viva Madrid!

well, another fun trip was had and this time the destination was Madrid! i was excited to get the opportunity to go and visit this city. i had heard great things about it and now join them in raving about the city. it was a super easy city to navigate (for the most part:) and it had loads of great stores, eats, and options for things to do. i would give it two thumbs up for sure. we flew in and made it to our hotel in the late afternoon, which gave us some time the first night to scope things out. our hotel was right in the heart of the city, so it served us well. below you can see the puerta del sol plaza at night. there was a lot of construction going on in the plaza, so it wasn't picture perfect, but was neat to see. it was great to be out at night and honestly not feel like a total outsider. there were loads of tourists in the area in which we stayed, so it was kind of normal feeling. it was funny, too, as i actually changed at the airport to maximize my summer wardrobe time in Madrid. we dined out at the fabulous Burger King the first night and i honestly found myself taken a bit off guard when i was reading the menu on the board to order and on the drink list found the option: cerveza. it made me laugh.

the next morning we found the Dunkin' Donuts (after i had taken us the wrong way) and i was sooooo pleased! it was absolutely fabulous. the coffee was great, the donuts were greater. yummy!


after breakfast we decided to do a bit of shopping since we were so close to a nice shopping area. i was happy to visit the H&M and found some sweet deals for a Euro--a pair of shoes, a scarf, and a wallet! i am all about summer sales! :) then we decided to trek out to the Madrid zoo. it was funny as we didn't really pay attention while we were on the metro and found out the hard way that the line was under construction. we finally made it to the stop we needed and then were a little confused on how to get to the zoo. the map portrayed the zoo as being quite a bit away from the metro stop, so we assumed we needed to take a bus. well, little did we know that it was totally walkable from the stop. thankfully this family started walking through this forest of sorts and we followed their lead. above ground at the metro stop we got this great view of the skyline...

so, no visit to a zoo/acquarium is complete without a visit to the dolphin show, right?! it was totally fun and we laughed after hearing the first song come on...it was Micheal Jackson...all of the show was done to Micheal Jackson songs. it was quite amusing. the dolphins rocked!

their acquarium was quite fun. it was definitely packed out and you heard Nemo references all over the place:) i was happy to find this home of shrimps!

there were sharks, turtles, fish, everything! it was great and loads of fun. i enjoyed watching the kiddos, too.

we made it back outside and found the bears awake. they had been napping when we passed by the first time. they were hungry for a snack, and sadly folks did not listen to the signs and proceeded to throw snacks to them. bummer.
later we went to eat at Tony Roma's. when we went inside to try and get a table we were told that there was a problem and to come back in 20 minutes or an hour. we found the wait time options to be funny and decided to check out the Starbucks just down the way. i had my cafe' au lait on ice! delicious!

the adventure ended with one last run to Dunkin' Donuts. on my way there I looked up and saw this bear statue in the Puerta del Sol plaza. i had seen this image all over the city and wondered where it actually was. i was so happy to find in my last hour or so in the city! this seems to be the Madrid symbol.

this window display belonged to a dance studio right across the street from our hotel. i thought it was a fun display and captured some cultural dress. it was a very great trip and so nice. hope your travels take you to new and exciting places!

end of July into August

all right! another update and another couple of adventures to document! i am still trying to catch up, so you have to just keep your eyes open for new updates. at the end of July i got to go down south with some friends that are also studying here. it was a really fun trip, but full of suprises and new experiences (of course, right?). so, i hope you enjoy this update and this finds you and yours doing well:)

after some excitement even getting down south to this city that should be about eight hours away max, we found ourselves taking the 'long road'. after just less than two hours into the trip one of the cars died out (thankfully at a rest stop vs. actually on the auto-route). so, we had to reorganize and borrow another car to make the trip. a few of us ladies hopped on a train and thought we would have to take a bus the rest of the way. well, thankfully we had some kind folks come to pick us up from the train station and drive us back. it was funny how we even met back up with our original caravan. oh, the adventures. we were all happy to finally get there and be together.

so, after the first day of hanging out we decided to take a night trip to the beach. it was pretty sweet as they had these football stadium lights on the beach to allow people to see out in the water. i had never swam in the ocean at night. another new thing for me was how the warm the water was at this beach. it was like bath water! and the waves were super calm. it was an interesting beach experience for sure. but it turned out to be the only time i actually got in the water at this beach. above is some of us gals on the way back from our exciting beach venture.
so, you guys know how much i like to post about food...here is what i had for breakfast a few times while down there. it is called harsha and is sorta like cornbread. i like it a bit on the sweeter side and with their version of cream cheese in the middle. it is super yummy. i really want to learn how to make it before i leave. and of course you have to have a nice glass of fresh squeezed OJ to go along with it! yummy!

