Updates from Rabat: Part 2

**Update: I have created more photo albums and I decided to update some photo albums I already shared. We don't share photos of our children publicly online and since I have set it so I don't control who reads this blog I wanted some control over who can see the pictures. If there are any albums that need permissions, I will indicate them and you can just ask. Assuming we know you, I will add you to them. Thanks for understanding!

I was going to be clever and slowly release answers but alas on day 6 of limited internet and FB now blocking my blog post links as SPAM, I am going to answer the rest of the questions I have so far. 

Have you made friends?

We are coming at an interesting time. A lot of people who are part of the embassy community have been here for about a year and have had their time greatly impacted by COVID. With things opening up a little we are less impacted but arrived when a lot of ex-pats were back in the US on home leave. We have gone to a private pool (we are members of the club) and have attempted to talk to some people. Anyone who knows Chris and me knows we are not great conversationalists so there’s been no huge rush of new friends. One of the parents of a girl in Abigail’s class was thoughtful enough to reach out and arrange a pool hang out time and the girls will be doing pony lessons together so that is some movement forward. 

Before arriving we were assigned a family as our “social sponsors”. They both work at the embassy and have children close in age to our kids. We have hung out with them a few times as well. They have been here for a number of years and this is their 2nd foreign assignment so they get to answer all our silly questions. In my first hang out sesh with the family this past weekend they said it well in that you make a lot of acquaintances through the embassy and those connections but those people are not automatically your friends. We get it. We also spent over 10 years each in San Diego so we know how long it takes to cultivate friendships. Right now I would say it would be okay to meet some new people and have more things to do but we are also still settling in. We did meet a US couple this past weekend at a restaurant that are NOT here withe/for the US government (shocking) and the boys exchanged numbers so perhaps we will branch out and be social with them and their 3 kids. Miracles can happen :)

We live on a busy street and the way houses are designed here (large walls, hedges, and gates) doesn’t lead to intermingling in a neighborly way. We were told there are other people from the embassy that live near us with similar aged kids but we don’t know who they are yet and have not made any efforts to actively seek them out. The other day at the park a little girl was trying her hand at English to get Abigail to play with her but with Abigail showing little interest, so it did not last long. At parks or plazas the girls tend to play together. Hopefully through school they will both make more friends as the year progresses.

**Update: Today is Abigail's last day of school until October 1 and Amelia is also postponed until then based on new ministry orders. Hopefully things with COVID get under control and they'll both be back in school soon.

What is it like being a woman/girl in Morocco?

We had assumed and heard that the girls would get a lot of attention for their super blonde hair and blue eyes. I would say that so far this hasn’t been too intense. I am sure there have been people noticing and talking amongst themselves about the girls but it has not been very forceful. A few people have touched their heads without asking (is that something you ask for?) But it has been so quick its been hard to stop them. We also usually don’t know what they are saying. We have been trying to talk to the girls after this happens of course to tell them that they do not have to let anyone touch them and they can and should say no if someone tries to.

The girls do not have any restrictions or expectations for what they are supposed to wear as they are both young. We have always had them wear shorts or leggings under dresses so that has not been an issue. While we are in a bigger city and get some accommodation for being foreigners, I would say there is a noticeable difference in what women wear. Morocco is considered a progressive Muslim country but they are still Muslim. Many women wear the traditional long dresses which cover their knees and shoulders. Some women also wear head coverings. A handful that we have seen out and about wear full coverings. Especially coming from San Diego, I would say there is a lot less bare skin. I have seen a few women running at a local park who have been wearing shorts but they have been wearing loose/longer tops. Some women even run in full length clothes and head coverings. Some women, especially younger women I have seen wearing the cropped tops that are making a comeback or tops that are off the shoulder. There have been a few tight clothing sightings but even after being here for almost a month they stick out. When we went to the beach a few weeks ago there was not a single woman in a bathing suit. Some were wearing long sleeved shirts and knee length shorts/skirts in the water. Some were wearing what looked like their regular full coverage clothes and some also had their head scarves on in the ocean. Many of the women in and around the beach were not in the water and wearing their regular clothes. Men and boys were wearing just shorts. Some young girls were wearing bathing suits in the water.

For myself, I had some time to prepare for coming here. I have some longer dresses that I feel comfortable wearing and some dresses I wear with leggings underneath. I do have a few dresses I have worn that go to my knees and are sleeveless but I haven’t worn anything with spaghetti straps or short shorts and definitely would not together. At the beach I had my black one piece swimsuit on but ended up keeping my knee length dress on over it. When we go to the private pool I have worn my suit in the pool and surrounding area but would not think to wear just my suit to say walk into the market that is there or just wear a pair of bottoms with my suit.

