Christmas in Casablanca

Just another day in Casablanca (Dec 25)

As you can imagine, being in a Muslim country for Christmas means you're one of a very small percentage celebrating on December 25th. Nevertheless, my flatmate and I managed to do it with the appropriate amounts of Christmas cheer!

Being in Morocco during the holiday season is quite different from being in Canada. That cheerfulness and special feeling that infuses most people in the lead up to Christmas at home is not present here. It's just another day at the office in Casablanca (literally). That exciting countdown to Christmas, the advent calendars, the public decorations, and the Christmas music playing in every store is all absent of course. 
 
There were a couple ways to carry out the traditions relating to Christmas here in Casa. Firstly, with the help of a friend, I got a Christmas tree set up and decorated in mid-December. The same friend was sad we'd be staying in Casa for the holidays so he bought us a couple of Santa hats to wear at work on Christmas, and a few presents to open on Christmas day. 

I also tuned in to the trusty STAR 92.9 out of Vermont through an online radio app to get my dose of Christmas music. STAR 92.9 plays only Christmas music from American Thanksgiving right up to Dec. 25th, so you can memorize those catchy lyrics in the month up to the holiday. 

We both wore our Santa hats (that lit up no less) at work, which our co-workers loved (they all tried it on for photos)! When we got home we cooked up some stovetop stuffing, boiled carrots, and mashed potatoes to go with our rotisserie chicken and sides. Not too shabby! 

On Boxing Day my package from my mom finally arrived. It was filled with all sorts of Christmas decorations. When I got home I set them up, it's Christmas until little Christmas, right? 

After waiting 7 weeks for the package from my Gramma, it finally arrived on Friday. It was lots of fun to open up more wrapped presents. I apparently have a few waiting at home to be unwrapped in March! I got some electronic gifts (e-books and a Chapters gift card, yay!), and I'm still waiting for Poste Maroc to deliver all my Christmas cards, as well as the gift from my sister. 

I hope you had a very merry Christmas wherever you are, and wish you a happy, healthy new year filled with adventures!

Communications, consultants, and customer service

Time for an update about what I've been doing as the Communication Development Intern at MEDA Maroc. Things have been constantly changing for the past couple months here at MEDA Maroc, with 5 employees leaving our small office of 10, and new staff being hired on gradually. 

YouthInvest (in Morocco and Egypt) also changed its primary strategy in the past year and things are finally really starting to move in that respect. Rather than focusing on mostly training youth about financial education, business creation and savings, we are turning to the microfinance institutions (MFIs) and banks in Morocco to provide them with a suite of trainings on how to:

1. Improve customer service for youth clients (and attract youth)
2. Develop financial products that appeal to youth
3. Manage risk specific  to youth

Since about July 2012, staff in North America have been working alongside staff here in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region to develop these training programs. We worked specifically on the Product Development training in September when several MEDA staff from Waterloo and Washington visited Casablanca, and lately I have been working with Casablanca staff to improve the customer service training modules. 

Customer Service Training

For the past month I have been working on a team to streamline, add content and images and otherwise improve the existing customer service training. We have tested out the training with a Moroccan bank through a current partnership, and we have had extremely positive feedback from those evaluations, but we are trying to tighten up the training to maximize the value financial institution staff will get out of it. This is starting to wrap up, but it has been an ongoing project since mid-November. 

Consultants Database

Since October I have been in the process of creating a database of consultants with microfinance experience in MENA, so that MEDA has a go-to list when searching for trainers to provide the trainings mentioned above (the plan is to gradually expand to each MENA region country to offer these trainings, so we need trainers with experience in these countries). It will also be useful for the Technical Assistance MEDA will provide to financial institutions to help them develop youth products and adapt their risk management to best serve youth. The list is currently nearly 200 consultants, but I have been contacting them to find out their interest in working with MEDA and not all have responded. Personalizing the messages to each consultant and recording when emails were sent, responses received, cataloging CVs of interested people has meant that this is a time-consuming but valuable database. There is still lots of work to do on the database, and we haven't even sent out a job offer yet!

Communications

On the communications side, we finally finished the November MEDA Maroc Newsletter (for which I put together the English version, alongside my coworker's Arabic version) and sent it out to our partners and the global MEDA staff the first week of December. I have also been assisting with the creation and translation of partnership agreements, pamphlets, client stories, and the 2013 strategic communications plan. We are planning to increase our reach through social media so we've been working as a team on a renewed website too. 

To supplement our communications materials and presentations, I attended a YouthSavings information session on Thursday to take photos. YouthSavings is a project we are carrying out in the Casablanca region where interns provide a 1 hour presentation on how and why youth should save money by creating a savings account. The interns also provide the forms and help the youth open their own account. Participation among youth is voluntary (it is not during class time) so you have to have animated interns to capture the students' interest right in the beginning. It was a very interesting experience, even though it was in Darija - a language of which I only understand about 20 words! 

The Communications officer (my co-worker) will be leaving MEDA Maroc at the end of December, so I will be taking over some of her responsibilities until the next Comm person is hired. Should be a good challenge! 

As a side note, yesterday was an important date for several reasons: 

• first day of winter (even though it was 22 degrees and sunny here!)
• it was NOT the end of the world ;)
• it was exactly 2 months to my birthday
• it was exactly 3 months until I get back to Canada (time is going by too fast)
• we had a massive couscous for lunch, and it was delicious and very social!

Soumia with the hilariously huge chicken couscous! 5 of us ate it, and there were still leftovers!

Weihnachten in Berlin

Alexanderplatz market - not crowded at all

November 30th - December 3rd I flew to Berlin to meet up with an friend from the UK for our second reunion this year (before that it had been nearly 4 years). We decided in October that we would meet up in a European city known for its Christmas markets, and Berlin turned out to be the easiest and cheapest for us both to get to.


