Where do I start?
Architecture: a bunker from WWII crossed with downtown Nice
Trash: everywhere outside, in fields, on sidewalks, on the sides of the road, in the middle of the road, in yards, piles and piles of rubbish, on the beach, in the ocean, etc.
Roads: some are cement, many are dirt, hard packed dirt. Not sure what happens when it rains, the center of Dar Bouazza where people walk is a dirt road filled with dirt, rocks, rubbish, poverty and cats
Animals: packs of wild dogs roam free, cats everywhere. Animals graze everywhere, empty lots, beach, the sides of the road, and they graze in the trash littered fields. Roads are shared with chickens, sheep, and cows, and carts being drawn by either horses or donkeys.
Once I was driving and I had to stop because a sheep had wandered into the middle of the road. Another time I was driving, I had to stop because I farmer was walking a train of cows right in the center of the street.
Language: a little French, mostly Morroccan Arabic, communication is hard. I ask people if they speak French. A lot of people don't understand me. Many people are illiterate. We interviewed a young woman who couldn't speak French real well to write her name for us in French and she couldn't. A lot of signs and foods are written only in arabic. I've learned just a few words in arabic. I have a hard time learning to count because the words are so long. There are phonemes that don't exist in English which makes some sounds very hard to pronounce. I have a hard time pronouncing the sound R in just about any language (French and Arabic).
People: are very nice, lots of good service, lots of people working in restaurants or on the side of the road to help you park or wash your car. Lots of cops (not sure that's a good thing). I have the feeling they would be out to exploit expats and expect to be bribed. I haven't been pulled over by the police yet, but it is inevitable. It would help if I could speak a little arabic, just to show respect.
Housekeeper: The best thing that's happened to us so far. I figured out pretty quickly that things work through word of mouth here. (bouche à l'oreille). We moved into a house in a large closed in housing development where most rich Morroccans keep their second vacation homes. Therefore it is quite dead in the winter, but very beautiful and quiet. We did very well choosing our house and where we live. I went to the park with my kids and met all the nannies. Everyone has a nanny and a housekeeper who cleans and cooks for the family. I was looking for someone to replace myself (ie nanny, cook, housekeeper, shopper, etc) and asked everyone in the park if they knew anyone. Everyone has a sister or a friend who could come and work for us. I collected a few phone numbers. My only stipulation is that she has to speak French so I can communicate with her. I then had a knock on my door from a lovely woman named Zora. She said the guard told her that we're looking for someone. She herself is already engaged by a family, but her sister is working and looking for a full-time job. I said, well bring her over. I met her the next day and she spoke French. I told her what I wanted and she said that's no problem. She asked for a fair amount of money, but I thought, what the hek. If I pay a nanny and a housekeeper separately, it would probably cost me more. So, I had Xavier meet her, I liked her and he agreed to hire her. Her name is Najat and she is the greatest thing that has happened to our family since we arrived in Morrocco. She explains the prices to me, tells me where to shop, where not to shop, how things work. I had to take a taxi here and asked if she would come with me so I can learn how to do it. Silly, I know but not obvious. She said it should cost 7 drm (70 cents) to go to Casa and 10 drm (1€) to come back per person. This is the white taxi. Once in Casa, you take the red taxi which runs by a clock like in the states so you can't get ripped off. She said never ask for the price up front because I will get ripped off because I'm not local. She said there are 2 prices, 1 for local, 1 for French. I obviously fall into the French category. So far though, I don't feel like I've been ripped off much. Most people I've delt with have been honest.
Schools: NIGHTMARE
There are 2 « American » schools here in Casa. One I heard is very, very, very bad. I've only heard negative things about it. The other is the lesser of 2 evils (called GWA). We based everything on GWA. We moved near GWA hoping we'd find lots of expats in the area (we heard there are lots of expats in Dar Bouazza). I had been in contact with GWA since Oct letting them know we were coming. I got all the papers together and we arrived during the winter break. They were closed so I had to wait until school started to begin the « enrollment process .» I called over the holiday and left numerous voicemails. Never got a response. I then called monday and they told me to come in maybe that day, maybe tues. I can't remember. The attitude of their admissions staff was not interested and not motivated. They just didn't care that my kids were not in school. There is one French woman who is in charge of admissions, she's nice, but totally slow. She wouldn't move her ass to do anything. I called everyday and said what do we need to do to get the kids into school? I figured it would take 2 days at best. All they needed from me was money to pay the admissions and some photos and the kids to get tested. They said that the teachers are sick so there is no one to test my kids. I said why don't they just start school and you can test them during the week when the teachers come back. She said GWA doesn't work like that. I waited until the following Tues to get Anais tested. Austin was supposed to get tested the same day but we all got sick so he couldn't. Wed was a holiday so no one reveiwed the test. Austin got tested Friday, still no response regarding Anais' test. Now 2 weeks have gone by, while admissions twiddles their thumbs and no one tells me anything, except they kept using words like « IF your child gets in. » There is one other Morroccan woman in admissions who helps the French woman. She is nice, but a total waste of human space. I have NEVER whitnessed a more useless human being in my life, and incompetent. She stupidly said to me once, « well you know, the 2nd semester doesn't start until Feb 6, so your kids might not be able to start until then. We don't like kids starting in the middle of the semester. » I said « if this is the case, you need to tell people BEFORE they move to Morrocco. I would have stayed in France. » I was so pissed that night, I couldn't sleep.
