After a week of going back and forth between our apartment and his neighbourhood Abderrahim has finally tracked down "the man" and all the necessary papers are signed and stamped.
Monday we can begin our dealings with the angry little man, the courts and the police and with any luck I will actually be married by the time i leave!!!!
Stay tuned for our stories of the next series of beurocracy - will also have wedding dress updates as my future sister-in-law arrives home on Sunday and Roxanne and Kiersten arrive next week.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Taxi's Toilettes and other things Moroccan
Well "the man" continues to ellude us.....but I am ever hopeful that today will be the day, and in the meantime i continue to learn all sorts of lessons :)
Taxi's in Morocco work completely different to taxis at home. You never call a taxi you can only flag them down and you must be standing on the side of the street in the direction you are going because i guess they can't change direction. If they dont like where you are going they wont take you. If you are a tourist or look like a tourist the meter never works and a 10 dirham taxi ride will always cost 30 dirhams. If a taxi only has one person he will stop and pick up extras but you dont split the fare you each pay your own fare.
Toilettes - today's lesson was always bring your cell phone to the toilette. I have a fear of using bathrooms in Morocco: will it be english or arab; if its english will there be papier de toilette? (lesson learned on my first trip to Morocco always carry tissue), if both of those things are ok will there be a toilet seat? Finally - todays lesson - while in Rabat i thought i was locked in the toilette and had a moment of panic since then i always take my bag with my phone. Today as Abderrahim was getting ready to go in search of the man i had to use the toilette and asked him to wait for me. He laughed and agreed - well sure enough the door handle was broken on the inside of the stall and I got locked in and I had to phone him and say help im stuck in the toilette come get me!!!!!
Crosswalks - they exist in Marrakech but they dont necessarily mean the cars will stop for you - what they do mean apparently is that the police will be much harder on a motorist for hitting you on the crosswalk than if they hit you when they are jaywalking.
Crossing the street here is an adventure in itself - if you can get to the middle of the road you are often trapped there where you can actually feel the car brush your clothing if its still blown up from the previous car and then you anxiously wait your chance to dash the second half of the road.
Well thats it for my ramblings today!!
Taxi's in Morocco work completely different to taxis at home. You never call a taxi you can only flag them down and you must be standing on the side of the street in the direction you are going because i guess they can't change direction. If they dont like where you are going they wont take you. If you are a tourist or look like a tourist the meter never works and a 10 dirham taxi ride will always cost 30 dirhams. If a taxi only has one person he will stop and pick up extras but you dont split the fare you each pay your own fare.
Toilettes - today's lesson was always bring your cell phone to the toilette. I have a fear of using bathrooms in Morocco: will it be english or arab; if its english will there be papier de toilette? (lesson learned on my first trip to Morocco always carry tissue), if both of those things are ok will there be a toilet seat? Finally - todays lesson - while in Rabat i thought i was locked in the toilette and had a moment of panic since then i always take my bag with my phone. Today as Abderrahim was getting ready to go in search of the man i had to use the toilette and asked him to wait for me. He laughed and agreed - well sure enough the door handle was broken on the inside of the stall and I got locked in and I had to phone him and say help im stuck in the toilette come get me!!!!!
Crosswalks - they exist in Marrakech but they dont necessarily mean the cars will stop for you - what they do mean apparently is that the police will be much harder on a motorist for hitting you on the crosswalk than if they hit you when they are jaywalking.
Crossing the street here is an adventure in itself - if you can get to the middle of the road you are often trapped there where you can actually feel the car brush your clothing if its still blown up from the previous car and then you anxiously wait your chance to dash the second half of the road.
Well thats it for my ramblings today!!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Beaurocracy
Let me start by saying that working where I work I am no stranger to beurocracy. I could certainly learn some more by studying the Moroccans. Currently there is one man standing in the way of us progressing to the point where we can go see the angry little man. I call him "the man". The man is someone who works in Abderrahims neighbourhood and to whom Aberrahim must present a paper to be stamped ( the moroccans love to stamp things and require stamps for almost everything - sometimes you have to hunt down a stamp purchase it and present it to be stamped on, sometimes you just pay for them to provide the stamp). I have all my docs but we cant go see the angry little man until Abderrahim has all his stamps in order.
