Good Eats (or something like that)

The people in this city eat somewhat differently than people in America. Here are a few pictures of the foods you can buy in the local market.









This is a cooked camel head. There are goat heads in front of it







In this picture we have:
1. Intestines
2. Lungs
3. Cow hooves
4. Sheep hooves
5. sheep heads
6. Sheep (?) brains
4. some other organ of some sort









yummy chawarma meat and roasted sheep heads













Conch Snails and sea urchins (I'm not sure how people eat these).












I did buy a small red snapper here. You can pay $4 for just the fish or $4.25 for the gutted fish. This is me cleaning the fish out.








On a totally unrealated note, I went to the beach this weekend to hang out with some friends. While strolling down the beach, we found this. According to google, this is a Portuguese Man O' War. Good thing I didn't step on it, it causes extreme stinging, swelling, and sometime even death. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Man_o%27_War)

Random Day

Some days overseas are funnier than others. Today was one of those days. These are some of the random happenings of my day

1. Protest. There was a huge peaceful (read that again, PEACEFUL) protest in my city today. This would not have affected my day in anyway except that I had to cross town and the protest was in the middle of town. Every road going into the center of town was closed. EVERY road. The poor taxi driver tried to turn left, the street was closed. He tried to go straight, the street was closed. He finally turned right which was the only way he could go but he was heading in the opposite direction of home. We continued on... until the next road block. Poor guy could not figure out how to get to my neighborhood! What should have been a 10minute ride turned into a 20 minute ordeal... and we never did get to where we were wanting to go(should have walked, would have been faster)!

2. My next taxi driver was, um... happier than his morning tea should have made him. Think Arab hippie. He just kept bobbing his head and saying that we "need peace, ya know? Peace is good. No peace is bad." (Dude, should you be driving)? He was nice but I was not sad when the ride was over.

3. A friend called and informed me that her washing machine was "possessed by satan." (weird) and then asked if I could come over and fix it (washing machines aren't hard to fix but I don't think I am much of a washing machine exorcist). I forgot to take my tools with me so I ended up fixing it with a butter knife (now that's what I call Aggie engineering)!

4. As my roommate and I were walking to meet a friend we saw a little old woman coming out of a shady spot by the old city wall. I was going to ask her for directions but then realized something... she was relieving herself! This was a really busy section of town and she was relieving herself on the sidewalk (you seriously couldn't find a bathroom?!)! As we passed she said something that we didn't understand and starting giggling. We decided to ask someone else for directions as we walked off, laughing all the way

5. While waiting for our friend another little old women walked up and informed me that her son was not yet married (uh oh. I know where this is going). As she said this, she reached way way down into the front of her djelaba and pulled out a cell phone (where on Earth did that come from.... maybe I don't want to know). She asked for my phone number to give to her son (You're kidding right?) I politely declined and she moved on.

6. I ate french fries smothered in gravy and cheese for dinner... I love North Africa!

7. Yet another taxi story.... As mentioned earlier, the traffic in the city was horrible today. This evening I need to cross town (again) so I jumped in a taxi (again). This taxi driver was not interested in peace.... I think he was practicing for a role in "The Fast and the Furious." He yelled at every bus/car/taxi/person/animal that got in his way. At one point a pedestrian stepped out into the street and I thought I was about to see him come through the windshield but, he managed to jump out of the way just in time. The taxi ride was a lot like one of those little mouse roller coasters that jerks you side to side for a few minutes before coming to a sudden stop. It was a fun ride but, again, I was not sorry to leave the the taxi!

6000 Camels and "ooh! snap dragon"

This weekend I went to a nearby city. Here are some pictures from my weekend....

Dying thread

anti-smoking add

For those of you who are wondering about the blog title....

we visited this nearby city with a group of 10 american women. We definitely attracted attention walking down the street. As we passed one particular shop the shopkeeper called out "6000 camels for you" to someone in the group. It was actually pretty funny. I guess it would be more flattering if we had not just walked up on a camel meat market with heads like this one hanging from the walls.

fun door

cute old man

tannery

tannery

tailor

guy sleeping next to taxi

one of many city gates

the palace

baking bread

inside the oven

incredible cous cous

Roman Ruins

The country in which I am living has been governed by many different empires. One of those empires was the Roman empire. On the out skirts of town there are some Roman ruins that are fun to visit. In the US, old things are not to be touched for fear of breaking them. Here, ancient ruins seem to be a great place for kids to hang out and play soccer!

Here are some pictures from my latest trip to the ruins.

I wouldn't make a good statue... I smile to much

A Millstone

View Along the wall

Tree in front of one of the walls

Another cool tree

Some flowers

Fallen Columns

Anyone speak Latin?

Cool Door

More Cool Doors

Roman Arches

Random Pictures From a Random Week

This was a really scattered week so this will be a really scattered post! I will work on having better stuff for next week.

I learned how to make local food this week. It was tasty!

Full moon over broken down walls

It rained most of the week. Here is the view from my balcony

Wedding Fun

This weekend I got to go to my first North African wedding! The party started on Friday night with a henna party. All of the girls got henna on their hands. The bride got henna on her hands and feet.

Mostly we sat around and talked for a few hours but we also got to join a procession of gifts for the bride from the groom. The procession was full of music and dancing! After the groom came in and everyone got pictures with the happy couple we ate some amazing cous cous for dinner and called it a night (total time: 6hours 35 minutes).

The actual wedding ceremony was on Saturday. We got to the wedding at about 9:00pm and we sat and talked for a while. The men sat on one side of the room and the women sat on the other. Around 10:45 the women were taken to small rooms were we enjoyed chicken tajine and safa (a noodle dish with powdered sugar, cinnamon and candied peanuts). After dinner we sat and talked for while. Then we danced. Then we watched other people dance. Then we talked some more.

Finally, at about 1:30am the bride came in. She was carried around in a little chair and everyone cheered and danced.

When she finally sat down on a sofa everyone took pictures with her. Then she changed into a different dress and the party started again. I had to leave around 3:00am but the party lasted all night long!

5K Fun Run

This past weekend I participated in a 5K Fun Run to raise funds for a local children's hospital. The race was organized by US Embassy workers so it was pretty similar to doing a race in the US. We even had clowns and t-shirts. One thing that was different was the Traditional North African Band Playing in the background. It was funny to see those guys in their traditional costumes next to a guy wearing UnderArmor from head to toe!

T-shirt

clown

Taditional Band

The Hat over the Hijab look

This little old man didn't know what to think

so he watched from behind the tree