To Answer Your Question . . .

I was hit with so many follow on questions that I thought I would just do a post with all the answers. If you find your question, consider yourself one of the blessed ones. lol

Q: Is the furniture our or does it come with the house?
A: The furniture is not ours. But it doesn't exactly come with the house. That would just be too easy. Each department within the embassy has its own "furniture pool." We are with the Foreign Area Officers, so all our furniture comes out of the pool of furniture for all the FAOs. How much you get and what you get depends on the size of your house, the number in your family, if there are any school age children, etc. At the present time, we are still awaiting another family to move out so we can get more furniture. The family that was in here before us was a different department, so all their furniture was removed when they left.

Q: How do you get around?
A: We have shipped over our minivan from the states to drive here. However, it has not arrived yet, so we are driving a vehicle that belongs to the embassy. I should say Jake is driving, because I am not authorized to drive the embassy vehicle. Boo hoo.

Q: Where will the kids go to school?
A: There is the Rabat American School (RAS) here that all the embassy kids attend. All instruction is in English, and all the kids will learn French and I believe also Arabic. But I'm not 100% sure its both. It may be one or the other. The website is www.ras.ma if you want to take a look.

Q: Will I have help to keep the house clean?
A: We wasted no time in hiring a housekeeper. We moved in on Friday and she started on Monday. Her name is Aicha (Eye-sha) and she comes 3x/week. I take great comfort in knowing that for the next year I will not have to do laundry, wash the sheets, scrub floors, or dust/polish. Ahhh.

Q: Is Jake here with the government or a church assignment?
A: Jake is still in the Army. We are here, really, for a year's worth of training for him in language and diplomacy. Then for the rest of his career we may bounce back and forth between the states and the North Africa/Middle East area.

Q: Are the cockroaches just down in the basement or do they come upstairs?
A: To my great dissatisfaction, they do come up on occasion. I've been told that in Aug/Sept the government sprays the sewers and gutters with insecticide, so the cockroaches get worse as they come in to avoid the poison. Oh yeah, I can hardly wait. I'm sending Jake back to get more killer. We put all of it in the basement, but obviously need some upstairs as well.

Q: How are the kids adjusting?
A: I have found, as have other military parents, that the more positive the adults are in the move, the easier adjustment the kids have. And our kids have done amazingly well. Other kids here had heard of us coming and were excited for us to get here, so we were welcomed with open arms and instant friends. It has been very nice.

Q: What is church like? Is there a group you meet with?
A: There are about 8 other LDS families here in Rabat, and other members who travel here for business. We meet in a member's house each Sunday and church consists of the Sacrament, one talk, and then Sunday School. The kids get a short sharing time and then break up into 3 classes based on age. After church there is a pot luck lunch every week. It is really fun to be with such a small group. And before you ask, its at the same house every week because not everyone's house is large enough to accommodate everyone.

Q: Have all your things arrived?
A: No. We have 2 shipments of things coming. One is supposed to be faster than the other. The fast shipment was supposed to have arrived in Morocco last Thursday, but we haven't seen anything yet. And Ramadan is starting next week, so chances of us seeing anything until the end of August is slim to nill. (Ramadan is the Muslim fasting month when they don't eat/drink/smoke during day light hours. Because of this, not much strenuous labor is done. You know, nothing that would make someone thirsty.)

Q: What is the food situation like?
A: We have shipped over a year supply of most non-perishable foods and that is because the value of the dollar makes things very expensive for us. There are several grocery stores here so we can get eggs, milk, bread, fruits and veggies, and all the perishable stuff no problem. There is also a "commissary" here where you can buy a few American items, like Doritos and sausage. Gotta love that pork!

Q: Do you feel safe on the streets?
A: If at all possible, I won't cross any busy roads on foot. To me that is just suicidal with the way people drive here, and there are no clear cross walks that drivers actually pay attention to. But as far as walking in the neighborhood goes, I do feel safe. I don't think I would let the kids run rampant through the streets, but to just go out for a walk in our neighborhood with an adult is fine. I also feel safe shopping (because they have shopping centers. Only Jake has been brave enough to venture into the land of the open markets).

Q: Are American's treated well?
A: I believe you are treated as you treat others. If you are making an effort to speak the language and follow the local customs, then you are welcomed. If you try to be the loud, obnoxious American, then you are not welcomed. Its all about fitting in. But on the whole, Moroccans are very gracious people and love children. Mothers are very well respected here.

