Life in Tunis

Sefsari

2008-12-02T16:08:00.002+01:00

Last week my host mother insisted that my roommates and I dress up in her mother's sefsari. A sefsari is the traditional garb of Tunisian women. You still see many older women wearing them in the souks. Usually when I see a woman wearing one she isn't covering her face with it, it's simply wrapped around her body and over her head, often she has the front of it open so that you can see her face and she can use both hands. I found it to be quite comfortable.

A lot has happened in the past few weeks, I'm sorry for not taking the time to post more! I'll put up pictures from Thanksgiving soon. Yesterday was the official end date of our program. As of today, the only two OSU program members remaining in Tunis are myself and another boy. I'll be leaving this coming Sunday. It's quite lonely being here with out my roommates. Our apartment that usually seems so full is all of a sudden empty. In addition, my roommate Megan left me with a gift of a nasty cold to remember her by. I've spent all day lying on the couch drinking tea and watching tv shows on my computer. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have a little more energy. I don't have much planned out for my last week in Tunis. I will be assisting in an English class at my school several times, taking my normal French classes with Tunisian students, checking out the Medina one last time, and having tea with a few of my Tunisian friends.

I started helping out with this English class yesterday. The teacher of the class is a really wonderful woman who told me that she was an exchange student in Tacoma when she was in high school. Any time that I've found out that I'm talking to someone who was once an exchange student I always feel a bond with them, regardless of their age. She told me that she finds it ridiculous that many of her students that are studying for a degree in English have never spoken to an English speaker. I came into the classroom and had a great discussion with her students about the university system in the US and what my life is like as a student. They were shocked to hear that I live so far away from my family and that I pay tens of thousands of dollars for my education. She also pressed me to tell her students how much I read and how much material I cover in a quarter, it seems that her students are really reluctant to do work.

Day 7: Mahdia, El-Jem, and the Side of the Road

2008-11-21T19:45:00.003+01:00

I woke up early the day after my birthday in order to take advantage of the little time I had left at our hotel. A friend and I hit the beach at 7:30, desperate to get one last plunge in the Mediterranean before heading back to the US. I was surprised at how comfortable the water was—it was mid-November after all. After this I went to the buffet and had a delicious omelet and fresh crepes. I like to think that I’m pretty easy to please as far as hotels go, but I certainly didn’t mind spending the night in the lap of luxury.

We drove for about an hour to what we thought was the final stop of our trip: the Coliseum of El-Jem. The coliseum of El-Jem is the third largest of the Roman Empire. While the coliseum in Rome was meant to hold something like 46,000 people, the coliseum of El-Jem held a measly 30,000. It was pretty incredible and had excellent acoustics—something that probably holds true in Rome as well but I’ve never noticed because it’s always crawling with tourists.

About an hour outside of Tunis we got a flat tire. This was no fun, but it did allow us the opportunity to see a beautiful sunset. We waited for several hours (and several attempts to change the tired) before a second bus came to pick us up. One really remarkable thing about this flat was when we pulled to the side of the road there already happened to be a tow truck pulled to the side of the road ahead of us. I have no idea how we got that kind of luck. As fantastic as our weeklong trip to the south was, it really felt good to come back to Tunis that has come to feel like home over the past ten weeks.

For more pictures of my trip to the south, check out my flickr.

Day 6: Gabès Area, Mahdia, and 21st Birthday

2008-11-21T19:43:00.004+01:00

The next morning we stopped by the beautiful little market of Gabès for a few hours. We indulged ourselves in many straw basket and I was finally able to bargain using those magic words “But, today is my birthday!”

We spent a little more time around Gabès meeting with some professors from the area that had once spent some time at Oregon State and visited the neighborhood of Chenini-Gabès.

After this we headed to a rug cooperative. The cooperative produces yarn that it then it gives to women to weave into rugs. Once we learned that the small rugs were only thirty dinars a piece it became a free for all. Some students came away with three or four rugs. I only bought one, but I intend on stopping by their offices in Tunis to buy a second.

We then headed north. Our hotel in Gabès had been less than fantastic. I killed three cockroaches but several others managed to get away. We were extremely happy to find that our last night of the trip would be spent in a huge glitzy five-star beach hotel. There was a spa, a game room, a bowling alley, various restaurants and cafés, a huge pool with an island, a small golf course, morning yoga classes, and two bars, amongst other amenities. It took about thirty minutes to actually reach our hotel room. The buffet was excellent. I was most pleased however that the hotel had a bar. I was a little concerned that my 21st birthday would come and go without even a sip of alcohol. My friends and I spent a few hours critiquing music videos that were playing on a jumbo screen and drinking fruity drinks. It was pretty low-key but ultimately a fantastic birthday.

Day 5: Ksar Hedada, Tataouine, Chenini

2008-11-21T19:40:00.002+01:00

The next day we headed south to the Ksour. There are many Berber hilltop villages in the mountains of Southern Tunisian. The villages we saw are covered with houses that seem to be rock houses that edge up to the mountain and often include a cave in the mountainside. These villages include a ksar that is usually at the highest point in the village and was once used to store food and other valuables. Many of these villages are named Ksar XXXX, so when mentioning them one refers to the “Ksour”.

The first village we stopped at was Ksar Hedada. The Ksar in this town was used in one of the Star Wars movies. It was obvious that parts of it had been redone for the movie while other parts of it were quite rundown. I was told that this Ksar had once been a hotel… it seems like it would have been pretty uncomfortable. I’d have to see it to believe it.

We went to the town of Tataouine for lunch. Tataouine wasn’t very exciting, but it is the town that a planet in Star Wars in named after, making it very exciting to several kids in our group. I took my picture next to a road marker that says Tataouine on it in the next town we visited—just to prove that the town does really exist!

The next town we went to was probably my favorite town of the trip. It was Chenini, a beautiful Berber village. I couldn’t tell if it was a mountain made of houses or a bunch of houses made out of the mountain. The views were absolutely stunning. It was crazy to find that some people still live in some of these mountain homes. However, a majority of the inhabitants of Chenini seem to live at the base of the mountain.

We had been planning on going to another one of the Ksour before heading to Gabès for the night, but unfortunately there had been lots of heavy rain we were afraid that the road to Gabès, which was currently under construction, was washed out. We headed on an epic trip down back roads through the mountains of Southern Tunisia. We left at 4 pm and arrived at 10 pm in Gabès. Granted, we did stop for dinner, but this was still one of the craziest parts of our voyage. We plunged down small, unmarked roads in the fog and pounding rain and made some great friends at an unexpected rest stop.

Day 4: Matmata and the Island of Jerba

2008-11-18T22:15:00.004+01:00

On the fourth day of our trip I woke up and went for a short walk around the area near the hotel. Matmata is known for its troglodyte dwellings, but I had no idea I would only have to walk 100 feet to find abandoned caves in the hillside. On our walk back to the hotel we also ran into more troglodyte homes that are still inhabited.

