Adventures with Julia

June 14, 2019

Dinner indoors at Mayshad. Too cold to eat outside.

We are having a delightful time getting to know the people in the group, which I count at 18.  Every meal is much later than we eat at home, but we are adapting.  Fortunately, we are not being overfed.  Got to bed about midnight and up at 8.  How civilized is that?

Today we were to depart for the days adventures at 9:30.  We managed to get away by 10:30.  Our first and most important stop of the day was at the Mohammed V Training Center where we got to learn some of what Nezha Alaoui, founder of the Mayshad Foundation, is trying to accomplish through the Foundation.

Mohammed V Training Center

Nazha Alaoui telling us about the center and its purpose

First stop in the Center. Women displaying camel bone pots and a leather ceiling art piece. Very fine work.

Mark looking at inlaid tile table tops and samples of wood detail on the wall.

A training class for developmentally disabled people.

Leather work training in progress

An embroidery training class

Three ladies check us out after class.

Our Mayshad group posing in front of the training center.

The training facility is funded by the king, Mohammed VI, and is making progress in training people in various crafts and skills, which we had the chance to observe.  Nezha wants to send 800 women her team has already identified, through the training, which lasts a year per course.  It will be more efficient than starting her own school and the government is willing to allow her to send 2-300 women through the program at a time.  In addition to the 800 she has already identified, there are many more co-operative groups on the waiting list.  Many women want to become more skilled and financially independent.  It will cost about $200 per woman for a year of training, to develop each person into a micro entrepreneur capable of successfully marketing the product she already makes and managing the financial aspects of her business.  The idea is to help hard working women develop the skills to take their business to the next level.  “Helping women help themselves” said Nazha.

There was much more to learn, but it was time to move on.  Out on the street, we walked to the restaurant enjoying our encounters with the local folk and interacting with a few.

A local lady under a large graffitii.

A street scene with interesting people and doors.

Elderly friends out for a walk.

One of the ladies befriended me. Too bad we could not communicate.

Mark encountered a “you make, I bake” bakery and watched it happening.

A boy and his father bringing bread to be baked.

Bread waits in line, while the baker does his job.

The baker turns the bread.

A little boy waits for his bread to be baked.

Meanwhile, a few ladies joined up for a photo.  Soon we were at our lunch place called Snack Anosfa.  The food was much more and better than the name implied.

Mayshad Ladies pose in the alley street – Julia, Julie, Jan, Nezha and Sheila.

18 of us enjoy an outdoor lunch of couscous tajine, standard fair for Fridays in Morocco.

The Friday Tajine included vegetables, chicken or beef.

After a delicious lunch, we headed into the Jewish quarter to visit the nearby synagogue, called Slat El-Azama.

.From there Mark and I headed back to the main square where we met a spice vendor, purchased a bit of an herb-like leaf sweetener called Stevia, which contained, he told us, no sugar.  We shared a cup of tea with him. Another nice encounter.

Catching a waft of burning incense

Three kinds of Frankinsense

Tea, garlic and other spices.

The vendor makes tea after we buy some spice.

We share tea with the vendor in his shop.

By mid-afternoon everyone was hot and tired and ready to relax in the comfort of our home at Janen Mayshad.

The unimposing entrance to Mayshad

The road into Mayshad

The quiet entrance to peace and quiet. Am in my new deep blue blouse.

The lovely grounds. Our room is upstairs on the left.

At last, we spend the remainder of the afternoon at the pool. The day was not warm enough to make me want to dive in, as the water was almost as cold as Lake Tahoe.

As the sun was setting, we all left the pool area and headed for the roof to watch the sun set and the nearly fool moon rise.  I bent over backward to get a pano image of toe event.  It is all there if you look closely.

My pano of the sun and moon.

Dinner was back in the dining room and then we gathered quietly to surprise Anthony and Jan, who is VP of Business development in the US for the Mayshad Foundation, for a celebration of their unheralded wedding 5 days earlier.  It was time to party……and this group really knew how.  A 6 piece raucus band waited in the wings until we yelled “surprise” and then the noise was deafening.  I did not need my hearing aids.

After dinner, there is a surprise party for the newly wed couple in our group, Anthony and Jan. They have been married only 5 days and have not had any celebration.

A six person and appeared to help us celebrate the wedding. It was quite a party.

Anthony and Jan share a few seconds in the middle of the party.

Here is a short video to get you into the mood.  Fortunately, the band quit after an hour.  The party went on without them, a bit more quietly.  Mark and I departed for bed.

Please click on the arrow to play the video.  Click on the circle with an arrow at the bottom left corner to replay the video.