The Adventure of Changing Plans

For our mid-term break we headed to a desert city music festival. We arrived early at the ‘taxi depot’ downtown, looking for a mini-van taking travelers on the 8 hour trip. Come to find out, they only depart at 4pm so that they can make the journey at in the cool of night. We chose to submit to their times rather than hire a private car. But, at 4pm when there weren’t enough takers to fill the van, we headed to a house on the outskirts of town to fill up with Tuaregs heading across the desert to Niger. The trip was long since we stopped for tea breaks, dinner, and checkpoints where each time our fellow-travelers piled out to be patted down and inspected. We arrived at 3am!

The next day we discovered that the music festival had been canceled for some reason. Fortunately, a familiar face pulled over, excited to see us...it was the driver-tour guide from our excursion last spring. Now friends, he invited us to accompany him as he showed around group of local friends who work in the oil fields together. We visited another ancient city; watched dune races, and attended a Tuareg festival where Jared was interviewed by the national news – what novelty to have a whitey from the US there! And we ate rishda (tender handmade noodles) in the old city, where they got a kick out of dressing us in their traditional wedding garments.

It was a spontaneous and extremely enjoyable trip – and Jared made some wonderful new friends who are genuinely good guys. It was my first time to really be around local men, since there was no where else for me to go. But these mid-twenty year olds were so kind and respectful to me; it was a great experience for me too, balancing out my normal horn-honking and stare-down encounters!

'Norweij'

Despite the difficulties of Summer School, we did enjoy being here - laid back pace, time for Arabic and Oud lessons...Jared ate dinner with the school night guards every week. One man learned to cook in the army and is quite good - he thoughtfully sent food home for me one evening. But after 6 weeks of School, we were aching to get out and have a breather. The School was more exhausting than we bargained for.

We spent a few days shopping in London, which I've never had much cause to do before, but what fun! We hit the end-of-the-season sales. I stocked up on tunic-type shirts and ankle sports pants to use as swimwear, and Jared found ties and button-up shirts. I also bought a kitchen scrub brush and my mother mailed me baking soda, an oven thermometer, a potato masher, cockroache traps, razor blades, and cream of tartar - all of which can't be found here. (Not that shopping lists are usually intersting, but they do show an unique snap shot of life.)

Some very dear friends welcomed us in Norway - such a God send. We went first to Oslo tanking up on Museums, wild cherries and peal-your-own shrimp at the harbor. Then we enjoyed the fresh air and greenness of Bergen and the Fjords. A family was generous enough to lend us their cabin in a remote mountain valley which hosts the largest glacier in Europe. Hiking was just what the doctor ordered, and we were thrilled to pick wild blueberries for trail snacks. We were totally impressed with Norweigans as all of them we met picked their own assortment of berries to make jam and juice, and made us waffles and homemade bread - not to mention that they invented the cheese slicer. When our two weeks were up, we actually felt prepared to return.

With such an expensive economy we didn't stock up on anything, except some brown cheese (it's both caramel colored and tasting, best eaten with jam and crisp crackers - who would have thought - YUM!) - and it set off every airport sensor from Oslo to North Africa! But it is safe in our fridge now.