i mean seriously

guys,

i am just about to burst with joy. i was just looking through some old photos from the States and am realizing how thankful i really am. i have had so many unique and incredible opportunities in my lifetime thus far. and now i am studying in northern Africa. does it get any better than this, really? i just had to blow that horn a minutes, cause this past weekend marked my 4 month anniversary of being here and i couldn't be more delighted. i have a wonderful roommate, an incredible classmate and teachers, fabulous friends here and back home (and in other parts of the world for that matter). i mean seriously. what a joy it is to be here now and i am just so in awe and am thankful for every minute of it (or at least try to be thankful for every minute of it:).

so, onto some updates:

a few weeks ago i had the privilege to attend the local carnival with some fellow lang students, but this past weekend i ended up going with some of my NA lady friends.

it was a way fun two nights at the carnival. it was fun to be with my NA friends to let loose a bit and have fun on some rides.

so, then it was onto a bit of a vacay down south. we had a flat tire on the way to our vacay spot (along with a bad spare) which extended our drive there to an 11 hour trip that could have been almost half that amount of time. it allowed for a lot of laughs and of course a great learning experience! the photo to the right is from minutes after we arrived and were oh so happy to finally be there!

i was super stoked about the beach and enjoyed every minute of being there. i got to boogie tube, build a couple of sand creations, get plenty of sun, take many walks on the beach and just relax with friends. fabulous really.

one day we travelled into a nearby town for a day trip around the medina and some killer seafood. it was fresh and grilled to order. a-mazing! then, of course we had this great photo with the camel crossing when leaving our place to head home for the 6 hour return trip. it was a great, great time and i look forward to visiting there again. let me know if you want to come with next time:)

well, i have more to share, but will keep you in suspense until the next post. thanks again for reading and thinking of me! i really appreciate you:) much, much love.

august rush

howdy, howdy, howdy! so, it is officially local peach season here which is dynamite! i had a hankering for a fruit salad the other day and had a great mixture of bananas and peaches. mmm good. the other photo was taken while in the largest city here in the country. we were trying to find our way somewhere in town and happened upon this total mob of people. it isn't pictured completely well here, but beyond the red taxis there you can see the total mob of people. it was kind of overwhelming. then we went to go get some food from a huge supermarket and there were people everywhere--it was so crowded there, too. it can be overwhelming to even the most extroverted extrovert. :)

then we got to our friends' house for a get together. i was in charge of making up these trays of sliced meats and tomato, cheese, and lettuce. my dad taught me well: "presentation is everything". i really, really enjoyed getting to use my gifts at this get together. sometimes it just feels good to be a part of something and help make a get together special. the next photo is of my most recent package! thanks so much to my family up north! you guys totally made me smile and i am really grateful for the gifts sent. i really appreciate all your encouragement through packages, emails, and phone calls. it truly means so much to me. more soon!

some odds and ends

just a bit ago i had the privilege, if you will of eating one of the finest delicacies of this place: pastilla. it is layers of shredded chicken, phyllo dough, and crushed almonds and topped off with powdered sugar. this is a labor intensive meal and served a lot of times at weddings. we ordered this one from a pastry shop. it was delicious!

this rig sitting outside of our place has been such a surprise! it is a toyota little landcruiser that visits the mechanic across the way every now and again. it is just shocking to see this animal as a sitcker on the side of a sweet rig such as this. the only thing i can think of is that it is maybe a hunting rig.
another exciting event here recently has been the discovery of this incredible juice joint! i tried it the first time with a large group of friends, then went back with just one friend to get some juice concoctions to-go! amazing, really.

this combo had strawberries, plums, bananas, cranberries, and mango. mmmm good for sure and TO-GO, which is kind of an oddity here folks. :)

life is good. still learning new things each and every day. thankful for that for sure!

wedding in NA

so, recently i had the great opportunity to attend a wedding party with a local friend. i was so excited to be able to wear my caftan (one of the traditional dresses here). it was quite a wild ride and i am thankful for every minute of the party. i met my friend at her work at 8pm to then go to her house to get ready for the party. we didn't arrive to the party until just after 10pm and the groom and bride didn't even show up til just after midnight! we were fed many sweets, two tajines (one chicken and one beef), fruit, tea, cookies, and soup over the course of the evening. the party lasted until 7am the next morning!

the groom came into the reception hall on horseback and the bride came into the hall after him in a horse drawn carriage--it was quite the entrance for sure. my friend knew the guys that worked the horses, so we got to get photos with the house. it was pretty cool. there was lots of music over the course of the evening and i definitely took advantage:) i will post a video that has some footage of some of the bigger happenings.

this is probably the best shot of my entire caftan. i bought it off the rack, which isn't super traditional, but i have gotten a lot of compliments. i hope to have my tiksheta (the other traditional dress) made just for me. also, another cultural tidbit is that normally the caftans and tikashat (plural of tiksheta) are worn very, very long. this is i think to express one's wealth in being able to afford extra fabric, but nowadays it has become a true style as many women will rent their caftan or tiksheta for the evening. mine isn't as long as it could be, but last time i borrowed one it was way long and i was really sidetracked with trying not to fall that i felt like i wasn't having a fully great time. i decided to get mine a little short so i could be free to move about and such.




toward the end of the party, i was able to get a photo with the bride, groom, and my friend. this was i think the sixth or seventh dress that the bride wore the evening. she changed in between every course of food that was served. she had many beautiful ones over the course of the evening. the last dress is the Euro/American style wedding dress. she even came down the stairs to the wedding march--and of course in great NA fashion, "My Heart Will Go On" was playing:)

it was quite a fun cultural experience and i am so grateful to have had the opportunity to go!

baby shower NA style

so, i was fortunate enough to help host a baby shower for a friend here. in getting ready for the shower it was fun trying to explain our baby shower to my local friends, who are a people that celebrate the baby after he/she is born.

the happy couple is getting ready to head back to the States and have decided to do their baby room up north African style--how cool!
so, we tried to make the shower all decorated NA style.

we had some delicious punch and many other tasty drinks.
we also had many sweet little shower foods. the tortilla roll-ups were a hot item for sure! we had two cakes, veggies, a snack mix, and a nice jello dessert--lots of tasty foods for sure!

i finally got my stamps in the mail and was able to stamp up these goodie bags for the winners of our shower games. it was a lot of fun. i also stamped the happy momma some thank you cards for her gift--i did half saying thank you and the other half saying merci.

as part of the decor we hung these cute NA outfits. they are having a girl, so these outfits doubled as decor and gifts for the baby!
we had a good group of ladies come and join us. it was really a lot of fun. this is momma's first baby, so it was a special time to share with her--her first baby shower ever!

it is so fun to be able to celebrate provisions and people. very grateful for sure!