To Monastir

I had the opportunity to visit a friend from college this weekend in a nearby town called Monastir. My friend took me on a tour of the town’s medina (made up of mostly tourist shops),  an old fortress overlooking the sea, and a monument for the first Tunisian president, Bourguiba.

The old fortress (the Ribat of Harthema) was by far the most interesting one I’ve visited so far with many different rooms and staircases to explore, as well as a great view of the city and the ocean. The late afternoon lighting made for great photos as well!
Some of you might like to know that this Ribat has been used to portray the biblical world in movies like Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth and one of the Monty Python movies. Monastir’s big claim to fame is that the former president, Bourguiba, the man who liberated Tunisia from France is from this small town. He remained in office for 33 years and now Monastir has a very large monument in his honor. There’s also a small museum full of many of his personal items; his phone, clothes, glasses, etc. As well as a very elaborate room with many gold fixtures where he is buried.

 

A Little of This and That

It’s been a busy week, actually, let me just say that it’s been busier than than my first two weeks here. I’ve been helping some friends here with their tourist business, I joined a fitness gym, have been studying quite a bit on culture/ religion, started taking Arabic classes from a private tutor, and have been enjoying trying out new restaurants.

I’m headed off on a little road trip but wanted to take a minute to share a few photos from my morning walk and a photo of typical Tunisian fast food called Charwarma. It kind of looks like a burrito but it usually is made with turkey meet, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, hot sause called harissa, boiled potatoes or french fries, cabbage, and mayonaise.

Happy Holidays!

My housemate and I decided it would be fun to show up at our neighbors doors with a plate of cookies on the first day of Eid (explained in the previous blog entry). You have to understand that neither of us have ever seen our neighbors, so we didn’t really know how they’d react or if anyone else really lived in this quiet neighborhood.
At the first house we shyly said “Eidick Mabruk!” (Happy Holiday’s) and presented our plate of cookies to a very nice elderly lady who greeted us at the door. She quickly invited us into her home and gave us cookies and Turkish coffee. She just lives with her grandson but had all her children and a few grandchildren over for the holiday. She told me I could take her picture but put a white veil over her head first, her children' explained that she is a Hajja (someone who has completed the religious pilgrimage to the Mecca called the Hajj or Hadge). I’m not sure what the white veil represents but will let you know when I find out.
Feeling a little bit more comfortable with the idea of meeting our neighbors we ended up going to three more homes, each of which invited us in for Tunisian cookies, juice, and lots of conversation. We spent about 40 minutes in each home using all the Arabic we could while they used all the English they could. We have very nice neighbors! One family even gave us a large plate of homemade Tunisian sweets!

Getting Ready for Eid

If you don’t know much about Ramadan you probably don’t know that there’s a big celebration once the fast is over similar to Thanks Giving in the states. This two day long holiday is called Eid (or Id) and though I’m definitely not an expert, it appears that families congregate at the grandparents house, eat a special meal together, take plates of cookies to their friends and family, give new clothes and toys to their kids, and just relax.
In preparation for this big day my housemate and I made a bunch of American cookies. We didn’t have a plan of who to give them to, but just thought it would be good to have a bunch.
I took one plate of cookies to my new friend Nur (her full first name literally means Light of Belief) who runs a small office supply store right by my house. I took them to her the day before the fast was over which isn’t common, but she actually couldn’t do the fast just yet because she’s pregnant (however she will make up for it after she has her baby). She also brought me a plate of homemade Tunisian cookies that her mom made. She informed me that her generation has a new tradition of buying cookies but her mom’s generation still has the tradition of making them.

The Cookie Monster

I was startled by a dark object running at me early this morning. I quickly turned on the bathroom light and it disappeared into the dark living room area. I then ran to my bedroom and peered out the door to see if this was some kind of animal or a figment of my imagination. I didn’t have to wait long before I saw a small cat run past me, into the lighted bathroom, and gracefully spring off the toilet through the bars of the open window. I later found out that it got into our cookie stash, of which it preferred the chocolate ones.

I will be keeping the bathroom window closed from now on, but I do appreciate the abundant amount of cats that roam the streets here in Sousse. It’s very rare to see a dog here, so no grungy dogs roaming around and barking through the nights like in the D.R.. And no mice or rats either thanks to all the stray cats! 

To Mahdia

I took the train for the first time here to a town called Mahdia, about 50 km south of Sousse. The train ride itself was a bit boring and long as it made about fifteen stops. However, I was able to practice my Arabic and French with people who sat next to me so that kept things interesting.

Mahdia is a really cute town that sits on a narrow peninsula, whose strategic location has made it a very sought after city throughout history. It’s name came from a man who called himself the Mahdi. (Just as Jews look forward to the coming of the Messiah, and Christians to the second coming of Jesus, so many Muslims look forward to the coming of the Mahdi or “divinely guided one”, whose arrival will bring about the final victory of Islam). Yet he obviously wasn’t the real Mahdi as the legend says that the true Mahdi will only reign for seven years, then Judgement Day will come as well as the end of the world.

 

Not only is there a great breeze in this little town (so nice on a hot day!) there’s also a lot to see. There’s a unique old city wall entrance that has quite a violent past, a few museums, a great mosque, an old fort and other sea-worn ruins right up to the very end of Cap d’ Afrique. Of course there’s also lots of tourist shops, many that specialize at weaving scarves and blankets.

On my way home I decided to take a louage back to Sousse, it just cost about 1 TD more than the train and only ended up taking one hour instead of two. It was fun watching the driver and one of the passengers get really into some of the Arabic songs on the radio too.

