School's Out!

Bonjour,

So a roar (big, big cheers) went up yesterday at 3:45 p.m., when the kids were let out of school and started their two-week vacation. The kids definitely celebrate vacations here more in Boulder.... must be due to the French-style (very strict) of schooling.

Anyway, as you can see, Tommy is happy.

And our pets are happy today. Here is Bub waiting for his breakfast.
And here is Coco, playing around with Anna and Tommy.


Last night, we finally picked up our membership cards for the American Club, and while Bob and I hung out with friends drinking margaritas, the kids made new friends who, as an added bonus, live nearby. They also ran and ran and ran on the huge grassy lawn, something you don't see much of around here. Kids need space like that.

Tomorrow we leave for our next adventure to Venice, Italy, and Cairo, Egypt. We'll try to post while traveling over the next couple of weeks.

I'm hoping to have a guest blogger soon to describe his fun experiences with the traffic police. I'm quite sure you won't be able to guess who that is.

But now, as an added bonus, we have a word from Anna.

Okay, HI EVERYONE I know I haven't posted recently, but I have been VERY busy...
on Wednesday I had a book-report-type-thing due, but the catch was I had to present it to the class (groan), so I memorized a whole speech on Harry Potter #1 IN FRENCH (I am not yet done reading the book in French). So on Wednesday I was kind of freaking out, however, it went very well and the whole class applauded afterward. (something that they did for no one else). Then the teacher did a HUGE, INCREDIBLY NICE speech about my progress in French. (Very nice but more attention then I liked; I was totally blushing).

BYE!!!

A Saturday Stroll

Bonjour,

Yes, me again. I know it's been a while since you've heard from Anna. But that's just because she has been so busy, as you can see...

Yesterday, we went on a hike from our villa, through town and to the shoreline. Tommy wasn't very enthusiastic about most of the trek.


And it was clearly Bob's idea to go in the first instance.













A stop at a patisserie and a playground made everyone feel better, even if some of the playground equipment had seen better days.

Finally, we reached the jagged shoreline, with its coral, little tidal pools and a spectacular surf.

There were lots of wildflowers too. All just a 45 minute walk (or $2 cab ride) from our villa....


A bientot,

Kim

Tortoises in Love? (The PG-13 Post)

Bonjour!

More signs of spring here.

The trees and plants are covered with flowers and smell so good. We've had some nice April showers the last couple of afternoons to clear the air of pollen (and pollution). And Hercules and Persephone continue to engage in behaviors that may lead to the laying of some (seriously fertilized) eggs.



This is what happens: Hercules chases Persephone around the yard, ramming into her shell pretty hard (it makes a knocking sound). It looks like this. (And yes, the photo is blurry because of the high speeds involved, not photographer error).




Then, Persephone (makes a mistake and) pauses a bit, and Hercules leaps into action, assuming this pose for several seconds.

Persephone then seems to flee the area -- and Hercules....

Later on, Persephone appears to be very, very hungry from all of the, uh, activity, and has more than once chased the cats away from their dishes of cat food.






This, however, is much more appropriate treat for Persephone.




Alas, no signs of eggs yet, although a website I found suggests it takes many years for tortoises to reach maturity, so all of this may be for naught. Bob thinks, though, that poor Hercules is making up for all those years (?) that he was alone in our yard.....

A bientot,

Kim

P.S.: Yes, for those of you wondering, I am making excellent use of my time off from work.

Produce Shopping, Moroccan Style

Bonjour!

This afternoon, Bob and I went out to pick up some produce for dinner. We walked to Bob's favorite produce stand, which has what we assume is largely organic produce (not much money here for chemical fertilizers).

Here is Bob checking out the fruit.


Here are some of the veggies.


All kinds of people shop at this stand -- from the people who live on the same street in the fancy villas and pull up in their late-model mercedes to the people who work for them and live in the shantytown behind the stand.

In general, produce is cheap by our standards. That said, this spring, with all of the rain, the price of fresh tomatoes has gone up dramatically, from about $.20 a pound to about $1.00 a pound. That makes tomatoes, practically a staple around here, pretty expensive for regular Moroccans.

