#schlenanigans!

Routine. What a concept.

Cape Town life was hectic, frenetic, packed, all over the place. Marrakech has found me settling into much more of a normal day-to-day during the week. While the work day starts later, due to evening/night calls, I basically function like I normally would back home. Wake up, make or go for coffee and breakfast, try to squeeze in a walk to the Medina or around the neighborhood, then head to the workspace for a full day of work. There are several of us that work more or less US hours, so its generally a crew there until 10 or 11. Morocco is a dry country, so there is not the plethora of options for going out that there was in Cape Town, so we generally just go home to finish up work or have a bottle of wine in someone’s apartment. There have been a lot of getting-to-know-yous with new people and I am leaning more and more every day about how people ended up doing this and why. It never ceases to be interesting!

#datworkspacelife

☝️Yes, I broke down and got Starbucks.... but it doesn't count if they write your name in Arabic, right?

The highs…. and the lows.

On a personal level, the last few weeks have been a more intense rollercoaster of emotions. I learned upon my arrival in Marrakech that David, one of my parents’ dearest friends and a true member of our family had passed away. I was devastated—I knew it was coming, we had communicated back in Cape Town that his health had been deteriorating rapidly (he had a degenerative lung disease and had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in the last year, gone through chemo, and continued his steady decline), but I was not mentally or emotionally prepared for him to be gone. Especially when I am so far away and I had not seen him the last time the fam had all gotten together before I left the country. I had my cry, went to my first Moroccan dinner, and have mourned in my way while I have been here, with support from those I have gotten close to. Then, we learned last weekend that our mama, Jen, who lived with an exchange family in The Netherlands 15 years ago, had her little exchange brother take his own life. She was inconsolable and left the group to go be with the family for the funeral. While she was there, we found out one of our own’s actual mother, who he had told me was in the hospital the weekend before, with a “manageable chest condition,” was in a steady decline of her own in the hospital. He got a call while on a road trip through Morocco that he needed to get home, and fast. He got on the first flight out of the nearest airport to Sydney, 28 hours, and made it home just in time to spend a few hours with his mum before she passed as well.

Needless to say, as a group that has gotten extremely close in a short period of time, we are all feeling a lot. It is nice to have this new family to support us and offer words of comfort and shoulders to cry on, but it also makes you feel very, very far from home. That being said, I know we are all grateful to have each other and all of these events have made us closer. It’s funny—you leave for the weekend and by the time Sunday rolls around, you can’t wait to get home and see everyone, as you GENUINELY miss them. Hallie, my roommate, left for her sister’s wedding… she was gone about a week, with plans to hang in Madrid for a few days before coming back, but she moved her flight up because she missed the crew. It’s like that with this fam. And I love and am grateful for it.

There is so much more.... hiking through the Atlas Mountains, eating home-cooked meals (the best), haggling with leather sellers, exploring caves, making friends with locals... every excursion brings something new. I continue to love this life of constant newness, and I hope everyone gets a chance to visit Morocco in their life!!

Here are some more photos from the last couple of weeks:

☝️Taghazout at sunset

☝️Atlas Mountains

☝️PRICKLY PEAR

☝️”We pretend you are my two wives!”

☝️Hercules’ Cave (from the ocean, this looks like the continent of Africa)

Much love, fam! ✌️I miss you all!

❌⭕️❌⭕️❌⭕️for realz,

Marrakech Express

Weekend trips have been a big part of the first half of this month—hence the fact that I have not spent a full day in the Medina, or a weekend in Marrakech itself. The first weekend we went to Tangier, Chefchaouen, and Fes. Tangier is a coastal city 14 km from Spain on a ferry, where you can find locals who speak up to 12 languages due to their proximity to Europe. Chefchaouen, the Blue Pearl, is the most instagrammable town I have ever seen, with its hues of blue and tiny, hilly, crooked streets. Fes has the oldest continually existing university in the world, as well as some of the craziest leather tanneries and rugs. All three cities have their medinas and an undeniable sense of Moroccan-ness, but each has its own unique vibes. A flight ($26) and many hours on a bus got us around, followed by a 5:30AM train back to the ‘Kesh. The train gives you a whole different perspective on the landscape and countryside, as it shows you the ever-rapidly-changing colors and topographies. You can be rolling by what looks like Kansas, green prairie land, and five minutes later, it looks like the moon with some weeds. Mountains and rocks and different reds, browns, taupes of dirt. No sand yet— the desert is happening soon. Morocco is magnificent.

