everything July

hey there friends! so, i am back again with another update...still trying to catch up, but hope to still be keeping you all updated nonetheless. so, what is new with you? i would love to hear how you are and what is new in your circle. i hope you enjoy the footage and explanations to go along with the photos. much love!

i was so excited to receive this amazing package from tiffany! wow, what a gold mine! i am so thankful for each and every letter, package, email, phone-call. thanks for staying in touch and keeping me a part of your life.

we had a great summer crew here studying this summer. i was excited to have a day with them. we did some shopping and then we went to our favorite schwarma place in the 'hood to enjoy a nice lunch. we were excited to have them here to help us with a summer English club. the students loved meeting other college students! it was great on both ends! they had a great summer from what i am told and after getting to talk with them some. it was pleasure to meet them.

we were invited to a 4th of July party that was held at a local school. it was super fun and totally delicious! i was excited about the cheetos! i also was stoked to get a chance to swim in the school's pool. it was totally refreshing and a blast. i even jumped off the diving board a few times.

about half-way through the month i got to help with the preparations for a retreat we had with some of us students. it was fun to get to be crafty and work alongside a lady i really respect. it turned into more hours than i had expected in preparing for all the small group activities, but was worth it. here are a couple shots from the fun interactive stuff we created.

of course there can't be all work and no play!
it was totally fun to get to hang with these little ladies. these ladies did a bang up job on preparing such lovely dishes. they were amazing hostesses! real deal alphabet soup with a hard-boiled egg and a nice cup of tea. virtually no calories! :)
then the barbies came out. i enjoyed dressing up this gal. such a blast from the past!
then surfing for K's bday! oh what fun! she totally rocked it.

i was so stoked to have J with us! what fun we had. many laughs for sure. it was a super busy day at the beach. it was hard to dodge the swimmers and it was funny as the local folks loved trying to get close to us and i don't think they really understood that we couldn't surf if they were holding onto the board:)

then J and i went to the local Roman ruins in my city and found the eels out in the spring/old bath area. it was so cool to see them out. the man that tends this area said that there are 20-25 eels in there and that the old wives' tale about women feeding eggs to the eels to figure out their fertility is no longer a practice today. he claimed that Allah was the only one that is able to give women children. it was interesting talking to him for sure.check out this guy! we saw so many eels that day...more than i had ever seen. then we had to check out the gnaoua gear. J got her photo taken, too. he was a great guy. check out that swinging hat on him. they keep that string swinging as they play. this is a local form of music and the garb is traditional for those musicians.

we went over to the old mosque ruins in the city and found these ladies taking a drink from the fountain outside the active mosque.

it was such a blast to have J in for a few days. it happened to be a hot few days, but we laughed our way through her time here. i am thankful for visitors and enjoy hosting friends for sure. here we are overlooking the local city beach. what a beautiful time! a great month indeed.

fantasia!!

Fantasia is a traditional equestrian performance practiced during cultural festivals. Fantasia is an imported name, the actual traditional term used is "Game of gunpowder".

It consists of a group of horse riders, wearing traditional clothes and charging along a straight path at the same speed so as to form a line, at the end of the ride (about a two hundred meters) all riders fire in the sky using old gunpowder guns. The difficulty of the performance is synchronization during the acceleration and specially during firing so that one single shot is heard. The horse is referred to as fantasia horse and is of type barb. Gunpowder is called 'Baroud' and traditional gun 'moukahla', hence the name "la3b el baroud" or "game of gunpowder".

The performance is inspired from historical wartime attacks of berber and desert knights. Nowadays, Fantasia is considered as a cultural art and a form of martial art; it also symbolizes a strong relationships between the man and the horse, as well as an attachment to tradition.

Each region has one or several fantasia groups, called serba, totalling thousands of horse riders nationwide. Performances are usually during local seasonal, cultural or religious festivals, also called moussem ('season' in Arabic).

water seller making the rounds at the show

ladies' group making their run

we liked her shades

preparing for the run and then nicely executing the routine below

men prepared the guns with powder between runs

nice!

june boom III

a few of us ladies had the joy of hosting/organizing a graduation party for one of the lovely gals here. her mom asked us to use the family crystal-ware. it was such a blast!
this reminds me of a sorority photo:) it was a great ladies only tea party to celebrate the recent high school grad! all the ladies contributed yummy treats and it was a fun time to get all dressed up, too.

my roommate is really close to the graduate and i just enjoy helping organizing and decorating for these kinds of things, so we enjoyed helping host the party. it was fun to get into our snazzy outfits and celbrate! i found this totaly rockin' dress here and paid under $15 for it! sweet!

the same night as the tea party was i guess the USA embassy's fireworks display. i was totally stoked to get out of the taxi on my corner and look up to find these in the air. it was my own little fireworks show. happy 4th!

i met up with lesley's crew again on the train to ride down with them and then i went to dinner with them the night before they flew out. i had promised lesley that we would try these yummy ice cream bars: magnum bars! i think they may be better than dove bars! it was a great night to spend with her and her peeps again. what a joy:)

trip up north...way up there

i was so delighted to get the invitation to go up north to visit my best NA friend's aunt. it was a very beautiful city! it was much cooler too as the wind was a-blowin' the whole time. it took maybe six hours to get up here. actually we took a bus from here to a major bus terminal up north and then took a city bus to her aunt's place. well, on the way the bus broke down. we were sitting up front and were waiting see what would happen. we noticed many people getting into grand taxis (mercedes benzs) and we turned around to see who else was on the bus and everyone had gotten off! so, we did like everyone else and got a grand taxi to take us to the round point close to her aunt's house. we walked the rest of the way. see, i didn't realize that her aunt's city was so close to the coast as there are a couple of towns that have similiar names and i had the wrong one in mind before we went. i was absolutely delighted to be so close to the sea!! we arrived, had some lunch and went out on the town. this place is very close to import/export spots, so it had a great, great clothes market! i enjoyed it:) this picture shows a Spanish enclave (the hill in the distant). we didn't go, but it was cool to see it so close. there were lots of different foods i hadn't seen around much in our part of the country--i found Sunny Delight!

we took an afternoon and went to the beach. it was within walking distance of my friend's aunt's house! it was so cool. her little cousin was so happy that i was going swimming as it was just me and her from our group that got in the water. i enjoyed the calmer water to actually get to swim around in. the water was pretty stinkin' cold, but it was so refreshing!
my friend's fabulous little cousin is such a sweety. she got all dolled up in her tiksheta! this is waht you wear to weddings here. i loved hers. so beautiful!

and no visit to a home is complete until the foreigner does a fashion show in the local garb! i actually liked this tiksheta. i was blingy, but sweet. i am usually not a big fan of gold, but it seemed pretty here. i also tried on a caftan that her aunt had. it was fun and velvet:)

it was such a joy to be with my friend and her family. we definitely maxed out our time there walking all over and shopping.

one of the days we went to a neighnoring city that had a fishing port. i loved these plastic crates. i just loved all the colors. it was a really great trip to take with my friend. i ended up going back to my city solo. it was a pretty uneventful bus-ride. just got to take in all the sites.

i am so grateful for each and every place i get to explore here. it was a gift to spend this time away with my friend as she is now in the States for the next 8 months or so. i miss her.