Marrakech

It’s been a busy month here on the other side of the Atlantic. Nancy and I wrapped up our classes at the youth center on Thursday, June 12th. The following day, we took a six hour train to Marrakech for a 10 day, IST (In Service Training) event. A first class ticket, one-way cost 203 Dirham or about $24. The train goes southwest along the coast to Casablanca, then turns south through the desert to Marrakech. The first part of the journey we rode in a compartment with a retired Kuwatii Airline engineer and his Moroccan wife. When Khlil realized that he was in the same compartment with English speakers, he dusted off his rusty ABC’s and got right to work. We spent the next couple of hours talking about our respective countries. As luck would have it, Khlil and his wife live in Kenitra. He called us later in the week to make sure that we made it to Marrakech okay and to tell us he had a big day planned for us in Kenitra when we returned.

In the Casablanca train station, the conductor directed us to another first class train car. We had sat in the wrong seats for the first leg of the trip. In the new car, we displaced another couple that was also in the wrong car. An animated conversation in English was taking place. There was a couple from Argentina on vacation, a businessman from Oman returning to his Moroccan wife and an Egyptian physician going to a conference for the week. It was such an enjoyable train trip talking with this interesting collection of individuals. The desert south of Casablanca is very arid. Occasionally, we would pass a river or an oasis and the surrounding region would be irrigated. A couple places had large cultivations of Nopales aka Prickly Pear cactus. Four hours later we arrived at the modern Marrakech train station. Marrakech is called the “rose city” because it was originally built with red sandstone from the region. Modern buildings use a stucco tinted about the same color. The overall effect is very pleasing.

Marrakech Train Station.

Walking to the CNSS Hotel.

“Marrakech is the great market of the south, and the south means not only the Atlas with its feudal chiefs and their wild clansmen, but all that lies beyond of heat and savagery, the Sahara of the veiled Touaregs, Dakka, Timbuctoo, Senegal and the Soudan. Here come the camel caravans from the Demnat and Tameslout, from the Moulouya and the Souss, and those from the Atlantic ports and the confines of Algeria. The population of this old city of the southern march has always been even more mixed than that of the northerly Moroccan towns. It is made up of the descendants of all the peoples conquered by a long line of Sultans who brought their trains of captives across the sea from Moorish Spain and across the Sahara from Timbuctoo. Even in the highly cultivated region on the lower slopes of the Atlas there are groups of varied ethnic origin, the descendants of tribes transplanted by long-gone rulers and still preserving many of their original characteristics.”
– In Morocco, Edith Wharton, 1920

Old Moroccan house surrounded by new Moroccan housing.

We stayed for a couple of days at the Ibis Hotel, right around the corner from the station. It has a nice pool and gave us a chance to rest before our 10 day marathon training session. The days were long, running from 9 – 5:30 every day, except Sunday off. The training event was located at the CNSS Hotel used for vacationing government employees. The married couples stayed in hotel rooms while the single volunteers shared bungalows (with kitchens), 5 per bungalow, out on the opposite side of the pool. The hotel was quiet at night but there was quite a bit of partying going on out in the bungalows.

Fountain at the front entrance.

Salon.  Some meetings held here.

Unheated pool was at least 12′ in the deep end.  Temperature just right.

Breakfast and lunch was provided by the hotel and we were on our own for dinner. The bus stop to downtown and the old medina was close by the entrance to the hotel. Mid-way to the old medina, is a very nice section of town called Ville Nouvelle, with a number of good restaurants. Marrakech is a popular place for European tourists, particularly French. The weather and climate reminds me of Palm Springs. A nice swimming pool, a full cooler of cold drinks, a good book or tablet, sunscreen, shade and you are set for the afternoon.

The main square in the old medina, Djemaa el-Fna.

Djemaa el-Fna.

A belated birthday dinner for both of us in the old medina.

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Dinner with our friends, Christine and Christopher in Ville Nouvelle.

Jafars!

In English, pickpockets. They abound in the tourist areas and Marrakech is no exception. Both of my experiences with pickpockets have been getting on a bus leaving an old medina. The first time was in Fez and the second time was here. There is some pushing and shoving getting on a crowded Moroccan bus. People are anxious to get on and bunch up by the front door. I felt a rustling down by my leg. I looked down and saw what looked like a small backpack moving around. I did not remember any one with a backpack waiting with us for the bus and then I felt his fat fingers trying to get in my front pants pocket. Fortunately, he was stymied by the Velcro at the top. He must have seen the outline of my iPhone before getting on the first step. I grabbed his hand and pulled it out. As I looked back, he had turned away and started to move off. My reaction was to hit him on the shoulder. I learned later that if I had called out “Jafar!” (Thief!) bystanders might intervene and help out. I’ll try to remember that for the next time.

Plants in front of an old house for sale.

Speaking of jafars, the last time I checked in the Dar Chabab garden, of the original 13 trees we planted, it’s down to three. Two died and eight have disappeared in the middle of the night. When I talked to one of the mudirs about it, he shook his head and said, “that’s Morocco”.

