I suppose it´s been awhile

You might be happy to know that after a big scare Tuesday night that all my pictures were permanently deleted, the first two or three weeks´worth are currently being uploaded to facebook. My camera is really struggling though and I don´t know what´s wrong with it. Surprising, I know, since my camera knowledge is so complete. We´re just hoping it hangs in there long enough to document the last few days in Spain and deliver the pictures to my computer at home.
So, what have we been up to this week?
Monday morning our cooking class was cancelled for a Moroccan party for the women that come to and work at the center. We had a great turnout and lots of wonderful sweets and Moroccan tea. I love Moroccan tea and am hoping to discover a teteria in the cities when I return. But the party was a great experience to hear the women chatting and singing. Some girls we had spent time with last week explained some different Muslim songs, foods and traditions, like the five-day wedding ceremony. Yikes.
Tuesday there are no classes at the center but we get a huge supply of fruits and vegetables to give to the immigrant families. Most of these families came from Morocco to make a better life for themselves, but the job market is not great right now and it´s been really difficult. The fruits and vegetables help the women put food on the table for their families. The shipment came really late so Katrina and I ran to the market and picked up a few ingredients and made cookies while we waited. Katrina´s baking reputation far outshines my own, but my roommates will be glad to know we use the same recipe and everyone loved them.
Wednesday we also cancelled classes and went to Gilbraltar, which is owned by England. We were hoping to get our passports stamped, but they hardly glanced at my closed passport when we walked through, and the wait getting out was nearly 2 hours, so again they hardly glanced at them. Really? I mean seriously, I could have smuggled so many things in or out of that country. I don´t know what one would smuggle from Gibraltar, but I could have. When we arrived at Gilbralter is was cloudy and foggy, so even the view from the top of the mountain wasn´t spectacular. As the day went on, the clouds burned off some, so we did catch a glimpse of Morocco across the strait. By the time we got OFF the mountain, the clouds disappeared so I´m sure the view then would have been amazing. Gilbraltar is very touristy, which I think is unfortunate, but still very cool. It has a sweet history of conquests and such which I need to learn more about, but it´s basically a huge rock (mountain) at the southernmost tip of Europe which is owned by England but pretty much in Spain. The narrowest part of the strait (of Gibraltar) is also here, so you can see Africa across the Meditteranean Sea. We took a cable car up the mountain and saw the monkeys. There´s all these apes running around on the mountain that the locals almost see as sacred, and while they are wild animals they are very used to tourists and will jump on the cars and look through your bags if left unattended. To be honest they made me a little nervous, especially with all the signs that say DON´T FEED THE APES, APES WILL BITE. But it was fun and there were lots of baby apes too. My camera was on the fritz at this point but I know Katrina got some good shots. We had a classic british lunch of fish and chips before we left and did some shopping as well. I almost bought a thimble just because it was so ironic - I used to collect thimbles and while I saw nothing dutch about this place, all the thimbles had windmills on them. I hate windmills. Joanna was like "you hate windmills?" as if that was odd, and I told her it was a long story. If you lived somewhere in which all the people around you thought it was Holland, but you knew to be Iowa, you would hate windmills too. Think about it. Anyway, I digress. It was too cold to enjoy the beach that day, but we stopped at a British store so Katrina and Ab & Habiba could get some English groceries. Spain sells very different groceries and while you can find most substitutes, some things you just can´t get in another country. I think Katrina bought six cans of rhubarb. She was like a kid in a candy store.
By the end of the day I had a migraine and the long ride back home didn´t help (one good thing about MN would have to be flat, straight roads) so I´m laying low this morning. Feeling better though, so we plan on trying to find salsa dancing lessons one more time tonight!