Where "Mad Men" Meets the Peace Corps

For those of you who don't know, before the Peace Corps I worked in advertising agencies in New York City. My life has gone from developing marketing strategies and producing television and radio commercials, billboards, websites, and lots more... to teaching English and aerobics, developing programs for youth, spending time with people in the community, studying a new language, learning about a new culture, teaching about America, doing activities for women in the community, and so on. 

A pretty big change as you can imagine! But one thing that I did not count on was being able to continue some marketing/advertising related work in Morocco. Recently, I was highlighted in a "Peace Corps 101" radio interview to provide marketing tips for Peace Corps Volunteers. You can check out the interview here!

On this blog I haven't talked about all of the projects that I've done in Morocco, but here are a few specific things related to marketing that I talked about in the interview. With Peace Corps Morocco's Gender and Development Committee, I helped to revamp the committee to be more relevant and helpful for Volunteers and used strategic planning models to develop a vision and mission statement. I created a website and new communication channels to make it easier for Volunteers to learn about and access resources for gender initiatives. For Peace Corps Morocco, I created a website (which is almost finished!) at the request of staff to showcase Volunteer efforts and to promote our programs to governmental and NGO partners in Morocco. And lastly, as the PR Senior Advisor for the Serving Volunteer Advisory Council, I'm currently running all PR outreach efforts for this global group dedicated to connecting Volunteers and helping provide strategic solutions to worldwide issues.

These are the big ones - and I have one more big marketing-related project in the works that you'll hear more about in the coming months. So while a lot has changed, it's been nice to continue some of the marketing-related work that I enjoyed back home!

An ocean in between

For the last week or two I've found myself glued to the computer, constantly checking for news updates - watching every movement of Hurricane Sandy, reading reports of the damage, and looking at photos of the aftermath. Sometimes I feel very connected to everyone and everything happening at home, but at times like this I am reminded of the large ocean that lies between us and our friends and family in the U.S.

But, you want to know a nice thing that has happened here since the hurricane? I cannot even begin to count the number of Moroccans who have reached out to Justin and me about our friends and family - Are they okay? Have we spoken with them? What are people doing to rebuild? Many don't even know where we are from in the U.S., they just know that a terrible disaster happened in America, and perhaps we might have connections to it.

It's been really hard to be so far away from home when such awful damage has happened to many on the East Coast. But while there's an ocean between us and our fabric of friends and family back home, I have realized that on this side of the ocean, we have been able to weave our own fabric of friends and family here. One that from now on will always feel connected to our world. A friend who just returned to America from Tunisia posted a comment from one of her students that stuck with me: "For the first time, I feel worried about other people without knowing them just because I know you."

So maybe that ocean in between isn't so big after all :)

The Week in Review

Here's a photo review of the week for your viewing pleasure!

Veniero's in Manhattan. A few years ago Justin and I
did a taste-test of cannolis throughout NYC
and we determined that this one is the best :)

Justin and our friend Emily at a Metropolitan Opera
concert/picnic in Central Park

Justin and our friend Mike enjoying an ENORMOUS quantity
of bbq and fixin's at Blue Smoke (Justin and my first date
was in their jazz club downstairs!)

View of NYC from the Empire State Building

The Cloisters - one of our favorite museums, in upper Manhattan

One last goodbye with the adorable Sandy, our foster dog.
She and her new parents are doing wonderfully!

In 9 hours, Justin and I are flying to Vietnam for 12 days, followed by Bangkok for 3 days (going to a friends' wedding there), and then to Scotland for 4 days (visiting my sister-in-law and her husband for a wedding celebration across the pond). I can't promise that I'll be able to blog during the trip but I will post a full trip update once we get back to NYC!

