Updates from Rabat: 27 days in Country

I have so much to post about and didn't know where to start so here's my first attempt at answering your questions. Started with work in honor of labor day! #unionstrong since 1998!

Why are we here? 

Chris had the opportunity to come for his work. We applied for this posting and got it ! We had applied to a number of other foreign spots before getting assigned to Morocco. His assignment will be for a minimum of three years with the opportunity to extend for an additional three years. He works at the US Embassy in Rabat. There is also another US Embassy in Morocco down in Casablanca about 1.5 hours south of us. (After a short visit there, we got the better location!)

I recently was offered conditional employment (pending security review) to also work at the embassy as the English Language Instructor. There is no current English language program and the last person in this position was over 10 years ago. I have not started yet so I don’t know all of the details. There’s the benefit of being able to start from the ground up and create my own program. There’s also the stress of needing to start from the ground up with very little supports. They think I should be able to start in November. I am currently working remotely for my previous employer.

How do you communicate? 

Thankfully Chris went through an intensive language program to learn French before we came. To some detriment that course and daily French interaction ended 8 months before Chris actually arrived. French is used here as a remnant of the colonization by the French that just ended in 1956. There were also places of Morocco that were colonized/controlled by Spain and they speak a decent amount of Spanish. French is the language used for business, diplomacy and government. Moroccans also speak Moroccan Arabic called Darija. 

I have been studying French with an app called Duolingo and can make my way through my day to day needs with what I have learned there and with my Google translate. I hope to start taking French lessons when I start my employment at the Embassy.

There are also many people that we come into contact with that speak some level of English. French is taught here in school and there is growing popularity in learning English. Perhaps I can branch out and offer additional English tutoring for my side hustle :P

What about school? 

Abigail is going to a private school called the Rabat American School. They follow a lot of US standards for education and the teachers all speak English. Abigail’s 1st grade teacher happens to be from New York and also just moved here. The students are all on campus and following safety protocols similar to what we had in San Diego. The biggest difference so far would be that Abigail has daily classes in French and Arabic. They do have a pool and that is one of their PE classes so that will be different too but the pool is closed for now. The students wear uniforms for PE days. And they call their teachers by their first names - which drives me crazy. The students in Abigail’s class are from all over - another girl from the US/Virginia (might as well be another country to A1), Canada, and Guatemala. I am sure there are others as well but Abigail can’t remember. These are just what we heard during orientation/what I can remember.  She will also have local/Rabati students in her class as well. We were able to tour the school, which is PK-12, and it is new and fancy which is exactly how I expected a private school to be. Abigail stays within the elementary building as the cafeteria is closed but there are playgrounds, a field and an amazing library. She takes a “bus” to and from school.

Abigail’s extra curricular so far will be pony riding lessons. Her first class is this coming week and she’s excited. Swim lessons are not a big thing here so we most likely will not continue those. Dance is available so we might look into that as well. She was also doing Soo Bakh Do (Korean martial arts) which I have seen nothing of and nothing similar. 

Amelia will be in a Moroccan preschool that is French immersion. She will spend half her day learning in French. The class sizes are relatively small and there are a few other students from the US but (I think) the class is mostly locals. Her school was set to start on Monday but they are not a private school and have to follow guidelines put out by the ministry. Currently the orientation is delayed a week and we are assuming school will be too. We did a tour of the school and it was pretty similar to what we’ve seen at our old school - save for the kids wearing a shirt/vest uniform daily. All schools here have early days on Wednesdays so the teachers can do prep work. This happens at the preschool too. We are able to leave Amelia at the school later on these days (for an extra fee) and let her participate in rotating classes like art, yoga, and dance. Unlike at Abigail's school, the "canteen" is open at Amelia's school. For an additional monthly fee, we can sign her up to get lunch at school. Parents are required to bring fresh fruit each day to share for the morning snack.

Amelia is currently too young for pony lessons but will potentially do dance class at the same place Abigail will attend. There are apparently pony rides she can do while we wait for Abigail, a small playground, and a market with cheese and onion potato chips, so she will be good to go :)

Weekends have been a great time for us all to explore a new park, go to the pool, or spend time together so we're okay without more classes for now!

More questions answered soon! Keep 'em coming!