A bientot,

Kim

Fes Encore

Bonjour!

Just received another cool photo of our desert trek (camels!) from Amy. This really gives you a sense of what it looked like. It was amazing.

We just had a great time hanging out with Ellie, Eric and baby Inez, who stayed with us for a week. With E, E and I, we made our way back to Fes for the weekend, and it was just as magical as ever. This time, I did more shopping -- and can I just say that I love shopping! Well, to be more precise, I love buying! Particularly in exotic places that have totally distinctive objets d'art that are pas tres cher (at least by Western standards). Let's just say, my Christmas shopping has begun. (Some of you should be quite pleased).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take my vegetarian Moroccan cooking class as planned. La prochaine fois! (Next time).

All's well here. I've started a new French class (much better. I'll have to write a post just about the old one). Anna begins working with my French tutor today (once a week to capitalize on her improvements at school). Tommy is working with Bob on his French. And Bob, well, Bob is doing the usual Bob things -- working on papers, studying Arabic, completing some sort of committee report for CU.

On the pet front, you'll be happy to hear that Hercules and Persephone continue to mate on a very regular basis. It's quite something to see. No eggs yet, at least that we can find. And no kittens yet for Fluffy, although she is certainly looking quite fluffy around the middle. But we have discovered a tiny gekko living in our kitchen, now named "Ellie", which brings our "pet" total to 8, pending some imminent(?) births.

I'll work on getting Anna to post her update. She's way overdue for that.

A bientot,

Kim

Camels!

Bonjour!

I'm sure you've all been eagerly anticipating photos of our Sahara visit.

Voila!
(Well, at least it's a start. We had some camera issues on this trip).

Anyway, we had a fabulous time traveling with Terry, Amy, Charlie and Camille to Fes, and then later, to the Sahara, Tinihir and Ouarzazate.

Fes is just as fascinating as when Bob and I first came here on our honeymoon nearly 17 years ago. We stayed in a riad with a great view of the medina and nearby hillside from the terrace, and had a lovely meal there. The next morning, the eight of us headed out on a tour with Ali, our guide, who explained the decorations and symbolism of the tile work and carving in the medersas (Islamic religious schools), took us to the various souks, and brought us to a little preschool where three year and four year olds stood promptly when asked and recited at length from the Koran. Bob called it the best tour ever.

After the tour, some of us brave folk had the "black powder treatment" at an herbal shop (to clear our sinuses and prevent snoring -- at least we hope that's what it did). Then we had lunch at a place that serves the best banana/date/almond milkshakes in the world, and, according to Charlie, also serves a tasty camel burger with fries.

On Saturday, after we met our surly driver for the next four days (the one unfortunate part of trip), we headed south to the desert, stopping along the way to see some monkeys that were quite used to tourists (see photo).


Once we arrived in the desert, we headed off into the sunset on camel (well, sort of, as the sun was sinking fast, but we were headed east).

Happily, riding a camel was a lot more fun than I anticipated, although 1 1/2 hours was plenty of time on a camel -- I don't think I could handle a multi-day trek or even one full day on a camel. When we arrived at our site, the candles were already lit, the tents (made of a hodgepodge of colorful carpets and blankets) were ready, and our dinner had been prepared. The tents even had mattresses with fresh sheets and blankets, although the pillows were far from soft. Early the next morning, most of us climbed a large dune -- hard work going up -- to watch the sun rise over the desert.

After the desert, we visited the Todra Gorge, spent a night in Tinihir, and ended up in Ouarzazate, staying in a magical dar (old guesthouse much like a riad but a closed house around an open courtyard), where we had one of the best meals yet in Morocco -- amazing olives in fresh herbs, delicious vegetarian pastilla, fresh apple cake/torte, and, for the meat-eaters, camel kefti -- or camel meatballs (Anna said they tasted like very well-prepared beef). After dinner, Amy and I had our first hammam, which included some pretty vigorous scrubbing -- or gommage -- by our attendants. I still have one bruise I blame on that gommage.

The last day was a long travel day home, via Marrakech. We'll try to post more photos later, with less text (Anna again says I wrote too much, but then she hasn't been writing much at all!).

Au revoir,

Kim