☝️Tangier (Spain is 14 km away)

☝️The meeting of a different two oceans

☝️Requisite side-of-the-road-camels photo

☝️...

☝️Chefchaouen, The Blue Pearl

☝️Same

☝️Bluuuue-dabadee-dabadouuuuu

☝️Fes: Tanneries galore (that is where they clean and dye leather)

☝️MADE IT TO THE BEACH - TAGHAZOUT

Last weekend we spontaneously rented a car and drove 3.5 hours to the west coast to a sleepy little surf town called Taghazout. Driving is a whooooole different animal. I had one of my friends look up traffic laws as I sped through the countryside…. Because you have to know if bribing cops is a thing when you rent a car in a foreign country, right? We are in Morocco. Of course it’s a thing. And I am glad I asked , because sure enough we got pulled over for “speeding”… and had a full-on Moroccan cop shakedown. They tried to get us to pay 400 dirham, about 40 bucks. Some charades, broken French, pissed exchanges, and a LOT of smiling later, we got them down to 150, took some photos, and got back in the car. As we started to pull away, one of the cops gesticulated— no, we are done here, we thought. But he ran across a few lanes of the highway and had me roll down my window…. To give back 50 dirham of what we paid. Change on our bribe. What a time to be alive.

☝️Sometimes you just gotta make friends...

☝️AMOUAGE hotel... beautiful.

☝️Not a terrible view for conference calls til 10PM #sundeskcoworking

☝️LOVE this place. #mungaguesthouse in Taghazout

☝️BEACH CAMELS!!!

Well, there has certainly been a change.

It’s been just over six weeks since I left the US and I can tell you 2 things: time is FLYING; and there is absolutely no way to prepare yourself for being thrust full-on into these places where it is expected that you just pick up your life like you are home again… in a different place.

I am not sure where to begin. I suppose you arrive in Marrakech, and immediately notice a shift… in the whole energy of the city, the country, the landscape, the architecture, the urban planning, the language, the weather, the animals, the PEOPLE…. Not one thing can really compare on any real level to what we had in January.

I will say, one thing that has struck me (and many others)—aside from the obvious above, which I will get to—is the complete 180 in terms of sustainability and environmental awareness. I stopped and had a moment this morning when I showered, thinking how ingrained it was in Cape Town to save water with 3 min showers and do the absolute most to leave a small footprint… and that is widely known and adhered to in the city itself. Day 1 in the workspace here I drank a huge bottle of water and bought some pistachios in a plastic container; time to leave rolled around and we were going to walk home (yes, walk…. Marrakech is MUCH safer than CT at night), albeit freezing, so I gathered my items and asked the office reception if they recycled. I was answered with a that’s-cute chuckle and told that all refuse goes in the same receptacle. YIKES. First of all, we are told upon arrival to not drink the water……… so put 50 non-Moroccans together and do the math: 80% are paranoid as hell, the other 20 are either completely unaware or don’t care… but for argument’s sake, lets say 40 people are buying bottles on bottles every single day for 35 day. No wonder there is a plastic pile the size of Texas in the ocean. I tried to plan ahead and had Fern get me a water bottle with a filter. Guess who left it in Cape Town (where the tap water is FINE)?

Anyhow, the whole waste management/natural resources thing is a trip here. Cape Town makes you very aware of just how much trash you generate; Morocco makes it very, very easy to forget.

But that is the very surface.

