This was built

....in 2000 BC, says Kept Man as we walk towards the St. Vitus Cathedral.

I take a second to contemplate this and then look at him funny.

In defense he says, "Well that's what I remember from the book (Rick Steve's Guide to Prague) so it must be true."

Uh-huh. It's amazing that I ever believe anything that comes out of his mouth.

It's Like walking on Mashed Potatoes

I never knew snow could be so fluffy. Any snow I have ever walked through before has always been very icy (read rock hard) or slushy (read watery coldness the invades your boots). Neither of which are very pleasant. Walking around in Prague in this light airy snow has been cold but fun and it's no surprise that I compared its consistency to some type of food. Obsessed.

Besides mashed potatoes the snow here can also be compared to chocolate chip ice cream. Fluffy snow + grit = chocolate chip ice cream to me. Now if I could just find a spoon.....

Whew!

From a slow paced work environment to the holidays to intense no time to stop 12 hour work days. I'm exhausted. This is the first chance I've had to really sit in front of a computer and not be on go go go mode let alone have slept in and had a leisurely breakfast with the Kept Man.

To tell the truth I can't complain. I love being busy and after five months of barely doing anything in a work day it is satisfying to be needed, feel overwhelmed and know that I am being productive. Weird I know but to me hell would be having to go to work and pretend to be busy all the time. Without internet to distract me. I can barely stand going to work where I don't have to pretend that I'm not busy. And where I have internet to distract me.

Getting to Prague was another adventure. I arrived early for my flight from Marrakech to London. Got checked in, went through security and was quietly waiting to know what gate I would be leaving from while reading my book when I heard via announcement in both Arabic, French and English that my flight was delayed by 2 hours. Now I had a tight turn around in London where I had to collect my bag, go through customs, change terminals and check in for another flight within a 3 hour period. Being delayed two hours meant I was never going to make it.

Also I have a phone that does not call internationally, so I had to call my boss in Marrakech to call my boss at Corporate so that everyone could be aware that I was delayed. However I was not able to contact Kept Man as he was already on his way to Prague and had an international number that I couldn't call at the moment from Morocco. Curses!

After 3.5 hour delay in Marrakech within an insane amount of children on the flight. Get off my armrest!  I made it to London, collected my bag, made it over to another terminal, got in line with EasyJet and managed to get a ticket on the next flight to Prague at 6am the next day. With my handy English SIM card I was able to call my Corporate boss get a room for the night at an airport hotel and call Kept Man to catch up. He made it to Prague just fine and was enjoying our hotel room without me.

I made it into Prague on Tuesday just before another huge winter storm hit the UK. After I arrived at the hotel it was go go go. I checked in, ran upstairs, gave the man a kiss and ran back down to start work. I didn't even manage to step outside the hotel until Thursday when Kept Man and I went to a restaurant around the corner for dinner. Steak and French Fries with insanely yummy mustardy garlic sauce how I love you.

Now with a weekend almost under my belt I've managed to sleep in, relax, see a movie and take a little walk into town. Work is back tomorrow but with all the immediate things taken care of I think it will at least no longer be 12 hour days nor so intense.

So that's it. I've made it Prague. I'm alive. Sorry to all of you who have emailed and I have not responded to. I barely managed a "I'm alive email" to my mom. Be happy I'm awake and coherent.

Sometimes....

I am an idiot. I bought some apples from a street vendor. He totally cheated me. It was the first time I'd done this. I was walking home from running an errand. I needed to get some apples. I didn't want to go to the grocery store with the hundreds of people and enormous lines. I had happened to walk by this guy and the fruits and veggies looked good. No one else was there. A quick stop and I could be on my way.

I forgot where I was and that in Marrakech they try to steal you blind and that you need to haggle. He told me the price and I was shocked by it, 42 dhirams which is about $5 and about 4 times what it should be. (I know Garren, I'm a moron) I can only justify my stupidity in paying this price with the explanation that I usually go to the grocery store where the prices are fixed and I just came back in London where I have no need to haggle. I stupidly paid him while still puzzling over the price and not realizing I needed to dispute it. As I walked away I immediately became angry at myself as I realized I'd played the role of the stupid foreigner perfectly.

