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 4th floor (5th 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 3rd 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.
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.
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