Catching up on the week

I had grand plans to post entries throughout each day's NYC adventures, but our long days being touristy were pretty exhausting! So instead, you get a recap of our daily adventures. Hope you enjoy :)

The Weekend

Relaxing in the Catskills with Justin's parents, and doing a bit of exploring

Opus 40, in Saugerties, NY

Monday

Packing... and packing... and packing

Tuesday

Queens Day! Explored the amazing 5Pointz in Long Island City, then some of our old Astoria stomping grounds from when we lived there - Sweet Afton (awesome bar), MexiQ (great restaurant), then Bingo night at Blackbird's Bar with our friends Brian and Jen.

5Pointz... I left people in the shot so you could see the scale of this place!

Wednesday

Met one of Justin's old college professors for coffee, then marathon shopping for things needed for the Peace Corps, then dinner at Char No. 4 in Brooklyn (great restaurant) with our friend Caroline. It was po-boy night with Zapps and Abita beer!

Thursday

Girls' day with my wonderful friend Meredith, while Justin met his friend Ray for lunch, visited people in his law school (Fordham), then we both met up at the Bohemian Hall Beer Garden in Astoria to celebrate our friend Mike's birthday.

Exploring Pennsylvania!

Friday

Whirlwind Manhattan day! A morning tour at the Eldridge Street Synagogue, followed by lunch at Katz's Delicatessen (matzoh ball soup and a half pastrami sandwich of course). Visiting the National Museum of the American Indian at the tip of Manhattan (we had never been), then a roundtrip ride on Manhattan's best free transportation - the Staten Island Ferry! Then a stealthy trip to the Old City Hall subway station (not in use anymore but if you stay on the 6 train after the last stop in Manhattan, it loops around to go back uptown and you can see it). Last stop was the Brandy Library, one of our favorite bars.

View of Lady Liberty from our seats on the ferry

Saturday

MoMA and the International Center of Photography with our friend Tyler, cart food near Rockefeller Center (where Justin used to work and the cart guys know his order!), then cooking an Asian themed dinner for our friends Siri and Aaron. The menu: chicken satay with peanut sauce, pork lettuce wraps, beef massaman curry with coconut ginger rice, Thai cucumber salad, and green tea fried ice cream. Didn't take any pictures but take my word for it that they were GOOD.

Sunday

Another whirlwind packing day but happy to have taken a break from it to blog!

Here's what's on the agenda for next week - If anyone is in NYC and wants to join on these, let me know. Still open to last-minute suggestions too!
- Monday: Metropolitan Opera concert and picnic at Central Park (part of Summerstage) with our friend Emily
- Tuesday: Lunch at Di Fara pizza in Brooklyn and dinner with our friends Mani and Asra
- Wednesday: Brooklyn Bridge, then a Rebirth Brass Band concert in Lower Manhattan
- Thursday: Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, the Cloisters, then dinner at Dinosaur BBQ

- Friday: Empire State Building, the Highline, then dinner with our friends Liza and Josh

- Saturday: Governor's Island, then dinner with our friends Matt and Jill

- Sunday: Giving blood, then Brighton Beach with our friends Nick and Mike (Nick knows Russian so he gives us some cred). Maybe a baseball game in the evening.

- Monday: Marathon packing for our Vietnam/Thailand/Scotland trip because we leave at 1 AM Tuesday morning!

And the adventure begins

Today is Justin's last day of work. I cannot believe that it has been almost 1 year to this very day that we submitted our applications for the Peace Corps. It has been quite a journey and if you can't already tell, I am SO excited for this next stage to begin.

We're off to Justin's parents' bungalow for the weekend - a few hours from New York City, in the Catskills region. I think it should be just the break we need to decompress and get ourselves prepped for an exciting few months. Next week we'll be starting our NYC Tour and for those in the area, we'd love for people to join us on any or all of our daily adventures. I'll post our tentative schedule early next week.

And for those who haven't gotten around to it yet, don't forget to email me with a picture and a message for our Photobook to come with us to Morocco! You have until mid-July, and don't worry, I'll remind you a few more times until then :)

Bubble Wrap, Mermaids, and Tagines… oh my?