Morocco itself is this fascinating anomaly in so many ways. We came from a place where race is about as dividing a factor as you can have… a place where in my own lifetime some really horrible, crazy shit happened. And then we come here, a place that has been in existence for literal centuries, has more history than many, many places, and has a completely different take on it. We took a culture and history seminar and the thing that stuck and that I find so intriguing is the attitude that it does not matter what your race is, if you are Moroccan, you are Moroccan. That’s that. As a place that has never identified as  totally African, European, or Arabic, it is a place that has its interracial interactions within, but one that places nationalism—in the most literal way—before anything else. It is refreshing and foreign and totally different from what we know in America.

A brand new language barrier - Parlez vous français? La? Shoukran!

Language in Morocco is something. Kids are taught Moroccan Arabic at home, but in school learn formal Arabic first, followed by French, and then, if they are still in school, English. Then you have the Berbers, or Amazigh (Berber has its root in the word barbarian, so turns out it is actually somewhat derogatory, albeit widely used), who have their own versions of many words. It has been an adjustment different from South Africa, where there are 11 official languages, but English is one of the top ones and spoken by all in Cape Town. As someone who has never studied French or Arabic, I have found it challenging to not let myself slide into Spanish and I have relied on the few words we have been taught and a lot of charades to communicate. It does go to show, however, how far a smile can go. And knowing how to say thank you (shoukran!) is priceless. And no (la). OK, and haggling taxi prices (Hamseen! Safi!)

☝️TILE.

Everyone asks about being a woman here. I have to say, everything I have ever heard about it makes it sound scary and like something you really have to prepare for. For what it’s worth, they all made it sound way worse than I have experienced.

I have found that yes, you get your catcalls here and there, some lascivious looks, but by and large the people are kind and respectful and will never ever touch you. They will hassle you when you are shopping in the Medina, they will slow their motorbikes when you are jaywalking and whisper or blow a kiss, but I have never felt in danger or severely uncomfortable. As long as you are firm when telling people no (or when you say “safi!” — “enough!”), they pretty much get the point. And if all else fails, ignoring people usually does the trick. I know that I am tall, I don’t take shit, and I don’t often walk alone around here—I am less of an easy target. But, I wouldn’t discourage a woman from coming to Morocco based on looks and gestures and blown kisses.

☝️Homecooked meal in the medina

THE. FOOD.

Ohmygod. The. Food. Tajine on tajine. Couscous with every imaginable deliciousness. Meat, veggies, salads, sweets, fruit. Every kind of exquisite bread and crepe with sugar, honey, butter. SUGAR. Mint tea. Morocco is NOT the place to come if you are trying to do any kind of low carb situation (well, fine, you COULD, but it would be an exercise in real deprivation/torture). They serve bread and french fries with just about EVERY meal. Cape Town was meat-heavy, but you were able to find a plethora of health-conscious options, the trendier the better. Here, you can find those, but again, you want to eat the local food which is, oftentimes, bread-forward (use bread instead of a fork, duh), and not afraid of pounds on pounds of sugar. Moroccan mint tea is really just tea-flavored sugar water, and man do  I love it. I could wax philosophic on the food for pages, but suffice to say I am enjoying every bite (even that camel burger I had to try!).

☝️Pastilla, a specialty of Tangier. SO. DELISH.

☝️Another homecooked meal enjoyed on a rooftop in the Atlas Mountains. Most delicious tagine...aside from the other most delicious tagines...

THE SHOOOPPPPPINGGGG….

….is too much. The Medina, or old, walled city, is full of souks, shops and sellers of various food and wares. Leather, rugs, ceramics, lanterns, glassware, wool, trinkets, shoes, every imaginable THING you can think of. And it is all so cheap, with prices usually up for debate. It is easy to get lost in the labyrinthine streets, which don’t make a whole lot of sense, yet locals navigate with ease. I have only been on a heritage walking tour of historic buildings and one very famous synagogue (Jewish history in Morocco is fascinating) and have had breakfast once in the Medina; I am still looking forward to losing myself in the walkways and beautiful riads and rooftop terraces found within the walls of the old city—more to report on that once my sister gets here this weekend!

