with reciting the pledge and singing a song. This was actually a new member orientation session, so the directors talked about the programs, services and committees the group is a part of. For example, Green Bay West Rotary is taking part in bell ringing for the Salvation Army in December. They are also partnering with Neighborworks to provide carbon monoxide detectors to low-income families.

I think Lori would agree with me in that it was very interesting and beneficial for us to get a peek as to what Rotary International does, especially on the local level. We got to hear from the members what it means or has meant to them, and it was neat to see how Rotary International impacts the lives of its members and families.

If you have the chance to attend a meeting before the trip, definitely take the opportunity. The website is great, but there is A LOT of information on there, so attending the meeting really helped my understanding and gave me more knowledge.

Movie Time

It sounds like everyone likes the idea of making a movie. I think the biggest problem we will face is keeping it down to an appropriate length. It's so easy to start writing and then end up with an epic. If we each spent just 1 minute on our personal stories we already have a 5 minute video. We'll probably also want to talk a little about Wisconsin and America.

I can probably talk my brother into helping a bit, he's an excellent videographer. And we could come and get some video of everyone working and recreating. I can also import still pictures, music and text.

Individually each of us will need to come up with a short personal bio and think of things and people you want to include. As a group we'll want to decide on a narrative that describes life in Wisconsin and the United States. I have access to file video too, so if we want to talk about cows or the Wisconsin Legislature among other things, we can have a visual.

"Culture Shock" Available at Amazon

Yesterday I decided to order "Culture Shock!: Morocco" by Orin Hargraves on Amazon. Katie had this book on Saturday, and she highly recommended it. It also got 5 stars on Amazon, and you can purchase it used for as low as $9.99.

Morocco Gets its Investment On

The Dow Jones added 12 news countries to its Islamic Market World Index, including Morocco. What, might you ask, is the Dow Jones Islamic Market World Index? It's basically a mutual fund made up of halal companies--that is, companies that comply with Islam's Sharia law. That means investors can be confident that there are no companies involved in alcohol, pork, banks, insurance, casinos, tobacco or weapons among other things in the Dow Jones Islamic World Index.

In addition to Moroccan-based companies, the Dow Jones Islamic World Index also added companies from Bahrain, China, Egypt, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Read More:
Dow Jones Islamic Market World Index Expands to Include 12 New Countries
Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes: Quick Facts

Clash of Civilations?

In the early 90's a social scientist by the name of Samuel Huntington outlined what he thought was the source of global conflict--religion--as a social theory in an article for Foreign Affairs. The article and his theory were called "Clash of Civilizations?"

I don't necessarily buy into this theory. I think it's hard to peg entire religious groups, cultures and civilizations with sweeping characterizations and totally disregard the individual.

That being said, I do think that there are areas where we can all learn to be a bit more sensitive especially when we're talking about religion. This article just crossed the AP wire today about a French magazine that is now effectively banned in much of northern Africa because of the way it portrayed Islam's prophet, Muhammad.

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- Officials say Algeria and Tunisia have banned this week's issue of a French magazine deemed prejudicial to Islam. That follows Morocco, which banned the magazine L'Express International last week.

The cover story in question is titled "The Jesus-Muhammad Shock," which is also the name of a book by one of the magazine's chief editors.

Algerian officials said Monday the cover story is "pro-Bible" and breaks Muslim rules by representing the face of Islam's prophet Muhammad. Tunisian officials would not comment. All three North African countries have seen a rise in Islamic extremism.

The French newsweekly's Web site said it didn't understand why it had been banned, since pains had been taken to adhere to Islamic norms, notably by covering Muhammad's face with a white veil.

Free Library Resource to Learn French!

I wanted to share a program that our libraries in our system are using if patrons want to learn another language (including French!). If you have a Brown County Library card or an InfoSoup library card (Appleton, Waupaca), than you can use this resource for free!

The product is called TellMeMore, and my system teamed up with the OWLS system to write a grant to get it this past year. I must admit that I have not dabbled with it too much as of yet, but I probably will now! Because the grant only was for one year, the program might not be available on these library websites after March of 2009, but it's possible the product might be renewed.

Click here if you have a Brown County Library Card to learn more.
Click here if you use an InfoSoup Card (Appleton or Waupaca library).

Powerpoint from # 6220 to Brazil

I uploaded the powerpoint from the Brazil team if you are interested in looking at it!


District 6220 GSE Team 4-23-08

Get your own at Scribd or explore others:

Welcome!

Hello Team!

Welcome to our blog! http://morocco6220.blogspot.com/ (this is where friends and family can read about our planning!)

I thought this would be a great place to share thoughts, share photos, have discussions and communicate before, during and after our travels.

The team members should've all received an email to be editors. That is, you can add posts/articles anytime you want! You will also (along with Dennis and Tom) receive an email anytime someone adds a post.

I manage two blogs at my job, as well as a personal one, and I've found they are a great way to communicate and keep everything in one place. If you are uncomfortable with posting or using this as a tool, I'd be happy to show you how easy it is at the next meeting.

I will be adding more to the site, but already I've started a helpful links area, as well as a fun poll I hope you take part in. :)

Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, December 13th, in the Stevens Point/Wausau area. Before the meeting, we are each supposed to work on the individual items in the checklist. We are also going to attempt to have our photos taken with our uniforms at the next meeting.

With that said, have a great week, and let's stay in touch!