It's gettin' hot in herrrre

hey kids,
sorry it's been so long. i KNOW mel's been better at updating this than i have, BUT my computer battery keeps dying as i'm getting ready to update my blog. THEN by the time it's charged again we're either ready to go home (b/c we're at ed's) OR people need to use the phone which can't be done simultaneously with the computer.

alright, the update. for the first week we were here the weather was pleasant and in the high 80's and low 90's with no humidity. it was lovely. but then last saturday it happened. pleasant weather time was over. it was over 100 degrees on saturday when we were walking around the roman ruins of volubilis (more on that later), and touring around meknes (said: meck-ness). on sunday it was 107 degrees. today it's been a bit cooler, but it's still probably over 100 degrees. you can remember us that we will have patience and good humor in this heat b/c sometimes it's difficult.


most afternoons after school, we catch a petit taxi (it only holds 3 people) to our apartment. we eat lunch, have a team quiet time, and then plan our lessons for the next day. after lesson planning we usually nap---that's what the rest of the city does as well. everything shuts down from 12:00-2:30 or so, and people go home for lunch and a nap. we either read or sleep at the apartment until it cools down. we cook dinner, and then walk around or come to ed's to use the computer/phone. ed's taken us walking a few times to help us learn our way around. it's hard b/c there are only 2 streets with names, and everything else folks just know where it is. fortunately, most of the things we need are on either mohamad V (cinq) or hassan II (duex). There is a walmart type store here called Marjane (said: marjohn). You can get whatever you need for not a lot of dirhams. We’ve been there once, and vivi went alone last night. She’s a brave woman. She’s been to lots of places so she’s pretty good at getting around on her own. She thinks mel and I are hysterical, and we like that about her. . .b/c it’s true after all :) natalie's had a little culture shock this weekend. it makes me extremely thankful to have mel here with me. it makes that a lot less of an issue.

on friday, we called ed to see if he wanted to go to dinner on friday night. he took us to this GREAT steak place called Chez Vittorio (italian food is popular here). i had one of the best meals of my whole life and one of the best conversations of my whole life. i had steak with mushrooms and sauce---the french name sounded much more delicious, but i can't remember it. you could cut it with a butter knife. dad---i took a picture for you so that you will know this isn't a third world country :) the conversation i had was with one of ed's friend, brian. he went to grad school in texas, and has a great story of how he got to be where he is today. it's crazy how our father works sometimes. brian is going to be helping us out when ed leaves next week to come back to the states for a couple of weeks. he kind of reminds me, in demeanor only, of brian mosley. he's pretty quiet and has the "velociraptor" way about him. hopefully, we won't have to be as much of a pain to him as we are to ed :)

okay, now for the fun stuff. we went with a group of high school students and our new friend aaron to see some roman ruins called Volubilis on a tour bus. it's about an hour from fes. on the way we saw all of the hills and fields around fes. you could tell that they used to be green in the spring. apparently, in the spring here everything is green and lush and zweena (beautiful in moroccan arabic). the ruins were SO COOL! it was like you couldn't even believe that you were standing where people had lived over 1,000 years ago. there used to be a roman settlement in this location until the buildings were demolished to build the Moulay Ismail palace in Meknes. Moulay Ismail was a king who saved the country of Morocco in the 1600's. we saw the palace in meknes that he used the columns that were taken from Volubilis. it was really cool. while in meknes we saw one of the coolest things so far. in meknes, there is an olive market that is BEAUTIFUL. i've never seen anything like it. it looked like something in a gourmet magazine. mel took pictures b/c my batteries on camera are D-E-D--dead. also in the same market were lots of cow parts--like the lower legs of the cow--hooves included...who knew those things were so big???, chickens, rabbits, and all kinds of sweet things that had lots of honey in them so they were COVERED in bees. it was scary. . .i'm not a fan of bees swarming around. thankfully, the sweets were sweeter than me. . . . .not by much though :) while in meknes on saturday we got our first taste of moroccan food. we split some couscous with chicken and legumes and some tagine (said: tahsheeeen) that had meatballs and poached eggs. it was lovely. at every meal they serve olives, cheese, scrambled eggs, and radishes (or some combination of those) before the meal. they are kind of like chips and salsa at a mexican food restaurant in the states. it was all very good.

hopefully, it was cool off a wee bit here, but if it doesn't we'll live---obviously. what choice do we have?

okay, so there's the update. are we all happy for the time being??? i'm making the promise now to update at least every three days. not a lot happens during the week that will be different from last week so i'll try to do a mid-week update and a weekend update. fes is great. other than the heat it's nice. being able to speak some french would be helpful, but mel and i are planning on getting a tutor of some kind when we get back. kara--maybe you could be our tutor?!?!?!? AND kyle, we would both like to learn to drive a stick shift. any chance you would trade lessons for suppers? i miss you guys. . .and air conditioners. . . .and sonic diet cokes. BUT they DO have diet cokes here so i'm a happy camper where that's concerned.

love you!!!!!!!!!
mbw
ps: ed's camera cord works on mel's camera so pics will shortly follow. it's your lucky day :)