The last few weeks have flown by in a whirlwind of boxes, bubble wrap, and packing tape! This is what my days recently have been looking like:

boxes under the lovely fluorescent lighting
that only a basement can provide!

Luckily I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Justin only has 2 weeks left of work and then the real fun begins – buying the remaining things needed for the Peace Corps, finishing packing and storing all of our stuff, and then doing our grand NYC tour before leaving for Vietnam, Thailand, and Scotland in mid-July!

We have been able to do a few fun things in the meantime though, including seeing the famous Mermaid Parade in Coney Island (1 thing crossed off of our NYC Goodbye tour list!).  I’m starting a Flickr page to house all of our photos over the next 2 years – you can click here to view photos from the Mermaid Parade (warning: photos are a bit scandalous, NYC’s version of Mardi Gras!) and you’ll see that I have added a widget on the righthand side of the blog to showcase recent photos that have been uploaded onto the Flickr page.  A few choice photos below to showcase this truly outlandish event, I kept these fairly PG…

In addition to the Mermaid Parade, Justin and I just took an “Essentials of Moroccan Cooking” class at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, thanks to a birthday gift card from my parents. Not only was it such a fun experience (our first cooking class!), but it also got us both very excited about our Moroccan adventure to come.

The dishes included the most wonderful meats, spices, and produce and you can imagine the tantalizing smells that filled our classroom/kitchen. Here’s what the menu included, and to reward those that got this far in the post, I have posted a link to download the recipe for my personal favorite dish from the night, “Lamb Tagine with Prunes”. Click here to download; hope you enjoy it as much as I did! All other recipes available upon request; just email me.

Menu:

Couscous aux Sept Legumes (Seven-Vegetable Couscous)

B’stilla (Sweet and Savory Squab Pie)

Kefta (Finely ground, skewered meat)

Harira (a hearty vegetable soup)

Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons and Olives

Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Almonds

Roasted Pepper and Tomato Salad

Carrot Salad with Lemon Garlic Dressing

Beet Salad with Orange Flower Water

Harissa (a hot red pepper paste used as a condiment)

Moroccan Bread

Mint Tea

More to come as we embark on our goodbye NYC adventures!

I want to beeeee a paaaart of it....

In a very short time, Justin and I will be leaving the captivating, frenetic, magical, and exhausting city of New York for what I imagine will be a VERY different life. While we have a lot of traveling lined up for the summer, we plan to spend the first 2 weeks of July and our last few days in September doing a "Goodbye NYC Tour," visiting some places that have become near and dear to us, some that we've always talked about seeing, and some that just seem like a fun way to say goodbye to this crazy, crazy city. 

Christmas Lights
in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn

Mermaid Parade
in Coney Island

Dale Chihuly exhibit
at the NY Botanical Garden

Our work-in-progress list is below. Any additions to suggest??

5 Pointz
American Museum of Natural History
Arthur Avenue in the Bronx
Bagels
Baseball game
Blue Smoke/Jazz Standard (our 1st date!)
Brandy Library (one of our favorite bars)
Brighton Beach
Bronx Zoo

Halloween Costume contest
in Tompkins Square, Manhattan

Brooklyn Bridge (one of my favorite places, and where Justin proposed :)
Char No 4
The Cloisters
Coney Island
Concerts - Celebrate Brooklyn, Summerstage, picnicking with the Metropolitan Opera
Di Fara Pizza
Dinosaur BBQ

Cherry blossoms
at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden

Eldridge Street Synagogue
Empire State Building
Governor's Island
High Line
Hotpot
International Center of Photography
Kabab Cafe (amazing place by where we used to live in Astoria)
Katz's Deli
Mermaid Parade
National Museum of the American Indian
Old City Hall subway station 
Peter Luger
Staten Island Ferry
Statue of Liberty
Tuthilltown