The Move: Phase Two

I joined Rob in Marrakesh this week after spending a month at home finishing some projects and saying goodbye to many of my favorite people.

A quick visit to the cabin with Gen and Maryn.

A lovely afernoon in San Francisco with Ryan and nephew David.

A delightful lunch with my cousins in Modesto.

 

 A bon voyage party with my friends from church.

I saw lots of extended family at birthday parties for my dad and brother-in-law Guy. (Sorry no pics)

And finally, a sweet send-off from the children at church, each of whom shared their fingerprint to make a musical note on this charming poster of the song they often sing while I accompany them on the piano, "I am a Child of God."

I really can't express how grateful I am for all the love and support I have received over the past month. It has made all the difference as I prepared for this adventure! 😊

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And an adventure it was, almost from the beginning of the journey when the car I rented to drive to the San Francisco airport experienced mechanical problems about 45 minutes after I pulled out of my driveway. REALLY?  And does it surprised you to learn that AVIS wasn't really too concerned about the fact that I needed to get myself and 200 pounds of luggage to the airport which was still 90 miles away in a timely manner? Well, it surprised me! After 3 conversations with different customer service agents that got me nowhere, I realized that if I was going to make my flight I was going to have to take matters into my own hands. Enter my angelic cousin Pam and her knight-in-shining-armor-husband Ed, who dropped what they were doing when I called, picked me up, and got me to my flight on time.  I will love them forever! (Someday this will be a funny story we retell at family parties. Someday...)

Everything after that was smooth sailing. Easy flights, luggage arrived safely, and Rob was there to pick me up at the Marrakesh airport. Whew!

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And now I'm settling in. Unpacking, reorganizing a few things to make the house a bit more efficient, learning my way around town and even doing a little bit of driving. Wow, I look nervous! 😐😂

Thanks again to all of the wonderful people who have supported me on my journey to this amazing new life. Hello Morocco - I'm sooo happy to be here!

Off to Ghana

Wow, my head is spinning from all that I am learning and experiencing... and I’ve only been gone a few weeks so far.  After being in Morocco for one week, I spent a week in Ghana at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF). A direct flight from Casablanca to Accra made it easy to get there.

The AGRF is the largest gathering of scientific organizations, government agencies, and philanthropic groups interested in improving African agriculture.  I was a bit overwhelmed learning about the complexity and challenges of working to help increase food production across the 54 countries in the continent.

There has been real success in increasing food production in a few countries (such as Ethiopia, Malawi, and Ghana), but farmers in most of the African countries continue to degrade their soil, in part by failing to replace the nutrients removed during harvest and also taking off the crop residue from their field.

Even more worrisome to some friends at home, 60% of cocoa production comes from Ivory Coast and Ghana.  Yields have stagnated there due to poor management.  Any volunteers to sample their products?

Cocoa pods...chocolate bars in the making

I’ll see what small role I can play in addressing some of these issues.

It will be a new adventure for sure!

-Rob

First trip to the doctor

Getting medical “care”

I had a lingering sinus infection when I arrived in Morocco last week.  I had finished one round of antibiotics before leaving home, but the infection returned when the medicine was done.  

One of my Moroccan work colleagues was concerned for me and volunteered to help find a doctor who could assist me getting over the sinus problem.  My friend is not from Marrakech, but he knew someone who would make a referral to a good doc.

My first inkling of something out of the ordinary came when he texted me the doctors name and address the night before the appointment.  On the internet, I read it that he was a doctor of dermatology and venereology.  It seemed a bit odd to go to a dermatologist for a sinus infection and I had never heard of venereology before (look it up), but my friend had gone to the trouble of making the appointment so I figured it should be fine.

I arrived at the doctors office and found the lobby covered with tarps and two painters were working on the walls.  I sat down as the only non-painter in the room and waited.  After a few minutes, another painter came out to the waiting room... and he was the doctor.  He took me outside and we tried to converse.  I had memorized a few medical phrases of my symptoms in French and he knew absolutely no English.  After he tried to tell me that he treated the skin (using hand motions), he referred me (I think?) to a doctors office in the same building one flight down.

I went to the downstairs office and recognized the doctors name I had been given.  It turns that the dermatologist had referred me to a women’s clinic.  I quickly backed out and made my way to the street again.

I spotted a nearby pharmacy and went in to ask them for the Augmentin antibiotic that I’ve taken regularly for sinus infections over the past many years.  The good news for me is that no prescriptions are required for most medications in Morocco.  My adventurous trip to the doctor ended up just I had hoped it would- medicine in hand. 

After five days of treatment now, I feel much better and I’ve learned a lesson about navigating the health care system here.  I really need to learn French too!

Actually, I now have a name on an excellent English-speaking doctor when the need arises again (and not a venereologist!)