A Very Moroccan Christmas

Javier, my mom, and I spent the holiday season in Agadir, Morocco with my sister Alana, her husband Issam and their new baby Salim! Needless to say, Salim is adorable.  I felt like I was gazing into the baby version of my sister's face much of the time, though Salim definitely has his baba's mouth.  Salim is very sweet tempered, too. He was only a little fussy with occasional tummy trouble and was easily soothed by bounces or walks and songs, something his nana excels at.  He had a little cold so he sounded like a piglet, something that only added to his adorability. His facial expression ranged from worry to surprise to laughter within seconds, which was very amusing to watch.  Luckily, I'll see him in May, but it is very sad he lives over 3000 miles away.

Nothing need be said

Proud mommy and baba

Precious

kooky uncle

Aside from the baby focus of the trip, other things to report are that everyone suffered a cold, except my brother-in-law, who graciously brought us all medicine, water, and tissues as needed.  We spent most of our time in the basement bedroom Alana and Issam moved into because the upstairs rooms are a tad freezing. Then we discovered the magic and warmth of the enclosed porch and read and played card games obtained over Christmas in the perfect, Moroccan winter sun.

Alana's pretty, plastic X-Mas Tree

Javier's new style, supplied by Alana and Issam

Alana's very sweet maid Fatima is an amazing cook so we ate handsomely the whole trip. Crepes and Moroccan sweet treats, accompanied by hot milk, were our daily evening snack. Fatima cooked delicious chicken, goat, and lamb tagines, soups, salads, etc.  She was impressed with the apple pie I made for Christmas, but I was impressed with everything that came from her kitchen.

Goat, prune and almond tagine

Fatima's fish tangine

Another Fatima creation: semolina cake

My winter break accomplishments include reading two Jane Austen novels and learning a few more Morrcan Arabic words. These words include: "sabah alher" (good morning), "shwia" (a little), "nom" (yes?), "shbit" (I'm full), "la bes? la bes" (everything's good? everything's good.), "benin" (tasty) and a word that sounds to my ears like "buzzoff" and which means "delicious". None of these words are spelled correctly of course; it's just my phonetic version of them. I was duly impressed with myself when I recognized anyone saying these phrases out in the world or on the radio.

Though we spent most of the time in my sister's villa, we also ventured out into the mad streets of Agadir, and the calm, lovely boardwalk where my mom, Javier, and I would read at cafes and look out over the Atlantic.  Issam and Alana were also kind enough to be tour guides so that Javier could see more of the city and the surrounding area. The day before we left, Issam drove Javier and I north to the lovely beach town Essaouira with its labyrinthine medina and yummy fish dinners.

God, Country, King

How we spent many an afternoon

l'Atlantique

Boardwalk style

A side note: At least two Moroccans thought Javier was Moroccan and began speaking to him in Arabic. "La bes?" one waiter asked him and thought it very funny Javier to be American.

Mom, Javier and I spent our New Year's Eve aboard an AirFrance jet, French time, and asleep in D.C., U.S. time.  Then Javier and I relaxed for a couple days in D.C. with my mom before heading back home.

After driving for nine hours in the snow through the hills of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the flats of Ohio, Javier and I reunited with Paco and Bowling Green. Paco was elated to see us, and had been sweetly spoiled while we were gone (his sitters gave him his own stocking, toys, and gave us photos from the in-home photo shoot of him).

I'll leave you with three more Salim photos:

I could stare at this face for hours

Ahhh!!!

Hippie baby