There we go, Rabat has been left behind.
Last week was hectic, with too many things to wrap up at work, a proposal to submit, a last training session on civic journalism and common ground approach in Salé, and the hand over to organize with the two new people that were hired. Friday afternoon, my official goodbye during one of our PCT-sessions (Peace-and-Chocolate-Time). In honor of the C, I made some chocolate mousse, with Thomas' help, and, for the health-conscious members of our office, a fruit salad. Though three of my closer colleagues were unable to attend, the newcomers were there, some satellite people and Thomas had been invited as well. I managed not to cry, and it felt nice. I'm really very happy with the time I spent at SFCG, working on conflict resolution, and I feel I've learned a lot. In truth, I couldn't have dreamed for a better job, and consider myself very lucky for my time with them.
While wrapping up work related issues, there were also all the preparations for the trip to make, like getting the visas for most of the countries we'll be visiting or sending us most of our stuff by bus to Belgium..
As far as goodbyes go, we had a party on Saturday, nothing too wild, but fun. I love the fact that, though most of them didn't know the others, almost everybody mingled easily and socialized. By the end though, we stayed with the hard core, friends we have known during almost our entire stay here. Sunday was devoted to recovering, a last hammam to leave Rabat as clean and pampered as possible, and a goodbye dinner with my boss and his wife at the Dhow. Monday evening was our last session of home-cinema, the Manuelit@s, which we started on our arrival. Many of the initial group, mostly UN-related friends, have also left or were on mission, New York, Egypt, Algeria, Gabon etc. We watched "Les invisibles", a documentary regarding senior gays in France, how they lived their sexuality just after WW II. Another sad last, though I've suggested we'd use our Facebook group to continue recommending films and to stay in touch that way...
Tuesday we packed our last things and send 5 plastic bags of 76kg to Brussels, to be collected and stored by friends of ours till we fly back from Lagos to Belgium on the 18th of December. Thomas' apartment is being renovated and we'll find have a place to be more at ease during our stay in Belgium.
In he evening, we had a last couple of beers, first close to the railway station, at a dodgy Lebanese place, and then back on our terrace to finish our last beers and give away some of our stuff.
And this morning, our bags, a quick inspection of the apartment we'd spent two years and a half in, hand over the keys to our landlord, and a last breakfast with Claire and Caroline, our two other veterans. For me, again an emotional moment, that familiar bitter-sweet feeling of leaving a place, closing a chapter, even though I'm excited about our trip and the future in general.
And then, with our minimalist luggage, the train to Casablanca, and now we're waiting to board the plane to Dakhla, the beginning or our trip....
Last week was hectic, with too many things to wrap up at work, a proposal to submit, a last training session on civic journalism and common ground approach in Salé, and the hand over to organize with the two new people that were hired. Friday afternoon, my official goodbye during one of our PCT-sessions (Peace-and-Chocolate-Time). In honor of the C, I made some chocolate mousse, with Thomas' help, and, for the health-conscious members of our office, a fruit salad. Though three of my closer colleagues were unable to attend, the newcomers were there, some satellite people and Thomas had been invited as well. I managed not to cry, and it felt nice. I'm really very happy with the time I spent at SFCG, working on conflict resolution, and I feel I've learned a lot. In truth, I couldn't have dreamed for a better job, and consider myself very lucky for my time with them.
While wrapping up work related issues, there were also all the preparations for the trip to make, like getting the visas for most of the countries we'll be visiting or sending us most of our stuff by bus to Belgium..
As far as goodbyes go, we had a party on Saturday, nothing too wild, but fun. I love the fact that, though most of them didn't know the others, almost everybody mingled easily and socialized. By the end though, we stayed with the hard core, friends we have known during almost our entire stay here. Sunday was devoted to recovering, a last hammam to leave Rabat as clean and pampered as possible, and a goodbye dinner with my boss and his wife at the Dhow. Monday evening was our last session of home-cinema, the Manuelit@s, which we started on our arrival. Many of the initial group, mostly UN-related friends, have also left or were on mission, New York, Egypt, Algeria, Gabon etc. We watched "Les invisibles", a documentary regarding senior gays in France, how they lived their sexuality just after WW II. Another sad last, though I've suggested we'd use our Facebook group to continue recommending films and to stay in touch that way...
Tuesday we packed our last things and send 5 plastic bags of 76kg to Brussels, to be collected and stored by friends of ours till we fly back from Lagos to Belgium on the 18th of December. Thomas' apartment is being renovated and we'll find have a place to be more at ease during our stay in Belgium.
In he evening, we had a last couple of beers, first close to the railway station, at a dodgy Lebanese place, and then back on our terrace to finish our last beers and give away some of our stuff.
And this morning, our bags, a quick inspection of the apartment we'd spent two years and a half in, hand over the keys to our landlord, and a last breakfast with Claire and Caroline, our two other veterans. For me, again an emotional moment, that familiar bitter-sweet feeling of leaving a place, closing a chapter, even though I'm excited about our trip and the future in general.
And then, with our minimalist luggage, the train to Casablanca, and now we're waiting to board the plane to Dakhla, the beginning or our trip....
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