New Reptile friend on the Kitchen Window, Old Friends at School, New Developments in my Life

More Questions

So I went back home for the summer and had time to reflect on spending 9 months or so and I have decided that I can't help but ask more questions than I did last year. I came with the mind set of being hard and soft like water and I was convinced that I was going to be water upon the rocks of everyday life making an impact for positive change, but what if I wasn't the water at all last year....what if I was the rock in need of the water?! What if this is the case again this year?

I often think that being away from home is an opportunity to see myself and others through a different lens. No masks, no excuses, no sugar coating....being away makes everything REAL! I have had the best conversations over the past few months with friends and family who are ecstatic about taking new risks and trying new things. So much changed over nine months. Will this nine months be similar?

My attention feels divided this year as I focus on being the best teacher that I can be, while balancing contact with friends and family and constantly learning new tidbits or nuggets everyday in a new culture. Recent changes in my life have made me value divided attention and realize that divided attention is inevitable in life and that I like everyone else can learn to enjoy finding the rhythm in this balance.

Other random questions:

What do you do when you are teaching and you look up and see a child eating her markers?
Answer: You praise someone else who is listening and you try to contain yourself from laughing until you get a moment to burst out laughing on your own time.

What do you do when you mistake 1 on the oven for 5?
Answer: You apologize to your roommate and eat the tops of the burnt cookies! ha ha ha ha ha

How do you react when you see a toddler (less than two) crawling up the roof of a vehicle parked in the middle of traffic?
Answer: Thank the heavens that a man came to get the toddler before disaster struck.

Why would a teenage boy walk into a fabric store carrying a flaming napkin?
Answer: beats me!

How can I better appreciate my concierge who shows up at random hours and asks everytime "Were you sleeping?" and then gives us a language lesson that he wrote down in a notebook (French-Arabic), attempts to rearrange the appliances in our kitchen because he doesn't like the set up unannounced, or drags tree branches through the apartment 4 days in a row from a tree that fell a month ago?
Answer: We smile, nod, and say thank you (oh and we tip him too!)

What do you do with a three foot piece of tree that juts out of the patio wall?
Answer: Decorate it for the holidays! (Pictures to come soon!)LOL

How can I be prepared to respond to people on the street who ask for money at almost every corner?
Answer: Give when I have and be faithful in giving.

How can I make the most of the next nine months?
Answer: ...still figuring this one out, but pretty sure I am already..well most days....

New Recipes Cooked Successfully:
1. Chili Con Carne II
2. Crepes (with nutella and bananas)
3. Stir Fry with Eggplant/Green beans
4. Spanish Rice
5. Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies (boyfriend cookies)
Check out this website below to know the story behind the cookies ha ha ha
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chewy-Chocolate-Chip-Oatmeal-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Settling in for year two in N. Africa....

It has been nice to be back but there have been some unexpected new adjustments. I moved into a new apartment, which I like, but I am still figuring out a few items of business.

1. Where do you put your trash?
Answer: At 9pm put it outside your door and it disappears (seriously the concierge picks it up and takes it to the dumpster).

2. What to do when your shower is cold?
Answer: This question is still unsolved, but the 100 degree temperature makes the showers more bearable.

3. What to do when a tree falls down into your patio?
Answer: The concierge will move it after Ramadan which will be another week.

4. What to do when you find a little furry friend in your kitchen?
Answer: Scream and yell until it climbs out the window!

5. Where do you go when everything is closed during Ramadan?
Answer: Your own kitchen or Mc Donald's

6. How many times can you almost get hit by a bus?
Answer: Apparently three times if we count today! Crossing the streets is not as difficult in the states!

7. Who is in charge of traffic when there is an accident?
Answer: No one! Everyone just yells and honks!

8. What is the best little snack to accompany meals?
Answer: CRAX ( a light floury treat with seasoning that tastes like a bullion cube)

9. How many F'tours can you go to in a week?
Answer: Three! We went to share the breaking of the fast with three families who fed us well. The tables were covered with delicious harrira, pizza, Malawi, and sweets.

10. How many times can you be welcomed in one day?
Answer: Still working on that one, it happens countless times on the streets. Most of the time it puts us at ease, but other times we just have to wonder what the motive behind the kind gesture might mean.

11. What do you do when taxi driver with an empty taxi tells you no when you ask him to take you somewhere?
Answer: Just stand there looking helpless or grumpy until he wheels back and waves his hand at you to get in!

Despite these many questions I am extremely excited about this upcoming school year! The new teachers are enthusiastic and we feel such a sense of unity, despite the short time we have been together. It has been fun showing them around and teaching them the ropes at the school. It is nice to be a veteran now (well kind of)!...more to come...

