Working Gal

Well, almost.  

I've been waiting to post about this because I'm a chicken and didn't know if I would get the job or not and could subsequently face my digital shame, but all is well and so I'll share.

They have a program in the State Department called the Extended Professional Associates Development Program or EPAP in the ubiquitous acronym State Department speak.  This program allows qualified spouses to apply for professional positions at post so that they can continue their professional development.  As a side note I have been very pleased with the way the State Department looks after spouses (and other family members I would assume).  A happy family is a happy and long lasting employee.  Kudos.  

A few months ago I noticed an Information Specialist job in Casablanca for this program and contacted some people to ask about it.  Information is my schtick and the idea of using my newly minted Masters of Library and Information Science degree right off the bat was pretty exciting to me.  Unfortunately, the job was more IT than it was library science, HOWEVER (and a great big however), the nice woman at State told me there was a Cultural Affairs job that I might consider applying for...

After some sleuthing I discovered that one of my potential tasks, in addition to a host of other fabulous tasks, would be to work with the Information Resources Center (library) at post.  Needless to say I was thrilled and promptly applied for the position.  I received my official offer a few weeks ago and my official title will be the Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer.  This position will also be involved with the many cultural events and speaker programs the consulate plans and implements in the region.   

So good news bears all around.   If you know me personally and a federal agent shows up at your door - don't be nervous.  He just wants to know if I'm nice and trustworthy :) 

Email Subscribers

Hello Friends,

I recently had to migrate email subscribers over to a new web domain and in the process may have lost some of you.  If you no longer receive emails but you once did (and still want to), please check your inboxes and junk folders for a confirmation email from "Feedburner Email Subscriptions".  Once you click on that you will receive my emails again.

You can reach me at theworldthatweliveinblog@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Brooke

P.S. If you want to receive emails every time I post just fill out the little box on the bottom right hand corner :)

P.P.S If you've used this opportunity to cut ties and run for the hills, then tafuddal my friends.  (That means be at your pleasure, be welcome in Arabic)

Casablanca: The Habous Quarter

My first Tagine in Morocco!

We've learned how to ask for just mint, water, and sugar - Mormon style. 

Rabat & Salé

Rabat is about an hour and a half north of Casablanca and is where the actual Embassy is located.  I went up with Max yesterday and was able to meet up with a few friends from church who live in the area.  They were so sweet to take me to some of the souks and we drove around parts of the city.  It's really beautiful.  There are a lot more tourist sights in Rabat and certainly a lot more green space.

Rabat is separated from its sister city Salé by the BouRegreg river.  Salé is, evidently, the place where Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked.  ...but I didn't know that from actually reading the book like I should have in 10th grade AP European History.  Wikipedia.  I'll have more to say about Rabat and Salé when we visit them in a earnest sometime, but here a few pictures from my short visit.

We went to a rug shop in Salé - rugs are a big deal in Morocco.  I'll tell you more when I know more :)

We also visited a ceramic shop where they sold the ubiquitous tagine - it's both the name of the dish and the food that is made in it. 

At first I didn't like this picture because of the giant crane, but it's actually perfect.  There is a lot of construction around Morocco - right amongst the ruins.  You can see the Kasbah walls and the white/blue houses within it.  Off to the right is the ocean.  

Bastiyya

These are Bastiyya.  They are a delicious type of Moroccan meat pie/pastry.  They are filled with chicken (although pigeon is the traditional filling) cinnamon and almonds, all wrapped in a flaky cinnamon and sugar powdered phyllo dough crust.

They are very good.

But one of these is chicken and the other is white fish with noodles.

Weird.

I think one of them may have made my love sick because he is out for the count.

Boo.    

Tank Tops, Lady Drivers, and Pork. Where am I?

Our first week here in Casablanca has been quite nice.  Slowly but surely we are making our apartment our home and figuring out the city in increasingly larger concentric circles.