Q: Do women wear burkas? Do I wear one when I go out.
A: I do not wear a hijab (head covering) when I leave. And there are people dressed in all manner of dress here. You see some girls wearing tank tops and short shorts, others wearing regular pants/long sleeved shirts with a head covering, some wearing the clothing cover I think looks like a house-coat with the hijab, and I saw one woman so completely covered not even her eyes were showing. It all depends on their interpretation of modesty, or fashion. But I do not feel uncomfortable wearing jeans and a t-shirt here, at all.

Q: Are Jake's assignments secret or can he talk about them?
A: Jake's trips will be to meet people and learn about the culture and political atmosphere in different countries and here in Morocco. I'm sure that he will be privy to some top secret information, but his trips will not be, in and of themselves, top secret. And when he goes on a fun trip I'll have him update the blog so you all can hear.

Q: How can we get a hold of you?
A: Good news. You can call us on my cell number and reach us just fine. We had the 801-649 number switched over to Vonage, and with the hard internet line hooked up, we are rockin' and ready to go. We only ask that you keep in mind that we are 5-8 hours ahead of you depending on your time zone, so please don't call us at 8 pm your time. We'll be asleep. If you do, we may return the favor. ;)

If there are any other questions you have, just let me know. I will do my best to answer them.

Our New House

So, here is our adventure with our home, here. When we arrived the house wasn't ready yet. The last tenants couldn't leave as early as they had wanted to, so the embassy was in a scramble to get things ready for us. We began our journey here in an apartment in a busy area of Rabat called Agdal. The apartment was as big if not bigger than our place in California had been. It really wasn't bad. But I was still relieved when we were able to get the go ahead to move into a house on that Friday.

My first impressions of the house was the size of it. This place is enormous! Our house in Kansas was 3,000 sq. ft., and that has nothing on this place. It is 2 floors with a basement. The main floor has a large entry way, living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, play room and office, as well as 2 half-baths. The 2nd floor has 5 bedrooms, 2 full baths, and another 1/2 bath. In the master, there is a walk in closet that has its own hallway. Even on my best day I don't have enough clothes to require that much room. The basement has a 2nd full size kitchen, but is not equiped with a stove. That is where the washer and dryer and deep freeze have been put. There is a room that resembles the dining room and another room we don't really know the purpose of. I may put my quilting frame down there later. In the back is an old steam room that doesn't work any more. The woman showing us the place said its not good for anything other than a bug trap now (and oh, how right she is). There is also another 1/2 bath down there. Like I said, this place is huge.

So, here are the long awaited pictures of the house. Let me know what you think.






The first photo is of what our house looks like from the street. This is what it looks like from inside the gate.






This is the front yard. The yard actually encircles the entire house. There is plenty of room for the kids to play. And, yes, that is a badminton net and basketball hoop you see.











Once you come in the front door the sitting room is on your right.












The dinding room is the most beautiful room in the house. It is done in tiny pieces of hand crafted and hand laid tiles. Above the tiles begins the inticut carvings and paintings. The windows are stain-glass and the floor, of course, is marble tile. It is just awesome (in the real, not slang, use of the word).

















The wood working in the house is amazing. Here is the hand rail for the stairs leading up to the 2nd floor.












This is the upstairs kitchen. The only thing it is missing is the dishwasher. But we have put in a request for one and they said as soon as a plumber can come hook it up it is ours. Yeah.











At the top of the stairs, this is your view. Behind the doors are the older boys' room on the left and Rachel's room on the right (which has its own entryway).










I'll add more pictures later, but mom duties are calling.

Look Up

Jake had the opportunity to come see our new house before the rest of us. The one thing he told me was to look up. And up has an amazing view. These are the pictures of some of the ceilings at our new place.

The illusion of safety

Now, its not what you think. This was the term used by a security guy to describe the driving around here. The word I would use is insane!!!!! There is an illusion of safety because there are lines on the road, street lights, and people use their blinkers. Its insane because the attitude is do what ever you want and if Allah wishes you to arrive safely, you will. If not, you will get in an accident. Street signs are merely suggestions, and if there is a motor bike or bike (or donkey drawn carraige - we saw one last night) on the side of the road, just go around. If there are cars there they will move out of your way. And the cars don't watch for pedestrians, the pedestrians have to watch for cars. So you will see people walking in the middle of a busy road, just meandering around trying to get to the other side of the street and they will be within inches of a car. It is frightening to watch, and even scarier to try to cross the street. The only saving grace for me is that they LOVE kids here and when they see me trying to cross with my crowd of kids they generally slow down or stop for me.

