Five

     It's official: We will be returning to GWA for year five. Dave will be returning to his position as finance manager. He also hopes to commence working toward his masters. Considering Aliyah, Nicole decided to reject her offer to return to a full-time, third-grade position. Instead, she is debating between two different contract options: a 1-year leave of absence (implying our intent to stay even beyond year five) or a part-time elementary P.E. teacher. Since the details for the P.E. position have yet to be finalized Nicole has not signed a contract...but we're coming back regardless!

     For those of you who assume that it was easy for us to commit to longevity here in Morocco due to the fact that life here is luxurious and uncomplicated, you are severely mistaken. This wasn't an easy decision to make, and life here is full of frustrations and challenges. While we love most things about our lives here, we experience plenty of days where we hate it as well. The emotional intensity of this love-hate relationship is precisely what makes living internationally so difficult. Yet, we ultimately believe that our choice to live abroad is the best for our family right now. Our experiences here have changed us, for better or worse; and we are learning to appreciate and respect the challenges associated with adapting to this culture. But it's still hard...

     It is hard to squeeze our lives into suitcases, to expect horrible travel experiences, to be an ocean away from family, to watch the people we love in America move on with their lives without us, to miss out on big events (i.e. weddings, births, and funerals), to be away for the holidays, to not have any good church options, to know that the friends we make here might leave us behind, to say goodbye over and over, to speak and understand French. Living here, it is harder to stick to a schedule, grocery shop, pay bills, depend on businesses, run errands, and drive. We sacrifice so much to live here, and it is difficult to adapt to the many differences between Moroccan and American cultures.
   
So why are we staying? 

     1. George Washington Academy. The benefit to us both working for GWA is that we share all of the same work hours and vacations (and there's a lot of vacations since we work at a school!). Dave isn't a teacher, so if we were to leave it's likely that we will never find positions that are conveniently within the same "company" again. More importantly, we each have jobs at GWA which match our degrees and our interests. There are certainly frustrating aspects of our jobs... but, overall, we love what we do.
     Dave has developed a strong reputation as a GWA soccer coach. He and his co-coach, Dusty, led the middle school soccer team to their championship three years in a row. They were promoted to varsity coaches this year, where they hope to continue their winning streak. Dusty, along with many of our our other co-workers, have become close friends. We have developed more meaningful friendships here than we ever had while living in Maine.
     As a family, GWA is a great place for us as well. There is a creche (child care program) which is conveniently located on the GWA campus. For about $8/day, we will be able to leave Aliyah in the care of three dependable Moroccans. We can walk over to see her at any point during the day. Should we stay long enough for Aliyah to reach school-age, she will be able to attend GWA for free due to the fact that we are both employees of the school. This means that she would get a private, trilingual education at an American accredited school.

     2. Morocco. There are so many things that we love about Morocco. We love that we live so close to the beach (where there's great surfing opportunities for Dave), that living here allows us to travel the world so cheaply, and that life here is always full of adventures and new experiences. Most of all, however, we love the people. Moroccans are the most hospitable people we have ever met, and we cherish every Moroccan friend that we have been blessed with:
      We have made it evident through our blog before how close we are with our landlord and his family. Said literally changed his work schedule three years ago simply so that he could commit to playing soccer with David twice a week. They bring us food incessantly, and they are always looking for ways that they can help us (Said even bought Nicole maxi pads one time, thinking that this was the cause of an emotional "culture shock" day). They consider us to be their family...and we feel very much the same way. To Aliyah, they are "Jiddee" and "Jiddah" (Grandpa and Grandma).
     Even the random Moroccans that we see around Dar Bouazza have become familiar friends, of sorts:

• Our mechanic calls us each year to wish us a Merry Christmas. Also, his wife hand-sewed a beautiful jalaba for Aliyah and a Moroccan tunic for Nicole.
• Our seasonal neighbors commenced a friendship with us the day that they went out of their way to fix the flat tire on our car while we were gone, without telling us.
• The fruit and vegetable guy always greets us and tries to teach Nicole Arabic.
• The guy at the local pharmacy took a moment to pray for our us in order to ask that God would bless us with a healthy baby.
• Our incredibly talented tailor greets us happily every time we walk by his shop.

     George Washington Academy and Morocco are certainly two great reasons for renewing our contracts; however, the primary reason we are choosing not to leave is because we feel a peace about staying. For now, this is where God wants us to be....so this is where we plan to stay.

-David, Nicole, & Aliyah