Sukkot, or should I say, "Uskut!"

"Kul, Uskut!" ("eat, and shut up!" or, if you prefer: "mange, ete toi!" [I am not to be held accountable for French spelling errors])

Words indelibly marked in my consciousness from Baria's not-so-gentle response to Jakob's complaints and "shuma"s regarding her dinners. During our 2-day food-fest in the Toeldano's gorgeous Souissi Villa, or, more accurately, in their gorgeous, well-lit, tastefully decorated Souissi Succah, we met some new people, tried to learn a new language, and I, at least, was constantly reminded of Baria's words to Jakob as I tried to eat all that was put in front of me.

We got to the Label Vie (high end grocery store) near their house at around 3pm. We waited and I bought a Swiss Army Knife for 45 dirham ($6.50). Jakob saw it when I came home and told me I could have gotten it for 10 ($1.20). Hmmm. Anyway, Lisette picked us up, let us buy her flowers, and we rushed home so she could continue to oversee the 2 maids and 1 manservant who were helping her cook for the chag. While she was doing that, Lisa and I went...swimming. It was hot, the pool was cold, and their backyard was refurbished (including the entire pool area) for their son's wedding last summer, so it is...searching for the adjective...lush.

When Lisa and I were finally able to drag ourselves away from the sundeck, we went upstairs to shower and get ready.
Things that were awesome about our room:
1) We had a balcony, only, unlike our balcony in the medina (I was offered some of my neighbor's fish dinner last night as I chatted with my mother on the phone) no one could see in!
2) We had a toilet that you could flush toilet paper in!
3) We had a bath! And a a bidet (pronounced: biday)!
4) We had spray deodorizer (unnecessary of course, not to mention deadly to the environment), sweet smelling, clean hand soap, vanilla perfume, and Clinique face wash. Oooo! And bathrobes. Mmmm.
oh, and
5) Beds. We had beds. We sleep on couchy things at home. Not beds. These were beds. And lots of pillows and comforters. Fab.

So we get ready, and we go down. Everyone (except for Lisette, Lisa and myself, and their daughter-in-law Julie who was also there for the weekend) had gone to synagogue. They brought regards from Baria, Jakob, and, of course, Mike.

Dinner was in French. Lunch the next day was in French. And then so was dinner. And again at lunch. The couple they had over were wonderful, but if I had to place them in the "I know some English" or the "I know no English" section of my Service Learning class, they would go in the "I know no English" section. I need to learn French. We conversed in Arabic sporadically, but Julie (the daughter-in-law) doesn't speak Arabic, so Lisa and I did a lot of listening and a good deal more of spacing out. So since I can't talk about the meal, allow me, please, to describe about the FOOD. It was a) a lot b) amazing and c) a lot. I will give each meal a title and short description. I guess that'll be for the next post.

For now, I wanted you to enjoy a song that I was reminded of by a friend who is aziz aliya (dear to me) by HaDag HaNachash, but unfortunately, YouTube doesn't have it -- so I'm settling for another song - one of my all-time favorites - by the same fantastic Israeli hip hop group entitled "Rak Poh". Feel free to ignore the propoganda at the start of the video.