As for a general gender equity commentary, I have not noticed anything that would jump out at me. I also clearly not from here so I assume I am treated differently. I have read some things about what women should be careful about and realized I have done many of the things on the list. One such thing was smiling at men as a greeting or being the first to say hello. Another was going to a cafe alone - though this is supposed to be cafe-specific. Most of the time I have one of my kids (or both) with me so I am assuming they know I am not throwing out a “hey there cutie” vibe or looking for a short-term “companion”. 

I use to be tasked with the duty of walking the dog at night and now I do not do that. Assuming I should not be out alone at night by myself is a pretty safe bet.

What can you do to be active?

Taking the Bee out for a walk

Thankfully there are some green spaces around us. The driving is crazy and the sidewalks are inconsistent so trying to navigate around our house has been a bit of a challenge. I also don’t have my car and the area we live in is urban though we have some shops, a grocery store, and a few restaurants less than a block from our house. 

I have not had the opportunity yet to run yet but have walked to some parks with our Bee (trailer) and Amelia and think they will be good spots to run to. I am looking forward to running once both girls are in school as a way to explore our area a bit more. There’s a park that is about 2 miles away which is the only place I have seen anyone (male or female) running. For the time that we have spent here, we have not been as active as we were in San Diego. The closest playground is a mile walking. Thankfully we have a yard that is big enough to run around in and the house is plenty big to set up a place to work out.

There are many organized runs around Morocco, Africa, and the very nearby countries of Europe, France, and Spain. I also haven't done an organized run years. I think there is hiking in the relatively close Atlas Mountains but we have not looked into it much yet. There are definitely lots of places to explore. The good news is the sporting goods store sells running, hiking, camping, and water sports gear so I am assuming all things can be done while we are here!

Photos Morocco: Art and Architecture, Morocco: Flora and Fauna, Morocco: Around Rabat (request access), Morocco: Rabat - Around the House (request access)

What do you do about the grocery store/food/eating?

The entry to our Marjane grocery

Sadly going to the grocery store almost daily has been our principal form of entertainment, but I guess we are learning a lot. There is a grocery store right across the street from us. Most of the stores around us are called Marjane which is a Moroccan chain directly belonging to the current King. There are also a few Carrefour’s which are French and little mini-marts scattered all around. The grocery store is not too hard to navigate. Food packaging makes it pretty easy to guess what a food is and with Google Translate on my phone I can double check a flavor (in an attempt to avoid any disasters).  Of course, as I have learned in traveling in other countries, things don’t taste the same. You can of course buy some brands we know in the US like Dannon and Nabisco but they are usually more expensive. We have struggled with finding meat, cheese and yogurt that the girls will eat. There are also not many snacks that the girls have approved. The fruit has been okay but the grapes have seeds (OMG) and the carrots taste different (no clue). 

Most of the produce is very fresh - like the dirt is still on it- and I think that makes it a bit challenging for the girls. We are very spoiled in the US with how our food is presented to us. The girls like to look at the fish and meat counters as the the fish are whole and the meat counters have a LOT more meaty parts than they are use to seeing. We just talk about how our food looks here vs. in the US and that in many places people make better use of all of the parts of the food - veggie greens, beef hearts, tripe, etc. We also talk about what the meat IS and I am trying to normalize that a bit for them so it seems like less of a shock factor to see a whole duck or a whole goat in the meat case. Reminds me of stores we went to in China where the animals were still alive when you picked the one you wanted. That lesson might be a bit much for now.

Now that we are all back together, more cooking is happening at home. The kids still eat a lot of noodles and we struggle to get them protein as they shift what they like by the minute. We have found traditional hot dogs at the embassy but I am not sure they are worth the cost. There are other sausage options that we are field testing. Thanks be to whoever there are chicken nuggets here so they won’t starve. The girls also eat a lot of hard boiled eggs, cereal, toast, some veg (tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots), and most fruit. Chris and I have a pretty standard meal of meat and vegetables. We have found ground turkey, chicken, and red meat pretty readily. We did find some bacon pieces that add flavor but pork products are next to impossible to find. There is apparently a guy who knows a guy so we are working on it. The veggies we get are pretty similar - squash, peppers, onions, the occasional potato.

Beef tajine and bread

Eating out has been hit or miss with the kids but the adults have done pretty good. We can easily get hamburgers and pizza. There is a lot of grilled meats. We have had sushi, Thai, Indian and schwarma that has all been good. Traditional Moroccan is probably couscous or tajine which we do not eat regularly. We have also not tried to cook either at home. I am a big fan of the French influences which include crepes almost everywhere and croissants. They have omelets (pretty basic) at a few places and we even tried bagel sandwiches (decent). I did try a traditional Moroccan breakfast and I think it had 6 different kinds of bread. I have not tried the sweetened mint tea that the country is known for but we have had a lot of coffee (mostly lattes) and lots of fresh squeezed orange juice (I may never go back to anything else). 

Photos Morocco: Foods