So...I didnt do much this week but try to survive the heat. Since I spent so much time in my house I believe I found the culprate of the falling dirt. I mentioned on a previous post about the massive ammont of dirt that falls from my ceiling and I have finally seen my new roommate. Its a small lizard and I dont mind him aside from all the dirt. I am well aware that I could have worse roommates. In my mind its only the lizard causing all the ruckkas and no other, scarier, bugs.
I got henna again on Monday and I took pictures this time. It starts out as a medium green powder which my mom blends with just enough water to make a goopy consistancy. Many women (maybe most, Im not sure) put the henna in their hair and leave it until the next afternoon when they go the hymmam (public bath). My mom also rubs it over her face, arms and legs. Just enough to even out the skin tone but not give it an orange tint. I wonder if henna is an ingrediant in sunless tanners. When it came to my hands she slops it all over the palm side and to the first nuckle on the top side. I didnt have the blank area witht the spost last time but I think it symbolizes a heart. Then I waited 2 hours for it to dry and scraped it off. The longer you leave it the darker it gets. One woman who came to visit asked if I wanted to put it in my hair... I think that would be a bad idea. They have very dark brown hair and the tint doesnt show, but I imagine it would turn my hair bright orange. I passed on the offer. 
The house is now onto the roof. They placed large beams across all of the rooms and then put rocks between them. They then used mud as a kind of mortar to cover the rocks. Yesterday they started weaving together the bamboo which will be placed on the roof. Well I dont think it is actually bamboo but they are def related and for all intensive purposes are the same thing. There is still plently of work to be done and plenty of hot days to come. I commend the guys who are working through this heat. Seriously.
Last topic for today; food. The wheat and barley harvest are finished and we just our first batch of almonds yesterday. The most unfortunate thing about berber food is that I dont like much of it, the major staples. Every meal aside from our tagine meal consists of bread, olives, olive oil, and tea or coffee. So...I eat alot of bread. I know olive oil is supposed to be good for you and this stuff cant be beat. It is as fresh and pure as it comes, but tastes like olives, which I dont like. Ive tried, numerous times but to no avail. The bread is very good and is made fresh by my host mom everyday (with all the mend building the house she makes it several times a day). We have two kinds; a more typical white fluffly round bread, and a slightly more yellow flat bread. For breakfast I have bread, cheese and a yogurt. Lunch is usually a tagine eaten with bread instead of untensils, an evening snack of bread, and I force down a little more bread just before bed to appease my host mom. Our health hand book claims that for an unknown reason female volunteers tend to gain weight while male volunteers loose weight. Humm I wonder why...We eat at a very low table, maybe a foot off the ground, and always communially. We never sit on the ground though, the table is usually about the same height as my knees. When the men are eating in a seprate room (as they always do) my host mom and I put our tagine on the floor. Just some tidbits I thought you all might find interesting. Sorry if it was boring. 
One final note concerning the heat. I was told that once it reaches a certain temperature the flys will die. First of all its pretty terrifying that it could get so hot to kill a fly. Secondly, Im secretly waiting for that day. So far I have only noticed an increase. The day I had henna on my hands I think the flies could sense my helplessnes and were unrelenting; buzzing my ears, landing on my face. In an effort to get them off I kept shaking my head wildly, which my mom found funny, and is not a good idea when Im no the verge of dehydration. I often get headaches when Im dehydrated and the shaking did not help matters. Ok I guess thats all for this week. Hopefully Ill make it through another week of Moroccan summer.
