First Time in Italy

I had some time off from work and school the first week of September so it worked out perfectly for me to meet my friends in Italy while they were there for international dragon boat races.

  

Julie wasn’t an official team member (though she did race a few times when a team member was ill of injured) so she was free to explore the local area with me. We went on some bike riding adventures, explored the local salt mines and salt museum, tried gelato at a few different places and relaxed on the beach.

  

On the teams day off from racing we all went into the local town on our bikes, ate some great food, and took a walking tour of the area. Another night the whole team went to a local restaurant for a special four course meal. The food and ambience was amazing!

   

After the races ended my friends and I went to Florence for one night. We ended up walking for about ten hours straight the first day and another six hours the next day. We saw a very large palace garden, some old bridges, some very elaborate churches, statues, cool street art and more. We also had some very good food and tried three different gelato shops. It was so good!

       

I realize now that I didn’t take any pictures of my food or gelato. I usually do take food pictures. I guess that shows how excited I was about every thing I ate. I really was delicious!

My Neighbor’s Wedding Celebrations!

My landlord’s youngest son, my downstairs neighbor, got married this summer and they made sure I went to all the events as though I was one of the family.

The first event was weeks before the wedding when the bride and her family moved all her wedding gifts into the new house. (It’s normal to receive wedding gifts at any point after the engagement party). A little after 11pm a caravan of about thirty people arrived with a great number of baskets and boxes full of gifts. The bride’s family greeted the groom’s family, drinking tea and chatting for a couple of hours.

On August 3rd the grooms family got together early in the morning, and after a few hours when everyone had arrived they took gifts to the brides family. They had prepared three large baskets of cookies, a basket with many bottles of a special Tunisian juice, a basket full of gifts for guests, a lamb, and a giant fish. Then they went to the Bride’s family’s house and they ate couscous together. Then later that evening the brides family hosted about two hundred guests at their house for the signing of the wedding papers.

    

On August 8th there was a small gathering at the groom’s house in which the family blessed the new couple’s home and then ate couscous together.
On August 9th the bride’s family hosted the Hena Party, a party mostly for women. As is tradition, the bride wore three traditional dresses and danced in circles to the music while wearing the first two. The bride’s are supposed to slowly turn around in circles numerous times while wearing very heavy dresses and high-heels with their eyes closed. The Hena Party planner stood on the stage with the bride making sure she kept proper form and didn’t fall over. During the second dance the bride asked the helper to tell the musicians to sing a different song so she didn’t have to turn in circles anymore. She looked exhausted! It’s definitely not an easy task.
For the presentation of her last dress she walked in with the groom and his family, followed by people holding candles. This time she wore a crown instead of a golden veil. The bride and groom sat together on a fancy couch, then they danced a little and then posed for pictures.

   
 

Then on August 12th they had the last wedding celebration. For this event over four hundred guests gathered at a very nice reception hall outside of Sousse at about 10pm. After about an hour the bride and groom arrived escorted by their families. They sat on the stage in front of all the guests while the guests talked, ate appetizers, and danced. At the end of the night the bride and groom danced with the guests and then had their last photo session with the guests.

 

Check out the following article to read a journalists view on Tunisian Weddings.  Huffington Post: My Big Fat Tunisian Wedding

My New Wheels

Did I mention that I finally got a bike? After a year of wanting one I got a friend to drive me to a nearby city that has lots of used bike stores and didn’t leave until I’d picked one. Though I’m a bit afraid of the way people drive here, I’m getting a lot more comfortable riding on the roads and going around roundabouts with the cars. 

The greatest thing about having a bike is that I’ve met lots of people who are passionate about riding bikes. Unlike Portland, riding bikes as a means of transportation is still very uncommon. However, that’s starting to change thanks to Critical Mass Sousse! This CMS group gets 100 to 300 people together on the last Friday of the month to go for a bike ride around the city as a way to promote cycling. One of their main goals is to get enough people to ride their bikes so that the government will change the infrastructure of the city and make it more bike friendly.

During Ramadan there were two CMS events at 10pm (after everyone had broken the fast). The first one had nearly two hundred participants and the second had just over a hundred. I’ve also had the opportunity to go on a few late-night bike rides with the core group of CMS leaders. It’s been so much fun riding through the city at night!

Fasting and Feasting

On the first day of Ramadan, June 29th, I broke the fast with my new landlords. We started with soup, then Tunisian Brik, grilled fish, some salad, a meat stew that you eat with bread, and then fresh fruit for dessert. I stayed home with my landlord’s wife watching Tunisian Soap operas specially made for Ramadan while her husband went to the mosque for Ramadan services.

I had a the privilege of going to my friend Lobna’s house numerous times to break the fast with her family. One of the unique days of the fast was on July 12th, the halfway mark of Ramadan. Lobna’s mom prepared the traditional couscous Tunisians have on that night-- couscous with lamb meat, a boiled egg, raisins, and peppers.

There are only a few nights of Ramadan left, after that we’ll have three days of celebration. Hopefully I’ll have a few more great meals with my friends these next few nights, and then lots of fun catching up with friends during the holiday.

Art Exhibition

Just before the summer break all the members of the painting class got to show off their artwork at the local Culture Center. Together we ate sweets, took pictures in front of each others artwork and met each others friends and family. It was a great way to end the year. I’m looking forward to starting classes again in September.

   

Fun and changes in June

  
In June I went on my first outing with the local Critical Mass bike group. We rode our bikes around town and a touristic area. A small group escorted me home too.

  
I moved into my new house about a mile from my old house. The narrow stairway up to the second floor made it impossible to move some of the furniture the traditional way, so my helpers had to improvise by pulling some things up over the balcony. With the help of my friends I was able to get all moved in and settled in just about a weeks time. My new landlords were quick to treat me like family and help me out with anything I needed which helped with the transition.  

 
I also said goodbye to my Norwegian model friend in June. We had one last knitting club all together and one last fishing trip before she left. We did all kinds of things together so her and her family will be greatly missed.

 

Moving

This is a short post to let you know that I’ll be moving this coming weekend. So together with big papers due, finals, and a busy work schedule, this coming week is looking a bit chaotic. I’m moving into an unfurnished house, so hopefully I’ll have some luck finding what I need at used furniture stores and markets. I’ll post some photos after I move.

Outings with students

Though teaching can be tiring and a bit stressful at times, it is also incredibly rewarding. The best part is seeing my students improving in English and getting to know them at the same time. Two of the groups I’ve taught became very close friends by the end of the course, and both of them insisted on taking me out for coffee. It’s fun seeing them outside of the classroom and having them help me with my Arabic instead of me helping them with English.