We arrived Friday evening and met at the airport. Getting out of the airport I was freezing - it was 2 degrees Celsius, and I had thought 14 degrees in Casa was getting cold! brrr! Good thing I brought extra scarves, layers, hats and mitts from Canada just in case. Our hostel was in a great location, just North of the Spree River, about 10 mins walk from Alexanderplatz and Friedrichstrasse subway station in the other direction. With a vague itinerary for the weekend, the goal of seeing the main sights but also hitting up as many Weihnachtenmarkts (Christmas markets) possible, we started Friday evening. 

the Reichstag

Alex and I wandered over to the Alexanderplatz Christmas market and the Winterdream at Alexa market across the road. With German holiday music playing, the smells of thurlinger wursts, hot mushrooms, crepes, gluhwein and other tasty treats combining to lure vistors, it was a great introduction to the market scene. Ice skating, merry-go-rounds and other entertainment also made it a popular spot. We tried the gluhwein and some German foods, but didn't buy any gifts from the many stalls exhibiting decorations, nutcrackers, woodworking, candles, handmade soaps, and more. 

the random bears around Berlin!

Saturday we walked to the Brandenburg Tor, the Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz, and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Unfortunately the museum was closed that weekend for renovations, or we would have visited it. We then headed to the Gendarmenmarkt, which was packed, and tried Feuerzangenbowle - a gluhwein alternative whose recipe includes setting alight a rum-soaked sugarloaf and allowing it to drip into the wine. It tasted pretty similar to the other versions we'd tried. At each market, vendors selling hot drinks had special mugs with a design and the name of the market on them. When you ordered a drink you paid a deposit for the mug, but you could return it for the refund or keep it as a souvenir if you wanted. Very eco-friendly!

After the Gendarmenmarkt, we headed to Checkpoint Charlie which has several sections of the Berlin Wall displayed as well as a bit of an open-air history lesson. By then it was later in the afternoon so we headed back to the hostel to warm up and hang out, but did some shopping on the way. Bought a mini-advent calendar and a box of Christmas cards, so if you received an odd card from me this year blame Berlin's poor selection of cards!

Berlin Wall by the Topography of Terror

Heading back out in the evening we visited the WAY too crowded Opernpalais market, walked up across the Spree and discovered the Berliner Weihnachtszeir at the Rotes Rathaus where we found some great decorations at a great price. We then found a little bar and enjoyed the local brew - in nice, big steins. 

Sunday was spent first visiting the Topography of Terror museum. Really informative, but 3 hours spent standing and reading the panels throughout the exhibit (located on the former site of the SS headquarters) was tiring and depressing. We then headed to the Charlottenburg Schloss where we did the audiotour of the palace, nearly entirely rebuilt after WWII, and checked out the market. The Charlottenburg Schloss was a good 3-4 km walk away from the train, so when we got back in the evening we decided to stick close by the hostel.

Charlottenburg Schloss all lit up

Since we both were leaving Monday afternoon, we decided to spend the morning re-visiting a couple of the markets to pick up some presents, which we did, with lots of time before having to head back to Kurt Shumacher Platz to get the bus to the airport. 

Berlin is a great city, but it was cold when we visited, hovering around 0 degrees. It even snowed a few times which was pleasant, but we had to layer up since neither of us had winter coats with us. Definitely worth a visit in the summer!

Mourning in Morocco

Last week, someone living in my apartment building died. 

the tent set up for mourning in front of the entrance

Late one evening, the sound of crying and talking carried up the stairwell to our apartment. While that was unusual, it wasn't until the next morning when I left the building that it started to become clear someone had passed away; the entrance door was propped open, a group of men in suits were near the building and a crying teenage girl, surrounded by friends who consoled her, proceeded down the street. When I got home that evening, the traditional tent was set up in front of the building, signifying a death.  Mourners came and went; the Koran was read every few hours all evening and late into the night. Food was brought by friends and neighbours. 

I find it difficult to find words adequate to express sympathy or comfort when someone passes away. In this case even more so since I do not know the family that lives in the apartment on the first floor, nor who exactly passed away. If that wasn't difficult enough, trying to convey them in another language and to suit the traditions of another culture and religion make it more so.

What was not so different was the sense of a community reaching out to comfort their own. The girl's schoolmates comforting her, the neighbours doing their duty to bring food, pray and take care of the family.  Rituals and traditions provide a role, a known structure, that in and of itself is comforting.

Grampy with 4/5th of my sibs and I. Love the faces!

Perhaps this was so poignant because last Friday, the day after the 3-day mourning and funeral period ended, my own paternal grandfather passed away, from a very short illness, at the age of 90. It is difficult to mourn when you know you're half a world away, and that the rest of your family is together. Luckily, we were able to hold a family reunion this past July, with most of my extended family present, and earlier in November the family held a birthday party to celebrate his 90th, so most relatives had visited with him recently. 

This was especially sad for me because I never thought that it would be my last visit when I saw my grandfather in September before I left for Morocco. As well, on the eve of my departure, two separate life events happened - my first niece was born, and my maternal grandfather passed away. Needless to say, it wasn't the best time to leave for 6 1/2 months, but when really is there ever a best time? Both grandfathers would have wanted me to go and have this experience (I doubt my niece will mind!). 

Grandpa Don (Johnston)at his 80th bday with me, my sibs and brother-in-law

 Anyways, this is a rather sombre post, so I will end it by saying that I have a lot of very good memories of both my grandfathers, and many photos of happier times too. I am also thankful for all the kind words from friends and family and am glad to know so many people are looking out for my family.

my Grampy (MacDougall) and I at the reunion in July