the marrakesh express

Our friends Ben and Kelly came to town this weekend- spent some time in Marrakesh and then took the train up here to Rabat to be with us. It was so great to catch up- and we're beginning to feel like old pros at meeting up- as Kelly pointed out- this is the third continent we've been on together :-) (Asia, Europe, US).

We had a super time- pretty laid back(like no traveling outside of Rabat) though Ben and John's antics really kept things interesting
Kelly and I were more relaxed- here we're watching the waves
which looked like this!
John and Ben went out to find some take-out lamb after church and we found this on the camera when they got back 2 hours later :-)
And of course, Sam loved having visitors and Ben and Kelly liked seeing Sam growing up (they saw him when he was just crawling).

Yesterday, the last of their visit, was the most eventful. John and Ben worked as extras in the Matt Damon movie being filmed here. They hung out by a pool all day, had a full breakfast buffet (with bacon), and then steaks for lunch. They assured us that it really was hard work :-) Also, Matt Damon was in their scene so they saw lots of him and Ben said he looks just like he thought he would. Also, John met Amy Ryan who plays Officer Beadie Russell in The Wire- which is his favorite show these days. John's back there working today which I am really grateful for because we'll probably be able to pay for our overweight luggage when we move to Congo with what he's making these two days.

Kelly and I had a much more laidback day as she was feeling a bit under the weather, but my big adventure came around 6pm when I heard shouting in our hallway and went to find out what was going on. One of our neighbors was attacked by a man who had followed her in the building- he had a machete and she ended up with a six inch cut on her hand and a smaller one on her back. He got off with her purse- just calmly walked out of the building so the guards and all the other people on the street had no idea he had done anything. She screamed for help but by the time people figured it out he was gone. I hung out with her for about half an hour while she waited for her husband to get home. Her 2 year old son was pretty terrified- even more so because he could see that his mommy was scared. And she had to cancel her credit card and checks and do all that kind of stuff. Poor woman! The guy who attacked her was really gutsy and really shrewd- in plain daylight with loads of men on the street right outside our door. My take on it is that if someone wants to hurt you or rob you they will probably figure out a way. I saw her after she got back from the police station and the doctors and she seemed to be doing a bit better. Still, it's a shame that she'll have a scar to remind her of such a scary moment.