Doris and I went to Rabat last weekend. We stayed with Souad at her new apartment near the beach. She has an apartment on the top floor where she has a beautiful balcony. From the balcony there is a perfect view of roof tops stretching to the Atlantic - satillite dishes grown from the roof tops like mushrooms after a summer rain. We spent a lot of time on the balcony but I never saw anyone else on a balcony while I was there. Souda told me that Moroccans are not "balcony people" - everything is directed inward toward the interior of the apartment. You can see this with the blank walls of the medina where beautiful court yards within blank, ugly walls. I also got to meet Margaret Peron - she has the most fabulous, huge old colonial house near downtown Rabat - it was full of kids, cats and dogs...oh my. We had a delightful lunch there - good company, good food and good conversation. A large cat sat at the end of the table during the meal. The kids at the end of the table spent most of their time building barriers with the dishes to stop the cat from stealing the fish in the center of the table. It was a really good weekend. I got to see a completely different Moroccan and Souad is a most delightful, interesting and funny person. I'm looking forward to our next trip to Rabat. My only regret is a very sore ass. Is there any comfortable seat to be found on public transportation in Morocco? The grand taxi from Meknes to Ifrane must have had an iron plate under the seat and the driver must have hit everyone pothole and bump in the road. Oh vey, what a pain in the ass that ride was! I looked all over Rabat - millions of people - huge city - for oatmeal and nada. I come back to Ifrane and walk the the Superette two minutes from the apartment - oatmeal on the shelf. Oh, the irony!!!!
I enjoyed the train ride back and forth from Meknes to Rabat. The train was packed because of the long weekend holiday. Doris has taught me to scramble so I was able to grab a couple of seats in 2nd class before the train filled up. I sat and watched the landscape pass - wheat fields, corn, olive groves, cacti and huge succulents. I thought, you're not no Kansas anymore Dorothy. It was beautiful though. The train was airconditioned which surprised me. I'm not sure why...erroneous expectations. Nice thing about reality - it screws with erroneous expectations in the most delightful way. I tried not to have "expectations" about Morocco but I did and I do. I prefer the reality to the fantasy created by the media and our own cutltural bias. This is a complicated country with a rich and varied culture and history - much to experience; much to learn.
This has been a busy week. We had orientation Thursday and Friday. We are trying to get all of our paperwork completed - the beauty of beureaucracy. Doris is getting settled in to her new job - they didn't order any of the books for her classes so life has a new challenge for her right now. I have any second job interview at the Language Center at AUI today. Hopefully, I will know if I have a job or not today. Classes start Wednesday so not much time to prepare if I get hired. If I don't get hired, then my life will have a new challenge. Zen mind is good here. Everyone is friendly, incredibly warm and helpful. Lots of really interesting people at AUI from all over the world - many have worked and lived all over the world.
Morocco is what they call a high context culture - more is implied than what is said. Life here is all about relationships and connections. It is very diffferent from the West which is a low context culture. It reminds me of the Old South of my childhood - ask about the family before getting down to business. When people complain about the heat here, I think...wow, this would be a perfect day in Tallahassee and they think I'm crazy. I've found that retirement is not the end of an old life but the beginning of a new life. It's good to be 62 and living large in Morocco. I feel a tremor in the FORCE - Doris must be waking up! Got to go.
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