Day 5: Arriving at the Ministry of Agriculture



The Ministry of Agriculture as seen from across the park area.



Rahul walking up to the Ministry of Agriculture on our first day onsite.



The inside of the Minstry opens to several outside courtyards.   Many of the offices open to balconies that overlook these courtyards.  It is very pretty and the weather has been very nice and cool everyday that we have been in Rabat.




Mohammed showing us our new office for the first time.




Meeting in Mohammed's office where he was showing us how the current pricing application works.



Inside of a Hamman (spa).  This is a table where someone lies to have their skin exfoliated.  After our day at work, the girls in the group visited a local Hamman.  Jailan, who has been to Morocco before, said that it was an experience that we needed to try once.  It was quite an experience.  :-)



Boutana, Tej, myself, Anup, Tracey, and Karen visiting the inside of  massage room at a Hamman.

This morning was our first day to actually go to the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) building. The MOA provided us with a driver who will pick us up and take us home each day. His name is Saadli and he is very nice. He only speaks French so it gives us an opportunity to practice our limited French with him. I am very grateful to have a Saadli drive us because I have found the traffic in Morocco to be very 'fluid and dynamic'. There are much fewer traffic signals and stop lights than what I'm used to and the traffic seems to be constantly merging in traffic circles. It seems to work here though so I 'go with the flow' so to speak.

We were greeted by Mohammad Kamali who is our primary contact at the MOA. He is a pleasure to work and speak with and I look forward to working with him during this next month. The Ministry building itself is a very nice building. Most of the offices open to outside balcony areas that overlook central courtyards of gardens. It is a very open and airy building. We met initially in a conference room where Mohammad introduced us to many of the individuals who work on the current farm pricing application. We were shown several demos and had very helpful initial discussions. Mohammad took Rahul, Andrew, and I to our office that we will share while working on this project. We spent a good portion of the afternoon trying to get connectivity in our office but unfortunately we were not successful yet. We spent the remainder of the day having conversations with the MOA team to start to confirm the specific scope that we will focus on while here.

After we got back to the hotel that night, the six females in the group went to a Hamman which is a Moroccan spa. We were told that it was one of the experiences that we need to try while in Morocco ... it certainly was an experience. :-)

Day 4 Project Kickoff

Entering the pavillion at the Ministry of General and Economic Affairs.   This is where we held our kickoff meeting.

Getting setup for our meeting and beginning to make informal introductions.

The man in the middle is the Minister of General and Economic Affairs, Guessous Abdelmounaim.  He was the host of our formal kickoff meeting.

We felt like we were in a United Nations meeting.  :-)

This is our team for the Ministry of Agriculture.  Mohammed Kamili is on the far left and next to him is Jamila. They work closely together on the existing system we will reviewing.   Rahul, Andrew, and myself are the IBM team members on this team.

This is the team for the Moroccan Women's Network of Mentoring.   Karen and Tracey are the IBM team members on this team.

Today was the first official day of our one month project. Even though our group of ten IBMers are working on four different projects, we all met as a group with our clients for a full day kick-off meeting. The meeting was held at the Ministry of General and Economic Affairs which is one of our four clients.

We met in a glassed in pavillon type structure in the center of the Ministry and we sat in desks in a circular format where we each had built in microphones. It reminded me of a United Nations type meeting and it was very impressive. The meeting was lead and hosted by Guessous Abdelmounaim who is the Minister of Economic Affairs. Each of the four projects were introduced and presented. We had translators interpreting the presentations since much of the conversation was in French. Of our four clients for this trip, two are for governmental Ministries and two are NGO's (non governmental organizations). They include the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of General and Economic Affairs, the ARDI Foundation, and Moroccan Women Network for Mentoring. I'm part of a team of three IBMers who is working on the project for the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Ministry of Agriculture project is a fascinating project. We will be working to define requirements and provide a recommended framework for an application that will disseminate farm pricing related information. While the primary focus of our project will be to determine how best to disseminate this valuable pricing information to farmers, this application has the potential to provide statistical and analytic information that can also be utilized by individuals, organizations, universities, researchers, banks, and investors. The primary goal of the project is to increase the income of farmers by pro-actively providing pricing related information based on the farmer's specific needs. It is particulary challenging project because most of the farmers do not have access to traditional means of communication such as the internet. Our hosts from the Ministry of Agriculture were extremely gracious and open with us. We spent the afternoon listening and learning about their perspective on the business challenge, history, stakeholders, etc. 

