Wow, has it really been that long since I updated??? My Bad

Hi everyone! Has it really been MONTHS since my last update!? sorry about that. I will do better. Since my last update a lot has happened. We had some students come and spend the summer here and then I headed down to the southern part of the country for a couple of weeks. From there I went to Spain for a visa run (and all the starbucks I could drink). Now, we are in the middle of Ramadan. This is the holiest month of the year in Islam and the entire country is fasting during the day and only eating at night. Here are some pictures and stories from the past couple of months....

The majority of men smoke here. Recently, a new anti-smoking campeign has started. This is one of my favorite billboards...if you smoke, your lungs will burn out!

I have been practicing my covert picture taking (not easy with an SLR camera). This is one of the big intersections by my apartment. Just in case you were worried, no i was not standing in traffic when i took this...i was walking in the median

local fisherman surfcasting

the little boy rode is donkey to the hanuut! A hanuut is like a local convience store. These little shops have everything you could possibly want. The problem is, you have to know how to ask for things because you can't just go and grab what you want, someone else gets it for you

another hanuut but this one also has a film processing machine!

We had elections this summer. there are dozens of parties to choose from. Every party is given a small section on a wall to get their message out. All over the city walls were covered with party posters and symbols. I was cheering for the tractor party because i liked their symbol the best :)

My favorite covert photo in a long time. I took this from the window of a moving bus

There isn't really a UHaul service here so if you need a moving van or truck you go to a huge dirt parking lot and hire a vehicle and driver. The drivers sit around all day waiting to be hired. Seems like a pretty boring job...

Local bike/moto/moped repair shop

Local kid enjoying his lazy summer day

this kid was asleep in his horse cart but then his horse moved and he almost fell out! so funny

I went to a local Fantasia in July. Basically, a dozen or so riders line up and their horses start jumping up and down. When the guy in the middle gives the signal, all of the riders take off at a full gallop, lower their guns and fire all at the same time. If timed perfectly, you can only hear one shot. This is one of the traditional war tactics of the Arab and Berber people.

getting ready to fire

I loved this guy! If he were in the US, he would be a Steeler's fan. He waved his towel and got the crowds cheering

the smoke from the gunpowder

There are differnet divisions for kids, teens and adults. these kids were some of the youngest competitors

This poor horse was really tired and hot after a long day of competing

There was also a women's division. This is not traditional...but then again, neither were the sunglasses!

This guy was on the winning team

Getting ready to compete

People greet with kisses here. I guess that holds true even when on horseback with a musket in your hand!

one of the competitors

A local fan...and another favorite picture

There was also an agriculture exhibit at the Fantasia. I like the old guy in a djelaba reading up on the lastest tractor features while his grandson plays in the cab! Every kid needs a tractor!

This was from my trip down south. The high on the coolest day was 114F. We had 2 days that hit 51C...thats about 124F. The hotel we were staying at did have AC...but the heatwave caused electrical outages so we couldn't even use fans! After a couple nights like that, we moved to a hotel with power but no AC and found a fan to at least cool off a bit. The desert sun is brutal! This stop sign was once red. If you look really closely, you can see where it used to say "stop" (in arabic of course).

A veiw of the city beach from an old fort.

Local fishing boats

The city at night

From that city, some of us headed about 3 hours up the coast for some vacation time...and a 40F drop in temperature! This is one of my favorite fishing towns. This is one of the old fort doors

I thought this dog was really cute...those are ramparts in the background

Smoking next to a leaking gas can...not the brightest idea

You know you are on the beach in North Africa when...

I was playing with my macro lens on this picture. If you blow it up a bit you can see the individual grains of sand swirling around the shell! I really like my camera :)

No i did not put these rocks here. I just liked the rocks in the dunes

our private beach. There is a little tiny fishing village at the very top of the picture. I love this place. it is one of the most peaceful places in the entire country

There were several teenage boys with us and the all loved the game "Axis and Allies." Their games last for days on end, This is the battle at the end of day 2.

We left our awesome little beach and headed home. On the way, we stopped at a pottery village for some shopping

Pottery is not treated as delicately here as it is in the States :)

These are some apartment buildings in the city. The coloring was acutally an accident because i forgot to change a camera setting but i like how it turned out.

These guys were sitting on a wall on the side of the highway waiting for the fast to end

A few of us got together for a girls night of junk food and movies...check out that American microwave popcorn!

This is the nightime view from the apartment where we had our party.

I lenghtened the exposure on this one. All of the people were leaving a nearby mosque.

Move #2 of 3 that night...can you name that movie?

OK, so normally I am up by 6:30 but not after a night of watching movies and eating junk food until 3am! This construction worker started working (very loudly) at about 6am. Not cool

City traffic...notice the moto is on the wrong side of the street. hmm

More city traffic. This is out the FRONT window at an intersection. There were 4 directions of traffic all turning at once. You just have to pick your way through to get going in the direction you want. I am a little worried about my driving skills when i return to the states...

Oh, and notice Bob the tomato on the billboard. He is about to be turned into tomato paste. yikes!

Everything runs on gas here. It is not uncommon to find 2 or three butane takes inside a home. This is how the tanks are transported. If you walk past a parked gas truck you can almost always smell the gas leaking out of the tanks. Next to the gas truck is a personel transport. A lot of companies have these trucks for their employees. They look like prision transports to me but i guess it is better than having to find your own transportation to work

love this sign!

A little bit of home...with an added palm tree

Transport trucks here are works of art. I never knew so much stuff could go on a single truck!

This is the carrot truck

OK, I have ridden in the back of trucks but never standing up in a truck moving 110km per hour!

More people trying to get home before the fast breaks

This is the spokeswoman for one of the brands of flour here. I think she looks like aunt Jemima. I call her Aunt Jamila

This little girls lives across the street from me. Her mom kicked her out of the kitchen where she was cooking Ftur (the meal to break the fast). All month, the kids in my building have been kicked out of the apartments so their moms can cook meals. Its been fun to learn their games in the hallways and stairwells in my building.

During Ramadan, a lot of daily patterns change. Usually, rush hour is about 5pm but during Ramadan, rush hour starts at about 3:30. After people eat and rest for a while, they go out on teh town then come home and eat again. This means a second rush hour starts around 11pm. This is the view from my bedroom window at 12:30am.

Thats about it for this post. More later. Thanks for reading!