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Showing posts with label watermelon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label watermelon. Show all posts

A Week in Review



My last post was filled with quite a few reflections and I hope each person who read it saw themselves in it one way or another. This post, however is about my random week and thus it will be a lot less "poetic" if you will. (And if you won't...nothing changes).

This week I got to Skype with my parents for the first time. It was so good to hear their voices again! Plus we actually got to see eachother so it made it 100x better. I was so happy to talk to them and giggle as they "got hip to the new Skype thingy." My dad officially said: I'm ripe for Skype. Ohhhhh Juanny... My mom's is almost set up right, minus the sound. Hopefully my little seester Ruj can go over to her house and hook things up correctly. Anyway it was really good to feel like I was face-to-face with them. Attention anyone who can see their parents whenever they want: HUG THEM. Don't take it for granted. You don't know how bad I just want to hug my parents and tell them I love them. So if you are able to do that...DO IT.

So not only did I talk to my mom and dad on Skype, I also got to talk to Alena. FINALLY! She also has never used it before and was equally as amazed. And this is why I love her. At one point, her laptop was about to die and she told me, "I really don't know what's gonna happen next. I bet the screen will just go black or something." As I tried to politely muffle my laughter she goes, "Well I don't want to bring it downstairs where the charger is because I might lose reception." I said, "why don't you just bring your charger upstairs and plug it in where you are? " She looks down at the computer for about 5 seconds, looks into the camera for about 5 seconds and then says all serious, "Yeah dude. Good idea. You're really smart with this kind of stuff." Ohhhhhh Alena! You never cease to amuse me! :)



In other news, I saw the closest thing to a fixy in a loooooong time. I don't know who the owner is, but I'd say it's probably not a hipster.


Hand brakes? Pshh! Cheater.


As for me, I prefer the older models. I told a shop owner I'd like to buy this mint green bike and he looked at me like I was nuts. He then pointed out the seat, pedals, and chain. #FAIL

I mean, as long as the bell works...




Right near the bikes is a main walking area that has a pointless 3 ft. deep hole in it. Apparently some guy was walking the other day and didn't see it and fell in. It was filled with garbage and yuck-water  so they "Safety Department" must have come in a fixed the situation. This is why I love Moroccans--nothing is a problem and there's an easy solution for everything. :) Here's the Before and After shots:


BEFORE:  Walkers Beware.
 
AFTER:  Totes fixed!





I also found an interesting little cafe. The "chef" was preparing some squid while I was there. See also: gutting fish in the sink. As I walked a little closer, he was all about taking a few snaps. These were fresh from that morning I was told. #FreshTaDeff
Slime Time
Whaddup Squidward?


As much as I wanted to stay for some Calamari, I headed home for a different plan. On the menu: Moroccan soup. Add a little (I'll say) bread, and it was good to go. Cindy and I had a nice little quiet dinner at home. PS-- there's cinnamon in the soup. SO good!

Souper Delicious. (Sorry, I had to.)


I get VIP reservations here.

I'm not trying to make this blog all about food, but I have some more randomness and then I'm done. Today 2 things happened. One of the ladies who lives near me made me some couscous and brought it over. She's so sweet. If you don't know, it's a tradition here in Morocco to eat couscous every Friday afternoon. People all prepare it differently so sometimes it's spicy, sometimes with argan oil, and sometimes with really big couscous pieces. There's a million varieties but here's the one from earlier today:
Legit.

The second thing that happened was that I stumbled across watermelon warehouse. Yeah, that's right. A watermelon warehouse. Complete with a floor made out of straw and hay. Melon Madness.

In a low whisper: "Ay if you need somethin', I know a guy..."

 Besides all the delicious organic produce around here, I found something a little less natural. When they're done, they dip them in sugar and they're SOOO good!

