The week started with a ton of ideas. We had multiple conversations to finish the week and talked to the CEO to float some of our preliminary findings which were well received. We scheduled a meeting for Thursday to review an 80% final deliverable of recommendations. Monday through Wednesday was a lot of internal discussion, ideation and putting ideas to paper. We received a printer, much needed and had multiple run-throughs amongst ourselves to see if our ideas were holding water.

 

Monday was a long day with a lot of discussion and we were looking for something to take the stress off so we went to our first hammam. The hammam is similar to a Roman bath but more closely to a Turkish bath. From Wikipedia, an Islamic hammam comes from the five pillars of Islam which includes a ritual purification. However, they are not just used in a religious context but also in a social one and which matched our use of it.

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The place we went to had both hammam and massage and you could do either one or both. The hamman started with segregating by gender (10 of us went), then we (the guys) went to a dressing room and got down to shorts/swim wear/boxers, then went to a shower where a guy held a hand held shower over us so we could rinse off, then we went into a sauna. I’m not sure how hot it was, all I can say is very. I literally couldn’t see Ajay from about 10 feet away because of the steam. We were in there for about 20 minutes, having a good time talking about the experience and the day.

 

About the time it was starting to feel super heavy we were taken out and into a circular room. The entire room was covered in marble with marble tables. We each got a table then a gentleman came and did about a 5 – 10 minute massage (digging his elbow in my back with his full weight). Side note, we were lead out one by one, and Jun was the first to go – we heard a painful scream, so we knew this wasn’t going to be a relaxing massage. My back popped about 6 times, basically trying to turn me into a pretzel and I’m not flexible.

 

Then, I believe he got some argan oil and some kind of cross between a loufa and sandpaper and scrubbed it off of you. It kinda seemed like he was angry as hard as he was scrubbing, but this cleanses you after your skin gets soft with the intense heat and steam of the sauna. Then he starts rinsing you with another hand held shower with colder and colder water until it’s basically ice cold.

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Once that part is done, you get your robe and go into a relaxation room where there are loungers and you chill out for about 5 – 10 minutes, then change and your done. 

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All in all, it took about 45 – 50 minutes, and after everything I’ve said, I’ll say one more – it was really cool. It’s strange but the heat opened up pores, and was just cool – being our group (Ajay, Jun, Shedi, Alex, Ian and myself) we were competing to see who would tap out first and we were having fun with the strangeness of it. But afterwards, we were all relaxed and felt great. It was another bonding experience and I can see why Moroccans, both men and women do this as a way to socialize and take away the stress of the day. The ladies in our group recounted over dinner they had basically the same experience – with a pair of glasses lost in the sauna and difficulty find them in the fog of the room.

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Tuesday at work, we really started to put the analysis together and made a ton or progress, we had one more interview and ironed out a few details with our stakeholders. We can see the collaboration and several of the staff will pop in to get our take on a problem or hypothetical they have. We’ve really built some trust with our team and they are seeking our consultation.

 

And even better, found some incredible street food. Basically, it’s like a breakfast taco but in a baguette.  Two eggs, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, chili, peppers, cheese made from scratch when you order for $0.60, then right next to that cart is a juice cart – a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice for $0.70. Lunch for $1.30, and it’s delicious!!

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Wednesday was a tough day of getting ideas on paper, and checking to see that we had a coherent story across the analysis. For lunch, street food again, this time more of a quasi-restaurant in a local market – I had lamb and chicken tagine, as always piping hot and great!!

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That evening, a group of five of us went to the medina in Casablanca which is about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. The group included myself, Ana (originally from Spain), Alex and Andrea (both from Brazil) and Jessica (Malaysia), for whatever reason, we spoke mostly in Spanish with constant translation to Jessica – Alex and Andrea are fluent in Spanish. Jessica got to use some of our her favorite sayings; si si, claro que si, por supesto and muy bien. We had a good time, had some beef tagine at a place on the walk back to the hotel and then worked until about 2:00 a.m. getting ready for our presentation with the CEO on Thursday afternoon.

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I’ll let you know how that went in the next post – more to come.