Lucky Me.

I could never have imagined the difficulties I have faced in adjusting to life in Morocco. It’s easy for me to fall into a negative spin when my monkey mind decides to enumerate all my grievances and hard lessons.

And then I stop myself and realize just how lucky I am that I came to Morocco when I did.

I was in a financial tailspin by the time I decided to leave the U.S. Ever since September 11th, I was having trouble finding a financial foothold, in spite of all my efforts to support myself. About a year before 9/11, I had bought an antique business. One problem after another arose until I finally sold my lease to the multi-millionaire who owned the neighboring raw vegan restaurant. It was the construction on the restaurant which caused many of my problems with the shop. That, and the fact that the town decided to dig up and lower the street in front of my business. The construction going on beside me and in front of me totally obscured the view and the access to my store. Anyway, I sold the lease (which I fortuitously renegotiated and extended when I bought the business) just in the knick of time and never did relocate the business because of the economic situation following September 11th.

After consigning my antiques, doing a few marketing projects here and there and even trying my hand at selling advertising space for a new age magazine, I took off for Paris where I lived and worked on my own personal growth for 5 months. Upon my return to the U.S., I eventually sold my condominium and everything in it. I made a nice profit because the real estate market was still skyrocketing. Unfortunately, my intention to relocate to Annapolis, Maryland never manifested. I wanted to buy something there and possibly engage in some business venture with my brother and his wife. Tragically, my sister-in-law died the day after I arrived on the east coast and the summer was spent standing watch over my brother, who was devastated by his wife’s untimely death. Meanwhile, real estate prices continued to climb all over the country and I just couldn’t get back into the market. With no job I had little chance of obtaining a loan. And prices were out of my reach now.

And then, at the request of my brother, I stayed in his house during the winter months while he traveled and grieved and I wrote a business plan for a retail business. It was a consignment business which specialized in selling costumes and theatrical wear. I called it Caravan Costumes.

Armed with a business plan, some seed money from the sale of my condo, and a big consignment from someone heading off to Egypt, I eventually found a location and opened my shop. But within days of opening the store, a flood hit the town and my shop was inundated with water and mud.

Not to be deterred, I took everything out of the shop, cleaned it, repaired it and reopened in the same location a month later. But the town was slow to recover from the disastrous flood and I wasn’t making enough money. After moving my shop back into my apartment and trying to sell exclusively to the Burning Man market, I was told about an ideal location next to a live performance theater. I took a short-term lease (it was twice the rent and half the space), once again lucked into a consignee who had a tremendous inventory of gothic type clothes, I re-opened in my new location for the Halloween season. The store did phenomenally well.

But by this time I was out of steam and money and couldn’t keep it going.

So I abandoned ship, so to speak, and decided to leave the country. I had been moving non-stop during that last year in the U.S. I began Caravan Costumes in an apartment in San Rafael. Next, I moved to the flood zone (alas) in San Anselmo. Just after the flood, I moved my residence across the street from my shop. After several flood warnings after the flood that ruined so many businesses (talk about closing the barn door after the horses are gone) I moved my entire inventory in and out of the shop on three separate occasions. Then I moved everything into my apartment and finally, I went to Mill Valley and reopened the store. I decided to share an apartment with a friend to save money. That lasted just a short while before I was on the move again. The shop closed, I returned the inventory and began house sitting throughout the Bay Area. More moving, and packing and unpacking.

Finally, I decided to get my certification to teach English as a second language and travel outside my country. I had a teaching degree and thought I would fall back on this to support myself for a while. Also, I felt all the too-ing and fro-ing was a message that I was to travel.

I had accepted a job offer teaching in Instanbul but had already booked a flight to Morocco to study Arabic in a 3-week intensive course. I arrived in Morocco in January of 2007 and I was a miserable student of Arabic. Nothing seemed to sink in. I was one of three students (the other two students were fresh out of college and excellent at learning the alphabet and sounds) and soon dropped the classes all together. I was embarrassed by my inability to absorb the lessons. And anyway, I was headed for Istanbul soon, so why bother? They don’t speak Arabic there.

But destiny had another path in store for me and I was offered a job at the school where I was studying Arabic. I accepted the offer simply because the hours were better. Full-time teaching here is 15 hours a week. In Istanbul, it was 35 hours a week. I didn’t want to work so much so I stayed.

And I got married to a Moroccan within 4 months of my arrival. Within 6 months I had purchased a house and a car. And for the past 2 years I have been teaching and restoring the house. Every dirham I make goes into the house. And it’s still not finished.

BUT … and it’s a big ‘but’ and here’s where the lucky part comes into the story … I own my own house and I am able to live entirely within my means. I have no debt and feel I am building nice equity even though it may take a while to realize the gains. I am employed in a school where there is a waiting list so, at least for the present, there is a semblance of job security. Were I to have kept the money I invested in the house in my portfolio back home, I’m sure I would have lost a significant portion of it. As it stands now, the money seems more secure in the house. My house is in an excellent location (I finally learned the lesson about location) and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. I feel I can realistically expect to complete the restoration by June of next year. Three full years of work!

On the personal side, my marriage has not been without great challenges, but I married a man with a good heart. He’s a wild card at all times, but he has always done the right thing when push comes to shove. I am really, really lucky to have chosen him even though we challenge each other every day and in every way.

So when I read the emails and the news reports about the economic situation abroad, I can only give humble thanks for being saved from financial ruin, for surely I would be running scared by now had I stayed in San Francisco.

I am in the right place for now. With all the difficulties and all the differences, I am confident I am where I should be.

Lucky me.