Ramadan has started

Happy Ramadan everyone! This week was full of routines and trying to learn simple Moroccan customs. It was my (Marc) Birthday on Sunday. We celebrated by going to a very nice Restaurant Rose Marie which had good seafood and is right on the beach. We took a taxi to get there, which at the time we thought we were over charged (6 dollars) for a two mile taxi ride. We tried to get a taxi back but our waiter suggested that we get a ride with the chef. We agreed and later realized that the chef wasn't just being nice. He wanted us to pay the same $6 (50 dirhams) price. We have a car which we are pretty happy with - we made the right choice by buying a car from a leaving teacher. It allowed us to not worry about purchasing a new car here which can be very expensive (about twice what they cost in the US) and we don't have to ask others for rides. It didn't go hassle free, though, as the key was lost for a week and then the insurance ran out which we renewed on Monday for another month. We still don't officially own it until we get our Carte de Sejour (our working visa).

We are enjoying our bike rides more and more each day. We've tried different routes but it still seems faster to ride along the beach. Our panniers (bike bags) should be arriving next week from the states so we look forward to not using backpacks to lug our clothes. Teaching has been a lot of fun and the students have been pretty receptive to the Problem Based Learning approach. I'm curious to see what the parents think. We celebrated last week with a big party at the Director's house. There was lots of dancing - it kind of reminded me of the last days of training (for the Peace Corps) in Senegal. The night was highlighted by a bizarre group circle (Moroccan, Americans, Canadians, Britons, Australians, French and others) singing John Denver songs.

On Tuesday, Ramadan started. It was interesting to see the traditions of Moroccan celebrations. The nearby mosque has turned up the volume on their speakers. It is very soothing to hear the prayer call at sunset announcing that everyone go to the mosque and then afterwards drink tea and sweets. About 10 pm everyone eats a big meal. The mosque calls again around 4 am and everyone gets up to eat a breakfast before sunrise when they can not eat or drink again until sunset. Restaurants are usually closed until 8:30 pm and there are less cars in the morning since most people go to work around 9:00 am. We're still trying to figure out what time things open.

We still don't have a bank account probably because we don't have our official Carte de Sejour card) so we were paid our September salary in cash. Stephanie put all the cash in her backpack and biked home. With the cash we've been trying to figure out what our budget will be like and how do we pay bills. On Tuesday, the local guard (he watches the cars and houses to make sure nothing is stolen) came by to ask for his monthly wage. I knew this was coming but tried to see if the price could be negotiated. First, we are on the second story and our place is pretty hard to break into (we have three locked doors to get into our apartment), secondly he was asking for (400 dhs = $55/month) which is much higher than what other people are paying in different areas of the town. I met another neighbor who came out to help translate (the guardian only spoke Arabic) and said that everyone on the street pays the same amount and the community decided on that price. After talking to many people about it, I believe he is right. Anyway, we're helping the economy. We have also hired a maid, Jemaa, who used to work full time and was a live in maid. It is such a small place that we didn't really need her that much so we've hired her for two three hour sessions a week. We've worked with other Americans so that she has a full week worth of work. We've also understood that it is traditional to give an extra weeks pay during Ramadan. We've also given her dates which is very traditional in Moroccan cooking.

We've heard stories of people not getting their internet bill then the internet company just cuts off service and it takes two months to start up the internet again. So we found out where the office was and paid for a whole year of internet. So far the internet hasn't been too bad. We also had to pay the landlady for rent. We've heard good things about her. She works as a doctor for the UN in Yemen specializing on women's health in rural areas. She wanted to negotiate the contract by asking us to put down a two month deposit. We suggested we just pay her September and Octobers months rent (she wanted the money for the beginning of Ramadan) which we were relieved that she accepted.

Anyway, I've never stressed so much about paying bills before. It's not that we can't afford it, its just trying to figure how to pay them. Stephanie keeps calling it "monopoly money" since it doesn't seem quite real and paying for things is always a interesting. Anyway, we've got most of it done. The last thing is to buy a winter's worth of firewood. Apparently September is the time to do this. I'm sure there will be a good story when we figure out how to get 2 cubic meters of firewood to our apartment. Stay tuned!