happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, anniversary! happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, anniversary!

if you know what movie this title comes from--please leave a comment and i if you get it correct you will get something sent to you from me here:)

anyways. wow, wow, wow.
this day has been incredible. i mean. wow.
so, i had a great lang lesson, in which i learned body parts. then i had a great Chat with my lang helper. she is such a doll. so passionate. and she is a great lang helper, so i am oh so grateful. i am excited as she will teach me the real way to make mint tea later this week.
e-wa (anyways), i decided to go by this book/school supply/office supply store on my way home from the lesson that is just a block away from the dar (house). i hadn't been by there in a while, so i felt like it would be good to go and greet the ladies in the shop. well, i was immediately invited to sit where she was sitting just outside the shop and was asked if i had been sick since i hadn't been by in a while. that made me laugh inside cause it is so descriptive of the culture here. relationships are everything.
so, from then on we were communicating shwiya b shwiya (little by little). and turns out i was going to spend the rest of the day with my friend!
we started out by going to the m'dina to purchase veggies from several different vendors, then even stopped off to chat with some of her buddies that have shops in the m'dina as well, and even grabbed some fresh fish that the man would gut for us. it was such an interesting chain of events. my friend, La, was such a great bargainer! and she even had me drop off my lang book at a random (to me at least) shop-keeper to hold on to while we were shopping around in the m'dina getting the needed food. then we went to her place (this whole time walking around with arms interlocked--as done here) and cooked up and prepared the food. it was fun to be in her home! these folks here are just so together--i mean, i had a dude hold onto my book for me for like a 45 minutes or so, and got to go into a gal's home after seeing her only several times. i want to practice hospitality like that (that reminds me--i will have to write about my lunch with girls that i hosted another day).
so, from there i hadn't truly figured out what was going to happen next. i wasn't sure if just she and i were eating alone or if we were taking this lunch back to the bookstore. well, i soon figured out that we were talking this lunch (well late lunch) on the road. we walked ourselves and the food back to the shop to share with the other employees. it was way cool. so, then we ate (and they insisted that i ate more) and cleaned up and took the pan, plates, forks, etc. back to her house, to then make a carafe full of hot milk (which the milk was purchased on the way back to her place). this was then taken back to the shop (en route we stopped again in the m'dina to say hey to some of her buddies and even sat a spell and was served hot mint tea!) to be served with a bit of instant coffee and sugar. it was great. truly.
so, then i decided i really needed to get home since i hadn't been back home all day. i walked in the door and realized that it was just after 7pm--whoa! 7+ hours with my not-so-new-anymore friend! what a pleasure. i listened a lot and tried to practice the little Arabic i have learned thus far and try to piece together sentences. it was fun, really fun.
so, just thought you guys would enjoy that. i sure did.

afternoon thoughts

so, check out my chaco tan! pretty nice, aye? i love to walk around here and today was just one of those days i decided to walk a bit. and it turned out interesting. but let me back track a bit and share with you about lunch. so, i have totally gotten into the Friday lunch deal here. even though none of my friends wanted to or else they were unable to go to our weekly spot, i just had to go. there is something about having a special place where the waiters expect to see you there each week. i like it.
so, it was just wahed (one), me, and it was funny. i think the waiter was suprised by me being myself, but i just love their cous cous! so, he sat me at a table and didn't even hand me the menu--mixed cous cous and fresh squeezed orange juice afek (please)! and it was totally delicious. but what was so fun, was that my server asked how my family was doing. it is such a neat part of the culture here. i am really getting into it for sure.
so, back to my walk. i haven't mentioned this much on here, but the dudes here can get a bit intense with their pursuit. today i had a guy that was in front of me, but following me almost at the same time. he was making sure that he knew where i was and making sure i was still walking along in his sphere. well, i didn't want to pass him cause i would rather see him ahead of me than not know what is going on behind (i have had this happen before). i even tried to stop and check a text message to let him pass, but it didn't work for long. he showed back up. finally he said something, which i wish would happen initially cause it helps the process go much more quickly. see, he tries to talk to me in French, i don't know French, so i don't respond and i don't even want to let a converstation begin. so, he tried a couple of times to get my attention, but i managed to turn to walk on the other side and he immediately got the idea and crossed the street! i wish that would have taken place like six blocks earlier! anyways. it is just interesting. so, after i got home from my nice walk about the city, i immediately ordered a ring that i plan to wear on my left ring finger. i really don't like the idea of wearing anything on that finger as i want to save it for that special purpose, but i feel it may help (some friends have adopted this strategy) with the guys here.
also, this afternoon on my walk it was interesting to watch how the city semi-closes down for Friday prayers and the sermon-esque. it is so quiet, yet ringing with the call and sermon-esque. i was kind of looking forward to the possible quiet in my walk, but i ended up with a buddy instead. oh well.
i got to practice a little bit of language, too. which was good.
i am so grateful for my language tutor. she is such a doll. she is really, really great. the day was good. a good lesson with her (you can see us together in the photo), an absolutely fabulous lunch, nice walk, and fun, fun, fun with some kiddos later on. we had a bit of a dance party and got some of it on video!! what an incredible opportunity our life is really, huh?

whew...

so, another week has passed and i am due for another update. well, this week has been filled with ups and downs, but all in all it has been incredible. last week i asked some friends to join me in the m'dina to practice language with nat'l folks. that didn't fully happen like i had envisioned, but it was an incredible day in which i got to use about as much of the little language i know. we walked a lot and got to experience several of the best amenities of being here. i have learned to celebrate what i would used to consider the small things in life here as major accomplishments. it makes life more fun this way and really helps me focus more on Why i am here. :)
so, the photo here of the iron-work was taken while in the m'dina. i hadn't seen it before and it was just so cool looking. sometimes i can't hardly believe that i am actually here. how incredible.