Afterwards, our larger group went out to dinner to a very good Chinese restaurant and spent almost three hours talking about each of our projects. I think the highlight of my day though was when I was about to skype with my family and talk to them for the first time since I arrived. It was nearly 1am when we had a chance to talk because of the six hour time difference but it was great to 'see' and visit with them. It was a very memorable day.

Day 3: Exploring Rabat

Exploring the local grocery store.




One of the typical fruit and vegetable markets in the Medina.

 



Meat market and butcher shop in the Medina.  After my bad experience the first night with getting sick on chicken, and then seeing the meat market in person, I decided that I may limit eating chicken while here.  :-)

 



Buying and eating strawberries in the market.  They were very large and very delicious.

 


Our team eating lunch at an Italian restaurant called Eberia.  It was quite good and I expect that we will visit here often during our stay.





Another market in the Medina where you could buy grains.  There was a little boy who was working there with his mother.

 


The girls had quite fun shopping for scarves.  We weren't able to bargain much here but we enjoyed looking.




Rahul, Anup, and Andrew had a great time shopping as well.




I loved this particular area of the market.  There were several small shops located off of this common area.  Notice the many beautiful handmade tangines in the lower left.





The view of the water as seen by the road next to the eight hundred year old Kasba (fort).

 



What an incredible view of the water as seen from the top of the Kasba (fort).

 


Walking up to the Kasba that overlooked the water on the backside.




My son John loves to collect turtles (not the real ones) when he travels to different locations near the water.  I thought about buying him a live turtle from the market and then thought better of it.  :-)  This picture is for you John.



Walking in the small alleyways where traditional homes are located off of.  This was the street where we entered the small door into the Riad (house) Kalaa.  The small doors are deceiving because there are amazing homes, hotels, and restaurants located inside many of these doors.



Boutana and myself outside the entryway to the Riad Kalaa.




This is the lobby/central living area that you see when you enter the Riad Kalaa.   Our group had our first rest of the day here (after 8 hours of walking) and enjoyed mint tea and pastries.





Having mint team in the lobby of Riad Kalaa.  They typically pour the tea quite high from the cup.... Anup is getting to be an expert.




Ending our long day of walking and exploring by having dinner in a nearby Syrian restaurant.  The food was quite good and we ran into a group of Americans from the Peace Corp and visited with them for a while.   They said that Hillary Clinton had been in Rabat that day for an Embassy event and they had been able to personally meet her.

There aren't many days that I can say that I explored a new city on foot for 12 hours but today was one of those days. We left our hotel about 10am this morning with our fantastic 'tour guides' Jailan and Boutana. Jailan is our CDC Advisor who helped lead us through our over the phone training for the last three months. She will be staying with us at the hotel for the first week. Boutana also works for the CDC and will be with us during our entire month stay. We are so lucky to have Boutana.... she is a wonderful person and knows Rabat very well since she lives here. Concidentally, she also worked for IBM for four years in both the Morocco and France offices.

We started our trek by exploring the local grocery store, restaurants, etc. We found several good nearby restaurants that we can walk to in the coming weeks and ended up selecting an Italian restaurant called Eberia for lunch. We sat in the outside cafe area and enjoyed the beautiful day. It was the first real meal that I had had since my food episode yesterday and it was delicious. I officially felt back to normal. We then walked to the local market in the Medina where we spent several hours exploring fruit and vegetable markets, meat markets, local artisan booths, etc. Eight of us went into the market and I have to give credit to the four males for their patience while their female counterparts looked at scarves, paintings, earrings, spices, silver, etc. They were real troopers.

