The best package in years

A couple days ago Othman and I got a package from my mom, and what a package it was! Full of Easter goodies and practical gifts, it was partly a package of necessity, partly an Easter package and I even consider it kind of a birthday package since we ended up getting it just a week before my birthday. 

On her recent trip to Brazil I asked my mom to grab me a pair of very simple Havaianas to replace the old ones I have that broke after many many years of use. What she sent were really cute and fancier ones for me, and a pair for Othman too! He actually needed some beach sandals and these are much nicer than the ones we might have gotten here!

You may notice the black thing--a potato masher I requested!
They're so useful and I haven't seen them on sale here.

All the Easter chocolate was well-received as well, because it's been years since I've had a chocolate bunny, and Othman hadn't had one since he was a kid! His very fancy Ferrero-Rocher bunny kind of exploded in the package (due to it being hollow) but it was all eaten up nonetheless, and luckily the package never was hot enough for the pieces everywhere to melt. We're taking the mini chocolate eggs to his family's house tomorrow, which works out well since it'll be his mom's birthday too. Yum yum yum!

While we love everything that came in the package, and are so grateful to my family for sending it, this bit may be the best item of all:

Littlest sister Tessie has always been an artist, but she really has just been getting better and better and better, it astounds us! This watercolor she did was based on this photo: 

and I'm pretty sure I prefer my 13-year-old sister's rendering to the original! Beautifully done Tess, thanks so much!!

It's always nice to receive a little bit of home, and I don't think I'll ever grow too old for care packages. Though this one was spurred on by the need for my special eczema body wash that I had run out of, it ended up being a really wonderful goody bag! Thank you so much mom! 

The story of the ring

Take a look at our wedding photos and you might notice something about where my wedding ring is:

The story why is a pretty good one. Way back a year before the wedding, my Grandma and Tom visited while Othman and I were both in South Dakota, to get to know him. They all hit it off fabulously. Grandma and I had a lot of good conversations during those few days, and we were all sad to see them head back to Dallas. A day or two after they left my Grandma called me, saying she had wanted to check that she still had them before she said anything to me, but that she had two old wedding rings and if I wanted I could take one for my own when the time came. I was beyond thrilled. She sent me pictures of both but didn't know their sizes, and we both decided we'd just see which was better when we saw each other next. 

Fast forward 11 months to the night before the wedding. We had a giant "rehearsal dinner" at the Brazilian restaurant in Sioux Falls, to which everyone from out of town was invited. We took up many, many tables in a large corner and it was just lovely to have everyone around for more than just one night. When Othman and I arrived most people were already sitting and eating, and we had a nice time making the rounds to talk to everyone. When we got to Grandma's table she pulled out a little ring box, and I stood above the happily munching table and tried on both rings. The first was a bit of a dud but the second was lovely--a thin and dainty wedding band with three rectangular diamonds, that matched a larger "engagement" ring that my aunt Sarah had taken when she got married. I fell in love with it... but it only fit on my fifth finger, not my fourth.

With little bro and his lovely lady.

The next morning my little brother's girlfriend, who graciously became the day-saving errand-girl on numerous occasions, ran to the priest before the ceremony to ask if it was okay that Othman put the ring on my pinky finger. About 10 minutes before walking down the aisle I got confirmation that there wasn't an issue. Phew! The wedding carried on as weddings do, until the moment Othman was to put the ring on my finger. His 12 year old brother, acting as best man, handed over the rings with an air of relief (a big job for a pre-teen!) and not long after, Othman got hold of mine. He was all smiles, but his hands, like mine, were a bit shaky, and definitely more sweaty than usual. Before he could slip the tiny band completely on my finger, it dropped to the ground and rolled off! I can't remember if he was laughing, but that definitely got a giggle out me! Luckily I spotted it quickly, right next to the priest's big black shoe, and after a chuckle on everyone's part we carried on as usual. As a friend of mine noted, it was a perfect way for everyone in the church to be reminded of the humanity of the moment. Yes we were up to some pretty heavy stuff, but despite the solemnity of the task at hand were were all just friends and family gathered together to celebrate love.

Back when I was the only granddaughter!

Afterwards my Grandma confided to me that she thought Othman's fumble wasn't all that accidental. My Grandpa Mike, who died many years ago, bought that ring for Grandma, with help from my 7 year old dad, once he could afford something nicer than her original plain wedding band. I had a special relationship with my Grandpa, loved him fiercely and think about him often. I really wish he could have been there that day. Grandma thinks when it came time, he may have nudged Othman a bit, saying "Hey, remember what you're doing here, and remember she's my granddaughter." He was always a bit of a jokester, and that'd be just his style. Though I wish Othman could have met him, I like to think he was with us there in spirit.

