Welcome to 2021!

I wish that I could say that I haven't posted for a month because I have been so busy, but that would be a lie. My contract finished the 3rd week of December, but the last two weeks were for presentations by the participants. Since then, I have been trying to do yoga or exercise on a regular basis, write in my journal, and play violin. My success rate varies. I did celebrate the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on Dec.21, the winter solstice, with a walk on the beach to view it away from the lights of town. I was with a group of expats whom I hike with and spent Christmas Day with. Then I went home to do a ritual and go to bed. Christmas Eve I invited my landlord to have a traditional Mexican dinner on the terrace. It was a challenge to find the necessary ingredients and I would not brag about this dinner to anyone. He had gotten some friends coming from France to bring me cranberries, so I was able to make cranberry sauce for Christmas Day since I missed Thanksgiving.

Christmas Day I opened my Christmas stocking - Wow, just what I wanted!!-- and then went to have brunch on a terrace overlooking the ocean. The food was not great, but the company was. The expats in Essaouira are from all over the world and this group of women included 2 Brits, 1 Aussie, 1 Hungarian, and 1 Norwegian. We spent 5 hours eating, drinking, chatting, and just relaxing. It was lovely.

That evening I got to Zoom with the kids. Rory was in California and Jasper was in Hood River with his dad.

The New Year really was a fitting end to 2020. Nothing happened. I was around no one (all of Morocco had a curfew from 8 pm Dec. 31 until 8 am Jan. 1.) On New Year's Eve I went to a cafe on the beach to have a glass of wine and toast the final sunset of the year. I was alone and spent the time reflecting on what 2020 had changed, destroyed and created. New Year's Day I went back to the beach to watch the first sunset of 2021.

In the couple of weeks since then I have decided to move up to Rabat (the capitol) for a bit. I got my 3rd contract, less lucrative than the first two, but I can live on it in Morocco. However, I want to find some work that really brings me joy and I don't see that happening here in Essaouira. It's a wonderful place, relaxing, and I have met some great people, but I'm not part of the local community and that feels so odd to me. I need to renew my carte de sejour which I had heard would be easier the 2nd time--WRONG. If I can't renew it, I will have to leave the country and reenter as a tourist (not super easy right now with COVID.) That's the update. I'll let you know in February if I was successful in renewing my residency or if I am in a different country. Who knows what will have happened in the US in the meantime? I hope everyone is staying healthy and sane. Enjoy the things we take for granted: heat, a home, food, friends, etc.

Another month gone!!

Wow! It's December already. I hope 2020 is not quite as much of a rollercoaster ride. I haven't posted since my last hike. Not much happens here. I work Monday through Thursday evenings. I have been knitting and doing yoga and participating in quite a few online classes. I presented at another conference online. I usually walk down to the beach at least once a day and ride my bike to the store. It is still in the 60s here and usually sunny. The few times it has rained (with thunder and lightning) have been at night and by the middle of the following day, it was beautiful again. I have joined a group of expats on FB and we went on a hike recently. There is a huge park on the outskirts of town with trees and hills and ponds. And camels! So here are some pictures.

I really appreciate the ingenuity of those with less in many of the countries I visit. This child seat may not be the safest choice, but it works.

When I first arrived in Morocco last year, I saw these lighted decorations and thought, "Wow, it's a little early for Christmas. And isn't Morocco a Muslim country?" Later I reallized that it is the Moroccan flag. :-)

A Day in the Country

A Day in the Countryside

Although I enjoy biking around town and I go to the beach almost every day, when the Airbnb owner, Hassan, invited me on a hike in the country, I jumped at the chance.  He asked if I was "healthy."  I guess in French that is how they ask if you are in good shape.  My sarcastic answer was, "Yeah, why?  Are we climbing a mountain?"  And he said it would just be a small one.  We had to leave early to catch the 7:45 bus, but since this is Morocco, it came at 8:15.  Then we got dropped off on the side of the highway and had to wait for a taxi that was going out into the country.  Hassan forgot to ask the driver the price before we started and we were totally ripped off.  It actually made me feel better that it isn't just tourists who get scammed.

