One of my favorite pass-times while abroad for any duration is trying out all the local snacks, crackers, chips/crisps, and chocolates. When abroad for a longer stretch one can really approach this exploration more scientifically, with less random sampling, and more consistent comparison. For example, Tonik as pictured above is a delicious wafer/chocolate combo cookie bar, while a close cousin, Tak! has a slightly waxy residue to it. Another discovery is the 17 Dirham frozen pizza with a scary picture, whole greek olives, and scotch tape holding the box closed is far superior to the 26 Dirham frozen pizza with the picture that looks like real food and fully sealed box. We played it safe and bought the nicer pizza first, but if we didn't have the time or bravery to try the seemingly lesser pizza, we never would have found this diamond in the rough. As you can gather from this post, school hasn't started yet as they are still reviewing student applications for the teacher program. In the meantime, I'm starting a new study on finding the best instant coffee option (sigh). Nescafe crystals have a real competitor here in the form of Dubois Cafe. I'll report more from the field later.