Soon we got on the road and headed to the Island of Jerba. In the Odyssey, Jerba is the island of the lotus eaters. It is supposed to be a lovely and quite tourist-filled island. However, we arrived on Jerba right after a rainstorm. The streets were flooded with muddy water and debris. Our first stop in Jerba was lunch in the main town of Houmt Souk. After lunch we rushed around and checked out the nearby shops. I was impressed with the shopping area in Houmt Souk but unfortunately many shops were closed because it was a Sunday.

Our next stop on Jerba was the El Ghriba Synagogue. Jerba is very unique in that it for the past 2000 or so years a Jewish community has lived on the island. The Jews and Muslims of Jerba live in peace and are very proud of that fact. The synagogue site is one of the oldest in the world-- the actual building was only built in the early 20th century. Despite the relative new-ness of the synagogue, the building was really gorgeous and we took many pictures. The synagogue was attacked by Al Quaeda in 2002, a gas truck ran into it and exploded, killing 15 German tourists, 1 Frenchman, and 5 or 6 Tunisians (I've found varying reports). I find it really unfortunate that outsiders would come in and attempt to destroy the peace of a community that prides itself on its history of cooperation. One last interesting fact about the synagogue: this is the first place in all of Tunisia that has required me to wear a headscarf in order to enter.

All of my pictures from my trip are now posted online.

Day 3: Chott El-Jerid, the Sahara, Matmata

2008-11-14T20:16:00.006+01:00

The next morning of our trip we woke up to find that one of our party had fallen quite ill. In order to buy him some time at the hotel to rest we headed back in the direction of Tozeur to see the Chott El-Jerid in the daytime. The Chott El-Jerid used to be full of salt water, it is now usually completely empty, though there is apparently some water occasionally. Since we were told that there is sometimes water, we assumed that what we saw in the distance when we started walking was water... but then it moved... and then it disappeared. The Chott is also the place in Tunisia where mirages occur the most frequently. It was also featured in some of the Star Wars movies.

After the Chott it was off to the town of Douz. Douz is another oasis town like Tozeur with a very large Palmeraie. However, it is further south and edges right up upon sand dunes. We started our visit with a quick and very interesting trip to a museum that taught us about desert life and culture. I learned a little about women's facial tatoos, a little about nomadic housing, and a little about camel branding.

Next we went to the edge of the desert and got on camels. My camel was named Champagne, she was white, very sleek , and apparently a race camel. Unfortunately, I didn't get to try out her speed, our walk into the desert was at a very slow pace. Getting onto and off of a camel is one of the most awkward things I have ever done. They stand up on their back legs and then on their front legs, leading you to pitch forward and then back dangerously. In my opinion the worst part of the experience was sitting on my camel as he stood with his hind legs up and his front legs folded on the ground for an extended period of time as I dangled forward. Camels are stubborn. They are also extremely tall, you are much further from the ground than on horseback.

We walked for 15-20 minutes and dismounted our camels. At this point we were in the middle of some beautiful dunes. The dunes here weren't 40 feet tall, but they were beautiful and created a striking landscape. I took tons of pictures. The sand in the Sahara is nothing like any sand I have ever felt before. It is extremely fine and soft. It feels like silk running through your fingers. Also, when you burrow down three or four inches the sand is quite cool, contrasting sharply with the warm surface.

After the Sahara experience, we headed to Matmata. Matmata is another place where Star Wars scenes have been shot. I haven't seen Star Wars so I took a bunch of random pictures, hoping that someone will appreciate them. The scenes shot in Matmata were shot in a very run down troglodyte hotel. Matmata is also known for its troglodyte dwellings, many of which are still inhabited. While our hotel was very modern it was also nearly entirely underground!

Day 2: Gafsa and Tozeur

2008-11-13T15:37:00.003+01:00

On our second day in the South we got on our minibus and drove to Gafsa. We saw some old Roman pools and checked out a small museum with some nice mosaics. Apparently these pools usually have water in them-- though only about 10 feet or so. Young boys hang around asking for you to throw money which they will dive into the pool to retrieve. I'm so glad these pools were empty, I can imagine how dangerous it would be for them to dive from so high to such a shallow pool.

Next we had a lunch in the Oasis of Tozeur, even further south than Gafsa. I had camel steak for lunch, it was absolutely delicious, especially with a little lime squeezed on top. After lunch we headed out to some buggies drawn by hourses. We trotted around Tozeur, checking out the unique architecture (see the pictures on my Flickr if you are curious) and then headed into the Palmeraie, the area of the oasis that is more or less a palm tree forest. Once in the palmeraie we stopped to learn about the date harvesting process. I had no idea that dates need to be manually cross polinated in order for them to yeild edible fruit. Men climb up the palm trees barefoot and create a chain down the tree to pass down dates as the man at the top chops them free.

We each took turns climbing a little ways up the tree and then headed out to a very very strange cafe/museum/playground a little down the road. Next we went to a park where the national poet of Tunisia used to play as a child. It has been turned into a playground and a memorial to him. We also stopped breifly by his tomb. After a quick jaunt in the souks of the town we got in our bus and crossed the eerie Chott El Jerib (used to be a salt water lake, now it's mostly salt flats with just a little water) to find our hotel in a small town just north of Douz.

More pictures of Tozeur and Gafsa here.

Day 1: Sbeitla

2008-11-13T15:08:00.004+01:00

We left Tunis bright and early on Thursday, November 6th for our week long trip to the south. Our first stop was in Sbeitla. In Sbeitla we found the ruins of the Roman town of Sufetula. After the Romans, Sufetula became a Byzantine town and then a Vandal town for a period of time and was eventually sacked by the Arabs. The ruins of Sufetula stretch out across a vast plain. While I was impressed with Dougga because of the rolling hills beyond the ruins, Sufetula impressed me because it was much easier to see just how big the town had been and how the streets and buildings were laid out. There were also some remarkably complete buildings and temples.

More pictures of Sbeitla here.

Obama!

2008-11-05T14:56:00.007+01:00

Last night I attended a huge party thrown by the embassy at the Ramada in Gammarth. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I certainly was surprised when I got there. The embassy went all out and did an excellent job. There were hundreds of people, mostly Tunisians and other Americans. It was held in a huge ballroom, there was tons of free food and drink and four big screens on the wall with either websites, movies, or CNN screening on them. A corner of the room had five computers with internet access. I spent the first hour and a half mingling and then headed over to the mock election table to volunteer. Any non-American was allowed to vote in the mock election. At 12:30 we closed the votes and tallied them up. Final results: McCain- 18, Obama 290. There were about 6 random write-ins as well. At 1ish people began leaving. By two, we had dwindled down to a solid group of about 50 people (mostly Americans, but some curious Tunisians as well).