But since we are talking about safety, I have to say I have never felt safer in my home. There are security guys who come by the house 6 times a day to make sure the gate is locked, and all the houses with ties to the embassy have special dead bots installed on multiple doors. Our front door resembles one of the doors you see on TV with the 10 locks. And nearly all the windows and doors have iron bars on them. Beautiful, and decorative, but bars none the less. The bars are not necessarily just on diplomat's houses, though. It seems to be a Moroccan thing. Also a Moroccan thing, is 10 feet of wall all around your house with a locked gate in the front yard. Its great for keeping your kids in. Our actual wall is only about 5 ft, but then there are bushes that make up the rest of the height. I live in my own fortress. Its great.

So the long and short of it is, we are pretty safe around here, unless we're driving. lol

Well, we made it!

Life always has its little adventures it throws your way when you are not expecting it. These past few years have had many for us. Our first was Jake being accepted into the Foreign Area Officer's (FAO) program and being assigned to the North Africa/Middle East area. Next came our one year in Monterey, CA for the Defense Language Institute (DLI) Arabic class. Of course, that was really a 16 mo. course, so our year was stretched to 18 mo. Then we were blessed with a little extra surprise (baby David), so Jake was able to add in a French course after the Arabic was over and our 18 mo turned into 2 years. And then came the long awaited announcement of our follow on assignment - Morocco!!!! Which, of course, leads us to the creation of this blog.

I thought I would do a few entries right off the bat about what it took to get us here and my impressions of Morocco. So to begin, our adventure to get here:

One of the first things I need to say is that sometimes the hand of the Lord is so obvious, you must give open recognition of it. Such is our plane trip to get here. We were scheduled to leave Salt Lake City on 30 June and arrive in Morocco on 1 July. The scheduled flight would have taken us to Minneapolis, MN, then Amsterdam, Paris, and finally to Morocco. Our lay over time in Amsterdam was less than 2 hours. This is important to remember later on. Anyway, we loaded up all 24 checked bags, 3 car seats, and 9 carry-on items into the back of our brother-in-law's pick up truck and headed to the airport. We got there 1:45 min before the plane was set to depart. Jake got in line and they had us put all our bags into a roped off section because there was so much. And there Jake stood still as the clock kept moving. About 40 min before the flight was set to leave Jake was only half way through the line. By the time he made it to the counter there was only 15 min before the plane was set to take-off. There was NO WAY we were going to be on that plane! The ticket agent worked very hard to find 8 seats on ANY plane that would take us to Morocco. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find 8 seats on any plane last minute? Well, it took him 2 hours and many discussions with management, but he got us some flights.

And here is where the hand of the Lord is so obvious. Yes, the next available flight for us wasn't for another week, but it was a direct flight into Paris. Only one lay-over and 2 planes. Upon checking in, we also discovered that we could only have checked the bags through to Amsterdam. That means when we would have landed we would have had to collect all the bags, go through customs and immigration, gone to Air France and recheck all the bags. That would have been impossible to have accomplished and so we would have been stuck in Amsterdam instead. And the added bonus to the lay over in Paris was that it was 26 hours, so we were able to get a hotel and Jake was able to take the kids to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. They will always remember that trip (at least the girls will, and maybe Joseph. If Jackie remembers it I'll be very surprised).

As for the flights themselves, they could not have gone better. We boarded at dinner time, so after they served dinner I gave all the kids Benedryl and sent them off to sleepy land. Even the baby slept most of the time. We landed in Paris about 10:30 am local time and we successfully kept the older kids awake for the entire day and Jordan and the baby only took about a 1 1/2 hour nap. Perfect. Everyone went to sleep about 9 pm and was up by 9 am. So we were able to get everyone on a good schedule right from the start. Jet lag is over and everyone sleeps during the night and is wide awake during the day. I am soooo relieved. Oh, and as a side note, the airlines did an excellent job of getting all our bags here. Only 3 were lost and they were all returned with in 2 days. I was very impressed and very grateful.