We're getting more clarity on our data and how we're going to respond to our client, and we're getting to know each other a bit better. It's time to reach out beyond our team of four people and make sure we take advantage of the knowledge of other team members. Tuesday night, Sayoko (from Japan) and Brittany (from Washington DC) and I went back to the Hammam for round two (for me - it was the first time for the other two women.) I can't believe that my skin is even MORE soft now than I've ever known it to be. It's amazing. I do feel a bit soggy and it's getting more hot and humid here, but I can't stop petting my arms. :) After our Hammam, the three of us had dinner at our hotel and really enjoyed the singer who's there every night. It's funny because he mouths (sings) the words of popular American songs but he clearly doesn't know what he's saying and many words don't come out quite right, but he gets the idea.
On Wednesday we visited three different areas during the day - a transportation/logistics trade show for all the training groups (private trainers and our OFPPT client), then we went to the school of textiles, where people learn sewing and maintenance of sewing machines. That was really interesting - made me think of my grandmother's business where she had many seamstresses all sewing on big industrial machines at the same time. There were Pfaffs, Necchis, Singers, and Rimoldi (?) machines. And last, we went to the IT school to learn about their curriculum - Networking, Development, and Telecom, for the most part, but they also get some CISCO and Microsoft certifications from some classes.
Wednesday night we went to a great restaurant right on the water near the lighthouse (pictures to come) called le Cabestan. The women were dressed to the nines in some of the shortest skirts I'd ever seen - I guess they trade in their jelabas and kaftans and come out at night as a new person. The meal was great although it was a long day and a long night. We met Nicole, the wife of our IBM contact here in Morocco (Nabil), who is an American from Seattle, who's settled in Morocco in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Accounting (whatever that is). We also met the IBM Communications contact person, Nadia, who told us about some possibilities for our project. A late night - bed at midnight. Thank goodness we don't have to be up super-early on Thursday.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
A weekend in the North of Morocco - Chefchaouen and Tangier
We spent the weekend in the north - Chefchaouen, the Blue City, and then Tangier. We were cursed by fate ... we should never have left on Wednesday night for Fes and then come back to work Friday, only to leave again Friday in the same direction. We should just have taken Friday off from work and made up the time later. Friday afternoon we all tried to leave the office early to get a head start on traffic, but we didn't manage to leave Casa till 5pm. We got up to Rabat by 6:30, had a quick dinner at the mall where we met the team that works on tourism, and we were about to make our way to Chefchaouen (another 3 hours of driving, the last 90 minutes of which is a winding mountain road) when we realized that no one had picked up the suitcases of the Rabat team back at the hotel. What to do? We called the hotel and for 800 dirhams (about $100) they would send a car up with the three bags. So we sat at the mall and waited nearly three hours. Our poor driver was furious - he was the one who had the hard drive ahead of him. We didn't blame him but what could we do? We arrived in
'Chaouen at 2:30am and had a short, hard sleep.
Saturday we were on our own. It was lovely to wake up at 10, have a leisurely breakfast on the terrace in the cool mountain air, and then look forward to a day of browsing through the relatively small Medina of buildings, most of which are various shades of light blue. The reasons for the blue ranged from stories of honoring the Jews who had settled in this place to the way it kept things cooler, to it keeping flies away. I believe all the stories! I decided to go out alone - it is a small, safe town. I met many lovely cats along the way, and I realized two things: first, that cats are well loved in Morocco. They are outside animals except a few spoiled ones, but they are taken care of. Second, all the female cats I saw were pregnant. So spaying and neutering is not a big thing. Too bad.
After meandering a while I was approached buy a young (30ish) man who wanted to know if I would like to see handmade rugs and tapestries from his cooperative. He spoke to me in very good English and so I began to follow him. Soon we were winding our way through emptier and narrower pathways and I wondered if I were making a mistake, but we ended up going down into almost a cave that opened into a huge 3 or 4 rooms with rugs, carpets, and other woven treasures everywhere. This young man (Baba) and his brother work in the co-op and their father travels to the Berber villages buying. It turned out that the brother studied accounting and business at OFPPT, the vocational school that is our client! He proudly brought out his workbook with the OFPPT logo and showed me!
