When did I become illiterate?

I am an educated woman.  I am a well traveled woman.  I have quite a few friends (and perhaps one or two enemies).  I like cheese and fine wines as well as long walks on the beach.  I read, I don't read as much as I should, but I read.  Usually historical fictions, poetry, and the occasional mystery book because we all need a little excitement in our lives.  So I was surprised to realize one day that I am, in fact, illiterate.  


When I go to the post office, I am not exactly sure what the form is I am filling out.  On my walks to the Center where I work, I can't read any of the street signs (which isn't that big of a deal because I really didn't read signs in the States either).  When I go to the grocery store, I am the one to ask the owner "is this salt?" and be embarrassed as they look at me like I am crazy (which isn't that big of a deal either because most people here look at me like I am crazy).  But, you know, it looked like salt, but I didn't know for sure, so I had to ask, because I couldn't read the label, because it was in ARABIC.  


Ok, so I am not totally illiterate.  I can read anything that is based off the latin alphabet, so you know, not too shabby.  But when it comes to Arabic, I am illiterate, and it is difficult being illiterate.  Actually, it sucks being illiterate.  It really, really sucks being illiterate.  


However, for Morocco with an estimated country wide literacy rate of 39.6% for women and 65.7% for men, I fit right in (United States Department of State, 2011).  I am not sure how I feel about that, but there it is, a glaring reality of a compulsory education system that is not always enforced or supported with the adequate infrastructure to make it realistic.  But there is quite a bit of hope with this new government, and a lot of changes are happening in Morocco, so we will see, maybe after two years I will become the minority.


You really learn something new everyday, don't you?


 United States Department of State. (2011). Background note: Morocco. Retrieved from: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5431.htm