Morrocco January 2012

This blog is extremely old, but for some reason I forgot to publish it. So, here it is...

How does one describe Morrocco?

Answer: Well, it's a developing country, isn't it??

I have never seen a filthier place. It's like the worst of the Chicago southside with some sheep, chickens, turkeys, cows, and camels thrown in. When you see images of Africa with awful little dirty storefronts....Well, that's how I see Dar Bouazza.

Everyone speaks Arabic and less people speak French. It's based on the level of the individual's education. It feels as though the mass populace is far less educated the the US and Europe. There are police everywhere manning the traffic lights, manually changing the lights.

People drive with cars that are 40 yrs old. Dirty and reeling pollution. There are large developments and in btw empty lots of land that has animals grazing on it freely and the lot will also be covered in trash.

People are really nice here and there is really good service. There are lots of little jobs off the books. Everywhere you park, there is a guy who will watch your car for you and help you park. You have to tip them. You can also have your car washed for a few extra coins. People are very open to helping when you ask for help. I'm trying to learn a bit of Arabic, because it is necessary for survival here. Morroccan Arabic has a lot of French words mixed in. So that kind of helps I guess.

We found a wonderful woman who works for us full-time. She cleans, cooks, does the laundry, irons, and can do the shopping and watches the kids. She speaks very good French. She is very outgoing and nice. She has also been extremely helpful. Instead of me fumbling about on my own trying to learn the rules here, she explains them to me. She tells me the correct prices on things. There are 2 prices here 1. Local 2. French. I took her to the large grocery store at the Morrocco mall to help me do some initial shopping. It was a fun day out. It was her first time to the mall so we walked it before we went shopping. She is very well connected and knew a lot of people working at the mall from Dar Bouazza, where we both live.

Roads: Sometimes the roads are paved, more times they are dirt, yes, dirt. The road in front of the local grocery store is dirt.