Four and a half years ago, I was a newly arrived expat in Morocco. And some 13 years ago, I was a newly arrived expat in Thailand. (And some twenty two years ago, I was a newly arrived immigrant in the United States!) There are some things I would have done differently with the opportunities I was given had I known better or had someone else guided me through. I think I did much better the second time (Morocco) than my first (Thailand). Now having adapted a bit to the new culture and situation here in Morocco and building on personal mishaps and regrets, here are my top three suggestions for the newly arrived expats, especially if this is your first overseas living and working experience.
1. Get out of your “expat ghetto” as often as possible.
Normally, your hosting company or organization will help you find your house, help you find a car, help you get your kids in school, show you around, introduce you to people who are helpful, and make life as easy as possible for you to quickly adapt and get on with your job. The problem is that it ends up isolating you, and especially your family members, from the rest of the real world that exists outside the shelter of the expat world. Although for some this is just fine, for others, it becomes a prison in itself. There is still a huge world out there that you are disconnected from and you are confined in a tiny expat community.
This is another reason that many people can’t leave sooner. Many multinationals and diplomatic missions assuage this urge by giving an extra compensation and other perks. But no matter how good a life you get from this job, it’s still a luxurious prison if you don’t venture out.
You don’t have to go far to get connected to taste a renewed freedom in this new country. You can attend local cultural or community events, join a local health club or aerobics class, volunteer at a local orphanage or center for the disabled, or take an Arabic or French class at a local language school.
2. Learn some local phrases, expressions, and greetings.
If you speak French, you are ahead in the game. But the mother tongue for most urban Moroccans is Derija or Moroccan Arabic. Learning some simple Arabic greetings will warm people’s hearts and the way they relate to you gets to a different level when they realize that you are really trying to learn their language. This is probably true in many countries in the world. I’ve seen a foreigner who spoke Korean fluently, and he was seen with admiring and respectful eyes in Korea. Because this expat understood the local customs as well as the language, local people related to him differently from other foreigners.
I often get a better deal at shops and hotels because I speak some Derija. As an expat with a full time job and a limited time in country, you are not going to be anywhere near fluent, but that’s OK. Just trying and learning some basic words, phrases, and greetings might be enough. Make sure you know at least:
“Shukran” (Thank you)
“a-Ssalaam Walaykoum” (Hello – but literally “peace be upon you”)
“b-Salaama” (Good-bye, but literally “with peace”).
By the way, the Arabic they speak in Morocco is different from Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). MSA is the official language of Morocco and is spoken in official settings, but people use Derija among themselves in day-to-day situations.
Lonely Planet has a pretty good Moroccan Arabic Phrasebook
3. Try various social circles to build your new relational support network.
It’s easy for an expat to be only in expat social circles from work, embassy, consulate, American school, English-speaking church, etc. This will meet a lot of your social and relational needs. But then what would be the point of being overseas if you are relating only to the kind of people you would relate to back home? Why not take the opportunity and gain some new experiences that could enlighten you?
The best way is of course to make some local friends. In some cases, it might be your neighbors. If your workplace has local employees, be active in getting to know them and even their families. If your children make some local friends, invite them over or have them hang out together and get to know their parents too. If you do some volunteer work or join a club (see #1), make an effort to get to know the people there. Unless you make the initial effort, the locals might not initiate the contact for many of them have learned not to intrude on foreigners’ privacy and many more have seen expats disinterested in the locals.
Try these three suggestions to make the best out of your job assignment in Morocco, or anywhere else for that matter. If you don’t get into the local culture and people, then they could get to you to the extent that you will soon want to get out! The point is not only to survive, but to thrive in this new surrounding and culture, oh and of course, your work. If you want to do well here, you’d better venture out. That will make a huge difference in your overall fulfillment during your overseas life.
