North African Culture, Friends, and New Frames

My favorite photo I have taken in awhile. This is a true mix with the old and new. Traditional yellow North African slippers traded in for bowling shoes! It costs about $5 per game to go bowling so only the upper class partake in this event.


I visited a monument this week with friends and we had a picnic in the grass...a very popular way to the pass time here.


My two North African babies. They were such a handful at the picnic but tooooo cute!!! When we go to the bathhouse the little one sits inside the bucket and plays.


Some New Mexican friends were in town this week! Good times, and thanks Abe and C-Rose for bringing our suitcase with the Wal-Mart stash!


We had 4 pictures that Cody's dad had drawn framed this week. Handmade frames, matte, and glass all for $12 each!!!


At a friends house this week. She was teaching me different ways to wear the head scarves.

St. Patty's Day in NA

CHEERS!!! We had a St Patty's Dinner party with our friends and toasted with some good ol fashion homemade root beer.


Aren't we festive!


North African Karima at a friend's house this week


This is taken from our window as a building across the street is on fire. A mere 30 minutes later the fire trucks finally showed up to put it out.


Let's pause for a moment to enjoy this artistic photo of a lone gold shoe in an old trash field...

Oh the land of the free...and the home of the braaaaaaaaaave!

We had a sweet return to the motherland for a week. Here's a few pics from our trip.


Family game night...and youuuu think your fam is competitive! (PS I highly recommend Cranium Turbo Edition, it's load's of fun I tell ya)


Our first American meal at the Denver Airport...Taco Bell...yum. When we got of the plane in El Paso we hit Weinerschnitzel too! Did you know they charge sales tax in the good ol US of A? (Well I had totally forgotten that)


Cody enjoying his green chile cheeseburger from Dick's Cafe and some green chile queso and chips and Dr Pepper and bacon...okay i'll stop now.




I TOLD you we had gorgeous sunsets!






My bro and his girlfriend, she's cute huh!


Some good ol' sisterly love at Target


A collage, a tribute if you will to some our friends we got to see :)

O Fair New Mexico...

We are returning to the Land of Enchantment next week. Oh, those beautiful mountains and sunsets and Mexican food and shopping without bargaining...in English! We are only home for one week and are doing a conference so things will be tight but we are super excited. We haven't been to America in a year in 4 months! Here is our schedule in North African time:

Monday 9:00 p.m.
Leave our city on the train to the airport
Tuesday 2:00 a.m
Flight to Frankfurt and then Denver and then to El Paso
Wednesday 5:30 a.m arrive in El Paso and drive to LC

Arrival: 7:00 a.m. North African time
Total Hours traveled: 34!!!




PROJECT FRIENDSHIP BRACELET

We had a Valentine's Day party for our friends this weekend and one of our activities was making bracelets from beads. One of the girls (national girls mind you) said "This bracelet is so special to me, each bead represents your personalities and is such a memory for this party. We'll call it 'Project Friendship Bracelet'! Me and the other two American girls almost died laughing but hey, at least she enjoyed herself :)

V-day Cuteness and a Return to the Blue City

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and we didn't make reservations anywhere so when we showed up at this sushi bar the manager told us we had 45 minutes before the crowd came who had reserved and we could eat quick and leave if we wanted. North Africans are like the French and the eating is just small part of the evening ordeal they call dinner. Usually lasting for hours, we knew we could eat and be out of there in no time. So we were grabbing sushi plates off the conveyor belt that came by and downing them like peanuts at a baseball game. We ordered one dish off the menu which was this really good fried meat with melted cheese. Sounds strange but ordering here is always a gamble in a second or third language. We chowed down, payed the bill and headed out in 40 minutes, unheard of in these parts!


We returned this weekend to the blue mountain city that we spent our anniversary in two months ago. Only this time it wasn't so romantic as we were accompanied by 21 national students crammed into a van (not bus) totaling 26 people. They didn't fail to bring their drums and to serenade us with lovely beats and singing the whole trip.


Look familiar? We were at this very spot only a few blog posts back.


This adorable old man came and played and sang for us as we ate dinner at 11:00 at night.


Also in town, was a really ghetto miniature carnival, complete with rickety rides and everything.


I rode the "ferris wheel" with my friends and this adorable little boy while I was holding on for dear life. I wouldn't exactly call this a ferris wheel where you get to see the views and have romantic conversations. This thing was hauling boo-tay and everyone was rocking the carts and standing up. I was SO sick and I thought I was gonna lose my lunch and finally I motioned to the operator to let us off and he gladly obliged.


PLEAAASE make it stop!


Here Cody is attempting to play soccer with the boys. He wasn't actually in the game very long because he biffed it pretty hard early on and cut up his knee and side. Asphalt isn't easy to play soccer on. He was secretly grateful that he had fallen because it gave him the perfect excuse to sit out of the rest of the game. An honorable discharge, if you will.




These are the dorm rooms we stayed in at the ministry of sports complex. Cody thinks he's too cool for school, but I have news for you, "You Aren't" (Zoolander fans out there, hello...?)