The beurocracy doesnt end there we still have many stamps to obtain, people to pay bakshish too and a few more hoops to jump.
The quest for the illusive stamps reminds me of the 4 days my oldest sister and I spent at Expo '86 where we ran in out of the pavillions of the world trying to obtain as many stamps in our passports as possible at the end we didnt even look at the pavillion we would run in get a stamp and on to the next.
Oh well as they say in Morrocco selleck (thats life).
More updates soon hopefully on something more fun than stamp hunting - maybe wedding dress hunting!
The beurocracy doesnt end there we still have many stamps to obtain, people to pay bakshish too and a few more hoops to jump.
The quest for the illusive stamps reminds me of the 4 days my oldest sister and I spent at Expo '86 where we ran in out of the pavillions of the world trying to obtain as many stamps in our passports as possible at the end we didnt even look at the pavillion we would run in get a stamp and on to the next.
Oh well as they say in Morrocco selleck (thats life).
More updates soon hopefully on something more fun than stamp hunting - maybe wedding dress hunting!
Monday, March 23, 2009
I'm Back!!!
Sorry if anyone is following this to only just be updating.
We left Rabat without finishing all our paperwork so that we could sort out a problem with the apartment in Marrakech.
Once sorted we returned to Rabat. After staying up all night on a bus and not having coffee I joined many Moroccan woman in the line to get into the Ministere of Foreign Affairs. Luckily I had been forwarned by Roxanne of what to expect in the line. I was ready to be pushed and have woman try to pass me in the line. We were in line about an hour prior to the doors opening, they let us in in batches of about 15 or 20 to get a number and drop off our papers. Abderrahim couldnt wait with me so he sat across the street drinking coffee.
I had one woman permanently attached to my back for the 3 hours I was waiting in line I even tried stepping on her but she wasnt budging. I had to woman try to push past me and I turned to them and yelled HEY HEY HEY and shook my finger in their faces.
Thankfully my papers got stamped and all my docs are currently with the translator in Marrakech.
Abderrahim is busy getting some of his papers done while we wait. Wed or Thursday will find us going to see the Angry Little Man (so dubbed by Roxanne and Abdel) so stay tuned for news of that story.
I went wedding dress shopping yesterday and im sure there are many woman who have already learned this lesson. Never Never take your fiance wedding dress shopping they are of no help. I am now waiting for my future sister-in-law to arrive in Marrakech on the weekend to assist and of course Roxanne and Kiersten arrive soon and can help in the hunt!!
Missing Canada (sort of) knowing that its cold there helps me to appreciate the 35 temperatures. Craving sushi, I have found a sushi restaurant but I am afraid to try it - will let you all know when i get the courage;
Until next time maaselemma
We left Rabat without finishing all our paperwork so that we could sort out a problem with the apartment in Marrakech.
Once sorted we returned to Rabat. After staying up all night on a bus and not having coffee I joined many Moroccan woman in the line to get into the Ministere of Foreign Affairs. Luckily I had been forwarned by Roxanne of what to expect in the line. I was ready to be pushed and have woman try to pass me in the line. We were in line about an hour prior to the doors opening, they let us in in batches of about 15 or 20 to get a number and drop off our papers. Abderrahim couldnt wait with me so he sat across the street drinking coffee.
I had one woman permanently attached to my back for the 3 hours I was waiting in line I even tried stepping on her but she wasnt budging. I had to woman try to push past me and I turned to them and yelled HEY HEY HEY and shook my finger in their faces.
Thankfully my papers got stamped and all my docs are currently with the translator in Marrakech.
Abderrahim is busy getting some of his papers done while we wait. Wed or Thursday will find us going to see the Angry Little Man (so dubbed by Roxanne and Abdel) so stay tuned for news of that story.
I went wedding dress shopping yesterday and im sure there are many woman who have already learned this lesson. Never Never take your fiance wedding dress shopping they are of no help. I am now waiting for my future sister-in-law to arrive in Marrakech on the weekend to assist and of course Roxanne and Kiersten arrive soon and can help in the hunt!!