We then walked to a beautiful eight hundred year old fort that overlooked the ocean. I got some beautiful pictures that I hope to be able to post soon. Boutana then lead us down through some narrow streets that reminded me of the streets and neighborhoods in Europe. She knocked on a small door in the alleyway that lead into a private home that had been converted into a hotel. It was called Riad Kalaa and it was absolutely beautiful inside. We rested a bit and were served hot mint tea and pastries. We realized that it was the first time that we had sat down in nearly 8 hours of walking.

We ended the day by eating in a nearby Syrian restaurant. While we were there, we met another group of Americans who are in Morocco with the Peace Corps and spent some time visiting with them. In turns out that Hillary Clinton was in Rabat today for the opening of a new embassy and they had been able to meet her. Very small world. We finally got back to our hotel at nearly 10pm. Our assignment officially starts tomorrow morning where all four teams will be meeting at the Ministry of Economic Affairs for our kickoff meeting. I'm pleasantly exhausted from our many miles of walking today and I'm heading off to sleep now.

Day 2: IBM Meeting and Traveling to Rabat






Walking to IBM office in Casablanca

   



Our team and the IBM executives in the Casablanca office.

 


Packed and ready to check out of our hotel in Casablanca.



Arriving in our hotel in Rabat... home for the next four weeks.

Saturday, February 25.   We started the day by walking to the IBM office in Casablanca which was across the street from our hotel. We were greeted by several of the IBM executives in the Morocco office including the GM, Abdallah Alaoui. They gave us a tour of the IBM Casablanca office and Innovation Center and their office is very impressive. Ali Aqallal, who is the Business Development Manager of the Casablanca office, gave us a fascinating presentation about Morocco. Here's a brief bit of history and facts that he gave us.

Morocco is a kingdom that is bordered by Algeria, Western Sahara, and Spain. Its capital is Rabat which is where our Corporate Service Corp projects will take place. Morocco has a population of over 31 million people and of this population, about 56% is urbanized. Their GDP is comprised of 50% services, 19% agriculture, and 31% industrial. About 45% of the workforce works in the agricultural area. They have natural resources such as phosphates, iron ore,lead, zinc, fish, and salt. They export approximately $1.5B a year in clothing, textiles, electronic components, petroleum products, and citrus fruits. We also learned interesting facts about IBM in Morocco. There are currently over 100 IBMers in Morocco and this number is rapidly expanding. Ginni Rometty, IBM's new CIO, visited the IBM Morocco office just a few weeks ago and they were very excited to have this level of executive focus on their office.

After our IBM meeting ended, we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant where I ordered chicken and vegetables. As you will see later in the day, this meal had a subsequent consequence. We then drove to our hotel in Rabat which will be our home base for the next four weeks. After checking into my room, I wasn't feeling very well and shortly after was sick with food poisoning. One other person also got sick and we suspect it was from the chicken since we both ate the same thing. One of my team members gave me a charcoal pill to absorb the toxins and I felt much better in a couple of hours. I now believe that this is a wonder drug that I plan to always carry with me on future travels. :-)

Day 1: Casablanca




Traditional mint tea and pastries.

 

Tangines in a clay pot ... very typical Moroccan meal.



Karen, Mihoko, myself, and Rahal at the Sqala restaurant.  The salad sampler that we had as an appetizer was some of the best salads that I have ever eaten.



Entrance to Sqala restaurant.




Our first team dinner at Sqala restaurant.  It was a fun night!

 

Friday, February 24.   After sleeping for a couple of hours to try to shake off the jet lag, we met up with our team about 5:30 pm in the afternoon. It was great to finally put a name and a face with everyone we had been talking to for almost three months. It was a very 'sleepy' group since most had just arrived after travels as long as 27 hours. I think that Tracey from Australia set the record with the 27 hour commute. While we visited for the first time, we ordered mint tea which is an everyday delicacy in Morocco. I decided that my kids would love it since it has about three times the amount of sugar as a coke. :-) We affectionately termed it 'Moroccan Red Bull'. Even though most of our group was half awake, we decided that we wanted to go have a nice dinner in Casablanca since it was all of our first time here. We ended up eating at a beautiful restaurant named Sqala. It was near the Medina (middle of the city) and was by the water. It was also close to a beautifully lit up mosque called Hassan II Mosque. It is the largest mosque in the country and the 7th largest mosque in the world. We ate in open air small villas and the food was delicious. We ate in tangines which are clay pots with a lid that the food is served in. They are generally a mixture of some type of meat and vegetables and they were very good.

