Long day today...which is always strange to say since each day is the same length. Anyway, ventured downtown for the second (and possibly final) time. I have 17 days remaining here and might just have my going away at the sports bar (they have Shiraz now!).
Driving around town I saw a billboard with a picture of a juice smoothie and the words, "Test our fresh juice." I'm assuming that was supposed to be "taste."
We found the BAM (Big Ass Mall) and walked around a little bit. It really reminded me of the Fair Oaks Mall in Virginia, but with one more floor. Sam and I split (which is much more masculine than saying we shared) a lamb grill and I ordered a Turkish coffee aka cup of sludgey bitterness. There is a "French Walmart" in the mall called Carrefour and I wanted to see what kind of groceries were available. I ended up purchasing a liter of acidophilus milk (as close as I could get to kefir) and a 100g box of drinking chocolate. I chugged most of the milk drink by the time we got to the souq and will use the chocolate tomorrow at work to improve some of our mediocre coffee. Two possibilities: add the powder to the grounds in the filter or add a half spoonful to my coffee cup and pour the coffee into the cup. I am leaning towards the latter approach since the cocoa is meant to be made into effectively hot cocoa.
Next we found a souq whereupon (how often do you get to use that word, huh?) one of my companions bargained for pearls and another got pearls for free. The remaining two of us marveled at a German male wearing capri pants. Oh and I saw a guy wearing camo crocs at lunch today before I left.
Then we went back to the regular souq. We traveled down the same backstreets that were filmed in the movie "Beerfest" on their way to the drinking competition and were told that "everything is 70% off today." I asked the sellers if they had any knives, quaiches or rosaries but they didn't have any. So we found a Moroccan restaurant and sat on the roof.
I spent less here than the previous restaurant and I think the food was even better I feasted on a Niçoise Salad (which sticks in my mind because I think there is a recipe for this in my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook that I referenced in 8th grade) and roasted camel (tastes like beef, another yummy cloven toed ruminant.
Downstairs we went for the local hooka. I had a vanilla milkshake (not paleo/primal/whatever). Sam speaks Arabic and told the waiter we are "boat engineers." I started to list the life aquatic terms I am familiar with: transom (thank you Alan Jackson), mark twain (thank you Mark Twain) and James Bond evil villian method of transport.
Incredibly full, we got back on base and I got back to my normal routine: did laundry, squats, overhead press and deadlifts.
Squats: 3x5x295
Press: 4-160, 4-155, 5-135
Deadlift: 4-405
I think I'll take the next week off due to more work coming up and will lower my weights on everything except deadlift and rows.
Returned two books to the library and donated four books to the free exchange. I borrowed Dragonfly in Amber; who knows if I'll finish it in 17 days.
Oh and I think I could read War and Peace in the public bathrooms here, as they are much nicer than the bathrooms outside my trailer and more cozy than my wood-paneled room.
Driving around town I saw a billboard with a picture of a juice smoothie and the words, "Test our fresh juice." I'm assuming that was supposed to be "taste."
We found the BAM (Big Ass Mall) and walked around a little bit. It really reminded me of the Fair Oaks Mall in Virginia, but with one more floor. Sam and I split (which is much more masculine than saying we shared) a lamb grill and I ordered a Turkish coffee aka cup of sludgey bitterness. There is a "French Walmart" in the mall called Carrefour and I wanted to see what kind of groceries were available. I ended up purchasing a liter of acidophilus milk (as close as I could get to kefir) and a 100g box of drinking chocolate. I chugged most of the milk drink by the time we got to the souq and will use the chocolate tomorrow at work to improve some of our mediocre coffee. Two possibilities: add the powder to the grounds in the filter or add a half spoonful to my coffee cup and pour the coffee into the cup. I am leaning towards the latter approach since the cocoa is meant to be made into effectively hot cocoa.
Next we found a souq whereupon (how often do you get to use that word, huh?) one of my companions bargained for pearls and another got pearls for free. The remaining two of us marveled at a German male wearing capri pants. Oh and I saw a guy wearing camo crocs at lunch today before I left.
Then we went back to the regular souq. We traveled down the same backstreets that were filmed in the movie "Beerfest" on their way to the drinking competition and were told that "everything is 70% off today." I asked the sellers if they had any knives, quaiches or rosaries but they didn't have any. So we found a Moroccan restaurant and sat on the roof.
 |
| ...without the whole French occupation. |
I spent less here than the previous restaurant and I think the food was even better I feasted on a Niçoise Salad (which sticks in my mind because I think there is a recipe for this in my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook that I referenced in 8th grade) and roasted camel (tastes like beef, another yummy cloven toed ruminant.
 |
| I think the stack on the right is hearts of palm. |
 |
| Hump costs extra. |
 |
| Boring I know, so I added butter and chili paste. |
Downstairs we went for the local hooka. I had a vanilla milkshake (not paleo/primal/whatever). Sam speaks Arabic and told the waiter we are "boat engineers." I started to list the life aquatic terms I am familiar with: transom (thank you Alan Jackson), mark twain (thank you Mark Twain) and James Bond evil villian method of transport.
Incredibly full, we got back on base and I got back to my normal routine: did laundry, squats, overhead press and deadlifts.
Squats: 3x5x295
Press: 4-160, 4-155, 5-135
Deadlift: 4-405
I think I'll take the next week off due to more work coming up and will lower my weights on everything except deadlift and rows.
Returned two books to the library and donated four books to the free exchange. I borrowed Dragonfly in Amber; who knows if I'll finish it in 17 days.
Oh and I think I could read War and Peace in the public bathrooms here, as they are much nicer than the bathrooms outside my trailer and more cozy than my wood-paneled room.
 |
| I'm going to ask Paul Hogan what a bidet is used for. |
No comments:
Post a Comment