Casablanca

I was privileged to spend an extra day in Casablanca on my last trip. I needed extra pages in my passport and a friend recommended doing this overseas, instead of mailing it to an Embassy in the States. This was perfect, as it allowed me to spend 45 minutes one morning having pages added at the US Consulate and the remainder of the day seeing Casablanca.

The couriers that I met in Casablanca over the course of my nine trips have been superb. Rabii and Yusef were especially kind during this trip. Yusef drove me around Casablanca and we were able to see the Hassan II Mosque, Almohades' cannons and an old fort wall, the seaside, and the old medina.



A public park on the outskirts of Casablanca



In Arabic... I'm told of the dedication of the park by the King.



Hassan II Mosque







Yusef






An old fort wall of the Almohades, the Fifth Moorish Dynasty founded in the 12th Century.


Several views of the sea; both from the mosque and from a beach nearby




A fisherman mending his net.




On my way back from Casablanca I had several harrowing travel experiences including: road construction, wrong terminal, lost passport, exorbitant fees, weather cancellations, rerouting, bus from JFK to LaG, running & sweating, seeing an airline manager, being told I would miss my flight, airlines endorsing their portion of a ticket to another carrier, etc. But several miracles happened and I got home only 2.5 hours after scheduled! So happy.

Sociological Benefits of Church

I was thinking of the sociological benefits of attending church regularly. With my generation giving up 'institutions', there is possibly something lost by not participating in a community focused on the Divine.

I thought that both secularists and the faithful could find the following beneficial when attending a weekly service; this was a quick list I put together. Please add your own.

-Increased attention span by listening to sermons.
-Gaining an ear for harmonies, listening to different parts sung with hymns.
-A sense of physical touch through shaking hands and passing of the peace.
-A sense of community through communion and call & answer prayers.
-A sense/respect of history seeing the historicity of liturgy.
-Being provided meals and visits after recent births, deaths, and tragedies.
-An easy opportunity to serve (as an usher, band member, choir member, etc) and an opportunity to learn new skills (audio/visual equipment, etc.).
-A set-aside time for silence, reflection, and Seasons.
-A sense of transcendence that makes today's problems less severe.
-Time in the week for remembering those who are less fortunate.
-Reading and meditating on a book that is both 2,000 years old, yet timeless, has changed the world, and which much of our Western Civilization references.
-An emphasis on the soul and the eternal, which also can make today's problems less severe (provides new perspective).
-Transcending our reliance solely on the mind and using our heart and recognizing our affect.
-Church can encourage an opportunity to practice discipline either through regular reading and prayer or letting go of worldly things by fasting and remembering those who do without.
-Potlucks that foster community.
-Practicing the discipline of tithing serves to help the discipline of other good money management skills.
-Connecting personal pain with the pain of others in community....crying together and laughing together.
-Confession in appropriate ways that clears away guilt and helps participant look to the future.
-Congregation testimonies which suggests the Holy not only in history but today. This lends itself to congregants believing less in the 'randomness' of the world and instead in a purposefulness. To Christians, this can mean God's work in history and God's work in the lives of other members makes life seem less 'random'.
-Ritual and Imagery- Through rituals like baptism there is a visual sense of putting off the old life and symbolizing a new birth.

Whisper Man

In college, you could kind of tell who many of the pre-seminary students were. Not just because of their hairstyles or clothes but because of the way they empathized with you or challenged you.

I had many guy friends who used a different voice when practicing pastoring. They adopted a slightly higher pitch and they softened the volume almost to a whisper. I liken this 'fumbling about' to children practicing being doctors; harmless and getting the kinks out. No pastor who has real-life experience still goes to that voice, surely. While meaning to sound sincere, it often sounded pretentious... like the person was talking to a baby.

"Yeah, I know what you mean"
"Have you considered...."
"The Bible says..."
"It is difficult, I know"

Business majors and Bible majors wore the suits in the college yearbook. That was another way to tell people apart.

Lisa's Visit to Omaha

After my trip to Berlin to visit Lisa, she came to Omaha for 4 days starting on New Years Eve and leaving January 4th.

