Lyon!!!

This past week I went to Lyon, France with a friend. It was amazing! Here are some pictures from the trip!

Food Tour of Lyon Part 1... Bacon and cheese on a Jalapeno cheddar bagel! and ROOT BEER

This is a statue in Lyon. There are lion statues everywhere but this one was my favorite.

Botanical Gardens!
There was a zoo in the park. These are Barbary Lions from Northern Africa!

I love Giraffes

Ducks on the lake in the park


Lyon is the birth place of this kind of puppet show. This little guy got beat with a stick

This sign made sure people knew that there was a 20 minute limit on bathroom use.....

This is an awesome park! It has a water works game that teaches kids about water flow

These Turks were trying to get into the EU by giving away free hugs to show that they are friendly. Fun times

Amazing Cathedral on a hill top in Lyon. Listening to the chruch bells on Sunday was amazing!

Food Tour of Lyon Part 2: Toasted Subway Club Sandwich with BBQ chips!

Food Tour Part 3: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough!

Food Tour Part 4: Grande Mocha with Almond

From the Big City to the Bigger City to a Small town.... and back again!

It has been a busy couple of weeks around here. Here are some highlights from my last couple of weeks....

Some friends from the States arrived a couple of weeks ago (and I actually DROVE them home from the airport and hour away... way scary).

I went and spent a day in the biggest city in the country. I ate some Finger Lickin' Good Chicken at KFC and went to a dance recital.

I spent a few days in a small village in the northern part of the country. There is no well in this city and water has to be brought in from a well that is almost three hours away! I stayed with a local family and spent my days making pottery, playing with kids and drinking tea with the neighbors.

Finger lickin' good!

Djelaba Man

Blue Door

The town closest to the village where I stayed

One of the women from the village

In Africa there is always room for one more!

Local Boys

The Family Dog, Boba

Village kiddos

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