California Jingle Bells

definition of disaster

yet

a personal success: each and every student participated (and used the english language)

only in spain...

would you find two bottles of hard alcohol (+ a stack of disposable shot glasses) sitting in the teachers' lounge.

we were there

And now, a couple of pics of me (and Felix) in Morocco, proof that we were there, since it doesn't exist in the other posts...

 Avocado Juice - delicious! ( avocado, milk, sugar, maybe ice cream...it tasted more like a matcha green tea jamba juice)

no shoes inside the mosque

   

 Royal Guards at the tomb of Mohammed V

Mosque Hassan II in Casablanca

blue to ward off mosquitos, white to keep off the heat

 

 

 glee

  

dinner in Marrakech

 

the Casablanca piano

la mezquita

On Saturday, December 11, I took a train to Córdoba, a city northeast of Sevilla, and met up with Sam and Austin, two friends of mine from USC (and Buenos Aires and Santiago), who are also teachers' assistants. It was pleasant to see friends from home and exciting to finally see La Meqzquita of Córdoba, which I had learned about in high school while studying Spanish culture.

Mezquita means mosque, and traditionally refers to the principal mosque in a city. But actually, La Mezquita in Córdoba is not a mosque (anymore). It started out as a pagan temple in the time of the Visigoths, and upon the Moorish conquest, was converted into a mosque. The Moors eventually built a large mosque in place of the old one. After the Reconquista, when the Christians regained control of the region and united Spain, a Catholic cathedral was built into the center of the mezquita. The building is now referred to as the mezquita-catedral, and inside, you find a unique combination of Arabic design and Catholic religious symbols. See if you can spot both in the pictures below.

 The "candy-cane-like" arches, unique to the Mezquita, create the illusion that the interior of the building is much bigger than it actually is.

 

 

Sam and me :)

puppies for sale

Today, Felix and I went searching for an outdoor animal market that I had read about. Unfortunately, we did not find the animal market, but we did find a large flea market, and I was able to get my puppy fix there.

For 20 €, any one of these malnourished, dirty pups could have been mine! It was quite heartbreaking.

   

best of morocco

The thought of blogging about my trip to Morocco is daunting. We saw four cities in five days, so there are too many pictures of too many different places to really even begin categorizing...for that reason, I've chosen the top 25 photos from the trip (in no specific order). Which is your favorite?

 

the kingdom

 

watch tower

 little sister

 two worlds meet

 and time goes by

 into the abyss

 free to look

 

all the tree goats

 goldfrond

 do not disturb

 majestiquita

 let there be light

 forever young

 postcard from asilah

 aim for the stars

 whangdoodle

 tears for trash

 stairway to heaven

  chameleon fail

 retirement

oh hey spain and england

 happy place

 

apocalypse now

 

 sugar rush

saw 7, marrakech