Cous Cous!

I am spending a decent amount of my time here trying to learn how to cook North African food. I enjoy it so much, that I want to be able to eat it when we get back to the States (we are returning in August). Last week, I was invited to sit in with the mother of the house and watch her make cous cous. It was a lot of fun!!

In the beginning, cook the meat, spices and veggies together. The cous cous is steamed on top. It steams for about a total of 2 hours (they laugh when I tell them about 5 minute cous cous!)


Lots of veggies!



Enjoy!


The daughter in the house is getting married, and she let me try on some of her wedding attire!

Rest and Relaxation

We took a trip to Switzerland this week, and loved every minute of it!! When we decided where to go on vacation, we couldn't help but decide to go back to Suisse. This time, however, we were in Italian Switzerland - very close to the border. It was GREAT!!


This was the view from our Bed and Breakfast!

We spent most of our time hiking - and just loved being out in the mountains! The sounds, smells and sights of Switzerland were a nice break from the big city we live in.




High quality Swiss cows! We enjoyed cheese, milk and ice cream every day:)


One day, we hiked for 3 hours up a mountain to make it to this summit. It was well worth it, the view was amazing! Needless to say, we were sore the next day - the hike down was just as hard on our legs.



These donkeys were adorable - much cuter than the ones here.


This is the town where we stayed.


One of my favorite activities... The green grass and lawn chair was just enough for me.


One day we hiked down to this lake town, and enjoyed the afternoon swimming and relaxing at the lake.

Bezaf d'basket! (A lot of basketball!)

We did a basketball camp at this girl's orphanage, and the little ones were so cute!






The girls wanted me to sing for them... so I went back to my camp counseling days and sang "boom-chicka-boom." They loved it!


We always end with a great meal...


I don't think I've ever posted a pic of this dish... its called "safa" and its delicious! Its vermicelli noodles, butter, crushed up peanuts, cinnamon and powdered sugar. So good!


This picture gives you all a great idea of what traffic is like over here... it's amazing what people will put on their mopeds!

FOOD

It was recently pointed out to me by my dad that these posts always include food. Well, I didn't want to disappoint him this time! I have done a lot of cooking this week - enjoy the photos!

This dish is a beef and prune tagine. Its delicious, and I can now confidently cook it on my own, which I'm pretty excited about.


This is bastilla, one of my favorites. It took us 3 and a half hours to cook it! CRAZY! It's worth the time, but I'll probably be doing this one only for special occasions.




Of course, it tastes better if you eat it with your hands.


Cake, tea and dates


We danced off all of the food!

Sorry its been a while!!

Hey guys, we're still here! Sorry I haven't updated this in a while... its been quite a month.

We just finished another round of basketball camps, and had a great time. We did a camp at a girl's home, and another in a public school. This time, we did all girls camps, which I really enjoyed!! I helped with the defensive station.


I tried to get these girls to settle down for a picture, and this was the best I could get. They were so excited about us being there and getting to learn how to play basketball.


This girl helped with translating at one of the camps.


At the end of each camp, all the girls wanted us to sign their t-shirts and get pictures with them. It was fun to see how encouraged all of the girls were after spending just a few hours teaching them basketball and encouraging them.


These girls were in the finals for "knock out" (I call it gotcha). The winner won a basketball.


And of course, we never go hungry. This plate of cous cous was huge!


We traveled to another city with the team of coaches. It was fun to take in all the sights and smells.


We took a carriage ride, and the driver let Karl have a turn (not really, we just stopped for a picture).


This place came alive at night. People come in and set up restaurants, and the square fills with people. We saw snake charmers, men dressed like women dancing, food everywhere (including lamb brain) and had the best fresh squeezed orange juice for just 35 cents!

Basketball!

Last week, basketball coaches from the States came to help us run 3 basketball camps. We had a great time, and all of the camps went well!




We did a basketball camp in another city, and this is a spectacular view of the "old city." People live there today, and there are no cars, just donkeys and mules.


The little guys didn't know much about basketball, but it was so cute to watch them try and play!


Dates, anyone?




These girls were so cute, and loved playing basketball.