Day after Leid

So yesterday marked the end of Ramadan, the end of fasting during the day. It was a grand day of celebration, I relate it to a mixture between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There was lots of eating, napping and visiting family, and lots and lots of sugary mint tea and sweets.

I woke up around 9:30am and had a breakfast of a pasta with creamy sauce and sweets and mint tea, then slept and rested after visiting with an aunt and cousin. Then after a small lunch of beef and vegetables, rested some more before walking into the hills a bit to visit aunts of the dad and their berber grandmother who only spoke Tamazight, so I just sat and smiled and ate more sweets and drank more tea. We had gotten a ride from a friend to the house, then walked back to the house. Rested some more, had more sweets and mint tea when a relative came to visit, then rested some more before I took a walk with my sister and cousin. We came back and then had more sweets, nuts and tea with the aunt's family before a neighbor came over to do henna for my hands. The photos are below. It was quite the ordeal, but lots of fun. I sat chatting with all the women laughing and having a great time, even chatting a bit in Darija, :). Then they wrapped my hands in cotten and socks and helped me change and get ready for bed. Then I spent about 10 minutes in the morning scraping the dried portion off. They look beautiful though. Photos are below:

Otherwise training is going well. Nervous about being out on my own in a month, I hope I get a site where there is at least another American. Otherwise I am becoming more comfortable in the country and using the limited Darija I currently know. We discussed the small projects we will implement in our current town during our next 2-3 week stay, I'm excited, :). I am going to attempt to set in place a way or template for them to apply for grants, loans, etc. to use in order to grow their business.

I am starting to miss cheeseburgers and sliced deli meats though...;).