A Carpet Ride Down Memory Lane

Today's post will be a flashback to our carpet hunting experience in Morocco. Why, you ask? Because our carpets arrived on Monday! So let's backtrack to our visit to Coin Berbere in the medina of Fes. The shop comes highly recommended on TripAdvisor.

This is the outside of the shop (Photo credit: here)

They also own the shop across the street which has a massive second floor. We browsed around a bit up there and Abdoul came to assist us. It was positively overwhelming. We were given some mint tea and then he just went to town. He kept laying carpet after killim after embroidery out on the floor and I was just in awe. Eventually, he suggested that he go back through everything he had laid out and Dan and I could say yes or no to whether we liked it. He said he would use our responses to narrow down the style that we liked and then we could see some more. The walls are just lined with massive stacks of folded carpets:

Photo credit: here

Eventually we got it narrowed down to two. Dan and Abdoul negotiated the total, including shipping to Ghana. We paid and filled out the necessary paperwork for the shipping and left praying that it all turned out okay. It was 05Apr (actually Easter Sunday), and he said 2-4 weeks to ship. Also, one of our rugs required a repair as one of the corners was missing a chunk and some of the edging fringe. He said he would take care of it and we again prayed that it looked okay when we received it.

Last Thursday, Dan received notification from DHL that a package had arrived at Ghana customs and was in the process of being cleared. As you probably recall, from previous posts, visiting customs is no walk in the park. We also weren't sure of the value that Abdoul had put on the package so we were worried about the amount of customs fees. In reality, the amount was so reasonable that Dan was worried he'd have a hard time justifying the value of such a sizable package.

On Monday, Dan put on his "prepared to sweat at customs" outfit and went off to work. Imagine his surprise when he arrived to his desk to find this neatly folded parcel:

Wait, so he doesn't have to go to customs, be heckled, sweat his butt off, and pay an arbitrary fee? They are just... here? No fuss? Well alright then! He brought them home that evening and I unpacked and vacuumed the heck out of them. The one with the repair was so well done we actually had to dig through our photos to figure out what corner was repaired. You can't even tell. So here are our Berber carpets from Morocco. 

The orange one is under our dining table, and the red one is in the guest room. Should you ever be in Fes and in the market for a new carpet, go see our man, Abdoul!

A Suitcase-less Weekend

Dan pointed out that last weekend was our first full weekend at home in Ghana since early December. Yes. It had been 4.5 months since we had a full weekend at home with no suitcase. I must say it was lovely. Friday night was Miriam's birthday so Joe invited us to her birthday dinner. I have to tell a story about dinner though because it best explains the quintessential Ghanaian customer service.

The restaurant specializes in sushi but serves a wide array of other food as well. I had been craving sushi all day and apparently some others at the table felt the same as probably half the party ordered sushi. We ordered around 8pm or so. 8:30 came and went. 9 comes and we ask where our food is... everyone who ordered burgers and other cooked food had already eaten... so where's the raw stuff? He says it's coming. Mmm Hmmm. Dan walks over to him and says "look, I know you don't have sushi tonight. Just give us two burgers instead".

Shortly afterward, we notice there are several large boats of sushi coming out from the kitchen wrapped in plastic wrap. Dan and Joe call over the manager and ask what the heck is going on. He says that someone called the day before and requested a sizable order of sushi for takeaway. Um, okay but shouldn't you be also making the food for the people that are actually here? So there's some yelling and eventually around 9:30 or 10, sushi starts coming out one roll at a time. We got our burgers which was fine. It comes time to pay and they have completely messed up the bill. We finally sort that out and they had included 12.5% service charge for the sizable group. Probably best that they did because we had no intention of tipping. We paid with cash and Joe put the amount on his card and the manager asks how much we want the charge for and was genuinely upset when we paid the exact penny amount and didn't offer an additional tip to his staff. Really, sir? I mean really. 2 hours to make RAW food, and never tell us what is going on while you have us wait that long.

Anyway, now you understand service at a restaurant in Ghana. (Admittedly, not all are like this. It's rare we have this issue, but if it had just been Dan and me, we would have walked out.) All in all, we had a nice time and chatted with some new friends. It quickly reminded us how nice it is to be back home and have friends to spend the occasional evening with.