I was so excited and told him all about the work we are doing and before I knew it, I was sitting having sweet mint tea and bouncing ideas off him. The two brothers called a friend of theirs, an older retired gentleman from the UK who, many years go, had befriended the family and had become like an uncle to them. We exchanged stories, looked at rugs, and two hours later I was promising to come back with my husband in three weeks to buy some rugs.
I was so buoyed by my visit and my adventure that I must have been glowing, because when I stopped in a small square to pet a very pregnant black cat, another man struck up a conversation with me as he saw how content I was, just petting the cat. Our conversation was in French, and he told me of his sister who lives in LA, his mother who died recently, and his brothers who live south. I waited for him to ask me to buy something or see his store, but that never came. He wished me a good afternoon and I was on my way, meandering to and fro until I found a gorgeous stall of the most beautiful fabrics I'd seen.
Oh, the cottons and wools and silks. I had promised myself I would wait to buy anything "big" until I came back with Warren, but I just couldn't help myself. The owner, who was happily watching his soccer game, did not bother getting up and pushing fabrics to me, thankfully, so I could browse and handle the pieces as I liked. I asked (in French) if he took credit cards, as I didn't want to end up as I'd one before, without cash, and he said yes!
Mom and Dad had given me birthday money and told me to "Rock the Kasbah" and since the shop was near the Kasbah (fortress) of Chefchaouen, I decided it was a good omen. After about 30 minutes I had narrowed my choices down to three pieces; each was about 1.5 meters by 2 meters. I pulled out my card and he waved his finger: no cards accepted. I realized then that he really spoke no French except for a few numbers - the prices. So I ended up with just one piece. He told me 250 but I pulled out a 200 bill (about $25) and gave it to him. He wrapped my fabric in a package and I left, feeling like I has successfully bargained to both our satisfaction. The fabric is so gorgeous, I would have paid a lot more, but I remembered reading and being told that one simply must bargain. It's just the way things are done!
After that I ran into half the group and we had lunch one the third floor terrace of a restaurant whose spiral staircase was so tiny and steep it was hard to get up. Another lovely kitty joined us and I gave her all the shrimp off my shrimp pizza. We spent the last hour at the stalls right near the hotel and we were all ready and waiting with our bags when our driver appeared at 4pm. Off to Tangier! The road to Tangier reminded me so much of Colorado, with beautiful mountains, pine trees, and steep roads. Except it was quite green - and 90 minutes later we arrived in a clean, bustling city that was much more modern than Casa. The hotel Chella was old but spacious, and it had a beach club restaurant (right on the beach, yes) that we went to for a dinner of fish of every kind imaginable. I shared a paella with my roommate, Sue, and we watched the sun go down and people riding horses on the surf. Our group loves to share food so even though people seem to be getting colds from one another - maybe it's inevitable - we all love to taste everything. Sue, who isn't feeling great, and I walked back to our hotel around 11:30 while the others just got started with the band at midnight and stayed out till after 2.
Sunday morning we met up with Imane, who works for the NGO non-profit group that has arranged all the details of our visit to Morocco. She related stories of the great things the (relatively) new King has done since coming into power, like helping the position and regard of women and freeing prisoners who had been convicted for speaking against the former regime. Apparently this new King is quite progressive and well liked. He certainly has great ideas for the OFPPT.
Imane's family home is truly a palace by our standards. Outside, it is very much like a new home in Cyprus - walled, three stories, and stucco. But inside, it is decorated with beautiful tile, marble, and cushions of vibrant turquoise and red. We were there for a few moments when Imane and her brother (who, by the way, studied at U of CO, Denver, for two years before moving to Dubai because he was too cold in CO) served us tea, coffee, and a spread of savory and sweet pastries that were better than anything we'd eaten since arriving in Morocco.
We ate and drank and laughed and by 4, we were back on our bus, this time with Imane, on the way back to Casa at a decent hour (hopefully by 8) so we could prepare for our second week with our clients. It turned out to be 9:30pm or 10pm but that was OK. Off to bed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
