In writing my blog, I've been trying to think of things in my life which, for various reasons, don't even strike me as noteworthy, but which would interest folks living in the USA. I've been asking myself this question since my family and friends back in the USA have said to me that they want to be able to visualize my life here in Morocco, and learn about Morocco. It was in this line of inquiry that it recently occurred to me that I should mention ATMs (and, yes, this acronym does, in fact, stand for the same things which you almost certainly just envisioned, "automatic teller machines").
Not every PCV in Morocco has an ATM in his or her town, and there are certainly PCVs posted in other countries who don't have ATMs in their towns. I'm fortunate to have two ATMs in my town, which has a population probably of around 9,000 people living in it. When you add in the people living in the surrounding douars (villages), that figure probably rises to over 20,000 people living in the immediate, contiguous area, to provide a little context for my commentary here.
Thus, I think that I have a couple of ATMs in my town because of the size of my town. By contrast, my friend Ben, living in a smaller, nearby town, has no ATMs in his town of less than 5,000.
Last night, Ben was here in my town, since he needed to stay overnight at my apartment on his way up north. We went out in the early evening, first to a cafe, where we ordered a couple of small pizzas. Given that the cafe worker said that the pizzas wouldn't be ready for another hour, Ben suggested we go for a walk. I suggested this particular hill here in town, which is fairly close to that cafe where we ordered the pizzas, and which I visit from time to time for some pleasing views. We completed the short walk to and up the hill in perhaps ten minutes. As we sat on top of the hill, we were enjoying our view of the town and the palmerie, the huge grove of palm trees which extends through and beyond the town on both sides, as the sun was setting. We were talking about a variety of things: the hike we had done months ago to the top of a mountain here in town; what we could see from the top of the hill on which we were currently sitting; and how often we leave our towns. He explained to me that he always has to leave his town at least once every four weeks, to withdraw cash at an ATM, to be able to pay his rent and his other monthly expenses. I can count ATMs among the conveniences which I have here in my town, which I wouldn't have had, had I been placed in a different site here in Morocco.
However, I also thought of blogging about ATMs for another reason other than that they are a convenience I have here in my town. A few blog entries ago, I had mentioned that Moroccans tend not to stand in lines when they go to a store. People just walk up to the store and ask for what they want, regardless of whether there are people already standing there, rather than forming a line. However, Moroccans do stand in lines when waiting to use ATMs. I find it an interesting exception to the general practice concerning lines, or lack thereof, in Morocco.
Not every PCV in Morocco has an ATM in his or her town, and there are certainly PCVs posted in other countries who don't have ATMs in their towns. I'm fortunate to have two ATMs in my town, which has a population probably of around 9,000 people living in it. When you add in the people living in the surrounding douars (villages), that figure probably rises to over 20,000 people living in the immediate, contiguous area, to provide a little context for my commentary here.
Thus, I think that I have a couple of ATMs in my town because of the size of my town. By contrast, my friend Ben, living in a smaller, nearby town, has no ATMs in his town of less than 5,000.
Last night, Ben was here in my town, since he needed to stay overnight at my apartment on his way up north. We went out in the early evening, first to a cafe, where we ordered a couple of small pizzas. Given that the cafe worker said that the pizzas wouldn't be ready for another hour, Ben suggested we go for a walk. I suggested this particular hill here in town, which is fairly close to that cafe where we ordered the pizzas, and which I visit from time to time for some pleasing views. We completed the short walk to and up the hill in perhaps ten minutes. As we sat on top of the hill, we were enjoying our view of the town and the palmerie, the huge grove of palm trees which extends through and beyond the town on both sides, as the sun was setting. We were talking about a variety of things: the hike we had done months ago to the top of a mountain here in town; what we could see from the top of the hill on which we were currently sitting; and how often we leave our towns. He explained to me that he always has to leave his town at least once every four weeks, to withdraw cash at an ATM, to be able to pay his rent and his other monthly expenses. I can count ATMs among the conveniences which I have here in my town, which I wouldn't have had, had I been placed in a different site here in Morocco.
However, I also thought of blogging about ATMs for another reason other than that they are a convenience I have here in my town. A few blog entries ago, I had mentioned that Moroccans tend not to stand in lines when they go to a store. People just walk up to the store and ask for what they want, regardless of whether there are people already standing there, rather than forming a line. However, Moroccans do stand in lines when waiting to use ATMs. I find it an interesting exception to the general practice concerning lines, or lack thereof, in Morocco.
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