HOME SWEET HOME

So I have been back in the states for almost a month and am realizing just how LOVED I am by my family and friends! It's not that I didn't know that I was LOVED but every conversation seems so fresh, new, rich and time is flying by so fast that I just keep looking up and it's 11:00pm again. I have been able to take time to enjoy the things I missed over the year in random order:

1. ICEE s -( You know the one with the Polar Bear on it) oh and lemonade
2. Ham/ Bacon
3. Riding a bike
4. Running at any hour of the day I choose :)
5. Good Pizza
6. Chicago
7. Standing in a line without being yelled at or cut in front of...
8. AC- but sometimes it's just cranked up too high and I am freezing
9. MEXICAN FOOD
10. BBQ
11. Wearing shorts
12. crossing streets and not fearing for my life
13. naps
14. Humidity- ha ha never thought I'd say that
15. getting errands accomplished quickly
16. dancing in public- oh yeah watch out now?!
17. English- a break from constantly trying to say things correctly in another language
18. Public parks to read in /walk through/ picnic in
19. Public Libraries!
20. Lake Michigan- BEACH!
21. My guitar
22. Mr. Hatchett- pet frog R.I.P (died right before I returned)
and the list goes on. I have had a chance to reconnect so easily with family, hold my new nephew, ride in new vehicles, play and sing music, and most importantly play music with the people dearest to me. I have also been able to meet up with friends that had a year full of interesting challenges, triumphs, etc. The entire time that I am able to spend time with those who know me best I am overwhelmed with gratitude and joy at the fact that these people have always been there and will most likely be there when I return from just about anywhere. They are there to embrace me and hear the stories that I don't get to always share about the experience. They are there to teach me about the things that have changed or things that I have missed. They are there to help me reflect and prepare for another year overseas. They are there to remind me of who I am and why I do the things I do each day. They are there to question the aspects of my life that have recently changed. They are there to pray with me for guidance. They are there to make me laugh until I cry. I am so blessed to be a part of so many wonderful peoples lives. I just hope that I am and will be just as good a friend to them as they have been to me. My mom would always say, " A friend LOVES at all times." and this is true of so many. I thank God and all of those closest to my heart!

Rude Awakening

When I first arrived here we were often awaken by a rooster at about 4:30am without fail until the rooster was most likely used for someones dinner. Months of mornings without the rooster's charming calls has been wonderful, however, about a month ago we have acquired new friends. Yes, there are pigeons who are about the size of chickens who fly into the rod iron caging around my window to make the most bizarre noises I have ever heard. The crazy part is that the pigeons don't come everyday just at those times when I need sleep the most...it seems. My roommates and I have grown accustomed to shaking the window or banging on the window in order to get the pigeons to leave, but they often forget how to get out of the rod iron structure and take several attempts to get out. One of my roommates just told me that there are usually two pigeons in her window in the morning and one day she looked out after they had flown away and there was a large pile of q-tips on her window seal. We figured that they were going to build a nest. My roommate, after receiving counsel (LOL), decided to brush the q-tips off of the ledge quickly to avoid being awaken by little pigeons. I keep trying to imagine the shock on the pigeons faces when they returned to see pieces of their barely constructed house scattered all over the ground below. She still gets serenaded in the mornings and sometimes it's so loud that it wakes me up as well. Maybe it's their revenge. I never even knew that pigeons sang! Ha ha ha I will try to record the pigeon wake up call and post it, so you can hear too! :)

New Recipes


Upon arriving here cooking has become a new hobby. A year ago I just ate the same things because they were fast and easy, but healthy. Now I cook most nights out of the week and I find joy in creating new dishes and a new confidence. No more bland food for me.....

I will list the foods that I have made:
1. Chili with beans and ground turkey
2. Tacos
3. Homemade pizzas
4. Chicken Salad
5. Vegetable Stir fry/ Turkey stir fry
6. Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies
7. Strawberry Tarts
8. Chocolate Cakes Thanks Betty Crocker!(hand whipped frosting)
9. Pastas with Green olive tomato sauce
10. Turkey burgers with mushrooms, onion, garlic,and mozzarella cheese
11. Beef Tagine with eggs and fries
12. Biscuits and gravy (thanks to Bisquick)
13. French Toast
14. Omelets
15. Praline Cookies
16. Baked potatoes with cheese, onions, green pepper(couldn't find broccoli or bacon)
17. Taco Salad
18. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
19. S'mores (I don't know if that counts, but they are very good!)
20. Trail mix (LOL, don't think that counts either...)
21. homemade french fries
22. Pasta with garlic sauce
23. Fajitas
24. Panini's (Hot sandwiches)
25. Fruit Salad
26. Cous cous (just the grains)
27. Buffalo Sauce for Chicken
28. Pasta with spinach and veggies
29. Oatmeal with toast
30. Snicker doodle cookies
31. Sliced oranges with cinammon and chocolate chips

Top 12 for settling in.......
67. Found shoes my size! Ha ha ha That one salesman didn't know that in the new town there were shoes of all sizes! Still working on a picture to post.