We stayed glued to CNN all night long. Our program rented two rooms for us and some people drifted upstairs for a while to nap. The McCain supporters mysteriously vanished. I spent the entire night sitting on the floor... and then lying on the floor when we just couldn't sit up any more. I brought my laptop along with me and opened it up every hour when new states closed to check out the results on my own. I was able to talk to a bunch of my friends from home on and off all night long. It was great to be able to share the experience with them even though I am so far from Chicago. A little after 5 am the polls closed on the west coast. I actually found out from my boyfriend that Obama won right before CNN announced it here. There was screaming, jumping, many hugs. It was an extremely emotional moment for us. I grew quite jealous of my friends in Grant Park. The concession and acceptance speeches made everyone even more emotional. Americans abroad tend to be more liberal, an overwhelming majority of us support Obama. Obama winning will immediately have a direct effect on my life. Now I can be proud to be an American abroad and I can proudly say that I voted for Obama. In my time abroad I've always had to defend my country to people I meet. I'll still have to defend many things, old mistakes don't go away, but at least now I have some positive things to say.

At 7:30 am I stumbled into bed. I woke up at 2pm. I still feel sick with fatigue. I was so exhilarated after the win that I seriously considered going to school. I'm really glad I didn't now because I think I might have caused myself to become physically ill. I'm going to take it pretty easy today and go to sleep early. Tomorrow I leave on my week long trip to the South! I'm really ready to get out of Tunis and see more to this country. I'll be having my 21st birthday on the road as well. A big thanks to all my relatives who have sent me birthday cards. It really has been nice to get them.

Kairouan and Takrouna

2008-10-27T18:33:00.013+01:00

This Saturday's trip was to Kairouan. Before heading out to Kairouan, my roommates and I asked our host mom what we should expect. She explained to us that Kairouan was the fourth holiest city in Islam (following Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem). It is the holiest city in all of North Africa. Apparently, Muhammed's hairdresser brought Islam to Kairouan and the religion spread outward across the region.

Our first stop were some Roman cisterns. These cisterns were quite boring... but made instantly cooler once you realized that they were constructed over 1000 years ago.

Next we stopped by the Great Mosque. Constructed (originally) in 670 AD and then rebuilt a little later on in the 9th century, I think this is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, mosques in North Africa and maybe even all of Africa. This is also the first mosque I've ever been inside. Tourists are allowed inside the courtyard if they are properly attired... if you aren't, you are handed a floor length robe to cover up. (Yes, mom, I dressed modestly enough that I didn't need one). The mosque was quite impressive, a huge courtyard, beautiful carving around the doors and hundreds upon hundreds of columns. As non-Muslims we were not allowed inside the part of the mosque where praying takes place, but we were allowed to peer in the doors and take pictures.

After we perused the mosque, my roommates and I dashed outside to find this pretty tiled thing (I can't explain it, see the picture) on the roof of a building nearby. It's on the cover of Alissa's Dorling Kindersley Tunisia Guide and it looks gorgeous. We were assured by our director that it was a tourist trap, but took off just the same. And yes, we were told by a man that we could find it inside a carpet shop and were then forced to admire 10-20 carpets before we managed to get out and go up the stairs on the roof... from which we could see this thing on a different roof. Alissa had promised to buy a rug from them, but they had gotten us and we knew it. We darted down the stairs and into the next rug shop which kindly let us in and up with no hassle at all. It was very pretty, but I'm sure that our directors are right when they say that it's a modern day creation done by the rug shop simply to attract tourists.

Following the mosque came the tomb of Muhammed's hairdresser. Our directors explained to us that there are several towns that claim to have the tomb of this hairdresser, so there is chance that the one we were visiting wasn't real. Regardless, the building was beautiful. While we were there we saw families that had come on pilgrimage to visit the tomb. We were told that families on pilgrimage are allowed to stay in the building for free and use the facilities of the building.

Our next stop was the rug museum filled with many old rugs from Kairouan and other parts of Tunisi. It was a short trip and soon we were off for a lunch and a dessert of Makroudh, which I can only describe as Tunisian fig newtons (though I'm not sure there are even figs in them).

Following this, we explored Kairouan's medina, which I really enjoyed. While Tunises medina is quite large with many small windy roads, Kairouan's medina has more or less one wide road with shops off of it. It was nice not to feel so hemmed in. We spent a significant amount of time in a rug shop in the medina where I ALMOST splurged and bought a rug. Kairouan is known for their rugs, if you haven't guessed by the fact that I've mentioned rugs at least three times so far. In addition, we saw the camel in the picture below. Before I left Tunis we asked my host mother what we should see. She told us that there is a camel in a cafe that walks around a well pulling up water day in and day out. Apparently someone told her that the camel is brought up there as a baby and is left there its entire life, just pulling up water. I confronted the camel handler about this and he said that it was just a story, the camel goes up and down each day. The camel was cool to see, especially after we knew that weren't seeing animal cruelty in action. We drank some of the water it pulled up, if you drink it you will return to Kairouan one day.

After the medina we headed back in the direction of Tunis. On the way, we stopped for tea in the Berber hill town of Takrouna. As you approach the town you see a craggy little mountain with houses clinging to its tip. Apparently many Berber towns are built on hills (for the obvious reasons). Getting up the tiny mountain in a minibus is no small task. Our driver burnt out the clutch as we jerked our way up the mountainside. I thought I was going to die, but, then again, I feel that every day on the streets of Tunis. I applaud our bus driver for his effort. Once at the top, we ooohed and awed and the beautiful scenery. From the top of this mountain you get a fantastic panoramic view of hills, feilds, mountains, goats, olive groves... and then a cement factory belching out smoke. If you ignore that cement factory, it's really a phenomenal view. The little houses at the top seemed very southwestern to me, especially with red peppers and rugs hanging all over them. I don't think anyone still lives at the top of the mountain (I could easily be wrong) but there are still several shops and a beautiful cafe that we spent some time at. I think I've liked Takrouna the best of all the places we've visited so far.

We made one last stop on the way home: the Water Palace. A set of roman ruins right next to a mountain where the aqueducts started that led to Carthage. Unfortunately, it was pitch black out and we couldn't really see anything, but we did have a nice time making shadow puppets on the walls of the palace. We also had a difficult time seeing the aqueducts along the road as we drove back, but from what I could see they were pretty impressive and quite complete in some places.

I took a lot of pictures this past weekend and I've posted many of them on My Flickr. I strongly suggest you stop by and check them out. I'm sorry this post was so long in coming, I had some blogger issues.

What?

2008-10-24T16:22:00.003+02:00

Five minutes ago, I looked out the window and saw this:

Northern Tunisia

2008-10-19T11:13:00.004+02:00

Yesterday we set off on another day long trip to discover Tunisia. This time we loaded into our minibus and headed north to visit Utica, Bizerte, and Ichkeul. Our first stop was at Utica.