On Saturday, we ran necessary errands to get our house supplies restocked. We needed to refill the gas for the stove, get several cases of bottled water and get groceries. We split up to conquer the tasks and upon returning home, Dan began preparation on some braised beef burrito bowls. We invited Hannah and Robin over for dinner, wine and a movie. Again, good to be home.

Sunday brought an extremely lazy day that was much needed. We slept in, watched various sporting events (soccer, Formula 1, etc) and then a movie before having dinner and getting ready for the week.  After a whirlwind beginning of 2015 full of traveling and work relocations, it sure is comforting to be home for awhile.

Oxford University Wedding, Boat Race, and Hoopla

Two weeks ago, we arrived in Oxford. It was our first time in the quaint little town and it truly looks like a story book that has come to life. We walked around a bit and went shopping for some last minute pieces to complete the tuxedo that Dan required for Saturday evening. We got a phone call from Hannah saying that she needed to take us up on our offer to help with set up. We met her in Christ Church college, which is the college that Robin went to. It's similar to the American university set up where there is a college of Business, college of Engineering, etc. Their colleges just have names because... well, the place was established in the 12th century, so they do what they want. The grounds are absolutely beautiful and we were in awe of the idea that people actually go to college there.

We helped a bit and then went to meet some people for dinner. Hannah met up with us after the rehearsal and we went back to the college to help her put together bouquets and boutonnieres... a task which none of us had ever attempted before. At about 1am, we had finished up and headed back to the hotel. The next day the wedding was at 2pm at the Christ Church Cathedral.

After the ceremony, we all went outside and were handed Pimm's cups in mason jars while the wedding party did photos. Afterwards, we lined up outside the gate of the college for them to walk out. On the way out of the college they passed under 8 crossed oars held by his former teammates, then walked through a barrage of dried flowers before being greeted by two horse guardsmen in full get up with swords (Robin was also in the British Royal Army after college). They got into a horse-drawn carriage and were taken to the river, where two of Robin's rowing friends would row them down the river to the reception.

Off we went to the reception which was complete with food, drink, dancing and some hilarious toasts, especially from Robin's brother, who was the best man. We had a great time but had to head back to get some rest as we had part two of the party the following day.

We awoke and headed back to London for the 161st boat race between Oxford and Cambridge. Tens of thousands of people lined the banks of the Thames to cheer for their team. There were three races, the most important being the last one. We were watching from the start of the race, so we cheered until the boats went around the bend and then ran into a pub to watch the remainder on TV. The entire course is roughly 5km, and the race takes somewhere between 16-20 minutes to finish. Luckily, Oxford (the dark blues) smoked Cambridge and won easily.

When the boat race finished, we headed back to our hotel to get cleaned up as we were going to the Oxford University Boat Club dinner that evening. It was a black tie event, but it was enjoyable to see all the past rowers in their blazers together for this annual reunion. They introduced the rowers in the boats that competed that day, which was a sizable cheer as all three Oxford boats won their races. We had a formal three course dinner and wine and enjoyed chatting with the people at our table.

All in all, we had a fantastic time in England and are so pleased we could be part of Hannah and Robin's wedding day (and other festivities)!

Stinky Tanneries, Impressive Ceramics, and Berber Carpets

Let's face it... This is the Morocco post you were expecting.

On Sunday, we woke up and went directly to the tanneries. Fes is known for their leather tanneries and particularly for the stench of them. We chose to go first thing in the morning hoping to avoid the heat and maybe lessen the intensity of the smell. Seemed to be a good decision. Navigator Dan got us there and we picked one of the many leather shops to go up and get a view of the tanneries. Working in the tanneries is a generational gig, so it’s passed down through families. The white vats in the back are made of limestone and filled with water and pigeon poop (hence the smell). Apparently, pigeon poo is very acidic which eases with the removal of hair from the animal hides. 

Once treated, sometimes for weeks depending on the animal, the hides go to the colored vats to be dyed. The colors are all natural coming from spices or natural occurring elements (ex. Yellow is saffron, blue is indigo, brown is cedarwood, red is poppy, etc.). The gentleman was very nice and knowledgeable. After browsing the shop’s offerings, Dan and I picked out a nice “poof” made of camel skin in black and brown colors. (We learned that camel and cow should be the poof material of choice since it is more durable whereas sheep and goat should be your selection for handbags or jackets since it’s softer.) They sell the poofs unstuffed for ease of transport but we will stuff it when we get back to Ghana to make a nice ottoman for extra seating in our living room.