68. Walking down the street on a rainy day with friends and heard noises above our head. We looked up to find little feet and laughing children making monkey noises. We went from being startled to laughing hysterically. I guess this is normal when it rains.

69. Move over donkeys, now I am trying my best to avoid on coming traffic here. There are traffic lights, stop signs etc but some drivers here take liberty in driving however, whenever, and wherever they want. I will have to keep using my cat like reflexes to keep from being like the loser in a game of Frogger! LOL

70. Our neighborhood shopkeepers now make jokes with us and one of them spoke English a few weeks ago for the first time. My friends and I looked at each other and said, "Do you mean to tell me that you could speak English this entire time?!" He then laughed and said," No. No. I only know what I just said. There is no more."
Our excitement turned sour after only a split second.

71. When visiting families in town for dinner if we pause too long between bites we are practically yelled at to EAT! EAT MORE! In August we would react by eating until we felt we could barely move, but after being here for a while we know that 'slow and steady wins the race' ha ha ha don't know if that statement really matches but if you keep motioning as if you are eating even though you're not you can avoid the constant EAT! EAT MORE!

72. I now where just about whatever funny outfit I can when I am not wearing my spiffy work uniform (Photos coming soon). So five days out of the week I get to try out wardrobe combinations that I would have never really tried in the states. Wearing yellow on rainy days is still a tradition that has survived.

73. When you help your neighbors with groceries they bring dates and bread to your apartment.

74. Sometimes people do random acts of kindness that make being here a little easier.

75. When running past an old man he said,"To your health!" in Arabic. I would have replied but wasn't awake enough to do so. LOL

76. Finds sitting on the roof to be quite enjoyable.

77. People don't move over when you are walking down the sidewalk. People don't move over for you in line at the grocery store, fruit stand, bus stop. You just have to make your own way here.

78. Errands take a lot longer here...last week I went to get a internet USB repaired and spent about an hour and a half walking from one store to another, while the shopkeeper at the first store says, "What are you eating?" I had a piece of pastry in my hand from the bakery. I offered him some but he smiled and refused. "You are not understanding me. I told you this the week before....go to another store." When I said I did not know where the other store was and could he explain it, he said,( in a joking manner ringing his hands),"I want to kill you! Ha ha ha! You keep coming here and I cannot fix this for you. There is no guarantee." I insisted that he help me because I bought the USB there, and I didn't fully understand. So he laughs again and sends his apprentice with me to go to the 'other' store. I go and the apprentice gets right down to business with another shopkeeper for forty five minutes. I looked at other products and I even did a short moonwalk on a dare from my friend who was there. The marble floor was so smooth and it was totally worth it! Ha ha ha...After waiting for another 20 minutes I walked with the apprentice back to the first shopkeeper who puffed out his chest as I showered him with words of gratitude and 'You were right the whole time!' and then he turned to his apprentice who smiled and he said, 'That is why I said I want to kill you! ha ha ha!' I laughed nervously and said thanks again and was on my way home with a working USB.

79.Small tasks can become complicated...who would have ever thought that printing from a computer, finding standard sized envelopes, changing a lightbulb, buying a fan, checking out the public park, booking a hotel room, doing laundry, etc would
take multiple people, money, and most of all time.....I hope that I can say that I am more patient having lived here.

80. No crepes before 3pm. On Easter, we went to brunch and ordered crepes, but we were told by the waiter that there were no crepes. Sometimes I go to get a waffle or a crepe from a vendor on the main street, so I thought I will go there. When I approached the booth where they are made the vendor shook his head and said, " It's too early! Can you come back at 3pm? We will make crepes at 3pm?!!" I didn't go back that day...it was an Easter with no crepes.

81. My students love Tektonic dancing! I have never heard of this type of dancing but apparently it's very popular here. It's hilarious to watch them dance with no inhibitions. The best part is the serious expressions on their faces. Maybe I can learn a few moves to show people back home!

82. After having dinner with friends last weekend, I almost forgetting that I was not in the states, but was quickly reminded as I was walking home. Behind every corner was some man lurking and yelling at me in any language they thought that I could understand. Decided that I would take a taxi if I was ever out after 9pm again.