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.

june boom part 2

well, it is time for another post. i hope i am still keeping some of your interest with just some of the day in and day out stuff that goes on here. if you have any other ideas or if you have specific questions that you would like me to write about...please let me know! i would love to make this your blog, too. so, i am still trying to catch you up on the month of June. check out these fun times: we had gotten an email months ago about a fun day at a water park to the south of us and i decided to jump in on the fun. it was so fun as i think the adult count actually outnumbered the kids:) i was impressed with the park and how nice it was. i didn't take my camera in, so this is the only shot i have from the day, but it had a wave pool, a lazy river, several slides that you could ride down on either with a tube or without one. some of the rides were prety creative, so were loads of fun. one thing that suprised me as their policy of not being able to wear a tank over your swimsuit. they asked me to take it off before i would go down a slide, which was kind of weird as i haven't worn just a suit since i have been here. it was very interesting to see that our crew was in the minority wearing one-pieces or trying to wear a shirt or tank over two pieces. many of the local gals were sporting bikinis. it was kind of culture-shocking. some have asked if it was required for the guys to wear speedos...actually no it was not. there was one dude that was, but all the others had trunks on. a great day all around!

we decided to have a couple of local friends over for a southern lunch as a way to prepare these ladies for what the food will be like when they go to study in the States. both are going to the south, so we fried, mashed, and baked up a nice meal. i decided to make up some root beet so we could have root beer floats. it was so fun! we also had...

fried chicken, mac & cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and a homemade dumpcake. totally yummy! the girls loved it. oh, and the gals got to try cold, sweet tea. i think they liked it. it was funny to watch them drink it for the first time:) it was a great day full of good conversation and laughter. yeah!

later in the month i was so, so, so happy to get to meet up with a friend. we were roommates for a while back in the 'delphia. how cool!! i met her crew at the airport, which after i watched so many tear-filled reunions at arrivals, i just about teared up when i saw my lovely friend. i got to hang out with them that night and then i rode the train with them and just got off in my city. she was such a champ, too, bringing me a load of goodies from home, inlcuding my b-day gift from my mom, an iPod! i was so thankful!!

here is the whole crew at the beach. after they got settled at their hotel we all went down to the McDonald's on the beach and had dinner. then we walked along the beach to the big mosque. i had never seen the big mosque before at night. they were a great crew that really encouraged me. what a joy!!

as we approached the bog mosque one of the ladies asked if it was always busy like it was. another lady said it seemed like a carnival was going on. well, you can tell that it is summer here as the people stay in during midday (hottest part of the day) and then wait to go out and socialize, shop, and visit at night. this place was hoppin'. i had never seen it like this either. it was really interesting for sure.

well, i hope this post finds you and yours well. i think about you guys often and appreciate all the emails, phonecalls, and words of encouragement. love you!

june boom part I

hey there! i am almost caught up...how exciting! we had our weekly pow-wow canceled tonight due to a surge of sickness running through our crew here, so i had some unexpected time to get another post up. thanks so much for you truckin' along with me. it means a lot. totally.

it is so fun to be able to celebrate birthdays! this is one of the guys that is here studying for the summer. it was his birthday like the first week they got here. yeah! happy birthday T!

of course you have to get a food shot in this post. so, NAfricans totally have some great ideas when it comes to food. their love for seafood totally resonates with me and my dream burger became a reality in the Gambas burger found at our McDonald's here. oh yes. a patty made from shrimp...does it get any better than this? i am not sure. i also appreciated how i got basically a side-salad on top of the patty:) definitely a winner in my book.

i got to help out with our Int'l ch's version of VBS for a couple of Sundays. it was really fun to meet some new kids and hang out with those that i see more often. the organizers did a fantastic job. above the kiddos are working hard at making some crafts. the youth did a great job of volunteering, too. bravo!

so, local elections took place around here during June. thankfully they don't campaign years in advance, but just go super-hard for the week leading up to the elections. they are also really big on flyers here. so much so you can see the very sad waste from them. this was definitely the most i saw in one place, but this particular street is a pretty popular one and the supporters walk up and down the streets handing out their flyers and singing their songs. most of us younger folks here decided to pick out a campaigning group based on their logo. there are many groups (at least 10 or more in some places) here to choose from. i chose the group with the symbol of a tree--i thought it was only appropriate:)

i was told all these flyers were cleaned up over the course of the next two days after this photo was taken.

so, this was totally fun. i got an email about two weeks before this group of students were passing through. they had an 11 hour layover in our main airport city, so i went to meet them hoping we could go take in a site or two during their time here. well, they had to actually claim their bags, which limited our options in trying to go anywhere outside the airport, but as you can see i was still able to bust them out! so, i went up to the airline's office in the airport to see if there was a place to hold their luggage and turns out that there isn't such a place, but instead the airline gave us a free shuttle to a hotel, gave them two hotel rooms and they fed us lunch at the hotel...all for free! it was really exciting. i got a lot of language practice in that day. we ventured across the street from their hotel (which was kind of out in the middle of not much) and grabbed some of the fabulous ice cream bars here and we also went up to the cafe' so they could grab a glass of hot mint tea (a staple). it was a lot of fun to meet these new friends and get to help them out, too. they made it to their final destination for the summer, so exciting!