Nancy and I were glad to finish IST. Peace Corp language instruction for this program is outdated, in my opinion. The problem is the methodology. Nancy and I had far better success using Professor Tracy Terrell’s Spanish language program at UC Irvine. The PC method is to bombard students with massive amounts of vocabulary and grammar. Conversation goes to the back burner and forget about having a review at the beginning of the next class period. No time for that, there’s another lesson to get through! Tracy Terrell’s method is the exact opposite. But the Peace Corps has been teaching it this way in Morocco for 50 years, it works. Well, just because it’s a ’64 Chevy that still runs, doesn’t mean that it’s the most efficient car on the road. But like the disclaimer says…the opinions expressed here are mine / ours alone.

Otherwise, there were some very useful sessions taught by current volunteers about projects they are doing in their towns and cities around Morocco. We gathered lots of information and ideas about possible projects we could try in Kenitra.

U.S. Ambassador

The new U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, Dwight Bush, came to visit our IST while we were there. He was originally scheduled to come to our Rabat swearing-in ceremony, but was occupied that day presenting his credentials to the King. He spoke to the group for a while, ate lunch with us and later spoke to a few of us individually. He mentioned that he had not had the opportunity to do Peace Corps service when he was young, but if he had it to do over again he would. At that point, one of the other senior volunteers quipped, “Remember, when your term as Ambassador is over, it’s never too late to join the Peace Corps.”

After lunch, when we were sitting around in the lobby, his senior State Department representative and the Acting Country Director came over to where Nancy and I were sitting.

She said, “Everyone is using their iPhones! This is not the Peace Corps from my day.”

Me: “We really enjoyed the Ambassador’s visit. We’re glad it worked out with his schedule. If he ever wants to visit a volunteer site, we are in Kenitra, that’s 30 minutes north of Rabat. We will be sure to take his call.”

They all laughed and the State Dept official said, “On your iPhone?”

Me: ”No, on our Peace Corps phone.” More laughter.

Rabii Chaibainou, our language instructor and Ambassador Dwight Bush.

Jardin Majorelle

A true gem in Marrakech. Started by the French painter, Jacques Majorelle, in 1924. He opened the garden to the public in 1947. The garden was acquired and restored by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge. It is now part of their foundation.

We are back in Kenitra now.  Ramadan started this morning with a cannon going off at 4:20 am for the call to prayer.  Should be an interesting month!

Anti-Litter posters from the 1970’s

   

I wanted to include these with my last post about the Environmental Garden, but a technical mishap prevented that from happening.  I think I should have some of these translated in darija to use in Morocco.

House Under Construction

At the end of our street on the corner is a new house under construction. We walk by it on our way to and from the dar chabab. The house that was there was the childhood home of Boussati, a famous Moroccan football (soccer) player. The new home will be multi-story replacing the old, single story building. This practice of replacing older single story buildings with multi-story buildings is happening all around town. I’ve mentioned in earlier posts that there is a building boom going on in the cities all over Morocco. Moroccans tell me that people are moving from rural to urban areas in great numbers and that more young people want their own places. The guys working on the house recognize us and wave as we walk by. Construction techniques are different here and it fascinates me to watch these builders in action.

Trip to the paint store

This morning’s activity was a trip to Abdelkarim’s (our landlord) paint store to pay the rent for June. We also picked up some paint supplies to refinish the cabinet in the picture and touch up some things around our apartment.  Abdelkarim would not take any money for the supplies.  Such a nice guy!  We rescued the cabinet from a trash pile that was on the roof when we first moved into this place. It was in really bad shape but we saved it just in time. In case you were wondering about the purpose of the wine bottle, it is filled with paint thinner that we will use with the varnish.

News from home

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A Trip to the “Moon” and Casablanca

Last Sunday, Nancy and I went to Medhyia Beach with a couple of our students, Youssef and HouSSine. We took a grand taxi, six passengers and the driver packed into a Mercedes sedan. Besides trains and buses, this is standard inter-city transportation in Morocco. It was a sunny, warm weekend day. The summer crowds were starting to make themselves apparent at the beach. After the taxi dropped us off, we walked past the restaurants, cafes and hanuts that line the road that runs along the beach. At the end of the beach road, it turns to the left and goes up a hill that takes you above Mehdyia. Just after the turn and up the hill a bit is the Kenitra Surf Association. HouSSine wanted to point out that he works there giving surfing and kite boarding lessons to locals and tourists.

Looking back from the jetty (“moon”) towards the town of Mehdyia.

We then walked further down the beach beyond the end of the road. Once we found a spot, Youssef took off his shoes and we sat down. After a few minutes, Youssef said that he was going back to the bus stop. HouSSine and I decided to play frisbee, while Nancy collected shells waiting for Youssef to return. After about an hour and a half, we were starting to get sunburned and Youssef had not returned. We called him on the phone to tell him we had had enough sun and were leaving. He said that he was on the “moon” (the jetty) and that we would really like it. The jetty is close to where you first enter the beach area. So we told him we would walk back and meet him there.