What a perfect time together! We had such a great mix of activities:

-Delicious Indian food with good friends on New Years Eve- Thanks Daphne, Caleb, John, and Ann Marie!
-Smoking the water pipe, called a hookah, that is popular in Muslim countries. We used a fruit flavored tobacco and shared one hose.
-Das Boot with friends :-) Just kidding. 'Das Boot' is translated as 'The Boat', but we actually drank a few glass 'boots' of German beer shared by many friends at Huber Haus. Lisa was gracious in her assessment of Huber Haus, an Omaha bar, saying that it was imitation German but they did play the right music.
-Watching Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby, Fred Estaire, and Marjorie Reynolds. Classic movie minus two fast-forwarded scenes.
-The Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo .....walking around the rainforest and under the waterfalls, seeing the aquarium and watching the fish, sharks, and stingrays swim above us, seeing the iridescent jellyfish which affirms in both of us a sense of God's majesty, and watching a seahorse that looks like a plant.
-Having lunch at M's Pub, the best restaurant in Omaha.
-Stokes, the restaurant, and Fat Tire.
-WMF office introductions and tour, meeting the folks and community of WMF.
-Tea Smith with Jara and Kenley.
-Wine with Calvin and Liz and lots of laughter.
-Sushi downtown at Blue.
-Wine and cocktails at Urban Wine Company.
-Church Sunday morning at Rockbrook.
-Sgt. Peffers Friday's Chicken Florentine Soup offering. Best soup in Omaha.
-Visiting the Western Heritage Museum in Omaha (a converted grand train station) and walking among the old trains downstairs and imagining ourselves in that place and time. We got to read and see the history of Omaha and some of their special exhibits.

It was such a beautiful time and we now embark on the LDR (long distance relationship). Wise friends have told us that old fashioned letter writing is a good way to get to know one another, so we will do more of that. We also certainly miss being together.

Lisa and I

Xanadu

One positive from the earlier flight (reference Royal Air Maroc: Airplane Restrooms) was that I saw how the flight attendants "fix" the bathroom lock from the outside to make it look occupied for take-off and landing.

Now I can repeat said 'fix' and....make one restroom my own personal restroom for a flight. Like Jerry remarks about George's personal workplace restroom in Seinfeld...'Xanadu'!

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Also, I had no idea....but when flying from Canada, US Customs gets done BEFORE the flight! There is an American Section at the Montreal airport!! Like Guantanamo in Cuba,...okay...bad example. You experienced travelers probably knew this already, but I found this to be delightful....to go through security and customs in Montreal and arrive at Gate C, Terminal 1 in Chicago instead of at Terminal 5, Gate M and take a train over.

Airplane Restrooms

When I boarded the Royal Air Maroc flight from Casablanca to Montreal, I had already unleashed a horde of obscenities after spending 5 grueling hours with them the day before.

When I checked in, I asked for an exit row, because of my height. The ticket agent gladly obliged, ripping up my old ticket, and telling me I was in an exit row on an aisle.

When I arrived on the plane, my seat instead was against the exit row, with a barely reclining chair, a safety vest beneath the seat in front of me, and a restroom directly to my right. Add crying babies, no movies, a call button being pressed over and over again unanswered by the crew, and a flummoxed attendant who mentions that only one ear bud is SUPPOSED to work for the in-flight music. Thankfully, the music available is not appealing, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out too much.

Back to the restroom….

I was faced with several people who are unfamiliar with ‘locking’ the bathroom door, the door remaining ‘unoccupied’ to outside observers and therefore being opened mid-business. Each time, I was the face the user saw when the door opened…instead of the person actually opening the door.

So many people were confused at how to open the restroom door that I was asked repeatedly during the flight to help people open the door. Mid-flight I took out a hand towel, meticulously placed it folded over my forearm, took out the life-savers from my backpack and started assisting passengers in their restroom experience. Thankfully, Royal Air Maroc already provides some of the amenities expected from a high-class restroom: tissues and fine-smelling lotion. A few guesses as to nationality: ‘Bonjour’, ‘Allo’, etc. to make the experience ‘warm and inviting’ and I am the proud owner of 15 Moroccan Dinars.