i also love to shop along with eat, so this trip wasn't complete without some trips to the markets in town. i got to take some friends visiting to this area of town that had several stores to pick from. this city had an interesting feel since the old city was detroyed in an earthquake, so there is no longer an 'old city'. many of the buildings were built in the last 40 or so years. we found this outfit pictured above and of course we got to try it on. i had never seen anything like this up by where i live, so it was intrguing to me. two of the ladies i was with actually bought one for each of themselves! i never got an actual name of the outfit, but little did we know that they were all the rage around town. i liked this pic a lot cause you can also see the shopkeeper in the back. he was a really nice guy and not too pushy:) i only bought a sweet t-shirt from him. our shopping trip ended with the power going out all over the area of town we were in. that was the beginning of our power outage adventure. thankfully it wasn't too late, so we made it back up to the street to catch out ride. i say that this was just the beginning because the week was full of power outages as the temperatures soared into the 110s and 120s. i guess the power grid couldn't meet the demands of the city.

one afternoon we decided to set out for ice cream. as we were trying to find this certain place we passed this round-point. i loved that they were installing fake grass! it makes sense in a hot place like this just to maintain the fake stuff rather than try to keep real stuff green.

we made it to the ice cream place which ended up being back at the beach. the sun was hot and the breeze was, too! we got to dip our feet in after consuming our yummy ice cream. in the background is the hill/mountain in which the old city used to stand. the earthquake took it out and thousands died. quite sad really. on the hillside there you may be able to pick out some Arabic words. there are three of them there and these three are seen a lot together whenever there is a hill in which to post them on. the words are: God, country, king. kind of cool, huh?

this cinema served as the landmark for telling taxis how to get to our first hotel. i just thought it was really cool and the colors were fun. i mean, it is cinema sahara! sweet!

so, you might have clued in on the fact that i said above the landmark for our first hotel. well, us gals totally got the sweet deal by getting a room with an AC unit (that is a pretty big deal cause we don't have AC in our homes). so, since we had that we let others without AC units use our fans we brought. well, as i had mentioned before...the city was suffering from major evening power outages. our first hotel couldn't keep a steady flow of power (as was the problem for their whoel grid i believe), so after the second night of not having power (which meant no AC or fans for relief from the intense heat...yes, even in the night!) we decided to move hotels. above is a photo of one wall of our room at the new place (which did manage to keep their power and we were able to have a fan for relief). the image to the left is to let hotel guests know in which direction mecca is. this gives guests the opportunity to pray towards mecca. i thought this was interesting as in the States we usually find a Bible in the nightstand and here they have a symbol that points pray-ers toward mecca.

i was super excited to get the chance to go up that hill/mountain to see the ruins from the old city. amazingly there really wasn't much left. there were some main walls and an entry way, but all else had fallen or been taken away. wow.

here is me with the new city in the background and the beach in which we visited.

we walked through the entry way and i found this! what a beautiful shot. it was really cool to see the local and foreigners both there checking it all out. they even had camel rides up there for people to enjoy.another night wouldn't have been complete without another shopping run. this little lady was my shopping buddy a couple of times and we had a blast! it was a lot of fun to meet the people in the shops and see what kinds of different things this city had to offer. i found a few goodies myself:)

as we left town we saw this car in front of us with this hilarious doll dangling! i wonder if the kids saw this? it reminded me of Nat'l Lampoon's Vacation or something. and what is even crazier is that i think i saw that same doll on a stroller here in the city in which i live...how bonkers is that?

so, we made it up north a bit to go back to our vacation spot that we had visited last year. this year i decided to opt for the tent and loved it! it was so great to be in a tent and out under the stars. i borrowed the tent from a family. amazingly, the temp had dropped about 40 degrees from the city we were in before to this beachside vacation spot. it was such a relief as the week down, down south was intense with the temps topping out at 122/124. no fan or AC was needed here! our car got to the camping place first, so we ended up getting some extra boogie boarding time in. it was great! i caught some sweet waves and it felt so great to be in the water. i know i am going to miss the waves when i go home.

every morning i went for a walk along the beach. close to our camping spot is this neat fishing village. it was cool to watch them go out and then come back in. awh.

on our way into town one day we saw this pair of camels along the road. it is always super fun to see camels! it doesn't matter how long you live here:) there were even camels grazing out in a couple of fields. cool!
so, we made it to town and enjoyed some super yummy fish! literally you pick out the fish/seafood you want and it goes on the scale to get weighed, then price gets decided and then before you know it, it is grilled and sitting in front of you. my kind of place:)

i got to come into the city again the next day, which i was excited about as i was pretty sure this would be my last time to visit before i go home. check out all the birds! folks were up on the wall to get their photos taken by friends or family:)

i have been waiting so long to get this shot!! these are spices and this was taken in the old city of this great little town. i have no idea how they keep it this way, but it sure looks cool.