then this past weekend i got to hang out with some new friends. this gal to here i met at the lunch i was invited to. i love how social the folks are here. i went for lunch, yet stayed with them for almost 8 hours. we ate, ate some more, watched TV, strolled around their m'dina (they live in a neighboring city), and ate some more. i got to again try to exhaust my small vocabulary in conversation. one of the friends knows just a bit of english, so i wasn't totally out of the loop. body language and hand gestures go a long way for sure. it was such a pleasant afternoon/evening.
a bit of cultural fun: so, my friend got me from my place and took me to her house. she was wearing the local robe-style outfit and when the other two gals showed up, they were also wearing the robe-style cover-ups. they shed their robes and they were basically wearing pajamas/night gowns underneath. it is just so interesting. anyways, sometimes i felt a bit overdressed, but it wasn't a big deal. these photos with the gals are from this lovely afternoon/evening. the one with just me and one another gal is of the gal i met for the first time that afternoon. the one with me and two other ladies are the ladies that i met in a boutique in the m'dina. they are a lot of fun.

it was a great day for sure. their m'dina is actually a bit cheaper and is also pretty nice. my friends made sure i tasted some of the local goodies while strolling around.


so, onto more recently: i am learning more about relationships and how to grow, maintain and encourage them. it is interesting how i can get defeating thoughts in my mind and then i can just run down a treacherous path with them. thankfully with many thoughts and good friends, i have been able to grow and approach friendships more proactively now. amazing how important relationships are in life, huh?

i went into the m'dina (it is basically open-air market style with little shops and such, includes food, clothes, just about anything at usually a good price) to go check out backpack options as i am thinking of getting one. well, i was intercepted! i was found by one of my new friends--actually the one that i met for the first time over the weekend lunch and she insisted that i go and visit the other ladies at the boutique. so, my backpack search quickly ended and a new plan emerged. i hung out with them in the shop and then went to have soup with them. it was fun. i really appreciate them and their kindness.
also, i have a language helper now and this has been really great. i feel like i am learning more relevant words/phrases to use and communicate my situtation. i am learning so much everyday i feel like. my helper is so fun and quite cute. she is great at answering not only language questions, but cultural questions as well. what a joy.
then my last little thing: i had a really nice conversation with an older women in a garden i will sometimes go and do homework in. she was just so sweet. it just really blessed me. hmmm.
anyways, this is it. a longer than usual post, but that is what you get when i delay and delay. i hope you are having a good day and that you are learning new things, too. how refreshing:)

what a week!

so, this past week has been quite fun. i went to a dance recital of a friend that consisted of mostly ballet, jazz, and modern. it was a fun ladies' night out, too. we even rocked the Mac Doe drive thru for some late night snackage on the way home. above you can see our ladies' night group shot. it was a load of fun and the dancing was pretty good. the theme of the recital was PARIS.
oh la la:)
also, this past week i was so excited to meet up with a new friend, Ih. and to my suprise it was her birthday! i was honored to celebrate this special day with her. we started out at a cafe' with coffees and juice, then went to her favorite restaurant in the city--it was really, really good! i am really excited about this new friendship and can't wait to hang out with Ih more! we are supposed to get together again soon.
Ih brought her niece along, which was great. she is such a cute north African skater chick. real cutie! she spoke very good English, so she would help out in the gaps of conversation. it was a lot of fun to hang out with these ladies. so much joy:)
and i got to put one of my America's Test Kitchen recipes to the test this week! i made up Greek pita pizzas which was actually really great for here as we have so many of the ingredients on hand. yummy:)

so, this week has been fun. a bit of traveling, meeting with friends, cooking, hosting, and enjoying friends. learning so much still and enjoying this break from lang school. started with a lang helper this week as well--which is really exciting. yeah!

no return to sender here

so, today we are going to continue with the series of what life is like here even in the day to day happenings. i happened to be getting some stuff ready online for my email update and my roommate came in and said that i had a notice to pick up a package at the main post office! i was really excited as it came quite sooner than i had expected. i had been to the main post office downtown with my friend before, so i had an idea of what to expect. i immediately got my things together as the lunch hours (yes, hours:) were quickly approaching and i wouldn't be able to go by there that afternoon. as you can see above, my nice golden ticket and my passport in hand on the way to the post office. these are necessary to acquire a package. you can also see how excited i was enroute to the post office--i looked like a little kid on Christmas morning!

so, i got to the room/office where one picks up imported packages. it was quite busy, so i gave my ticket (yes, the golden ticket!) to the man my friend likes to call Santa Claus (cause he's the man with our packages). he said it would be a little while. there were probably six or seven people still waiting for their packages to come out from the back. so, i stood around for a while, then took a seat to wait for my package to arrive on the counter. i was unable to take a photo inside as that is illegal. so, i whipped up this quick artwork to illustrate what it was like. i knew ahead of time that the poste workers can and will open packages. it is interesting--sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. also the poste folks can even charge one to actually get their package (like if you have a lot of expensive things in there, they may charge a percentage). so, i realized that since there were so many people and they were opening everyone's boxes, that mine would most likely get opened as well. finally my box came out, along with several others and was opened. they briefly looked through it, but then wrote up something on my ticket and i just had to show my passport and sign off that i received the package and i was on my merry way! above you can see the illustration of the boxes sitting and open. this process alone took about an hour. i got back to my place and reopened (they are so nice and retape up your box for you) my first package! my mom did an incredible job of cramming as many goodies in the box as possible. i am really thankful and have been sharing some of the goodies i got. i am also enjoying my world map and fun little games. yeah mom!!
well, hope you enjoyed another look into the day to day excitement here:)