Othman has a old friend here in Casablanca who became a jeweler and works with his father. He came over a couple of weeks ago, took the measurement of my finger and took my ring along with him. I didn't see it again until he came over today, with this wonderful surprise:

Absolutely nothing was changed except for the size of the ring, and the fact that it's cleaner, shinier and more polished than it was before. He understood it held sentimental value and took care that nothing, from a small engraving on the side to its tapered shape, was altered. I'm so happy to have it back, and to feel so official!! My wedding ring couldn't be more perfect, and was a lovely gift. Thank you Grandpa, Grandma, and Othman for your love, and this sign of it!

A little painted gift

For the past year and a half I've tutored two lovely French children who used to live in India. Their mom hired me to come see each of them once a week to ensure they don't lose their English. They attended an American school in India and the older one speaks fluently, so we mostly play games, read books, draw and the like. The younger one needs more structured lessons, but we still have lots of fun and he'a very sweet kid. Last Saturday he turned 9, so as a birthday present, remembering his two favorite colors and his favorite animal, I painted this for him. I planned on doing something a bit easier and simpler, but this is how it turned out. Othman drew it and I painted, and little Julien seemed really happy with the gift. His mom said the colors made it look very Indian too, which was a happy coincidence. They said they're even going to frame it! 
They might be heading back to France soon which will make me very sad, because I've grown quite attached to the kids, but at least Julien will have a tiger hanging in his room to remember me. =]

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Grandma--

You are so full of kindness and wisdom, and I hope some day to be as good a mother and grandmother as you are! I often think of you throughout my days and miss you dearly, but even though most of my life has been spent very far away I am so grateful to have you as a grandma. Thank you for everything you have given me, from happy holidays in Dallas, to wise words during long phone conversations, to a wedding ring of your own. I hope today and this year, are full of beautiful experiences for you, and lots and lots of love. Sending plenty of it to both you and Tom from Othman and I!

Unexpected.

In Morocco, as in many other parts of the world, people seem to have insane amounts of extended family. Part of this is due to large families, but there's another factor at play too--close friends who are unrelated by blood but connected by strong bonds of lasting friendship call each other aunts, uncles and cousins. In keeping with that practice, the 5 Chomicki kids are my wonderful Polish cousins who I now see far too seldom. My parents met Jan and Wanda when I was still a baby in Manhattan, Kansas, and they moved to New Jersey about a year before we moved there as well. They're now based in Buffalo, New York, and we haven't lived close to each other in many years, but my head is full of childhood memories of watching Tintin cartoons in French with them, annoying the boys by chasing them with many-headed-lego-men, playing outdoor hide and seek in their neighborhood in Kansas (and getting asthma attacks often as not), and eating all sorts of fabulous Polish dishes at their house. The skinny dried sausages hanging on the side of their fridge were my favorite. When a couple days after our wedding last August they came over to our house and made us a Polish dinner just the taste of Wanda's salad dressing triggered floods of memories. 

Thankfully Facebook (of course) and blogs help with keeping up, and there are two nice Chomicki blogs that I follow. Urszula, with whom I'm the closest, has a very clever and funny blog about her travel adventures and misadventures, and married-in Chomicki Nichole's blog often features her and Oskar's adorable kiddies here.

The Chomicki clan at our wedding, minus one brother
plus one cousin. Picture stolen from Nichole, here.

Last week I randomly got an email from my mom forwarding a message from Wanda saying that her sister would be in Casablanca on Friday and Saturday. She said I should try to meet up with her, and that she had given her a couple gifts for Othman and I to expand our collection. For our wedding last August they gave us two of our favorite gifts-- a matching pitcher and baking dish (well actually 2 baking dishes but my mom loved them so much I left one in the US for "safekeeping") from Poland. They're beautifully hand painted and very practical because of how solid they are! It was so thoughtful of her to send anything along with her sister, let alone Polish ceramics.

I didn't want it hiding away in a cupboard!

Arranging to meet Wanda's sister Ania was a bit complicated, seeing as we could only communicate in French (which she hadn't spoken in a long time she said), was going to be in Casa for less than 24 hours, and I had classes to teach during many of those hours. It worked out that I recommended for them to eat at La Sqala (previously mentioned here) and Othman and I met them there at 9:30pm last Friday--the earliest we could seeing as my class got out at 9pm. They had already finished eating and the table had been cleared by the time we met them, but we had a nice multi-lingual chat with Ania, the three Austrians she was travelling with and the Canadian college student they had met at the hotel and invited to dine with them. Othman and I gave them all travel tips about what to do and what not to do! The European group are going on a nice tour around the big cities-- Casa, Fez, Marrakech and Essaouira, and I'm sure they'll enjoy it. 

They had had a late night in Lisbon the night before and were all yawning after a while. I had to teach in the morning as well so we didn't linger too long, but before we said our goodbyes Ania gave us the lovely gifts from Wanda--two beautiful mugs-- filled with gourmet Austrian chocolates from her! It was lovely, we were both really happy and quite touched.

