check out the entrance to our new place. i love all the greenery and the complex itself is just nice. it seems like a relatively new building and ended up being literally just a few blocks down from our old place.
one week i got a call from my school asking if i could come in to work extra as they were recruiting for one of our partner airlines. i said sure since it would give me a good idea of what my students go through during the interview/screening process. it was eye-opening to say the least. we were recruiting for Air Emirates and i guess they are like the best airline with a good reputation. first i spent the afternoon calling applicants to do like a pre-screening Eng test over the phone. it tested my Arabic skills for sure and was interesting to learn better phone etiquette. so, after deciding if the applicant's Eng skills were good enough i would either invite or no invite them to the screening/interview stage that would be held at our school. the picture above shows what the room would look like for the first round of the screening process. applicants wore numbers and would come into the room and sit down. they then had to stand up and introduce themselves one by one. this was all done in Eng. the panel would have the list of applicants as shown on the desk above to take notes about their appearance, their Eng level, experience, etc. i felt like i was on American Idol! it was very interesting to say the least. we say loads and loads of applicants...at least a couple hundred over the three days of screening.
then if the applicant made it to the second round they would come back in and would be put into groups to discuss a topic we would give them...again all was in English. from that stage, they went on to take an Eng exam and had a writing test. from there they were widdled down to then do a one-on-one interview. from there, applicants were either asked to go onto Air Emirates' screening down in another city or would be asked to apply again another time.
i was amazed at how much the applicants' looks had a factor in the process. it was hard to see good Eng speakers excused from the process because the didn't have "the look/profile" while seeing those with "the look/profile" advance without great English. i guess i was a lot like the Paula of our panel.
i have to say it really helped me though in figuring out how i could help my students learn better and more of what they needed to know.
so, the picture above is one shot of the city i live in and the city across the river. this pic was taken from our new roof! it has an incredible view to say the least. you can see all over the city and it is just breath-taking. we also hang our laundry out up there, which has been nice for it to dry quickly with full-on sun, but when it rains, there is no cover for the clothes.
in the midst of the move i had a friend come to visit! we managed to see the sites of the city and just enjoyed sharing about our experiences in the Arab world. she is also an Eng teacher, so that was great to talk about as well. she was such a trooper to even help us pack up and move from our old place to the new one!
we ended up doing a majority of our packing the night before the move, which worked since we got it all down and had a huge truck to move everything the next day. fun, fun, fun!
check out my new room and below is a pic of our salon in process. of course, now we are all settled in pretty well to the new place. it is really nice with three bedrooms and two baths. our kitchen is pretty sweet with loads of storage space as well! it has been an interesting transition for sure with a new roommate and then also just being a few blocks from the old place. even though it is close, it is like a whole other world since we have all new people to meet and interact with on a daily basis.
a friend, A, and i went fabric shopping in the city across the river (since it is loads cheaper at times) and i wasn't planning to buy fabric to have a jellaba made but i found this blue/green fabric and fell in love! so, i had one made. i had picked up our jellabas from the tailor and when my friend came back in town she was able to pick them up. we of course had to get a photo-shoot in with one of our local friends!
later we were invited to a wedding by our local friend and somehow i got deemed to be the make-up artist. i had fun and laughed cause i know some of you back home would be suprised!
A and i at the wedding. we ended up getting there hours early so we could get a ride from the family whose son was getting married. we passed the time by taking loads of photos and talking around the table. it was a really nice wedding for sure!
not too long after we arrived we began to get antsy just sitting there, so we went outside to check out what was going on out there. group shot of the ladies!
at about 11pm the bride showed up! this grand entrance is very traditional and loads of fun to watch as the men carrying her have like this whole routine they do in bringing her in. she just holds on and waves to all the folks in the room! turns out the RSVPs didn't total out and they were having to add chairs all over the place. it was a par-tay!
the bride and groom! they looked so happy! they were sorta young, with her being maybe 19 and he was like 23. it was fun to watch them though. sweet!