The mess we created while trying to pick out our poof

After the tanneries, we were picked up at our riad by Mohammed, who was to take us on a tour of the sights outside the medina itself. We saw the Jewish quarters, the palace, went to a museum, a garden and a school where artisans learn to make the ceramics and mosaics that Morocco is so famous for. We were in awe of the handiwork. Sarah and I actually got to sit at a potter’s wheel and play with the clay. Then we were shown how the designs are drawn onto the pieces by hand and painted before being fired and glazed in a kiln. 

The mosaic work was truly impressive as each tile is cut by hand using a sharp hammer and done solely by eye (with no pattern). Once the pieces have been cut, the mosaics are assembled FACE DOWN and cemented on the back to fasten the work together. It’s quite impressive work and probably quite nervewracking when you flip over a sizable piece and pray you don’t have a yellow tile where a blue one should have gone. We chuckled that it would be like cutting out a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle by hand and then assembling it upside down without looking at the picture. Dan and I had some ideas of what we wanted to purchase but the items were quite expensive. We settled on two coffee mugs painted in the Fes blue-and-white color scheme and a ceramic slipper that said Fes as our Christmas tree ornament.

Handpainted tagines in the store

Mohammed dropped us back at the riad so we could put away our purchases and we set out in search of a place for dinner. Dan found a nice riad in the center of the medina that had a nice restaurant that we had read about on some travel sites. We made a reservation for a late dinner and went to the last stop on our medina shopping store… the Berber carpet shop. The gentleman in the shop was very kind and spoke good English but I have to admit I was quite overwhelmed at the selection. The sizes, the craftsmanship, carpets vs. killams vs. embroidery, 47 different Berber tribes that all craft differently, geometric patterns vs more organic ones and in all different colors. Dan and I got things narrowed down to two, a carpet in red and black with a more square shape and organic pattern and a killam in orange, red and cream in a more geometric pattern that was a bit more rectangular. Dan negotiated with the man on price and shipping to Ghana and voila! We bought two rugs in Morocco. The shopkeeper even threw in a small rug as a hospitality gift. The cherry on top was that while checking out we noticed business cards of people who had visited "Coin Berbere". There, in all its glory, was a business card for a Professor of African Studies from the University of Florida. The Gator Nation is everywhere.

 Obligatory photos of Moroccan architecture 

(Left: entrance to a mosque, Right: inside a former school)

We left aglow of our final purchase of Moroccan souvenirs and walked back to dinner. The four of us shared wine and a nice dinner for our last night together in Fes. Topped off the night with a walk back to our riad that included getting lost (since all the storefronts were now closed up and all looked the same) and the assistance of a young boy to get us back to an area we recognized. 

On Monday, we left Fes and took the train back to Casablanca to spend the night. We intended to go to a mosque when we arrived but traffic was a disaster and we were all pretty wiped out from our adventures. We walked to a French restaurant for dinner and  said our goodbyes. We had a fantastic trip with great memories, comfortable and affordable accommodations and a genuine appreciation for the handicrafts and life of Fes. We highly recommend it!

Donkeys, Dates, and Decorative Doors - Fes, Morocco

Warning: These Morocco posts are going to be long and heavy on the pictures :)

We arrived in Casablanca just before 1pm on Friday and went to the train station to meet Oscar and Sarah (Dan’s parents for those of you who may not know). We boarded the 3:10 train to Fes which takes somewhere between 3.5 and 4 hours. Upon arriving in Fes, we took two taxis to our riad. A riad is a single family home that has been renovated to be a small hotel. Ours was called Riad Andalib and we gather that it is only about 4-5 years old after a renovation that took the owner 6 years to complete. The hotel, the owner and the staff were fantastic and it was very affordable.

