Updating our blog

Some of you may wonder why we don't update our blog more often. Quite frankly there aren't a lot of new things going on in the life of us students. Lot's of language family, eat, sleep, repeat. However if there is something you would like to know about or see a picture of let us know. We would be glad to try and inform and or educate! Let us know at brianhosler@gmail.com
Brian

Amina.... Our language helper

 
Amina and her family continue to bless us in many ways. They really enjoy helping us with some of the challenges that come our way. 

Pictures of the skies......A pretty time of year

  

  

  

  

  

Interesting Facts.....Family

We are living in a culture where family is everything. So much so that every school day the children get off at noon and return to school at 2pm. Why? So that they can be at home as a family for the noon meal. We as Americans could take lessons from some of the values here.
Brian

Interesting Facts

 
Morocco is famous for the Berber carpets made here. They are of the highest quality.
This is a 9'X 5' carpet made by the Berber people. The Berbers are a nomadic people group here in Morocco. Their native language is Berber, not Arabic. This carpet is hand woven and all the different colors come from dye made from Poppie flowers. The exception is the yellow which comes from saffron. It's made out of wool and cotton. Each carpet design is original. You can buy a new one or one that is hundreds of years old.
Brian 

A few close-ups of the hand work.

 
This is for those of you who find this kind of thing interesting. 

 
Both 5' edges have 16 thin stripes running the full length. The different colored blocks along the edges fit together like a puzzle. 

 
The colors do not run or bleed. 

 
Some of the nice shops in the Old Medina have hundreds of these carpet's for sale. 

Our Bread

 
Each loaf is about 7 inches round and 1 inch thick. The cost is about 12 cents a loaf.
It doesn't keep very long because there are none of those wonderful preservatives inside:)
Twice a day fresh bread is brought out from the bakery's to the local hanuts(shops).
It's very good!
Brian 

Pest Control

We have two big modern super markets in Fes. Most of the rows of product are about 4 inches off of the floor. This allows their state of the art pest control to be 100% efficient. Cats!! It seems to work well:)
Brian

Who would have thought "Hot Dogs" would be a treat!?!

 
You can't buy hot dogs in Fes. They are made of the "P" word (pork) which is forbidden for a Muslim to eat. Donna and I got these when we were in Spain. Of course if you can't buy hot dogs then there aren't any hot dog rolls to purchase either. No problem:)
Brian 

Ramadan continues

Question. What is your job description? Now imagine doing that job when it is 100 degrees during the day. If you work outside you get the full effect of the heat. If you work inside you would have no air conditioning. Now imagine doing this without food or water from 4:30am to 6:00pm. Imagine doing this for 30 days in a row.
Welcome to Ramadan. It makes life interesting around here!
Tempers flare resulting in many fist fights throughout the days. You don't want to walk near the road around 5:30pm. Everyone is rushing home so that they will be there when the "call to prayer" echoes across the city. This is the signal that it's time to eat.
Fes is a city of 1 1/2 million people. Can you imagine what the streets are like from 5pm to 6pm. It's dangerous. Can you imagine what it's like down town at 6:15pm.
Not a sound is heard. Not a bike or car to be seen. Everyone is inside eating. Unbelievable!
Brian

Language

Some of you may be thinking,' Hey by the way how is your Arabic learning coming along?" My reply to that would be, "It's a very good thing I'm not a drinking man or else I wouldn't be sober enough to write this." Any questions? :)
Brian