One of the mugs this morning, full of steaming coffee.

Viennese chocolates, yum!

It was really lovely to meet Ania, but funnily enough we had actually crossed paths years earlier. Oskar is the oldest of my Chomicki "cousins" and his aunt Ania was at his wedding, like me, back in 2008. The day after the wedding there was a big lunch for all the Polish family in town, with of course our Brazilian-American faction in attendance, so we even are in a picture together!

This picture could be a fun game of "Spot the non-Poles"! Ania is third from the right in the bottom row in white, and I'm in the center back row in black.

 The world truly isn't all that big, and is full of so many wonderful people.

Marrakech- Jemaa El Fna by night

The most popular tourist attraction in Marrakech is the huge square Jemaa El Fna that leads to the old medina that houses a huge winding marketplace. During the day the open square is filled with snake charmers and women offering to do henna on your hands, musicians and performers, and stands selling dried fruit and nuts and orange juice. When we were in Marrakech a few weekends ago Othman and I headed to have dinner in the square, since it's cheap, good, and always an experience! 

We're not quite sure if the sign is like that on
purpose or not... you never know around here!

It's hard to capture how big the square really is. 

Once the sun goes down something very interesting happens-- the snake charmers and henna ladies make way for a bunch of portable restaurants to set up for the night. The cooks buy a bunch of fresh veggies, meats and seafood, or make huge vats of a traditional Moroccan soup called Harira (it's a bit like chili), and serve until their night's supply is finished. If you walk anywhere near their stands, the guys who work there are very insistent in trying to get you to sit down and eat. The food is simple--grilled meats and a variety of veggie salads--but well-priced and fresh. When in Marrakech it's worth a trip!

Our random choice for the night. The only real way to choose if you don't know
one personally is by looking to see which ones have more people eating at them!

Food waiting to be served up.

After Othman and I ate we wandered around a bit,  seeing a few wares out for sale:

Yes those are pirated DVDs and fake Beats headphones.

some more dried fruits and nuts:

and finally had some orange juice for dessert. The fresh squeezed, cold juice from Jma El Fnaa is delicious beyond words. I've never had better, anywhere in the world. When it's hot and sunny there's nothing better you could ask for, and even when it's not you still can't resist. And at 50 cents a glass, why would you want to?

He was happy to pose!

As you can see above, the stand had a bunch of pictures. Seated in
the middle of this one is Mohammed V, the grandfather of the current king, 
and standing on the left is his son, the former King Hassan II.

We headed back to the car, stopping to snap a picture of the historical Koutoubia mosque, satisfied with a lovely evening.

Marrakech- La Palmeraie

When Othman and I were in Marrakech two weekends ago we stayed in an apartment his grandfather owns in an area slightly outside of the city called La Palmeraie. Palm trees are protected there and it is illegal to cut any down, so while there are lots of luxury hotels and condos around, there are also lots of open spaces too littered with palm trees to build anything on. Given the significant amount of tourists in the area, Moroccans and non-Moroccans alike, in almost every open area one finds a troupe of camels with their owners, waiting to be ridden for exorbitant prices. We just opted for photos!

We got slowed down for a bit...

...till they turned to join their friends.

This scene was on a big street right outside the Palmeraie, on the edge of Marrakech. We saw the boys run and hop on when the truck was stopped at a big traffic circle, and also saw them run away a while after we took the pictures when some cops spotted them. 

15 years of sisterly love

My sweet, intelligent, and beautiful sister Maria is 15 years old today! B or Bia, as I usually call her, has always held a special place in my heart. I was almost 10 when she was born, and old enough to help care for her a lot when she was small. I remember staying with my mom in her hospital room with tiny baby Maria, the smallest of all of us, and filling out her homemade birth announcements with my shaky, childish cursive. I thought she was so perfect, and wanted to be around her all the time. My one and only (and utterly failed) venture into the world of knitting was a baby blanket for her, which I randomly found last summer and realized was much, much smaller than I remembered.

Newborn Bia in the hospital

My best 9-year-old handwriting

As a baby and toddler Bia was generally very sweet tempered, and once Tessie came along they were inseparable playmates. Though their personalities are quite opposite they have always complemented each other well and gotten along beautifully. When I was homeschooling in 7th and 8th grade Tessie was a baby and Bia was a toddler, and I often helped mom take care of them--I especially remember many hours spent watching them playing in the bath! I loved the special sisterly bonds that developed between us from all the time spent together. Neither of them remember much or any of it, but I do, and I know if I had been in school those two years we wouldn't be as close as we are now.

They wore matching clothes for years and years!