We started walking and there was no path, just a riverbed.  He was looking for a certain tree and eventually we came across it.  I call it the "Wishing Tree" because women go there who want to get married or pregnant and tie an article of clothing to the tree as an offering.  I'm fairly certain that this is not in the Koran. 

The Wishing Tree

After I checked it out, we kept hiking and eventually made it to this village built on top of a huge rock formation.  We walked around it and then up through the gate into deserted lanes.  We discovered that the imam had called everyone to go get vaccinated, so everything was closed.  We left and started walking again.  By this time, we had been walking for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours nonstop.  I was ready to sit for a bit.  Luckily, Hassan had brought fruit and nuts and we had a picnic.  Then we continued on.

Village on a Hill

We walked and walked.  We were now on a road and the walking wasn't a problem, but there was no shade and it was getting hot.  I could feel myself starting to lose my thinking ability and I realized that heat stroke was a definite possibility. I heard a car and (hoping against hope) said, "Oh, maybe that's a taxi."  The driver pulled over and it WAS a taxi, but Hassan told him that we wanted to go to the mill and it wasn't too much farther, so we would just keep walking.  Luckily the driver told him that it was closed, but said that when we passed it, if it looked open, then he would stop.  We got in the car.  After another 1/2 mile or so, we passed the closed road to the mill.  I was sooo glad that we had gotten the taxi, even though I wondered how the car was still running.  When we stopped in a town to change taxis, I asked if I could take a picture.

In that taxi, there had only been the two of us and the driver and his friend in the front.  Our next grand taxi had been modified to add an extra seat in the back of a normal car.  3 people sat there, 4 sat in the middle seat (including me) and 2 sat in the front passenger seat.  I had my mask on and the windows were open, but there was definitely no social distancing there.  The driver drove like a maniac to the large town nearby where we caught a bus back to Essaouira.  9 hours after leaving, I was back home and ready to drink a gallon of water and shower before starting my class.

A few days later, I made a vegetarian tagine in a traditional pot.  It may taste different than the ones sold on the street here, but it was yummy.

My first Airbnb, Essaouira

 

Essaouira

 Things I love about Essaouira:

1. big plazas (remind me of zocalos in Mexico or town centers in Europe

2. wide, straight streets in the small medina are not overwhelming at all

3. public toilets!!  (a hallmark of civilized cities)

4. beaches with few people who are spread out and masked around others

5. quiet - often the loudest noise is from seagulls

6. inexpensive housing & food 

7. biking is common and safe

8. beautiful weather (okay, it's windy, but not more than Hood River)

9. no curfew & families out after dark on weekend nights

 10. other Europeans (I'm not the only one)

Number 8, the beautiful weather, continues.  I spend time at the beach everyday, walking or sunbathing.

Casa to Essaouira

 

Well, I spent a month in Casablanca and now have moved to a much smaller city 5 hours south.

In Casa, the Airbnb I had gotten for a month while I decided where to live was located in a good area (near the apartment I lived in before) and very nice, much bigger than I really needed. However, it was located on the 4^th floor (5^th American) with no elevator and right next to a building being constructed. This meant jackhammering, sawing, etc. all day long. While most of my classes were in the evening, after a couple of days, it started to drive me crazy. A couple of good things about the location: I knew where all of the shops were and I could meet a couple of people I knew for coffee. A 20 minute walk away was the Hassan II mosque on the ocean.

What made me decide to move? Was it all of the people wearing their face masks like necklaces? Was it the packed city buses? Or was it after the 3^rd time I saw someone (who actually was wearing a mask) pull it down to sneeze or cough? The last Monday that I was there, the schools opened back up and thousands of children went to spend hours together, spreading germs. I had not been able to find an apartment –a long story with many strange happenings-- and was getting a little desperate. I had also been working like crazy with the other coordinator of the online program of workshops and was really stressed. To top it off, I was scheduled to start another teaching job in 2 weeks at a British University with in person classes 3x a week.

