Morocco, the land of exciting adventure!

Bienvenue, marhaban bikum ala Maghribi!

Ahlan wa sahlan! Greetings to those who still follows my almost abandoned blog. I am currently living in Morocco, and it has been 2 years since my last update.

Never in my life have I ever thought we would live in Africa, but here we now, breathing Atlantic air with a very unpredictable yet interesting four season’s atmosphere.

Yes, we are now living in Morocco, the land of the setting sun, to be exact in its capital city, Rabat. Located 120km away from Casablanca, and about 400km away from Ceuta, Spain, the closest gateway from Africa to European land.

https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Rabat/346006

Rabat is the administrative capital of Morocco, and also one of the Imperial Cities including Fez, Marrakesh and Meknes. The Medina of Rabat is listed as one of the World Heritage Site, where most of handicraft and paintings around Morocco can be acquired. One could say that among all the beautiful town in Morocco, Rabat is the central of everything, with some bits of preview of what lies on every other town. The city itself is always being as some kind of zen place to refresh the brain, or getting some sneak peek before fully struck again with the contrast of enchanting beauty in another town.

Before we move to Rabat, I find it difficult to get more in-depth infos other than the incredible potential of tourism of Morocco. But after almost 2 years living here, life is quite fun in its own eccentric way.

Personally as a mother and also housewife, whose always preparing meals and caring the household, to do groceries in Rabat or any place in Morocco is never too challenging. Perhaps the most challenge I had to face is the difference in language. Moroccans mostly speak in Arabic Darija, a local Arab language that has been infused with some Berber and French influence. Some of them is very fluent in French, and Spanish. And nowadays, almost young people in Morocco, especially those who serve the government or working with International Agencies in Rabat do speak English. If you find that you may had to live in Morocco, its never too late to at least getting some basic courses in French or Arabic, or perhaps some Spanish as it would be most beneficial to sort of surviving living with the locals.

We are currently living in Hay Riad, one of the small growing town a bit farther from the heart of Rabat. We do our groceries in Acima and Marjane, the two most visited supermarket in Morocco. Here they also have plenty of Carrefour, with some selection of products from Europes. Sometimes we do our groceries in Aswak Assalam, depends on the closest location we were when doing family outing as well as buying groceries. Cost of living in Morocco one could say if you live like a local, the cost of living could be moderate. But for Asians, with the need to get some products of Asian, it could be quite expensive.

About healthcare, Rabat has quite a few reputable private clinics with good medical practitioners around. They also has quite a number of dialysis centre and some good dental centre. For emergencies, the government hospital in Rabat is mostly accommodating, and the only problem for us as the expats are the big crowds of local looking for treatments every day, and the busy schedule of the local doctors, and language barriers with the local staffs.

Well that’s all for now. A la prochaine!