bergaust.org Blog

While I was helping with the visit of Secretary Clinton to Marrakesh, we figured it made sense to take advantage of my two bedroom apartment.  Norma and the kids came down from Casablanca to spend a few days with me before things became too crazy with the Secretary’s arrival. 

While Marrakesh has really never been my favorite city in Morocco, after spending a week exploring a bit more, I must say that it grew on me quite a bit.  We found a couple really interesting museums like the Medersa Ben Youssef, which is a former Islamic school converted into a museum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Youssef_Madrasa).

Entrance into courtyard

A window looking into the courtyard – amazingly detailed work

Another place we found quite interesting was the museum of Marrakesh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrakech_Museum).  It had a nice collection of jewlry, pottery, knives, textiles, etc.

A typical fountain

My in-laws were very gracious and let my parents spend the night at their cabin.  We all enjoyed using the ATVs and spending some time together, which we really haven’t done since last Christmas.

Gramps and Adam

Grandma and Adam

ATV fun

Boys having fun

After Erik finished his swimming lesson we decided to head up to the Foote’s cabin.  Being able to spend some time in the mountains was great, and the kids had a blast.  Sometimes it’s nice just to get away and take some time to do nothing.

I don’t think that this needs any explaining. It’s the small things like oreos and milk that I miss being overseas.

Norma and I are happy to announce the arrival of our new son, Adam Paul Bergaust, who was born on September 2, 2009.  My prediction of a 3:00 am birth was pretty close – he came at 2:37 am.  He weighed a healthy 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long.  Both Norma and Adam are doing extremely well, and we couldn’t have asked for a better delivery.   We arrived at the hospital around 11:00 pm, and he came less than four hours later.  This was the best birth of any of our three children. I guess that practice makes perfect, right?

Erik was really excited to meet his younger brother, but it took Joseph a little while to warm up to seeing him.  However, they are both happy that the baby is no longer in mommy’s tummy and that she is feeling better.  They did a great job taking turns holding him and giving him little kisses.

We will all stay in the states until Adam and Norma get their medical clearances to return back to Morocco, which will probably happen sometime in the middle of October.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and thoughts on our behalf.  We are so fortunate to have such beautiful, healthy babies.  As I was telling my sister earlier today, the feeling of holding a new baby for the first time never gets old. 

Mom and baby

One unappreciated benefit of being in the U.S. is the presence of many great local parks.  I took Erik and Joseph and two of their cousins to a nearby park, which was tons of fun.  After playing for a long time on the equipment, they decided to go on a walk around the upper perimiter.  The park is basically surrounded by a hill that is about 80′ tall, which has a walking trail on the top.  The kids did a great job climbing, but they were definitely ready for lunch and naps after we finished.

I left Casablanca about 30 minutes late and missed my connecting flight in Paris. After looking for alternate ways to get to the states, I decided to spend the night in France before coming home.  After all, there are far worse things than spending a free night in Paris, right?  After checking into my hotel, I hopped on a train for downtown and was able to spend about 3 hours touring the city. 

I first went to Notre Dame, which is one of the most beautiful religious buildings I have ever seen.  Everything from the architecture to amazingly beautiful stained glass windows was inspiring and shows that the designers met their goal of directing people towards heaven.

Notre Dame

After my brief visit I went on a walking tour over to the Eiffel Tower.  I walked over the Louvre, saw a bunch of cool shops and buildings, and heard people speaking a dozen different langauges. The Eiffel Tower was much larger than I anticipated.  I didn’t go inside this time – I’ll do so when I come back with the rest of the family.

Eiffel Tower

Overall, I had a great visit, and I definitely want to spend more time here in the future.  It was really cool seeing sites I have only seen before in the movies in real life.

Before heading back to the states to join Norma and the kids, I had a 4 day weekend. Rather than just sit around town, I decided to hop on an EasyJet flight and spend the weekend in Madrid.  As crazy as it might sound, this was my first trip to Europe.  I have simply spent my time overseas primarily in South and Central America. 