☝️Rugs. 

☝️Chefchaouen

[JANUARY 30, 2019]

Howzit ma brus?

What a whirlwind few weeks in the Mother City!! I cannot believe my time in Cape Town already came and went. Between spending half the last weekend in the Winelands and the other driving down the Cape to see the southwestern-most point of Africa and the PENGUINS at Boulders Beach (along with some of the best fish & chips EVER), the time flew by, but man did we have a good time! 

I realize that in my last post I did a very poor job of laying out exactly what I am doing, for those of you that I did not explain it all to in person :)

Remote Year is the name of a company that offers 4- and 12-month itineraries around the world. I was picked by my company to choose an itinerary; I was given 4 options and the one I chose was here in Africa and Europe… the company has many itineraries going in different areas at once, both 4 and 12; mine is a 4-monther called Kuungana, which means “connect” in Swahili…. and did I mention there are 50 of us? We did our first month here in the Mother City, head next to Marrakesh for 5 weeks, followed by 4 weeks each in Lisbon and Valencia. Each group has a Program Leader accompanying them to all the cities on the itinerary; our mama on Kuungana is Jen, a wonderfully bubbly and funny Aussie who has been living the nomad life for 4 years and been working for Remote Year for over 2— she rules. Once you have completed a program, you can jump into any city where there is a group and take advantage of the activities and resources that RY makes available to their newly christened Citizens (what they call folks who have finished a program). Obviously, I am already making big plans to figure out where I am going in May once my run with Kuungana has ended.  

But I digress. With the whole setup of Remote Year, you truly do feel like you have an entire network in the city you find yourself, and there is always someone willing to go find a new restaurant or explore a new neighborhood. They encourage everyone to get to know EVERYone, which is actually kind of nice, as you find yourself able to talk to anyone in the group and have shared interesting interpersonal experiences in close proximity. And did I mention there are 50 of us in the Kuungana fam?  It’s also interesting to learn bit by bit about what people do for work and how they form work habits in a remote environment. Some people are adhering strictly to their American work hours; others are not working at all. Some of use hang in the workspace til 11PM, others are early birds knocking out their tasks in the early morning. Today we actually had an “UNconference’, a quick event where everyone presented one slide about what they do, like to talk about, can offer to teach other, and want to learn from others…it was such a neat opportunity to understand how people got here, but also get an idea of the great resources available when you bring together a group of gifted and talented people, to see what other ways we can work and learn. Everyone is so eager to help, it is pretty freakin rad to see.

I have already gotten really close with my “tramily”— my travel family (an RY term, not mine)— and it’s pretty interesting to reflect upon the relationships forged in the first month, both with the other Remotes and with the folks on the city teams and who work for Remote Year. Obviously, I am already making big plans to figure out where I am going in May once my run with Kuungana has ended.

As my month in Cape Town came to a close, I found myself reflecting on the time warp… it feels like I just got there … and now I have already left. I was so sad to be leaving “so soon”… but I am also filled with excitement and anticipation at what this next stop brings. January has been a true emotional rollercoaster— mostly highs, a couple lows, with a little stress in the mix to keep me honest. It feels like Cape Town was sort of a holiday, one on which I had to work, but also one on which I went NON.STOP. Seriously, no sleep. So, it will be nice to chill and spend a little more time alone and reflecting…. this whole journey is one of the crazier things I have had the opportunity to do in my life— and I have had a lot of crazy opportunities— and I am determined to squeeze every last drop out of the experiences; I remain unbelievably grateful. I have met amazing people, seen amazing sights, learned a lot about South Africa and its history and people, (hit some pretty rad parties,) and found myself feeling so at home and in love with the place. I was SO not ready to leave, and I already can’t wait to go back. (And I am still convinced I will marry a South African…)

I know I promised to be good about sharing, through photos and more…. This month I did not do a good job on ye olde social media; but I hope you all know that I have been living my best life, enjoying the moments to the fullest, and feeling incredibly blessed to share every second with people that I love, whether I knew them before getting here or met them upon arrival. Having Kristina and Nadia and Kelsey from home be around to get a glimpse into what this whole thing is (and drive convertibles down the coast of Africa while on a carrot cake tour for the ages) has been so special and SOOOO fun. I said it before, I’ll say it again: this is a life-changer.

