A $3750 meal *sort of

The TGIF here finally opened after six months of 'coming soon.' This is a big deal- it makes a huge difference to be able to have the occasional American meal out and somehow Pizza Hut, and McDonald's don't really count for me. But our meal Thursday with my folks complete with skinless buffalo wings (real celery!), artichoke and spinach dip, and quesadillas (among other things) was the real deal. Everything was delicious except for the ice cream sundae (good ice cream is, in my opinion, an American thing- even our 33 cent ice cream sandwiches have better ice cream than reasonably priced ice cream here). One of the managers played in the NFL (for the Eagles nonetheless- and he told us how the menu is the same as in the states and how everything is locally prepared. My mom thinks this means that the food is better here since we get awesome produce in Morocco. And the $3750? Well that includes 4 roundtrip tickets to the US.

Our awesome friends Carrie and Cody generously offered to babysit Sam so we had a calm dining experience (except for the staff cheers which were so lame- no spirit- but I think they're required to sing them every so often- kind of like Jennifer Aniston's flair in Office Space).
In other news, Morocco is the country of choice for desert-looking movies (think Blackhawk Down, and Gladiator) and this year there've been at least two movies filmed here. Last Fall there was Body of Lies with Leonardo DiCaprio (some CIA in Jordan movie) and now they are filming a movie with Matt Damon (about the Iraqi War). They're always looking for extras and they pay about 100 dollars a day, but often they're during the work week.

On Saturday, I went to the Mini-Park in our neighborhood with my new friend Alice and her daughter Obedience (Obi)- they both liked it a lot and Alice was gracious enough to let me practice French even though she's completely fluent in English (she's from Ivory Coast)
I know I"ve mentionned before how much I appreciate the way that Moroccan's treat kids, but I've just got to say it again because these three ladies at the park are so wonderful with Sam (here's a pic of one) When we get there, Sam goes from one of them to the next and I can just go and sit down or do whatever- not even worry about him. Then he plays in the little kid area with the plastic slides.


I think I'm getting a little careless though- so when a new lady took Sam I didn't give it a second thought and then I found him on this merry-go-round without anyone watching him. That could have been dangerous but he seems oblivious to it all.


And now for some random Sam stuff...

I think John and Sam look alike in this pic.
This is one of Sam's first pieces of artwork- he calls it "Impressions in oatmeal and carrot puree"
Sam's been into emptying drawers this week so I've moved all the knives in the kitchen to on top of the fridge. But I figure a wooden rolling pin couldn't do much harm, right?
When he empties the bathroom shelves it's usually into the toilet (we're really working against that "it's a toilet not a toy, Sam") or into the bathtub as seen here.