Cambridge and pictures for Mom!!!

I spent the past few days visiting some friends in Cambridge, England. It was weird being in a place where everyone drives on the left side of the street! I constantly felt like we were about to be in an accident! It was also very strange to hear English everywhere I went. The English country side is absolutely amazing; everything is green! Here are a few pictures from my time there…

In front of a cathedral at Cambridge

Hi Mom

A river with a cobbled base that was used to transport goods... now people go punting here

Statue of some famous people at Cambridge..

There had been a lot of rain so the river was flooded (the trees are not usually in the water)

Cute kid playing in a huge lawn

Older women checking out a fun statue

A huge slug (next to a 2pence piece). These guys are every where!

Incredible stained glass window in a cathedral built in the 11th century (with additions and remodels as late as the 18th century)

The British people are really serious about honoring and remembering those who died in war. These flags were flown by different regiments in the first World War. They are hanging in the Ely cathedral

This stained glass picture is in the corner of a larger window. The glass artists were so impressed with their work that they made this little tribute to themselves. This picture is a man designing stained glass.


This is the larger part of the stained glass window.



Hi Mom!

We took a tour of an octagonal tower in one of the cathedrals. The original tower fell when underground water tables fell and this tower was added later. The engineering in the tower was amazing; the total weight was over 42 tons (21 tons of wood covered in 21 tons of lead). This view is from about half way up on the outside of the tower

view looking down from half way up (inside the tower)

The view looking up

Looking across.

The panels with the angels are hinged so that they can open. Several centuries ago the choir would open the panels and sing from way up here!

Hi Mom (again)!

This is the view from about 3/4 up the tower. This is as high as we went. There were still about 60 to go to get to the top.

All of the cathedrals and churches had tombs and crypts in them. This is the tomb of someone who died of the Black Death in the 1300s.

This is another crypt. A lot of the crypts have sculptures on them but this was by far the funniest.

We went to an old farm where rare British livestock breeds are bred. This is the view from the steps of the old house on the farm.


Hi Mom

I love this cow! He is really furry and cute! He had a hurt foot, but he was still pretty playful when the other cows frolicked to go eat (seriously, they frolicked, not ran, not walked, skipped and frolicked. It was great)


Castle ruins?


Nope, FAKE castle ruins built to make the veiw from the house more picturesque. I am sure there is some sort of life application lesson here....

Friendly swan. This guy came up to say hi. We also saw ducks, fish, snails, and a weasel at this pond.

Bacon!

I have had several questions regarding what foods I can and cannot get here. So here is my shoutout to the amazing food to be had in my city.

Enchiladas:Ok so, maybe you can't buy enchiladas here but with 3 New Mexicans living in the same city we do get to eat some pretty amazing mexican food. We had a Mexican food feast this week complete with green chile enchiladas (thanks mom), pinto beans (bought in Spain), and green chile guacamole (thanks to a friend's mom). And a big thank you to Carrie for the table cloth!


You can buy sushi here in town. It is really really really good, really. This is one of the many sushi plates we pulled off of the conveyor belt

PORK CHOPS!!! Today we found a butcher shop that has PORK products! How crazy is that?! Four of us bought a combined 2 kilos of chops and another 1.5 kilos of bacon!

BACON!!!!

"Kain Mushkil" and Beach Camping

A couple of weeks ago, some friends and I drove to the southern part of my country to go camping. There were four of us 20 somethings riding together in a little bitty Honda. The little car was PACKED! We had so much food, water, and camping stuff that we had to hold things in our lap. On the way there, we had a blowout in the desert about 20km outside of the nearest city. Bummer. We had to unpack the entire car to get to the spare (picture four Americans on the side of the road in Northern Africa surrounded by food and camping gear). An assistance truck (we were really surprised to find an assistance truck in NA) stopped to help up us change the tire. When he finished changing the tire he said “Kain Mushkil” (a problem exists). The spare was flat too. We decided that it had enough air to get to a gas station and so we hobbled over 10km to the nearest gas station where we found a tire guy (a kid about 16). He tried to put air in the tire and said it wouldn’t hold. He asked for the spare tire and I told him that this was the spare tire and it was better than the other one. (Of all of us, I have the best Arabic and I didn't know any words relating to blown tires so it took a while for the two of us to understand each other). He said “Kain Mushkil” and we all just nodded in agreement. He decide to try to patch the tire … no luck. Again he said, “Kain Mushkil.” So, the kid blew up an inner tube and put it between the tire and the rim so hopefully we could make it to town and get a new tire. We left the gas station and slowly rode into town....

