Life on the Road

We've been doing an exuberant amount of traveling lately and while it is taking it's toll, we've also been able to capture some interesting and unusual sights!

Camels and Carols:
One can still attempt to be festive when driving through the Sahara, just put on some Christmas tunes! Maybe the camels like it, too!

Cow-seat:

Date Palm Forest:

Sheep, that's what's for dinner:

No lamb for you? How about some eggs?

Just don't eat while driving:

Birthday - American style

As with most things, celebrating birthdays here is generally a different than usual affair. Last year my friends, both local and expat, joined together to give me a surprise birthday party at a nearby coffee shop. So this year, we decided to have a typical American birthday party...not really for me, but just as an excuse to have friends over. It was really a lot of fun! The three of us all pitched in to make it feel quite homey and to prepare a plethora of delicious treats!

One friend that came even said, "I feel like I'm in America! It's just like the movies!" 

Enjoy a look around our American birthday party!

You may recognize the table runner...it's the remaining fabric from the baby quilt we made for a friend, ya gotta love a dual purpose. 

Jordan prepared a beautiful cake!

And a true behind the scenes look at what we like to call the "after party!" - hand washing piles of dishes!

Local Wedding: 3ris

*All photos are courtesy of Jordan!

"All the single ladies" take a pre-wedding picture

We wore modern clothes to this event. Thanks sis for sending the lovely blue dress!

The big day has finally arrived! hehe! Wedding services are more similar to a normal wedding reception in America than an actual ceremony. This particular wedding was scheduled for 3 pm on Friday afternoon. We'd finally learned our lesson and arrived around 4:30, which was perfect timing, because the refreshments were just being distributed. ;)

The event was held in a beautiful, and exceedingly ornate event hall with a live band, dance floor, stage for the bride and groom, and round tables for all the guests. The music only lets up when the band needs a break, but there are no exchanging of the vows.

The stage

Maybe I like food a little too much or maybe everyone thinks like this, but I remember the "order of service" (read in very sarcastic quotation marks) by what foods we were given.

To begin, we were offered traditional mint tea or Arabic coffee. As the guests enter, they greet the bride and groom and their respective families and people they know.

Then a round of traditional sweets are offered while the couple poses for pictures under some intense lighting.

About the time the fruit cocktails come around the dancing usually starts. This was the first wedding where we weren't forced to dance awkwardly in front of all the other seated guests.

More yummy sweets.

The families of the couple give jewelry and display it proudly, signifying that their marriage is official Hors d'oeuvres (of sorts) are served at the end and allude to the fact that they wedding is over. Then everyone goes for a goodbye kiss.

A pic with the lovely bride

goodbye kisses

It may sound simple, but it lasts hours. Our friend's wedding was so beautiful and we are so thrilled for her! Sahalik!

Local Wedding: Nzul

After our interesting time at the henna party, where we learned so much, we attended the Nzul on Wednesday evening. Nzul is also known as the "bride's wedding." We were told the party started at 9 pm, but knowing how time is viewed in this country, we didn't arrive until 9:30, yet we were still too early. The bride didn't arrive until at least 10 and the party was still rocking when we left at 1:30 am.

The nzul is quite similar to the actual wedding, but with fewer guests and few odd rituals. As is typical, there was a live band, a small ornately decorated stage with a couch for the bride and groom, and sweets abounding. This one happened to take place in the bride's backyard.

All dressed up in our traditional robes for the nzul!

The bride dressed in traditional clothes on stage

The beautiful bride and her sister

We're slowly melting in the mid summer evening heat...

The bride meets the groom and they walk in together...

One of the bride's 3 gowns of the evening. Her attendants walked her onto the stage and around her several times with candles, then she stood in these heavy clothes while her future mother-in-law swayed her back and forth from behind. We're still trying to figure this one out exactly.

Of course, there's always Arabic dancing!

During the course of all these events, we were served fruit cocktails, several types of traditional sweets, and fried shrimp! It was a tasty, beautiful,  albeit long evening.

Local Wedding: Hamam & Henna

Hamam
The first wedding event starts multiple days before the actual wedding. In the case of our friend, she started the wedding week on Monday and sealed the deal on Friday. Traditionally the bridal party including the bride, her "attendants", her mother, future mother-in-law, future sisters-in-law, and any other important woman on either side of the family attend the Hamam. The word, hamam, is actually an Arabic word for bath. The women gather in what is similar to a communal sauna, where they pour warm water over themselves and sit as long as they can bear it. When its as hot as they can stand, they leave the sauna and lay on a (generally) a stone table, where a worker literally comes at 'em with a loofa. The lady scrubs all the dead skin (and some fresh skin if she's good) off, leaving the bride and attendants fresh and clean for the big day. Many times the bride must also have a full body wax and endure an inspection from her future mother-in-law also.