no wedding is complete without dancing!! S and i enjoyed dancing the night away on the dance floor for sure!
one day i went to my lang school and was stoked to find my teacher wearing his AR shirt! i had to grab a photo with him wearing it since, i hadn't gotten a chance to before. go Arkansas!
and of course our trick or treating tradition continued this year. i was the karate kid! we visited four homes and was able to hand out candy from the lovely jack-o-lantern (thanks Hannah and Christina!) it was a lot of fun for sure!
in preparation for our desert trip us girls got all dolled up in sahara-style head scarves. oh, and meet my new roomie in the middle: Christy! we were getting a bit silly at this point with it being close to midnight and we were still packing to leave the next day for our desert trip.
thanks to Lisa for the fannypacks that we were able to wear on our trip down south. turns out that we weren't meant to go to the desert that weekend with loads of sickness going around. stayed tuned as we did eventually make it!
above and below are pics from our fannypack fotoshoot. Lisa offered us the opp to be in her Fannypack Calendar, so we had fun getting some shots! both were taken from our roof.
we made it back to their house and decided to check out these building sets i brought for the boys. i learned that there were actually instructions well into my assembly and had to backtrack a bit. they were great helpers!
then we took another walk around their 'hood to their local park. there were so many parks in this city. it was incredible! such great views everywhere, too!!
the next day we went to their househelper's home for some couscous. it was really yummy and such a treat to be guests in her family's home. the Samsonator loved the chickens and had to restrain from playing with them (hence the hands behind his back) as he had been found before out in the chicken's coop. it was cute.
the family's home was just outside the city and was perched at the base of this nice hill/mount. we went exploring and roamed around their hill/mount to catch some pretty incredible views! later we found a turtle. the boys loved it!
then we took the scenic drive back to their home, which was crazy cause the inclines and delcines were intense. they have this sweet 4x4, too. it was totally fun! check out the beautiful pic below. my friends said it reminded them a lot of Hawaii. cool!
here is a shot of the whole rock and the city. it was so beautiful and just a lot of fun to explore a different part of the country. i was so stoked to find tortillas here! i bought loads of them:)
my friend is a nurse and helps with clinics out in the countryside, so i got to join her one day. we woke up before dawn and enjoyed a fabulous drive out into the countryside. the drive was about 4 hours to get to the clinic where we met other nurses and then the drive continued further into the countryside...
the views were outstanding along the way! it was such a joy to be able to take in all these gorgeous views. wow.
in the pic above you can see some lines cut into the mountainside...that was the road we came in on to the depths of the countryside. it was totally fun to be 4x4in' it! i taught the local folks how to say yee-haw! i think it was another hour/hour and a half to the actual village in which we worked. so, overall...about 5 or 5 1/2 hours one way. road trip fun!
i was put to work doing whatever i could to help. i worked as a pharmacist putting pills into baggies to hand out, worked the powerpoint that the women watched while waiting, took the ladies' height and weight before being seen, etc. it was a great experience! i loved being able to be there with my friend and meeting some really incredible women.
above is the waiting room. it was busy to say the least. there were local doctors and nurses that were giving immunizations and then our crew was giving ultrasounds to women that were pregnant. it was quite a full day!
we got a tea and snack break up on top of the clinic. here is my friend and i posing with the mountains in the background. beautiful! the second tallest mountain in the country is there behind us. i was so grateful to have this special time with my friend and to be able to see her work! 
I was so excited when I found out a friend and her husband would be around for a visit. I had gone to see them a couple times in France, so was soo excited to have them in the place in which I live. we definitely took in as much as we could for the short time they were here. loads of shopping and eating fun. they were so excited to grub down at the American chain places we have here. wahoo! R and I above taking it all in downtown!
then it was like a mini-reunion later. it was sooo great to see sweet friends and get to be all together. really. and what better place to meet up than Roman ruins?
by September Ramadan was in full gear. I had the privilege to go visit a friend and learn how to make one of my favorites eats here: breeuwats. no, it isn't close to bratwurst, but it sure does taste good! it is kind of like an Arab version of egg rolls. above is my friend and I with all the goodies.