One of the hardest parts of living in Morocco for me is being so far from my sisters. Bia was only 8 when I left for college (and Tessie was 6) and I feel like I've missed so much of their growing up and becoming who they are now. Each summer I feel like I rediscover a "new version" of my sisters, who are essentially the same but who have a year's worth of changes behind them. When I got home last July Bia's hug felt different--she'd passed me in height, and was no longer the pre-teen I had left the September before. It's hard to see so tangibly how much I miss. 

B, Tess and Volamino in Brazil, 2006.

Maria is a very unique member of our family, but she and I share a lot of common traits and we understand each other well. We even look the most alike of the sisters! She's the witty one in the family--she may not talk much but when she does it's worth paying attention to. Philosophical and hilarious comments that cut right to the heart of whatever dinner-table discussion we're having are her specialty! She's a lover of paper--whether it's in a book, in one of her many notebooks, or she's drawing or painting on it--there is always some close to her. She and I are probably the two biggest readers of our siblings, and we're definitely the two who write the most. She recently started her own blog, which is full of personality, and gives me wonderful doses of her from across an ocean. Bia also likes to bake, and during my weeks in South Dakota in the summer one can often find the two of us making cookies and laughing together in the kitchen. She's a private person whose mind is constantly full of all sorts of fanciful thoughts, whose mouth and manner may be calm, but whose spirit definitely isn't. 

One major difference between us is the environment we grew up in. It still kind of confuses me that my two youngest sisters basically grew up as South Dakotan country girls. I think Bia took the move away from the acreage and into the city this past August the hardest, and I don't blame her for it. Every day she'd take an after-dinner walk around our property and in our woods, enjoying the beauty, the quiet, the alone time. She took me on her walk a few times, and it was wonderful to share that with her, and to remember how I used to do much the same when I lived there in high school.

I think that was our very first farm cat, aptly named "Kitty"

This year for Maria promises all sorts of things--a new house (we hope!), an overseas trip (we hope!), a learner's permit (maybe?), and a continuation of her growth into a beautiful young lady who is wonderful to be around and who can make everyone smile. Happiest of birthdays dear little sister, and here's hoping this year is the best one yet. I love you and am so proud of you!!

Marrakech- a restaurant worth visiting

Last Friday through Monday Othman and I spent a long weekend in Marrakech! It felt great to get out of Casa, and we ended up doing and seeing all sorts of interesting things. I'll be writing quite a few posts about our different activities, along with plenty of pictures of course, but I wanted to begin with something simple and sweet.

For lunch on Sunday we decided to check out the restaurant at Association Amal. It's a non-profit that functions as a culinary training center for under-served women in Marrakech. I had heard of it previously, and when Othman stumbled upon the extremely positive reviews on TripAdvisor we decided it'd be worth a trip!

It wasn't horribly difficult to find since we had Googlemaps on Othman's phone, but without that it wouldn't have been so easy. It's located in a residential neighborhood off any main roads, which made it a nice little haven from the hustle and bustle of the busy streets. 

According to TripAdvisor it's a great place for traditional Moroccan food, so that's what we were expecting to eat. From what we understood the menu changes every day, so the daily choices are quite limited. Luckily I was able to find both an appetizer and a main course that fit my oh-so-complicated dietary needs, but Othman was a bit disappointed because other than the briwats as a starter there wasn't really anything traditional being offered that day. Beef brochettes were about as close as we got.

Someone deliberating over menu choices

That being said, the food we were served was high quality, well-prepared and nicely presented. I requested no peppers and tomatoes with my veggies due to allergies and I still got them, but we were able to swap with each other easily enough. The chocolate moelleux Othman got for dessert was so delicious that I had to cheat a bit and have some, because it was pretty incredible. (We were too hungry to think about taking pictures of our food, so you'll just have to take me on my word!)

The seating area was all outside and filled up completely as we lunched. We heard Germans, Americans, Brits, some sort of Scandinavians and Moroccans all chatting in the sun. There were lots of kids running around and playing with each other in various languages, and a few cute kittens providing everyone some entertainment.

I loved the simpleness of everything, from the two fresh roses at each table in simple clay vases, to the large and colorful clay plates the food was served on, to the floppy woven straw basket that held the homemade bread. 

The serving sizes were reasonably portioned, and though I was full at the end of our meal hungry hubby wasn't totally satisfied. If you're going to lunch there and have some big-eaters with you, be aware of that. We got all of our food (2 starters, 2 main courses, bread and a dessert) and our fresh squeezed orange juices for about 180dh, which is quite reasonable. We rounded up and gave them a full 200dh with no hesitance, because we enjoyed the experience and because it felt good to eat so well while supporting a non-profit!  

All in all we had a pleasant lunch, and are glad we went. Due to the nature of the center I think if we went another day with a different menu we may have come away more enthusiastic, but even so I'd definitely recommend grabbing a meal there if you happen to be in Marrakech!