Week 2 in Marrakech and the city is still growing on me. Monday through Thursday was mostly work – coaching calls, certification call, and a growth event that I led with the Ohana group, and Friday and the weekend were filled with fun activities including a trip to a seaside town Essaouira, and two track events – graffiti and calligraphy at a local artist’s house and biking through the Medina and the outskirts of Marrakech.
Monday, 9th April: The week started out with an early morning run followed by a coaching call. In the afternoon I met up for coffee with someone at Nabab near the apartment and had a great catch up and a sample coaching session. She said the session was really helpful and made her think about many things she hadn’t thought about before.
Tuesday, 10th April: Today’s highlight was a very nice dinner at Comptoir with the supperclub that Susanna set up. Comptoir is a really nice and fancy place. Marrakech has many of these nice places that are amazingly decorated that serves dinner while complimented by live performances. We went for a drink at Buddha Bar close to our apartment last week that must have had 6 different performances on and off stage while we were there for two hours. Comptoir is just as fancy but didn’t have as many performances. The belly dancers only came around 10:30pm and danced around the tables and danced ON our table. It was very fun to watch and quite different from the Cafe Clock performance from the past Sunday.
The food was also very good, a selection of Moroccan and western plus Asian fusion. Susanna and I shared an appetizer and a main both of which were excellent.
Wednesday, 11th April: During the day was mainly calls. In the evening we went out to Pointbar for Kat’s birthday. It was a nice place, only very smokey. It seems like Morocco hasn’t implemented no smoking in bars and restaurants yet which I’m totally not used to anymore. I sat with Danche and Mary for most of the night had very nice conversations.
Thursday, 12th April: Today’s highlight was leading the first Ohana growth event where I used the Wheel of Life to get participants to assess where they are in their lives at the current moment, where they want to get to by the end of Remote Year, and how they can get there. I also taught them some basic coaching skills such as listening and asking powerful questions, without calling it that, did a demo coaching, and got participants to pair up and discuss the wheel of life with each other. I really enjoyed leading the session and it made me realize that I love doing small group training, especially when it is experiential learning. I got some very positive feedback from the participants, which made me very happy to be able to share my knowledge and contribute to the growth of my fellow remotes.
Friday, 12th April: Today we did a day-trip to a seaside town Essaouira that is about 2.5 hours from Marrakech. Along the way we stopped by for coffee and Afous Cooperative to buy argan oil products. We also saw goats on trees! Apparently the goats climb up into the trees and eat the argan fruit and then poop out the nuts which then can be collected to make argan oil products. We think these goats were staged for tourists to see, but who knows?
Essaouira town is so beautiful and quaint. We walked to the city fort, which has beautiful views.
Then went into the town that has charming little streets, that feel s like a mix of Moroccan, Greek, and South of France.
After quite a bit of shopping in the Medina, we went to the fish market and got the freshest fish and shrimps, all for 75 Dirham ($US8). After lunch we went back to the Medina, shopped a little more, and went to the rooftop of Taros for a drink. The place is huge, had multiple levels and amazing views of the city. I felt so relaxed to be in a charming little town, with amazing sunshine, and new friends that I felt completely at ease with.
Saturday, 13th April: This weekend is the “track” weekend where we had two of the city events planned by Remote Year. Today was graffiti and calligraphy in a local artist’s home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orQK_GR70H8
Trying to do Arabic calligraphy. It’s way harder than the artist made it look!
Graffiti painting on stones, beautiful living room in the artist’s home and graffiti wall
In the evening Danche, Susan, Jill and I went to an Internations event and was super fun. We met a Thai and German couple who are opening riads in Marrakech, and a Portuguese man, born in Mozambique, and working for a travel agency in Marrakech.
Sunday, 14th April: The second day of track events is biking through the Medina and into the outskirts of Marrakech with the view of the Atlas mountain. Along the way we saw sheep, camels, and beautiful nature.
After biking we went to a beautiful riad BE Marrakech in the middle of the Medina where we rested and had lunch. I’m really glad I’m eating meat again when I’m in Morocco since the meat dishes are so good here. I’ve been having amazing chicken here, and today for the first time the lamb tagine was also to die for!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGwX9JZxhFk
Another good week in Marrakech filled with interesting adventures, good connections, and continued personal and professional growth.