When we got to the foot of the jetty, we called him and sent texts messages, neither of which he answered. We waited for a while for him to respond. Not hearing anything from him, we decided to go to the “moon” to give him back his shoes. We walked out the jetty as far as we could, but still no Youssef. There were many people sitting on the rocks below where we were walking. We figured he had gone down into one of those places to be closer to the water. It occurred to us that he had probably met a girlfriend and was sitting in one of those spots. It was a beautiful walk out the jetty with great views of the coastline, including the old casbah. There was a good ocean swell running and there were surfers dotting the waves nearby.

We walked back to the taxi stand to get a grand taxi back to Kenitra. While we were waiting for an available taxi, Youssef answered HouSSine’s phone call. HouSSine said that we had walked all the way out on the “moon” but did not see him. So we kept Youssef’s shoes and he went home barefoot.

Looking back from the “moon” towards the casbah.

Casablanca

Rabat Ville train station on the way to Casablanca.

The following day, Nancy and I took the train to Casablanca. The trip lasted about 1.5 hour, with about a .5 hour wait at the station. The one-way fare was 48 dirham, about 6 dollars. The equivalent distance at home would be about Emeryville to Sacramento, which is 49 dollars. It is a nice train ride south, with occasional views of the coastline. Casablanca is Morocco’s largest city and the train station is quite large. Immediately exiting the station, you walk out onto a plaza to meet the ultra-modern tram. The tram is so new that the Lonely Planet guidebook, 2013 edition, said that it was not finished at the time of publication. The tram runs across the city, through an undeveloped section of Casablanca and out to the beach area. The one way fare for that trip was 7 dirham.

Casablanca beach.

There is a convent in Casa run by nuns from Mexico. The word on the Peace Corps “coconut wireless” (Facebook) is that they sell food from the convent’s door. Tortillas, tamales, enchiladas, etc. As far as we know, this is the only place around that sells authentic Mexican food. We located the convent on Google maps and planned to stop there on the way back. A volunteer that Nancy knows said that the beach area was worth a visit and that there was a huge mall south of the last tram station. It was a nice day for a walk, so we decided to look for the mall. Nancy’s friend said that the mall had about 50 restaurants to choose from and it was located in a very scenic area on the beach.

We walked along the boardwalk for about 30 minutes before we could see off in the distance a huge, ball shaped building. As we got closer, we saw that it was home of Morocco’s only IMAX theater. We found a Chinese restaurant in the mall and since we haven’t had Chinese food in Morocco, it was a pleasant change. After our meal, we walked back to the tram station, caught the tram and headed back to where the convent was located. By this time, it was getting to be about 5pm. We figured another hour to find the convent and get our food. Then another hour to get our next train and 1.5 hour ride back to Kenitra. We decided that we were tired and had run out of time for the nuns! The good news is that we will be passing through Casablanca at the end of June when we return from Marrakech. We’ll have time to stop for some tortillas then.

Bridge to a small community at Casablanca beach.

Site Meeting
On Friday, we had our first site meeting in Kenitra with our PC Regional Manager and PC Program Manager, along with our supervisor (mudir), Khalid, and Moroccan counterparts. We discussed our work at our site so far and our plans for the future. It was the first visit to our dar chabab by our Program Manager, Abdelghani. He said it was the biggest one he had seen and could not believe the number of associations and activities it offers. The meeting went well. Nancy and I have a good relationship with Khalid. He mentioned during the meeting that a number of students told him that they were really impressed with the quality of Nancy’s English language classes. He also mentioned that the word was getting around about her classes and to expect a big increase in the number of new students in the fall. Hoda, our Regional Manager, had told us before the meeting that the mudir of the dar chabab in Sidi Yahia had heard about Nancy’s classes. This mudir lives in Kenitra and had heard this information from students living around him.

The Environmental Garden
Khalid mentioned to Abdelghani during our site meeting that I had participated in a clean-up day a few weeks ago with a Scouting Association. Someone took some pictures of me and posted them on the dar chabab Facebook page. Khalid showed Abdelghani those pictures after the meeting. When asked during the meeting what other skills could I bring to the dar chabab, I said that I was interested in forming an environmental club to continue the work that we had started in the garden. Khalid said that there just so happened to be an environmental club forming based on a number of associations around Kenitra that were interested in starting this type of organization. He asked if I would like to be a part of this startup organization. After I said that I would, he immediately called the person in charge and said that I would come to their first meeting to be held the following night.

The Environmental Garden is a national effort to raise environmental awareness in Morocco. It is receiving support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of the Environment and the King Mohammed VI Institution for the Environment. The meeting held the next night was to elect the officers of the club and to announce their upcoming events. I attended the meeting with my counterpart, Youssef. I wrote a few sentences beforehand in darija that I said at the meeting to tell them a little about myself and that I wanted to be a part of their organization.  They all sat and listened respectively.  “Marhaba!” (welcome), they all said afterwards.  Youssef and I are now listed as consultants to the association.  The meeting was the shortest Moroccan meeting I’ve attended, lasting only about 15 -20 minutes. Their goals are to get Moroccans thinking about their environment and taking personal responsibility to help clean things up. How cool is that? This grassroots campaign reminds me of the anti-litter campaigns of the U.S. in the 1970’s. Those had a major impact on people’s ideas about littering and trash. There are a couple of events planned for Kenitra at our dar chabab next weekend.