The tire shop

Our friend (with better Arabic) met us at the tire shop and he walked around the car to figure out what kind of tire we needed. He noticed that all of the tires were different He just stood there with his mouth open for a while (we had learned about the tire sizing issue at the gas station outside of town, so it was old news by then). The three remaining tires were bald to the point of showing metal...so we ended up with four new tires! By the time the entire tire ordeal was over, we had packed, unpacked, and repacked the car three times. Oh and by the way, all of this was happening to a sound track of "Best of Hits From Amerika” which included "Oops, I did it again," "Genie in a bottle," "I believe I can fly," and "We will rock you." All in all it was a great day, now I know the Arabic words relating to tires and I can belt out “I believe I can fly” with the best of them!
Getting new tires

We did finally arrive at our camp ground (6 hours late) and we had a great weekend of boogie boarding on the beach, laying on the beach, running on the beach, grilling on the beach, and building sandcastles….on the beach!!! We also visited a local fishing village one day to eat some amazing seafood. Here are the pictures from our trip

Boogie Boarding

Sitting on the roof

I loved this drum shop!!!

The fish stand where we bought lunch


Fishing village

Fishing Boats

Local rugs and scarves

The beach where we played

awesome food and the war on bugs!

This is my latest package from some friends back home. Thanks Pat and Linda!!!

So recently my roommate and I have been fight a war on bugs. It could be because we are living in a really old building. It could be that we have 1inch gaps under all of our doors that lead to the outside. Or perhaps it is because we have a 3 inch diameter hole in the wall where the phone line comes into the building (they didn't know where to put it so they just hit the wall with hammer until a piece broke off. they installed the line there). Whatever the reason, we have bugs. The infestation started with an army of ants. Strangely enough we couldn't figure out where they were coming from or where they were going; they were just everywhere. As we were fighting a losing battle with the little pesties, the cockroaches showed up. Nasty. I hate roaches. My roommate and I decided to head across town to a home furnishings store with imported insecticides (the local ones were not working). Here is our new collection of anti-pest product. We used them all yesterday, hopefully by tomorrow we will be pest free!

driving and other fun things

Usually I use public transportation to get around. In the city I walk/ride my bike or take buses and taxis to get where I am going. If I need to go to another part of the country, I take a train. Recently, I have been driving…. a lot. Driving here is a lot different than driving at home. Technically they do drive on the same side of the street as Americans do but, only technically. It is not uncommon to see two lanes become three or even four. And as long as your car is facing the right direction, who cares if you are actually going the right direction. In America, it is rude to honk at some one as soon as the light changes. Here, it is expected that the person in the front does not see the light change (as you stop just after the light not in front of it like in the states) so it is rude not to honk. It is also expected that you will hit other cars as you back up, pull forward, turn etc. You will also be hit. For example, I was recently waiting in the car in the parking lot of the airport when the car that was trying to park behind me hit me hard enough to slightly move my parked car. He didn’t even acknowledge this as he grabbed his bags and headed inside. I laughed (and took a picture).

Other odd things about driving here:

• People don’t like turning left from the left hand lane so they pull all the way to the right, block all traffic (both directions) and pull out
• There are two kinds of round-abouts here. In the first kind the people entering the round-about has the right of way, in the second, the people in the round about have right of way. Funny thing is there is no way to tell them apart.
• There are donkeys pulling carts on the same streets as cars driving 100km per hour
• People are always running in and out of moving cars
  
  

Other fun things here
This week I went to a carnival with some friends. The rides were similar to what you find at carnivals in the States. One thing was obviously missing though: lines! There were no lines. When a ride (like bumper cars) was about to begin, a whistle would blow and the entire crowd would run forward pushing and shoving to get a car. Those who didn’t manage to get a car got back on the platform and waited for the next whistle. The rides were also a little shady. At one point one of the rides got stuck and a man jumped down into the base of the ride and started punching the wheel with one hand while holding a cigarette in the other. Another ride was so improperly balanced that it bounced up and down and made creaking noises as it spun. We had a great time but after just a couple rides we gave the rest of our tickets away to some kids.






I go to the beach at least once a week to hang out and boogie board. This guy is one of the new beach patrolmen.

Food, Fun and the 4th of July

So it has been a while since my last post. Sorry about that. Mostly, I have no idea what to write about. So.... if you have any questions you would like answered or pictures you would like to see, let me know!!! Here are a few pictures from my last few weeks.

My country is trying to modernize. This has a lot of interesting consequences and here is a fun one... a modern statue outside of the new National Bank Reserve

This is a new park in town... it is on top of a parking garage!!

This sign may not look that special but it really is! This is the first

handicapped accessible cafe in town!

This is the new outdoor mall! Isn't it great!

This is one of the new cafes that is about to open. It promises

American coffee and smoothies!!

Several people have asked about what I eat everyday. Most meals

look something like this.... lots of veggies!!

More food ....

For the 4th of July I headed to a nearby city with some friends. We had an American style 4th complete with pork hot dogs, baked beans, and mac and cheese!

This is my BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger... YUM YUM!!!

This is my new bike! I have been waiting to see some North African girls riding bikes around town and yesterday I saw two!!! I spent the morning at the bike shop getting everything set up and now I love my new bike! Her name is Foxy ( because that is what is written on the side)