my first breaking of the fast in NA

so, i had the absolute privilege of breaking the fast the first night of Ramadan. i was super stoked about this and the idea that my friend wanted me to be with her family. it was great. here family had just recently moved to a new area that has grown tremendously in the last few years. it was interesting. i had decided to fast as well to get the full experience and learn what and why they do what they do. below are shots from the roof. we watched some men lay down mats to offer a makeshift mosque for men (and women) to come and pray close to home. there wasn't a mosque built yet, but i am guessing this may be the location for the planning of one. they had speakers as well to broadcast the call. while on the roof we also took a few photos of me, my friend, and her sis. it was an incredible view for sure. many of these apartment buildings you see in the photo with the makeshift mosque. i also got to practice language a lot as my friend knows just some English. i was also really excited about the fact that my friend even let me help prepare some of the food. normally you are commanded to sit in the salon (living room) while they prepare the food and all. so, we waited until the early evening call (and the TV) to signal that it was time to break the fast. you can see on the table the assortment of foods that are prepared and eaten for the ftur (as they call it here). there are staple foods for this occasion that are served every single night of Ramadan. those being: dates, harira (tomato based soup that is really, really good), shebakia (a really sweet candy almost), boiled eggs, rif (flat dough which can be filled with sauteed veggies and fat--yes f-a-t) these triangle things that can be sweet or salty (and are amazing!), milk, coffee, and tea. some of the other things here vary from house to house. it was really incredible and interesting of course. we watched TV while eating and not a lot of talking happened, but we did comment on how good the food was and all. after this meal we went and walked about the neighborhood for like two hours! just trying to help that food digest. it was incredible though as the streets came alive! see, a lot of places are closed during the day--especially cafe's and such, so the folks are itching to get out and socialize.
some families literally switch from day to night. they will still eat their dinner (which is normally served at 10pm or so), but just a bit later, like at midnight or 1am. then get up before the early morning call to prayer for a morning meal. then maybe sleep late as they have been up later and up again for that breakfast meal. then, other families may not do all three meals. i got exhausted after the ftur and walking about that i asked if i could sleep a bit before the next meal. i ended up not waking up for the midnight/1am tagine (traditional dish) dinner, but was woken up for the 4am tagine (again traditional dish) leftovers. then went back to sleep for a bit before i had to leave for school. i stayed at her family's house. really, it was an incredible experience. i am very grateful! stay posted for more ftur updates!

birthday part deux

so, here's the follow up to the exciting b-day here in NA. we had dessert a plenty for sure! i was so blown away that my dear local friend made me lemon tart cake and some traditional cookies. she really went above and beyond (you'll realize even more when you see what else she made below! i also received some neat gifts, a card from my da bomb mom on the b-day, and these little girls in our building came and sang happy birthday to me in English and gave me this sweet note with flowers:)














so, here is the amazing creation my dearest local friend made for me for my birthday! can you believe it? i absolutely love it and love her!


i was honored for sure and wasn't expecting anything like this, but He is faithful:)

just so you know that i am eating well:)

here's a glimpse of some recent delights...

my roomie made this great smoothie creation...mmm good! i also got to make a delicious turkey, cheese, lettuce, and tomato wrap. also made up this cucumber/tomato salad to go with it! just love the area veggie guys:)

sipping on some mint tea at the best place for tea in town, and a round of choc chip pancakes for brunch one day.

you know one of my love languages is food, so i just wanted to share these photos with you all!

we're gonna party 'cause it's another birthday...

so, the fun began with a trip down south on the Saturday before my birthday for a nice lunch, the caesar salad pictured here. it was really delicious and the view was great as it was right on the beach. and then we got to head to the par-tay. blowing out the candles was really fun for sure; i am glad they did that for me. it really makes a difference in the whole birthday celebration.


then i was so excited when i recieved this birthday card from my mom--on my birthday! what great timing:)
later that day i met up with my amazing lang helper and dear friend to receive some gifts she had prepared. she made this super delicious lemon tart/cake, some local cookies that i really like and this amazing needlepoint creation (that is pictured in an upcoming post)! i was overwhelmed with delight and felt very loved. i hardly knew how to respond. it was really special. then later we dug into some incredible mexican food. mmm good. my roomie even put out the fancy red chile table cloth for the fiesta!

oh so lovely really

i have been trying to get the time to sit down and write up a past experience and then i had another great experience recently to get me to finally put now both of them here on the blog.
sadly no photos, but it wasn't quite a photographic evening or day for these events. really it was just life.
i decided to meet up with a couple of girlfriends from here at a cafe'. i was excited cause they don't speak any English, and we usually have another friend with us that speaks some English with us, but she is travelling now. so, i was happy to really practice my Arabic. and since i hadn't seen them in a while i was hoping that they would be excited to hear what i have learned. so, they indeed were happy to hear me speaking more and that i could understand them so much more. it was a great time. so, we met for coffee/juice and while we were there a protest group came by. this isn't too unusual here these days, but it was interesting to watch my friends respond to it. that was a neat learning experience. then, we decided to walk down the souqa (market/old part of the city). we grabbed some soft serve cones on the way in and entered the souqa during its busiest time. vendors, families, couples, food, clothes, everything--everywhere. it was fun to be with them, be in the souqa at that time of day (i don't go there at night hardly at all) and have them as chaperons:) so, we made it through a long street with the slow, slow moving of folks to then turn down another lane and right when we did we were in for a suprise (or i was). babush! basically escargot (or snails) in this mobile stock pot. this man has a cart that has a hole cut into it large enough to set a huge stock pot down in there. below the stock pot is a gas flame burner thing and attached to that is the buta gas tank. this cart isn't level and is covered with a layer of plastic to help keep it clean. turns out you can get a small bowl of the rue to sip on (which was amazingly good and suprisingly spicy) and then you can also get the snails themselves. you get shell and all. and just for those of you that have been around me when i eat shrimp--no, i didn't eat the snail shell!:)
but the way you eat these littel guys was quite an experience. there is a lemon that sits on this cart that bent safety pins are stuck into. i guess the lemon sanitizes the pins after each person uses them maybe? well, you grab your pin and you scrape out the snail and then you eat it off the pin. it was delicious! it was fun. i think the ladies enjoyed watching me drink the rue and eat the snails. they liked it of course.
then, we moved on from there to get fried (said with a deep southern accent) fish sandwiches. there was this sweet older woman frying away and then her maybe son was putting the sandwiches together. it was neat and all of our food was so cheap for the whole night! like under 5 bucks for all of that.
so, then we made it out of the souqa and came upon the carnival! i was the gal that got to ride the rides with each of them:) i am very thankful for what i think may be a strong stomach. it was a blast and definitely great practice for lang and more opportunity for us to get to know each other. and i had no idea any of that was going to happen. all i knew initially was that we were going to meet up at the cafe'.

onto another exciting adventure...
i went to the souqa to do more shopping for family and friends and had heard that there was a place that had a poster that i am looking for. turns out it was supposed to be at this shop that i have been to several times and the gal that runs it knows me and my roommate. she invited me into the shop to have tea. so cool! i mean it is just so neat to be invited in for tea in a matter of minutes. this was a big test and practice time for language as she also doesn't know much English. which was great really. but we talked for a while--couple of hours! it was fun. i learned about her family and got to tell her about mine. we even talked through some somewhat deep issues, too. just amazing. and then i got an invite over for some couscous! sweet!

all around a neat last week or so. very thankful indeed.