Death by namusa

Wakha... there are these things here... and they stalk me. They follow my every move. They watch me while I sleep and linger just beyond arms reach during the day. They can smell my blood and want to shrb it like they've never shrb-ed before. Back home, we might want to call them mosquitoes. But here, in Morocco, they have a mission, a vendetta, a task that must be completed in Allah's name... to eat me alive. I live with approximately 15 other people in my house, yet, low-and-behold, I am the only one who wakes up every morning itching her forearms with a vengence. I'll give you the current count....12345....17. That's right, seventeen bites on what is exposed beyond my 'Stop Global Warming' t-shirt I frequently sport during sleepy-time. I've tried longsleeves - I heard at least four of you screaming 'hey dumbass' at the screen just now' - I've tried basil in the window, even sleeping completely enveloped within the sheets. Everything short of offending my family by sleeping in the Peace Corps issued mosquito net. The trials and tribulations... of me versus the namusa. Coming to comic book stores near you.

Went to Fez this weekend! So awesome. The Old Medina is very Grand Bazaar-esque f Istanbul. Beautiful shops, narrow passage ways, phenomenal fish for lunch, and a ... nice view of the leather tanneries. Which, by the way, smell like shit. Due to the fact that, well, cow shit is indeed used to colour it. Yum. Sooner or later I'll figure out how to post pictures in a cyber cafe, and when I do, you're in for a treat.

Ah yes, I have a confession... for I have indeed sinned. So I haven't eaten at a McDonald's for... seven years? And well, desperation for both ice cream and a the glory of a western toilet beckoned that I enter the sole Mickey D's in Fez. I will have you know it was worth every moral and Karmic point I sacrificed. I never thought an 18 dirham Mcflurry could taste so good or that sitting while peeing could be so gratifying. But I will have you know that I don't regret a second of it. Plus... I figure I only participated in the exploitation of under-paid workers, false sense of joy with the kid version of 'la bamba' blasting out of the play house, and the consumption of a mass-produced artificial dairy product... however, I am proud to say I did not contribute to the proliferation of methane gas emissions that are caused by the meat industry that inevitabley lead to gross impacts upon the levels of greenhouse gases, by eating a universally named - Bic Mac. So there.

Will update something useful and/or culturally relavent later this week.

Love ya'll