Looks good, donut? (Sorry again)


Alright, onto my next topic: Shopping. I found a sort of boutique and it's a good indicator of how things are done here. If you recall one of my earlier posts about how laid back and relaxed everything is here, this should seal the deal. Note how the shop-worker is just lounging. I love it.

Mall? Yeah no thanks.

Besides all of this randomness, a lot of good has happened this week. There's been a few changes here and there but it's all good. As we say in Arabic, "Kuuuuulshi mizzyehn." I'm looking forward to the end of next week Something really amazing is about to happen but I'm not going to talk about it right now. I'll wait till it happens and then I'll write about it if that's what God wants. I'm super excited and I can't wait!!

Faith. Patience. Love. Faith.

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California in the Hay-ows!



Note: If you want to see the pictures bigger, just click on them and they open in a new window.

So I’ve been in Morocco for 6 months now and I had my first visitor! My friend Mark Patterson was in Europe traveling around and figured as long as he was in the area, why not stop by Morocco? We met 14 years ago in Wisconsin when we were in high school and we both ended up moving to Los Angeles. He’s a graphic designer there and surfs a lot so he came to visit and try out the surf spot, Taghazout. Unfortunately the swell wasn’t so good while he was here but he got to see Morocco from a local’s perspective.  One of my friends named Mustapha met Mark as soon as he came from the airport and they were like instant boy-buddies. I swear it was a total bromance right from the start. 
Friends for Life

 

The first day we went to the market near my village. Every Wednesday it’s like a weekly farmer’s market and everyone brings the best of the best produce.

Wednesday Market



 It’s SO much more fun than the grocery store. You get to bargain with all of the “veggie guys” and they still use the old fashioned scales. Everything is sold by the kilo and they weigh it out with weights so you know it’s fair and accurate. No cash registers, no lines, no “Clean-up on Aisle 4” just a spectacular display of macrobiotic fruits and vegetables.
Juicy...

What's he doing? BEETS me!
Picking out some fresh garlic

One of the perks is that they love to give samples—and of course I don’t object! 


I'm holding this cute prickly pear
Anybody want some peas?
Spices!
Cindy, Mark, and Mustapha sampling some flavored olives










A slice of watermelon would BEE nice

At the market I bought this really cool short wooden table. I’m currently painting it Moroccan-style to match my house and when I’m done with it, I’ll post a picture.

After stocking up on produce for the week, we came back to my house to cook.  Mustapha showed Mark how to make tajine and we had a really good dinner. Cindy (the super rad American chick who’s staying with me for the moment), Mark and I were all repping Cali and there was only 1 Moroccan in the house. We totes took over! Hahaha!

Mark taking Cooking 101 from Mustapha


The next day we brought Mark to the HUGE souk in Agadir and we met up with Omar, too. Mark wandered around, got lost, and we had to split up and go in teams to find him—nearly impossible but we managed to track him down. Cindy and I were “looking for him” and we accidentally fell into a cafĂ© and had a cup of cappuccino. Whoops! Looks like he’s not in here! 
Mission: Interrupted.

After the souk, we went outside and Mustapha and Mark found Djembe drums at a flea market. Since there were no drumsticks, Mustapha grabbed a stick and an ear of corn and started rang-bang-boomin’ away!
"Iiiiiiiiiiii don't wanna work, I just wanna bang on the drum all day..."  (with an ear of corn)


We wandered over to the street food vendors and had some delicious kefta sandwiches…and Mark had is 100th Coke ZERO of the trip.

Taghazout village, right near my house. As relaxed as you can get.
We also spent some time on the beach in Taghazout and just chilled out after a busy day. We packed about 2 weeks into a 3-day span but still felt relaxed and easy-breezy.
JUMP!
 So now Mark's back in La La Land and Cindy is in Morocco till she feels like leaving. Mustapha is probably banging on a drum somewhere and I'm just taking each day at a time. I'm so happy and I'm still chasing the light. Couldn't ask for anything more. Thanks, God. :)

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