I had thought about visiting Essaouira, a town 5 hours from Casa on the coast which I had visited in November. It felt very comfortable: smaller, more open with wider streets, much quieter, etc. Airbnbs there were much cheaper and I would be able to ride my bike, something I couldn’t do in Casa without fearing for my life. Initially I decided to go down for a week, but I have all of my belongings and traveling out of Casa requires a travel authorization from the police. At 5 one morning (when all of my ideas come to me), I woke up and decided to move down there and not take the job at the university. I easily found an Airbnb, got a travel authorization (after visiting 4 police stations since my neighborhood one was closed due to “contamination”) and found a driver to get me there. The day my Casa Airbnb ended, my driver picked me up and we took the long trip down.

Here is the Bab El-Marsa, or El-Marsa Gate, to the Essaouira medina.

https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-things-to-do-in-essaouira-morocco/#:~:text=Bab%20el%2DMarsa,-Source%3A%20Olena%20Tur&text=The%20inscription%20in%20the%20pediment,date%2C%201184%20(1770). 

Random Thoughts from Casa

When a man in front of you on an empty part of a busy street reaches down to his waist and starts to move toward the wall… avert your eyes from the public, VERY PUBLIC, bathroom.

Public transportation is wonderful… except in a pandemic.

Constant jackhammering next door is awful, no matter how nice the apartment is.

Mar7ba l Magreb!

 Wow!  What a difference a year makes.  A year ago I was just arriving in Morocco. Although I had visited once in 1995, I had only been in Fes for a couple of days (having taken the train from Tangier straight there and then returned directly to the ferry.)  I had no idea what to expect in 2019.  This time I knew what to expect under normal circumstances, but was unsure of what COVID had wrought in the 6 months since my departure.  Morocco had been on total lockdown for 3 of those months.  For Americans wondering what that means, being outside your home is only allowed to go to the store, to go to the hospital, or to leave the country, UNLESS you are an essential worker.  Yes, just like everywhere else, those who bring us food and utilities are suddenly recognized as important people in the community.  The last 3 months had seen a gradual reopening across the country and then the partial restrictions imposed on the 6 largest cities, of which Casablanca is the biggest.

I had been told that I wouldn't be able to get in to the country since only Moroccans and residents were being allowed in.  However, I had been granted my carte de sejour (residency card) a couple of weeks before leaving in March.  I had my receipt in hand, but no carte.  That was waiting to be picked up at the Casablanca police station.  When I finally decided to return (at 1 am a couple of weeks beforehand), everything had fallen into place.  I was able to get a ticket on the once a week plane (which happened to fly on my day off) and my doctor scheduled me for the antibody and active COVID tests for immediately before leaving.  Luckily in Hood River, we have the rapid tests available which give you your results in 30 minutes.  This was important because the test could not be more than 48 hours old upon arrival in Morocco.

I arrived at JFK with my papers in hand and they gave me my ticket and got me on the plane.  Both of my Delta flights and my Royal Air Maroc flight had plenty of space around passengers.  Each time I had a row to myself.  Upon arriving in Casablanca, they looked at my papers again and gave me yet another paper saying I could enter Casa.  Success!!  I got a cab and zipped over to my Airbnb which happened to be right down the street from my previous apartment.  The main plus with this apartment was the good Wifi since I am teaching online.  The good location and large bathtub were just bonuses :-)  One serious drawback was the 4th floor location with no elevator (although I now see it as part of my exercise routine.)

Although I was exhausted, I needed to get on Moroccan time.  I cleaned up, went grocery shopping and put my stuff away.  After eating something, I walked down to the ocean and the Hassan II mosque (now empty.)  This was a favorite place of mine and I came here often last year, particularly after a stressful day.  As I sat there, I could feel myself finally believing that I was back.  I can't wait to see what this year brings.

From Mt. Hood...

to Casablanca

My carte de sejour which I picked up Monday.  I am now an official Moroccan resident!