The Countryside

This weekend I went home with one of my friends to the "countryside." I borrowed my friend's camera so I was able to take pics! This is just after we arrived and we are getting vegetables at this small market. This is the Grandma, she is SO adorable and sweet. The actual home of my friend is several kilometers away from here. We had to hitch a ride to and from this village. On the way back some nice dumptruck men let us pile in with them.

We arrived at their house set up on the hills with a few neighbors scattered around. This is where they wash the dishes and store the water that they bring from the well. (No running water people!) See the jug next to the blue barrels, that's the "refrigerator," it's basically a clay jug that keeps the water cool.

Fresh milk anyone? They had chickens, goats, and cows that lived off of. In the morning we had fresh milk and butter and fresh bread.

This is where they eat, sleep, and watch TV.

An adjoining room with a place to entertain guests. Everyone sits on the floor on these mats. I slept in a room with eight people!

Climbing around the hillside.

This is the oven. It is a big clay pit and after the branches are burned and make the coal the bread is placed inside and covered up. I was surprised to learn it only takes about 15 minutes to cook!

To make the butter they churn the milk in this thing for really long time and then they pour it out in the strainer and the clumps are the butter. They harden up. The rest is buttermilk they drink, me no likey.

We are off to the well with the donkeys to get some water.

This girl is gorgeous!

We climbed down into the the valley with this amazing river. The views were incredible.


Enjoying the view with my sweet friends! :)

Try not to be too disappointed

So our camera is broken and we haven't been able to take any pictures since our Spain trip :( So these funny stick figures drawing will have to suffice until we figure out what to do. Enjoy!!!

Ole Madrid!!!

We took a weekend a getaway to Spain and toured the gorgeous Palace Real and the Prado and the Sofia Reina, where we saw tons of Picasso and Dali works. Behind us is the Crystal Palace in this huge amazing park.


This is the cathedral next to the Palace Real


It sure was purdy. I love the bold colors on the roof, very different from other drab ones I have seen.



We got to go to the movies! We saw Spider Man 3 and it was incredible being in a movie theater again (even if we had assigned seats, whoever heard of such?) We are so excited to get popcorn and Coke but were a tad disappointed when asked for mantequilla and they don't do butter on popcorn there. Oh well, it was SO fun!


"Excuse me sir, I hate to disturb you but I thought you should know your shoes are untied"


Ah, the beautiful streets of Espana.

"PLEASE Carrie, no more shopping!

The flowers were in full bloom all over the city. They have the most amazing plaza's that people hang out it in.

Mother's Day Tribute and Cultural Learnings

I finally got my tuksheta back from the tailor! He's still working on the pants but TA-DAH! I'll have to get some better pics so you can see the embroidery but he did a really great job.


Two Types of Couscous


I went to a friends house on Friday for couscous and they made both kinds. I very discretely hinted that I wanted the tafaya kind to my friend, actually I flat out asked her mom to make it!!! This kind is made with caramelized onions and raisins and is sweet. I LOVE this kind and I ate until I thought I would surely throw up. But then they brought out tea and desert, and don't worry I ate some more :)

This is traditional couscous made with 7 different types of vegetables.

You can eat couscous with a spoon but if you want to be a true North African you must eat with the hands. See the trail from me the dish to me? That means I am doing a good job. A true professional can make couscous balls and flick them into their mouth or their neighbors. I haven't got there yet! The glass next to me is not milk its room temperature buttermilk, mmmmm.....

I have been to this friends house many times but today was the first time I got to sit in the nice salon (living room). There is a Koran on the left and this is the room where they usually pray. They keep it spotless in case a guest decides to stop by unannounced...which is always in this culture.

MUST have mint tea at every home visit...luckily I LOVE it and could drink it by the gallon.

Homemade Demotivator of the Day
So Cody didn't have any pictures this week so I decided to make my own demotivator about him. This is in honor of him trying to grow out a mustache and it just looks like an eighth grader growing in spider legs for the first time.

Oh...this ol' place

Here we are back at our local Casbah. Sure we come here all the time but we were showing some guests around last week and I just so happen to have my camera with me. We have taken this same photo a ton of times, but hey can a fortress on the sea every get old?!!! Well...sure, but they have the best mint tea in town!




They keep the walls painted blue through the narrow alleys. Blue is a color considered to ward of evil but they must use really cheap paint because I swear every time I go they are painting these walls. See the cute old hag in the background, she was just on her way to taking her bread to get cooked at the public oven.


I just love this door.


The gardens inside the Casbah. Ain't springtime purdy.


Demotivator of the Day