In the scheme of things it's only $5 which if I was going to be robbed blind $5 is not the end of the world, but I just hate that I have to haggle (read argue/have a confrontation) with people. I hate that they just can't give me a fair price and let me be on my way. Maybe I'm just a naive Westerner (or really an avoid confrontation at all costs type of person) but I hate that buying a few apples can turn into a whole ordeal. Next time I'll let it turn into a whole ordeal. Next time I will be prepared for them to try to treat me like a dumb foreigner. Next time they had better watch out.

Next time I will go to the grocery store even with its immense lines to avoid having to deal with this.

ugh. idiot.

High Maintenance

Since moving to Marrakech, my beauty regime has not been kept up to previous standards. (Who knew I was so high maintenance?) Back in California I used to get my hair cut every 8 weeks, my eyebrows waxed every 3 weeks and have a pedicure around every 1-2 months depending on the weather.

I’ve managed to get my haircut since moving here, having found a French salon around the corner, but I still miss my hair time with Ashley back at Oxen Rose and with no curlers or flat iron here (the voltage can’t convert with those devices so I left them behind) my hair is pretty frizzy most of the time.

As for the eyebrows, I don’t know how much I trust anyone here with hot wax near my eyes. Actually I do know how much I trust them. Not at all. So I’ve been attempting to pluck my own eyebrows, which I hate.

I’ve already looked up an Aveda salon in London to rectify the situation.

And then there is the pedicure. I’ve actually been given recommendations for a place to go here in Marrakech, but I’ve been too lazy to go and now that the weather has turned cold, well nobody sees my feet anymore but me and Kept Man. And now you lucky people.

I know you're probably disgusted by looking at my feet, but look when we were Christmas shopping in the souks I bought myself some leather babouches in a pretty purple color which hides my un-pedicured feet from sight.


Kept Man thinks my slippers smell from the leather making process which he had the opportunity to visit on his guided tour of the Medina. He frequently throws them into the other room when I’m not looking. Poor pretty babouches.

In other news with all our Christmas shopping we've gotten better at haggling in the souks. Or rather Kept Man has gotten better. I've gotten better at keeping my mouth shut in the background and pretending to be a simpering well mannered wife.

Best Husband Ever

I came home last night to a sparkling home, BBQ chicken pizza, fresh, not frozen, raspberries (my favorite) and the next book in the Twilight Series (Eclipse) under my pillow.

I'm spolied rotten. Kept Man then started watching Pineapple Express and left me to crawl into bed and begin reading the stupidness that is Eclipse. I have to know what happens! Even if the series does drive me crazy. It's a sickness. I promptly feel asleep within a half hour in all my clothes. It was 9:00pm. I'm an old lady.

To those who care I'm also slowly watching a bad quality pirated version of New Moon. Although I'd like to I can't blame all the bad acting on the my bad copy. And yet, I'm still torturing myself. With Kept Man shaking his head in shame in the background.

And this little piggy

So living in what amounts to a pork free society, I've come to realize how many pork products I like. Used to be when I heard the word pork I made a face. I'm not a fan of pork chops (except for Kept Man's which is a recreation of a dish at Wood Tavern and perhaps Erik's but I haven't tried those yet) but I never really realized how many other parts of the pig I enjoy. (man that sounds dirty)

It's amazing to me how prevalent these products are at home back in the states and how DIFFICULT they are to find here. Anytime a recipe calls for bacon or procuitto or something along those lines, we inwardly groan both in longing and frustration as we're either going to have to supplement it with something else or pass over the recipe entirely. We are constantly scouring the grocery store for any pig products (to stock up whenever we get lucky and find some) and cursing any various Moroccan authority figures when we cannot.  Yesterday I went to the Moroccan equivalent of Costco and in the dairy section found salami, serano ham and bacon (yep, pig products mixed in with dairy). I immediately texted Kept Man with "found pig products" and received a "woo-hoo" in return. We are so easily pleased here.

Another situation which rams home my pork dependancy was during an attempt to torture myself earlier today by looking at the autumn menu at Wood Tavern back in Berkeley. Kept Man was making lamb sugo for dinner (which might I mention was excellent, I am spoiled) which was always a favorite of mine when we used to go there too often for dinner and I decided I just had to see what was on their current menu. As I was reading through the menu there were two new items that caught my eye, "Pig and Fig" and "Swine and Bovine". Both items immediately jumped off the page to me only because at this point they are such exotic items. Pork Belly! I might die from shock to see it here.

Thankfully we will soon be in the land of the Czechs where we can gorge ourselves on pig products and beer and be sedated for a while upon our return to Morocco. (but not too long)