Returning to the bride's house, woman wear a long white or cream colored shawl (notice the video of the ladies in the carriage).

Henna
In the evening, a woman comes to the bride's house to apply henna and harkoose. Harkoose is similar to what we in the States call henna, as in where you put the dye is where the temporary tattoo shows up. Henna here is a very different story:

First they heat a type of wax over a small bed of coals, as pictured above.

Then the hot wax is painted onto the skin, typically the hands or feet, to create a design.

Then they apply the henna, which is generally a powder mixed with water (or motor oil to make it appear redder) that is then pasted onto the area.

Working hard on the henna

Once the henna has been applied, it must be wrapped in a glove or sock like thing to dry. 

I just got a small henna tattoo on my foot, like the bride did.

In hindsight, I should've gone with some harkoose, because this mostly just looks like I stepped in something.

Beth and I in our traditional outfits for the henna hafla.

During the henna party, all of the groom's "womenfolk" return in their dressy garb and then the singing and partying begins. Everyone gathers around the bride and the henna ladies grab their tambourines and start singing loudly. We were enjoying the entertainment, when suddenly everyone starts throwing money into a tray in front of the bride. At the end of the song, everyone then takes their money back and gives change to the henna ladies. We repeated this process two or three times in as many locations before we realized that whatever amount someone puts into the tray, they're expected to give 10% to the ladies who applied the henna. It's certainly a cultural experience, enjoy a few small glimpses:

The festivities continued to include three wardrobe changes for the bride and dancing well into the night.

Local Weddings: A Preview

Wedding season is upon us here along the Med! Weddings, Engagements, and the entire "dating" process in general is one of the things that's most different from my home culture. It's taken me some time to figure it all out...and I doubt I actually know as much as I think I do. :) But for this week's blog series, we'll start at the wedding week and maybe one day soon, I'll get around to explaining all that's involved in the dating and getting engaged process. 

Instead of one large wedding ceremony and reception, here they have what I like to call a "Wedding Week." Which can be different for everyone but generally involves 3-4 large parties. One of our dearest friends recently got married, so I'll walk you through each of the ceremonies this week. Her events took place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back on each of those days for a new blog post on local weddings!

I'll leave you with this caravan of wedding attendants, a sight that is seen quite often and all over the city this time of year:

And a preview of our friend's Wedding Week:

Many Moons

The end of April meant it was time for us to take a little trip! We had so much fun on our last turn around with friends but we wore ourselves slap out, so this time we decided to take it easy. We were blessed to spend a few days in Barcelona, Spain. In Arabic it's pronounced barsha.luna which for some reason reminds me of studying Indians in Kindergarten. Everyone in our class had to chose an "Indian" name... I think I was Many Hearts or something. Anyway the word barsha means many or a lot in Arabic and luna sounds like the word for moon in Spanish. Yes it's a long stretch, so I'm proud if you're still with me. But Barcelona will forever remind me of Many Moons.

We literally accidentally found this place (one of Gaudi's houses or something.) We were walking down the street in the rain and noticed the large line outside and decided it must be something important.

Traditional Paella for lunch!

We did plan a visit to the Sagrada Familia. There was lots of unique architecture and statues carved onto the outside of this cathedral. The line was long so we didn't even go in, but went walking around looking for a Starbucks.

While we were walking along, we found a fish spa. Instead of having a normal pedicure, you can put your feet inside a fish aquarium. The fish eat away the dead skin from your feet. It was something so odd, we decided to do it...just for experience's sake.

Beth giggled ferociously! They tickled her feet.

Definitely just a one time thing for me.

Hanging on tight on the Metro!

One of our favorite activities was walking Las Ramblas, the main drag in Barcelona.

IronMan 3 in English in a real movie theater! We splurged on the popcorn and coke for such an event!

A few Spanish Oddities:

No scissors campaign?

Random people dressed as bananas. 

Now this is the life!

 We had such a great time in Barcelona, even though we didn't do too many touristy things. I never thought I would be "one of those people" that ate at McDonald's, Hard Rock Cafe, and Starbucks for nearly every meal in a foreign country, but those were my favorite things about this trip! It was refreshing to spend time in a culture more like my own, but we're glad to be back along the Med!