At this point I realised there is a problem. I was so pissed with the admissions staff and their overwhelming incompetency, that I called the elementary education and told them their admissions staff is totally incompetent and that I am no longer going to deal with them. Is there anyone in this school who is competent? Do you have any idea what it takes for me to tell someone they are incompetent? I am not a person prone to emotions or exaggeration. If I say someone is incompetent, it's because they are. Not a good foot to start off on.
Monday comes, I received an e-mail. The American school after great deliberation has decided to reject my children. They are not welcome to the school. GWA has a native English population of 20%. They said my kids scored way too low academically to be accepted into the school. My son did poorly on reading and maths and they think Anais has a learning disorder, dyslexia, whatever. They said her reading is high 1st grade, low 2nd grade level and her maths is poor. They said they do not have the ressources to take care of her. I said, who does? Where am I going to go? I was so pissed!! I understand my daughter has a problem. I understand I need to find a professional in English who can solve this problem. I need to go to either England or US to have my daughter properly tested and get her on track.
GWA to be clear is NOT an American school. It is a school that caters to those who pay for its existence, Rich Morroccans. They say they follow an American cursus, but that is only a sales pitch for the Morroccans who pay money to get into the school. Xavier thinks they were expecting to be bribed. I don't know. I don't care. My kids aren't going there. The school in Manosque has kindly agreed to take my kids back. We have one last option here. There is a brand new school called International School of Morrocco run by an American and her husband. She used to work at CAS and something happened where she got fed up, left and started her own school. Currently they only have a kindergarten so our kids would be the only ones at this school for their age. Not sure how that will work. The kids are getting tested right now as I write this and then the owner will give us a proposal. We came here Monday and they said they couldn't help us because they are only a kindergarten for now, but hope to grow. We said in that case, we have to keep looking for other options. We are also looking into the Lycée Français, but I think Anais will get reemed in that system.
EVERY SINGLE other expat had the same horrific nightmares regarding schools. There was another expat who waited 1,5 months with his kids NOT going to school, only for the school to deny his children entry at the end. He was so pissed, he took his family, left his job and the country. I have now learned how to take control. I have an appt today at CAS anyway and told them up front the negative things I've heard about CAS and what happened to us at GWA. I told them I am completely enraged at what happened and that I'm coming back to France. I said you have one week to test my kids. She said that's impossible. I said then they will not be tested. I'm NOT keeping them out of school any longer for these kinds of things. She said she understands. I said I will go back to France, put the kids back in school. I will do all the necessary bull shit paper work in France and then have everyone line up the testing at the same time and come back for that. I am so pissed about the nonchalant lazy points of view regarding children's education in this country. I told GWA, you are an American school run by Americans. I expect you to be able to ACTUALLY run things the way Americans do. They said the problem is Morrocco. The country resists them. I've heard about that. It's the same problem for Xavier at work. Nothing works, nothing functions. It is very bizarre. From what I've seen locally, things have run very, very well here for me with the locals. Especially since I have Najat who knows everyone and who watches out for us. She is absolutely wonderful! We are so blessed to have her on our side!
All Expats told us they went though the same things with the schools. They waited forever to get into the school. The schools jerked them around. Their kids were poorly treated in the schools. They themselves were poorly treated. The schools cater to the local Morroccan population, which is normal since there aren't enough expats to keep the school afloat. Therefore schools are Morroccan run. It feels like a collossal joke. I don't think the education is even that good. Najat told me I was too nice, that I should have been a real bitch and yelled at people. She said when people are nice they get treated like shit in Morrocco. This is new to me. I did get angry and was about the level of rude that I get. But yelling straight up is not my style. I don't like yelling at people. In my culture, yelling at someone is showing that I have no intelligence and or emotional control. It looks pretty bad, at least that's how I see things. I just have to take control now and run the show. I was in a weak position at GWA, I've learned now. That is never going to happen again. A lot of people are leaving after 6 months because they are fed up with the situation in Morrocco and fed up with the school situation. We are worried about our kids. We want to keep the family together and are not sure what to do. However, when I signed onto this project, I didn't sign on to teach my kids home schooling and that seems to be where I'm headed. I'd rather come back to France. Socially, homeschooling isn't healthy for anyone.
It is hard because I never had any problems in school. I went to a great public school. Teachers were good, kids were bright. School for me was never an issue. I wasn't the brightest, which always annoyed me, but I wasn't the dumbest either. Everyone was bright. I just didn't have any learning issues, reading issues, math issues. I just didn't have any issues period. I guess I just assumed my kids would be like me. I had an incredibly stable childhood, which probably really helped. We've put our kids through tremendous stress and it's not getting any better. The int'l school in Manosque is properly accredited, which makes all the difference. That's hard to find in these parts, which makes it scary for the kids when we move onto the next place. I plan to come back sunday if nothing works out here and I will keep trying from France, slowly, at my own rhythm and in control.
This is my first month of experience in Morrocco. I keep forgetting how hard it is to be an expat. It already helps that I speak French. I cannot imagine how hard it would be if I couldn't communicate at all. And I have Najat who can translate for me and help explain the culture to me. It makes all the difference in the world. It's like having my own reliable, personal, capable guide to Morrocco. In that sense I'm very lucky.
My experience so far really is ok. It's just the school situation that has given me much stress, but like I said, we're learning quickly and I suppose adapting. Adaptation is really an acquired skill. I suppose you get better at it the more you do it.
I hope all of you stay well. If any of you do think about following to Morrocco. Please beware of the schools. Do it slowly during vacation if possible so you don't get stuck like the rest of us. Or prepare well in advance for homeschooling so you don't have pressure to get the school crap done. But definitely do ALL the papers for ALL the schools in advance because it is so much to do and really like a bad joke.
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