Roof Party!

It’s a tradition here to have a party the day you finish the roof of a building project. My friend invited me and some friends to come to her house at 8:30am on a Sunday morning to take part in watching two large machines pour cement for the roof of the second floor and to eat couscous for lunch. Unfortunately my friends and I arrived a little late and the cement trucks had already left. However, we got there a few hours before the giant pot of couscous was ready, so we had plenty of time to socialize with all the other guests, play with kids and get lessons on how roofs are built in Tunisia (large red bricks, rebar and a thick layer of cement). What a fun reason to celebrate!

  

New Year’s Celebration

My Norwegian model friend and I decided to invite a few local friends over to celebrate the New Year with us. I was so happy when our friend said that she was coming with her sister and her sister’s husband. She expressed how excited she was to come because it was the first time she’d been invited to celebrate the holiday with someone else. I was also very excited because it was going to be my first time hosting local friends for dinner and I was glad another guy was coming so that my model friend’s husband wouldn’t be the only one.

As we were waiting for the food we asked our local guests what they normally do to on New Year’s Eve. I assumed they would say that they usually buy a special cake, cook a chicken, make homemade french fries, and watch the countdown on the TV; as that’s what most of my friends seem to do. However, our three guests replied that they don’t usually do anything on New Year’s Eve “because it’s haram” (sinful). I‘d heard that before but I thought it was a made up teaching by some extremists, so I was surprised that my friends believed this as well. They explained that they studied the issue for themselves and are convinced that it is haram. At that point I was feeling a little guilty for inviting them to something they felt was sinful, so I asked them how they felt about celebrating it with us. They expressed how honored they were to be invited to my house and that they were just happy to be with us.

Despite what could have been a bit awkward, we had a great night together. We talked while eating snacks, we ate dinner, we played games, we ate dessert, and we lit some sparklers while making noise with kazoo-like-things. We ended the night at 11pm (it was midnight somewhere in the world) and everyone seemed to go home very full and happy.

Check out this link to find out more about why people think it’s a bad idea for Muslims to celebrate the New Year.

  

Trip to Spain

I went to Spain over the Christmas vacation to visit a Dominican friend and her new baby. There I saw many beautiful places and also got an inside look into what life is like for Dominicans living abroad. Here’s some pictures of my time.

 

I got lost downtown Madrid despite having a map, spent the night at a bed and breakfast where they treated me like family, then headed up north on a bus. My final destination was Sesma, a very quaint village of roughly 1,500 people. I had a relaxed visit there and a good Christmas dinner. My hosts seemed to enjoy taking me around their village and to a few other nearby villages as well.

     
 

Then my friend and I went to Pamplona, the town where people go to run with the bulls. There we stayed with a large Dominican family. The girls were kind enough to take us around the old town, to the mall, and to a great little Lebanese restaurant where five us were able to eat our fill of french fries and kebab meat for just 10 euros. The following morning I took the train back to Madrid and headed back to Tunis.
   

Teaching English

My first experience teaching English here was very enjoyable. I met a lot of great people, had a lot of laughs, and learned many interesting things about Tunisian culture and the business world here. I’m not sure what the upcoming months have in store for me but I hope to continue teaching English whenever and wherever possible. 

 

Knit, Knit, Knit

I apologize for falling behind on posting photos and stories these past few weeks. I sometimes feel like I don’t have anything new to share. Yet actually, I do have quite a bit to share, but I sometimes forget to take pictures of the activity or just don’t feel comfortable taking pictures. However for the first post of today I thought I could show a few pictures of some of the things the girls in knitting club have made lately.

 
Lots of hats, lots of scarves and one shawl (with a matching crocheted ring).
 
More scarves and other sorts of neck warmers. (I’ve only managed to make rectangular items so far, but have plans to make something else soon).
 
I didn’t manage to take pictures of all the baby booties and baby hats, the crocheted bags, or pillow cases but I will soon. These girls are really fast learners and enthusiastic. They’re also good at getting their friends hooked on knitting as well. More pictures to come soon.

 

A Few Updates

Volunteer work is going well. Kids rotate in and out as they come to get their medications, I often see the same kids every three weeks. I’ve also been meeting new kids together with their families almost every week. There is one nine year old boy, Edem, who has been there for over four months and I have watched him get progressively worse. He is a very bright and fun child and it’s very hard to watch him suffer.

English teaching has also been going well. The course I was teaching is coming to an end next week. I’m going to apply at another English school and am looking into a few different options for work.

Knitting club has been becoming more and more interesting. Two of the members talked to some government officials about our club and got permission to do a city-wide knitting activity and they were also given a free table at a few very popular art fair. Now all the girls in the club are busy making things they’d like to sell. (Also, after our fishing trip, one of the girls went out and bought her own fishing pole, so I think we’ll be having more fishing trips in our future!)

There are lots and lots of different clubs and associations in our city, most of which started after the revolution in 2011. A few of my expat friends and I are doing our best to visit as many of these different groups as possible. It’s been fun seeing what people in this city are getting involved in (polyglot group, photography group, drama groups, groups that support the needy, parent associations, etc.).

Also, I had a fun Thanks Giving celebration this weekend with a number of expat friends. Some of them had never been a part of a Thanks Giving gathering before and had never tried pumpkin pie, so it was fun to give them that experience. The food was excellent and so were the games!