Gak!!! Just finished watching PRETTY WOMAN... and now THE BLIND SIDE is coming on the tube
I put my bride on a plane for home at the butt crack of dawn yesterday.
We are heading back to the states after a year and a half in Morocco and 5 years as expats.
I am burning off my last few days of comp time before cranking out my last couple of weeks on this assignment.
Today I have been cleaning up my personal files, getting my crap ready to go in suit cases, and having a movie fest watching whatever movies are on MBC2 while I plink around getting personal stuff done.
Of course it had to be PRETTY WOMAN .... a 1990 classic that came out when my divorce from my XW was finalizing and I was an emotional wreck and just starting the first days of the rest of my life. It gets me every time I watch it.
I first watched it in the theater, alone, on a rare mid week day off, just a few weeks before I decided to sell my company to my business partners and change my major from Econ to Engineering. It probably made a bigger impression on me than it should have but at the time I was in a pretty vulnerable place. I was 26 years old. I had tears running down my face at the end of the movie and the few other mid week, mid day movie patrons probably thought I was nuts.
A feel good story that oddly brings me to verge of tears every time I see it.
Maybe it takes on a greater perspective for me because of my history with the film or.... maybe it is that my bride is a pretty close ringer for Julia Roberts. She looks very much like the actress now 22 years later and looked much more like her when I first layed eyes on her. Four years after I saw the movie I married my amazing bride. She saved me from myself.
Life is a very interesting and wonderful thing whether I am looking back, experiencing the now, or looking forward.
I have been looking for my man card to shred and now with THE BLIND SIDE coming on I am going to have to make a bunch of copies to sacrifice to the shredder. A story about a parent who chooses to parent a kid that is not hers biologically but hers none the less. I did that too in my own way.
A couple of movies that remind me that my Pretty Woman and my son changed my life as much as I changed theirs. We are a family ... together.
After this I am going to have to watch a couple of blood and guts action movie man flicks before I completely lose contact with my inner manly man.
Live well STalkers. Even when in the throws of difficult times, as I was the first time I watched the damned movie, there are great things to look forward to.
And yes... as several have pointed out lately... my bark is often far worse than my bite. I too have a heart.
Regards,
Rags
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Ex-pats, eh? I also think
Ex-pats, eh? I also think somehow many will be reversing their ex-pat status soon.
Or attaining it.
Or attaining it.
Actually I am hopeful that
Actually I am hopeful that the new administration will reverse the tax penalty imposed in the past 8 years on Expats. It used to be that the expat earnings exemption treated the first dollar above the exemption level as the first dollar earned and income was taxed progressively above that point.
The Obama administration by executive order changed that to tax the first dollar above the exemption level at the highest tax level for that income. This cost us a bunch of money that we would have otherwise saved.
Ideally I would hope that the next administration would adopt a verson of the UK, Australia, South African, or Canadian models and exempt all expat income earned overseas from income tax in the home country. We have many, many friends who pay zero taxes on expat assignment. Their expat assignments are far more lucritive than what Americans experience.
Probably not a popular perspective but... I like it.
After that much emotional
After that much emotional stuff you'll need something real strong, like BoonDock Saints or maybe Reservoir Dogs, either one will reinstate your man card.
Wow, underneath all that
Wow, underneath all that straight-forward (but excellent advice) is a big emotional heart Rags. Your bride and SS are so fortunate to have you in their lives!
When I studied there the only
When I studied there the only thing in English was Americans Gladior, Dr. Kovorkian and The 70's version of Planet of the Apes.
What was torture was that my favorite show aired only one season in the US and they had more seasons made apparently but they were all in French and I couldn't figure out how to set the subtitles to English. Morocco is a trip.
With the advent of satelite
With the advent of satelite TV there are a bunch of English language channels. The problem is the scam. My landlord does not actually subscribe to most of the English language channels so I lose most of them regularly. This whole country is about gamming the system. It is is prevelent socially, professionally, and officially. I get hit up for bribes regularly at Police check points.
When my English channles go out I call the landlord and he sends out his tech guys to hack the system again and I may or may not get the broad English offering again for a week or two.
Yes, Morocco is a trip. I have also worked in China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Korea, Qatar, Saudi, Morocco, Germany, and Belgium. Morocco is by far the most trippy of them all.
It is a beautiful place, the people are engaging, the history and culture are incredible. However, it is the most difficult place we have ever lived.
One very positive element of our Morocco tenure is that we have met and made friends with a number of Moroccans. That is far different than our Qatar and Saudi time when we met few locals socially. Nearly all of our friends there were Expats.
Where in Morocco did you live
Where in Morocco did you live and study? We live in El Jadida which is an hour S of Casablanca. My home office is in Casablanca and I work in several locations in central Morocco so I get around quite a bit.
We were in Casablanca
We were in Casablanca learning about how the University of Hassan II was working to integrate braille into their libraries in addition to the French and Arabic copies they already had. The library was beyond impressive and the students we worked with were incredible. I have many lifelong friends there. The inclusion the library was striving for was something I feel we in the US could take a few notes from. Apart from a few cat calling passersby (I'm very blonde and stuck out like sore thumb) I was treated and recieved very well by many of the people there. I did get screwed out of some money by a hotel clerk who exchanged some of my money for dihrams that were out of circulation but a friend from the University took care of that for me.
We traveled between Fez, Merkesh and Rabat quite often so that way we could understand a board scope of the history and economy which we studied during our interaction with the University of Al Quaraouiyine.
Once my stomach acclimated and I got used to the bottled mineral water it was much more enjoyable but it took some time to get used to things there. Not having butter was an adjustment too-in fact to this day I prefer to eat bread with olive oil.