 View of part of the medina from the rooftop of our riad ---- Entrance of train station in Fes

The riad is located within the old medina of Fes, which is dated to about the 13^th century. Within the gates of the medina there are no cars so the road on which our riad was located was the last sign of vehicles within the medina. Friday evening, we arrived at the riad and had some mint tea, a traditional Moroccan offering, ate dinner at the riad and retired for the evening after a long day of traveling.

On Saturday morning, we were picked up at our riad by Lahcen, our cooking class instructor. Yep, that’s right, we signed up for a Moroccan cooking class. He took us into the medina to buy fresh ingredients for the day. Lamb is a common ingredient in Morocco; however, none of us are big fans of it so we requested most things be chicken or beef. Upon learning that if we wanted to make chicken, he was going to have us purchase a live one and we’d have to kill it, we quickly agreed that beef really is “what’s for dinner”.  We did a lap of the day’s offerings and then went back through to buy things. Everything seemed pretty cheap (probably because Lahcen was speaking Arabic so he was likely getting better prices than we ever would). We took our collection to a lovely riad where they turned the kitchen over to us to start preparing our meal.

 An array of dates (Morocco is home to over 170 types of dates)

Spices galore!

We made an absolute ton of food. There were kefta meatballs in a spicy tomato sauce, fava beans steamed with garlic and herbs, phyllo dough filled with cheese and olives, braised beef chops in a delicious sauce, artichoke hearts with oranges, eggplant puree, roasted almonds, and fresh baked bread. For dessert we had little balls of sweetness made with dates, and walnuts, served in a strawberry puree.  We had a great time cooking and learning and eating our creations. 

 Goofing off in the kitchen before we started cooking

 Some of the finished dishes (yes, there was more)

After the class, Lahcen dropped us off at the blue gate and we walked home from there to try to speed up our digestion. After such a large lunch, we just settled on some small plates for dinner that evening across the street from our riad.

Unpacked... Time to Repack, again?!

Oh hello, please excuse me while I drag myself out from under this mound of laundry and ironing. But man does it feel good to be home. This week has been pretty uneventful. We worked, and had some home cooked meals. Nothing too fancy. Getting together with Robin one night and Joe and Miriam another night, which will be nice. We missed our friends here quite a bit. Maputo has a lot going for it in infrastructure and restaurants but the people here are some of the best. We are so fortunate with the friends we've made here. Even Dan's coworkers are incredibly welcoming. While we were away, he would get emails checking on us. I'd get Facebook messages telling us it's time to come home. Just really good people. Surrounding yourself with such genuine friendship makes being away from home much easier.

Early Friday morning we will be leaving again... I know, I know. We just got home. But this time it's for vacation rather than a work assignment so we are more excited about it. Plus, once we do get back home, we will be here for awhile so we can settle in and get comfy.

Friday, we are heading to Morocco! We're meeting Dan's parents in Casablanca and taking the train to Fes for a few days. Dan has Good Friday and Easter Monday off and my company's UK office has the same so it seemed like a good time to travel. We agreed we should pick a place that was not Christian/Catholic as many shops close for religious holidays, so we ended up with Morocco! Looking forward to a few days there exploring the shops and the history and the food.

On Tuesday, we fly from Casablanca up to London for the remainder of the week. I will be working from the UK office on Wednesday, while Dan has some errands to run in the city. On Thursday, we will head out to Oxford in preparation for the wedding. We've never been there so we'll likely roam around a bit and see if Hannah and Robin need help with any last minute things. Friday afternoon is the big wedding with the reception right after.

On Saturday, we will all head back to London for the big boat race between Oxford and Cambridge. After the race, there's a big formal dinner for the Oxford Boat Club and their guests, which we suspect will quickly turn into a party. If I didn't mention it before, Robin went to Oxford University and rowed for the team while in school. That's why they picked this weekend for their wedding to get a lot of the guys back together (including some of his old American rivals) and have a big reunion during the wedding and boat race festivities. Then, Sunday afternoon, we make our way back to Accra. Busy trip, but should be a really great time. I promise to take lots of photos along the way.

I'm unsure what the wifi situation will be in Morocco and unsure of my availability in London but will do my best to post here when I can. At the very least you can expect things to be back to normal for awhile when we return the week of the 13th.

Happy Easter, everyone! And to those of you who live in Florida, Happy "send-the-Snowbirds-back-where-they-came-from" Weekend!