My First Authentic Couscous

Traveling to Mahdia took a bit longer than I’d expected, so when I arrived at nearly 2 o'clock I was so hungry. I was a little discouraged when every restaurant and grocery store I saw were closed due to Ramadan (I actually walked past every restaurant listed in my Tunisia travel book). Fortunately, a waiter invited me into a small restaurant that I thought was closed. He put a chair in front of the doors after I came in so people outside wouldn’t see all the customers eating, drinking and smoking.  
Couscous with lamb was one of the only things they were serving which I was very happy about because I’ve been craving Tunisian couscous ever since I’ve arrived. It was spicy and very flavorful. So great! They even had Boga soda, a soda pop that kind of tastes like a mix of all the other dark soda pops, but has a little bit of a banana flavor too. Can’t wait till all the local couscous restaurants open up again so I can eat it more often!

Deep Thoughts

As I was enjoying the ocean view from the rocky cliffs in Hergla I was pondering the meaning of life, differences in worldviews, and wondering what kind of animal the beach front statues where.???(pictured below). And why were they carrying cute purses.???   If you have any insights please let me know.

Hergla

I went for a day trip to Hergla yesterday, a small beach town just about 20 km north of Sousse. My Tunisia guide book told me to take the #18 bus but none of the buses had numbers on them. So being that my Arabic vocabulary consists of about twenty words and I don’t understand written Arabic at all I was very happy when I found an English speaking girl who went completely out of her way to help me.

 
I ended up taking a shared taxi (called a “louage”) for just over one dollar. They don’t cram people into these public cars like I’ve become accustomed to in other countries….just one person to each spacious seat.

Being that it’s Ramadan I’m trying not to eat or drink when I’m out in public. So being that I normally drink about sixteen cups of water a day you can imagine what happens when I try to drink it all before going out. ……….. On my way to Hergla all I could think about was what I would do if I couldn’t find a bathroom to use once I arrived. Fortunately people in that small town were extremely nice and one of the girls at the local supermarket let me use the owners bathroom.

I talked with the girls at the supermarket for a little bit who ,after I’d struggled to speak in Arabic and French for about 5 minutes, ended up speaking really good English. Then I walked about the quiet town which has a small fishing community…..

………A Mosque that has been named after a man who is said to have flown back from Mecca on his handkerchief…..

……. quiet beaches and restaurants that overlook the ocean from the rocky cliffs.
I only got yelled at once when I tried to a take picture, found most everyone helpful and kind, enjoyed the peaceful scenery and bought some nice woven decorations for my house. So all around it was good days adventure.

Sousse Shopping

Once again I walked up and down the streets of Sousse, this time I actually made a few purchases though. I found some nice postcards at the nicest bookstore I’ve seen so far (unfortunately for me all the books are in Arabic or French), a few notebooks, a map of Sousse and a cell phone with Arabic letters on it! 

If you’d like a postcard just email me your address and I’ll send you one (I lost all my addresses when my computer stopped working).

Ok, so nothing all that exciting. I’ve been looking for some good clothing stores, but I’m still searching. Hopefully I’ll be able to send you pictures of my new modest North African wardrobe soon.

Sousse Tour on Foot

My feet are so tired right now from walking 4+ miles in flip-flops up and down the city center streets. Well over half of the stores were closed this afternoon yet I did manage to find out where the biggest book store is, where the closest little section of beach is, where I can buy a cell phone, and where a few new bakeries are. I'll head out a bit earlier tomorrow so I get to the stores before they close (everything closes early during Ramadan).
I'm hoping I'll make a friend soon, I have so many cultural questions and things I want to learn (like how to make good couscous). Plus it would be nice to explore with someone else.

A little section of beach I somehow missed last time I was here. .... less than ten minutes walk from where I'm staying!

My First Sunset in Sousse

I just spent about 20 minutes trying to get into my blog account. I'd forgotten that Arabic is written from the right to the left, and to top it off I'm working on a computer that's programmed in French, so I'm feeling extremely computer illiterate today. My computer stopped acknowledging me, and I no longer have a computer genius neighbor, so here I am struggling to get some kind of “hello” out to all of you.

The past few days have been a bit slow due to the fact that I’ve been incredibly tired. I suppose that’s normal as I did travel for three days and there’s a five hour time difference. However I’m getting caught up on sleep and have been out adventuring a little bit. The city is a little quieter than normal as we’re right in the middle of Ramadan, a month long fast from sun up till sun down. So most all restaurants are closed, stores all close early, and I think a lot of people are sleeping during the afternoons. Here’s a few photos from my first full day here……. I’ll be putting up more photos soon!

View from the airplane.

My first sunset in Sousse.

The outside wall of the Medina, just a few minutes walk from where I'm staying.

The New Town area of Sousse; there's lots of resorts, good restaurants and tourist shops.

One Night in England

During my five hour lay-over in Miami I enjoyed a nice Cuban salmon dish. While in New York for three hours I got a large salad with chicken on top. Since I arrived in England I've had a Mocha, Hoola Hoops (potatoe chips shaped like rings), and soon I'll be going out for Indian food with some of my favorite British friends. So all is going well. I do feel a bit weary after flying all day and all night and have been a bit more forgetful than normal (I set my travel pillow down and left it at Heathrow airport, and almost forgot my day-timer in a phone booth.). Yet I'm enjoying my trip so far and am looking forward to arriving in Tunisia tomorrow evening!
Lots of pictures coming soon!

Almost There

Soon I'll be on an airplane and on my way to North Africa to enjoy the weather, food and culture during my extended vacation. I'm super excited and a little nervous at the same time. I'm looking forward to learning as much as possible and hopefully when I return I be able to make some awesome Tunisian dishes, speak a little Arabic and have lots of stories to share!