Missing Canada (sort of) knowing that its cold there helps me to appreciate the 35 temperatures. Craving sushi, I have found a sushi restaurant but I am afraid to try it - will let you all know when i get the courage;
Until next time maaselemma
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
easy peasy
Today we went to the Canadian Embassy. We were prepared for a 2 to 3 hour wait and even though the taxi driver took us to the wrong place we still managed to be the first ones there and we were in and out in 10 minutes. I have a bad cold started but we remain very happy despite the fact that we are in Rabat. We have the next couple of days to ourselves so Maybe we will have pictures to download soon.
Monday, March 9, 2009
my first update
HELLO EVERYONE I am in rabat. All typos and lack of punctuation are from a combination of a french keyboard and jet lag ( and that is the story I am sticking with)
my adventure started last weekend with the amazing zedding shower that roxanne had for me. Thank you for all the amazing gifts and kind wishes. I am incredibly lucky for the incredible friends and family i have.
So it all started with a 6 am call from air canada saying my flight was delayed3 hours and if i wanted to make my Toronto/Paris connection I needed to be at the airport for a 9 &m flight instead of 11. So 4 airports, 3 continents, and 26 (including trains) of travelling and I am in Rabat
After a very very long trip i finally arrive in casablanca and it is the only airport in the world - that ive been too where once you go outside you cant come back in without a full x-ray of your luggage and your person.
so i arrive - i sail through customs all my luggage arrives, and no abderrahim - but i see a lot of people outside and i havent had a cigarette since toronto so i think ill go outside and look for him and have a cigarette - but then cant get back in the airport: the cell phones are pay as you go and i have no charge on mine - there are no payphones outside and i hav no moroccan ,money:
so i go to the windows at arrivals and stand with my nose pressed up against the glass until i see abderrahim and i knock on the window: unfortunately he comes out to see me and then tells me the train station is inside the airport: so we have to catch a taxi into casa (about 40 canadian) then we have to wait almost 2 hours for a train with my hundred pounds of lugage: Everyone was right casa is much rougher
We ended up eating a can of smoked salmon pate i bought his mother for dinner.
Today is holiday so we will be relaxing and exploring rabat a little before we jump into the moroccan wedding beurocracy.
Despite the crazy long trip. I can not tell you all how incredible it feels to be with Abderrahim again after 7 months apart - im tired and my ankle is very sore and I dont care i am about as happy as i could possibly be my world is all perfect again. Bye for now everyone stay tuned for tales of moroccan hoop jumping
my adventure started last weekend with the amazing zedding shower that roxanne had for me. Thank you for all the amazing gifts and kind wishes. I am incredibly lucky for the incredible friends and family i have.
So it all started with a 6 am call from air canada saying my flight was delayed3 hours and if i wanted to make my Toronto/Paris connection I needed to be at the airport for a 9 &m flight instead of 11. So 4 airports, 3 continents, and 26 (including trains) of travelling and I am in Rabat
After a very very long trip i finally arrive in casablanca and it is the only airport in the world - that ive been too where once you go outside you cant come back in without a full x-ray of your luggage and your person.
so i arrive - i sail through customs all my luggage arrives, and no abderrahim - but i see a lot of people outside and i havent had a cigarette since toronto so i think ill go outside and look for him and have a cigarette - but then cant get back in the airport: the cell phones are pay as you go and i have no charge on mine - there are no payphones outside and i hav no moroccan ,money:
so i go to the windows at arrivals and stand with my nose pressed up against the glass until i see abderrahim and i knock on the window: unfortunately he comes out to see me and then tells me the train station is inside the airport: so we have to catch a taxi into casa (about 40 canadian) then we have to wait almost 2 hours for a train with my hundred pounds of lugage: Everyone was right casa is much rougher
We ended up eating a can of smoked salmon pate i bought his mother for dinner.
Today is holiday so we will be relaxing and exploring rabat a little before we jump into the moroccan wedding beurocracy.
Despite the crazy long trip. I can not tell you all how incredible it feels to be with Abderrahim again after 7 months apart - im tired and my ankle is very sore and I dont care i am about as happy as i could possibly be my world is all perfect again. Bye for now everyone stay tuned for tales of moroccan hoop jumping
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