Tomorrow we have a meeting scheduled in the IBM office in Morocco where we will meet several of the IBM executives from the Morocco office. We will also be given a security debriefing. We then plan to travel to Rabat, check into our hotel, and possibly get a tour of the surrounding area. It's a beautiful sunny, crisp day in Casablanca and I'm looking forward to starting my adventure. :-)

Arriving in Casablanca

It's been an interesting 24 hours. I woke up in Austin at 3am on Thursday morning to catch the first of 3 flights to Morocco. It was very hard saying goodbye to Paul and the boys knowing that it will be a full month before I see them in person again. By far, this is the longest time period we have been apart. I met Andrew Holle at the airport. Andrew is one of the three US participants on this trip and by considence, two of us are from Austin. Although we have been on many team calls for months, I didn't actually met him in person until today's trip. It is nice to be traveling with another person... especially when you are going to a foreign country. I landed in Casablanca a couple of hours ago. Although the time here is after 9am, my body clock is still 3am Austin time. I got a few hours sleep in the last plane flight but I feel like I'm running on adrenaline. It's a little unbelievable to be sitting at the hotel cafe in Casablanca when just yesterday I was home. I'm very excited to say that I got internet connection which I was a little concerned about. My mom will be happy to know that the first thing that I did when I arrived was to try to log on to say that I had arrived safely. :-) I was able to get to the blog site which is great but it is all French .... small detail that I will have to learn how to fix. (ha ha). Glad now for those three years of French in high school. I owe many thanks to my 'Technical Team' (aka Paul, Thomas, and John) for helping me get my iPad set up and teaching me how to use it. Not a lot to report on Casablanca per se since I've only seen the ride from the airport to the hotel. The weather is beautiful - very crisp and cool. I got to watch the sun rise this morning after arriving at the airport. Our hotel is in the business district of Casablanca and one of the first signs that I saw was the IBM building at a distance. Very comforting. We were welcomed by our contact at the hotel and will be meeting later this afternoon with the entire team as the arrive from all over the world. This will be the first time that we have all met in person and we are planning to go to dinner tonight in Casablanca. For now, I'm heading to bed for a few hours sleep. Au revoir.

Getting Prepared

It's Sunday afternoon before I leave for Morocco for my IBM Corporate Services Corp assignment.   After all of the months of training and preparation, it's hard to believe it is only for 4 days until I leave.   I depart from the Austin airport on Thursday morning at 7am where I will take three different plane flights before arriving in Casablanca.   Our team will meet there and stay at a hotel overnight.   On Saturday, we will drive to Rabat, Morocco which is about an hour north of Casablanca where our one month assignment will begin.   Rabat is the capital of Morocco and is located on the Northern coast of Africa, very close to the Strait of Gibraltar in Europe.

My team is from all over the world.  We have team members from the Philippines (Karen), Japan (Mihoko), Taiwan (Austin), India (Tej, Anup, and Sridharan), and USA (Andrew, Rahul, and myself).  Between the 10 of us, we will be working on four different assignments.   I'll be writing more about my specific assignment in the coming days, but Andrew Rahul, and myself will be focusing on a project for the Ministry of Agriculture.   The picture on my blog is a hint about the focus of our assignment.  :-)

Special thanks to my son John for helping me to get my blog set up.   It was a fun project that we enjoyed doing together.  John, thanks for your patience with Mom.   My goal is to update my blog daily but we will have to see.  I just got my new iPhone configured today and hope to be able to take and post pictures of my Moroccan assignment and month-long adventure.

Bye for now.... Amy