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a lot has happened since my last post. birthday come and gone. got sung to in THREE languages. can't beat that. the association i've been working with threw a pretty heart-warming surprise cake-feast. some of the girls i've been teaching brought me flowers and lovely gifts such as a large plastic key chain with sparkles and a sort of brass-foil ring. precious. i tried to wear the ring the next time i went in, but it only fit on the top of my pinky.

anyways, i was reading over my past posts and realized that i hadn't written about any of my guilty American pleasures. and i've got a few. well i mean, there's the bulk peanut butter that we somehow acquired (gift from a visitor?), and our extensive collection of american movies, tv series and of course music. it still makes me smile when i'm sitting in my living room watching like, Arrested Development for example, and then the call to prayer comes blasting through the window. or a group of women yodeling outside interrupts my Bob Dylan album. collision of worlds, in my house. there are also the trashy magazines that can sometimes be found at the used book market (left behind by a tourist?), which i must say i enjoy way more here than i ever did at home. i'm not sure what it says that i find it comforting to read about next season's fashion or look at pictures of the best and worst dressed celebrities... oh, and probably worst of all is my friend's sort of newly acquired wee-nintendo. i don't know if you're familiar with the machine- sort of like the old nintendo except you have to actually move the 'wand' with the game. so like, virtual boxing requires actual punches in the air. just picture two people vigorously punching nothing with a silly stick in their hand. i haven't decided if i like watching or playing more.

it's like i appreciate american pop-culture and weirdo gadgets that much more purely because they're harder to access here. tastes of home, though not necessarily ones that i particularly enjoyed while i was there. next think you know i'm going to be asking one of you to send me an iphone. anyways, don't worry about needing to catch me up with pop-culture updates or weird technological advances. totally on top of it.

oh, in the same vein, rachel and i have plans to make chocolate chip cookies in our neighborhood's public oven. generally people don't have ovens in their house here (specifically in the old-city), but every neighborhood has a communal stone-hearthish one. so people can be seen walking around with huge trays of bread, pasteries, whatever. so yeah, we're gonna attempt a batch of toll-house favorites soon... possibly the first batch in the derb el hammam oven. if it goes well lasagna may be the next step. i'll let you know what happens.