Being the Magician's Apprentice

Frankincense Ice Cream Logo in Arabic

I have always wanted to be a magician's apprentice. Today this wish came true. My evening - from dusk to well after midnight - was spent in the apprenticeship of someone I consider a true magician. 

Trygve Harris is the owner of a New York City aromatics and essential oils boutique store called  Enfleurage, and an authority on natural aromatics. What makes Trygve a magician - a mage even - is the way she harnesses her relentless passion for fragrance in her work and business. For anyone surrounded by the workaday world it is an inspiration to see what a passion-driven vocation looks like in action. Catch a whiff of the heady perfume of her aromatic lifework on her sensuous blog. It is a virtual version of her fragrant home in Salalah, where you literally breathe a vapour of frankincense in a nest so cozy you just want to curl up and purr. 

I was apprenticed to this remarkable magician when she was granted special permission to sell frankincense ice cream at the Salalah Khareef Festival this year. The ice cream has evolved from a family recipe we shared months back to a streamlined version perfected by a New York chef. It is laced with a dash of Enfleurage's frankincense essential oil, which she describes as sharp, snappy and sparkling. This ice cream is nothing short of a spiritual experience. 

Being deeply intrigued by this project, I was delighted to lend a hand at the stall. It has been an enlightening and educational experience. We must have learned our lesson well, because we sold out each and every one of the 150 tubs of ice cream in stock today. There were rave reviews, and it did not even take much to lure Oman's national television film crew to the stand to shoot a most unusual feature. This is, after all, a stark departure from the usual souvenirs, and being cajoled into tasting a new delicacy by two zealous Western women is not something shoppers here encounter every day. Or ever, for that matter. 

What did my magician's apprenticeship teach me? That people are kind. That they like to have fun and will reward whoever makes it happen. That they are honest - someone returned to pay back excess change he had received. That they are generous: several people bought ice cream for complete strangers. That they are helpful: our valiant attempts at selling in our best-effort Arabic were received warmly, and many people patiently taught us new words that would help with the pitch. That it's OK if people say no thank you. That selling is a lot easier when what you sell is wonderful (even if its quality makes it pricier).  That perseverance pays off. That dreams that come true begin with ideas, but that it takes strategic action to let those ideas flourish into living, breathing realities. 

Perhaps most of all, what I learned is that work done with passion is pure pleasure. We worked extremely hard today,  setting up the stall, rushing around and charming people for seven hours straight. Yet I returned home at 1:30 AM full of energy, enthusiasm and ideas. Every minute was a delight. 

And so I return from my apprenticeship under the master magician with a great deal to show for it. I look forward to dropping in at the stall daily as long as I am in town (just another week! Eek!). Even more, I look forward to doing a bit of magic of my own. Because the thing about an apprenticeship with a magician is that some of that magic really does rub off.