The other side of the Moroccan postcard

Hello Julien,

Thank you for your message!...My story is to long, my story is an adventure of a 21 years old half egyptian half morrocan guy  who came to a city like casablanca to do something in his life and find his new dream after the old one had been gone!...I started a travel and concept event organisation here and in egypt while I'm still working and still having problems with money somedays down some days up, while I'm living with a great family consists of 2 polish girls and one romanian brother we alla re flat mates. and the story has alot of adventures and wild journies...I would love actually to share it with you later...

For now, I would like to speak to u on skype arrange a meeting as there is an event I'm organising here with my polish flate mate who has one of the best blogs from morocco called "Be wildered in morocco"...When I saw your subject in the mail: "the otherside of your moroccan postcard" I was inspired as the event I'm telling you about is named "The otherside of morocco"...it will be next months.

I hope we can arrange a time to speak to see possible opportunities if you would like to participate with "expatblog" in the event to do it together. I'm always open in my event to any network.

Looking forward to hear from you asap.

Thanks again,
Amr Sabra

Thank you Julien for introducing me to this side of expat-blog. As a newcomer to this site I am more than happy to contribute my experiences and to learn from others too. I am not a youngster (!) unlike Amir above! But I have worked and travelled in Arab countries for over three decades starting with my spell as a lecturer in Saudi Arabia for three years. I have been a resident in Morocco for nearly 14 years.

To put it briefly at the moment the plus side to my postcard would be climate, people and cuisine. On the downside politics and corruption. I say no more! (Until quizzed further!)

Hey,

I like the ideea with the two sides of Morocco.

I came all the way from Romania, in the search of a better life and making a business here, as I falled for Morocco since 2007, when I first visited.

For now, I am settled in Casablanca, looking forward to start a business near Agadir, and to move there.

Morocco, like everywhere, has two sides - a good one, full of nice people and oportunities, but the other side, I would not call it "bad" but rather a slow part with everything - papers, birocracy, things that can be solved very fast, but they are not. The Moroccans are great people, if you find the right ones, of course, but this is a fact for all the people in this world. I have traveled across Europe, met and discovered new mentalities and customs, but I think that in here is the best place to be for now, at least. I love the charm of Morocco, and even though it's hard on some days, everything will be better in the end, inchalah.

Yes, One usually does not like to talk about the down side of traveling/living/working overseas.  While most would agree that an overseas experience is a great experience, many will have horror stories.  In Morocco, the worst is dealing with the bureaucracy, it is terrible.  Very difficult to deal with.  The number of documents that have to be stamped, notarized, copied and then the copies have to be stamped and notarized, and to any one document, one needs three other documents, etc.  For instance, Birth certificates are valid for only 90 days, then for the next need, one has to obtain another certified, notarized, stamped, birth certificate.  Everyone is distrustful of the other.

In Morocco, one has to be careful to weed out those who want to "be your friend", but who really are usurious and want to use the foreigner for some purpose or another.  This puts a real impediment to real friendships.

In Morocco, it seems that nearly everyone is mad and angry........except for the very rich.  Morocco is a kleptocracy and that results in a miserable life for the lower and middle class.

What else...... Oh yes, the bribery and corruption at every turn, takes a bit getting used to.  Also nepotism blocks many from being able to obtain jobs on their own merits.  Again, a form of corruption.

The air pollution, the litter, bureaucrats & politicians who don't care about the garbage in the streets.  Oh yes: The pervasive/obnoxious cigarette smoking.  People just don't care if they live in a garbage pit.
Carpenters, plumbers, masons who have NO clue as to what they are doing.

Arrogant and hideous bus drivers..... add that to the list. 
The constant horn honking   .......  as if that does any good.

Lack of a functioning and fair court system means that few people are held responsible for their miss-deeds. 

These are just off the top of my head, as I run into these things every day.  Let's remember that here  you've asked for the 'down side' of living abroad.  The 'up side' is covered in the Lonely Planet!  :-)

HI

I AGREE ,the other side of morocco is nothing short of disgusting.  Friendships ...there are not any eventally everyone will want something from you  Business  well If you can find a straight business man then good luck there are some but very few... On the whole Moroccans are takers not givers  they are racist nasty people.  I am generalizing but i have a right to i have lived in this country for many years. and please do not think you are exempt from this type of behaviour because you either marry a Moroccan woman or man  families will only tolarate you while there is cash..  there are no exceptions to this rule

Hey Julien,

The image of the Moroccan postcard with two sides is very good!

I usually say that Morocco is an ideal country for holidays (particularly for people speaking French only). But, it's a real mess for professionals, with no sense of planning, team work or rule of law.

In short, I would say that the country  is very good at marketing (personal and professional sides), particularly in order to sell something or someone (whatever the value of the content) with marvellous packaging. As a motto for Morocco: be cautious about large smiles and easy friendship.