Cathedral

Audrey, Ad and I set out to climb the mountain behinf us in the photo called the Cathedral by the French. It was about 3 hours up and the views are amazing. We spent the night in a little hotel where we sat with the Berber hosts and listened to every Celine Dion hit as well as a few arabic songs in between. Four berber guys were passionately lipping the words to My Heart Will Go On and It's All Coming Back to Me and it took every ounce of our energy not to burst out laughing.




Olive trees cover the countryside and the almond trees are just now starting to flower. Dates, figs, raisins, walnuts, apricots, and argon oil are the other staples of the area, however the principle export of Morocco is dung. Morocco is the #1 exporter of dung in the world. Talk about a gross domestic product!
Keyboards driving me crazy so that is all for now.
Russ and Tammy had their baby and she is a healthy 9 lbs 1 oz. and her name is Alexa. She is adorable and has blonde hair and blue eyes. Congratulations!

Tilougguite

Here are some photos from the village where Audrey lives. I was expecting a difficult and primitive lifestyle, but it is actually quite nice and besides the hole in the ground toilets and the washboard laundry it is not too bad at all. The weather has been nice and the fresh vegetables and fruits are plentiful in her region. But they only come on Friday so you buy all of the weeks food in one trip to souq. Audrey has a hot shower and a gas stove and an oven. Considering that there was no oven, hot shower or washboard in Vietnam, this seems luxurious. And the best part- No cockroaches! Just spiders the size of your hand, but they aren't too active right now.

Marrakech

Even though I have seen Marrakech many times in movies or on TV it was still very foreign and striking to arrive here and see all of the donkeys and sunset colored buildings and camels and palm trees. It is like an Arabian L.A. but much calmer. Everything seems to move slowly and there is no rush for anything which is good since nothing runs on time. There are snake charmers, monkeys, and live music in the medina and the architecture is reminiscent of Sevilla. One of the most noticeable things qre the men wearing the jallabas which are pointy, hooded, long robes that look exactly like star wars jawas.

Correction: Notre Dame is not in Fleurbaix- it is in Paris. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused for my oh so observant readers. The computers aren't working as well as I had hoped so pictures are not in any order and may not match the text with which they accompany.

Fleurbaix

Mathilde met us at the gate at the airport and we hopped on a train to her village in the north of France called Fleurbaix. We ate a quick lunch of cheese, wine, and some type of meat dish then prepared some food for the New Years party with her village friends that night. Applying a melange of communication methods we all had a great time and made plans to meet up again to go to a restaurant in Belgium that served the best food and beer that one can imagine.





We spent the days in between with Mathildes family visiting war memorials and touring her farm which has as many war relics as any of the established memorials. The gun I am holding in the picture was found in her backyard along with bullets, helmets, mortar, and other items. When you see how many of the French died fighting the first war and how much they lost, it becomes very easy to comprehend the early surrender in WWII.
Ad and I borrowed the bicycles for a chilly bike ride across the countryside and then returned to have crepes of every kind served to us for lunch. mathild found an apartment in Paris so we went with her parents to help her move in and spent several days wandering the streets and seeing the sights. I finally got to visit Le Louvre which was closed due to striking last time I was in Paris so I couldnt be happier.
There is a lack of punctuation because I am not certain how this frnech keyboard works and we donùt have much internet time!
The three of us stayed in Mathildes 15 m2 apartment and ate salmon and cheese and bread and soup
each night for dinner. We were spoiled by her parents who sent us on our way with tons of fresh vegetables from the farm and leftovers from the new years feast. It snowed in Paris which is rare but we still managed to see a lot of the city before our flight to Morocco.