The flight went really well, although I have mixed feelings about using these low-cost carriers.  Basically from the time I arrived at the airport until I boarded the plane I was standing in line (about 2 hours).  While part of the delay was due to Moroccan immigration, most came from waiting for my boarding pass and then waiting to get on the plane.  During the flight I was surprised with how many ways the company tried to get extra business.  They came around with the duty cart and then sold lotto tickets – I know, crazy right?  I mean, who sells lottery tickets on an airplane flight?  That being said $200 for a plane ticket was a really good deal, and I could see using them again.

I mainly went to Madrid to spend time at the temple.  I haven’t been since leaving DC for Morocco.  The building was absolutely beautiful and reminded me why I appreciate spending time in them.  There is a feeling of absolute peace and calm inside and on the immediate grounds.  Interestingly, the garden area included an olive tree, which I now recognize from living in Morocco. 

Madrid temple

Me in front to Madrid temple

When I wasn’t spending time inside the temple, I did some touring inside the city, which was such a stark contrast with Casablanca.  I think that Casa is actually slightly larger than Madrid, but has nowhere near the number of museums, parks, or other cultural attractions as offered in Spain.  Yes, I know that comparing the two are like comparing apples and oranges.  However, it still makes me wonder why there are so many differences between the two.

I went to the Museo del Prado, Palacio Royal, Templo de Diebold, Museo Reina Sofia, la Biblioteca National, and the Museo Arqueologico.  All the places I visited were interesting, but I especially felt moved by the artwork of Goya in Museo del Prado.  Everything about my visit was great, and I certainly look forward to returning in the future with the rest of my family.

El Palacio Royal

Cathedral facing the Royal Palace

With Norma and the kids away, I thought that it made some sense to do some weekend travelling. I heard some good reviews so I thought I would head out to a nice beach town, Oualidia.  It’s about a 3 hour drive from Casablanca.  I packed my tent, sleeping bag, and everything else I would need to stay over the weekend.  Unfortunately, I got tied up in the office and didn’t leave until after 6:00 pm, which put me arriving in Oualidia after dark.  I couldn’t find the campground, so I just decided to spend the night in a local hotel.

Hotel Hippocampe (212-523-36-61-08)

They showed me a pretty plan single room and said it would cost 1100 MAD for the night. I kind of laughed and said that was way over my budget.  As I was preparing to leave, the receptionist said, “how much do you want to pay?”  I replied that I could do 500 MAD.  After speaking with her manager, they offered the room for 600 MAD with breakfast included for the next morning.  It definitely pays to negotiate   The hotel was actually quite nice, complete with tons of flowers, a large pool, and a good view of the ocean.

The next morning after breakfast I took a stroll along the beach and hired a boat to show me around.  We kind of drove all over the bay, which was still having the morning fog lift off.  He dropped me off at a large sand bar, and I crossed over to the Atlantic side.  Spending some quality time relaxing is just what I needed after a pretty busy week.

Footprints in the sand

After reconnecting with the boat, I headed back to shore and ordered up a large lunch of oysters and fried fish.  Oualidia is well known for its oysters.  Essentially the town is a saltwater bay, which makes perfect conditions for oyster farming.  The guide book says that over 200 tons of oysters are produced here annually.

Class O oyster for lunch. Mmmm…tasty

After picking up a few dozen oysters to take home with me, I decided to hit the road and head back to Casa.  Overall, a great outing, and one that I hope to repeat in the future with the rest of the family.

I figured that it was about time to give some TLC to my car, so I ordered some replacement parts online.  I haven’t been getting very good gas mileage with my Pilot, so I thought I would try replacing the air filter and spark plugs to improve my MPG.  Normally the spark plugs are replaced about every 100K miles. While my car only has about 43K, I figured that they probably hadn’t been replaced since it was built.  As you can see below, I now know why my fuel usage has been in the dumps. Rusted, completly shot spark plugs certainly don’t help. 

I am really grateful for my father, who taught me how to maintain my vehicles.  It’s pretty cool what you learn growing up.  I just wish he were here with me. Not having family around is one of the downsides of my job.