Birthday Weekend

The bday cake my family made me. It says "Sna s3ida Kris" or the equivalent to happy birthday. Oh, and they thought it was my 23rd bday.

Hey all! Just wanted to quickly say thanks for all of the great birthday wishes I received via E-mail and Facebook. You guys rock!

I had a wonderful birthday weekend in Rabat after taking the bus across country to get there. I now know it is possible to fit 7 people in the back of the bus where there are only 4 seats. Half way through the trip the man sitting next to me figured out I could speak Arabic so we chatted it up for the next 3 hours, which was nice to practice don't get me wrong, but when you're sitting on my lap with your 300lb body and we're practically kissing... You get the point. I stayed in a nice hotel (nice by my standards now) in the centre ville-- the modern French part of the city. It was wonderful to get away and do things that I wanted to do and not be on other people's schedules. I met up with my good buddy Blake and hit the town. We went to the American Club (which is where the American commissary is and there's a restaurant where embassy staff hangs out and has crazy security just to get in) and had REAL cheeseburgers with REAL American cheese and REAL bacon! Do you know how hard it is to find pork in a Muslim country? It was by far the most delicious thing I have ever ate. Seriously. We then went to Club Yakut which was this super cool bar with a live band that played Africana music. My family called me and sang Happy Birthday to me while I was at the club which was awesome-- Even though it was technically 12:30AM and no longer my birthday, love you guys! The next day I was able to take my first REAL shower in over a month and it was the longest shower I have ever taken. I almost missed my train because of it! Train rides in Morocco are awesome and I was fortunate enough to have a car to myself, even though they're more expensive they are the way to go. When I got back to my site my host family had baked me a cake and my brothers threw me a little song and dance party in my room! They really are awesome :)