A New Apartment

After a post-Ramadan holiday, I am settling into a new apartment. I now have a fridge, a stove, and a water heater. And after an awkward first week of eating, I can now dine comfortably off of a plate resting on a table while sitting in a chair. Plates, tables, chairs...the small joys of life!

I'm still missing couches and a television, and the walls are rather bare. There is no washing machine, and it may stay that way. But slowly by slowly it is becoming my home.

This is the first time that I have had my own place. Adjusting to the solitude and responsibility has given me cause for reflection. When a mess builds up in the kitchen or some part of the house begins to stink, I have no one to blame but myself. When I can't find something, it's not because someone else borrowed it or didn't put it back where it belongs. The toothpaste in the sink is mine and the coffee grinds on the floor came from my carelessness.

I begin to establish routines. Every morning after eggs, baguette, and fruit with coffee, I wash the dishes and wipe down the stove and counters. Afterwards, as I sit down at the computer there is a certain satisfaction. I am ready for the day and my kitchen is too.

And in the evening after cooking dinner, I repeat the process, washing up again (if the water is still running). I go to bed with a full stomach in a clean house.

Having efficient appliances is very much an American preoccupation. For instance, I have only ever had a dishwasher in the United States. Each time I have lived abroad I have washed the dishes by hand. It takes more time. It is less efficient. And I am told it is less sanitary. But the routine that it creates gives me a connection with my apartment, with the food, and with the people who share that time with me. Most of the time that trade-off is worth it for me.

In fact, I consider it one of the great things about living abroad. The slower pace allows me to create peaceful, regular routines to order my life. It is not just a mad rush through the day, with the iron rule of efficiency commanding my every action. Life is so much more than completing each day as quickly and efficiently as possible. And here in Morocco I have the leisure to indulge in the in-between.