Utica was once the first colony of the Phoenicians and a critical port town. Today, all that remains are ruins. The coastline has receded 15km as the nearby Medjerda River has caused the bay to fill in with sediment. At its prime, Utica was the capital of the Roman Province of Africa Nova. After the second Punic War Utica alligned itself with Rome instead of with Carthage (traitors), they were rewarded greatly for this after the third Punic War when they were named the capital of Rome's new African Province. Emperor Augustus switched the capital to Carthage after it was rebuilt but Utica remained a popular town. It was destroyed by the Arabs in 700 AD.

The ruins at Utica didn't impress me as much as the Dougga ruins, but there were some things I enjoyed. One was the beautiful mosaics, several of which still remained on the floors of buildings. Our guide brought with him a spray bottle of water. When we were shown mosaics, he spritzed the tiles with water so we could see the tiles shine. I was really impressed by some of the vivid colors that they used. It's not often that you see such brilliant turquoise in ancient mosaics.

The other interesting part of Utica was that our guide allowed us to look at some very recent excavations. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but we were allowed to take a peek. Even though the sea can't be seen from Utica of today, taking a look at these ruins proved that this town had once been right up on the edge of the water. The ruins were filled with sand and salty puddles and littered with chunks of three thousand year old coral.

Our next stop was lunch in Bizerte. We didn't really get to explore the town, we just had our lunch and headed to the port. Our walk through the port was quick-- less than 10 minutes I'd say. The port was quite beautiful, I loved the colorful boats and the fact that it jutted up right next to the Medina and Kasbah.

The final stop of the day was Ichkeul National Park. Thousands of birds migrate from Europe to Lake Ichkeul during the winter. Unfortunately, while several years ago around 200,000 birds migrated each winter now only 50,000 have been showing up. The freshwater lake is becoming increasingly more salinated, causing the ecosystem to shift dramatically. With less food for the birds, fewer birds migrate. We did have the opportunity to look through a telescope at a huge flock of beautiful pink flamingoes. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera strong enough to take detailed pictures of them.

Check out the rest of my pictures here.

Of Hijabs and Harassment

2008-10-15T17:26:00.003+02:00

In the past few days I've read two excellent newspaper articles. The first is from the Seattle Times and was sent to be by my father and can be read here: Sexual Harassment Intensifies in Egypt. My friends and I have become increasingly frustrated with the sexual harassment we've been experiencing here in Tunis. Some of us have dealt with it better than others. Coming to Tunisia, I knew that as a white female I would stick out and would experience some harassment. I prepared myself for it mentally and did my best to bring clothes that wouldn't call attention to myself. What I didn't expect was that it would eventually get to me. Walking down the street I am always met by stares from males and females. Many males, mostly young males around my age, make catcalls, hissing noises, and do other generally obnoxious things. Sometimes boys follow us. Several times girls have had men in cars follow slowly behind them. I've been having a difficult time reconciling the fact that nearly every Tunisian I have spoken to has been kind, welcoming, and very enthusiastic to meet me with the outright rudeness of these men on the streets. As you consider sexual harassment in Tunis you need to remember that you are in a large city. While many people here are religious, being on the street in a busy city lends a certain amount of anonymity which in turn leads these men to conduct themselves with less respect for others. I'm sure that if these boys heard their sisters being talked to in this way they would be furious. This article about harassment in Egypt was very interesting and I think it helps justify a little of what goes on in Tunisia. The article asserts that the high unemployment level in Egypt creates a sense of desperation that manifests itself through sexual harassment. I need to say that after talking to people who have spent time in Egypt and reading this article I feel that they have a MUCH more serious problem than we do here. That being said, I can't wait to go down south to more rural communities where (I've been told) this doesn't happen frequently. It will be interesting to contrast the way I am treated in Tunis and in touristy areas like Hammamet with towns in the desert.

The second article that I read was from today's New York Times: Youthful Voice Stirs Challenge to Secular Turks. This article discusses one young woman's attempt to pass a law that would allow Turkish women to wear headscarves in universities. This hits very close to home. Every day when I enter my school I see a man in a suit standing in the entryway. This man corners women in headscarves and demands that they take them off. Some girls brush past him. Others protest. From what I've seen, the ones that he catches do remove their scarves, only to replace them as soon as they cross through the doorway. While headscarves are not banned in schools in Tunisia, students are dissuaded from wearing them. As far as I can tell, Tunisia and Turkey are the only two Muslim countries with a policy of this sort. It doesn't appear to me that this law is very strictly enforced. In fact, it appears like an even higher percentage of women in my school wear headscarves than I see on the street. A girl in my program asked one of our directors why this is. Her response "Well, if you were told not to do something, what would you do?"

Tunis vs. Seychelles

2008-10-13T22:00:00.003+02:00

We were prepared for riots and crazy fans. One of the directors of the program told us that we needed to wear ugly clothes so we wouldn't attract any attention from men. We were told not to bring purses, not to wear anything that hung off of us, to wear closed toed shoes, etc. I was very, very excited. Apparently the year before when students in our program had went to a soccer game three boys had gotten into a fistfight with Tunisians when they tried to steal a girl's purse.

Well... the game we went to on Saturday was quite anticlimactic.

As you can see, very few people were at the game. This is because Seychelles is horrible. Yes, it was a world cup qualifier, but not a very exciting one. Tunisia won quite decisively, 5-0. In addition, the stadium looks extra empty because it is so huge. It is the largest in Africa (until the new one is built in South Africa for the World Cup). I can imagine that if it were filled to the brim it would be quite a crazy place, but for us, in the place of rowdy crowds there were families with small children. I feel as though I could have worn a dress and carried my laptop with me and wouldn't have been hassled.

The coolest thing I saw there were the vendors who sell everything from Turkish coffee to fish to nuts. I think that they are all just people who simply buy tickets to the game and then come in and sell things...it didn't really seem like they were affiliated with the stadium at all.

Tomorrow Tunisia is playing a friendly game against France in Paris, I'm sure it will be way more exciting than the one I went to!

I've been told that people have been having trouble commenting so I changed the commenting system around. Anyone should be able to comment now without a Blogger account.

Football!

2008-10-09T18:46:00.003+02:00

One of my French teacher spends her free time running a therapeutic farm for disabled people. She has promised to bring us there later in the quarter to take a tour and volunteer a bit. I'm not really certain exactly what goes on there at this point. From what I can gather disabled (mostly mentally) people ages 6 and up spend time there during the day doing projects and such. It is on a farm with olive trees, a garden, some animals. I think the disabled people work with the animals. Like I said, I'll get a better grasp of all this later and explain it at that point. Today was a very special day at the farm, the Tunisian National Soccer Team was coming to give away signed merchandise and take pictures. My French teacher canceled our class today and invited us to stop by the farm if we liked. Of course, a group of girls in their early twenties would like nothing more than to spend a few hours in the presence of professional athletes, we accepted her offer readily. The farm was a zoo of media people. It's apparently ran by the Lion's Club of Tunis so many business people and other people affiliated with the farm stopped by as well, I'd say there were well over 100 people there. My group of girls spent most of the time wandering aimlessly around. There really wasn't much we could do but stand there. Obviously our teacher was far too busy being interviewed and running this circus without us getting in her way and asking to be shown around. So we stood and stared. Finally we managed to snag a soccer player to get a picture taken with-- our one and only desire. We ended up getting in a second picture with multiple players as well. This is the first time that I have seen anyone of the females in my group react positively to heckling from males. We are now used to being catcalled every second of the day. However, when a professional football player is saying "Pretty, I get number?" the reaction is much more positive than when the creepy boy on the corner throws out a common pick up line ("lovely bubbly," "sex machine," "Britney!," "How much?"). I think some of us might even have given it to him if it weren't for our French Professor standing by. We had a quite a fun day, if anything, it was exciting to say that we got to meet them. We also snagged free tickets to this Saturday's game against Seychelles! Sure to be a very exciting.

Whoever took this picture did a horrible job.

Today was also my first day of cross-cultural conversations class, a really interesting experience that I will definitely discuss in a further post.

Dougga

2008-10-07T22:34:00.000+02:00

On Sunday we went to Dougga, about an hour and a half west of Tunis. After the Romans conquered North Africa they used the area around Dougga to supply the empire with wheat. Dougga became the administrative center of the wheat exportation system and was in important cog in the Roman empire. What is so fantastic about these ruins is that tourists are allowed free reign to explore the ruins. We can climb on them, crawl in tunnels, etc. I've been to many ruins in my day, I consider these some of the best. The fantastic view of the countryside really couldn't be beat.

Many many more pictures of Dougga here!

My Neighbor's Brother's Wife's Sister's Daughter's Wedding.

2008-10-05T18:20:00.000+02:00

Last night my roommates and I were abruptly invited to a wedding by our next-door-neighbor, Malika. Of course, we said yes, we'd been whining about wanting to see a Tunisian wedding for the past two weeks. As I expected, it was a truly memorable and interesting experience.

First of all, I know you are going to want an explanation about my outfit, which you will see in pictures below. As soon as Malika and Souad heard that we were going to the wedding they announced that they would get some of Malika's daughter's dresses for us to wear. I was instantly relieved. I had no idea what Tunisians wore to weddings, I didn't want to wear something that was inappropriate. I was also excited because I assumed that this would mean that I'd get to wear some sort of exciting native Tunisian outfit. Wrong. I ended up in a skin tight mid-90s black dress that fell to my ankles. With sparkles. All over. I'm not really a sparkles kind of girl, but Souad and Malika oohed and ahhed over how pretty I was so I just let it go. Alissa got away with her own outfit and Megan ended up in a Chinese-inspired dress which was pretty cute on her. She felt a little uncomfortable because it was shorter than dresses most Tunisians would wear in public, but at least she didn't look like Miss America.

We started off the night at 9pm at the bride's home. The bride and groom met in Germany, where they both live. The groom has a Ph.D. in something and the bride is a Ph.D. candidate in Archeology. Since they are both Tunisian they are home for their wedding. When we walked to into the bride's home the men were all outdoors on the deck and the women were in the livingroom. We could hear music blasting in the living room and women trilling ululations. Malika opened the door and ululated at the woman in front of her who echoed back. These random outbreaks of ululations continued sporadically all night and are apparently a wedding tradition in Tunisia. Inside the room a CD of music was playing and women were dancing or sitting on couches as the bride sat in the center of the room with her dress spread out about her.

As the women danced Malika explained that the music that was being played was traditional Tunisian Jewish Bedouin wedding music, played at absolutely every wedding. Tunisia has been a melting pot of religions and cultures throughout its history and is extremely proud to say that it is one country where Jews and Muslims live side by side and even share some common traditions. I was forced off the couch to dance in front of the crowd. A very uncomfortable moment to say the least. I danced with one other woman, copying everything that she did and hoping that I didn't look like that much of an idiot. Maybe if I wasn't wearing a skin tight sparkly black dress I would have had a bit more confidence.

After a decent amount of dancing we headed out to the wedding hall. It was then that Malika learned that the groom was an Islamist and did not want to have a typical Tunisian wedding. Tunisian weddings are apparently very westernized... I wouldn't know, as this wedding was certainly not the norm. The groom prefered to have a traditional wedding where men celebrate in one room and women in the other. Malika explained that this was very unusual, she had never been to a wedding like this. Separating the bride and grrom is apparently the norm in other Muslim countries around the Middle East, just not in liberal Tunisa.

True to what Malika told us, once we got to the wedding hall the men went into one hall and the women went into the other. The groom helped the bride settle onto some sort of Greek inspired chaise lounge and left. An orchestra of women began to play and women began to dance. Of course, we were forced to dance. It was actually quite fun once we got into it, but I felt a little too awkward and uncomfortable to really let go.

After we danced a bit, the drinks and pasteries began to come. As we sipped our drinks we discussed Malika's heritage, Tunisia, weddings, and everything in between by writing notes on napkins. The music in the room was turned up very loud which made it difficult to hear each other. We waited and waited for the groom to come. Malika said that he certainly had to come and at least put a ring on the bride's finger... but he never did. That was it. The bride sat on her chair, danced a bit, and smiled a lot. No ceremony, no speeches, no groom. It was certainly quite different from any wedding I've been to. For me, a wedding focuses on the couple, not the bride and groom separately. My roommates and I felt that it was a little sad... the bride up there all alone, sitting and watching the crowd. To each her own. It was great experience and really a very good time.

This is Malika and I at our table.

Fame

2008-10-03T13:42:00.000+02:00

Check out the home page of the Tunisian Embassy Website

I've also posted many new pictures on My Flickr from my trips to Sidi Bou Said, the American Cemetery, and Hammamet.

Eid Mabrouk!

2008-10-02T20:11:00.001+02:00

This Wednesday and Thursday the Tunisians celebrated Eid, the end of Ramadan. During Eid, nearly everything is closed and everyone spends their time eating and celebrating with their families. Eleven of the students on the OSU program decided to take a mini-vacation to Hammamet, the best beach town in Tunisia. Hammamet is crowded with tourists from all over Europe, guaranteeing that at least some things in this area would be open.

Wednesday morning we caught a luage from Tunis to Hammamet. When the director of our program explained the luage system to us he used the English word “limo” interchangeably with “luage.” A luage is NOT an American-style limo, rather, it is a large, beat-up, white van that seats eight people. As you arrive at a busy luage station many drivers will pounce upon you yelling the name of different destinations. You choose a driver going to your destination, pay him a predetermined fee, and set off. I found the luages very easy to use and very cheap. It only cost me 4 dinars to make the hour-long journey. I was also fortunate enough to have the help of one of my host brothers in navigating the Tunis luage station.

Once we arrived in Hammamet we made our way to the Yasmine neighborhood. Yasmine is jammed with huge touristy resorts and miles of sun-drenched beaches. It is also home to Carthage Land and the newly opened Ali Baba Land. It is also known to be one of the areas in Tunisia with a vibrant nightlife… which wasn’t really active for us because our trip coincided with the holiday of Eid. Our hotel was a three star hotel a block from the beach that had been discovered and booked for us by one of my amazing host brothers. It had an indoor pool, outdoor pool, and fitness center and our 32.40 dinars a night also covered breakfast and dinner. Four of the students with us opted for a five star hotel further down the road, but Hotel Green Golf suited the rest of us just fine. And yes, before anyone thinks I spelled that wrong, it is Green Golf like golfing not like sea gulf… I’m not really sure why, I saw no golf course. Our hotel was located across the street from an ice skating rink that had a huge line of teenagers and pounding music from around 5-10pm. We weren’t sure if we would find a disco or an actual ice rink inside. It seemed to be the only club-like place open in the area.

Once we settled in we grabbed our belongings and met up with the five star kids at the beach. We ended up on a beach that didn’t belong to either of our hotels but to Hotel Mauradi. I think by the end of these two days the people that worked there just assumed (or didn’t care) that we weren’t actually paying for the beach.

We spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the beach and playing in the waves. One of the best parts of the beaches at Hammamet is that the sea actually has pretty large waves in it that you can bodysurf. The waves break close in to shore so I can’t imagine that actual surfing would be a possibility, but they certainly were fun to swim around in. It wasn’t very sunny out but we had some occasional sunbreaks and even though it was October we really weren’t too cold.

After dinner at our hotel we took taxis into the main part of Hammamet to an excellent café. The café, Café Sidi Bou Hdid was situated with the looming walls of the Kasbah on one side and the sea on the other. We sat on a terrace outside with water crashing on the rocks next to us and drank tons of tea, chatted with locals, and took many pictures. After this, most of the group continued on to a bar in Yasmine with music. I was feeling a bit dehydrated from my day at the beach so I called it an early night and headed back to the hotel to rest up.

This morning a majority of the group went back into Hammamet to explore the medina as I and three other students opted to spend the morning on the beach. We had a few hours of brilliant sun and spent most of the time thinking that the others had made a very bad choice. At around four we all caught luages back to Tunis.

It was a very short get away but we all had an excellent time. I figure this is probably one of the last times I’ll get to swim while I’m here as the days are getting colder and greyer so I was very happy to have some beach time. Now we’re back in Tunis, resting as Souad goes and visits her new grand daughter, Mariam (or Marian? Myriam?), who was born last night. We’ll get to see her tomorrow afternoon when she goes home from the hospital.

This is me with a fake elephant in front of Carthage Land.

Scrubbed

2008-09-30T19:07:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we had some disappointing news. Eid will start on Wednesday, not today, Tuesday. What this means is that Ramadan lasts one more day and the parties will not start until tomorrow. My friends and I will be out of town Wednesday and Thursday visiting the beach town of Hammamet and won't be able to celebrate Eid with our families.

We decided to maximize our free day by taking a trip to a hammam with our host mother. A hammam is a Turkish bath of sorts. My roommates and I have never done anything like this and had to look completely to others in order to have some sort of example to follow. The first step is to sit in a steam room modeled like an underground cave and soak your feet in a bucket of steaming water. Some women just sit and relax, others would rub soaps on their body and pour water on themselves. After you've been sitting in the steam room for a decent period of time you become very sweaty and are ready for the next step. At this point you lie down on a granite slab and a woman pours warm water over your body. Then she proceeds to scrape you viciously with a netted glove. Large amounts of dead skin peel off your body. Then more water is poured on you and more scrubbing of the skin transpires. It feels good until you hit that point that you feel she has stopped scraping off dry skin and started scraping off live skin cells. After this she rubs your body down with soap and a clay-rosewater mixture, stretches out your legs and arms, massages your feet and sends you to shower off. It was really an awesome experience. My skin feels silky smooth... and it all cost me around $8. My roommates and I intend on going back before the end of the program, multiple times if possible.

In other news, my host sister-in-law's water broke today! It seems like everyone has different information... from what I can tell the baby will either be born in a few hours or a few days. Updates to come.

The Glory of Carthage!

2008-09-28T09:56:00.000+02:00

Yesterday the OSU group went on our first of several day trips to Carthage, a neighborhood of Tunis. At it's peak, Carthage was an empire that extended across Northern Africa and included the Southern half of the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily. Then Rome decided that enough was enough and destroyed it during the Punic Wars, although Carthage, lead by Hannibal Barca, put up a valiant fight in the second. After the Punic Wars it took Carthage about 100 years to recover from the salting of their farmlands. At this point the Romans extended their empire to enclude it and set to work building a Roman city there. For the most part, all Punic ruins from the glorious days of Carthage are gone, but many, many Roman ruins exist on the site.

Our first stop was at the Carthage Museum and it's nearby ruins. The view from the hill that the Museum was on was absolutely breathtaking. Priceless peices of statues and pottery dotted the yard that overlooked the Mediterranean and the mountains on the other side of Tunis. The pictures I took really don't do it justice.
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We wandered around the ruins for a while before heading into the museum to look at artifacts dug up during the excavation of the site. There were many mosaics, pottery, coins, sculptures, etc. It made me remember my days working as a museum guard at the Oriental Institute.

Our next stop was even more impressive. The Antonin Baths, also in Carthage, are even more complete ruins than the ones we were previously at. We could still see the channels where water ran underneath the floors of the baths and some mosaics were still visible on the ground. The area around the baths was once the playground of rich Tunisians. The ruins of the more upscale schools, churches (yes, a Roman Catholic church, not a mosque), and living areas were also there for us to explore. I guess that I should mention that Carthage is STILL the playground of the rich and famous. The President's palace butts up against the Antonin Baths. Tall white walls surrounded the Palace as well as numerous guard booths filled with guards and guns. Though it doesn't seem to be an ideal situation, putting the president's palace right next to an extremely tourist filled site, after I thought about it for a second I realized that were I the president I would want my palace looking out over the ruins. That way I would remember how rich the history my country was and would be inspired to live up to the past.

Following the baths, we headed to the American Battleground Memorial Cemetery. Everyone had different reactions to the Cemetery. First off, I need to explain that it was all VERY American. Manicured lawns, Arlington style white crosses, patriotic music playing every hour or so for the tomb of the unknown soldier. There were some touches of Northern Africa-- mosaics depicted the movements of the American and British forces and where battles were held, Tunisian style fountains were on the lawn, etc-- but that being said, it still didn't feel like we were in Northern Africa. Karim told us that it is probably the best maintained place in all of Tunisia. I believe him. It was really a fitting tribute for the men and women who lost their lives in Northern Africa. If I had family members buried there I would be happy to know that they were so well taken care of. I hope that the overseas graveyards where my relatives lie are similar to this one. Some members of our group were unsettled, feeling that this was just a little too weird, a little too American. Others felt really comforted and at home just being in a place with English on the walls and an American flag in the sky.

