Football Rivalries Moroccan Style

As an American teaching English in Morocco, I make enough money to be considered comfortably middle class here. Compared to the United States, though, the same amount would be solidly lower class. There is enough money to live, but not a whole lot for travel or for the nice things in life. What's more, since most Moroccans can only take English classes outside of normal working hours, we teach almost exclusively at night and on the weekends. So I work every day of the week.

And yet despite these minor drawbacks, this job attracts the most interesting of people. One of my co-workers grew up in Harlem in the 1960s and was a member of the Nation of Islam. Another is a Catalan who spent a number of years as an Army nurse...in the United States Army. My roommate has lived on five continents and speaks over a dozen languages. Another is a Cuban-American dating a famous Moroccan rapper.

And just when I thought I had heard everyone's interesting story, I found out that one of the oldest teachers has an MA from the University of Texas in linguistics. He's Moroccan, so I didn't expect him to understand the UT-OU rivalry, but I am happy to report that there are some things that transcend national boundaries. I now have a co-worker with whom I can regularly share my deep-felt feelings towards Texas.

After receiving his MA, he traveled the world as part of a UN team for over a decade, before finally deciding to settle down in Meknes. His parents are from the north, the Berber-populated Rif mountains, and his hometown was a far cry from the more cosmopolitan places he had lived in for a couple of decades. (He told me he had to hike 11 km to school every day as a child). So upon returning to Morocco, he chose Meknes. And teaching English fit his background well. So he was hired at the same place I came to a few years later.