then i ventured over to the port to grab some sweet boat shots. this particular town is known for this port full of blue boats. it is quite the fishing town and is one of my favorite places here.

so, i leave you with this parting shot. i think this was on the last night we were there. it was a great adventure and beautiful vacation. it was so great to be with other students and friends. what a joy it is to be here. really. thanks for all your love.

everything July

hey there friends! so, i am back again with another update...still trying to catch up, but hope to still be keeping you all updated nonetheless. so, what is new with you? i would love to hear how you are and what is new in your circle. i hope you enjoy the footage and explanations to go along with the photos. much love!

i was so excited to receive this amazing package from tiffany! wow, what a gold mine! i am so thankful for each and every letter, package, email, phone-call. thanks for staying in touch and keeping me a part of your life.

we had a great summer crew here studying this summer. i was excited to have a day with them. we did some shopping and then we went to our favorite schwarma place in the 'hood to enjoy a nice lunch. we were excited to have them here to help us with a summer English club. the students loved meeting other college students! it was great on both ends! they had a great summer from what i am told and after getting to talk with them some. it was pleasure to meet them.

we were invited to a 4th of July party that was held at a local school. it was super fun and totally delicious! i was excited about the cheetos! i also was stoked to get a chance to swim in the school's pool. it was totally refreshing and a blast. i even jumped off the diving board a few times.

about half-way through the month i got to help with the preparations for a retreat we had with some of us students. it was fun to get to be crafty and work alongside a lady i really respect. it turned into more hours than i had expected in preparing for all the small group activities, but was worth it. here are a couple shots from the fun interactive stuff we created.

of course there can't be all work and no play!
it was totally fun to get to hang with these little ladies. these ladies did a bang up job on preparing such lovely dishes. they were amazing hostesses! real deal alphabet soup with a hard-boiled egg and a nice cup of tea. virtually no calories! :)
then the barbies came out. i enjoyed dressing up this gal. such a blast from the past!
then surfing for K's bday! oh what fun! she totally rocked it.

i was so stoked to have J with us! what fun we had. many laughs for sure. it was a super busy day at the beach. it was hard to dodge the swimmers and it was funny as the local folks loved trying to get close to us and i don't think they really understood that we couldn't surf if they were holding onto the board:)

then J and i went to the local Roman ruins in my city and found the eels out in the spring/old bath area. it was so cool to see them out. the man that tends this area said that there are 20-25 eels in there and that the old wives' tale about women feeding eggs to the eels to figure out their fertility is no longer a practice today. he claimed that Allah was the only one that is able to give women children. it was interesting talking to him for sure.check out this guy! we saw so many eels that day...more than i had ever seen. then we had to check out the gnaoua gear. J got her photo taken, too. he was a great guy. check out that swinging hat on him. they keep that string swinging as they play. this is a local form of music and the garb is traditional for those musicians.

we went over to the old mosque ruins in the city and found these ladies taking a drink from the fountain outside the active mosque.

it was such a blast to have J in for a few days. it happened to be a hot few days, but we laughed our way through her time here. i am thankful for visitors and enjoy hosting friends for sure. here we are overlooking the local city beach. what a beautiful time! a great month indeed.

fantasia!!

Fantasia is a traditional equestrian performance practiced during cultural festivals. Fantasia is an imported name, the actual traditional term used is "Game of gunpowder".

It consists of a group of horse riders, wearing traditional clothes and charging along a straight path at the same speed so as to form a line, at the end of the ride (about a two hundred meters) all riders fire in the sky using old gunpowder guns. The difficulty of the performance is synchronization during the acceleration and specially during firing so that one single shot is heard. The horse is referred to as fantasia horse and is of type barb. Gunpowder is called 'Baroud' and traditional gun 'moukahla', hence the name "la3b el baroud" or "game of gunpowder".

The performance is inspired from historical wartime attacks of berber and desert knights. Nowadays, Fantasia is considered as a cultural art and a form of martial art; it also symbolizes a strong relationships between the man and the horse, as well as an attachment to tradition.

Each region has one or several fantasia groups, called serba, totalling thousands of horse riders nationwide. Performances are usually during local seasonal, cultural or religious festivals, also called moussem ('season' in Arabic).

water seller making the rounds at the show

ladies' group making their run

we liked her shades

preparing for the run and then nicely executing the routine below

men prepared the guns with powder between runs

nice!