Our busiest time yet!

It's been a crazy, but GREAT last two weeks! I've just now been able to sit down and update our blog. Lately, we have been doing a lot of basketball. Some coaches came in from the States, and we had a great time working with kids and coaches.


During the week, we went to a nearby city and toured through some ancient ruins - it was beautiful!

Basketball Pictures:





Real Roman Ruins!



We also experienced some of the wonderful hospitality here - they fed us SO MUCH food!

Happy Easter!

Its been a fun week. We had a nice holiday, and have enjoyed spending lots of time with our friends. We are getting ready for another team of coaches to come next week. Hope you all are doing well!


More cooking! This time I actually worked, and I think I will try msimmin (delicious pastry type thing) on my own next time!


There were 5 ladies helping me - I would say this is about the limit to the number of women you should have in a kitchen! Especially when they all have their own ideas:)


They insisted on me playing the guitar, but were highly disappointed when I didn't know "Hotel California" and the Celine Deon Titanic song. HA!


My new friend... she runs with me!!

Some more pictures from our trip to another city:

Pass, Shoot, Dribble!

It has been a SUPER busy week of basketball, but we enjoyed every minute of it! 7 coaches joined us from the States, and we did 3 basketball camps. Two in our city, and one in a city east of here.


The first basketball camp. This particular camp was in a poor neighborhood, and the community was so receptive to us being there, it was GREAT!







We ate SO much food! It was all delicious.


We also went to another city for a basketball camp. There were mountains there!!!! (Can you tell I miss mountains!?)


FANCY!


In one night, we had bastilla (pastry dish with chicken), a lamb, 5 chickens, fruit and dessert with tea! It was probably one of the biggest meals I have ever eaten.


Still hungry?


More basketball!

Beautiful Weather!

Hello family and friends! It has been a gorgeous week here. The weather has been perfect. We watched the sunset on the beach one night, and it was fabulous. Enjoy these pictures of our great city! We love you all!

SO BEAUTIFUL!


A "shanty" town on the coast. Not exactly what we think of as "beach front" property, but these people make their homes out of metal scraps. However, they still have satellite TV!

This is the park that I run in frequently. It's such a blessing to have it within walking distance from our apartment! The gardener's do a great job keeping it clean and green.

Its been 4 months!

It's hard to believe, but we have already been here for 4 months! Its been a great 4 months. I am posting some current pictures and some from the past. We had a great week, and went to TGI Fridays! It was a good American experience. I will post those pictures soon. Hope you all are doing well!

I did some more cooking this week. We had a great time, and made a beef and prune tagine. This is my favorite tagine - its SO yummy!!

And its served...

Another rug in our living room, Karl picked it out!

One of our first basketball events:


A beautiful picture of a nearby city:

Cooking 101

I learned how to cook some N. African dishes this week. It was fun to be in the kitchen with some of my friends, and to hear their different opinions about cooking. Cooking here is like an art, and I am sure I will never be able to do it too well, but I'll try. We made Tagine, which is kind of like a Crock Pot meal, and Msimmin, which is a delicious pastry with tons of butter and oil.

Working hard... I was watching most of the time, trying to take good notes!

I'll take a try - they kept telling me that I wasn't working the dough hard enough with my hands. The women here are strong!

We started off the meal with some yummy mint tea and msimmin

And we eat... this tagine had chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, lots of spices, olives and one lemon. It was delicious!


We also went to our friend's house for lunch, and had another chicken and potato dish - I love the food here!

A picture of our city with a mosque in the background: