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Al Akhawayn in Ifrane, Morocco
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sat May 06, 2017 8:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AmericanAmina wrote:
I think I barely squeaked in there, but I got the job. I'm heading to Morocco in August. Yay!!!!!

Mabruk! That will be a major change after the UAE.

Is your hubby eyeing positions in Al Maghreb as well?
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AmericanAmina



Joined: 15 Dec 2015
Posts: 104
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2017 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

nomad soul wrote:

Mabruk! That will be a major change after the UAE.

Is your hubby eyeing positions in Al Maghreb as well?


He's still looking, yeah. Our family may be spread out here and there for a little while until he finds something closer. He'll come with us for the moving and settling in process, though.

The heat of the summer is already kicking in here in Abu Dhabi, and I just keep reminding myself that I am moving to the mountains! Woo-hoo!
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das31



Joined: 08 Jul 2013
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Mon May 22, 2017 10:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Congrats
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AmericanAmina



Joined: 15 Dec 2015
Posts: 104
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I love this town. I love this university. I love my students. I arrived here a little over a month ago. I've had three weeks of exploring the city of Ifrane, one week of new faculty orientation, and one week of classes.

In the Language Center, the classes all have around 15 students, which is a good manageable number. The textbooks are pre-selected by the department, and everyone follows the same syllabus for the same course. The lesson planning is up to the instructors. I teach 4 classes, and every class is 5 days a week, which makes me feel like I am doing a lot of lesson planning and prep and homework grading daily. In addition to this, we are required to have 9 office hours per week. In total, my daily time commitment is 4 teaching hours and 2 office hours, and I am expected to be on campus between 8:30am and 4:30pm, and on some days when there are meetings, I stay until 6pm.

As for Ifrane, this place defines small town life. It is tiny. For me that is a huge plus. For some people it may be a deal breaker. To shop in a Marjane or Carrefour (the equivalents of Target or Walmart or Asda), you'll need to make a 1 hour 20 minute drive to Fes. All other shopping is at the local market, which has a somewhat limited selection of groceries and other goods. I've made one trip to Fes, and otherwise we're getting by on what we find here.

It would benefit a person a lot to be able to speak some French or Arabic when arriving here. Otherwise you are completely dependent on others from the university to help you do any sort of shopping, eating out at restaurants, etc. My husband speaks some basic Arabic, though it's Gulf Arabic and not Moroccan Arabic, and this has gotten us through most of our shopping. I know Spanish, and from that I can interpret a lot of the signs, menus, and other written materials that are in French. We are getting by like this. The university will let employees audit language courses, but there's the matter of finding time to do this, which I haven't yet.

I'll report in later after I've gotten a little more experience here. So far, I'm really glad I've had the opportunity to come here.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the update. So glad to hear your experience has been good. (I think your family significantly increased the town's population! Laughing )

BTW, how are you managing your children's education?
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AmericanAmina



Joined: 15 Dec 2015
Posts: 104
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

PostPosted: Sun Sep 03, 2017 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My oldest was accepted to Al Akhawayn University, and the younger ones will all be attending the school affiliated with the university. Their first day is tomorrow. We're waiting to see how that goes.
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mitsui



Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 1562
Location: Kawasaki

PostPosted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 4:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Try Meknes for shopping.
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AdemHus



Joined: 24 Sep 2016
Posts: 1
Location: Brooklyn, New York

PostPosted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

AmericanAmina wrote:
I love this town. I love this university. I love my students. I arrived here a little over a month ago. I've had three weeks of exploring the city of Ifrane, one week of new faculty orientation, and one week of classes.

In the Language Center, the classes all have around 15 students, which is a good manageable number. The textbooks are pre-selected by the department, and everyone follows the same syllabus for the same course. The lesson planning is up to the instructors. I teach 4 classes, and every class is 5 days a week, which makes me feel like I am doing a lot of lesson planning and prep and homework grading daily. In addition to this, we are required to have 9 office hours per week. In total, my daily time commitment is 4 teaching hours and 2 office hours, and I am expected to be on campus between 8:30am and 4:30pm, and on some days when there are meetings, I stay until 6pm.

As for Ifrane, this place defines small town life. It is tiny. For me that is a huge plus. For some people it may be a deal breaker. To shop in a Marjane or Carrefour (the equivalents of Target or Walmart or Asda), you'll need to make a 1 hour 20 minute drive to Fes. All other shopping is at the local market, which has a somewhat limited selection of groceries and other goods. I've made one trip to Fes, and otherwise we're getting by on what we find here.

It would benefit a person a lot to be able to speak some French or Arabic when arriving here. Otherwise you are completely dependent on others from the university to help you do any sort of shopping, eating out at restaurants, etc. My husband speaks some basic Arabic, though it's Gulf Arabic and not Moroccan Arabic, and this has gotten us through most of our shopping. I know Spanish, and from that I can interpret a lot of the signs, menus, and other written materials that are in French. We are getting by like this. The university will let employees audit language courses, but there's the matter of finding time to do this, which I haven't yet.

I'll report in later after I've gotten a little more experience here. So far, I'm really glad I've had the opportunity to come here.


What's the package like there? I'm moving to Ifrane soon and may look for a job while I'm there.
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

AdemHus wrote:
What's the package like there? I'm moving to Ifrane soon and may look for a job while I'm there.

You might want to secure a job before moving to Morocco. Otherwise, as a resident expat, you'll likely be considered a local hire when you start applying for work. That equates to few, if any, benefits aside from a salary.
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