Our final stop was very rushed. 30 minutes in beautiful Sidi Bou Said. Sidi Bou is a white and blue town (the richest in the Tunis area) on the top of a hill on the coast. Tons of tourists everywhere, tons of souvenir shops and cafes. Still, in my opinion, despite the touristy nature of the area, it was really beautiful and certainly worth a second, third, and fourth trip. I can imagine how awesome it'd be to sit in a cafe on the top of the hill and drink tea as the sun sets. I think we'll go back sometime very soon.

I took tons and tons of pictures of yesterday. I promise to get them up on Flickr sometime today or tomorrow. Today begins our little vacation for Eid. Since we don't know whether Eid (the festival at the end of Ramadan) is Tuesday or Wednesday yet (we need to look at the moon on Monday night) we are just getting Monday through Thursday off of school to cover our bases. Most of us OSU students have decided to stay in a resort in Hammamet, a big beach town, for a night or two. I'm in the group that has opted for one night in a three star hotel for 37 dinars (includes two meals) instead of two nights in a five star hotel. I'm pretty excited.

The Medina

2008-09-25T14:24:00.000+02:00

These are a just a few pictures from my first trip to the Medina (last Friday). We got the chance to go up on the roof of a rug shop and look out over the rooftops of the medina. The rest of my pictures are posted on my Flickr.

Le Rentrée et La Goulette

2008-09-23T21:51:00.001+02:00

Today was our second day of school and our first day of actual classes for the students in the program taking French. Yesterday consisted of a series of placement tests. First we had an oral test where I read a short passage so that my professor could see how my accent and reading skills were. Next I had to talk about a cell phone. I could say anything I wanted about it. I think most kids had more questions but this was pretty much all that my teacher needed to know. I will focus having conversations and giving presentations. He really just wants me to keep talking and push myself out of my comfort zone. Then I took a very easy written test. I got two questions wrong but the teacher still understands that my French is a lot better than the other students and is going to give me more advanced work to do. Today we had class with Prof. Leila, the professor that works with us on grammar and written French. The other five girls worked together with Prof. Leila as I worked alone on a bunch of higher level exercises. She says that tomorrow she’ll work with me and the other girls will do exercises. These exercises only served to remind me how much I HATE French grammar and that I never got great grades in it. How could I forget that? Although I find it easy to understand and to speak, I have holes in my understanding of grammar that have never been filled and I believe will never be filled. I really enjoyed the last French literature class I took and I don’t mind reading and writing papers in French but I can’t stand sitting around doing exercises. However frustrating it may be I need to take advantage of having some of the best French teachers in Tunisia at my disposal.

The school is dirty and falling apart. It’s downright disgusting really. I had to wipe my seat off with my hand in order to not get dirt on my white shorts. The floor looks filthy, there are cobwebs everywhere, and the huge florescent light fixture in the back of our classroom is hanging down on its electrical cord, just asking to fall on someone’s head. Our whiteboard was no longer white. Prof. Leila was really not happy with the condition of the room. I suppose she was even less pleased when the chair she was sitting on broke underneath her. She’s not a large woman either. She went and talked to the administration and apparently it’ll be better tomorrow. In addition, the bathrooms on the third and fourth floor are simply gutted out cement pits. I don’t know what happened there. I think (hope) they are installing new ones. I was really surprised at the condition of the school. This is the best language school in Tunisia and they can’t afford to hire janitors? I’m kind of confused about the economic situation here. New neighborhoods are springing up all over; I see buildings being built and cranes dotting the landscape. There seems to be a huge focus on expansion. I have yet to see a homeless person. Yes, in general incomes are lower than in the US and there are people begging every now and then… but really, not much of that at all. So explain to me why there isn't enough funding to fix the light in my classroom?

Today after class Alissa and Megan, the two girls studying Arabic that are living with me, and Victoria, another girl in our program, headed to the beach. Last week I went to the beach at La Marsa. I took plenty of pictures, which I would definitely put up if my internet connection was stronger. Today we went to La Goulette, a beach town much closer to Tunis. We lazed around on the beach for a while talking and then Megan and I hit the waves for a while. Although it was sunny after school, by the time we got to the beach it was cool out with a layer of clouds covering the sun. Even though it wasn’t that warm, Megan and I thought the water felt great and had a hard time getting out. Also at the beach we saw two young boys selling jasmine. Jasmine is the national flower of Tunisia, while it is in bloom it is sold everywhere by vendors. They bundle a bunch of blossoms together and they attach them to a stick. They tie a string around the blossoms. When the string is removed the blossoms bloom outwards. They smell delicious. We bought a few from these vendors. They gave one free to Megan but we thought nothing of it at the time. My host brother drove to the beach, but to return we took the cheap and convenient TGM train that connects Tunis to the coastal suburbs back into Tunis. On our walk to the train station we noticed that the jasmine vendors from the beach were walking down the same road as we were. We paused to take some pictures of an old archway when one of them ran up to Megan and pushed a folded napkin into her hand saying “This is for you.” He disappeared as quickly as he had arrived. There was a moment of startled confusion. We had no idea what he had given her. Should she open it? Should she just throw it away? Alissa thought it was drugs. Our curiosity got the best of us and she opened it. On the inside of the napkin he had written “In my life I am looking for something, can you guess?” Inside he had put a photo of him and a photo of the other boy, with their names, numbers, and addresses on the back. Tunisian boys are persistent. Her boyfriend should worry.

It seems that pretty much every night at dinner our host brothers and their wives discuss what brand of bottled water has better quality. Some prefer Safia, some prefer Sabrine, still others prefer Marwa. I picked up the bottle of Marwa water and read the fine print in French on the back of the label: “Marwa mineral water facilitates renal function, it is recommended against obesity and constipation.” Alissa, Megan, and I burst out laughing. We thought that it was hilarious that a bottle of water would claim that it was better at fighting against obesity and constipation than any other bottle of water. Our host family was only slightly amused.

The fast is about to break and I haven’t had that much to eat today so the smells coming from Souad’s kitchen are making my stomach rumble. The big family meals we’ve been having during Ramadan are fun but I can’t wait for it to be over so I can start frequenting cafes and other restaurants during the day. I really am excited to be able to sit back, drink a glass of tea (the Tunisian specialty is a sweet green mint tea with pine nuts floating in it) and watch the people pass by.

Moving In

2008-09-21T15:40:00.000+02:00

I'm currently sitting on the couch in the living room of my new host mother, using her next door neighbor's wifi. I'm seriously happy that I'm online again.