🇲🇦Next stop: MOROCCO!!!! 🇲🇦

We left Saturday for our new home in Marrakech— two ~9-hour flights and a 3-hour bus ride away. The whole group of us traveled together (kids’ stuff—reminded me of Plexcon, traveling with a big ol’ group—we. got. this.). This city around, we are living in the same apartment complex (we were split across two here in CT), with new roommates, 25 min from the famous Medina marketplace and 20 min from our workspace, which is in the hip, up-and-coming part of town. Our city team here is a married couple from Marrakech and from our exposure thus far, they are sweet and knowledgeable and lovely and very enamored with their home (they both served the military, she as an engineer and he as a pilot, and they are amazing tour guides). So far it looks like the opportunities for doing unique, awesome things are vast and varied; I have already signed up for a leather workshop, a cooking class, and a heritage tour of the city (this one starts in about 8 hours)… camel rides on the Sahara are also on the table, and I already just know the shopping is insane.

On our first night (Sunday) a small group of us went “for a quiet dinner after our 25 hours of travel” and ended up sitting in a beautiful Moroccan restaurant for 3.5 hours eating delicious food, listening to live music, which was then interrupted by a show complete with belly dancers and women gyrating and shaking with trays of candelabras on their heads…. all followed by shisha (hookah) brought to the table after dinner…to accompany the most insane salted caramel dessert ever. Another wonderful, memorable, completely unexpected welcome to our new home. This morning we went for a traditional breakfast in the marketplace and had warm flatbread with eggs and khlii, a fermented meat mixed in, with the most delicious mint tea ever…. For about $3.60. YES.) The food does NOT disappoint here.

Morocco has already proven different from Cape Town in many ways; from the slower pace of activities organized by RY (orientations, etc.) to the dynamic of the workspace (pic above), as we share it with a whole bunch of entrepreneurs and remote workers who are not associated with RY. It is not as fancy schmancy as the one in CT, but we do have a delightful rooftop deck with reliable internet where we can work outside for the few hours that it is warm enough in the sun. (YES, it’s cold here. Really cold.) They do have some educational meetings set up for us to learn about language and culture, which is awesome to help us navigate the city, and—surprising to many—it is actually safer for us to walk around at night here than it was in Cape Town (albeit much more psycho drivers here!). I was at the workspace til late tonight and walking after 11 I wouldn’t have dared back in CT; here I feel fine walking with just one other girl the 20 min back home. (Which reminds me, I had my iPhone stolen on my very last night in Cape Town….unfortunate, and I am not proficient with the backup android I am using, so my photo quality has really taken a nosedive...)

☝My new home sweet home for the next 5 weeks!

Morocco promises to be pretty amazing; it is exciting to be in a place I have never been before and that is so completely different from really anywhere else I have been. The culture here is such an interesting mix of histories and the way Moroccans view themselves as a nation is fascinating, given how different it is in the rest of Africa, the Arab nations, and Europe. I am so excited to walk around, exploring, getting to know a new place, and to meet the people and eat alllllll the food.

(January 17, 2019)

Howzit fam! WHEW!! What. a. whirlwind. How are we halfway through January??

I arrived in Cape Town after 30 hours of plane time 2 weeks ago, right in time for New Years. My god, what a beautiful place this is. I was greeted at the airport by my Program Leader from Remote Year and two other Remotes (that’s what they call those of us doing the program). We were given rides to our new homes and told to have fun.

So far, so good. I share an apartment with one roommate (who is perfect for me) where we have a view of Table Mountain from our balcony and a 20 minute walk from our shared workspace downtown. I met up with my new friends here in Cape Town and went to welcome drinks at Roundhouse, this gorgeous place on a hill overlooking Camps Bay.  Uhhhh yeah, this will do just fine. Welcome to Cape Town indeed.