 Last Saturday our sponsor drove us around to get a sense for the city.  We drove through the Haboos, an "old city" type area with a mosque, a plaza, and traditional goods like rugs, leather shoes, olives and yes, even camel meat.  Evidently you can tell if camel is on the menu in the Haboos if a camel head is tacked to the outside of the shop.  Such was the case last week as we saw a camel head with a mouth full of mint  hung above the mantel.  Maybe on our next visit...  I expected the city to be as urban and gritty as it is, so I am always delighted to see more charming, traditional places like the Haboos.

We had lunch in the central market which is shaped in a square with shops facing into the square and a smaller square inside with shops facing the walkway between the two.  The central market and its neighborhood including Place Muhammad V are remnants of the French occupation that didn't leave Morocco until in 1956.  We didn't tour the area very extensively, but there is an old post office that was on the french route through Morocco during WWII and some other historical buildings of note and architectural substance.  We ate a fine lunch of fried calamari, sardines, and some white fish with lemon after a bowl of lentils.  I haven't liked sardines or calamari up to this point in my life, but they were so fresh and flavorful.  I think I might be changing my mind about many a fish dish here in Morocco.

We also drove past the flea market which was constructed mainly from tarps and crates and looked tres mysterious.  Casablanca experiences a very disparate distribution of wealth and little shanty towns called "Bidonvilles" have sprung up all over the city, growing in the cracks between pricey restaurants and new foreign investments.  There are actually a lot of new building projects fueled by foreign and local investments all over the city.  The new Casablanca Mall will be opening up in October (including a Gap and an H&M) and there are a few different projects taking place along the coast including a new aquarium and another commercial center.

Lastly we passed by the Corniche, or boardwalk area running parallel to the Atlantic Ocean.  The Corniche is a long walkable path sandwiched between two Mcdonalds - one of which was having a performance of some kind as we drove past.  Mcdonalds are a big deal in the Middle East - a big fancy deal.  We've had a bit of rain here and so we haven't taken a walk out there yet, but we will get there some day this week after work.  From the corniche you can see the enormous Hassan II mosque (and really, any place high up in the city I guess).   I am very much looking forward to touring it soon.


Other Observations
Left turns here are absurd.  Instead of lining up one at a time to turn left, all of the cars line up side by side, seven, eight, nine, ten, across and when the its time to go it's a race to see who can/will go first and the herd follows suit until they are back into one or two lanes of traffic.  Craziest thing I've ever seen.  

People don't eat dinner here until LATE.  We had heard this about Moroccans and so we prudently waited to go out for Indian food at the India Palace until 8:30.  We were the only people there for almost an hour.  Even the cooks were just staring out at us through the kitchen.  While it might sound kind of cool to have four or five waiters attending to your every twitch and head nod, it's actually mostly creepy.  
     
In one day Max and I saw men and women holding hands on the street, women in tank tops and short skirts, pork butchers, and a woman cab driver.  What country is this?  We heard it was more european than the rest of the Middle East, but we have been surprised to the level at which that is true.  I've never even had a female cab driver in America - land of the free and the progressive.  Morocco is nice.


Awesome Moment of the Week
There's no way to convey irony through a font I guess, but that last sub-title was meant ironically.  Last week a few worker men came to the house to take away my broken dish washer.  I was rushing home from lunch with Max because I knew they were waiting for me.  When I got inside I unlocked my multiple locks locked front door and put my bag somewhere quickly to show them to the kitchen.  These two men only spoke French and my French, unfortunately, has taken a hit over the last few months.  As they were carrying the dishwasher towards the front door the doorbell rang and their english speaking supervisor, whom I had met already, was waiting outside to facilitate communication between the three of us.  In my initial rush to get in the door I had unthinkingly placed my keys...somewhere...  and I couldn't open the door.

So, the two men holding the dishwasher are locked inside with me, asking questions in French while I run around and look for the keys and the english speaking supervisor on the outside of the door thinks something is wrong with the door and does he, perhaps, need to break in.

It was epic.

I found the keys after a few embarrassing minutes and all was well.  I'm just saying, these are the moments you miss when everyone speaks the same language and you have lived in your house for more than a week :)