know that if you ever have a layover here, i would love to meet up:)

vacay to France

greetings friends and family! i hope this July 4th weekend is treating you well. i am excited to report that little by little i will finally get caught up on my blog posting. you can always find more pictures of my adventures on facebook. but if you want to hear more stories and such, than i hope you don't mind me lagging a bit in keeping the blog updated. this edition gives you glimpse into my vacation to France. i went back in May, the last week actually. it was a great time to spend with some really incredible friends there. also, i loved getting to wear shorts! ha:) i hope that you are well and i look forward to hearing from you soon. so, my first day was full of sun! my friend had to take like her french final exam, so i went with her to where the school is and found out there was a fabulous park that was behind the school. it even included a rose garden--of course! :) so, i spent the morning walking around the park. i even took my sandals off to feel the grass under my feet. it was amazing. it offered great views of the Alps! it honestly just felt great to not have anyone staring at me. i did have a guy follow me around for a minute, but just walked back to where more people were. then later i enjoyed some good sunshine with an impromptu layout session. it was great.
later that night we totally grilled out and had hotdogs and sausages--totally yummy! i also got to do henna with the girls. it was just so great to be with this incredible family.the next day we went out to dinner to celebrate my friend and their friend finishing their french studies! we went to this totally american joint. it was hilarious. i had a rack of ribs and onion rings. oh yes. i am seeing it now on my hips, but it sure was good! :) the whole place had this saloon-type vibe to it. and instead of burger king crowns, we got fun paper headresses to wear!

the next day we took a trip to a city closeby. we picnicked there. we were sitting right off of this amazing lake that happens to be the longest lake in france--pretty cool, huh? it was a great day for sure...

later we drove to a chateau. it was first built in the 13th century and continued to be built upon over the centuries. Saint Bernard de Menthon (1008-1081), founder of the hospices which bear his name and widely known for his famous rescue dogs, who was born in the castle, is patron of the mountain dwellers, climbers, skiers, and Alpine Troops. it was totally cool as the tour is actually this little theater production. the tour guides act out a story to give the history. it was all in french, but i got this handy guide to help explain everything and of course my now-french-speaking friends filled me in:) my friends said that it was one of the best chateaus they have visited cause it was outfitted with relics from the family.

WOW!! it was so surreal. totally amazing and really beautiful!

welcome to my new pad! hahaha

later, we rented a boat to go out on the lake. wow, another amazingly, refreshing adventure. can you tell i was having a sorta good time?

cap'n megan and my firstmates:)


and then to top off the day in this amazing neighboring city...we found a SUBWAY! seriously folks, this was my most favorite visa run yet! wow!

i really like this shot. just really fun. i hope you enjoyed this update. next time you want to go to France, you let me know.

May days

well, hello there! i know i am still trying to catch up, but this update is jam-packed full of fun photos and great stories. a lot happened in May for sure. i honestly can't believe it has passed already. time sure is flying. so, here you can see my attempt to be creative for my students at the flight attendant school where i am teaching English. many of my students have never even been to an airport, let alone on an airplane, so i realized as were were going over some sentences that many of my students didn't even understand what a boarding looks like or what information is actually on them. so, i found a template online, got the right kind of paper just down the street and whipped up these babies. i even let their destination be what they wrote on our first day of class together as what their dream destination is. many of them were over-joyed. it was a fun day and i look forward to using them more in class.

May came with a set of friends coming in from AR. i was so happy to welcome mary and rachel to my part of the world these days. they made it here with all their luggage and totally brought us so many goodies! thanks to all those that helped provide for me and the other students here. it was like Christmas with all the yummy food, candy, and fun stuff. thanks guys!

the first weekend the girls were here, we traveled to one of the imperial cities. the King is actually living there at the moment, so all the fountains were running and the place was all spiffed up, too! the ladies were very happy to travel and see a new place. check out the size of the door-knocker to this palace!

here's a shot from a roof-top cafe' we stopped at to grab a drink. we really hit the timing right as it wasn't too hot at all. we got to look around much of the new city and the old city. this city just celebrated its 1200 year anniversary and also holds the oldest university on the African continent. lots of amazing history and stories for sure.

this is also the spiritual capitol of our country and offers many leather goods. mary got a great deal on a really sweet leather bag! she stuck to her price and the dealer slashed his initial price by close to 50%--wow!

here you can see my local friend teaching rachel and mary how to make mint tea. rachel was extra excited as she fell in love with the stuff while she was here!

i was so happy to have mary and rachel come to the school in which i teach to provide some practice time for my students to have speaking English. it went over really well and i think the girls learned a lot about the culture here. it was a win/win for sure! they got all their phones out to take photos with their new American friends:)

so, finally came the Alicia Keys concert! we stood in the free section, which really wasn't too far away. it was a great show, but we stood for like 3+ hours. it was fun. you can see Alicia there onstage in the white top.

so the girls' last weekend here was quite the finale' as we went to the concert, went surfing and had a great meal out with friends. i am a lot shorter in my words than i had planned as my blogger thing is being totally high maintenance. so, i am having to try and keep my patience in the midst of typing, uploading photos, and keeping a somewhat clean layout.

surfing northern Africa! i was so happy to even have this chance to go as i have been wanting to for a year now. i was even more excited that i even got up more than once! thankfully one of my friend's husband was on the beach taking photos. i had a blast and can't wait to go again this summer. i could get into it totally. so, come on over here and hang loose with me!