In over my head

Something happened to me this week. I've been itching to take on a project around the house. I've been so busy building the house across the street, traveling, and what not, that I haven't been doing the little projects I'm addicted to doing. I must be crazy to take on one more thing, but somehow I started two new projects. Now the kitchen table and chairs are half painted in the garage, the side yard is all torn up, and I'm freaking out. I have no time and I'm not totally convinced I haven't made a disaster of these projects. Wish me luck.

Jesus is Magic!

Last night, Ava and I were reading a book about Jesus. We got to the part where Jesus walked on water and calmed the storms and Ava proclaimed, "Jesus is magic!"

It's Thanksgiving, and I'm grateful for two-year-olds!

Happy birthday sweet Lilly!

Travel Intinerary

Most of you are probably sick of these posts on my Morocco trip, but because my blog is the only form of journaling that works for me, I'm just going to summarize our trip itinerary.

Thursday 10/25 - Fly girls out to Utah - by myself! They were great on the plane.
Friday 10/26 - Fly back home, finish packing, catch an evening flight to London
Saturday 10/27 - Lovely London! Walk to Leicester square, eat some Indian food, watch the new musical, Desperately Seeking Susan.
Sunday 10/28 - Speaker's Corner, Harrods, Trafalgar Square, Churchill War Museum, Wagamamma's
Monday 10/29 - Early flight to Marrakech. Tour of Koranic school, hamman, and souk. Carriage ride to dinner in amazing home that was converted to a restaurant, with belly dancing and traditional Moroccan music.
Tuesday 10/30 - Tour of Mulley's house. Lunch on lake. Bike to foothills of Atlas mountains. Scariest drive ever into Atlas mountains to hotel.
Wednesday 10/31 - Hike to Berber village. Afternoon reading by the pool.
Thursday 11/1 - Drive almost to Essouira, bike to town. Henna tattoos. Drinks and dinner looking on the Atlantic.
Friday 11/2 - Shopping and reading on the beach. Camel ride on the beach. Tour of the medina. More shopping.
Saturday 11/3 - Drive back to Marrakech, shopping in the souk, fly back to London.
Sunday 11/4 - Fly back to SF and catch another plane to SLC to pick up the girls.
Monday 11/5 - Lots of hugging and kissing the girls. Fly home.

Impressions of Morocco

I've been putting off writing about it because there is so much to say, I don't know where to begin. I was a little nervous to travel to Morocco (not just because I saw Babel) because I didn't know what to expect when travelling to a Muslim country. I read a ton of conflicting information about dress, customs, and overall safety. As soon as we arrived in Marrakech and I saw the throngs of European families running around with young children I figured I had nothing to worry about. Here is a small summary of my experiences and impressions: Dress: Being a Muslim country, the majority of women were covered to some extent. Pretty much all of the women we saw were covered from wrist to ankle, and most had their heads covered. Some of the older women had an additional scarf tied over their faces, but this was rare. The few women I saw without their heads covered usually had an overall wealthy and modern look to them. We were told that more and more women are covering their heads since the aftermath of 9-11 to show solidarity with their people in an increasing ant-Muslim world.

Religion: We heard the call to prayer 5 times a day, wherever we were, but rarely saw people stopping to pray or entering the mosques. Like religions around the world, Islam has followers of varying degrees of faith and devotion with common social ties. The king is taking active steps against fundamentalists that promote terror, by requiring all imams (priests) to study at the same state-run Koranic school, and closing the mosques to post-prayer preaching, which tends to be where the fundamentalists spread their thinking.

Politics: While there is voting and a type of parliament, the king has absolute power over country. The new king is considered very progressive and has worked to make Morocco a better place for women, the poor, and touri$t$.

Food: Delicious!!! Lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, couscous, fresh bread, and meats. Most of their food is prepared in a tagine, a crock-pot of sorts, that steams and infuses the many delicious spices. The french influence also guaranteed some delicious pastries and desserts. Mint tea was served everywhere we went. One of our guides joked that Moroccans drink mint tea like Americans drink Coke.

The Berbers: The Berbers are the original inhabitants of Morocco. The name most likely comes from the term barbarian, but they aren't entirely sure. These people live mostly in the mountains, are Muslim, and tend to be looked down-upon and mistreated by the main, Arab population. When the French occupied Morocco, they never had complete control of the Berbers, who were able to maintain their independence by staying remote in the mountains.

Shopping: Every large town has a medina, an old, walled town. In these medinas are homes, mosques and souqs, or markets, where they make and sell just about everything. There you will find towers of spices, carved wood, leather and fabric goods, shoes, scarfs, metal lanterns, chandeliers...you name it. The souq winds around like a labyrinth, with vibrant colors and vivid smells. You have to dodge the flying sparks from the people welding metal and the motorcycles and donkeys passing through. Everything is cheap and you're expected to bargain hard for each thing. The bargaining was so intense that we ended up buying much less than we expected because it took up such a large amount of our time. Also, I worried that everything I took home would look like junk, once taken out of the intoxicating environment of the souq. Now that I have my little Moroccan treasures home, I wish I had bought more.

Transportation: CRAZY!!! I was scared to death on the drive from the airport to the hotel. There appeared to be no rhyme or reason to the way they drove, in addition to the roads being filled with mopeds, bicycles, donkeys, etc. We saw families of four piled on to a single motorcycle, young children sitting in baskets strapped to bikes. It went way beyond the lack of car seats and seat belts. You have to dart across streets like you're playing frogger because the traffic never stops. We travelled in Land Rovers with our bags and bikes strapped to the top, and eventually I got used to the different pace.

Morocco

In case you were wondering which Twilight character I am

Which Twilight novel character are you?

You're Esme Cullen - Your maternal instinct to take care of people and be kind draw people towards you. You're compassionate and loving, yet firm when you need to be. You appreciate hard work and value the beautiful results of your dedication to any project.
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