My friend had met a local at the airport who had taken her around town all day, and he came and met up as well. We hung there for the sunset then made our way to some very hip spots around Cape Town, courtesy of said local. Post-bars we went back to my apartment and found my roommate who had arrived. And, somehow, we are perfect for each other. Our apartment has a view of Table Mountain and we are a 20 minute walk from our shared workspace downtown.

Since the first of the year, it has been a mix of orientations and getting-to-know-yous and somehow managing to juggle exploring Cape Town, meeting my new travel family, and getting work done. The adjustment to the time difference was a little tough at first, as I am used to being on the same time zone as most of my team…it’s gotten easier now that I have gotten more into a routine without program events every evening. It has been important to embrace the JOMO— the joy of missing out—instead of the FOMO because there is simply too much to do and you can’t do it all. Week one was all about hanging out and learning about this big crazy family we have found ourselves in… and the people on this trip with me are an incredible mix of careers and life paths. Ranging in age from 19 (yes, 19— two girls opted to do this four month program in lieu of studying abroad) to 60-something (we have a legit set of grandparents), and from all sorts of industries, it’s like being thrown into college again with 49 really smart, interesting, cool people. My roommate is a fitness instructor but also has an Instagram following of over 50,000; the aforementioned grandparents owned one of the largest cannabis distribution companies in Canada and just sold it and this trip is the first one of their retirement. There are content creators, a former pro snowboarder, ex-military, graphic designers, data engineers; people finding themselves, looking for professional growth, looking to connect with people in other countries and cultures.  

The program itself is incredibly structured… the company has only been around for about 4 years but they have dialed in the on-the-ground experience. Each city has a city team that helps arrange cultural immersion, language, positive impact activities, local experiences, and all sorts of excursions. There is basically something every day, should you want to/have time to, whether it’s hiking or wine tasting or going to the townships or learning about local government. The team encourages getting to know local people and are there to support every Remote in getting comfortable in our new homes each month; it is so cool to have people there to back you up and give you tips and help you figure it all out. 

It’s also kind of amazing how bringing all these people from so many different walks of life Just Works. It’s been a long time since I was thrust into this kind of group situation, and it’s been fascinating to see how people connect and become friends, and also to see how you yourself are around new people. One of the orientation presentations made a point of highlighting this very thing—no one knows you or your reputation, which I think we are used to at home. So, it’s been funny to realize that people really have no idea who I am until I hang out with them and talk with them. It’s being squeezed into very little time, but I already know that I have some new family for life. Similarly, since everyone does different kinds of work, there is so much to learn. People put on workshops about their blogging skills or data visualization; there is tons of opportunity to exchange knowledge with folks you might never connect with for work, but who may have new perspectives on your own work or field.

We have also been told about the time warp…. it is hard to believe how much I have done in the two weeks that I have been here, but how quickly that time has gone by. I have hiked Lion’s Head, seen a rainbow from Table Mountain, gone wine tasting in Franschoek, driven down the coast and seen the penguins on the road to Cape of Good Hope; I have had late nights working California hours and early mornings bonding over strong coffee with new friends. I am getting to know my neighborhood and my city, and I am more and more in love with Cape Town and its people every minute of every day. The energy is addictive, the sights are breathtaking, and everything is just so. damn. fun.

I knew on the eve of this journey that it was going to become one of THE pivotal events in my life…. Defining in a way that only major change can be. I realized that there is now Before Remote Year (BRY) and After Remote Year (ARY), but I didn’t know how quickly that would prove to be true. I can honestly say that I already feel different, just by being here and doing this. It has me feeling truly, truly grateful and #blessed, and I feel like my eyes are being opened further by the conversations I am having on the daily and the relationships that I am forming in such a short amount of time. I am so, so, SO excited for what the next few months will bring, and I can't wait to share my experiences as it all unfolds.

More to come, including photos.... promise!!