Last night I was told that I'd be moving in with a married couple with no children. The father is a jeweler and the wife is a pastry chef. Then, this morning I was told that the pastry chef had too many orders and was completely overwhelmed. She could no longer take me on in addition to her work. So, here I am, staying with two other girls in my program at the home of a widow with four married sons (none of which live at home). Her neighbor is a Chemistry professor at a university in Bizerte and somehow got in touch with my program, telling them that her neighbor had a nearly empty apartment and needed a few girls to mother. I'll only be here a few weeks until a new host family can be set up. Apparently there were a few families willing to take people on after Ramadan. Souad is very sweet and eager. She has set about the business of spoiling us rotten. Also, much to our astonishment, she brought us drinks and snacks this afternoon. Souad explained to me that she doesn't follow Ramadan because she takes medication. In that case, my roommates and won't be following it anymore either.

The main issue with my current situation is language. My two roommates are both taking Arabic. They've only taken it for a year, so they can't understand it or communicate well with it yet. Honestly, I can communicate more easily than anyone in the program. Not everyone speaks French, but most do or at least understand it and I haven't found it difficult to be understood. Actually, on the train ride back from a day at La Marsa (spent floating happily in the Meditteranean) a group of boys thought I was French because of my accent when I spoke to them. Our host mother understands French but speaks it worse than I do. This makes for an interesting situation. She speaks to me in French and I translate it for the other girls. She tries to speak to them in Arabic and teach them some words, but they can't really understand her. Me being here is making it harder for them to find ways to communicate with her.

Bienvenue à Tunis!

2008-09-18T12:49:00.000+02:00

My flights both left on time and arrived early. This has been my smoothest international travel venture ever. The flight from Rome to Tunis was unbelievably short. It probably lasted less than an hour in all. As we swooped down over Tunisia I saw beaches covered with sand, mountains, and small towns. The Mediterranean sparkled all around. According to the Tunisian people it is now too cold to go to the beaches. I disagree. It's at least 85° out today, I consider that beach weather and I'm dying to take advantage of them. I was met at the airport by Karim and Laura, the couple from OSU that leads my program. The first thing I remarked was the rather reckless driving style of the Tunisians. Lanes and stop lights are really optional and pedestrians don't seem to have the right of way. I've also never seen more gutsy pedestrians than in this city... they freely walk into oncoming traffic and wait between lanes for an open spot to run through, then look angrily at the cars as if infuriated that they think they have the right to drive in the streets. Yesterday was fairly calm, I spent a majority of the day sleeping in the hotel. At 7:30 I met Laura and Karim for dinner at a restaurant. During the day the restaurants were boarded shut, chairs and tables piled up. People crowded the streets and shopping malls. Karim explained that during Ramadan people have nothing to do so they wander the city and shop to take their minds off their hunger. As we left the hotel for dinner the streets were completely deserted, not a car in sight. Everyone was responding to the call to prayer before digging into their meals. My meal was excellent and cheap. I started with a soup course, then a course of briq, which is a variety of egg roll, then sea food spaghetti followed by a dessert of fruit. After this we went out for tea and baklava. My tea was very sweet and minty with a layer of pine nuts floating on the top.

I'm the first student here, two more will be arriving at 3:30 today and then one more in the middle of the night, the rest come between now and Sunday. On Sunday I'll be moved from my hotel to a host family. Classes start Monday. This morning I walked to Laura and Karim's offices and met with Jihene, a 20 something Tunisian girl who works for Karim's borother but helps with the OSU program doing errands and tutoring and such in the fall. I spoke to her for about a half an hour in French to start getting myself in the habit of using it again and then took off with her to attempt to unblock my old French cell phone. Now I'm in CEMAT (Center for Magreb Studies in Tunis), OSU has a deal with them that allows us to take advantage of their internet and small library. I'll spend the next few days lying low, attempting to adjust to the sleep schedule and eating schedule while getting to know my fellow students.

Every thing is completely different here, I have many more observations to that I can't wait to share.

Last Days in Chicago

2008-08-26T18:15:00.001+02:00

In two days I will make the long and difficult journey up north to O'Hare to begin my even longer journey to Tunis, Tunisia. I've been waiting all summer for this week, yet somehow my bags are still completely unpacked. Guess I'll have to get on that today.

When I left France in July 2005 after spending 11 months there as a high school student, I swore to myself that I would go abroad again and live in France for at least another year. My French wasn't perfect-- I was sure a few more months would greatly improve it, I had to go back. More than that, I was addicted to French culture and knew I would miss my friends and host families terribly. As time passed and my months in the states grew into years, my desire to spend more time à l'étranger didn't change, but what I wanted from such an experience did. At the beginning of this past year I diligently filled out applications to spend a year in Paris, all the while thinking that I really wanted something new. One thing that had been the most exciting about living in France was learning the nuances of their culture and attempting (fairly successfully) to adapt to it. It was at this point that I realized that I wanted to go to a different country, one that was less westernized than France, so I could really strengthen my cultural understanding. Muslim, Arabic speaking countries are constantly in the news in the US, yet they remain very foreign to me. I don't pretend to believe that I understand anything at all about how these cultures work but I am extremely eager to find out as much as I can. I feel that living experience in one of these countries will give me skills and experience that, as an international studies major, will be extremely beneficial to me. I chose to go to Tunisia because it is a stepping stone between the known and unknown. From what I've heard, Tunisia is the most modern and forward thinking of Northern African countries. Women's rights first became a priority of the government in the 1950's under Tunisia's first president Habib Bourguiba. Hopefully this will make the cultural transition a little less jarring. In addition, Tunisia was colonized by the French, further smoothing my transition. According to Wikipedia "French also plays a major role in the country, despite having no official status. It is widely used in education (e.g. as the language of instruction in the sciences in secondary school), the press, and in business. Most educated Tunisians are able to speak it. Many Tunisians, particularly those residing in large urban areas, readily mix Tunisian Arabic with French." This being said, it is my hope that my French skills will carry me through... I know absolutely no Arabic. Another reason I wanted to go to Tunisia is the awesome location. I'll be living in Tunis, on the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is wonderful. Also, I get to take a trip to the Sahara at some point. The food will be fantastic as well. I'll be eating lots of fish and lots of couscous.

I'm going with a program through Oregon State University. It's technically a French immersion program. I would have done the Arabic program but unfortunately I needed to take a year of Arabic in order to get accepted and there was no way I could jam that into my schedule halfway through the school year. So, instead, I'll be taking French classes even though I've completed all the French grammar classes at UChicago and can't get any more credit. I'll also be taking a gender studies class that focuses on women in Tunisian literature and a class on Tunisian culture that includes weekly cross cultural discussion meetings with Tunisian students.

Once I get to Tunisia I'll be taken to a hotel (Hôtel Salammbo) right in the middle of downtown Tunis. Then I while away the days until September 21st when classes begin. Hopefully I can use this time to wander around and get to know the city. I'm also hoping some of the other kids in the program are getting there as early as I am so that I don't need to wander alone. I move into a host family's home between the 20th and 24th. Keep your fingers crossed that they are French speaking. French speaking or not, the chances that they'll be celebrating Ramadan are very high, creating another new and exciting challenge for me.

I'll update this blog as frequently as possible. I have no idea how much internet access I will have once I am there or how much free time I'll have.