above here is the assembly line: thin, thin dough cut into strips, cooked chicken and crushed almonds and an egg wash. so, you take the chicken and almond mixture and put it toward one end of the strip. then you simply wrap up the mix in the thin dough to make a triangle. if there is need for the egg wash to help secure the end, then paste it together with the egg wash. then you bake or deep fry and enjoy!! they are sooo yummy!
there is a tramway being built throughout the city and it has caused many headaches in traffic jams. the buses seem to be rerouted regularly, so it keeps folks on their toes. this from our balcony on any average morning or afternoon. imagine the horns blarring that come along with a photo like this!
I met up with a friend at McDonald's one afternoon to plan for our weekly high school youth meeting time. first, we chose to meet at McD's as all other cafe's were closed due to Ramadan. well, this particular day also happened to be a special day during Ramadan--the Night of Power. so, McD's provided a great show with a French-speaking Ronald! there was all kinds of fun music and cool activities for the kiddos.
then later in the evening we went to a nearby mosque to check out the scene. lots of families go out and kids get sweets, wear fun clothes, and have their pictures taken. above this family was trying to keep this little guy upright for the photo. it was too cute!
as I mentioned above, I am helping out with a youth group here and it has been fun. we got to do a service project of stuffing over 300 backpacks with pens and notebooks to later be handed out to kids. they were super fast at packing the bags and turned into a race against time. fun!
a day at the beach. i was excited to get to be with my friend, Ai, at the beach some this summer. she is always a blast and is definitely the friend that I have known the longest since I ame here over a year and a half ago. I can't believe how quickly the time as rolled by! wow! it was fun this day at the beach as her sister came, too. I was excited to have time with both of them!
later we all went to this interesting place along the coast. it was like old volcanic rock all around and these plastic chair and table cafe's. quite funny. I was even more suprised to find that it also doubled as a hookah outlet. the sister smoked it, which was interesting to me and the whole afternoon was full of some new experiences. fun! above is our group of ladies with FZ on the hookah!
it is always fun to have visitors and take them around the city. it was great to have a crew up from the metro capital for a few days. i think we were definitely saying CHEESE! nice grills, huh?
I also love going to this fun rooftop cafe' in the old city. at night it allows for super-great people watching. this is a hot night in the market. sellers and buyers all looking to give or get a good deal. these sellers have their wares on tarps to allow themselves to be mobile. oftentimes police will show up to bust up the illegal selling. it can be like a game of cat and mouse.
for one young guy's birthday he opted for his activity to be paintball!! yes, we played paintball in northern Africa! it was so much fun. I only played once in the States, so I was totally a novice among some seasoned pros. I loved this course as it was compact with loads of places to hide. we had a blast! above is me going in for the kill. ha!
once again we enjoyed our All Out Eat Out in preparation for Ramadan. for a week we ate one meal out at a favorite place around town. meals ranged from couscous to burgers to sushi. it was yummy and I gave it two thumbs up!
thankfully this summer wasn't devestatingly hot, but it was still rather warm. the days were (and still are) full of sunshine. this is by far one of my favorite views around the city. i love this river-walk area looking over to the old, old city. the boats really helped make this day's shot even better. over the far left you can see the edge of a carnival! yes, it came back, but in a new location! 
I kept going on and on about the carnival to my friends until we finally went. it was a blast of course! we rode all the adult rides. I love the night lights!
we have a new pottery shop that has opened up in the old city. I love going in there because I find something new everytime. I really like this plate. the colors and the design are so fabulous. incredible!
then came my birthday! I was house-sitting for some friends, so I woke up to make some yummy muffins and enjoyed them out on there nice patio. I also was so happy to open up cherished cards and gifts from family and friends. thanks so much for helping make my day so special! what was my activity of choice for my birthday you ask? well, check it out...
since there were loads of birthdays during the summer and lots of cake, I opted for brownies. yummy! happy birthday to mio! it was such a neat day to be with friends. yeah!