My favorite part was the day we visited Volubilies. What an incredible site. That's very cool that you are able to live in such a beautiful country. It's covered in bougainvillea which is my favorite and I had the best chicken in my entire life there. And now when I'm sick I swear by lentil soup.
I also saw all kinds of crazy things. It was important to our bridge professor that we see the best parts of Morocco as well as the very impoverished regions as we traveled around. We did a lot of volunteer outreach as well.
We have done quite a bit of
We have done quite a bit of traveling while here. Marakech, Rabat, Fez, Chefchauen, Meknes, Safi, Esaouera, and I have done quite a bit of work in remote villages with mining and ore processing facilities.
It is a wonderful place and the food is amazing though the food handling and sanitization practices have kept us both with very sensitive stomanchs for the last year and a half.
The people are engaging and very welcoming but doing business here is pure hell. The culture is so mercinary and business and government practices are very corrupt. I get hit up for bribes regularly while driving.
Do they still seem to have an
Do they still seem to have an odd obsession with Ricky Martin?
Not that I have seen. MTV
Not that I have seen. MTV and other music channels are huge here and they have very broad musical tastes. We were officials at several Enlish language Debate and Public Speaking competitions this year and at the finals several student bands and singers performed. I was surprised by many of their musical selections. Most shocking was Roger Miller's KING OF THE ROAD. Hearing a group of young Moroccan men run through selections of Bruno Mars, several Rap Artists, power balads, and lots of top-40 fodder then shift to a 1965 American country & western hit that I have heard my dad sing my whole life was very cool.
The headline artist for that event was Jennifer Grout. She took #2 at last years Arab Idol competition. She is a classically trained American opera singer married to a Moroccan and at the time spoke no Arabic. She could sing it beautifully but could not speak the language. Now she is fluent.
That's good to hear. I feel
That's good to hear. I feel like every time we stayed in a hotel Ricky Martins La Vida Loca was on the radio and my friends were like "gosh I hope they don't play this for us lol" even if they did it would be sweet but it was like throwback 00's.
Oh and their Argan oil hair
Oh and their Argan oil hair products were so legit compared to the stuff they market in the US. We stopped at this random spa like place in the middle of nowhere (I don't remember where it was or where we were going) and I bought some of their products which smelled and worked like nothing I've ever used. Between that and the mineral water my skin and hair was in the best condition it's ever been in (I have a rare skin condition). I was able to stop all my topical meds completely while I was there.
On that same note-rest stops on long trips between cities was....an experience. I never thought I'd be excited about toilets/ toilets with something reminiscent of seats that you still can't sit on but at least it's not just a drainage pipe lol
Lol.... oh yes the toilets.
Lol.... oh yes the toilets. They actually have some nice gas stations with great restrooms on what tthey call the Speedways. I have them mapped on my phone and on my GPS to make sure we know were there are decent places to make a stop. The straight pipe toilet hammams are still prevelent but they are starting to upgrade in the newer and nicer places.
We have stayed in the family homes of a few Moroccan friends that has given us a feel for how the Moroccans life in traditional multi generational homes. Not a usual thing in the States.
We have also stayed in some stunning centuries old Riads in several cities that are works of art.
We will definately miss the people, the culture, and the history. We have made some very good friends here that we will stay in contact with.
We did experience the
We did experience the Speedway-it was a gift at that point lol.
I can see how business can be difficult. The haggling threw me for a loop the first few weeks,but once I got over the awkwardness of it being so foreign to me it made the souks and the markets more fun. But the smell, especially near the tanneries-the mint they had you when you walk it is not sufficient to snuff it out lol. I didn't have too many interactions with the police-we were kept pretty tight to our group when we traveled. Our lead professor hired a man to travel with us when went places and he was great.
One of my friends has a daughter who is the same age as my BD. We talk all the time about how we're raising them, the differences between life here and there for them and lately about the US election and what that means/how it impacts our family. It's really nice having that additional point of view which often times highlights different values and what different life experiences our 2 year olds will face. I hoping they'll come visit one day or perhaps when I get to place where we can take a big vacation I'd love to go back and visit Agadir. I herd it's beautiful. And with Volubilis, the mosaics would be something my SS would love-it really brings those stories that we only hear about in history books to life. The Hercules Mossaic was especially cool. The whole site is a photographers dream.
I'm so glad we share some common expletives. It's hard to describe to people who haven't been there.
There is great interest here
There is great interest here regardling Trumps election. Generally he scares the Moroccans we have spoken with. Politics and social issues are regular topics of discussion at cocktail parties.
One of our freinds from Saudi is a management consultant and motivational speaker who has initiated some very interesting open discussion events among the very diverse expat ladies community where we lived
while in Saudi.
I have attached a link describing her events that you might enjoy.
http://consultgiana.com/an-uncommon-alternative-when-current-events-make...
Lol. Your description of the
Lol. Your description of the Moroccan public toilet experience is bang on. It is also exactly what the same experience in Saudi was like in the late 60s. That Morocco is like this today is amazing to me. The toilets in our extremely nice apartment are very modern but the plumbing is iffy at best and with no gas traps in the system the sewer gas back up can be noxious. To counter it we keep gallons of Detol on hand to pour down the drains and flush down the toilets. We brought the rubber drain covers back from the states to keep the toxic gas smells a bit more under control and we keep them in all of the sinks and showers all of the time unless ws have water flowing. Definately gag worthy.
I too love the country, people, and quisine and haggling in the Madinas and suqs is an a not to missed experience. I have lived here for a year and a half and I classify it as one of those places that I would recommend to anyone to visit but not one I would recommend living in unless you are a very adventurouse and patient person.